---
title: "QSR Magazine: Sweetgreen Going Cashless in 2017"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/ad59eb06-8669-448a-bae8-83f048eafcab
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/qsr-magazine-sweetgreen-going-cashless-in-2017-8886
category: "Fast casual"
industry: "Restaurants"
segment: "Fast casual"
published: 2016-12-28T14:09:01.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T04:14:00.182Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/fa24ae38c408cc558613c9566b04dc5c1096.jpg
---

# QSR Magazine: Sweetgreen Going Cashless in 2017

**TL;DR:** Sweetgreen will stop accepting cash at locations in several states in January and March 2017. The change is expected to make service faster by 10 percent and reduce costs and risks associated with handling cash.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2016-12-28. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/qsr-magazine-sweetgreen-going-cashless-in-2017-8886).*

## Story

Sweetgreen is making a major change to the way the brand does business in 2017. In January, the fast-casual plans to stop accepting cash at New York, Illinois, California, and Pennsylvania locations according to a recent QSR Magazine article. Then in March, Sweetgreen locations in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington D.C. will follow suit.

The growing fast casual chain currently has 64 locations in California and the Northeast alone, with plans to open 30 stores in eight markets in the New Year.

The co-founder of Sweetgreen, Jonathan Neman, says the change will make service faster by 10 percent, even though less than 10 percent of the company’s sales are from cash transactions.

The decision to go cashless includes other benefits besides increasing speed. With less cash around, there is a smaller chance for robbery, the costs for transferring cash around decreases, managers can eliminate the task of counting cash from their jobs and there is less of a risk of sanitation issues from touching cash.

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- Restaurants (sector)
- location expansion (topic)
- fast casual (topic)
- new york (location)
- California (location)
- Pennsylvania (location)
- Virginia (location)
- Illinois (location)
- Maryland (location)
- Washington, D.C. (location)
- Sweetgreen (company)

---
Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/qsr-magazine-sweetgreen-going-cashless-in-2017-8886). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/ad59eb06-8669-448a-bae8-83f048eafcab).