Washington DC’s Farm-to-Table Titans
Sourcing local ingredients and implementing sustainable practices, three Georgetown grads are transforming fast food menus (and mobile ordering) nationwide.
Words: Mike Darling
Nicolas Jammet, Nathaniel Ru, and Jonathan Neman weren’t in the mood for Chipotle. This was 2007, and they’d tired of the fast food eateries scattered across their enclave of Washington DC. The three pals, all business majors at Georgetown, sensed they weren’t the only ones seeking an alternative to the average burrito joint or sandwich shop.
The plan they hatched later that night appeared to be the antithesis of the average college kid’s diet: Large salads created using organic, locally-sourced, and sustainably-farmed ingredients. They called this concept Sweetgreen — a nod to living what they deemed “the sweet life.”
It involved a few things: “Impact, sustainability, and innovation were the pillars,” Neman says. “But we also aimed to make healthy living more relevant, less granola.” They had ideas for how to do that — music would be a big part of it. So would tech — they’d be one of the first restaurants to double-down on digital ordering. And after talking to hundreds of investors, they’d scraped together enough cash, $300,000, to test the concept inside a 550-square-foot cottage near campus.
“We’re all about the emotional connection that food creates.”— Jonathan Neman
“The size forced us to think simply and take some risks,” Neman says, for instance, an open kitchen. “We wanted to show off that we scratch-cook everything; there’s nothing to hide.” They also focused on creating a memorable experience: “We blast music a little louder than we should,” Neman says. “There’s no assembly line, either. You get one person the whole time, and we train them to make customers smile.”
Within months, Sweetgreen was a hit. A second café followed. “It was slow going at first, so one day we brought speakers outside and started DJing,” Neman says. A full-on block party broke out, and that idea ultimately inspired Sweetlife, now one of DC’s largest music fests, drawing acts like Kendrick Lamar and Calvin Harris. “When people think about their best food moments,” Neman says, “we want to be a part of them.”
The press was equally glowing, and investors’ interest piqued. Venture capital poured in — with $22 million from Revolution Growth, a fund led by former AOL co-founder Steve Case, which “looks for companies that are attacking large, traditional industries with innovative new products and services,” according to its website.
But the founders know buzz alone won’t sustain loyalty or ward off competition like Tender Greens and Lyfe Kitchen, chains keen on cutting into their share of the estimated $300 million salad industry. Neman is reluctant to discuss their next innovation, but emphasizes that tech will only get them so far, anyway.
“We have a lot of exciting things about to come out,” he says, “but what will always make us different is the human connection. How are we making lives better? Impacting the world? Those questions get us excited. It all comes back to that
Read more about Sweetgreen’s native city in our Washington DC neighborhood guides at Compass.com.
