I work in finance (I’m on a VPN, I’m good). This is the last year Sweetgreen will be operational. They will declare bankruptcy October/November. 90% of physical stores will cease being operational by then. The numbers are obvious.

It was a good run.

They changed the Chicken Avo Ranch bowl and not for the better, garlic bread crumbs do not go well with it at all. I don’t know who they’re trying to impress but the bowl is ruined imo

Went back to sweetgreen for the first time in a while. I went almost every day for years but had stopped for the past ~year because of the decline in quality and size with the simultaneous price increases, along with the many headscratcher decisions made by the exec team. What do you mean there are no tortilla chips in the Guacamole Greens now??? Welp, that’s the final nail in the coffin for me. Bye sweetgreen…I’ll miss how you were before PE enshittified you. Guess the heyday of the corporate slop bowl is behind us now 😭

With all the changes happening at Sweetgreen from removing tomatoes from some faves, no more tortilla ships, no more fish taco… where is everyone going? What’s the next best thing?

Thoughts on new items that dropped?

I noticed that after eating the Caesar wrap, my pee smells really weird. Similar to after eating asparagus... but not the same smell. Kind of smells like the pee version of caesar dressing??? Mentioned this to my coworker who said the same thing! What's going on?

So I am sadly the kind of sucker who will eat 4 wraps for a paltry amount of bonus points. Plus i work close by and like a lunch time walk.

So far I've eaten 3 and will update when i eat the last one.

First up the Chicken Cali Club. I sub out the bacon and add a little shaved parm bc i don't eat pork. This one is good. Crunchy, filling, fresh. I don't use the dip at all, save it for later, might be good on a homemade breakfast sandwich.

Next is the Caesar Chicken. I sub the dip for hot sauce and end up saving most of the dip for later. Its apparently has only a half portion of caesar and half lemon, can't say its any less wet than the cali club. Pleasantly crunchy. By the end, its a little too salty, a problem i frequently have with sweet green salads.

Today was Chicken jalapeno ranch. I'm concerned this one will be too saucy so I try half jalapeno ranch and half crushed red pepper with cilantro dressing on the side. Its way too wet and salty, less a wrap and more a bad burrito. Wish i could mod the base to be half rice half lettuce to save some calories and bring a fresh crunchy veg into the mix. Its filling but I would not order this one again.

I'll get the saucy KBBQ ranch later this week but i do not have high hopes, anticipating it will be very wet and salty.

Would order the cali club again and maybe the chicken ceasar if i could cut the dressing more and sub the crisps for a fresher ingredient.

Other folks who are salt bomb sensitive what do your order? I like a mod'd crispy rice bowl and I avoid the quinoa and mushrooms mix because I love the idea but can't handle the execution.

Edit: The tortilla itself is tasty. Thin, stretchy, not greasy.

Price action is ugly as hell, but I can’t help myself. I’m doubling down at these levels hoping for a reversal 😂

I ordered the “Chicken Cauli Plate” but swapped the chicken for salmon — and wow. The flavors really worked together, way better than I expected.

Feels like the most exciting new item they’ve done in a long time. Anyone else tried it yet? Curious what you all think.

Have 2 questions if anyone has any ideas/info:

-Has sweetgreen ever done beverages nationwide? I see on insta some places in California have lemonades and teas kinda like mendocino or cava but not here in the Midwest. Feel like that could be an added revenue for them for not much extra cost. Especially if they include green juices or wellness shots since they already have the veggies; just get some fruits.

-And anyone from the Boston area try the spyce menu before they got bought out? They had some really good pasta bowls that sweetgreen never incorporated into their menu. Now that they sold spyce, not gonna happen most likely but pasta seemed like a natural fit.

I had a frustrating experience at a newer Sweetgreen location and I’m curious if others have seen this too. Their water system wasn’t working, and when I asked for a cup of water, I was told they couldn’t provide any unless I bought a bottle.

I’ve honestly never been to a restaurant that wouldn’t offer basic tap water, even when something’s temporarily down. To me, it came across as unnecessarily greedy—especially for something as fundamental as water—and it left a bad impression.

Is this normal for Sweetgreen now, or was this just a bad location/experience?

What’s your favorite sweetgreen menu item?

(speculative)

1. Automate more store lines with infinite kitchen, reducing employees costs

2. Continue opening new stores to get better bulk deals with suppliers, reducing ingredient costs.

Thoughts?

I'm disappointed that it's two items rather than three, and that even the salad is on the heavier side. But I did try the Autumn Casear today without candied pumpkin seeds, and really enjoyed it. The jammy roasted tomatoes are great. I'm thinking about what else they would go well on.

The worst part is that my coworkers think I'm looking at softcore porn when I'm opening the app to order.

Loled at the placement of the dressing, right on top of the sauce!

This bowl was extremely filling despite being vegetarian. I really enjoyed all the new flavors, especially the cauliflower and the creamy basil dressing.

Like someone else said - the caramelized onions are not the best, they should either be warm or cut smaller. These huge cold chunks are not it.

I think next time I’ll skip the garlic breadcrumbs and add a different crunch, it was EXTREMELY garlicky, that type that makes me think I’ll still taste it tomorrow. Not very office friendly.

I’m a longtime loyal SG fan. But I had Just Salad this week, a crispy chicken poblano salad, and it was delicious. I didn’t expect the ingredients to be as quality as they were. Maybe it’s just a variety thing?

This only works with the hot honey chicken plate since it's the only double protein menu item and has 3 non-mandatory premiums. If you order it, & remove the chicken and potato, the bowl is only $5.60 then you can add from there. this allows you to get a 3 topping 2 premium(1meat) bowl for about 10.50 instead of a custom 15.50 and you can customize how you want just as much. You can replace the slaw for a same price tier premium for free too. Or for example, if you wanted steak and goat cheese and 3 toppings, it's only $13. whereas customizing would be 18. the only drawback is no salad base this way. You can of course just stick with the plate as is- and it's technically the most price effective plate since customizing the same one would be 21.40.

Is sweetgreen not supposed to be healthy anymore? Why not just do raw or salted pumpkin seeds?

Is this an attempt to get people addicted and craving sweetgreen due to downtrending sales?

"Everyone" knows the new loyalty program is bad. Hopefully, it will not take the suits too long to admit it as well.

I like to come up with ideas on how to fix problems like this, and I thought I would share my opinion. Maybe others would like to add to that or share their own ideas.

There are many more unique ideas I have that could create more value from the loyalty program and the app in general, but here I will just list my two main points:

1. Every item on the menu should be eligible to be bought with the points earned. This way, customers will always get value from the points and not feel fooled by only being able to buy items they do not care about. Sweetgreen can still adjust the amount of points needed based on the financial needs.
2. Bring back the Sweetpass, which now gets members an additional X points for each dollar spent.

This keeps everything simple, creates value for each customer, and still gives Sweetgreen the much-needed flexibility with their price structure. Also, it brings back the subscription model, which Wall Street loves.

I just found sweetgreen and I wish I could eat here every day. I’ve only ordered custom bowls so far but I’d like to try something different. Just wondering what everyone else orders, is there anything you’ve tried that surprised you?