Why Sweetgreen Is Losing Millions

In this video we look at the premium salad chain Sweetgreen particularly focusing on their difficult path to profitability.



#Wallstreetmillennial #sweetgreen

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Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0
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0:00 - 2:25 Intro
2:26 - 4:58 Founding of Sweetgreen
4:59 - 9:10 Too Niche?
9:11 - 11:56 Path to Profitability
11:57 Future Outlook

[maemorri]

"They claim their restaurants are profitable, just not profitable enough to cover corporate overhead." That's what we old economy boomers would call "not profitable".

[cyuzna]

I don’t understand how the video keeps talking about how expensive the ingredients and the process is, then keeps calling the salads “overpriced.” Especially given that McDonalds / Chipotle are same-priced. Also, calorie/dollar is a stupid metric. People in this country aren’t starved of calories. The low calories are part of the point. People are looking for low-calorie, nutritious meals.

[brianfong]

8:00 it isn't about calories per dollar for the finance bros
Low calories is a feature, they want to save on calories and get fit since they sit around all day. Either that or they are gonna splurge on a calorie rich dinner.

[newyorkvisionary]

It’s hard to be profitable when selling 25% on third party platforms. Their fees are high and convoluted.

[codycast]

Are there that many “tech bros” that are eating $15 salads? Sounds like something an “HR sister” would order.

[Crypto_Circus]

As someone who goes to SG I can tell you the name is the problem. CAVA has longer lines in the Mall I go that has a SG also, people love meat and SG is seen as a salad place. They took away shrimp years ago and I kind of stopped going after that. The meals are fine but more healthy options popping up it will hard, CAVA, Chipotle, Tender Greens, and local spots. Also I noticed SG has more employees per store than CAVA (sometimes twice as many) that handles more volume. So something is not adding up, the model needs to be tweaked.

[JohnSmith-hocu]

I never heard of Sweetgreen. I clicked on this video thinking it was a cannabis dispensary chain. Maybe they could combine selling salads and cannabis in one place. That might be protitable.

[Jeez]

How is stock still trading at 7x its revenue while bleeding $$ 😂

[michaele.strasser]

At least our 3 smiling guys are selling their own shares into the market. Congratulations for making some VC clowns believe that selling salads is a good business idea. More than 200 stores and still not profitable? Well done boys.

[tonywong]

It's hard to attract customers without many meat options. When SG came out I thought they were a vegan restaurant which made it unappealing to most customers. But refining their supply chain and adding more protein options with grain options does certainly entice me to eat SG more...but not often since $15 per bowl keeps me away from any place not just SG.

[creepinwhileyousleepin]

I love big salads from places, so long as they're doing it right. Cava and this other chain in my area Salad and Go are very lackluster but there are some sandwich and deli places that make great ones, and Flower Child isn't bad either. Hot take I guess but 15 bucks for a salad that has locally sourced produce and hopefully not seed oil based dressing isn't completely unreasonable, especially if you tend to go out of your way to eat healthier.

[obsidianjane]

@5:20 Not a great analysis. You aren't really comparing products in the same niche and the metric (calories) isn't relevant. The only ppl who care about calories are those who want the fewest. No one goes into a restaurant and buys per calorie.
You should have compared similar products like a "McSalad" etc. The price difference would still be significant, but much smaller prob.

[Woisjla]

Higher-ups can't buy 22 cars a year 🥺

[maemorri]

8:30, when you mention Chipotle prepares their food on site, you mentioned that most of the calories in the burrito are made up of rice and beans. You mention the meat is lower quality cuts. But you didn't mention the meat is prepared off site, transported in a vacuum-sealed bag and reheated.

[grega]

We used to call getting salad for lunch the sadness bowl. It’s really so you can bring back to your desk to scarf down and still work or to a conference meeting and not feel self conscience eating in front of others

[jordana]

YOU SHOULD DO THE RENTAL CAR COMPANY GETAROUND.

[MikeyDrite]

I feel like the whole calorie versus cost is a bit of an overreach to make it seem drastically more expensive than McDonald's when it's literally almost the same price. Especially when you consider we definitely don't have a problem of people not getting enough calories in this country. Almost no one goes to McDonald's and gets a burger they get a burger fries and soda. While plenty of people eating salad would be perfectly happy with just getting a water.

[vanesslifeygo]

Sweetgreen is a business I didn't even know existed until a few weeks even though I live near several of them.

[TheSushiandme]

Funny how in was looking to go there. Didn't know it was a fanchise/corp

[abc]

I don't really care about calorie per dollar, and honestly in the country where obesity rates are literally epidemic proportions having low calorie meals is probably a good thing. I've eaten here several times when I lived in a big city and I will say that I think their portions are actually TOO big for the main salads. Every single time I've eaten there I've not been able to finish a salad and have gotten two if not three meals out of leftovers. Then that $15 price point becomes $7.50 for two meals, or $5 for three meals, which is not bad for eating out.