Operations

Sweetgreen expands drive-thru prototype to Virginia

Photo: Sweetgreen

August 19, 2026

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Sweetgreen opened a restaurant Thursday featuring its Sweetlane order-ahead drive-up format, marking the chain's fourth and its first in Northern Virginia.

The restaurant is located at Chesterbrook Shopping Center, 6220 Old Dominion Drive, and also offers dine-in seating and traditional in-store pickup for guests who prefer to order inside.

Sweetgreen first piloted the Sweetlane concept in 2022 as a way to streamline pickup for guests ordering through the company's app or website. To use the format, guests place orders in advance and select Sweetlane as their pickup method, then drive through a dedicated lane to collect their food from staff once it's ready.

"At Sweetgreen, we're all about reimagining where fast food can go and meeting customers where they are," Ryan Slemons, Sweetgreen's chief development officer, said in a company press release. He said the format pairs drive-through convenience with the company's scratch-cooked menu as it looks for ways to make the brand more accessible.

Through Aug. 24, while supplies last, the location will also offer the Sweetgreen x Fishwife Summer Niçoise, a limited-time collaboration available nationwide that lets guests add Fishwife's Albacore Tuna with Spanish Lemon to Sweetgreen's Niçoise salad.

The opening builds on Sweetgreen's presence in the Washington, D.C., region, where the company was founded by Georgetown University alumni. Sweetgreen operates more than 285 locations nationwide.