On Monday, November 4th, the healthy fast-food restaurant sweetgreen opened its 22nd location in Massachusetts at Derby Street Shoppes in Hingham. After visiting sweetgreen, we feel confident in saying this meal choice is both nutritious and delicious.
Entering the restaurant, we noticed the overall layout is minimalistic, prioritizing efficiency. All of the registers are iPads, prompting customers to self-order and pay through the iPad; however, there were two cash registers up front to be used for cash orders. This quick and easy method worked for the store, especially when our salads came out no more than two minutes post-ordering. Numerous seating and table options appeared to be kept clean.
In researching the store’s inner workings, it appears sweetgreen has clearly upgraded the machinery involved throughout their process. They installed the “Infinite Kitchen,” which works as a big refrigerated case lined with numerous tubes for toppings that can be filled through the top. There is a platform for workers to fill the tubes with the toppings, allowing them to speedily add them to salads by a lever on the bottom. This ultimately sped up the assembly process, decreasing wait time entirely. Because of this revolutionary invention, the future of personalized fast food bowls could be completely modernized.
Scituate High School seniors Liah Brennan and May Watkins, who accompanied us to sweetgreen, shared their thoughts on their salad orders. Watkins expressed how a healthy look can be somewhat “off-putting” as the stereotypical salad may lack flavor. However, sweetgreen offers numerous lettuce options, toppings, dressings, and protein, which allows customers to customize their experience. By giving customers the autonomy to choose the components of their bowl, there is a wide variety of possible combinations. Watkins also described the experience at sweetgreen as “worth it” for the price, especially since the components of the purchase are genuinely fresh and healthy, unlike other “fast-food” restaurants. Likewise, Brennan thought the amount of salad in the bowl was well worth the price. While fast-food restaurants generally have a negative connotation regarding following a healthy lifestyle, sweetgreen defies that idea.
To finish our time at sweetgreen, we disposed of our completely recyclable containers, promoting the brand’s image of health and sustainability. We all agreed sweetgreen provides a fantastic option for a reasonably priced, quick-serve, fresh, and healthy meal.