Yesterday Podcast

Jonathan Neman | How Sweetgreen Became a Multi-Billion Dollar Salad Chain


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Episode #17 of Yesterday:Jonathan Neman is the co-founder and CEO of Sweetgreen, Inc. (NYSE: SG), the mission-driven restaurant brand redefining fast food through fresh, seasonal, and sustainable meals.

Born in Los Angeles and a graduate of Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business (’07), Neman co-founded Sweetgreen with classmates Nicolas Jammet and Nathaniel Ru shortly after graduation, opening the first location in Georgetown, D.C. in 2007. Under his leadership, Sweetgreen has grown from a single salad shop into a nationwide company with hundreds of locations, a leading digital platform, and a public listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

01:41 Parents Fled a Revolution for the American Dream

04:00 The One Rule Dad Had

08:33 Selling Ads in High School

14:49 The 25,000-Person Music Festival

17:03 Escaping the “LA Bubble”

21:41 The Australian Cafe That Inspired Sweetgreen

24:23 The Hated Consulting Job

26:45 The Partner Who Told Me to Quit

29:23 The Complaint That Sparked Sweetgreen

36:24 Raising $300k from $5,000 Checks

37:23 The Co-Founder Who Quit

45:15 The Power of Doing One Thing Perfectly

47:50 The #1 Rule for Running a Business

50:52 From Dishwasher to Head Coach

55:25 Building a Restaurant App

58:32 Revolutionizing Takeout

1:11:18 The Reality of a Founder’s Life

1:13:42 Happiest vs. Unhappiest Moments

Presented by Rho:

Rho is the all-in-one banking platform for startups, used by Perplexity, Product Hunt, and thousands of other companies. You get everything you need to manage your startup’s cash & a team that’s obsessed with helping founders beat industry giants. Learn more at rho.co/yesterday

Sponsored by The Cannon Project (TCP):

TCP recruits founding GTM and engineering teams for startups like Ramp, Cursor, and Decagon while investing through their flagship venture fund, TCP 1. Apply for roles and learn more at thecannonproject.com



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Yesterday PodcastBy Yesterday