Count Sweetgreen among the growing list of public restaurant chains feeling the pressure of a more cautious consumer base.
The fast casual reported total revenue of $166.3 million in the first quarter, up from $157.9 million a year ago. Same-store sales declined 3.1 percent—its first negative comp as a public company. The decline reflected a 3.4 percent lift from menu price increases but a 6.5 percent hit from traffic and mix. Restaurant-level profit margin for the quarter was 17.9 percent, down slightly from 18.1 percent in the same period last year.
Executives attributed the sales shortfall to several external factors, including a holiday timing shift, lingering impacts from wildfires in the Los Angeles area, and adverse weather across various markets. But spring hasn’t offered much relief. Sales remained soft, especially in key urban markets like Los Angeles, New York, and Boston.
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After returning to positive comp sales in March, CFO Mitch Reback said the chain saw a mid-single digit decline in April—“coinciding with the tariff announcements.” He told analysts that April’s performance is significant, as it reflects an increasingly unstable operating environment and a more value-conscious consumer who is visiting less frequently and spending more deliberately in discretionary categories.
“As the weather warms up, our business picks up,” he said. “That’s probably been the pattern that’s been in the business since its inception. This April, that did not materialize. There’s actually a significant change in the historical patterns of the business, largely coinciding with the tariff announcement and some of the external uncertainty.”
Still, Sweetgreen has tools it believes can help it navigate what’s expected to be a choppy year—starting with menu innovation.
The brand’s culinary pipeline has been a key driver of traffic. March saw a comps lift from the launch of Ripple Fries, which quickly became Sweetgreen’s most-attached side item across channels and helped boost average ticket size.
Next up is a limited-time collaboration with COTE, the Michelin-starred Korean steakhouse. The partnership will introduce Sweetgreen’s first Korean barbecue-inspired menu, featuring glazed steak, apple kimchi sauce, cucumber kimchi, and pickled cabbage. The three-item entrée lineup is set to launch nationwide in mid-May.
“When we deliver bold culinary-led menu moments, we see clear signals,” CEO Jonathan Neman said. “New customers show up, lapsed customers return, and existing guests engage more deeply. That’s why the work we’re doing now across both limited-time-offers and strategic brand collaborations is so important.”
There’s more to come. Sweetgreen’s menu has evolved in recent years to include heartier, more substantial offerings such as protein plates and premium additions like steak. Neman said that shift has helped improve value perception, especially during dinner. However, the brand also sees an opportunity to introduce more mid- and lower-priced items to drive guest frequency in the current environment.
“Given our customization model, we’re well positioned to act quickly through limited time and evergreen menu items,” Neman said. “We’re excited about what’s ahead and confident in our ability to deliver value in a way that deepens connection with our guests.”
One lever for doing so is Sweetgreen’s seasonal menu, which gives the company flexibility to offer a broader range of price points. There’s also potential to embed more budget-conscious items into the core menu.
“We would not present them necessarily as a value menu,” Neman said. “It would just be finding things and anchoring more of the menu in the mid to lower price tiers.”
Another major initiative is loyalty. Sweetgreen launched its reimagined SG Rewards program nationwide in early April. The points-based program gives customers 10 points for every eligible dollar spent, which can be redeemed for free items, surprise offers, and exclusive experiences.
Neman said the revamped program was built around direct customer feedback to make it more engaging and rewarding. Early results have been promising, with about 20,000 new members added weekly since the launch.
“In a challenging industry environment where consumers are making more intentional choices with every dollar, SG Rewards is designed to meet the moment by delivering meaningful value,” Neman said, noting that the program is supported by stronger CRM, a robust innovation calendar, and focused media spend. “We believe these efforts will work together to accelerate transaction growth and strengthen guest loyalty.”
Also on the tech front, the Infinite Kitchen continues to outperform expectations in both speed and guest satisfaction. The company is monitoring the impact of tariffs on these automated make lines, which cost between $450,000 and $550,000 per unit. Roughly 15 percent of each unit’s components are sourced from China, but Sweetgreen currently has 10 on hand that were not impacted by tariffs.
Despite the added cost pressure, Sweetgreen remains committed to scaling the system.
“When you do the math on the Infinite Kitchen and take a typical AUV store at $3 million, with eight points of saving, you get around $240,000 annually,” Reback said. “If the cost moved up from $500,000 to $600,000, you find the return on capital remains wildly accretive, and that’s at current labor rates. When you look out over the next 10 years, we see labor continuing to increase and those returns increasing.”
Half of the 40 new restaurants planned for 2025 will feature the Infinite Kitchen. The company also has two relocations slated for upgrades and expects to retrofit one to three existing restaurants with the system.
Sweetgreen is also bullish on its Sweetlane format. The pickup-only location in Schaumburg, Illinois, saw comps grow more than 20 percent year-over-year in Q1. Its AUV and margins exceeded the system average, offering what Neman called “a clear proof point” of the format’s strong cash-on-cash return potential. This year’s pipeline includes two more Sweetlane locations—one classic and one Infinite Kitchen—with additional units planned for 2026.
As it builds out its 2025 real estate pipeline, Sweetgreen expects tariffs will raise per-unit buildout costs by about 10 percent on its $1.4 million to $1.5 million per-unit buildout costs. It already has pre-purchased many components, so that impact likely won’t be felt until later in the year.
From a supply chain standpoint, the majority of the company’s core ingredients are domestically sourced, and its exposure to tariffs is about 75 basis points for Q2, mostly driven by packaging sourced from China. It began shifting packaging production out of China six months ago and expects that transition to be complete in the back half of the year, which should reduce tariff impact to around 40 basis points.
