Sweetgreen Q4 2025 Earnings Report

Sweetgreen EPS Results

• Actual EPS: -$0.42
• Consensus EPS: -$0.31
• Beat/Miss: Missed by -$0.11
• One Year Ago EPS: -$0.25

Sweetgreen Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $155.19 million
• Expected Revenue: $159.59 million
• Beat/Miss: Missed by -$4.40 million
• YoY Revenue Growth: -3.50%

Sweetgreen Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q4 2025
• Date: 2/26/2026
• Time: After Market Closes
• Conference Call Date: Thursday, February 26, 2026
• Conference Call Time: 5:00PM ET

Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) is a fast-casual restaurant chain specializing in salads, grain bowls and warm bowls that emphasize fresh, locally sourced ingredients. Since its founding in 2007 by Jonathan Neman, Nicolas Jammet and Nathaniel Ru, Sweetgreen has focused on sustainable agriculture, working with regional farmers across the United States to provide seasonal produce and promote environmentally responsible sourcing practices. The company’s menu features a variety of plant-forward options, including custom-build salads, chef-curated bowls and limited-time offerings that reflect changing harvests.

Sweetgreen operates a technology-driven service model that combines in-store experiences with digital ordering through its mobile app and website. Customers can customize their meals, schedule pickup or delivery, and participate in a loyalty program designed to reward frequent visitors. The company has invested in its digital platform to streamline kitchen operations, enhance order accuracy and collect insights on consumer preferences, positioning itself as a leader in the intersection of food, technology and sustainability.

Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, Sweetgreen has expanded from its original Washington, D.C., location to more than 100 restaurants across major metropolitan areas in the United States. In November 2021, Sweetgreen completed its initial public offering and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SG. The company is led by co-founder and CEO Jonathan Neman, with Nicolas Jammet serving as president and chief marketing officer and Nathaniel Ru overseeing operations as chief operating officer.

Sweetgreen Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Negative Sentiment: For FY2025 revenue was $679.5M and Q4 sales were $155.2M with comparable sales down 11.5% in Q4 (FY comps -7.9%), restaurant-level margin compressed sharply to 10.4% in Q4 versus 17.4% a year ago, and Q4 adjusted EBITDA was a loss of $13.3M and net loss $49.7M.
• Positive Sentiment: Management is executing a five‑point Sweet Growth Transformation Plan with an emphasis on operational excellence (Project One Best Way), and reports ~two‑thirds of restaurants now meeting their "great" standard with improved throughput and scorecard visibility.
• Positive Sentiment: Product innovation momentum is building — the company has its largest innovation pipeline ever, is testing wraps in a multi‑market pilot (priced under $15) with encouraging early results and a potential mid‑2026 rollout if stage‑gate criteria are met.
• Positive Sentiment: Technology and portfolio moves are intended to boost unit economics — Infinite Kitchen locations are delivering higher AAVs and >700 bps labor savings versus classic stores, and the early 2026 sale of Spyce generated $100M in cash to bolster liquidity.
• Neutral Sentiment: 2026 guidance assumes same‑store sales down -4% to -2% with restaurant‑level margin of 14.2%–14.7% and adjusted EBITDA of $1M–$6M, about 15 net new restaurants planned (nearly half with Infinite Kitchen), and management expects trends to improve through the year after a weather‑impacted Q1.

Presentation

[Operator]

Thank you for standing by. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Sweetgreen, Inc. fourth quarter 2025 earnings call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. We do ask you limit yourself to one question and one follow-up.

[Operator]

If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star one again. Thank you. I would now like to turn the call over to Rebecca Nounou, VP, Head of Investor Relations. You may begin.

[Rebecca Nounou, VP, Head of Investor Relations at Sweetgreen]

Thank you and good afternoon, everyone. Speaking on today's call will be Jonathan Neman, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, and Jamie McConnell, Chief Financial Officer. Both will be available for questions during the Q&A session following the prepared remarks. Today's call is being webcast live and recorded for replay. The earnings release is available on the Investor Relations section of Sweetgreen's website at investor.sweetgreen.com.

[Rebecca Nounou, VP, Head of Investor Relations at Sweetgreen]

I'd like to remind everyone that the information under the heading Forward-Looking Statements included in our earnings release also applies to our comments made during the call. These forward-looking statements are based on information as of today, and we assume no obligation to publicly update or revise our forward-looking statements. We also direct you to our earnings release for additional information regarding our use of non-GAAP financial measures, including reconciliations of our non-GAAP financial measures mentioned on the call with their corresponding GAAP measures.

[Rebecca Nounou, VP, Head of Investor Relations at Sweetgreen]

Our earnings release can be found on our investor website. Now I'll turn the call over to Jonathan to kick things off.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Thank you, Rebecca, and thank you to everyone joining us this afternoon. Our team members are our most important ingredient. They are the heart behind every meal we serve, from the people leading our restaurants and serving guests every day to the teams in our support center. Every team member plays a role in bringing our mission of connecting people to real food to life. I want to thank our teams for staying disciplined and focused on the fundamentals during what has been a challenging operating environment.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

In that spirit, I want to recognize my co-founder and longtime partner, Nathaniel Ru. From our first day at Georgetown to building Sweetgreen together, Nate has been a defining force behind our culture, our creativity, and our belief that the smallest details are what make a brand truly special.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

While Nate has stepped back from his day-to-day role, I'm grateful he'll continue to support us from the board as we build what's next for Sweetgreen. Nate, Nick, and I are all confident that the team we have in place today is set up to navigate Sweetgreen through this moment and lead us into our next phase of growth.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Our full year results make it clear there is more work to do as we position the business for the future. For fiscal year 2025, revenue was $679.5 million. We continue to experience traffic pressure. Comparable sales for the year declined 7.9%. We opened 35 net new restaurants, ending the year with 281 locations. Restaurant level margin was 15.2%. Adjusted EBITDA was a loss of $11 million.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

I'll start with an update on our Sweet Growth Transformation Plan, and Jamie will walk through the financials in more detail. We are executing with urgency across the business and are one quarter into our transformation plan, which is focused on five strategic priorities. one, operational excellence. two, food quality and menu innovation. Three, personalized experience. Four, brand relevance. five, disciplined, profitable investments. While the financial impact will take time to materialize, we are strengthening the foundation of the company.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

We are improving operations, elevating food quality, accelerating menu innovation, and strengthening our value proposition, all guided by clear return thresholds. We are staying relentlessly focused on our guests and acting on what matters most to them. As I walk through our strategic priorities, I'll share a few encouraging signs where the foundational work is beginning to show up in the business.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Starting with operational excellence, which remains the foundation of our ability to win with guests. We are building the systems and discipline required to deliver consistent, high quality execution across every restaurant, every day. Let me share where we are.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Over the summer, we implemented Project One Best Way, our system-wide effort to elevate operational excellence through clear standards, performance-based leadership, and measured execution. Today, approximately 2/3 of our restaurants are hitting our great bar based on our internal operational audits.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

