It was the year 2000, and John Scardapane was in his salad days leading Saladworks LLC.
The phrase “salad days†derives from a line in the first act of William Shakespeare’s “Antony and Cleopatra,†in which Cleopatra laments her earlier involvement with Julius Caesar:
“My salad days, when I was green in judgment, cold in blood…â€
Scardapane isn’t cold-blooded, but the former chef was green in judgment as he led the restaurant chain he founded in 1986 toward a franchising concept that could serve as a springboard to rapid growth, but required the corporate leadership to provide a strong, stable support system for prospective store owners. It was something Scardapane had yet to address.