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X'Sweetgreen is Not a Tech Company': The Company's CEO on How He's Adapting to the Pandemic
Ben Bergman is the newsroom's senior finance reporter. Previously he was a senior business reporter and host at KPCC, a senior producer at Gimlet Media, a producer at NPR's Morning Edition, and produced two investigative documentaries for KCET. He has been a frequent on-air contributor to business coverage on NPR and Marketplace and has written for The New York Times and Columbia Journalism Review. Ben was a 2017-2018 Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Economic and Business Journalism at Columbia Business School. In his free time, he enjoys skiing, playing poker, and cheering on The Seattle Seahawks.

Jonathan Neman, the 35-year-old co-founder and CEO of Sweetgreen, wants to make one thing clear.
"Sweetgreen is not a tech company," he says. "If you want to make that the headline, you can."
With a lofty $1.6 billion valuation, a sleek headquarters in Culver City down the street from Apple and Amazon, and talk with Kara Swisher about becoming a "food platform," one could be forgiven for thinking Neman has aspirations that go way beyond serving salads, bowls and now plates in 108 stores. These days everyone wants to be a tech company, even if they are just renting office space or selling stationary bikes. Neman certainly has lofty goals – wanting to expand to what he says is "well over" 1,000 locations. But he says he is trying to grow Sweetgreen in the mold of Starbucks, not Snapchat.
"We see ourselves as building the Starbucks of real food," Neman said. "We're actually not even valued like a tech company. If you look at the valuation it's much more like a high-growth food company. We leverage technology to build a better experience and make smarter decisions. And I think it is an accelerant to how we can grow and scale and build our model. However, at the core of what we do, we are a consumer brand."
Sweetgreen's origin story is decidedly techie. Neman hatched the concept with classmates Nicholas Jammet and Nathaniel Ru in a dorm room during their senior year at Georgetown University. Three months after graduation, they opened their first location in Washington D.C. in 2007. In 2016, they relocated to Los Angeles after opening their 39th location.
Last year, Sweetgreen reported $300 million in revenue and $3 million per store, well above Chipotle or Starbucks, which generated $2.2 and $945,270 per location, respectively.
The company would not disclose its numbers for this year but in an April blog post Neman and his co-founders described revenue being "dramatically affected" by the coronavirus. That month, Sweetgreen laid off about 10% of workers at its headquarters and furloughed nearly 2,000 store employees after deciding to return a $10 million PPP loan.
"As soon as we found out that they had run out of money, we decided to give it back, which we think was the right thing to do," Neman said.
Now 75% of the furloughed workers have been brought back and Sweetgreen has reopened all but 11 of locations. All dining rooms in California remain closed though some locations with outdoor seating can accommodate diners. Headquarters is officially open, though it is mostly empty as the company is not requiring anyone to come in for the foreseeable future. Despite some permitting delays because of COVID, Sweetgreen is planning to open 20 new locations this year and considerably more next year. And in late April, it introduced its first new major menu category since adding bowls four years ago – nine different plates, ranging from Hot Honey Chicken to Shroomy Asada, designed to increase dinnertime sales. On Wednesday, Sweetgreen will hold its first-ever $5 Greens Day where it will offer select bowls and salads for well under half the normal price.
Sweetgreen introduced its first new major menu category since adding bowls four years ago – nine different plates, ranging from Hot Honey Chicken to Shroomy Asada.
dot.LA spoke to Neman about how the company is adapting to the COVID era, why he ended an exclusive partnership with UberEats, and when Sweetgreen might IPO.
A lot of your business has been centered around offices. How are you adjusting since people aren't coming into offices?
To your point, we have a very high penetration in some urban areas and those are the ones that have been more severely impacted. Our restaurants that are more suburban-based are actually doing really well. Many of them have fully recovered to pre-COVID levels through just delivery and pickup. So really the impacts we're seeing are primarily only from the true demographic shifts rather than from changing consumer behaviors.
Jonathan Neman hatched the concept of with classmates Nicholas Jammet and Nathaniel Ru in a dorm room during their senior year at Georgetown University.
