And we're like, oh, this guy is creating vegetables from scratch around optimized flavor.

Let's invent a vegetable together and treat it like it's the greatest new consumer product in the world and drop it with the same marketing campaign.

I'm Ricky Mulvey and that's Nicholas Jameh, the co-founder and chief concept officer of Sweet Green,

a fast casual restaurant chain focused on healthy eating.

Jemay caught up with my colleague Mary Long for a conversation about how the company transformed

from shop selling salads and frozen yogurt to a high-tech chain with automated kitchens

and newly invented vegetables.

They also discussed the innovations across the ag tech space, catching Jemay's attention and Sweet Green's journey to profitability.

When you started Sweet Green in 2007, originally weren't you, the menu looked a little different.

Weren't you originally selling like Froyo and wraps? Why and when did you pivot to salads?

Well, the core of the concept was always salads and bowls and we also had Froyo, soft serve.

So we, you know, actually the name Sweet Green comes from Froyo and salad, sweet green.

And so we don't talk about that as much. But, you know,

the core of the concept was always, let's create a place where you can have this breadth of menu

that you could customize exactly what you're looking for, you know, in a bowl. So really, whether

it's the fresh vegetables, the greens, the, you know, proteins, cheeses, crunch, different

flavors throughout the dressings, how can you really

create an assortment and an offering where customers can come in and create exactly what

they're looking for and have it be really craveable and tell a story around quality of the

ingredients. And so from day one, it was always around really high quality ingredients that were

super fresh and that made you feel really good, but also

was wrapped in an experience that also made you want to engage with the brand.

...