It's a bitterly cold autumnal day in Glasgow, with driving rain and freezing wind making it feel more like December. But something curious is happening on Sauchiehall Street. Hordes of hungry office workers are queuing down the street, waiting patiently in the torrid conditions, to order... a salad. It might seem out of step with the season, but this is the magic of Sprigg.

The concept is simple: salad bowls filled with fresh ingredients, made on the same day, customisable by individual preference. It was the brainchild of owner Tom McDermott, who himself worked in a city centre office and was disappointed by the lack of nourishing options available in his lunch hour. 

Rather amazingly, for a venue that specialises in the lunchtime trade, Sprigg doesn’t sell a single sandwich. Bread is on the menu, but only in the shape of a high-end focaccia served in accompaniment to its homemade soup. However, demand is soaring, upturning the traditional assumptions about an unhealthy Glaswegian diet.

“There is quite lazy stereotyping about Glaswegians and what they eat,” explains 35-year-old McDermott. “There’s a reputation for not having a good diet but that’s not our experience. We have two shops selling salad that are queued out of the door every day.”

(Image: Sprigg)

While Sprigg’s menu is undoubtedly healthier than most high-street offerings, McDermott stresses it is not a “health brand”. He says: “Our ethos is about balance. People can come here for something healthy, then have a treat later on.” 

It might be healthy but it helps that the salad at Sprigg is no limp, tasteless affair. The flavours are bold, with fresh vegetables alongside creamy potato salad, halloumi cheese, and zingy pastas. Everything has to taste good, says McDermott, and offer slow-release energy, a key cornerstone of the Sprigg message. There’s no crisps or snacks on the menu either. 

The idea, according to McDermott, is you only need to buy one Sprigg to fill you up for the whole working day. “I was working a busy office job in a bank,” he explains, “and would buy a sandwich and crisps at lunch and soon feel hungry again afterwards. I saw that there was a gap in the market for a ‘fast food’ operation that was committed to quality and nutrition.” 

He had no experience working with food but believed strongly in the vision for the brand he was going to create. The name Sprigg comes from a “sprig” of herbs, with an extra “G” added to represent Glasgow. The added bonus of the name is that it was easy to trademark, starting a recognisable brand identity that has established itself quickly in a congested market. McDermott is soon set to open his third branch, on Waterloo Street in Glasgow, having only been in operation for six years.

(Image: Sprigg)

Despite Sprigg’s success, it has not all been plain sailing. McDermott thought he would go out of business twice, once around three months after opening then again at the end of 2022 (due to rising costs influenced by the war in Ukraine). Sprigg had a tough time during the pandemic too – sales dropped 97% at one point – as a business that primarily caters to office workers. Fortunes have bounced back remarkably, although the impact of hybrid working lingers on: there’s significantly less custom on Mondays and Fridays (preferred home-working days for many) and the breakfast offering was ditched due to a lack in demand.

“When we were hit with rising costs we had to look at parts of the business that weren’t performing, and the footfall just wasn’t there in the mornings. What I like about being in a city centre is we get high volume, which is great for turning over fresh food because it perishes quickly. We only open for five hours a day: the food arrives in the morning and pretty much all of it is gone by the end of the day.”

One thing McDermott won’t compromise on is what he pays his staff. He is a living wage employer, a “big commitment” to a large wage bill that sees a considerable amount of the takings go to the staff. However, McDermott insists that his staff are rewarded, many of them full-time employees who have stuck with him through all of Sprigg’s highs and lows. “At the end of 2022, I was close to walking away from Sprigg and closing the business. I was struggling personally, financially, I had put so much energy into surviving Covid, and I didn’t have any left. 

“I met with my staff and told them the situation that we were in. I’m really transparent with them and said I would have to cut their hours. But I told them: ‘If you believe in me, stick with me and I’ll get you a pay rise as soon as possible.’ Within three months they received a 10% pay rise, then another 10% in 2023. And, by 2024, things were going so well that I was ready to take on a third location.”

This third Sprigg, set to open in January, will be just a stone’s throw from Central Station on Glasgow’s Waterloo Street. McDermott hopes the rejuvenation of the city’s financial district, as well as the mammoth Barclays building on the Clyde, will provide him with a ready-made customer base.

(Image: Sprigg)

“I would say the end of 2023 marked a change in the city centre population. We felt that in the business: the trains are busier, our catering orders have increased significantly. We have customers telling us that their workplace has said they have to be in three days a week, where it only used to be one. And you feel for them, if they want to work from home, but at the same time, for us as a business, it’s a good thing that people are being told to come back to work.”

The Sprigg business model – preparing food in a central kitchen then selling it fresh the same day – is clearly working. McDermott hopes to eventually replicate it in Edinburgh, believing that, as an independent business, he has an “edge” over chains such as Subway and Pret. And with the phenomenal popularity Sprigg has enjoyed so far, there’s no reason it couldn’t expand to further cities across the country.

You heard it here first. 

sprigg.co.uk/