‘Gronklane’: Salad restaurant welcomes Bucs, Patriots legend

For dozens of St. Pete locals, their midday salad turned out to be a luncheon of champions.

Surprised and delighted customers at Greenlane, a fast casual salad restaurant, got the VIP treatment Wednesday afternoon as Super Bowl-winning Tampa Bay Bucs tight end Rob Gronkowski – a company business partner – pitched in at the drive-thru at the newest location, at 8001 4th Street N.

Greenlane serves salads, wraps, protein boxes, cookies, snacks, slushies, smoothies and more.

To avoid a rush, Gronkowski’s presence was only announced on social media a few minutes before his arrival for the lunch rush.

Rob Gronkowski. Photo by Peter Wahlberg.

The St. Petersburg restaurant is Greenlane’s third location and first on the Pinellas side of Tampa Bay, according to co-founders Erica Spector Wishnow and Chris Kern. It’s proven the ideal launching pad for a healthy drive-thru salad concept.

“Tampa’s one of the fastest growing cities in the country,” Wishnow said. “A lot of new concepts start in Tampa, and we wanted to be part of the rising tide.”

“This is a wholly owned concept, not franchised,” she explained. “We saw a giant hole in the market for fresh, fast and affordable food.”

On the other side of the bustling kitchen, Gronkowski served salads and wraps with a side of selfies to a dozens-long line of cars.

The reason he partnered with Greenlane was simple. “When [Wishnow] introduced me to her concept, I fell in love with it,” Gronkowski said. “It’s fast, fresh, and affordable.” He specifically cited Greenlane’s use of olive oil, and how important it was to make healthy food available to people like him with a busy lifestyle.

Compared to the NFL, though, slinging salad was no easy task. “I’m ridiculed a little bit by the customers, telling me what I’m doing wrong … that I’m not swiping their cards fast enough,” he joked. “I feel like I’ve burned like, literally, 500 calories going back and forth, ducking my head under the drive thru.

“So I’m sore right now – but it’s OK, ‘cause I’m going to have a wrap on the ride home. I’ll have all my fresh ingredients, and I’m gonna be happy.”

Greenlane takes pride not just in the health of its food but in the ability to cater to customers’ needs, added Kern. “Everything’s made to order, so we can accommodate any dietary preference, for the most part,” he said. “One thing that’s very important to us is that we only use pure olive oil in our dressings and our cooking, so there’s no seed oils of any kind here.”

Potential further expansion opportunities include the entire bay area and, hopefully, the rest of Florida; Greenlane is actively building relationships with partners and developments for the next phase of its rapid growth. “Next year we’re opening five or six locations,” explained Kern, with the ultimate objective of 25 new stores in the next five years.

“And as you know, one of our partners also has a big Tampa presence …” added Wishnow, gesturing towards Gronkowski, standing a full head above the rest of the employees.

Chris Kern, left, Erica Spector Wishnow and Rob Gronkowski. Photo provided.