What's most encouraging is the shift in the distribution this quarter, with more restaurants exceeding standard and fewer falling below, reflecting improved consistency across the fleet. Importantly, great is not a static benchmark. As performance improves, we continue to raise the bar by increasing both the standard score and our expectations for what constitutes great. Throughput is where operational discipline translates into results.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

In any great kitchen, mise en place means having everything in its place before the rush. That same principle drives our Rush Ready Before Peak initiative, ensuring the right team members are in position, prep is complete, and stations are set before peak volume hits. We've just started to introduce real-time throughput visibility to our field teams, giving them the ability to see performance and adjust in the moment.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

We know that speed and accuracy during peak periods are what drive both guest satisfaction and team confidence, and we're building the muscle memory across the system to deliver consistently. We've also strengthened how we measure and drive performance.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

The restaurant scorecard we introduced last quarter gives teams clear visibility into a focused set of metrics, sales, throughput, customer satisfaction, labor, food quality, and people, so they know exactly where we're winning and where we need to improve.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

During my restaurant visits, I review scorecards with our teams and walk the Sweet Path, a framework that breaks each restaurant into clear zones with simple, consistent standards for how we show up every day. We're encouraged by the progress we're seeing, but we know there's more work to do.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

We're still seeing inconsistencies in areas like ingredient availability and ordering, as well as team scheduling, and we're addressing them directly, improving our tools, retraining teams system-wide, and realigning quarterly bonus incentives around the financial and operational metrics that matter most.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Our goal is to equip restaurant leaders with clear data and streamlined systems so they can think and act like owners, accountable for sales, margins, and the guest experience. Food quality and menu innovation are at the heart of who we are.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Our menu sets us apart, built on real culinary credibility and made from scratch with ingredients from farmers and partners we know and trust. Delivering delicious food, executed consistently, is non-negotiable. It's how we compete, and it's how we win.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

A recent example is our internal Miso My Salmon campaign, launched in December to sharpen execution and elevate salmon quality across the system. We extended marinade times to deepen flavor and refined cooking and presentation, serving the fat side up for better caramelization and a more vibrant appearance.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

We took the same disciplined approach with chicken, updating our recipe for a juicier result, alongside upgrades to our golden quinoa, white rice, and napa cabbage slaw that you can try in our restaurants today. This is our culture of culinary technique and practice, constantly refining how we prep, cook, and present our food.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Menu innovation, when supported by strong operational execution, can be a key driver of comp growth. Our Stage-Gate process, implemented in 2025, guides this innovation by ensuring we test and learn while maintaining operational excellence in our restaurants.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Today, we have the most robust innovation pipeline in Sweetgreen's history, designed to diversify menu occasions, expand categories, attract new customers, and drive frequency with existing ones. We kicked off 2026 with two limited time only menus.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

The first was a collaboration with Function Health and their Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Mark Hyman. Built entirely from existing ingredients, the menu was operationally simple to execute while reinforcing the quality and integrity of our offerings, and demonstrated how we can deliver credible, wellness-forward innovation without adding complexity in our restaurants.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Our second limited time menu launched February third with the Winter Harvest Bowl, a seasonal take on our best-selling bowl featuring maple glazed squash and the vegetable of the year, charred balsamic cabbage. At the same time, we brought back feta cheese to our core lineup, a frequently requested ingredient by loyal customers and brand fans.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Taken together with our innovation pipeline, the menu calendar reflects our focus on creating newness on the menu and bringing customers fresh, seasonal ingredients, and with compelling sourcing stories throughout the year. Our biggest menu expansion plan for 2026 is the launch of wraps, which began innovation testing in eight restaurants in the Los Angeles market in January. As part of our stage-gate process, we're learning how to execute wraps at scale while protecting throughput.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Operational details, like tortilla press placement, have been key focus areas in our eight-restaurant test. We're actively iterating based on those insights. Building on those learnings, we expanded wraps to a broader market pilot last week across select locations in Manhattan, the Midwest, and Los Angeles.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

The lineup, Classic Chicken Caesar, Chicken Salad Bacon Club, and Chicken Jalapeño Ranch, starts at $10.95 at select locations in New York City. The full lineup is priced below $15 across all markets for in-store and pickup orders. The early feedback is encouraging. If performance meets our stage-gate criteria for customer acquisition and retention, we expect to expand the platform in mid 2026. Improving value perception remains one of our highest priorities.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

With guests increasingly focused on value and quality while pulling back on overall restaurant spending, we know Sweetgreen must deliver on both dimensions without compromising the experience that defines our brand. In 2025, we took important steps forward, including increasing protein portions, reintroducing lower-priced seasonal offerings, launching $12 Daily Greens, and leaning into the $10 ‘Tis the Seasoned Harvest Bowl to meet guests where they are.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

While these actions strengthen our value positioning, we recognize there is more work to do. Following a comprehensive review of our menu and pricing architecture, we have identified a focused set of initiatives to simplify and strengthen the overall experience. Testing is underway, beginning with wraps pricing and loyalty entry price drops.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

We will also test a rearchitected Create Your Own platform designed to deliver greater price clarity and a more intuitive ordering experience, alongside clearly defined entry price entrees across our core menu categories later this year as we pace and sequence these moves over the next several quarters.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Together, these initiatives are designed to create a more transparent value ladder, giving guests confidence in what they are paying while supporting incremental traffic and transactions across a broader range of price points.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

At Sweetgreen, value has never been just about price. It's rooted in the farmers we source from, the quality of their ingredients, scratch cooking, generous portions, and a consistent experience. Our 2026 initiatives are focused on making that value clearer and easier to access at every touchpoint. Our personalized digital experience strategy is built to increase customer frequency and spend through one-to-one messages and incentives.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

The $10 'Tis the Season Harvest Bowl promotion in December was a strong proof point for our loyalty-first approach to value and guest engagement. By making the offer exclusive to loyalty members via the Sweetgreen app, we brought both new and reactivated guests directly into our ecosystem. It was our highest-performing reactivation promotion to date.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

We are listening to customers and follow this up with a $10 chicken avocado ranch offer on February 9th. This continued to build momentum with the playbook we call Craving of the Month, a loyalty exclusive limited time offer featuring a craveable menu item available only through the Sweetgreen app, designed to give members a compelling reason to engage with the brand every month.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Scan to Pay now represents approximately 20% of frontline transactions, bringing in-store guests into our loyalty ecosystem and giving us full visibility into their Sweetgreen behavior and preferences. The impact is tangible. Loyalty members who transact both digitally and in store visit nearly 2x more frequently than digital-only customers. We believe this is a key lever to drive higher frequency omni-channel behavior and ultimately the flywheel that builds lasting lifetime value among our most valuable guests.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

At our best, our brand creates culture and makes the spaces we occupy more real, vibrant and connected. In the fourth quarter, our protein-focused campaign resonated with guests seeking more filling, satisfying meals. Built on the insight that protein stopped being about food, we cut through the noise with the launch of the Power Max Protein Plate, delivering over 100 grams of protein from real ingredients like quinoa and chicken with no fillers, and generated strong social buzz and brand relevance.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

