After a stock crash, Sweetgreen pins its future on under-$15 wraps

Sweetgreen (SG) is pinning its uncertain aboriginal connected nether $15 wraps, designed to code user complaints that its crockery and atom bowls are excessively expensive.

For the archetypal clip this week, Sweetgreen began selling 4 wraps. “You know, the classical chickenhearted caesar wrapper successful astir [locations] starts astatine $10.45 … and nary wrapper successful immoderate marketplace is supra $15,” Sweetgreen co-founder and CEO Jonathan Neman told analysts connected a precocious Thursday net call.

He added, “I deliberation some from a quality, craveability, and terms value, we are truly delivering, and customers are noticing it.”

Over $10 for a wrapper isn’t precisely a screaming blistery deal, adjacent if it features “roasted chicken, parmesan crisps, shaved parmesan, ail breadcrumbs, chopped romaine, caesar dressing and a hint of citrus juice.”

But past again, Sweetgreen mostly operates successful costly cities wherever higher-income bureau workers bid meals to-go.

The wraps person to beryllium embraced by eaters beyond conscionable luncheon hours, however. Sweetgreen’s show has been perfectly dreadful arsenic consumers accidental nary to $20-plus bowls from its tech-forward kitchens.

The company’s archetypal 4th same-store income crashed 12.8%, worse than the 11.5% plunge successful the 4th fourth of past year. For perspective, Burger King US (QSR) tossed up a 5.8% same-store income summation successful the archetypal quarter. Chipotle (CMG) clocked successful with a 0.5% gain.

In 2025, Sweetgreen’s same-store income fell 7.9%, and it mislaid $134.1 cardinal connected a nett basis.

The concern didn’t amended overmuch successful April, either.

Execs said connected the net telephone that same-store income successful the period fell 8%. Second 4th same-store income are projected to driblet 4% successful portion owed to optimism astir the caller wraps.

Investor assurance successful Sweetgreen has eroded significantly. Since its high-profile IPO successful November 2021, Sweetgreen’s banal has plummeted by astir 86% to $6.87.

The banal debuted astatine $28, and its first-day highest touched conscionable implicit $50.

“Sweetgreen is seeing immoderate aboriginal signs that its efforts to retrieve mislaid sales/traffic, including a greater absorption connected value, much platforms (e.g., wraps) and amended operations, person begun to resonate with guests (e.g., betterment successful trends successful April),” Citi expert Jon Tower wrote successful a note. “It volition proceed to instrumentality clip earlier this appears much prominently successful KPIs (i.e., comps expected to beryllium down ~4% successful 2Q), though the thoughtful/measured attack crossed the endeavor should output stickier postulation and improved profits/cash flows for the brand.”

Brian Sozzi is Yahoo Finance's Executive Editor and a subordinate of Yahoo Finance's editorial enactment team. Follow Sozzi connected X @BrianSozzi, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Tips connected stories? Email [email protected].