sweetgreen

Sweetgreen isn’t just a salad joint; it’s where health food meets cult following. With a menu of vibrant, craveable salads and grain bowls and a digital experience that’s second to none, Sweetgreen has built a loyal fanbase by serving food that’s as functional as it is delicious. But it’s not just about what’s in the bowl—it’s about what the brand stands for. With a commitment to transparency and ingredient integrity, Sweetgreen champions unprocessed, locally sourced, and seasonally driven food that customers trust and crave.

But even a brand at the top of its game can’t stand still. As competition in the health-focused fast-casual space intensified, Sweetgreen needed to evolve—without losing the values that made it a leader. The challenge: drive incremental sales, increase guest frequency, and expand the brand’s use cases, all while staying true to its transparent, health-forward DNA. That’s where The Culinary Edge—and me, as Senior Strategist—came in. 

We immersed ourselves in the Sweetgreen world, from working shifts in-store to studying operations and guest behaviour. We also looked outward—benchmarking the competition and leading a food trend tour through LA. It was clear that the brand couldn’t follow the typical upsell playbook of chips and cookies.Instead, we identified opportunities to build new attachment categories that felt distinctly Sweetgreen—fresh, functional, and crave-worthy. The biggest opportunities weren’t in launching breakfast or dinner, but in doubling down on lunch and tapping into underdeveloped occasions like snacking, group dining, and catering.

We identified twelve key opportunity spaces across menu, digital, and guest experiences—spanning premium offerings, group, dinner, snack and sweet occasions, and digital innovations like bundles and hacks. Our team developed thirteen new recipes—from beet hummus and cacao chunk cookies to roasted squash fries—each crafted to fit seamlessly into operations and resonate with guests. For each concept, I crafted promotional direction and copywriting that brought the ideas to life in a voice that felt distinctly Sweetgreen. Our ideas didn’t just sell products—they told stories, deepened brand loyalty, and sparked new guest rituals.

The results? New offerings like beet hummus, roasted squash fries, and digital features like #sghacks became fan favourites, amplifying Sweetgreen’s brand story and paving the way for its next chapter.