In February, we launched our expanded catering platform, including the Build Your Own Sweetgreen Bar, and are seeing strong early traction. Anchored by our Here for the Bowl campaign and a big game activation at San Francisco’s Ferry Building Farmers Market, the platform extends Sweetgreen into group occasions and serves as a meaningful new customer acquisition channel.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Shifting to our last pillar, which is disciplined, profitable investment. In the fourth quarter, we opened 15 net new restaurants, including eight Infinite Kitchens. We also entered three new markets during the fourth quarter: Cincinnati, Sacramento, with two Infinite Kitchen restaurants, and Arkansas. We opened our Bentonville restaurant in Q4 and our Fayetteville restaurant in Q1 2026. We also expanded our presence in Arizona with a second location during the fourth quarter.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

On the Infinite Kitchen front, the technology continues to deliver on its promise: faster throughput, improved order accuracy, and elevated food quality, all while creating a better experience for both guests and team members. In the quarter, established Infinite Kitchens delivered higher AAVs and labor savings of more than 700 basis points compared to their classic counterparts of similar age.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

In November, we opened our first Infinite Kitchen sweetlane location in Costa Mesa, California, expanding the technology into a new format designed to serve suburban markets and capture drive-thru occasions.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

The location is performing well and we are excited to grow this format further. We ended the year with 30 Infinite Kitchen locations. With the Spyce team now part of Wonder, we remain confident in the continuity and trajectory of the platform. The partnership is working.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Since the transition, we have successfully opened two new Infinite Kitchen locations in the first quarter: Long Beach and our first in the DMV market at Pike 7. We continue to roll out software improvements, including new capabilities around greens portioning precision, demonstrating that development and deployment momentum remains firmly intact.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Over the past year, we've strengthened the foundation of Sweetgreen by putting the guests at the center of every decision. We've rebuilt discipline around the fundamentals that matter most: great food, speed, genuine hospitality, and clear restaurant-level ownership and accountability.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Maintaining that standard consistently across the system remains a top priority, because delivering on these basics is what earns trust and keeps guests coming back. At the same time, we are leaning into what makes Sweetgreen different.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

We are strengthening our core menu, delivering innovation in a disciplined way, building a more connected digital ecosystem, and investing in a brand rooted in the Sweetgreen lifestyle our guests choose to live every day.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Looking ahead, the work we need to do is clear. Execute with discipline to improve performance quarter by quarter and build a stronger, more durable business. While there's still work to do, we're seeing encouraging signs that our efforts are taking hold. I want to thank our team for navigating a challenging year and positioning Sweetgreen for more consistent performance ahead. I'll turn over the call to Jamie to review our financial results in detail.

[Jamie McConnell, CFO at Sweetgreen]

Thank you, Jonathan, and good afternoon, everyone. As Jonathan outlined, the past year was challenging, but it brought clarity on our priorities and the path forward under the Sweet Growth Transformation Plan. While we are still early, the actions we've taken and continue to take give us confidence in the opportunity ahead.

[Jamie McConnell, CFO at Sweetgreen]

Our objective is to build a more resilient operating model that supports consistent long-term financial performance. In my experience, sustained results come from staying relentlessly focused on the guest, empowering and holding our teams accountable, strengthening operational execution, and managing costs with discipline.

[Jamie McConnell, CFO at Sweetgreen]

These principles underpin our strategic priorities. When those fundamentals are in place, growth, margin expansion, and cash flow follow. Across the P&L, we are taking a comprehensive end-to-end approach to improve efficiency and ensure every dollar is working harder. This includes reducing complexity and reinforcing clear ownership and accountability throughout the organization.

[Jamie McConnell, CFO at Sweetgreen]

As Jonathan mentioned, we have updated our field bonus plan to align incentives directly with restaurant-level performance, encouraging our leaders to think and act like owners with full accountability for sales and margin.

[Jamie McConnell, CFO at Sweetgreen]

Turning to our fourth quarter results, sales were $155.2 million compared to $160.9 million a year ago, with comparable sales down 11.5%. Restaurant level margin was 10.4%, down from 17.4% last year. During the quarter, we opened 15 net new restaurants, including eight Infinite Kitchens, and ended the year with 281 restaurants. The comparable sales decline was driven by a 13.3% decrease in traffic and mix, partially offset by a 1.8% benefit from menu price increases.

[Jamie McConnell, CFO at Sweetgreen]

The decline also reflects the transition from Sweetpass+ to our new SG Rewards program, which eliminated subscription revenue and introduced a loyalty deferral. We expect the first quarter to be the most challenging of the year.

[Jamie McConnell, CFO at Sweetgreen]

January same-store sales declined 11.8% impacted by severe weather. In March, we will be lapping the launch of Ripple Fries. The first quarter includes 70 basis points of price. 2025 carryover price fully rolled off in the middle of February. Fourth quarter food, beverage, and packaging costs were 29.2% of revenue, an increase of 180 basis points year-over-year.

[Jamie McConnell, CFO at Sweetgreen]

The increase was primarily driven by higher ingredient usage and waste, including increased protein portions. These impacts were partially offset by menu pricing and mix. Tarrifs impacted the quarter by 20 basis points.

[Jamie McConnell, CFO at Sweetgreen]

Fourth quarter labor and related expenses were 30.5% of revenue, an increase of 200 basis points year-over-year. This was primarily driven by deleverage from lower sales volumes and wage inflation, partially offset by menu price increases and lower bonus expense.

[Jamie McConnell, CFO at Sweetgreen]

Other operating expenses were 19.1% of revenue, an increase of 170 basis points year-over-year, driven primarily by deleverage from lower sales volumes, higher marketing spend, and increased repairs and maintenance. G&A expense was $39.7 million in the quarter, an increase of $2.6 million year-over-year, primarily related to one-time stock-based compensation modifications made during the quarter.

[Jamie McConnell, CFO at Sweetgreen]

For 2026, we expect underlying support center costs, excluding stock-based compensation and one-time expenses, to be approximately 13% of revenue, down from 15.3% in 2025 as we streamline the organization and drive greater cost discipline.

[Jamie McConnell, CFO at Sweetgreen]

Fourth quarter net loss was $49.7 million compared to a net loss of $29 million last year, reflecting the decline in restaurant-level profit. Adjusted EBITDA was a loss of $13.3 million compared to a loss of $600,000 last year, also driven primarily by lower restaurant-level profit. We ended the quarter with $89.2 million in cash. At the beginning of fiscal year 2026, we closed the sale of Spyce, receiving $100 million in cash proceeds. Turning to fiscal year 2026 guidance.

[Jamie McConnell, CFO at Sweetgreen]

We expect same-store sales to be a decline in the range of -4% to -2%. As comparisons ease, we expect same-store sales trends to improve throughout the year. We expect restaurant-level margin to range from 14.2%-14.7% and Adjusted EBITDA to range between $1 million and $6 million.

[Jamie McConnell, CFO at Sweetgreen]

On unit growth, we expect to open about 15 net new restaurants with nearly half featuring Infinite Kitchen technology. We also plan to enter 2 new markets, Nashville and Salt Lake City. Our development pipeline is weighted toward the back half of the year. This is inclusive of a handful of closures at the end of their lease term, where we see the opportunity to strengthen nearby locations. To close, the opportunity in front of us remains significant.

