'Are you going to change the name?': Chopt is no longer chopping its salads by default, and people are furious

Chop't/Facebook

Chopt is no longer chopping salads unless customers ask for it.

• Chopt has ended its policy of chopping all customers' salads by default - a move that seems to betray its very name. 
• Instead, the chain has switched to pre-chopped ingredients, and customers have to ask for their salads to be chopped.
• A manager at a Richmond, Virginia, Chopt location told customers that the new chopping policy was being implemented to speed up the ordering process.

Chopt is making a change that seems to violate the name of the salad chain. 

The salad chain has stopped chopping all of customers' salads by default, instead using pre-chopped ingredients. Customers can still get their salads chopped, but they need to ask for the preparation. 

A manager at a Richmond, Virginia, Chopt location told customers on Tuesday that the new chopping policy was being implemented to speed up the ordering process.

Chopt's salad preparation - which utilized a curved mezzaluna knife to chop up all the ingredients - has long set the chain apart from competitors. 

Some customers have taken to social media to complain about the change. 

"So is the name changing now that you don't actually chop the salad?" one person wrote on Chopt's Facebook page. "Everything is prechopped and the lettuce is added last so you barely get any of it."

"Found out Chopt stopped Chopping your salad today," another person commented on Facebook. "So because of this they just lost 4 customers. ... now they don't chop anymore I won't go there. Its not the same!!"

Chopt did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment. On Twitter, the chain said that employees are "happy to chop, just ask!" 

In February, Forbes reported that Chopt - which was founded in 2001 - has 57 locations, opening five new restaurants in 2018. In 2015, private-equity firm L Catterton became the majority owner of the chain.