Name: Christopher Tarrant
New title: Chief Development Officer, Sweetgreen
Previous title: Chief Development Officer, Nothing Bundt Cakes
Sweetgreen named Christopher Tarrant as its chief development officer according to a press release issued Monday. Jim McPhail, his predecessor as CDO, left the chain in December.
Tarrant joins the salad chain from Nothing Bundt Cakes, where he was hired as CDO in 2023. During the 19 months in this role, the cake chain opened 140 units, bringing its total to over 600 units, Tarrant said in a LinkedIn post. Before Nothing Bundt Cakes, Tarrant worked at Starbucks in development, rising to head its U.S. retail development, according to his LinkedIn. Tarrant’s time at Starbucks overlapped with Rossann Williams, Sweetgreen’s chief operating officer and the executive to whom Tarrant reports. Williams was president of North American Retail at Starbucks, which she left in mid-2022.
At Starbucks, Tarrant played “a key role leading retail store development across North America,” the press release said “He also has extensive experience leading real estate strategies and unlocking revenue growth for Fortune-ranked companies, including McDonald's, Panera Bread, and Krispy Kreme.”
Sweetgreen reported 9% comparable sales growth last quarter. However, the company remains unprofitable despite an improvement in its quarterly losses from $27.3 million in Q2 2023 to $14.5 last quarter.
The 230-unit salad brand is increasing the number of stores it is building that contain its automated makeline, the Infinite Kitchen, with the goal of eventually bringing the tech to all its new builds. In addition, Sweetgreen is focusing on suburban markets as expansion targets.
CEO Jonathan Neman said on the brand’s Q2 earnings call that its recent expansions have been fairly successful, particularly in the Upper Midwest and other new markets.
“We planted a lot of restaurants last year, in Texas and Florida and Atlanta, all markets that we are seeing really robust growth,” Neman said.