Does COVID change where you anticipate opening stores in the next few years?
Yeah, a little bit. We were already on a path of expanding beyond our current markets. This year, we have already opened in Denver and Miami and we're opening in Austin. And so we already penetrated a lot of the larger cities, and we're on our way to going into other markets that are more suburban. If you look at the makeup of the United States it's much more suburban than urban. So there was a lot more suburban growth coming, but I think this has accelerated a lot of that as our suburban model has done better. But we have not given up on the cities. We're going to continue to open in New York. We are very confident people will come back to work, although it may be different and we'll be well positioned for it.
Now that we're in a recession do you worry that people will see your menus and think of it as an indulgence to spend $14 on a salad?
Our prices are different by market. Definitely very top of mind for us is affordability. We like to balance all stakeholders when we think about price. So you have to think about how we pay our team members and our farmers.
This is why food is really complicated. I could charge less, and then pay my team members less and pay my farmers less and then I'd get heat for that as well. But having said that, I do think that Sweetgreen will do more over time to address different consumers and price sensitivity. Over time we will think about different menu items and formats and ways to make it more affordable. One way is when you think about our plates, $12 for lunch may be expensive but $12 for dinner is actually pretty affordable. Another way we do this is through things like Outpost [a central drop off shelf in buildings where Sweetgreen couriers drop off orders.] You're not paying the delivery service fee that you would for a lot of other places.
You had signed an exclusive deal with Uber Eats last year and then canceled it. What was the decision behind that?
We have a great relationship with Uber but I think we've realized over time that different consumers use different platforms and they're more incremental to each other than they are cannibalistic. Especially in a post-COVID world where delivery will be a bigger piece of the pie, we wanted to get in front of as many consumers as possible. We also are very focused on our native delivery which is which is by far our biggest delivery channel,
I'm curious how you think about delivery. Because for a lot of restaurants they're sacrificing huge margins...
Correct. Not only are they sacrificing huge margins, but they don't have a direct relationship with their consumers. We have a direct relationship where we can tell you when new menu items come out and we can personalize the experience to you.
So why not just have it all be native?
I think there's certain customers where the marketplace becomes a great place of discovery, it becomes, you know, almost like a customer acquisition marketing tool for us a way to amplify our message and reach more people.
Have you ever thought about doing brunch or breakfast?
We definitely have. Sweetgreen is an ethos, which is connecting people to real foods. Eventually we'd like to take that ethos and expand way beyond salad, bowls and plates, whether it be brunch or otherwise. The vision is to go much, much broader.
That's a perfect segue to my last question. What's your current thinking on a possible IPO?
There's no current thinking right now. We're just very focused on expanding the brand, delivering a great product to consumers and strengthening the business. Sure, one day, but not not anytime soon.
- sweetgreen - dot.LA ›
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- Sweetgreen Lays Off 10% of Staff at Its L.A. Headquarters - dot.LA ›
- Sweetgreen Files for an IPO - dot.LA ›
- Sweetgreen CEO Deletes Vaccine Hot Take After Backlash - dot.LA ›
- Sweetgreen's IPO Filing Reveals Recent Revenue Gains - dot.LA ›
- Sweetgreen Offers New Salad Discount Subscription - dot.LA ›
- Sweetgreen’s Jonathan Neman on How Tech Changed Restaurants - dot.LA ›
- Sweetgreen Launches New $10 Monthly Loyalty Program - dot.LA ›
Ben Bergman is the newsroom's senior finance reporter. Previously he was a senior business reporter and host at KPCC, a senior producer at Gimlet Media, a producer at NPR's Morning Edition, and produced two investigative documentaries for KCET. He has been a frequent on-air contributor to business coverage on NPR and Marketplace and has written for The New York Times and Columbia Journalism Review. Ben was a 2017-2018 Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Economic and Business Journalism at Columbia Business School. In his free time, he enjoys skiing, playing poker, and cheering on The Seattle Seahawks.
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The Impact of Authentic Storytelling. LA Latino/a Founders and Funders Tell All
Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.
