Talking to the LA native about Shabbat, sustainability, and the salad chain’s New York City debut
By Jillian Scheinfeld for Jewcy.com
“Sweetgreen for lunch or Sweetgreen for dinner?” This
was a common question throughout my college career, and I’d say four times out
of the week it would be one or the other. I’m not the only Sweetgreen
freak—there are many fresh food lovers, and many of my friends, who have flocked
to the D.C.-based salad establishment since it opened in 2007, seeking salads,
health juices, and frozen yogurt. New Yorkers, get excited: Sweetgreen’s first New York location opens today in the Nomad Hotel on Broadway and 28th Street.
I spoke to Jonathan Neman, who, along with Nicolas Jammet and Nathaniel Ru, founded the salad chain, which also produces the annual Sweetlife festival at Merriweather Post Pavillion in Maryland (featuring artists such as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Phoenix, and The Shins). From opening their first location in Georgetown, which had no room for diners to sit and eat, to gearing up for their New York City debut, the Sweetgreen crew knows what they’re doing—and they’re clearly doing it well.
Where did you grow up and what did you study in college?
I grew up in Los Angeles, and I studied business management, entrepreneurship, and finance at Georgetown University.
How did the idea for Sweetgreen originate? Why salads?
Sweetgreen originally was something we wanted to build for ourselves. We looked around and nothing like it existed. The whole lifestyle is built off this life that we live. Could you have a meaningful productive life that’s still fun, and can you still eat healthy food and have it be delicious and affordable? So from the beginning we wanted to create a lifestyle surrounding healthy food.
Did the idea for ‘Sweetlife’ idea come before Sweetgreen?
It was Sweetgreen first in terms of thinking about salad, but it was always thinking about this idea of a greater lifestyle.
Who thought of the name?
Continue reading.
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