Dive Brief:
- Sweetgreen Chief Development Officer Jim McPhail will depart the company effective Dec. 31, the fast casual chain said in an SEC filing on Thursday. He has served in this role for over four years, according to his LinkedIn profile.
- Timothy Noonan, VP of operations, strategy and restaurant concept design, has been promoted to SVP, development, effective immediately.
- Sweetgreen is in the midst of deploying automated makelines, with plans to add its Infinite Kitchen to between seven and nine new units and two to four retrofits next year.
Dive Insight:
Noonan will assume McPhail’s development responsibilities, including site selection, lease administration and construction and facilities management, per the filing. Noonan will also continue working on restaurant concept design. Noonan has been with Sweetgreen for over 14 years in various design and development positions, according to his LinkedIn profile. He will play a key role in the chain’s aggressive expansion plans.
The company reached 220 units at the end of the third quarter, during which it opened 15 new restaurants, Sweetgreen CEO Jonathan Neman said during the company’s November earnings call. The company will open only one restaurant during the fourth quarter — its second Infinite Kitchen in Huntington Beach, California — and end the year with 38 restaurants. Next year, Sweetgreen plans to slow development slightly, with plans to open 25 to 26 restaurants and integrate more of its Infinite Kitchen technology into its pipeline, he said.
Sweetgreen has also been exploring new stores designs, including mobile pickup lanes, the first of which opened in Schaumburg, Illinois, and a pickup-only store in Washington, D.C.. These store models could be instrumental in growing the chain’s digital sales, which made up 58% of its Q3 revenue, CFO Mitch Reback said.
