Sweetgreen

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. Sweetgreen's corporate headquarters moved to the Los Angeles area from Washington, D.C., in 2016. As of May 2021, it had 122 stores in operation in twelve states across the United States, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Texas, Florida and the District of Columbia. The company has over 4,000 employees.
Customers can order sweetgreen in-store or through their app for pickup, delivery and Outpost as well as use their app to pay for in-store ordering (scan to pay). They are also on various marketplaces.
In November 2018, it was announced that Sweetgreen had raised in funding. Sweetgreen was name one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies in 2019 and 2020, and won the 2020 Webby Award for Food & Drink in the category Apps, Mobile & Voice.
Menu and digital app.
The seasonal menu is a rotation of three regional, seasonal dishes in each market.
Sweetgreen serves up a variety of salads, warm bowls, plates, sides, and shareables. Their seasonal menu rotates 5 times a year, based on seasonality, and location - offering customers a variety of fresh produce in their peak ripeness no matter what time of year. Some of the most popular menu items include the Kale Caesar and the Harvest Bowl. 
In January of 2021, Sweetgreen announced the launch of its take on the beloved Crispy Chicken Salad. To celebrate, the fast casual restaurant teamed up with Peloton instructor and TEDx speaker Ally Love, YouTuber + top live streamer Valkyrae, and viral Houston Ballet Soloist Harper Watters to create their own custom crispy collections - only available on the sg app. 
Sweetgreen has invested heavily into their app experience. The brand launched their mobile app in 2015, and has continued to update the experience for guests. Perks of the app include ordering ahead of time, selecting dietary restrictions, ability to share nutritional info from the Sweetgreen app to Apple’s health app, and paying with the app to earn rewards. In May of 2020, the brand added order status tracking and push notifications in real time, allowing the customers to know exactly when their order is received, being prepared, and ready for pickup. 
In January of 2020, Sweetgreen launched its own native delivery service within their app. Customers can order Sweetgreen for delivery through the brand’s mobile app and website. 
Collaborations.
Naomi Osaka.
In May of 2021, Sweetgreen announced their first-ever national athlete ambassador and their youngest investor to date, Naomi Osaka. The partnership also marks the first food collaboration for Osaka, a three-time Grand Slam singles champion, philanthropist, and advocate. Players like Sweetgreen - with the help of like-minded supporters like Osaka - are redefining what that industry will look like. Osaka is a longtime Sweetgreen customer and is a firm believer that the food she eats fuels her on and off the court. For the tennis star, that means eating food that treats you right physically and mentally, a message that she hopes to spread to her young followers through this partnership. Osaka worked with Sweetgreen’s culinary team to design a custom bowl that will debut nationwide and will only be available via the Sweetgreen app for pickup or delivery. The Naomi Osaka Bowl, her typical go-to order, features warm quinoa, baby spinach, cilantro, tomato, tortilla chips, raw carrots, goat cheese, blackened chicken, lime-cilantro jalapeno vinaigrette, avocado, and Sweetgreen hot sauce. In celebration of their partnership, Sweetgreen and Naomi, jointly supported The Asian American Foundation in their effort to advance equity in the AAPI community.
David Chang.
In February 2020, Sweetgreen partnered with Momofuku’s David Chang to launch the Tingly Sweet Potato and Kelp Bowl. The collaboration not only brought much-needed business to the Maine economy, whose lobstermen’s catch was down 40% last year, but also helped reverse the acidification of these waters as well as the negative effects that a lower pH has on marine life through the use of sustainable kelp. The bowl featured kale, marinated kelp, seasoned white sweet potato, roasted chicken, tomatoes, cabbage, wild rice, a lime-cashew dressing, and two seasoning blends, including Momofuku’s Tingly Seasoned Salt.
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."
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.
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.
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.
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."
Nancy Silverton.
James Beard Award Winning Chef, Nancy Silverton, partnered with Sweetgreen to create a limited edition chopped salad for the brand in 2018. Her famous recipe includes radicchio, chickpeas, pepperoncini, provolone, and salami.
Michael Solomonov.
In 2017, the fast-casual chain teamed up with Michael Solomonov to create the Zahav Bowl - a bowl exclusively available for the Philadelphia area. The bowl was a mix of hot chickpeas, kale, turmeric roasted cauliflower, roasted chicken, shredded carrots, almonds, and Sweetgreen's housemade Hot Sauce. The bowl was finished with two toppings developed by Solomonov: dill and mint combo and a lemon dill tahini dressing.
Danny Bowein.
