Kelcie Nollner began “mixing” as a child.
“I used to mix stuff together and bake it,” she says. “Just anything from the pantry. I really was just making a mess.”
Her concoctions would be “totally inedible — so flour, sugar, and ketchup.”
She and her daughter still get in the kitchen and do some “mixing” just for fun, but Nollner, 37, is also in the kitchen at her Wild Beet Salad Co. restaurant at 8176 Old Dexter Road.
She’s opening her second Wild Beet Salad Co. location in mid-January at the new Stomping Grounds recreation site (formerly Railgarten) in the old The Farmer restaurant space at 2158 Central Avenue near Cooper Street.
Growing up, Nollner wasn’t “interested in food” even though she liked to mix ingredients. “I just always loved clothes and putting outfits together.”
In 2008, Nollner moved from Memphis to New York, where she went to school to pursue fashion merchandising at LIM College, which focuses on the business of fashion and lifestyle. But her interest shifted while she was at the Manhattan-based school. “I ate at a salad place literally every day,” she says. “I was thinking of having a clothing boutique. I ended up with a salad boutique.”
Nollner moved back to Memphis after she graduated in 2011. “I kind of shifted gears. I thought I might want to do some event planning.”
She got an internship at Memphis Brooks Museum of Art and then she went on to work at Church Health for two years “while making a business plan for Wild Beet.”
The New York eateries she frequented were her inspiration. “I was in New York and eating at all the different salad places up there. One is Chopped. They have one in Nashville now. All have customer-crafted, build-your-own kind of assembly lines.”
She also liked Sweetgreen. Santa Fe Salad was one of her favorite places. They served a “spicy salad with avocado and fried onions and cherry tomatoes. So good.”
Nollner didn’t get serious about opening a salad restaurant until 2013. “I didn’t really know what my next move was.”
Yet she couldn’t “stop missing her salads,” so she decided to finally open her own salad restaurant.
Nollner opened her first restaurant in 2014 at the old Carrefour at Kirby Woods Shopping Center on Poplar Avenue and Kirby Parkway.
She originally called it “Lettuce Eat,” but she had to change the name because that was the name of a parent company of some restaurants in Chicago, Illinois.
When she had to move from Carrefour because of redevelopment, Nollner relocated her restaurant to Cordova.
Describing the Wild Beet Salad Co. concept, Nollner says, “We have a base of maybe 10 salads you can choose from, or you can create your own.”
Salads include “Can’t Be Beet,” which is spinach, beets, avocado, feta cheese, walnuts, mandarin oranges, and maple Dijon dressing. But there’s no “Wild Beet Salad” on the menu. Nollner just thought the name was “cute.”
The menu lists about 50 types of toppings, which include various types of lettuce as well as proteins, cheeses, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and “crunchies,” for creating build-your-own salads.
Caesar salad is still their most popular salad, but like their other salads, Nollner says, “People are just going crazy adding to them. Like chicken or steak or salmon.”
Nollner’s ideas stem from “eating at all the salad places” in New York. “And then I created all the dressings myself, so they’re all homemade and started in my kitchen.”
Her dressings include Honey Peanut Butter Vinaigrette, Ginger Soy, Maple Dijon, and Garlic Parmesan.
“I just one day got to mixing, and I made 15 dressings and put them in a cooler. And drove down to Huntsville and made my brother taste test with me. It went well.”
Her brother is a “grill master,” but, she says, “He’s not like a foodie.” She went to him for advice “just because he is one of my best friends and someone I trust completely.”
Wild Beet Salad Co. was a success from the get-go. “It was a hit right away because I did free salads for two days. I think that was what got us off to a good start. Oh, my gosh. We sold out of food both days. On the second day, we didn’t make it to dinner. We, basically, didn’t have anything else left.”
She served about 500 free salads.
Nollner found out about the Stomping Grounds restaurant site from founder Andrew Mathewes. “Andrew sent me a message and asked if I’d be interested. And I said, ‘Maybe.’”
When she saw the space, Nollner thought, “I can basically move right in. It has all the equipment.”
The new location, with its long bar, seats between 55 and 60 people. “It’s 2,700 square feet. My space in Carrefour was just under 2,000, so it’s bigger.”
As for changing the decor, Nollner says, “It doesn’t need much. I’m going to change out the light fixtures and get a fresh coat of paint. And I’m going to add a few pieces of equipment.”
The menu will “stay the same. You can still get all the favorites.”
She’s going to add a children’s menu because they’ll also be feeding the children visiting Stomping Grounds. “We could do a junior salad. I’m thinking more like grilled cheese and peanut butter and jelly, veggie sticks and ranch dip, turkey rollups, and Nutella with strawberries.”
The new location already has a little ice cream shop on one side. “So we’re going to add ice cream whenever Stomping Ground opens.”
Once Stomping Grounds opens, Wild Beet Salad Co. will feature breakfast as well as lunch and dinner.
Nollner originally wanted a Midtown location because that was her old stomping grounds. “I guess when I was in my younger years, in my 20s, I was just in Midtown, so that’s where I wanted to be.”
But she couldn’t find a space in Midtown. “The Carrefour space popped up, so I did Carrefour.”
She’s going to keep her original location. “We do a lot of catering. It’s a huge component of the business. And that kitchen is just perfect for that, so we’re going to keep that rocking and rolling in Cordova.”
Nollner also would like to have a Wild Beet Salad Co. in Germantown. “I haven’t given up hope on that.”
Adding live music to the new location isn’t out of the question, says Nollner, whose husband, John Nollner, was lead singer of the ’90s rock band Jerry Has No Skates. “John really wants me to do a Wild Beet karaoke night once a month, so we’ll see.”