Sweetgreen CEO Predicts Fully Automated Stores Within Five Years

After early success in its Naperville, Illinois restaurant, Sweetgreen CEO Jonathan Neman looks to fully automate all locations with its Infinite Kitchen concept within the next five years. Using a robotic assembly line to prepare every order, the healthy quick-serve restaurant chain (QSR) looks to revolutionize its industry by marrying food and technology, a synergy that has led to the company's success in the past.

The Naperville, Illinois location is one of two Infinite Kitchens slated to open in 2023 and hasn't reported any issues with the new technology. While humans still prepare ingredients from scratch in Sweetgreen's back kitchens, they will not take orders or assemble bowls in front of customers. Instead, orders are taken digitally from your phone or kiosk, and employees load the Infinite Kitchen, which dispenses accurately portioned ingredients on a conveyor belt.

According to QSR Magazine, at the 43rd Annual William Blair Growth Stock Conference, Neman stated that Infinite Kitchens look to rectify the company's lowest Net Promoter Scores (NPS), historically in "portioning, accuracy, and timeliness," increasing customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. The positive impact on customers and the need to employ fewer employees should increase Sweetgreen's ROI, a win-win situation for the company.

The Infinite Kitchen was created by Spyce, an MIT brainchild that successfully implemented the robotic system in its fast-casual restaurants in Boston, Massachusetts. In 2021, Sweetgreen purchased the start-up, and although it was confident the technology worked, it questioned how automation and removing humans from the front line would affect its customers' experience and whether it would negatively impact the brand.

So far, Neman is happy with the results, as the technology alleviates long lines caused by indecisive customers and peak-hour bottlenecks while delivering more accurate results. The new system frees existing employees to interact more with customers, who traditionally dedicated half their time to food preparation, telling the brand's story, rectifying mistakes, and improving their overall experience.

Currently, there are 204 Sweetgreen locations nationwide, mostly in urban settings. Although it will be pricier than building one from scratch, the company believes it can retrofit existing restaurants with an Infinitive Kitchen. With a lofty goal of becoming as big as McDonald's, Neman hopes that their investment will increase profit margins and allow Sweetgreen to be more price competitive with its cheaper fast-casual rivals, opening its plant-forward salad-centric menu to a larger market.