[Jamie McConnell, CFO at Sweetgreen]

We are rebuilding the fundamentals, strengthening operations, elevating the guest experience, and improving restaurant-level economics. We are committed to building a stronger, more profitable Sweetgreen over the long term. With that, I'll turn the call over to the Operator to begin Q&A. Operator?

[Operator]

At this time, I would like to remind everyone in order to ask a question, press star then 1 on your telephone keypad. Your first question comes from a line of Jon Tower with Citi. Please go ahead.

[Jon Tower, Director, Equity Research – Consumer Restaurants at Citi]

Hey, great. Thanks for taking the question. I guess maybe thinking through the comp guidance that you offered, it sounds like you're not gonna be taking much price on the year, if any, at all. Can you help us think through the puts and takes with respect to comp growth?

[Jon Tower, Director, Equity Research – Consumer Restaurants at Citi]

I know you provided the cadence, but you know what you're expecting for timing, say, of wraps if they make it through the stage-gate process in terms of when they may come through the year and any other drivers to the top line as you're thinking through the business for 2026 and beyond.

[Jamie McConnell, CFO at Sweetgreen]

Yeah. Hi, Jon. This is Jamie. We expect, like we said, guidance between -4% and -2%. We've had a really choppy beginning of the year with the storms January and February. However, we have seen a couple of really good weeks. We're being conservative given the economic backdrop. We're excited about all the things that we have in place. We're also excited if wraps do well in tests, which is looking great, that they do launch in Q2.

[Jon Tower, Director, Equity Research – Consumer Restaurants at Citi]

Okay. In terms of pricing, do you plan on taking any more or taking any during the year?

[Jamie McConnell, CFO at Sweetgreen]

We're being cautious given the consumer backdrop. We'll reevaluate throughout the year. That's not in our guide.

[Jon Tower, Director, Equity Research – Consumer Restaurants at Citi]

Okay. Then just last one. In terms of thinking about the building blocks to returning store margins to kind of that high teens, low 20s% rate, obviously sales are gonna be a key component in it, but can you speak to any specific cost? Levers that you have already pulled or plan to pull in 2026 to kind of, you know, work with you guys as the sales begin to improve?

[Jamie McConnell, CFO at Sweetgreen]

Yeah. There's a lot of things that we're working on for margin. Sales leverage is obviously gonna be the biggest piece, but there's also some operational inefficiencies that we're working on. One example would be around optimizing our order systems for our team members to make sure they're ordering the right items and that we're taking the guesswork out of it.

[Jamie McConnell, CFO at Sweetgreen]

We're looking to streamline that tool and making sure we get rid of all those manual inputs, so we're ordering correctly. We do see some opportunity there. We also see opportunity within our supply chain, streamlining and doing some supplier diversification.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Yeah. Jon, the only thing I'll add to that is we've continued to see encouraging signs around our ability, our head coach stability and reducing turnover. We know when we get stable head coaches and reduced turnover, we have more productive teams, which also leads to higher margins.

[Jamie McConnell, CFO at Sweetgreen]

Yeah. Good

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

... you know, obviously sales leverage will be the biggest component, but there's a number of operational moves that we're putting in place that, you know, just even without any sales leverage, we do have some margin gains to go for.

[Jon Tower, Director, Equity Research – Consumer Restaurants at Citi]

Great. Thanks for taking the questions.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Thanks, Jon.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from the line of Rahul Krotthapalli with J.P. Morgan. Please go ahead.

[Rahul Krotthapalli, Equity Research Analyst at JP Morgan]

Good afternoon, guys. Can you discuss how the rollout of the Project One Best Way, maybe the first iteration, understanding this is an ongoing process, is progressing? Specifically, can you share some metrics maybe on store performances for the cohort of stores where the rollout has been the earliest, either a margin side or anything else to give us more confidence that we are closer to the inflection? I have a follow-up.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Absolutely. Hi, Rahul. We're very encouraged by the work we're doing from an operational excellence perspective. You know, huge shout out to our operations team and our field leadership. We've instituted Project One Best Way, and, you know, over two quarters, you've seen the restaurants that have been scored great through our internal audits double just in two quarters.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

We do see better comps and better return rates of customers in those stores as they perform better on those operational metrics. Those operational metrics are everything from, you know, our standards and process, but a lot in terms of hospitality and food quality as well. They're very in-depth studies. We're gonna continue pushing on that with a huge focus as we look forward not only on throughput, but on hospitality and continuing to elevate our food quality.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

One thing that we talk, you know, I mentioned earlier in the prepared remarks was around a lot of the moves we've made around the quality of many of our core items. We, you know, we talked about the salmon, where we've increased, we've elevated the quality of the salmon through some of our culinary techniques, and we've seen salmon, as an example, increase its velocity by almost 20% as we've done that. Similarly, we've upgraded how we season the rice. It's much more delicious. If you haven't tried it, I highly recommend.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

We've upgraded our quinoa from a sand, you know, kind of a classic plain quinoa to a gold-golden quinoa, and even changed how we cook our chicken in terms of the cycle time of how often we cook it and the way in which we cook it to be juicier. A huge focus on the guest and the product and elevating that, and we know when we do that, customers are more, you know, become more loyal and stay with us longer.

[Rahul Krotthapalli, Equity Research Analyst at JP Morgan]

Thank you. Reducing complexity is something you mentioned again in the prepared remarks. Can we revisit this topic on what the top priority areas here in the store for 2026 and what kind of changes or impact we should see?

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

In terms of what we actually do in the restaurant?

[Rahul Krotthapalli, Equity Research Analyst at JP Morgan]

Yes.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Are you talking about more like an app standpoint?

[Rahul Krotthapalli, Equity Research Analyst at JP Morgan]

On the complexity reduction. Yeah.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Yeah. Yeah. We're, you know, we're constantly looking at tools and processes as well as what we do in restaurant and where we can leverage value-added partners to make the work easier in our restaurants. Again, given our food ethos and focus on made from scratch, we're very, very careful on this. One of the big rollouts last year was around de-stemmed kale as an example.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

That's going to, you know, we should see continued efficiencies from that. There's a number of other opportunities, whether it be how we cook our steak is one thing that we're looking at. Chicken, protein marination is another one we're looking at, and we're constantly looking at which dressings and sauces could be upstreamed as long as they can be upstreamed in line with our values.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

You know, we've really built this commercialization muscle over the past couple of years, and we will continue to lean into that to make it easier for our team members to work in store, lower those prep hours, and move more of the hours to focus on hospitality and the guest experience.

[Rahul Krotthapalli, Equity Research Analyst at JP Morgan]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from the line of Brian Bittner with Oppenheimer. Please go ahead.

[Brian Bittner, Managing Director, Senior Equity Research Analyst – Restaurants at Oppenheimer]

Thank you. you know, as it relates to the trends in the business, I realize the storms have had a huge impact, obviously, on the first quarter for the industry, and particularly you, given where your store base is. Have you attempted to perhaps strip out that headwind and think about the underlying trends and what those look like? or do you have an estimate perhaps of how big the impact from the storms could be for the first quarter so we can try to better think about the trends in the business?

