Sweetgreen hires Amazon, Starbucks alum as development chief

The embattled fast casual chain’s newest C-suite appointment may signal a shift toward experiential store design.

New title: Chief development officer, Sweetgreen

Previous title: Chief development officer, Unleashed Brands

Slemons will take his post at the fast casual chain on May 4, reporting directly to CEO and co-founder Jonathan Neman, according to a Thursday press release .

Slemons joins the chain at a difficult moment. The perennially unprofitable brand has seen steep drops in its same-store sales over the last year , and it recently sold off Spyce , the division responsible for developing its Infinite Kitchen makeline.

But Sweetgreen has continued to develop stores. It opened 35 net locations in 2025 , and projects 15 net openings — about half of which will include the Infinite Kitchen — in 2026.

Unleashed Brands, Slemons’ previous employer, franchises experiential brands like Urban Air Adventure Park, The Little Gym and Sylvan Learning Centers, all of which count children and families as their primary consumer bases. Slemons has extensive experience in retail development aside from that, including roughly eight years leading retail execution of Amazon Go stores in the U.S., a stint managing a Starbucks regional portfolio of 1,100 cafes, and a period as GameStop’s VP for global real estate and development.

Neman said Slemons possesses the “ability to design spaces that are deeply customer-focused, operationally thoughtful, and elevate the in-restaurant experience.”

Sweetgreen, Neman said, is looking to “evolve our formats and design,” amid its continued physical expansion.

Many other fast casual and QSR brands, ranging from Cava and Starbucks to Subway and Pizza Hut , have updated their stores or begun testing new layouts over the last couple of years to better entice consumers. Hiring an executive from a franchisor focused primarily on developing children’s spaces could be an early indicator of a similar experiential turn at Sweetgreen.

Slemons said the ailing fast casual has “a unique opportunity to thoughtfully evolve how our spaces look, feel, and operate, creating environments that not only support our teams, but elevate the experience for every guest.”

Slemons succeeds Chris Tarrant as development chief. Tarrant came to Sweetgreen from Nothing Bundt Cakes and brought significant Starbucks experience, as well. At the time Tarrant was hired, Sweetgreen was focused primarily on developing in suburban markets and expanding its deployment of the Infinite Kitchen.