Sweetgreen falls in love with food again, plus a sneaky way to improve margins

Take-Away with Sam Oches

Nation's Restaurant News

Business, Entrepreneurship

2.5 • 15 Ratings

🗓️ 22 October 2024

⏱️ 72 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode of Take-Away with Sam Oches, Sam talks with Nicolas Jammet, cofounderand chief concept officer for Sweetgreen, the fast casual that has been changing customer perception of healthy and locally sourced ingredients since 2007. Sweetgreen has been a touchpoint for fast-casual innovation since its early days and has especially been seen as a tech innovator. But it’s spent the past few years refocusing the narrative on its menu innovation and the quality of its sourcing. Nicolas joined the podcast to talk about how Sweetgreen has leaned more into the story of its food as it approaches 250 locations in 22 states.

In this conversation, you’ll find out why:

The evolving nature of convenience is affecting menu innovation
With proper planning, restaurants can scale farmer relationships and their potential
There is opportunity in the story of your food
Your ingredients and your suppliers are worth celebrating
Technology may enable innovation, but it’s food that your customers are coming for
Automated kitchen equipment should complement the food quality
The great American food brands find the right balance of accessibility and craveability

This conversation is brought to you by 86 Repairs, a restaurant equipment repair and maintenance solution built for operators. Be sure to stick around for the bonus conversation with 86 Repairs CEO Daniel Estrada, who joined Sam to talk about why the old way of managing repairs and maintenance is broken, and how there is a huge opportunity to improve margins by optimizing R&M.

Have feedback or ideas for Take-Away? Email Sam at [email protected].

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey there, welcome to Takeaway with Sam Ocas, a podcast from Nation's Restaurant News.
0:04.7	I am Sam Ocas editor-in-chief here at NRN, and this is the show where I give you an all-access
0:09.6	pass to the restaurant industry's most influential decision-makers.
0:13.5	This week, I'm talking with Nicholas Jamet, the co-founder and chief concept officer of Sweet Green,
0:19.8	the fast casual that has been changing customer perception
0:22.5	of healthy and locally sourced ingredients since 2007.
0:27.4	Sweet Green has, of course, been a touchpoint for Fast Casual Innovation ever since its early days,
0:33.3	and it's especially been seen as a tech innovator, as it's been on the leading edge of tech innovations,
0:39.7	such as digital and mobile ordering.
0:42.3	Now, while Sweet Green continues to innovate with technology,
0:45.7	as evidenced by its automated infinite kitchen prototype that it plans to roll out to about half of its locations,
0:52.4	it has spent the past few years refocusing the narrative
0:55.3	on its menu innovation and the quality of its sourcing. Nicholas joined the podcast to talk about
1:01.3	how Sweet Green has really leaned into the story of its food in the past few years as it approaches
1:07.0	250 locations in 22 states with its sites set on 1,000 locations by 2030.
1:14.0	In this interview, you will learn more about why the evolving nature of convenience is
1:18.4	affecting menu innovation, why your ingredients and your suppliers are worth celebrating,
1:24.1	and why technology may enable innovation, but it's food that your customers are coming for.
1:29.9	Also, I'm excited to share with you that this episode of Takeaway is brought to you by 86 Repairs,
1:36.4	a restaurant equipment and maintenance solution that is built for operators.
1:40.8	We are including on this episode a bonus conversation with 86 repairs CEO Daniel
1:47.3	Estrada, who joined me to talk about why the old way of managing repairs and maintenance is
	...

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