Sweetgreen, noted for its innovative salads and sustainability efforts, unveiled a new way to grab greens on the move.
The salad giant inaugurated its first digital-only shop in Mount Vernon Square on Oct. 26.
New restaurant concept: Sweetgreen's website and app accept orders. The food can be picked up from takeout shelves.
The digital-only Sweetgreen lacks dine-in seating and a customer-facing assembly line. There's an outdoor patio for eating, though.
The new restaurant opens with Sweetgreen's fall menu, which includes the Chicken and Brussels salad, the Curry Cauliflower warm bowl, and online-exclusive Sweet Balsamic Brussels.
Each bowl sold on launch day was donated to Food Rescue U.S., a nonprofit dedicated to decreasing food waste and insecurity in America.
The new site opens as Sweetgreen's digital business grows, accounting for 67% of total sales in 2021.
Sweetgreen isn't the only digital-only restaurant. In June, Taco Bell opened "Defy" in Brooklyn Park, Minn.
The new store boasts four drive-thru lanes, digital check-in screens for mobile orders with unique QR codes, two-way audio and video technology for customers to engage with
Taco Bell personnel, and a vertical lift that delivers food to customers' cars from the second-floor kitchen.
Prior to this, Chipotle opened a Digital Kitchen in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, with a drive-thru and walk-up window for orders.