[Jamie McConnell, CFO at Sweetgreen]

Yeah. January and February are choppy. The impact of the storms to date is about 320 basis points, but that does not include this latest storm where we have a little over 100 restaurants. It's really hard to read the 1st quarter. What I can tell you, given our Northeast densification, but what I can tell you is the weeks where we're not seeing any weather, we are seeing some momentum in the business. That's been great to see.

[Brian Bittner, Managing Director, Senior Equity Research Analyst – Restaurants at Oppenheimer]

Okay. That's helpful. Just my follow-up question is related to the restaurant margin guidance for 2026. Maybe you can help unpack how to think about maybe the COGS and labor line items. They've obviously been large sources of deleverage looking backwards.

[Brian Bittner, Managing Director, Senior Equity Research Analyst – Restaurants at Oppenheimer]

I think in order to get to the guidance for 2026, we need much more stable performance in those two line items, but you're not taking much price, and you are anticipate comps to be down 2%-4%. Can you maybe shape expectations for the building blocks of that restaurant margin guidance?

[Jamie McConnell, CFO at Sweetgreen]

Absolutely. About half of it is a little over half of it is sales deleverage, we do see opportunities when it comes to making up that protein portion. That's through supplier diversification and some refinements that we're doing in the supply chain while making sure we keep the quality in our delicious ingredients. Also a lot of it's related to these operational inefficiencies.

[Jamie McConnell, CFO at Sweetgreen]

Jason's doing an awesome job with the team, what we're realizing as we go out into these restaurants is that we're making things complicated for our team members. It's really been a focus of getting into the restaurants and seeing how we can make their life easier. One of them was that predictive ordering tool that we're implementing and optimizing.

[Jamie McConnell, CFO at Sweetgreen]

I think that that's probably gonna be the other half is, more of the supply chain initiatives and the EBIT.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Yeah. If I could just add one thing. you know, we did put in a new labor management tool last year, our new, workforce management, and we're continuing to optimize that and make sure we have the right labor at the right time in order to capture sales, but also really just not wasting labor, reducing overtime. you know, a number of levers for us to pull around operational efficiencies.

[Jamie McConnell, CFO at Sweetgreen]

Yeah.

[Brian Bittner, Managing Director, Senior Equity Research Analyst – Restaurants at Oppenheimer]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from the line of Brian Mullan with Piper Sandler. Please go ahead.

[Brian Mullan, Director, Senior Research Analyst – Restaurants & Food Distribution at Piper Sandler]

Thank you. Question on the, on the wraps. I think this is something you've been contemplating for a long time. You know, is there a way to maybe frame up how big of an opportunity this could be even qualitatively, you know, including as a customer acquisition tool if you get the product and the operations right? Then separately, you know, are you viewing this as a digital only offering, or is this something you can envision, you know, walking the line and being able to order as well?

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Absolutely. We're very excited about wraps. It's something we've been working on for a very, very long time, probably 2 years of product development, getting everything perfected, both the flavors, getting the supply chain ready to, you know, to have a really clean wrap, and of course, perfecting the operation. We went instituting our new stage-gate process. We went into our rapid ops test in January in eight stores in Los Angeles.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

The main question we had was, how is it gonna impact our restaurants operationally, specifically any impact to throughput. I'm very confident that it will not be a drag on throughput, and that was the big question. We've now moved onto a market test with about 68 restaurants featuring wraps, started about a week ago.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Results have been really, really encouraging. We have seen incidents tick up, almost every day since launch. The feedback we've gotten from guests is phenomenal. It is really hitting a new occasion, and in many ways, a new customer. If you look at the addressable market, you know, wrapped, handheld, there's, you know, a huge segment of the population with it being a bowl-only concept that we were not capturing.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

This opens up the aperture a lot for the type of customers and occasions, the type of customers and occasions that we can see. The last thing I'll say is that, you know, we have talked about in the prepared remarks, but wraps will all be sub $15, starting at $10.95.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

I think really disruptive from a price perspective. The other thing we see is when people are, you know, coming in at those lower prices, their second order rates are significantly higher. We expect to see the LTV, the, you know, the lifetime value or the annual spend of guests increase as we do that.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Overall, very encouraging, still perfecting things, getting ready for a midyear launch as long as it passes stage-gate. We do expect wraps to be a really big moment for us. We will put significant marketing around it. I'll say it's, I think it's gonna be a huge moment for the brand.

[Brian Mullan, Director, Senior Research Analyst – Restaurants & Food Distribution at Piper Sandler]

Okay. That's great to hear. Thank you.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Oh, I didn't answer your question. Your last part of it was, will it be digital only? No, it will be available on all channels. Today, even in test, I encourage everyone to go try them, and please share your feedback. We have three wraps today. We may expand the lineup, but they're available across all own channels. Eventually, will be available on all channels, including Marketplace. For right now, they're available both in store, on pickup, and through our pickup channel.

[Brian Mullan, Director, Senior Research Analyst – Restaurants & Food Distribution at Piper Sandler]

Okay. That is exciting. Thank you. Then a follow-up, just question on development. Maybe you could just talk about what the team is focused on beyond this year. You know, I know given the lead times, you'd normally be focused on 2027, 2028.

[Brian Mullan, Director, Senior Research Analyst – Restaurants & Food Distribution at Piper Sandler]

Maybe you don't wanna sign as many leases as you normally would, you know, right now. Just talk about how you're managing striking the right balance of slowing down now but not having a gap later in the pipeline if you want to accelerate.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Yeah, that's pretty. You mean you kinda nailed the approach. It's making sure we have a healthy pipeline, so we have the optionality to speed up as comps improve, and we feel good about the unit economics. However, keeping it, you know, not necessarily committing to too much, to, you know, make sure we're disciplined from a cash perspective.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

We've learned a lot about where Sweetgreen really works. We do have a really solid pipeline we feel very confident about for this year and do have a really solid pipeline built for 2027. You know, really kind of taking a wait and see approach in terms of signing too many deals as we really perfect the unit economics in the business.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Once we do see comps start, you know, turn positive and the flywheel starts going, we do expect to begin to accelerate development back to our previous algorithm.

[Brian Mullan, Director, Senior Research Analyst – Restaurants & Food Distribution at Piper Sandler]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from the line of Dennis Geiger with UBS. Please go ahead.

