http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/30/technology/a-salad-chains-surprise-ingredient-tech-money.html 2014-11-29 21:42:45 A Salad Chain’s Surprise Ingredient: Tech Money Steve Case’s investment firm is betting on a young restaurant company, which is aiming to bring a tech-rooted notion — a seamless user interface — to its customers. === Why is a venture capital firm led by online pioneers backing a farm-to-table salad chain? That is the question some tech industry watchers asked themselves two weeks ago, after Individual investors in the company during this round included the restaurant magnates Revolution Growth typically finances consumer-focused, technology-enabled companies that aim to disrupt established industries. In that context, the salad start-up seemed a non sequitur. “It has surprised people because it was not a typical technology or venture investment,” Mr. Case told me recently. But he says he believes Sweetgreen is tapping into a large, underserved market: wellness-minded consumers who want to eat healthier food in casual settings with quick service. “There’s clearly a revolution in food underway,” he said. Many traditional bricks-and-mortar companies have spent the last decade or two trying to translate their in-store customer services into online experiences. But one reason that tech investors are interested in Sweetgreen is that it is trying to do the reverse. The company’s executives are applying the online ideal of a seamless user interface to in-store experiences for their customers. A new Sweetgreen store on Kenmare Street in Manhattan, scheduled to open in December, feels as if it were designed for people immersed in the lush visual experience of “We really wanted to show, not tell, what we do,” Nathaniel Ru, a Sweetgreen founder, told me on a tour of the Kenmare restaurant. “It almost makes the kitchen part of the customer experience.” It’s hard to resist the Sweetgreen narrative. The short version goes like this: In 2007, three students at Georgetown University in Washington — Nicolas Jammet, Jonathan Neman and Mr. Ru — were frustrated by a lack of affordable, healthy dining options near campus. So they decided to open a place of their own. “We were the customer,” Mr. Jammet said. “We were building it for ourselves.” To develop a menu, they held salad parties in their dorm rooms, using their classmates as focus groups. Then they scrounged small loans from relatives, friends and acquaintances — and used the money to renovate an empty, 560-square-foot building in Georgetown. “The beauty of that small store — not only did it help us create the brand, but it forced us to be so simple,” Mr. Neman said. “The food had to speak for itself.” From that single structure, the company has become a chain with 27 restaurants across Washington and five East Coast states. Mr. Neman estimated revenue of about $50 million for 2014, up more than 50 percent from last year. Early next year, Sweetgreen plans to open in California. Sweetgreen is but one of a number of fast-casual restaurant chains — including But Sweetgreen has its own secret sauce that entices its target audience to come back. Early on, its founders identified a desire among certain social, health-conscious consumers, whose lives are largely mediated by devices, to make local, physical connections. In each city, the company hires local architects to design one-off restaurants; some display the work of local artists. “As the world becomes more flat, you want to feel like you belong somewhere,” said Scott Belsky, a Sweetgreen investor who is a co-founder of On a recent Sunday evening at a Sweetgreen restaurant in the NoMad neighborhood of Manhattan, about a dozen customers, some in down parkas and others in Lululemon yoga gear, stood in line. They were waiting to order best sellers, like the kale Caesar salad, and seasonal items like the apple, pear and organic Cheddar salad. Others lounged on wooden bleachers at the back of the store — a design element intended to evoke the local custom of sitting on brownstone stoops. Above them, a chalkboard listed the provenance of ingredients: apples and pears, Porpiglia Farms, New York; kale, Marolda Farms, New Jersey. “So few times, you know where your food is coming from,” said Michelle Khodorov, 23, a forensic accounting consultant having dinner. “It’s nice to see it flat out,” she added, nodding at the board. For customers who prefer faster delivery of that slow food, the Kenmare store will offer a concierge with an iPad, who will help people order from a new app, featuring glossy-magazine-grade pictures of salads, without having to stand in line. “We’re trying to figure out an elegant way to connect the physical and the digital experience,” Mr. Ru explained. Although Sweetgreen’s local-touch approach is costlier to replicate than cookie-cutter restaurants, Mr. Case, the investor, said the company had the chance to become a national brand “that really is the Chipotle of healthier options.” He pointed out that Revolution Growth was doubling down on Sweetgreen. Last year, the firm invested $22 million. “Of all the investments we have made, this has generated the most inbound interest from institutional investors and individual investors,” Mr. Case said. “So there’s something going on here that is a big idea.”