Sweet green how to#

“Sweetgreen understands the power of great storytelling: the story of how they started, the story of each menu item,” Chon-Baker says. By contrast, the internationally reaching Shake Shack has over 500,000 fans on Instagram while competitors like Chopt ( 44k) and Just Salad ( 21k) don’t have nearly the same level of engagement. A sign of its influence? Sweetgreen has over 170,000 followers on Instagram. In between its annual festivals, the group collected over $100 million in venture capitalist funding, expanded to the West Coast and Chicago, partnered with high-profile chefs for seasonal menu items, solidified its partnerships with independent farmers, and launched an order-ahead app. ( Sweetlife ended its marquee run in 2016, but continues to host smaller shows.) Phoenix, Lana Del Rey, and the Weeknd hit the fest in subsequent years, generating an enormous amount of attention - on social media and in real life - for what was otherwise just another farm-to-table concept in an ocean of farm-to-table concepts. Four years into its run, with only a handful of locations open on the East Coast, the brand launched a music festival: Sweetlife kicked off in 2011 with the Strokes, Girl Talk, and Lupe Fiasco headlining.

Sweet green how to#

Sweetgreen wasn’t the first concept to offer a customizable salad menu, but it was the first to understand how to cultivate loyalty - by reaching its target audience outside of the restaurant. Sweetgreen’s $1 billion valuation comes after Fidelity Investments, one of the world’s largest asset management companies, poured another $200 million into the chain’s bank account. “The business is very healthy economically,” Jammet told Eater in early October, before the most recent raise. The salad chain’s finances are not public, but it is turning a profit. To date, Sweetgreen has collected $325 million from investors including Revolution Growth and Shake Shack founder Danny Meyer. founded by three recent Georgetown University graduates, Nicolas Jammet, Nathaniel Ru, and Jonathan Neman. Sweetgreen started life 11 years ago as a small restaurant in D.C. “They’ve built almost more of a social, political, cultural brand versus a fast-food occasion.” But how did Sweetgreen, a relatively small chain known for serving vegetables in oddly shaped bowls, become the first real restaurant unicorn? With investors chasing the next Shake Shack, companies like Sweetgreen (which has 90 locations) and Joe & the Juice (with nearly 300 locations and plans for a $1.5 billion IPO in 2019) seem to be rushing into high valuations just to drum up buzz. It reminds me of what happened with the dot com bust in 2001.” “These unicorn valuations are happening so often, everyone just shakes their head at it. “I mean, it’s insane,” says restaurant investor Elaine Chon-Baker of Mokja Ventures of the brand’s “unicorn” status - a distinction given to privately held start-up companies that reach a $1 billion market value. With the average Sweetgreen salad bowl clocking in between $9 and $14, that’s a lot of, er, green. Sweetgreen is reportedly using Spyce’s robotic technology to automate certain parts of its operations, developing its own robotic kitchen.The rumors started a few weeks back: Sweetgreen, the chain that dishes out kale caesar salads and quinoa-filled bowls to sad desk lunch crowds, was worth $1 billion. This past August, Sweetgreen bought Boston-based restaurant company Spyce, a fast-casual concept in Downtown Crossing and Harvard Square where robots assembled bowls for customers. At the RSVP link, guests can choose a ticketed option for an in-store preview, or opt to grab a $5 app credit to use sometime during opening week.įor every meal sold on opening day, May 24, Sweetgreen will donate a meal to About Fresh, a local organization that aims to bring healthy, fresh food to the communities that need it most.

The restaurant will host a preview day on May 23 before its May 24 grand opening-RSVP here.

With a BFA in painting from MassArt, Texeira has showcased her colorful, geometric work in other collaborations with brands like Keds. Sweetgreen partnered with Massachusetts-based artist Kristin Texeira for the location’s interior artwork. Other regular menu favorites at Sweetgreen include the kale caesar salad, guacamole greens, and the harvest bowl. The new Beacon Hill location debuts with Sweetgreen’s new spring menu, including their mushroom chimichurri bowl, the chimichurri protein plate, and limited custom bowls created by athletes Naomi Osaka and Devin Booker.