Why Sweetgreen Is Losing Millions of Dollars Every Month | WSJ The Economics Of

Sweetgreen’s fast-casual $15 salads have a cult following. But even as the salad chain has sold millions of these bowls to its customers, net profits still remain elusive with so much overhead. The company’s value has dropped about three-quarters since its peak and it’s been operating with significant losses every month.

WSJ explores the headwinds Sweetgreen faces in turning profitable.

0:00 Changing the fast food system
0:48 Expenses
3:04 Cutting back
4:20 Automation and loyalty programs
6:05 What’s next?

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#Sweetgreen #Salad #WSJ

[Tom_from_Midtown]

A major point they didn't touch on here: sweetgreen salads are genuinely delicious. All the thought that they put into details like food sourcing, tech integration, and funding, they clearly put just as much research into recipe combinations that I can't get enough of. As much as I'll crave a cheeseburger or pizza from a favorite restaurant, I crave numerous versions of sweetgreen's salads just as much (The fish taco, in particular, is next level).

[OnlyABlemish]

The CEOs ability to pack corporate buzzwords in every sentence is S tier 😂

[Lexlugr]

I think they should go hard after the airport restaurant space with a reduced # of SKUs with ready to go offerings for the more popular combinations. Can't think of a more optimized place for their product and clientele

[viktorias]

I worked in Sweetgreen when the pandemic was settling down. Honestly the best work place experience. Employees were treated with respect and understanding, our manager was great. Eating a salad every time I was at work was a huge upside too, Harvest Bowl and Fish Taco were few of my favorites. You could tell the people who work there are passionate about what they believe in with the quality of ingredients and taste.

[gcanyon]

Kudos to Sweetgreens for sticking with high quality ingredients. Sadly, that’s a rarity these days. I hope they can find a way to increase profitability in other ways without doing what many restaurants do — source lower end ingredients.

[amapparatistkwabena]

I've walked past Sweetgreen in DC for the last two years; now that I've watched this story, I''m going to actually walk "into" one this weekend. I had no idea that their model was so great. I'm willing to pay for good food---especially when the company isn't trying to get over on me.

[bigbro]

As a restaurant owner, Salads are a biggest necessary pain, they take alot of work, that outsiders underestimate. The price of vegetables is always volatile. A good rule of thumb for fruits and veggies is when the price goes up the quality goes down.

[lovinglife]

I really love their food. I ate it a lot when I had to travel. I wish there were more locations across the country, because even fried fast food is about $15 anyways.

[bojack]

Companies like this need to be supported as most food chains serve unhealthy chemically treated junk.

[SoloJedi_]

It's a shame that a salad can be $20 but a burger and fries can be $3-6

[MilkBoy]

I'm just a nobody but expanding outside of major cities feels like a bad idea if they're already losing money. $15+ for a salad is a tough sell for a lot of people. But living in NYC, I bought a similar salad from Just Salad literally yesterday for ~$16 because I'm used to spending that much on food. Carol from Sioux Falls SD is not. Too many companies like this start rapid expansion when they can't even make their core business and existing locations solid.

[rhynochi]

I really enjoy a lot of these American salad or salad/rice bowl places like sweetgreens and Cava and others. It's something I find super unique having lived abroad a little and finding salads pretty basic and items that make salads interesting (creamy but protein rich items like avocadoes or hummus, variety of toppings that add crunch). I even hear from international friends they don't like salads and that eating a salad is not filling or are just boring. I hope they can continue figuring out their business models so they can maintain relevance and profitability.

[the_adc]

I worked at Sweet green for about a year and well it wasn't exactly the best experience but I feel like it had more to do with the managers. Either way the food is about as fresh as you can get and it comes at a cost. Most of the time where I was at, we would run out of food to actually make. The AI that tells you how much food to make is impractical especially considering the rushes we had. So yeah you would usually have to cook the meats and veggies based on your own experience. I will say this. The Amount of want for these salads are extremely high. But it seems like they are trying to cut costs by limiting the amount of people working at the store making things extremely stressful when even on thing goes out of plan. The stores are only as good as the people running it. Food is great and healthy that's for sure.

[Burnenwhysee]

Sweetgreen is basically venture capital subsidizing my already expensive lunch. The food tastes great at least.

[kat-thee]

As a huge fan of sweetgreens, I hope that they will continue to be an available chain for years to come. They are one of the few places that actually offer such high quality and actually good tasting salads. It may not be an everyday meal for me due to the price but I always seem to crave it here and then and love coming back to it.

[vampiredinosaur]

I don’t normally eat out but twice a month I pick up a warm bowl from my local Sweetgreen and it’s always so good, so fresh. I hope they can keep going because I love their food.

[ggangpae]

This CEO is all over the place. Doesn't mean his company won't succeed. He's just dividing his attention in too many areas. He should focus on scalability and net profit first and not going under rather than automating salad making and his loyalty program

[archangel]

Wonderful food chain company with high quality food. I sure hope they're able to pull through. Their salads are second to none in both flavor and quality. I'll keep supporting them every chance I get.

[OhioVworld]

Sweet greens can work where folks can pay 18+ dollars for a high quality meals at a high volume. This limits the locations that will be feasible. I could see 250 locations nationally, but if they are going for thousands of locations, I think it’ll be hard to make it work.

[csldc]

I live in DC and LOVE their delicious salads. Their dressings can be mixed together to create unique flavors-- which I consider genius. I hope they're around for the long haul.