Sweetgreen co-founders: From college friends to a $2.5 billion public company | Masters of Scale
About Jonathan
- Co-founder & CEO of Sweetgreen, publicly traded with $2.5B+ market cap as of 2024.
- Named to Inc’s and Forbes’ “30 Under 30;” Fast Company’s “50 Most Innovative Companies”.
- Led Sweetgreen to 230+ locations and 6,000+ employees nationwide by 2024.
- Pioneered technology in food service—Sweetgreen app, automation, and Infinite Kitchen.
- Sweetgreen winner of 2020 & 2021 Webby Awards for Food & Drink apps.
About Nathaniel
- Co-founder and Chief Brand Officer of Sweetgreen, a public company with $2.5B+ valuation (2024).
- Named to Fast Company's 'Most Creative People in Business' list.
- Recognized by Forbes as one of the 'Next 50 CMOs'.
- Led Sweetgreen's brand, partnering with world-class chefs, athletes, musicians.
- Sweetgreen named Fast Company 'Most Innovative Companies' in 2019 & 2020.
About Nicolas
- Co-founded Sweetgreen, scaling it from a dorm-room idea to a public company (2024 ~$2.5B market cap)
- Named to Fast Company's Most Creative People in Business and Forbes/Inc. 30 Under 30
- Helped Sweetgreen win Fast Company Most Innovative Companies in 2019 & 2020, plus multiple Webby Awards
- Recognized as a top food industry innovator by Food & Wine's 40 Big Food Thinkers Under 40
- Graduate of Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business
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What started with three college friends looking for a healthy lunch in D.C. grew into @sweetgreen, a fast-growing restaurant business focused on salads and grain bowls. From a tiny 500-square-foot storefront to more than 220 locations nationwide, the Sweetgreen journey includes booking The Strokes for a “salad festival,” adopting cutting-edge technology, and proving that fast food can include locally-sourced, farm-fresh ingredients. Watch co-founders Jonathan Neman, Nathaniel Ru, and Nicolas Jammet share how they have scaled the business in alignment with its core values, to a public company valued at $2.5 billion.
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