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

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

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

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).

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

If a fast food company making salads calling itself a tech startup doesn't convince you of the insanity of financial markets, nothing will. edit: typos

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.

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.

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.

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

A great business model that isn't scalable. Listen to the CEO do all types of verbal gymnastics, but is basically saying there is lots of dead weight that holds back profitability. If you look at In-and-Out there is a reason it has capped growth and expansion and has kept its location footprint contained. The reason it does this is because it can't maintain quality and prices if it expands to far away from California. Sweetgreens should have stayed a regional power brand instead of taking VC money and taking the winding path to its eventual death.

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.

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.

"Machine learning and AI". Yeah right.

Sweetgreen's quality of ingredients and freshness has made me a regular. I'm a fan and rooting for 'em. Especially as popular salad places in NYC have either lacked the scale (# of convenient locations), quality, or no longer exist since lockdowns.

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.

Bankruptcy is a legal process that individuals or businesses can undergo when they are unable to repay their debts. It provides a framework for financial relief and a fresh start. There are different types of bankruptcy, such as Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 in the United States, each with its own rules and implications. Bankruptcy can have long-term effects on one's credit and financial standing, so it's essential to carefully consider the decision and seek professional advice when facing overwhelming debt.

i love sweetgreen and used to be a regular and get it at least once a week but it wasn't strange for me to get it up to 3 times in a week lol it's surprising to me that they're losing so much money because every sweetgreen i've been to always has a line, even on weekends!

Simplicity is what makes a restaurant business thrive and become profitable. The CEO should have locked down a winning formula before getting wrapped up in frivolous details like tech and catering. Too often businesses are impatient for success and profit, they want to operate like they’re already there, but the financial statements don’t care about that.

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.

Sweet green is hands down the best and freshest fast food bowl/salad option. The quality and freshness of the bowls can’t be beat. I love the harvest bowl. Hope they stay in business and become more available

They will never be able to scale this into a major chain to the likes of something like a Chipotle. The buy local and farm-fresh strategy would be better suited for a small regional chain, not the next “McDonalds of healthy eating.”

When you hear a restaurant chain calling itself a tech company, hide your money.

Been a customer way before the IPO. Used to go to one in Century City and West Hollywood. Really great salads. They’re not going anywhere - they’ll refine and continue to get profitable.

This is actually kind of inspiring. I like what they're doing, what they value. I hope they can continue to adjust to become more profitable! If the company does go under, I hope they will let people keep their own franchises at least.

i love sweetgreens. so expensive but worth the splurge. hoping they dont go out of business and find a way to turn things around

The market just won’t bear the costs of high-quality ingredients + expensive labor. It’s too bad, and I’m glad they’re trying, but I don’t think it’s going to happen quite yet.

I think we should support small family businesses more. $15+ for a salad is insane. In many Asian countries you can eat at food chains too but you can also get healthy wholesome meals from many mom-and-pop shops for a few dollars.

I used to work at sweetgreen, and they treat their staff well and use fresh ingredients. Definitely recommend

Halfway into this I was like this won't work without the labor getting cheaper and bam, machine made "fresh" salads. Brilliant.

Lol, trust me, people in the suburbs are _not_ going to pay $15-20 for a salad. I live in a big city and make good money and I refused to pay that much for a takeout salad.

I absolutely love sweetgreen I seek them out in every market I’m in their food is incredible and consistent and My favorite salad chain hands down. I really hope they make it and expand into new areas.

I've tried to copy one of their salads at home but it was no where near as good as Sweetgreen. And it was very labor intensive. We love Sweetgreen's salads, and consider it a "treat"!

I like their philosophy of promoting local produce. I hope they succeed!

Wow, profitable when you include all of our revenue and none of our costs!

One very small tip from a happy customer: the trash cans are confusing. I think usually there's one for trash and one for compost with a hard-to-read illustration above them showing what goes in what. You glance in them and everyone is obviously just throwing anything in either of them. So, you realize it all probably goes in the trash and all the labeling is for naught. Maybe specific labels like "bowls here" would fare better.

