Sweetgreen

Sweetgreen
Private
Industry Fast casual dining
Founded August 2007 (2007-08)
Founders Nicolas Jammet
Nathaniel Ru
Jonathan Neman
Headquarters Culver City, California, U.S.
Number of locations
 75 (2018)
Areas served
 California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.
Number of employees
 Over 3,500
Website sweetgreen.com
The original sweetgreen, located on historic M Street in Washington, D.C., was founded in 2007.
Nicolas Jammet and Jonathan Neman in front of their Dupont Circle Sweetgreen restaurant, 2014

Sweetgreen (stylized as sweetgreen, previously swɘetgreen) is an American fast casual restaurant chain that serves salads. It was founded in August 2007 by Nicolas Jammet, Nathaniel Ru, and Jonathan Neman, three months after they graduated from Georgetown University's undergraduate business school.[1] Corporate headquarters moved to the Los Angeles area from Washington in 2016.[2] As of October 2017, it had 77 stores in operation across the United States, in California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.[3] The company has over 3,500 employees.[4]

Sweetgreen's Food and Beverage Team work with suppliers from around the country. The team visits farmers to ensure the product's quality meets the company's standards.

The seasonal menu is a rotation of three regional, seasonal dishes in each market.[5][6]

Sweetgreen's executive chef, Michael Stebner, has been with the company since 2014.[7]

The line features over 30 items that rotate throughout the year.

Salad collaborations

Dan Barber and Blue Hill

In the summer of 2015 Sweetgreen partnered with Chef Dan Barber to create Blue Hill's "wastED" salad which uses food "scraps that are commonly thrown away. The purpose of the collaboration was to teach consumers about the country's food waste problem and encourage people to use plant parts that are often "wasted."[8]

Jon and Vinny

Upon entering the Los Angeles market in 2015, Sweetgreen teamed up with the dynamic chef duo Jon and Vinny to create the "Za'atar Salad." A portion of the sales went directly to support the local partner for Sweetgreen in schools.[9]

Kendrick Lamar

In 2015, in the lead up to the Sweetlife music festival, Sweetgreen collaborated with musician Kendrick Lamar leading up to his second appearance at the sweetlife music festival. The salad, named "Beets Don't Kale My Vibe," was a pun playing off one of Lamar's most well known lyrics. The collaboration received an enormous amount of press and coverage with over 100 articles featuring the salad, and 10% of proceeds from the salad went to FoodCorps to connect kids to real food.[10]

Momofuku

Sweetgreen collaborated with David Chang of Momofuku to create a new salad dressing that was featured in the New York locations during the summer of 2014. The "Hozon Salad" used Momofuku's sunflower hosanna in the dressing on a bowl of kale, sunflower sprouts, kale, roasted chicken, onions, carrots, cucumbers, missed seeds and basil.[11]

Mark Bittman

Cookbook author and New York Times columnist Mark Bittman worked with Sweetgreen in the Spring of 2014 to create the April VB6 Salad. Bittman created the VB6 diet where you eat only vegan before 6pm in order to lose weight and "restore health."[12]

Funding

Sweetgreen raised its initial $375,000 of startup funding from investors including the three founders' parents, Joe Bastianich, Seth Goldman, and Washington's Latino Economic Development Center.[1][13] In 2013, it accepted a $22 million investment from Revolution Growth, a venture capital fund founded by Steve Case.[14] In 2014, it received $18.5 million in investment from Revolution Growth. In 2015, it raised an additional $35 million in investment under the lead of T. Rowe Price with contributions from existing investor Revolution Growth.[15] The company has raised over $95 million to date.

Sweetlife Festival

Sweetlife Food and Music Festival 2015, Merriweather Post Pavilion - Columbia, MD

The sweetlife festival is Sweetgreen's music and food festival that celebrates music, food and community. The festival brings the company's sense of "passion and purpose", blending music with culinary partners who share sweet green's commitment to sustainability, transparent values, and community. Vendors have included local chefs, like Erik Bruner-Yang, José Andrés, and Nick Wiseman.

The Sweetlife Festival takes place at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. It includes performances from artists and chefs, including performances by The 1975, Halsey, Flume, and 1980s favorite Blondie. The festival also features a handful of local DC-area artists and chefs.

2016 was the seventh year sweetlife has been held at Merriweather Post Pavilion and produced in continued partnership with I.M.P., an independent concert promoter and event production company.[16]

Headliners

References

  1. 1 2 Witchel, Alex (27 June 2013). "Inheriting the restaurant gene". The New York Times. Retrieved November 16, 2014.
  2. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/abhabhattarai. "Sweetgreen to move headquarters to L.A." Washington Post. Retrieved 2018-09-20.
  3. ↑ http://www.sweetgreen.com/locations/
  4. ↑ "Sweetgreen raises more lettuce to continue expansion". The Washington Post.
  5. ↑ "How Sweetgreen is claimed to be redefining healthy fast food". CBS News.
  6. ↑ Goldberg-Goff, Karen. "Sweetgreen takes eco-friendly approach". The Washington Times.
  7. ↑ Carman, Tim. "Sweetgreen launches test kitchen at its Dupont location". The Washington Post.
  8. ↑ Casey, Nell. "Trendy Salad Chain Sweetgreen Now Selling Salad Made From Food Scraps". Gothamist. Archived from the original on 2016-03-11.
  9. ↑ Josh, Scherer. "Bowling for Salad: Jon and Vinny Are Going Fast-Casual With Sweetgreen". Los Angeles Magazine.
  10. ↑ Natalie, Weiner. "Kendrick Lamar Gets On-Brand Salad Called 'Beets Don't Kale My Vibe'". Billboard.
  11. ↑ Lo, Karen. "David Chang on Momofuku and Sweetgreen Collaboration". The Daily Meal.
  12. ↑ Embiricos, George. "Mark Bittman Created A Special Salad For Special Salad Restaurant Sweetgreen". Food Republic.
  13. ↑ Bhattarai, Abha (16 June 2013). "From salad shop to music festival, Sweetgreen branches out". The Washington Post. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  14. ↑ Alden, William (4 December 2014). "Revolution Fund Invests in Sweetgreen Salad Chain". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  15. ↑ Stone, Madeline. "Hot new salad chain Sweetgreen just raised a fresh $35 million". Business Insider.
  16. ↑ Ramanathan, Lavanya. "Sweetlife Festival returns May 14 with Eagles of Death Metal, Grimes and the 1975". The Washington Post.
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