Start the conversation
Comment on This Story
Or to contact Money Morning Customer Service, click here.
Sweetgreen stock will go public soon. And after the Oct. 25 (Monday) SEC filing, a Sweetgreen IPO could make gains similar to Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) or Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX).
Chipotle has grown 5,954% since going public, and Starbucks 552%. Sweetgreen stock carries that same potential.
Healthier food choices have taken a front seat over the last several years. It's been trending this way since the early 2000s. Documentaries like "Super Size Me" came out and showed us the damage fast food can do.
However, the trend also opened the door to a whole new kind of fast food - fast casual dining. It's a convenient way to get a bite: quick service, usually with better ingredients than drive-thru chains.
The Sweetgreen franchise offers a triad of fast-casual, healthy, and delicious. Here's how that will benefit investors down the road...
Sweetgreen Is the Starbucks of Salads
Founded in 2006, Sweetgreen has a loyal customer base with a menu of customizable salads and warm bowls for patrons seeking healthy yet convenient options.
Since the restaurant is considered an urban "office lunch" location, the pandemic hit it particularly hard. But like most restaurants during the pandemic, Sweetgreen adapted and evolved.
The company shifted to a fully digital delivery channel that helped keep most chains open during the height of the pandemic, despite their doors being closed.
Operational changes ultimately made the experience even more efficient and prepared its restaurants even better for post-pandemic lunch rushes.
It embraced the "new normal" with technology, restructured employee responsibilities, and evolved its customer service experience with new safety standards that focus on crowd management and minimizing contact points.
This has carried over to the restaurant's newest locations as it continues to grow. Co-founder and chief concept officer, Nicolas Jammet, explains, "We are building stores with the flexibility to transform throughout the day to provide our customers and team members a safe environment and keep them connected to real food."
Although it's a chain, it strives for a local feel with each location.
Sweetgreen's approach to design is influenced by its communities and surrounding neighbors, including local architecture and working with local artists to create one-of-a-kind pieces for its locations.
The company shifted to a fully digital delivery channel that helped keep most chains open during the height of the pandemic.
Sweetgreen's Post-Pandemic Bounce Back
While the company has been reimagining post-pandemic fast casual dining, its business has seen it pay off.
Like every restaurant in the entire world, the pandemic hit Sweetgreen hard. The company reported a net loss of $141.2 million on revenue of $220.6 million, and same store sales shrank 26% in that time.
However, in the new year, it bounced back. Same-store sales have risen 21%, and its tech-forward services have paid off, too.
In fact, not only are more people ordering digitally, but they're even spending more. The average value of Sweetgreen's digital orders is 21% higher than those made at the store counter.
An astonishing 68% of Sweetgreen's revenue this year came from digital orders. To put that in comparison, digital orders account for less than half of Chipotle and Shake Shack Inc. (NYSE: SHAK) revenue.
Is Sweetgreen Stock a Buy After the IPO?
It's clear that Sweetgreen has been successful in its creative transformation. It evolved and should be even more prepared for the future because of it.
It has been considered a "unicorn" startup since 2019, when it hit the $1 billion valuation mark. It's continued to attract private interest, and its latest valuation has it worth $1.6 billion.
As Sweetgreen doubles its footprint over the next three to five years, it will continue to ride the worldwide health-conscious trend over a decade.
Keep an eye out for the stock on Robinhood, since it released its IPO Access feature earlier this year, giving retail investors the opportunity to grab IPO shares.
"3 Things Before Bitcoin" - Silicon Valley Crypto Insider Couldn't Agree More
You've seen the headlines. Bitcoin has passed $66,000 - a new all-time high.
However, even CNBC has recommended that investors proceed with caution - "3 questions to ask yourself before you invest."
And our in-house crypto leader has some questions of his own for you to consider. Question No. 1: Has Bitcoin quintupled in price this year? The answer is no.