--- title: "The Plan to Fix Sweetgreen Won’t Happen Overnight. Here’s Where it Starts" url: https://burnaze.com/article/2bbe78f8-5d52-430d-ad71-c12e41fc3f6f source: "QSR Magazine" original_url: https://www.qsrmagazine.com/story/the-plan-to-fix-sweetgreen-wont-happen-overnight-heres-where-it-starts/ author: "Danny Klein" category: "Fast casual" industry: "Restaurants" segment: "Fast casual" published: 2026-05-11T16:23:25.000Z modified: 2026-10-31T13:17:13.770Z image: https://www.qsrmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/sweetgreenwraps.jpg --- # The Plan to Fix Sweetgreen Won’t Happen Overnight. Here’s Where it Starts **TL;DR:** Sweetgreen is prioritizing operational execution to reverse a period of steep same-store sales declines and traffic losses, with CEO Jonathan Neman stating that the brand's transformation plan won't happen overnight. The Sweet Growth Transformation Plan includes five objectives, including operational excellence, food quality and menu innovation, and personalized experience. *By Danny Klein, originally published in QSR Magazine on 2026-05-11. [Read the original](https://www.qsrmagazine.com/story/the-plan-to-fix-sweetgreen-wont-happen-overnight-heres-where-it-starts/).* ## Key facts - Sweetgreen's same-store sales declined 12.8% in Q1 - The company plans to open 13 net stores in 2026 - Sweetgreen's digital revenue percentage was 67.2% in Q1 ## Story Sweetgreen has never lacked for identity or shied from an ethos. But growth exposed something else in the brand first outlined in Q3 2025; what it countered with a “Sweet Growth Transformation Plan.” Yet it’s not fixable in a quarter, CEO Jonathan Neman said. The words “execute” and “execution” were mentioned collectively 19 times during Sweetgreen’s Q1 earnings as it walked through the fast casual’s steepest same-store sales decline since going public in 2021. Its comps decreased sequentially on a one- and two-year basis for the fifth straight period, dropping 12.8 percent (minus 15.9 percent two-year stack). Traffic plunged 11.2 percent thanks to January/February weather, the company said, plus the lap of “Ripple Fries” in March (an item since discontinued). Same-store sales did improve 100-basis points in March and have continued to progress in April, down 8 percent. Sweetgreen expects Q2 same-store sales to fall 4 percent, which would represent a positive turn after Q1. The full year projects at negative 2–4 percent, with further improvement slated for the second half of the calendar due to some easier comparisons. ## Same store sales decline Unpacking what went wrong in Q1 and what’s continued to dent Sweetgreen, though, is a foundational reality. Neman generally took a couple of avenues during Q1’s call. One being the ambition of a recent wraps launch—Sweetgreen’s biggest category expansion beyond bowls, salads, and plates—and, secondly, how this all fits into the brand’s admission it’s been operationally inconsistent as it’s scaled. He offered New York as an example. Given its significance to Sweetgreen’s footprint (the brand’s largest market), the company has microscoped it in recent quarters. With leadership changes, Sweetgreen improved “head coach (what the brand calls managers)” stability and drove more consistent execution through “Project One Best Way,” Neman said. While early, improving transaction trends, supported by better operations in the wraps test, gave Sweetgreen some signals of how the broader system could respond. ## Transformation plan details The Sweet Growth Transformation Plan includes five objectives: operational excellence; food quality and menu innovation; personalized experience; brand relevance; and disciplined profitable investment. “Project One Best Way,” Neman said, “defines what great looks like” across food, hospitality, operational flow, and people culture. Sweetgreen is using guest and store-level performance data and focusing on building scalable systems and routines that allow stores to execute at a high level, “not just the best ones,” he explained. Again, the effort isn’t long into the timeline. But Neman said throughput during peak periods and ingredient availability are improving. There have been fewer quality complaints, too. Holistically, Sweetgreen shifted toward culture within restaurants and hospitality, he shared. Perhaps the best example of how Sweetgreen is rethinking its approach are the wraps. These ran in about 25 percent of locations, including New York, and followed a more deliberate sequencing approach than past efforts. Essentially, Sweetgreen thought foundation first before innovation in hopes of creating durable traffic. Teams, Neman said, spent months developing and testing. There was “extensive work” in restaurants to build capacity, as well as training, to ensure stores were ready. One of the core principles for the wraps experience, he added, is “that the first bite should be the best bite.” Sweetgreen refined preparation through multiple rounds of testing and iteration, including in-restaurant “ops shakedowns” to validate equipment, positioning, and workflows. “This work ensured we can deliver on quality while maintaining throughput at peak,” Neman said. A “rapid ops” test flew in eight stores before Sweetgreen validated through a multi-month market pilot across roughly 70 restaurants in the Big Apple, Midwest, and L.A. Neman noted guest response and execution proved solid and the “energy in the field” was strong. The emphasis, though, comes back to the theme of Q1’s call. “Our focus remains on