Sweetgreen Expands to Midwest

The fast-casual chain known for its salads will open two locations in Indiana and Minnesota.

September 19, 2022

LOS ANGELES—Sweetgreen will open its first locations in Indianapolis, Indiana, and in Edina, Minnesota.

“Today we open in two new states in the Midwest, helping us to further our goal of connecting more people around the country to healthy, fresh and convenient food options,” said Sweetgreen co-founder and chief concept officer Nicolas Jammet. “Minneapolis-Saint Paul and Indianapolis are both communities with booming culinary scenes, and as both states have deep roots in agriculture, it made entering these markets feel like a natural progression in growing Sweetgreen’s’ Midwest presence.”

Sweetgreen serves fresh menu items with high quality ingredients and fresh produce delivered each morning for its seasonal menus which rotate five times throughout the year. In addition to Sweetgreen’s menu of core salads, warm bowls and sides and its late summer offerings, both locations will open with the company’s pilot kids menu.

Additionally, Sweetgreen’s Minneapolis-Saint Paul and Indianapolis restaurants will feature a pilot menu of dinner-forward plates, including the Chicken + Avocado + Ranch Plate and the Miso Steelhead Plate.

Sweetgreen’s local impact efforts continue with both openings. For every meal sold on September 13 in Edina, Sweetgreen donated a meal to Second Harvest Heartland, an organization whose mission is to end hunger together, providing over 107 million meals to 388 food shelves and nearly 1,000 partner programs serving Minnesota and western Wisconsin last year.

For every meal sold on opening day in Indianapolis, Sweetgreen donated a meal to Second Helpings, an organization that delivers more than one million meals to Central Indiana each year, helping nourish Hoosiers who are experiencing food insecurity.

This summer, Sweetgreen piloted a new digital feature that rewards its customers for healthy habits. The feature was called Rewards and Challenges and launched with a four-week campaign titled “Summer of Rewards,” which features a weekly series of challenges where customers can opt-in to earn rewards and track their achievements.

Sweetgreen said that its total digital sales represented 66% of the company’s revenue in the first quarter of 2022. The pilot program aims to drive customer frequency and restaurant volume through additional customer value and engagement for its digital customer base. Rewards and Challenges will be offered exclusively through the Sweetgreen app and website.

In March, Sweetgreen announced it would open its first drive-thru concept location in Schaumburg, Illinois, within the next year. The drive-thru is called “sweetlane,” and the new pilot restaurant will add convenience to digital customers, says Sweetgreen.

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