[Dennis Geiger, Executive Director, Senior Equity Research Analyst at UBS]

Great. Thanks, guys. I wanted to touch on loyalty a little more. If you could share a bit more on what you saw in the quarter, including the impact to the comp in the quarter first. Then just anything else on the customer observation, including those most frequent guests, how they're using the program, where they are right now versus the old program. If any updates on that front. Thank you.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Yeah, absolutely. Overall, the program is doing well. We're continuing to see weekly year-over-year growth with the new members signing up to the program. We do see, you know, loyalty members on an annual spend at more than two times non-loyalty members. It is definitely working. However, we also see a lot of opportunities.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

There's a lot of you will see kind of a re-envisioning or an optimization of the program later this year. Things like improving perks, adding tiers, boosting benefits of the program, you know, for example, that we need more options at lower tiers. And then we also are seeing a lot of opportunities in how we can leverage AI and personalization around offers and communications, which we think will improve our targeting and continue to drive frequency.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Overall, feeling pretty good about the program, but more optimizations coming to really make it a best in class program. The best thing about this versus the Sweet Passes is much more broadly appealing. Last thing I'll say is, you know, we introduced Scan to Pay in our restaurants last year, I think we may be one of the maybe the only restaurant that allows you to Scan to Pay with a single transaction.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

That percentage inside of our restaurants has doubled over the past two quarters. We're now seeing about 20% of in-store transactions, being a Scan to Pay transaction. Again, that's those are more customers that we can target with communications and offers.

[Dennis Geiger, Executive Director, Senior Equity Research Analyst at UBS]

Great. Then just if I may, one more on IK, just as it relates to the higher AUVs that you called out. Any additional comments there, high level quantification or perhaps anything on throughput metrics, et cetera, on the IK side of things? Thank you.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Yeah, IK continues to be encouraging. We're seeing similar results that we've talked about in the past, at least 700 basis points of leverage. We did introduce our newer formats with the IK, much better from a customer experience perspective and from an operations perspective. We're gonna continue to have that as a you know, huge part of our toolkit.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

We opened two more stores with Infinite Kitchens this year in Q1, so we're up to 32 stores featuring the Infinite Kitchen. We continue to see the benefits around throughput, accuracy, wait times, and over time, we think that also gives us a lot of pricing power. Very encouraged by the IK and we'll continue to use it, especially in our more high volume, more high volume locations.

[Dennis Geiger, Executive Director, Senior Equity Research Analyst at UBS]

Thanks, Jonathan.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from the line of Sara Senatore with Bank of America. Please go ahead.

[Sara Senatore, Managing Director, Global Equity Research, Senior Analyst – Restaurants at Bank of America]

Thank you. I guess, maybe just two follow-ups. One is on the wraps. You know, what is the implication for maybe operational complexity? You know, I think to your point about bowls, you know, even the protein plates probably looked kinda similar in terms of the build or how they went down the make line.

[Sara Senatore, Managing Director, Global Equity Research, Senior Analyst – Restaurants at Bank of America]

You know, is this going to add, you know, I don't know, complexity? I guess it sounds like probably not something that you can use the Infinite Kitchen for. As you're stage gating, I assume you're looking at the operational implications, but just anything you can say on that.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Absolutely. That was the major focus of our testing. Even before our Rapid Ops testing, we did a lot of testing in single restaurants where we brought team members together, worked together to co-create the operation. Things like where does tortilla placement go?

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

How does the food move down the line? You know, one of the things that we heard from customers in a lot of our surveys and focus groups was the product is better when the ingredients are mixed before wrapped, and the product is better when the wrap is cut. Those were things that we wanted to ensure we brought to market.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Luckily, through a lot of hard work from our operations team, those are things that we've enabled and are not seeing any slowdown on throughput. We do not expect any additional labor needs in order to do it. It really works beautifully within our current workflows.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

It actually does work with the IK. You know, the Infinite Kitchen does put together all of the ingredients, and our team members wrap things up on the finishing station. It actually works beautifully in those locations as well.

[Sara Senatore, Managing Director, Global Equity Research, Senior Analyst – Restaurants at Bank of America]

Oh, okay. Well, that's good to hear. I guess then the second question was about some of your comments about marketing and value. I guess, you know, you did pull, you know, you did invest in value in the fourth quarter, and I think you said you saw some, you know, initial good reactions. Obviously, I think the quarter didn't end up where you had hoped. Is there an opportunity here to not just maybe improve the value proposition, but improve how you communicate it?

[Sara Senatore, Managing Director, Global Equity Research, Senior Analyst – Restaurants at Bank of America]

You know, I don't know if it's, you know, something beyond what you do with the loyalty program or the in-app marketing or just anything you have in terms of thinking about whether the communication maybe could be more effective, as well as just the more, like, introductory price points.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Yeah. We, we see a lot of opportunities there and we, you know, we ran a lot of tests and pilots over the past six months to better understand the price value equation, how that resonates with customers. One was our $10 'Tis the Seasoned Harvest Bowl, where we saw you know, incredible reactivation rates, great customer acquisition.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Interestingly, the reorder rate, you know, of holding those customers was really high. Very encouraging is, you know, that brought people into the brand, and then they stayed with us past that promo. We followed that up this year with what we're calling our Craving of the Month, which is, a you know, it's a value offering only for loyalty members. It really works in that loyalty flywheel of bringing people on the brand.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Again, what we're seeing is not only are they coming, you know, many people are, you know, reactivating or lapsed customers are reactivating or new customers are joining with it. Again, they're not just ordering there, they're sticking with us. There's a lot more work we're doing on value. Wraps is something we've talked about with anchor pricing on wraps.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

In the prepared remarks, I mentioned a lot of the overall price value architecture work that we're doing. We are going to test a new pricing structure for our make your own bowls. We are also looking at our pricing ladders and where we have our opportunities for more entry-level pricing.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Of course, we wanna be very careful not to dilute our margins as we do this, but what we've seen is having different options for different groups of consumers. Ultimately, Sweetgreen's mission of connecting people to real food, we wanna democratize real food and make it accessible to all. These pricing ladders give options for all different types of consumers, and you'll see a lot more work on the price side.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

At the same time, you're gonna see a lot more work on the, you know, offering more value. You know, last year we increased our protein portions. We've upgraded a number of our ingredients, and we're improving the experience in our restaurants. The combination of those together, I think will start to really start to get that flywheel of growth going for us.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

We've seen some really, really encouraging early signs.

[Sara Senatore, Managing Director, Global Equity Research, Senior Analyst – Restaurants at Bank of America]

Okay. Just the marketing question was sort of more, you know, it sounds like you have a lot of initiatives. You know, is there, do you think about a contemplation of maybe marketing outside of just the app more broadly, you know, maybe to your, the more infrequent customers or the people, you know, I don't know if it's a point of purchase or how you do that. I know you're relatively small. Just, I guess my question was more you have good value, you know, is there a way to communicate it more broadly?

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Yeah. Yeah. I think you'll see more of that from us across many of our channels. I think you'll also see, you know, we've reevaluated our marketing mix. You know, we're spending a lot of our money lower funnel. I think you'll start to see more top-of-funnel brand awareness.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

We know as we do that, as we create more brand salience, it actually improves our return on ad spend lower in the funnel. If you go back to kind of what made Sweetgreen, you know, going back to our roots, it was really a lot of that brand marketing and storytelling. I think you'll see a healthy balance of the brand marketing top of, you know, top-of-funnel brand awareness.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

you know, things like collaborations and ways we play into culture as well as getting really efficient and optimized bottom funnel, whether that be our media spend, and/or, what we can do through our own channels in our loyalty program. you know, kudos to our marketing team, really reinventing how we go to market and speak to more guests. I think you'll only see that improve throughout the next couple quarters.