As one of the most diverse cities in the world, Los Angeles is home to almost 5 million people who identify as Hispanic or Latinx. Yet, many feel they still lack representation in the city’s tech space.
“I can safely say that last year’s LA tech week hosted all of the events on the west side, and very few were focused on telling Latino and Latina entrepreneurial stories,” said Valeria Martinez, investor at VamosVentures. “We wanted to change that this year.”
The event, titled “The East Side Story –– Latino/a Founders and Funders in LA,” was held at Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI) in the vibrant Arts District with participation from VamosVentures, LatinxVC, VCFamilia, Supply Change Capital, and LEEAF.
The event was centered around stories about the Latinx community told by its members. “Storytelling is the most powerful tool we have as human beings,” said restaurateur Bricia Lopez. “We are all here because of the stories that were told to us and the stories that were read to us.”
Lopez’s father migrated to Guadalajara, Mexico because he heard a story about a better life on the other side of the border. While he didn’t have the opportunity to see that “better life,” Lopez wants to share his story with the world in the hopes of inspiring others to share their stories.
“I think for many generations, we were the gatekeepers holding us back from telling our own stories,” Lopez said. “But we are now empowered to share our stories and when we talk about wanting to hear stories from us, it's because we want a mirror into the possibility of who we can become. To me that was how powerful a story is.”
With over 400 RSVPs and a packed house that ranged from founders and investors to vendors and aspiring entrepreneurs, the event brought light to a community hungry for stories they can connect and relate to.
Fanny Grande, CEO of Avenida Entertainment Group, said that on-screen stories about the Latino community are very limited. This lack of representation inspired her to start her production company that aims to empower independent creators.
“The advances of technology, social media and the new generation being very vocal about how they want to be represented gives me hope that things are going to change,” Grande said.
One way Avenida Entertainment Group champions its creators is by providing tech solutions to help fund and produce projects. At the event, Grande announced that her production company plans to launch an English-language streaming service for Latinos to provide visibility to these projects.
“A lot of our clients are so happy that not only did they get their projects made, they're going to be seen by the community who funded the project,” she said.
Patty Rodriguez, co-founder of publishing company Lil’ Libros, aims to give representation to the Latinx community by publishing bilingual children’s books.
Rodriguez said that entrepreneurship was never a part of her vocabulary while growing up. She also had no experience in publishing before she started her business, but she believed that “we belong on these platforms.” For her, the greatest moments are opening the doors for Latinx authors and seeing copies of their books at major bookstores.
“It's so beautiful to see your dreams come true and you're working every morning to see them,” she said. “It's wonderful to see them at Target, Barnes & Nobles across the country.”
Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.
L.A. Tech Week has brought venture capitalists, founders and entrepreneurs from around the world to the California coast. With so many tech nerds in one place, it's easy to laugh, joke and reminisce about the future of tech in SoCal.
Here's what people are saying about day three of L.A. Tech Week on social:
Who's out at #LATechWeek This Week!? 🚀
Just like always, we have the team on location & producing out-of-this-world content! 🪐
Follow @Techweek_ 👈 https://t.co/bl7MvmhVIb
— Edge of NFT 🎙 (@EdgeofNFT) June 7, 2023
