> Pitching Sweetgreen as a tech company that just happened to sell salad helped turbocharge the chain’s financing in the growth-obsessed market environment prev

> Pitching Sweetgreen as a tech company that just happened to sell salad helped turbocharge the chain’s financing in the growth-obsessed market environment prevailing at the time [2021 IPO]. As with WeWork, jargon such as having a mission to “shift the paradigm of food sponsorships,” to “connecting people to real food also extends to our goal of building a healthier and more equitable society,” made for good marketing copy. > Like the office chain, that language, and its pay structure, should have been a red flag in its official securities filings. Both might have made Mr. Kroc, as well as KFC and Wendy’s founders Colonel Sanders and Dave Thomas, gasp if they were still alive. > For example, in addition to its sharply rising cash expenses such as food, leases and labor, Sweetgreen has doled out $113 million in share-based compensation in the past three years despite never having had a profitable year. Since 2020, Sweetgreen has lost close to half a billion dollars after taxes.