[Sara Senatore, Managing Director, Global Equity Research, Senior Analyst – Restaurants at Bank of America]

Okay. That makes a lot of sense. Thank you very much.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from the line of Brian Harbour with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

[Brian Harbour, Executive Director, Equity Research Analyst – Restaurants & Food Distribution at Morgan Stanley]

Yeah. Good afternoon, guys. Are you still doing IK retrofits at this point? I guess I'm just curious 'cause that's, you know, clearly something that kind of reduces complexity or is that not a focus at this point?

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

It's not a huge focus for us. We have done a handful of them. They, you know, we will continue to look at them as leases come up, you know, when we're doing full renovations or relocations. For example, in the past few months, we did relocate two stores, one being our Union Square restaurant, the lease was up. We moved to a better location on the avenue and opened with an IK.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Similarly, our first New York store at the NoMad moved across the street and opened it with an IK. You'll see it being done selectively, but the retrofit is not a huge focus for us right now.

[Brian Harbour, Executive Director, Equity Research Analyst – Restaurants & Food Distribution at Morgan Stanley]

Okay. Got it. Just the slight change to store openings this year. Is, you know, are those just getting delayed or, you know, you hadn't sort of signed some of those leases anywhere. I guess, like, the broader question is, you know, are you sort of, do you sort of have different views about where it makes sense to open at this point?

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

You know, I think we've seen a lot of success in new, in our new and emerging markets, I think which proves the TAM question this year. You know, in the past couple quarters, we opened new markets such as Arkansas, Phoenix, which is doing incredibly well, and even, you know, a place like Cincinnati.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

You'll continue to go where we know it works. We're really trying to, you know, open really high, you know, places where we have a high degree of confidence where we can both, you know, have the right real estate, have the people leadership there, you know, support it from a supply chain perspective.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

We have a high degree of confidence in the pipeline for this year, and we've gotten a lot, just a lot smarter about where to put new locations in what format. I also had it in the prepared remarks, but, you know, we have seen a lot of success with our Sweetlane.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

The most you know, we have our first one in Schaumburg. We opened another one in Costa Mesa. We have another one coming very soon. Obviously, those are harder to find, but it's a really great format for us that we're continuing to lean into.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from the line of Andrew Charles with TD Cowen. Please go ahead.

[Andrew Charles, Managing Director, Consumer – Restaurants Research Analyst at TD Cowen]

Great. Thank you. Jonathan, with your greater focus on protein and fiber, you know, as part of the marketing efforts, you know, is there any evidence that your efforts are resonating with GLP users via your loyalty program or any other data you can collect on this? I have a follow-up.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

You know, it's hard to say 'cause our users don't tell us that they're on GLP-1s. It's hard to say, but clearly, you know, many people are. What I can tell you is, you know, I do think we would long term as GLP-1 adoption increases, we will be a beneficiary.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

You know, from all of our research, as people get on GLP-1s, they want more protein dense, they want fresher food, and, you know, I think, you know, William Blair put out a study a couple years ago about, you know, actually studying which brands, what customers want to eat once on GLP-1s, and I think we were the only one where actually frequency increased.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Overall, we do see it as a tailwind, but we have no real evidence of it in our current data.

[Andrew Charles, Managing Director, Consumer – Restaurants Research Analyst at TD Cowen]

Okay. Jamie, I know in 2025, you know, the brand closed three restaurants that were near the end of their lease. I'm curious if you had enough time in your role to review the portfolio to identify stores where it might make sense to be closed stores permanently before they're under lease term as a way to improve same-store sales, margins and free cash flow, you know, as a way to help accelerate the turnaround.

[Jamie McConnell, CFO at Sweetgreen]

Yeah, no, we definitely are looking at that. There was one that was closed in Q4. We have a handful that are closing this year. Those are all near the lease term. Absolutely we're looking at the whole portfolio and the ones that are not cash flow positive, we're taking a hard look at.

[Andrew Charles, Managing Director, Consumer – Restaurants Research Analyst at TD Cowen]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from the line of Chris Carril with KeyBanc Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

[Chris Carril, Equity Research Analyst – US Restaurants at KeyBanc Capital Markets]

Hi. Thanks for taking the question. Can you maybe talk to the digital mix growth that you're seeing more recently, both across total and owned channels? Is that a function of increasing loyalty engagement or Scan to Pay, or is it maybe driven by non-digital customers reducing frequency? If it is that latter guest, how do you plan to reengage those non-digital guests?

[Jamie McConnell, CFO at Sweetgreen]

I will say that we're seeing some healthy pickup in our native business, our first party channel, and I think that's part of some of the loyalty promotions that we're doing. Last year in Marketplace, it was a tough environment. There was a lot of value going on, but I think we intentionally put them through our own channels.

[Jamie McConnell, CFO at Sweetgreen]

Like Jonathan said, we're seeing the stickiness of those transactions and that second order rate increase. However, we do see tremendous opportunity in the Marketplace area and to grow our third party as well. That's all work that's underway.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Yeah. On your question around, I think you're referring to our in-store business. You know, it's in some ways our most important channel. You know, it's where we acquire so many of our guests. It's where you, in the food quality, you're eating it fresh, you're getting that hospitality experience, you're learning about the brand.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Really focused on that, really from a hospitality perspective and a throughput perspective. We've gotten very clear on how to measure the right metrics to show that we're on the right track. Really, there's so much around, you know, that second order rate of how do we give, you know, how do we incentivize teams around giving such a great experience where those customers come back within 30 days?

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

When you have that customer come back within 30 days, their annual spend is significantly higher of when they don't. We know Sweetgreen is a frequency and loyalty, like it's a habitual play. That in-store experience is a really, really important channel that we're highly focused on this year.

[Chris Carril, Equity Research Analyst – US Restaurants at KeyBanc Capital Markets]

Got it. Thank you. I guess as my follow-up, can you maybe comment on any differences you're seeing in sales trends across geographic regions, if any? Curious specifically if you're seeing any material differences between your legacy markets versus newer markets? Thank you.

[Jamie McConnell, CFO at Sweetgreen]

Yeah. I'd say Northeast is still under pressure, but I will tell you when I started in September, that was the first market that we visited as a management team. There was a lot of work that's being done by Jason and team, and they hired a new RGM.

[Jamie McConnell, CFO at Sweetgreen]

We went back just this month, and it was encouraging to see all the work that's getting done and how delicious our food is and how operations is turning around. That's been promising of kind of the hope and future ahead. One thing that's been great to see is our California market. That market has been under pressure. If you think about last year, we had the fires and different things, we are seeing some nice momentum in our business in California.

[Chris Carril, Equity Research Analyst – US Restaurants at KeyBanc Capital Markets]

Great. Thank you.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from the line of Jeffrey Bernstein with Barclays. Please go ahead.

[Jeffrey Bernstein, Managing Director, Senior Equity Research Analyst – Restaurants at Barclays]

Great. Thank you very much. Jonathan, it seems like over the past couple of quarters, there was lots of talk of, you know, trends by income, age, ethnicity. It does seem like, at least in recent months, perhaps there's some talking about maybe less bifurcation between those buckets and maybe less of a concern. Just wondering if there's any update in terms of your trends by any of those cohorts.

