The Abridged version:
- Sweetgreen will open its first Sacramento location at 1629 S St. on Dec. 2.
- Known as a quick option for healthy foods, Sweetgreen salads and grain bowls have a loyal following in Southern California.
- A second area location is expected to open in Campus Commons on Dec. 16.
Sweetgreen has become a cult phenomenon for customers seeking fast, healthy lunches. Its first Sacramento-area location is on the horizon.
The salad and grain bowl shop will open at 1629 S St. on the ground floor of The Richmond apartment building in Midtown Sacramento next Tuesday, Dec. 2, a Sweetgreen representative confirmed.
Sweetgreen’s newest location invited guests Friday and Saturday to scope out offerings such as Guacamole Green salad (spring mix, romaine lettuce, roasted chicken, avocado, tomatoes, pickled onions and lime-cilantro-jalapeño vinaigrette) or Shroomami bowl (portobello mushrooms, roasted tofu and almonds, wild rice, kale and miso-sesame-ginger dressing).
Prices generally range from $14-$18, though they were free during those training days. While chain restaurants legally must list calories alongside their menu items, Sweetgreen also shows protein, carbs and fats to help health-conscious customers decide what to order.
Founded by three Georgetown University students in 2006, Sweetgreen’s salads and fast-casual model helped became a hit on the East Coast over the following decade. The company then relocated its headquarters in 2016 to Los Angeles, fueling a West Coast boom that prompted it to go public in 2021.
For customers such as West Sacramento resident Nai Saechao, the Dec. 2 opening will be a welcome addition to the Midtown dining scene. Saechao was previously charmed by Sweetgreen’s kale Caesar salads in San Francisco, and stopped by the midtown location’s training day last Friday for a high-protein grain bowl.
“Sacramento is growing as far as being, like, a food haven, but I think it’s still limited on the fresh and quick meal options,” Saechao said. “I like how everything (at Sweetgreen) is really fresh and customizable. We don’t have many fresh salad places here in Sacramento, and so this is another option.”
Sweetgreen now has more than 250 stores nationwide, including 15 in the Bay Area. A Campus Commons location (2080 Fair Oaks Blvd., Suite 180 in The Boulevard shopping center) is expected to open Dec. 16.
Sweetgreen will donate one meal to Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services for each meal purchased on its opening day in midtown.
Benjy Egel is the senior food editor at Abridged. Born and raised in the Sacramento region, he has covered its local restaurants and bars since 2018. He also writes and edits Abridged’s weekly food and drink newsletter, City of Treats.