Ethereal Engine blowing our minds today #LaTechWeek@Techweek_@andrewchen@KatiaAmeri@john_at_stonks@75SunnyVentures@mucker@fikavcpic.twitter.com/zfw38Fo17m
— Sean Goldfaden (@seangoldfaden) June 7, 2023
Great Tuesday at #LATechWeek - @STHoward and @houseofvc hosted an impressive set of entertainment panels that ft. @spencerrascoff and @tbiggio and others and then went to a @CrosscutVC and @75SunnyVentures party in the Palisades. Excited for @dotLA tonight! pic.twitter.com/eWKAtvQshv
— Garrett (@GRothstein1) June 7, 2023
Yesterday, the Ampera Foundation attended @lightspark's #LATechWeek meetup in LA focused on payments and lightning, and the Ethereum Chicago meetup at the @im_not_art gallery space connecting with the local crypto community. What's your favorite local crypto event? pic.twitter.com/kg7m0bIHld
— Ampera (@ampera_xyz) June 7, 2023
Excited to be helping with LA #techweek at #Google today. In partnership with #a16z and #Stonks, we have some exciting founders pitching their Ent & Gaming business demo's.#LATechWeekpic.twitter.com/J2gkE7L5fq
— Jonny Cranmer (@jonnycranmer) June 7, 2023
WOW!🔥VC panel last night w @adelajamal@jarichert44@jekerner@GarnetHeraman@joshresnick01 & Anne Feuss
We discussed community, empathy, fundraising & mental health (& more) during this challenging time
So grateful to have such a real discussion w diverse humans#LATechWeekpic.twitter.com/GtjVnRQkuu
— Roger DaSilva (@RogerDaSilva1) June 7, 2023
Such a fun throwback to the event we did in 2022 for #LATechWeek ! Thanks @seangoldfaden for the amazing video 🎉 https://t.co/SWYCXbMDJe
— Amplify.LA (@amplifyla) June 7, 2023
We hosted a packed @whitecapai happy hour in Venice with panelists from @Verizon@Microsoft@Google and @LA28 with diverse thoughts on Enterprise AI. Thanks Alex Chao, Ric Edwards, Iman Ghanizada, and Mumtaz Vauhkonen! #LATechWeekpic.twitter.com/pCXXbxDAoY
— Craig DAVIS (@CraDav) June 7, 2023
Thoroughly enjoying #LATechWeek so far, I started Day 2 of with @SlausonAndCo amazing event. Ran into so many familiar faces, met some amazing new founders then checked out their art gallery.
Then popped by @BLCKVC and @diversityvc panel on Navigating the Capital Landscape pic.twitter.com/8PKcT5Wr8u
— Tanisha (@tanisha_london) June 7, 2023
Reunion of old and new friends is LA Tech Week’s PMF 💡
The irony is that for how big LA is, people haven’t seen others for a while, because its vastness makes serendipity challenging. So this week gives the community an excuse to catch up with coworkers and even childhood and… pic.twitter.com/NS8ID8rnP5
— Wilson Kyi (@WilsonKyi) June 7, 2023
Excited for the @LatinxVCs Avanza Summit! @itsmarielasalas@MariaSalamanca@jomayra_herrera@RamiReyesVC@aguerrerovc@ambersvida@nic_detommaso@VCSerge#LatinxVC#LATechWeekpic.twitter.com/DdtYcrCzaY
— Tiq (@TiqChapa108) June 7, 2023
If you wonder how #Music,#Space,#AI come together for you in one place - join our Twittet Space 11 am PST
@https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1OwxWwQqoWDxQ CopernicSpace @spaceibles and @LadyRocketSpace ,I will share endeavors LA Tech Week how I buildnew Stage for @spaceibles… pic.twitter.com/djXDuENiWI
— Lady Rocket Eva Blaisdell (@LadyRocketSpace) June 7, 2023
What a great time for LA tech week, escape New York at the right timehttps://t.co/FEHhYgmxHU
— Christopher | Mad Oath 🆔 (@chrismadoath) June 7, 2023
Here representing Australia. Hello #latechweek it’s nice to meet you. pic.twitter.com/rDIOM7hflJ
— Christopher Bartlett (@chipershot) June 7, 2023
(1/2)
In the thick of LA Tech Week and loving it!! 🤘🤘🤘
🔥🔥Scroll for new events!!! 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/5n6eV81oiE
— Tech Week (@Techweek_) June 7, 2023
#LATechWeek are you ready for the @trustfundvc launch party?!!! We got a disco ball too pic.twitter.com/smIJFAKlcA
— Sophia Amoruso (@sophiaamoruso) June 7, 2023
#robstory 157/365: tonight’s “The East Side Story” event in the Arts District for #LATechWeek proves what’s possible in our LA entrepreneurial economy! It proves our opportunity to breathe life into our words about diversity & inclusion. Take note, I did!
