How Sweetgreen Is Building Efficiency Into Its Restaurants

1. Online Ordering

In January, Sweetgreen relaunched its app, allowing customers to order, pay, and select a pickup time via mobile. The image-driven app lets people choose among more than 60 ingredients to build their dishes, while delivering instant nutritional data. It also tracks awards points and integrates calorie information with the Apple Health app.

2. Store Design

To accommodate online orders, which now account for 30% of sales, Sweetgreen began redesigning stores, adding extra prep lines and separate pickup areas that allow mobile customers to bypass the cashier entirely.

3. To-Go Container

The company recently enlisted designer Yves Béhar, a Sweetgreen investor, to create a new to-go bowl, which will roll out in the coming months. The mandate: Create a disposable, biodegradable container that eliminates some of the steps in the food-preparation process.

A version of this article appeared in the December 2016/January 2017 issue of Fast Company magazine.