execution,” he said, “ensuring every wrap is made right, throughput is strong, and the guest experience is consistent from day one.” In the fiscal year’s opening quarter, Sweetgreen brought area leaders together for a two-day summit. Unsurprisingly, “consistent execution” was on the docket. Neman said Sweetgreen placed three topics on the whiteboard: improve head coach performance, build a culture of hospitality where speed and service work together, and deliver consistent food quality that drives repeat visits. And from a higher level, try to create alignment on the type of experience Sweetgreen wants to provide. The 2006-founded brand will soon bring head coaches together for “Impact Days” across regions. What stood out to Neman, he said, was the importance of the connection between Sweetgreen’s support center and field teams. “Delivering a better guest experience starts with strong alignment between the teams closest to our guests, and those supporting them,” he said. The chain’s head coaches and area leaders are closest to what’s been going astray. Neman said Sweetgreen needed to open the line to receive feedback and adjust how it’s delivering against standard. ## Menu innovation efforts Menu innovation is going to play a lead role in Sweetgreen’s turnaround. Wraps arrived with three core flavors—Classic Chicken Caesars, Chicken Jalapeno Ranch, and Cali Chicken Club, along with an LTO, KBBQ Chicken. The brand formulated around its ingredient-centric DNA, even deciding after searches it needed to partner and create its own tortilla. The result has four components: extra virgin olive oil, unbleached and unenriched wheat flour, sea salt and water, and no preservatives. Neman said Sweetgreen was intentional about every component, like it generally is. Seasonal ingredients prepared from scratch every day. Cooking its own grains, vegetables, and antibiotic-free proteins, and never using seed oils or artificial flavors, colors, or dyes. “Guests can taste and feel the difference,” he said, “with social reviews consistently highlight the quality and flavor of the tortilla.” Sweetgreen will support wraps with one of the largest social marketing campaigns it’s tried. The company linked with “hundreds” of micro and scaled influencers. Neman said wraps are appearing in a meaningful share of social content tagging the brand, with positive sentiment of about 85 percent. Sweetgreen explained the plan as a “bottoms-up approach with social-first content” and other moves getting into culture. As it slides into summer, expect to see partnerships with chefs and real-time events, like an L.A. experience it threw last week in Silver Lake. “So, much more with creators, influencers, storytelling, and leaning into the lifestyle elements of the brand,” Neman said. And notably, wraps scale entry price points from $10.45–$14.95. In a sense, it’s one of the first “value” dynamics Sweetgreen has pushed. The company saw incremental traffic from new and returning guests in tests and had a hook to reengage lapsed ones. Repeat behavior showed, too, which is a vital component for Sweetgreen going forward, and a place it’s struggled to gain traction in the past. No wrap in any market costs north of $15. Neman said it’s been incremental gains, even before media. Additionally, there have been lower-than-average guest complaints without erosion in throughput. That, as much as anything, is the brand’s go-forward operational roadmap. Sweetgreen’s core menu will be deepened as well. Its Chicken Sesame Crunch bowl, launched in March, is now the second-highest mixing salad and helped propel recent improving trends. Meanwhile, Neman said, Sweetgreen rebuilt its pipeline of center and seasonal innovation for the balance of 2026, including summer and fall updates, further expansion of wraps, and upcoming collaborations. “This approach allows us to stay relevant with our existing guests while continuing to bring new guests into the brand,” Neman said. Another broader example at work: Sweetgreen saw an increase in salmon entrée sales. That after an internal, not guest-facing change. “Miso My Salmon” was a call within Sweetgreen to sharpen execution and elevate quality. And Neman said Sweetgreen took the same approach with other core items. For example, it refined its measurement of protein cook cycles and hold times to ensure dishes are fresh and elevated seven of its staple ingredients, such as romaine, quinoa, carrots, Napa cabbage slaw, and breadcrumbs. “This remains an area of focus as we continue to drive greater consistency across the fleet,” he said. Everything that’s now rolled out will meet Sweetgreen’s fresh ops sandbox requirements in terms of complexity and the number of ingredients and any incremental labor hours, Neman continued. And they’ll also go through a stage-gate to ensure operations aren’t disrupted. “I think, if I can leave you with anything, it’s … the most important thing we are focused on right now is the fundamentals of delivering an excellent customer experience,” he said. “And the menu innovation is all layered on top of that.” Sweetgreen in late June will start testing a rearchitected pricing ladder. Most visible will be the introduction of clear entry price points and a new create your own option designed to deliver greater clarity and a more intuitive ordering experience. Neman said, altogether, Sweetgreen believes price will become easier to understand and guests will have more understanding of what to choose and order, supporting incremental transactions across