I absolutely LOVE sweet green. I discovered them maybe 8 years ago and have been hooked. They finally brought one to GA, and if I’m in Atlanta, I eat there. They have the best ingredients.

You can see how Heather's very unimpressed and just so done whenever she comments on the company.

You can tell the executive in the dark blue shirt went to business school. He knows just the right buzz words to insert, and the right timing for eyebrow raises.

Everyone thinks they’re a tech company. NEWSFLASH - you sell salads. You’re a restaurant.

As a Nebraska who visits NYC to see my sister, I never skip Sweetgreen when I’m in town. I hope they can expand to my area soon!

If your market value is losing money, expansion should be the last thing you should do. While ambitious, focus on maintaining the customer base you already have and institute new programs there as well.

It all comes down to locations and how many people can be served each day ... Get people to sign up for daily delivery. This can work, but only if they focus on profits over number of locations. They don't need to focus on saturation. Focus on coastal high cost of living cities with younger populations.

I was in the US for business a few months ago and went to Sweetgreen every opportunity I got. Such tasty food and I was very happy to support a business with an ethical supply chain. Fingers crossed they come to the UK at some point!

This segment is so smart, it's an ad disguised as content :) You get to know the company products, price, distribution, the founders, etc.

I do love Sweetgreens, but if they raise prices even a bit more then I will be priced out :(

The possible market is far smaller than fast food due to the price. The people who like it, really like it but that market is relatively small. It has much higher potential spoilage costs than other quick service restaurants that use frozen food or refrigerated food that can last several days.

Great reporting. I love Sweetgreen and I wish them most success.

This CEO is in the clouds. Someone needs to bring him, along with his costs and prices, back down to earth.

Add tax and it's about $20. I cannot STRESS ENOUGH just how crazy it is to spend $20 just for lunch. TWENTY. DOLLARS. This is like an ENTIRE day wage for many developing countries. Insane.

The quality of service in Sweetgreen stores has gone down significantly since I started going there. Pickups consistently not ready on time, sometimes you get another persons order delivered. Over that same period- just afew years- my go-to order has gone from ~$12 to ~$16. The product is incredible no doubt- but given these price increases and the in store experience feeling more like McDonalds now that they are trying to cut costs, as a customer it feels like premium prices without the hassle-free experience that I once had.

Salad & go in Arizona is a great example of a salad that can cost under $6. Though, they are strictly drive thru and only sell salads/ wraps and breakfast burritos. However, they have carved a good folloeing by sticking to that model.

Love these videos! Keep it up WSJ 💪

Man the consultant speak on that man was tough to listen to. Levers, ML, AI, oh my.

Love sweet green. Hope they keep things the way they are.

Their start up story sounds very similar to Chipotle - fresh ingredients, accessible locations offering healthier fast food alternatives. The issue with this is high costs, I hope they don’t lose sight of their mission.

they should partner w the government to get healthy food in schools

You have to _pay_ to join their loyalty program?? 🤣🤣🤣 Good luck with that!

I still remember that time I wanted to try sweet green. I found a worm in my salad. It was still squiggly around. My first and last time going there.

ngl, this served as a great commerical for sweet greens. def excited to check it out and try it now!!

WOW.. love the robotic aspect of assembling the food--ingredients are dispensed by machines. I can see that being the trend moving forward in many of the fast food restaurants. Labour cost will continue to be the biggest overhead expense.

ceo just sounds like he's memorizing a textbook

The founder sounds like he is reading off of a script

Thanks for posting!

There has to be a way for this company to profitable!! I love their vision and commitment to excellence and high quality. May they never compromise and grow profitable. Grow into small college towns!!! How about Northampton or Amherst, MA?

