Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, restaurants have closed down. Big fashion retailers have closed its doors forever and declared bankruptcy. People are jobless looking for other ways and means to support their families.
But those who have adapted to the new normal are doing quite well for themselves. Take Amazon for instance. Because of this pandemic, Jeff Bezos is richer than ever.
But for this healthy American casual restaurant, their journey in bouncing back has only just begun.
Sweetgreen CEO Jonathan Neman in an article from Barron's, a leading source of financial news, providing in-depth analysis and commentary on stocks, investments and how markets are moving across the world said that the restaurant will come out stronger thanks to investing in technology.
"Like most restaurants, as you've heard, our sales right around March 13 pretty much go off a cliff," Neman told a virtual audience of Barron's subscribers during the Barron's Investing in Tech conference on June 24 adding that their stores are mostly located in the metro and they were hit the hardest.
Going fully digital and Feeding Hospitals
As most people opted to stay at home or to work from home, their driving sales point which was from their lunch sales in office buildings really went down.
"I think a lot of people in our world, when this hit, kind of went and looked at their strategies and their plans and thought about how they were going to pivot and invest in technology," Neman said. "For us it was: let's just keep doing exactly what we've been doing, maybe just do it a little bit faster and invest more."
In an interview with Fox Business, Neman said that in line with one of their core philosophies to meet customers wherever they are, the company has made moves to enhance the ordering and eating experience for quite some time.
"This has run off in 5 channels namely: in-store, digital ordering pickup, native delivery, outpost business, and marketplace delivery business. Because of COVID, we had to shift to 100% delivery and pickup orders only. Aside from that, we were also able to move part of our outpost business and flex that to support over 400 hospitals most in need serving 300,000 meals." said Neman in his interview.
The chain's move toward a more efficient digital ordering system began in 2012, when the restaurant installed so-called ghost kitchens, or additional preparation space dedicated to digital orders, and built pickup areas in Sweetgreen restaurants.
Introducing Hot Plates
The chain also accelerated a plan for hot dinner plates that was originally set to launch in mid-2021. "We accelerated that pipeline by 14 months, and in 30 days stood up a whole new dinner category," Neman said saying that people are still looking for hot and homey food that is healthy as well.
In these past three months, the Sweetgreen CEO says that he's seeing trends of customers going digital as well and believes that the company will be in a better position even after the pandemic ends.
You can check out the full 5-minute interview below.
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Sweetgreen CEO: Investing in tech, new menu additions saved business
Co-founder and CEO of Sweetgreen Jonathan Neman says investing in technical infrastructure and altering the ordering experience enabled his company to be successful during the coronavirus pandemic.