price points. It’s being more meticulous here as well. The company paced initiatives with “disciplined reads” on guest response and P&L impact to guide what comes next. And this time, it’s focusing on bringing more customers into the brand and increasing frequency for the long run. “We believe when we execute on our core fundamentals and deliver a great customer experience that, given all that we do within from a sourcing and scratch cooking perspective, that we offer tremendous value,” Neman said. “Having said that, we do see opportunities to offer more entry-level pricing and kind of a different pricing ladder for different consumers to drive acquisition and repeat behavior.” Case in action—the lower price point of wraps resonating in social chatter. ## Personalization strategy As these underlying practices sharpen, Sweetgreen will, as mentioned earlier, prioritize personalization, especially in the digital journey. Total digital revenue percentage (or mix) was 67.2 percent in Q1, up from 59.9 percent last year, and owned digital revenue percentage (first-party digital mix, including purchases made in-store where a customer uses scan-to-redeem or scan-to-earn as part of the SG Rewards loyalty program introduced during Q2 2025) was 38.9 percent, loftier than 31.9 percent, year-over-year. Neman said Sweetgreen wants to deepen connections and increase lifetime value through more targeted one-to-one interactions. SG Rewards leans on personalized offers, incentives, and experiences that make it easier for customers to engage with the brand while driving frequency and speed. The chain at the start of 2026 introduced a “Craving of the Month” program showcasing a loyalty-excusive LTO through the app at “compelling value.” Neman said retention and incremental spend signals, thus far, have been encouraging. Of guests who redeemed a Craving of the Month offer, Sweetgreen observed higher frequency and net average revenue per user. It’s also noticed the program draws in at-risk and lapsed diners and fuels incremental visits among lighter frequency cohorts. “While still nascent,” Neman said, “this exclusive platform within our loyalty program is helping us win back customers, drive incremental transactions and incremental spend.” Coming later in Q2, Sweetgreen will unveil lower redemption thresholds. The aim will be rewards in fewer visits and more accessibility for a broader set of users. The tiers will include a $3 credit at 700 points, $5 credit at 1,200, and a free wrap at 2,000. Overall mix in Q1 for Sweetgreen was negative 2.3 percent as it deployed strategic promotional offers. It does not plan to continue promo and discounts at this level. “We do expect to really wean off of this,” Neman said. It’s electing instead to test that build your own framework as well as entry level options. Pricing was 0.7 percent (1 percent rolls off in March). “We have now done a baseline on price value. And over coming quarters, we’ll share more on how that has changed,” Neman said. “But to leave you with anything, really the focus is delivering on the fundamentals and delivering a great customer experience. And when we do that, the food, what we offer, is really worth the money, and we’re proud of that.” Sweetgreen saw 790-basis points of store-level margin contraction in the quarter. Store-level profit was $16.2 million and restaurant-level profit margin 10 percent. A year-ago, those figures were $29.7 million and 17.9 percent. Loss from operations was $34 million and loss from operations margin 21.3 percent versus negative $28.5 million and 17.2 percent last year. Adjusted EBITDA swung a loss of $8.1 million compared to a gain of $285,000 last year, driven primarily by lower store-level profit. Sweetgreen credited the margin drop “to a negative same-store sales change of 12.8 percent driven by higher overall ingredient usage, investments in chicken and tofu portions, and increased promotional activity through our loyalty program. These increases were partially offset by lower ingredient costs resulting from supply chain savings initiatives.” Q1 was also the first call after Ryan Slemons was appointed CDO. He came over from Unleashed Brands (concepts like Urban Air Adventure Park and The Little Gym) and was at GameStop before. Previously, Slemons worked at Starbucks, overseeing 1,100 stores in the Pacific Northwest. This, too, is an uneven corner of Sweetgreen’s business these days. The company said it plans to open about 13 net stores this year, half including the Infinite Kitchen (AI-powered automated makeline Spyce technology it ended up selling last year to Wonder for $186 million). That reflects 18 openings and a “handful” of lease-related closures where Sweetgreen said it mostly sees an opportunity to improve nearby location. Average-unit volumes today are about $2.6 million. They were $2.9 million last March. Sweetgreen also closed 14 stores in Q1, nine temporary and five permanent, with net expansion of four locations (three Infinite Kitchens). ## Entities - QSR (sector) - QSR Magazine (publication) - menu innovation (topic) - Danny Klein (person) - Sweetgreen (company) - Jonathan Neman (person) - brand relevance (topic) - transformation plan (topic) - operational execution (topic) - same-store sales decline (topic) --- Originally reported by Danny Klein, QSR Magazine (https://www.qsrmagazine.com/story/the-plan-to-fix-sweetgreen-wont-happen-overnight-heres-where-it-starts/). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/2bbe78f8-5d52-430d-ad71-c12e41fc3f6f).