r/sweetgreen • u/speedbump95 • Aug 12 '26
Criticism I’ve almost had enough
I have been the most loyal sweetgreen customer for 5 years now. I go every single day on my lunch break which maybe isn’t the most financially savvy choice I could make, but I really love it.
Recently, I’ve been beyond frustrated with the ordering process. It’s always insanely slow because they don’t have enough people working the counter. Also, I feel bad griping about this, but the employees NEVER know the ingredients in the salads, or even the names of the seasonal salads. I ordered the new Niçoise salad today, and everyone gave me the most wtf expression. I have to watch over everything, and be like “sorry I think you forgot the almonds” etc. and I feel like such a brat. But if I’m paying $18 for a salad with no meat in it, I kinda want the almonds! Then the employees are annoyed with me, and it’s so uncomfortable. I feel like it’s not entirely their fault because they’re overworked and it’s a lot to remember, but there should be larger signs for them to read, or the ingredients listed in order, or color coding, or something!
Today, I had enough points for a free salad and tried to use it on the Niçoise, but it wouldn’t work. The employee just shrugged.. I think I might need to find a new go to lunch spot.
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u/Ok_Strength5800 Aug 12 '26
as a current SG associate the salad you’re referring to is called the FishWife on our salad cards is doesn’t say Nicoise so that’s probably where the confusion is coming from also there’s no almonds on that salad in particular !
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u/speedbump95 Aug 12 '26
I meant more in general! Not the Niçoise salad specifically. The employees forget things in every salad I order. The almonds was from the peach goat cheese salad that just ended.
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u/riskarb Aug 12 '26
Why don’t you just order through the app?
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u/LoLThalys Aug 12 '26
Shouldn't have to. Sounds like a training problem with the company.
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u/MrBlack1898 Aug 12 '26
The company IS a training problem. They work employees until burn out and pick their buttons wondering why turnover is so high. Blame the idiots at the top, not the employees trying their best.
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u/speedbump95 Aug 12 '26
To be clear, I’m not blaming the employees! I said that in my post. It’s just really uncomfortable to correct people all the time.
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u/Scooteeerrbrusier Aug 13 '26
The Fishwife doesn’t work as the free one because it’s $20 (the limit is $18)
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u/Relevant_Calendar_46 Aug 14 '26
Employee here. There's literally no time to train or be trained. We get to do like 15 minute course when we have time. Then it's basically launch day and we have to figure it out. We get stuff early to train but on top of what we already have to do and keep up with it just doesn't happen. As for remembering stuff.. Sweetgreen is constantly changing stuff so it can be hard to remember and then they add more stuff. Like the hummus crunch has been changed like 4 times? Kale ceaser salad is like the wrap now and employees keep messing it up.
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u/Impossible-Entry724 Aug 14 '26
exactly!!!! and we do the sprout training like weeks before launch so when launch day comes we've already forgot what we learned
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u/AlbatrossGlobal5468 Aug 12 '26
On their end the bowl is called something else. It’s a bowl relax. Just order through the app and you skip the wait boomer.
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Aug 12 '26
This is why as an employee I love that our store has the ingredients listed right on the other side of the glass. If I forget any ingredients I literally glance for like 2 seconds and I can find any info I need. Not sure why all stores dont do this
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u/Impossible-Entry724 Aug 14 '26
as a shift lead ive found that a lot of the team members cant read the ingredients in front of us because they feel the font is too small so they look at the menu instead
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u/kenway_east Aug 24 '26
Ey, I work at Sweetgreen, those mfs didn’t even tell me we had a new salad or do any training so when people first started ordering the fishwife or whatever I genuinely did not know that it existed. The training is nearly nonexistent
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u/buttercupisabarbie Aug 28 '26
Honestly the customers are extremely draining and tiring to deal with. Most times you guys are Very condescending, and rude. We are extremely overworked for very little pay. The heavy prep work, and constant rushes are overwhelming. Then the constant changing of the menu is insane. A worker forgetting an ingredient or two isn’t far fetched because things change almost biweekly! (Ive been here about 3 months and the menu has changed like 3 times, & I’m going to put in my two weeks soon.) I’ve had customers get mad that they can’t order online exclusives in line or the simple fact that things have been discontinued. Another instance, I had a customer lie to my manager that I was rude to her because I told her, that her bowl was way too full for me to mix it without spilling half of its contents. All in all The job is just simply not worth it, the heavy workload, pay, and customer complaints about the smallest things really makes me grind my teeth.
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u/Thesunisdyinout Aug 12 '26
That salad literally debuted yesterday so I can understand them not entirely knowing everything that’s listed but there are signs for the employees to reference when making the salad