ATLANTA — Wendy’s is revamping its salad offerings for the first time in nearly a decade after surveys of 13,000 consumers showed they wanted the chain to stand for “real” food.

“In this mass-produced, overly processed world, people have a strong desire for real food, prepared the real way,” said Ken Calwell, the chief marketing officer at Wendy’s, which is part of Atlanta-based Wendy’s/Arby’s Group. “It sounds easy to do. It’s actually very difficult to do.”

Wendy’s plans to officially introduce the salads — including a variety with avocado and another with apples and pecans — on July 19 with television and radio commercials and print ads.

In a nod to the real food movement, materials plastered on the walls of Wendy’s stores and pamphlets dropped in salad bags will tell diners where the ingredients are grown and describe the 11 varieties of greens. “People are reading the ingredient labels more than they ever have,” Calwell said. “They want to know where food is sourced from. People are digging into more detail.”

Leader in salad sales

Wendy’s first introduced salad bars in its restaurants in 1979, and the company became the market leader in salad sales among its burger-selling peers. In 2002, it introduced its “Garden Sensations” line and enjoyed a big bump in sales. “It was a big hit for us,” Calwell said. But it has arguably become much harder to impress fast-food diners with salads in the intervening years. You can get salads at McDonald’s, Burger King and Chick-fil-A.

Despite the proliferation of options, the salad market has waned in recent years. Servings of main dish salads fell 7 percent and side salads dropped 8 percent in the year ending in April 2010, according to NPD Group. By comparison, total restaurant traffic and fast-food traffic were down 3 percent in that period.

It took Wendy’s about a year and a half to bring the new salads to fruition. It tested them in Richmond, Nashville, Salt Lake City and Columbus, Ohio, after studying the salads offered by higher-end cafes in New York, Los Angeles and Atlanta.

“This is an important one,” Calwell said of the launch. “During the year, you’ll have A, B and C launches. This is clearly an A launch.”

Breakfast

Wendy’s is also testing breakfast again across the country. Chief Marketing Officer Ken Calwell said he expects to know more about moving into that growing restaurant segment as early as later this year.

Breakfast is one of the bright spots for the industry, which has been hurting as people pare back on their spending in the sluggish economy. It’s less expensive than other meals and quick, appealing to people on the go in the mornings. According to market research firm The NPD Group, morning meal traffic rose on average 2 percent over the past five years, while lunch visits were flat and dinner fell 2 percent.

Breakfast will feature “real” ingredients too, such as applewood smoked bacon and fresh eggs. Calwell declined to say what would be on the breakfast menu, but CEO Roland Smith said earlier this year the company expects breakfast items to be grilled egg sandwiches, oatmeal bars, roasted potatoes and fresh fruit.

He said the company will take its time getting into the growing breakfast segment because it wants to approach the business correctly.

“Our belief is even though it’s tougher and takes longer, it’s worth it,” he said. “We want a breakfast where people go, ‘Wow, here are real cracked eggs.’”