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Food & Bev

Sweetgreen’s CEO and cofounder on what’s next for the salad chain after its blockbuster public debut

Jonathan Neman spoke to Retail Brew on the company’s big day.
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Francis Scialabba

less than 3 min read

Retail news that keeps industry pros in the know

Retail Brew delivers the latest retail industry news and insights surrounding marketing, DTC, and e-commerce to keep leaders and decision-makers up to date.

Sweetgreen saw some sweet success when it debuted on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday. Its shares opened at $52 (or about 3.5 of its salads), a big bump from the $28 Sweetgreen priced at on Wednesday. That too was up from the expected $23–$25 range.

  • The salad chain’s stock closed the day at $49.50, soaring 77%.

Retail Brew chatted with cofounder and CEO Jonathan Neman on the company’s big day. Here’s what he said is next for Sweetgreen.

Spacing out: Sweetgreen wants to double its 140-store footprint in the next three to five years. But what those stores will look like depends on the market. “It’s not a one-size-fits-all approach. It’s more about understanding the demand trends and that neighborhood, and building for those communities,” Neman told us.

“You’ll see us open stores with seating and indoor dining. You’ll see us open stores that are just pickup, and I think there’ll be everything in-between,” he said. “It’s really taking the brand and the promise and expressing that through many different formats.”

Grow, baby, grow: Neman has his eyes on tech too—specifically automation. (Sweetgreen snapped up Spyce, a kitchen-robotics startup, in August.)

“I’m really excited about the future of automation within the restaurant space and what it can do to improve the customer experience, from an accuracy and speed-of-service perspective, as well as the team-member experience—making it a better, easier place to work,” he said.—KM

Retail news that keeps industry pros in the know

Retail Brew delivers the latest retail industry news and insights surrounding marketing, DTC, and e-commerce to keep leaders and decision-makers up to date.