Sweetgreen shares surged 35% on Friday after the company topped Wall Street’s revenue expectations for the fiscal first quarter and raised its full-year forecast. The salad chain also announced earlier this week an expansion to add meat to its menu for the first time.
The salad chain reported $158 million in revenue, beating the LSEG consensus estimate of $152 million. Revenue jumped 26% from $125.1 million in the year-earlier period.
Same-store sales grew 5%, which the company noted was consistent with the prior-year period. Sweetgreen also raised revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance for the full year.
Shares of the company are up 189% so far in 2024.
Here’s how the company did compared to LSEG analyst estimates:
- Loss per share: 23 cents; analysts did not provide a comparison
- Revenue: $158 million vs. $152 million expected
Jonathan Neman, Sweetgreen CEO and co-founder, said on an earnings call with analysts that the company opened six new restaurants in the first quarter. Neman highlighted the success of the South Lake Union location in Seattle, which “had one of the strongest opening weeks in the company’s recent history.”
“Openings like these demonstrate that our brand has significantly greater reach than our current physical footprint and that there is massive white space for our category-defining concept,” he told analysts during the earnings call after the close of trading on Thursday.
Sweetgreen began deploying robots for tasks like dispensing greens and mixing salads in its restaurants last year. Dubbed the “Infinite Kitchen,” the robotic technology was first implemented in May 2023 with the opening of the company’s pilot store in Naperville, Illinois.
Neman added that the company remains “on track” to open about seven new automated Infinite Kitchen restaurants in 2024 and plans to establish more next year. Analysts were “impressed” by the early results from the Infinite Kitchen locations, according to StreetAccount.
The company announced Tuesday it’s adding steak to its menu in an expansion of its protein offerings with a caramelized garlic steak protein plate, a steakhouse chopped warm bowl, and a kale Caesar steak salad.
“During our testing phase in Boston, we saw Caramelized Garlic Steak quickly become a dinnertime favorite, with steak making up nearly 1 in 5 dinner orders,” said Nicolas Jammet, Sweetgreen’s chief concept officer and co-founder, in a press release. “We’re thrilled to bring customers more of what they are craving at every part of the day.”
