HOWLAND, Ohio – The third location of Sweet Melissa’s Good Eats is now open.

Could a fourth one be in the offing? It’s possible.

The newest restaurant in the chain is at 8220 E. Market St., in the Giant Eagle shopping center across from Howland High School.

It features a menu that is just about the same as the original site in Boardman and the second shop in Columbiana. Large salads, wraps and sliders that use the freshest and highest quality vegetables, cheeses and meats and dressings are the forte. Soups are also offered.

All of the stores do a thriving takeout business.

The Howland location is the largest of the three shops, with a dining area that can seat almost 70. The room is cleverly cut into halves, with a half-wall and decorative small sliding doors atop it that can be closed to turn the far half into a private meeting room.

The meeting room portion usually remains open during the day to handle overflow seating during the lunch rush.

Melissa Poland is the namesake, visionary and owner-operator of Sweet Melissa’s. 

She started the business almost nine years ago with the original shop at 6810 Market St., Boardman. It was popular from the start and gets many repeat customers.

The secret is a simple one.

“It’s called quality and consistency,” Poland said. “I’ve told people many times, the salad [today] is the same quality” of what it was when we started. She has no plan to ever change that approach. “It’s important that my customers know they’re going to get the same exact product every time,” she said.

Poland is at her shops on a daily basis to ensure quality and consistency. Her husband, Brian, who serves a more behind the scenes role with the company, says there is another reason why customers return.

“They keep coming back because of her,” he said, pointing to his wife.

With three locations and a reputation that gives any new shop a strong likelihood of success, Sweet Melissa’s is already thinking about a fourth shop.

Hermitage, Pa., would be a good site for one, according to Brian.

“We’ll see how this one goes,” he said, referring to the Howland spot. “If it does as well as the last two, then for sure there will be an expansion.”

The Polands are also considering franchise opportunities for people who would want to open a Sweet Melissa’s. 

“We’re dipping our toe into it and learning about it,” Brian said. “Stay tuned.”

He played a key role in expanding to Howland. 

“With the [customers] we receive in Boardman and Columbiana, we knew from all the traffic we get from Trumbull County that this was going to happen eventually and [that Howland] would be a really good fit,” Poland said. 

Brian had been scouring real estate sites in Trumbull for a while and kept his eye on the Giant Eagle plaza.

“My husband found this property,” Poland said. “He’d been watching the area for a while. When he saw the [space available] sign go up, he called, and the plan was put in motion at that point.”

The menu at Sweet Melissa’s relies mainly on salads. The list includes Thai Chicken, Tuscan Chicken, Fire Joe and many others.

To see the complete menu, click HERE.

New options occasionally are added to the list, with ideas usually coming from customers. Poland is expecting the Howland site to soon have a unique new salad of its own.

“Some of the greatest ideas for salads have been born of my customers,” she said. “We’ll see what Howland brings us. There’s a salad for this place. … We just have to figure it out.”

Sweet Melissa’s in Howland is open from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

While the shop is closed on weekends and in the evenings, the private space can be rented during those times.

Pictured at top: Melissa Poland holds the large scissors that she used to cut the ribbon for her new Sweet Melissa’s restaurant in Howland on Thursday.