Operations
Pandemic speeds up operational changes at Sweetgreen
Like so many other restaurants around the world, Sweetgreen shifted into crisis mode COVID-19 hit but is now preparing for its version of the "new normal."
May 29, 2020 by Cherryh Cansler — Editor, FastCasual.com
Like so many other restaurants around the world, Sweetgreen shifted into crisis mode in March when COVID-19 hit and is now preparing for its version of the "new normal."
Although the 104-unit brand was ahead of the game when it came to digitizing the customer experience — it launched a native delivery app, for example, earlier this year and customers have been ordering via mobile for several years — Chief Concept Officer Nicolas Jammet said the pandemic forced it to implement a few operational upgrades that the team had been planning to roll out slowly over the next year.
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| Sweetgreen Chief Concept Officer Nicolas Jammet |
"Overall, just like most food businesses, our sales were dramatically affected when this hit," Jammet, who co-founded the brand in 2007 in Washington D.C., said during an interview with FastCasual. "We feel very fortunate that we had this delivery channel because that has allowed us to continue to serve customers, and delivery has been growing for us in the app."
"Our sales are still affected, but they are climbing back week after week."
Sweetgreen's COVID-19 recovery story began, however, the moment the pandemic revealed itself; and the team immediately got to work.
"We took a moment and thought about all of our stakeholders (customers, employees, farmers and distributors) and really wanted to understand how this was going to affect them and how we could make sure we are doing everything we can to protect them," Jammet said. "From that crisis mode, we really pivoted quickly in thinking about how, 'Ok, how can we use our time and our energy to help those that are most in need right now?'"
That led the team to set up its Outpost program — which launched in 2018 to allow the chain to drop off dozens of orders to offices and apartment buildings — to serve frontline workers. So far, the chain has served nearly 300,000 free meals.
Making operational adjustments
While store employees have been busy serving free meals, the operations team has been adjusting the business model.
"We knew pretty early on that things weren't going to go back to the way they were before, and with more uncertainty ahead than ever around what was going to happen when things would start to change or when customers would start feeling safe in coming out, we wanted to plan a few different scenarios," Jammet said.
Each of those scenarios ended with the chain becoming a more digital-savvy company, which was Jammet's endgame even before the pandemic hit. That strategy has been a lifesaver over the past few months, considering Sweetgreen has only had to tweak its operations as opposed to completely overhauling them.
"We've obviously had to change so much of the experience and how we operate, but it moved us to a fully digital model when COVID hit," according to Jammet, who said the team has fully leaned into its digital delivery channel.
Although the chain closed a number of locations in required areas like malls and also reduced hours in other units, most of its units have remained open via delivery and carryout.
"Week by week, day by day, (we are) adjusting the operating model to make sure that single day that we can show up, and as we learned more, as we were able to get certain things in supply like different versions of, PPE, how we could continue to make our stores and our team members feel safe and taken care of," Jammet said.
That meant rolling out a variety of new protocols and changing its labor model to not only ensure safety but to also help fill orders more quickly. All locations now have a dedicated employee, for example, to man the front area to ensure people are wearing masks and maintaining proper social distance. And although that's been a touchy subject for some customers and businesses, Jammet said he's not had many issues.
"Overall, the customer interaction has been supportive," Jammet said. "Most customers actually feel really great that we are going to these lengths because they see that we're taking safety seriously, not just for them but for our team members."
While most of the chain's locations are focused on dine-in and carry out, Jammet said seven stores in Los Angeles and Texas are now allowing customers to order inside the restaurant and take orders home.
"We've been working on these new safety procedures and this full new experience that we wanted to test and make sure we felt good about," he said. Those procedures included:
- A concierge to ensure safety compliance.
- A team member managing outdoor grab-and-go pickup areas in select locations.
- A separate guest and courier pickup queues in each restaurant.
- In-app order status tracking and push notifications.
- Contactless "Touchland" hand-sanitizing stations in each restaurant.
- Contact-free, cashless payment and cashier shields.
- Crowd management at pick-up shelves.
- Enforced social distancing within the store.
"It isn't one thing; it's kind of 100 details …. but really we feel good that we are able to create this experience," said Jammet, who compared the company's in-app order-status tracking and push notifications to how Uber lets you know as your driver approaches in real time."This allows the customer to know exactly when the order is actually ready and to only show up when it's actually ready, so you have (fewer) people waiting outside."
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| This rendering shows how customers ordering inside flow through the restaurant. |
The chain has been focused on making every aspect of service from ordering and paying to picking up as contactless as possible. With the team member grab-and-go option, for example, customers don't need to go inside the restaurant; they use the app to announce their arrivals, and employees deliver orders to their cars.
Inside the restaurants, Sweetgreen has separate areas for customers placing to-go orders and for those solely picking up mobile orders. Each unit also has touchless hand-sanitizing stations.
"I'm proud of our design team because they made it still look great," Jammet said. "Even though we are working quickly, and safety is the No. 1 priority, it's nice to know that you can also make some of that safety stuff look good. It was a pleasant thing to see but most importantly it was a really safe touchpoint for our customers."
Sweetgreen also adjusted its menu to offer plates for people looking for dinner options.
"Seeing how our customer behavior shifted, they're not in an office every day. They are home or cooking and want food that's food that's heartier that they can order for dinner because they aren't going out to restaurants," said Jammet, who revealed that the addition was something the team had been working on and planned to launch a year from now.
"We came together as a company and said, 'You know what, let's launch this in 30 days; let's just figure it out,' and so we did," he said.
Launching back-of-house changes
In the back of the house, Sweetgreen has implemented safety protocols such as using new gloves for each order, implementing specific handwashing schedules, requiring employees to wear face masks and undergo daily temperature checks and conducting safety audits that exceed health department requirements. The chain also added tamper-proof seals to all packaging and offered contact-free delivery.
"And we are continuing to think about every single touchpoint," Jammet siad. "For us, this is a constant evolution, so every day when we learn something new we test it really quickly and if we like it, we implement it really quickly. I give our operating teams and our field teams so much credit because we are moving really quickly on some of these things but everyone understands the importance of creating as safe of an environment as we can."
Planning for the future
When it comes to reopening dining rooms, Jammet said there's no blanket approach since states, cities and neighborhoods have their own rules and comfort levels.
"We are going to continue to watch it, and there's an ability to open dining rooms and even some restaurants have larger outdoor patios where we can space the tables out," he said.
It will be a different approach city by city, but we are continuing to wait and see how opening our front lines goes and are listening to our customers."
Although Sweetgreen hit pause on its growth plan in March, the company will also start opening new locations by June with each store having the new safety and operations procedures in place.
"So it's making sure that even with a new store opening, we create the same digital and physical experience around these safety measures," Jammet said.
Sweetgreen, which is headquartered in Los Angeles, topped the 2020 list of Fast Casual Top 100 Movers & Shakers. Read about it and the other winners here.
All photos provided by Sweetgreen
About Cherryh Cansler
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