I’m so so grateful to… pic.twitter.com/ks45MdY7BF
— Rob Ryan (@IAmRobRyan) June 7, 2023
Had a blast at LA @techweek_ last night! Huge thanks to Eddy for his amazing storytelling and the behind-the-scenes look into @goatapp’s journey to product-market fit. And of course, to all the founders, startup enthusiasts, and @firstround team for showing up to support 🙌 pic.twitter.com/93bieSkbBA
— Todd Jackson (@tjack) June 7, 2023
“Gamify the experience of consuming. Drink an ape water? Scan the code. It donates .05 to clean water.” #LATechWeek@Techweek_pic.twitter.com/ZpKbadNSh1
— Sean Goldfaden (@seangoldfaden) June 7, 2023
Moderating is easy when you have brilliant folks like @Chrisjjosephs and @brianschardt on the other side
Was great to talk @JoinAutopilot_ during #LATechWeekhttps://t.co/v9CEshahPL
— James Mumma (@JamesMumma) June 7, 2023
A beautiful, intimate networking event discussing all things Fintech with founders and innovators on Day 3 of #LATechWeek with Clocktower Ventures. 🤩 pic.twitter.com/z3SMPMoTZw
— Tech Week (@Techweek_) June 7, 2023
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LA Tech Week: Female Founders Provide Insights Into Their Startup Journeys
Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.
Women remain a minority among startup founders. According to Pitchbook, even though women-led startups in the United States received a record $20.8 billion in funding during the first half of 2022, U.S. companies with one or more female founders received less than 20% of total venture funding in 2022. U.S. companies solely led by female founders received less than 2% of the total funding.
The panel, titled Female Founders: Planning, Pivoting, Profiting, was moderated by NYU law professor Shivani Honwad and featured Anjali Kundra, co-founder of bar inventory software Partender; Montré Moore, co-founder of the Black-owned beauty startup AMP Beauty LA; Mia Pokriefka, co-founder and CEO of the interactive social media tool Huxly; and Sunny Wu, founder and CEO of fashion company LE ORA.
The panelists shared their advice and insights on starting and growing a business as a woman. They all acknowledged feeling pressure to not appear weak among peers, especially as a female founder. But this added weight only causes more stress that may lead to burnout.
“The mental health aspect of being a founder should not be overshadowed,” said Kundra, who realized this during the early stages of building her company with her brother..
Growing up in Silicon Valley, Kundra was surrounded by the startup culture where, “everyone is crushing it!” But she said that no one really opened up about the challenges of starting your own company. .
“Once you grow up as a founder in that environment, it's pretty toxic,” Kundra said. “I felt like I really wanted to be open and be able to go to our investors and tell them about challenges because businesses go up and down, markets go up and down and no company is perfect.”
Honwad, who advocates for women’s rights, emphasized the value of aligning yourself with people with similar values in the tech ecosystem. “[Those people] can make your life better not just from an investment and money standpoint, but also a personal standpoint, because life happens,” she said.
Moore, who unexpectedly lost one of her co-founders at AMP Beauty, said that entrepreneurs “really have to learn how to adapt to [their] circumstances.”
“She was young, healthy, vibrant and we've been sorority sisters and friends over the past decade,” she said about her co-founder Phyllicia Phillips, who passed away in February. “So it was just one of those moments where you have to take a pause.”
Moore said this experience forced her to ask for help, which many founders hesitate to do. She encouraged the audience to try and share their issues out loud with their teams because there are always people who will offer help. When Moore shared her concerns with her investors, they jumped in to support her in ways she didn’t think was possible.
Kundra said that while it is important to have a support group and listen to mentors, it is very important for entrepreneurs to follow their own thinking and pick and choose what they want to implement within their strategy. “At the end of the day, you really have to own your own decisions,” she said.
Kundra also said that while it is easy to turn to your colleagues and competitors and do what they are doing, you shouldn’t always follow them because every business is different.
“When I was in the heat of it, I kind of became [a part of] this echo chamber and that was really challenging for us,” Kundra added, “but we were able to move beyond it and figure out what worked for us [as a company] and we're still on a journey. You're always going to be figuring it out, so just know you're not alone.”
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- LA's Top VCs Are Watching These 10 Female Founders ›
Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.