This Upcoming Comptoir Will Do Salads Based On Your Personality

A new salad bar is coming to the Plateau very soon, and is promising to offer salads tailored to customers based on their personality types.

Hillary Salad is the name (Hillary’s, if you like), and it’s setting up on St-Denis Street near Roy (the exact address is still to be announced) from the duo of Hillary Swieca Blumkina and her husband. The company has been mixing up salads since October but only as a “ghost kitchen” operation with a few employees, doing catering and advance orders (including doing some meals for soccer team Montreal Impact), but in February will open up to the public.

So, the personality-based salads: Swieca Blumkina put together a range of salads, with each corresponding to a personality type. The personality types were taken from the Enneagram theory of personality types — there are nine types in total, including the “achiever”, the “helper”, and the “individualist”. Swieca Blumkina explained to Eater how the menu might work:

“The best example is the Type 8s. They’re very challenging, they like crazy stuff, Donald Trump is the perfect example. How do you challenge a type 8? You give them anything out of the norm, like a spicy salad to see if you’re strong enough. The type 8 will buy that salad, and they’ll never admit it to your face but they want to get it to see if they can handle the spice.”

In contrast, another personality, the “achiever” might be drawn to a different combination, perhaps with superfoods.

“They like to show and tell, they love to impress...to get the foods that you can’t pronounce.”

The list of personality types and salads is online — for the record, the angry salad is Mexican-style with black beans, tortilla chips, and a spicier dressing, and the achiever’s features quinoa and lentils.

Hillary Salads

Hillary Salad

Swieca Blumkina says that she’s been a fan of Enneagram since discovering a book about it, and finding ways to apply it in her real life, to positive effect.

“In the right hands it can help people become friendlier with other people, understand other personalities, it’ll improve relationships, you know how to talk to them.”

“You can go home and think about how it works for you as a person, it helps a lot in business, in life, in school, it’s a tool to help you develop your skills.”

Of course, customers won’t be required to pick a salad that fits their personality — and there’s an option to build a custom bowl, or choose add-ons. Beyond salad, there will be a selection of soups and rice paper wraps available.

The space itself won’t exactly be a restaurant, Swieca Blumkina says — they’re taking advantage of the old building’s character to make a more relaxed space with couches. It’ll even lean a little towards being like a café, with wifi and charging outlets on hand — and some details about the Enneagram system for those who are unfamiliar.

The official opening is set for mid-February, but Hillary’s should start selling salads from the location at the start of the month.

• Hillary Salad [Official]
• Enneagram personality types [The Enneagram Institute]