[Jeffrey Bernstein, Managing Director, Senior Equity Research Analyst – Restaurants at Barclays]

If there is an income concern, when I see you talking more about value, like, how do you measure your value perception? Maybe where do you score? You know, are you willing to reset the margin target to be more aggressive pushing the value? Then I had one follow-up.

[Jamie McConnell, CFO at Sweetgreen]

Yeah. In terms of our in cohorts, we're seeing similar data of... I'm gonna back up. For Q4, we did see a slight decline in all cohorts, but we are seeing a little bit of pickup in Q1, which is great to see. I'll let you comment on the value piece.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Yeah. You know, I think the goal here is obviously anything we do from a value perspective, we have to make up in transactions, so we don't see the margin, you know, we don't see the margin deleverage. That's why, you know, we're looking very carefully at the price architecture. It's not a wholesale price decrease, it's more of a value ladder to have more options in, and we know as we do that, we see more frequency. You know, we're trying to do both, protect the margin as we offer more price value.

[Jamie McConnell, CFO at Sweetgreen]

Yeah. We're definitely gonna test every price move that we do to make sure we're getting those incremental transactions.

[Jeffrey Bernstein, Managing Director, Senior Equity Research Analyst – Restaurants at Barclays]

Gotcha. My follow-up, Jamie, you talked about for 2026 G&A reduction. I know you never know when best to temper spend versus reinvest more. I think some were thinking maybe you'd see an uptick in spend to reinforce the brand positioning and the store level support. Just wondering how you guys think about it as a management team, you know, which direction to go within G&A, and maybe can you share the largest buckets that are actually driving that reduction in spend in 2026?

[Jamie McConnell, CFO at Sweetgreen]

We've done a lot of work around G&A, and we will continue to lever that. What is most importantly is we're investing in things that are driving returns. We're super focused on our Sweet Growth Transformation Plan. When it comes to marketing and now having Zip on board, we're really focused on that return and driving that value.

[Jamie McConnell, CFO at Sweetgreen]

I would say you're gonna see us investing heavily when there's a return, but you are gonna see us reduce vendor spend in areas that are not creating returns and are not focused on our growth plans. It's really just cutting the dollars that were not creating returns and then focus on the dollars that are creating returns for us. There's a lot of opportunity.

[Jeffrey Bernstein, Managing Director, Senior Equity Research Analyst – Restaurants at Barclays]

Thank-

[Jamie McConnell, CFO at Sweetgreen]

I mean, yeah, a lot of opportunity ahead, I would say to lever that further.

[Jeffrey Bernstein, Managing Director, Senior Equity Research Analyst – Restaurants at Barclays]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from the line of Sharon Zackfia with William Blair. Please go ahead.

[Sharon Zackfia, Partner, Group Head of Consumer Sector, Equity Research Analyst – Restaurants at William Blair]

Hi. Thanks for taking the question. I guess, Jonathan, I'm intrigued by the idea of simplifying the pricing architecture, particularly for the Create Your Own. Can you remind us kinda what % of your sales are Create Your Own at this point, and kind of how simple can you make it? It does feel like sometimes I need a quantum physics, you know, degree to figure out what my bowl might cost before I order it.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Yes, we hear you on that. It's about a quarter of our business, in terms of the Make Your Own. There's, you know, obviously many more people are ordering signatures and modifying them, but in the true Make Your Own, it's about a quarter of our business.

[Sharon Zackfia, Partner, Group Head of Consumer Sector, Equity Research Analyst – Restaurants at William Blair]

Mm-hmm.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

It's a very important segment for us. You know, it's a little early to say exactly what we're doing, but it'll be radically simplified and I think better for the guest. Today, the, you know, to your point, it does maybe feel like you're getting nickel and dimed down the line.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

We wanna make it where you kinda know what you're getting for a, you know, a very simple price and making sure that is really competitive in the marketplace. More to come on that. That will be thoroughly tested through our stage-gate process. I do think that will be a major lever for us as we simplify our pricing structure and offer better price value.

[Sharon Zackfia, Partner, Group Head of Consumer Sector, Equity Research Analyst – Restaurants at William Blair]

Is it fair to think that that would be anchored around the proteins on the pricing? It seems like you would give some margin up, you know, by doing that. Would that be kind of, I guess, derailing some of that, kinda clawback of the protein reinvestment or the increased portion sizes that you did last summer?

[Jamie McConnell, CFO at Sweetgreen]

Yeah. I would say that we're looking at it in a couple pieces, and we will be looking at those value ladders, but then we'll also be looking at the elasticity of other items, to sort of offset that benefit. All of these will be carefully tested.

[Sharon Zackfia, Partner, Group Head of Consumer Sector, Equity Research Analyst – Restaurants at William Blair]

Thank you.

[Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO at Sweetgreen]

Thanks, Sharon.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from the line of Logan Reich with RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

[Logan Reich, Lead Analyst at RBC Capital Markets]

Hey, good evening. Thanks for taking the question. I was just wondering if you could give an update on how new store productivity has been tracking through the year and for the Q4 openings.

[Jamie McConnell, CFO at Sweetgreen]

I would say for the Q4 openings, it's hard to tell, right? There's been a deceleration in the business. So I would say it's something that we're continuing to monitor, and we're looking forward to make sure in 2026 we're only getting the best sites, and we're working on all the things under the growth plan.

[Jamie McConnell, CFO at Sweetgreen]

So I would say it's too early to comment on the 2025 productivity, but we are seeing some great things when you look at areas, some of the new markets like Arizona that haven't been impacted by weather. Very promising results there.

[Logan Reich, Lead Analyst at RBC Capital Markets]

Got it. Thank you.

[Operator]

There are no further questions at this time. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.

Participants

Executives

• Jamie McConnell, CFO
• Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO
• Rebecca Nounou, VP, Head of Investor Relations

Analysts

• Andrew Charles, Managing Director, Consumer – Restaurants Research Analyst at TD Cowen
• Brian Bittner, Managing Director, Senior Equity Research Analyst – Restaurants at Oppenheimer
• Brian Harbour, Executive Director, Equity Research Analyst – Restaurants & Food Distribution at Morgan Stanley
• Brian Mullan, Director, Senior Research Analyst – Restaurants & Food Distribution at Piper Sandler
• Chris Carril, Equity Research Analyst – US Restaurants at KeyBanc Capital Markets
• Dennis Geiger, Executive Director, Senior Equity Research Analyst at UBS
• Jeffrey Bernstein, Managing Director, Senior Equity Research Analyst – Restaurants at Barclays
• Jon Tower, Director, Equity Research – Consumer Restaurants at Citi
• Logan Reich, Lead Analyst at RBC Capital Markets
• Rahul Krotthapalli, Equity Research Analyst at JP Morgan
• Sara Senatore, Managing Director, Global Equity Research, Senior Analyst – Restaurants at Bank of America
• Sharon Zackfia, Partner, Group Head of Consumer Sector, Equity Research Analyst – Restaurants at William Blair