Sweetgreen to Layoff 20% of Corporate Staff

Salad-focused fast-casual chain Sweetgreen announced last week that it will be laying off 20% of its workforce at its Culver City, Calif. headquarters as part of a restructuring plan.

The reduction in employees affects only workers at its corporate office, not roles in the field, CEO and company co-founder Jonathan Neman on the website Medium describing the reason for the layoffs and the plan to restructure the company.

“We have moved forward with reorganizing and restructuring our team so we can put our company on a stronger and more focused path to profitable growth. This will mean different things for different people — some roles will evolve, some departments will remain the same and unfortunately, some roles will be eliminated,” he said.

Like other companies that have faced challenging economic times, Neman cited the effects of the pandemic as the reason for the layoffs.

“In our updated forecast we shared in April, we had expected more employees to return to offices after Labor Day and that we’d see a stronger ramp in economic recovery,” Neman wrote.  “The reality is many of our restaurants in dense urban areas, particularly in NYC, have yet to recover.”

Neman said that the company will work on accelerating store growth in new areas, reducing menu and operational complexity and enhancing digital ordering.

“This crisis has forced us to reflect and remember what makes Sweetgreen what it is. I believe it’s our mission — connecting more people to real food. This remains unchanged and will continue to be our North Star.