The Mission Chinese Food owner collaborated with Sweetgreen for a limited time ‘Tiger Bowl’ in 2017. The bowl included organic spinach, organic wild rice, shiso, shredded carrots, cucumbers, spicy sunflower seeds, pears, kimchi, sesame roasted tofu, nori furikake, and savory tiger dressing. 
Liz Prueitt.
Tartine Manufactory’s Liz Prueitt teamed up with the fast casual brand in 2017 to create a ‘purple saturated’ bowl with purple carrots, baby greens, romaine, raw peppers, shaved radish, raw beets, goat cheese, basil, and hemp seeds dressed with an apple cider vinaigrette.
Ken Oringer.
In 2017, Ken Oringer brought the ‘Toro Bowl’ to Sweetgreen’s Boston locations. Inspired by the Spanish flavor combinations at Oringer’s South End restaurant Toro, the bowl featured quinoa, hot chickpeas, kale, roasted potatoes, radishes, basil, lemon, and feta cheese. It also comes with two new items he developed specifically for Sweetgreen: a jalapeño yogurt dressing and roasted corn with tomatoes and jalapeños.
Chris Shepherd.
Upon opening in Houston in 2019, Sweetgreen partnered with James Beard Award winner Chris Shepherd to create the Southern Chop Bowl. A riff on the classic Caesar, the salad featured blackened chicken thighs, apples, raw corn, tomatoes, shredded cabbage, red onions, organic arugula, chopped romaine, pimento cheese, pecans, topped with a vinaigrette.
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. In 2013, it accepted a $22 million investment from Revolution Growth, a venture capital fund founded by Steve Case. 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. The company has raised over $95 million to date.
The startup recently raised a $200 million Series H round led by Fidelity that valued the company at more than $1 billion. This round brings Sweetgreen's total amount of funding to $365 million.
In the fall of 2019, sweetgreen raised an additional $150 million Series I round led by Lone Pine Capital and D1 Capital partners, bringing the company’s total valuation to $1.6 Billion.
Supply Chain.
sweetgreen goes to great lengths to work with farmers who are doing the right thing and source locally wherever possible. Sweetgreen believes in a transparent supply chain - currently working with over 250 farmers nationwide. In their stores you can see the sources listed on the wall outlining where each ingredient gets from farm to bowl. 
In February 2021, sweetgreen announced their commitment to becoming Carbon Neutral by 2027. The six-year plan of attack: Reducing their carbon by 50% and meaningfully offsetting where reduction isn’t yet possible. As part of sweetgreen’s ongoing commitment to sustainability, in 2020 the company also partnered with FootPrint, to roll out PFAS-free, compostable packaging.
As they continue to scale, sweetgreen is reimagining what the future of the food system can look like. 
Social Impact.
sweetgreen has been dedicated to leading with purpose and making sustainable decisions. For every bowl sold on grand opening day with every new restaurant opening, sweetgreen donates a bowl to a local impact partner committed to alleviating food insecurity in the community. Sweetgreen also provides meals to help fuel local efforts working to further racial equity and create sustainable change, such as BLM chapters, grassroots organizers, and pro-bono lawyers. 
During the onset of the COVID19 crisis, sweetgreen announced the launch of the sweetgreen Impact Outpost Fund in partnership with World Central Kitchen to deliver free meals to hospital workers on the frontlines. In 2020, the company served more than 400,000 meals to over 400 hospitals nationwide.
Sweetgreen made it easier for employees to vote in the 2020 election by providing up to 3 hours of paid time off for all hourly employees to either vote early or vote on election day. The chain has also created a registration portal and QR code in partnership with When We All Vote, making it easier for team members to register. 
In 2019, sweetgreen partnered with FoodCorps, a national nonprofit dedicated to connecting kids to healthy food in schools to further food education. Sweetgreen committed $1 million over two years to support FoodCorps’ hands-on gardening and cooking classes, as well as pilot programs to introduce kids to real food in innovative ways such as flavor bars and taste tests, amplify student choice and voice, and reimagine the school cafeteria environment.
In 2018, sweetgreen partnered with Hank’s Mini Market, a family owned corner store in L.A.’s Hyde Park neighborhood, a known food desert, to help bring healthier options to its customers as part of their work to expand food access.
Sweetlife Festival.
Between 2011 and 2016, Sweetgreen hosted an annual music and food festival at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland.
Notable Press.
sweetgreen has been recognized as one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies 2 years in a row, Restaurant Business Tech Accelerator of the Year, Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas 2 years in a row, Webby Award Winner, Digiday Awards Finalist,Comparably’s Best CEO’s for Women, and Inc. Best in Business Winner