I live in NYC, but I never got the Sweetgreen hype. This seems to be an unpopular opinion, but their menu options never appealed to me, and I remember finding the taste of their salads to be odd both times I've tried them. It wasn't an issue of freshness, I just didn't like the flavor combinations. On top of that, the first time I had Sweetgreen, I paid $15 for a salad and I wasn't even full. To each their own, but I'll stick with the local salad spot by me in Brooklyn or even Chopt.

I love their food. Nice video WSJ.

This is my favorite place to eat. When i lived in Boston i was lucky to have them around but only recently did they expand into the area i ended up moving to. I really hope they survive and don’t go the way of chipotle, because i genuinely love this place.

My main gripes going to sweet greens was the poor prep, high wait times, and barely functional app. App aside, the issues come down to staff, their restaurants simultaneously feel very overstaffed and still the service understaffed. Automation and more investment on the app really seem like the killer combo that will make them a much better place for the consumer, and a far more profitable place. Honestly, cheering for them, we need better places to eat. Might even buy some of their stock.

Kudos to a great video! I’ve been a loyal sweetgreen customer since I first tried it. Their salads ARE amazing and my top place to go during lunch time

I am supporting SG one $20 lunch at a time, using my corporate card ^^

Great service and great, fresh food. I hope they make it a success!

I hope the make it, we really need more places like this

How expensive is a normal restaurant salad? About the same I would say. If they need to reduce operating costs then use a digital ordering system like all fast food chains use with maybe one or two staffed order stations for people who can’t order using a digital system. Reduce menu items as to reduce waste and tailor to location. Premade set items for easy pickup and go by customers.

>machine learning and AI that's how you know it's a scam, you don't need a supercomputer AI to "personalize" someone's food order

I just looked up the ticker symbol because, after watching this, I'm considering shorting it. Loved the last bit with the lady at the end talking about EBITDA lol

speaks on the difficulty of layoffs to then go on introducing automation that will *checks note* lead to layoffs

I think the value is actually there. Sweetgreen salads are healthy, complete meals made from real ingredients. Moreover they typically taste very good. I don't know of any other fast casual restaurant that offers the same.

I’m hoping that the robo-salad maker will still make minor adjustments to the bowls (adding wild rice to guacamole greens), their website does not allow this so it would be unfortunate if doing this in store was no longer an option.

My husband and I enjoy eating at SweetGreens every time when visiting our daughter in Chicago. We hope to see this restaurant model thrive and stay successful!😊

Great product! I'm glad there's a Sweetgreen in my community.

The founders have my respect. They've been at it for 17 years and carried the company through IPO.

why would you approach this like a tech company when you are a restaraunt chain??

I’d rather see sweet green, chopt etc get help with being profitable than junk food chains

The CEO seems like such a corporate tool

It's wild how much cheaper you could do something like this in Asia. Good quality veggies are so much cheaper out here. Honestly, if I were them I'd be looking to expand into Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, etc. Reduce costs to suit local salaries, massively cut the ingredients budget, and get in relatively early on a very health conscious part of the world that doesn't have many fast food salad places yet.

Theres a local salad company in Az and Tx called salad n go which sells a similar sized bowl of salad for 7-8 dollars. SG has plenty competitors.

Thanks for sharing - I’m going to support sweetgreen and start going there more often!

Just because you have an app to order your product and run an in-house ML algo to gain insights from your customer data doesn't necessarily mean you are a tech company.

3 words. Unsustainable business model. I give this attempt another couple years until the whole house of cards tumbles down.

there isn’t a SG in my state, but we just got a bunch of salad and go’s and i hope they do not crumble because there’s a jack in the crack, del taco and mcdonald’s in the same shopping center 😭 having healthy, good quality options is such a god-send that i can’t imagine the fast food scene in my area without it.

A salad based fast food restaurant sounds like a great idea for a large farming co-op.

"branded themselves as a tech company" I just got a good vision of the management and why its not profitable