Saturday, September 26, 2020

[EXCLUSIVE] Billion Dollar Bowl Brand Buckhead Bound

Healthy quick-serve eatery Sweetgreen appears to have secured its third Atlanta area location.  Permits filed Friday with the City of Atlanta indicate that Sweetgreen will open in Buckhead at Lenox Square.  At the mall, Sweetgreen will open in place of ATL Taco, around the corner from True Food Kitchen.  ATL Taco, itself a replacement of sibling eatery Bantam+Biddy, closed last October after just over a year and  a half in business.   

ToNeTo Atlanta was first to report September 16 that the D.C. born and now Los Angeles-based eatery has secured space in Ponce City Market for what could be their first metro restaurant.  [Representatives from Sweetgreen have not returned any of our requests for comment, but given that the Lenox location is a restaurant conversion versus Ponce City Market which is currently a "white box," the Buckhead outpost could very well open first.]  As of our original report the Ponce City Market outpost was slated for a "Spring 2021" debut.  

The permit filed with the City of Atlanta indicates that nearly $800,000 will be spent converting the roughly 3,800 square foot space.  

The menu at Sweetgreen is a mashup of sorts between Wildleaf and Flower Child - both already in the Buckhead market - with a variety of salads and warm bowls, but also "plates" which feature assorted proteins paired with a variety of grains and vegetables.  We tried Sweetgreen this past fall on our visit to Hudson Yards in New York City and found our salad quite good and surprisingly not outrageously expensive.           

Established in 2007 by then recent Georgetown University grads Nicolas Jammet, Nathaniel Ru, and Jonathan Neman, the company has grown to more than 100 units across the country.  As of this past September, when the privately held company completed its latest round of financing, the company was valued at $1.6 billion, a full 60 percent higher than just ten months prior.  

In addition to the Lenox Square and Ponce City Market Sweetgreen locations, sources tell ToNeTo Atlanta that a third Sweetgreen is planned for Colony Square in Midtown.  The restaurant would occupy a space outside of the planned food hall where Shake Shack was previously slated to open. (Shake Shack founder Danny Meyer is an investor in Sweetgreen.)

When Sweetgreen opens at Lenox Square, it will be a stone's throw from Apple's fancy new two story "flagship" store which is expected to open at the front of the mall before the end of the year.  

Have you ever been to Sweetgreen?  What is your favorite salad shop?  Where else in Atlanta would you like to see Sweetgreen open?  

Please share your thoughts below. 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

One of the biggest issues with Buckhead is that the majority of the fast casual dining places are in the mall. there's so little in other areas that don't require going into the mall or an office parking garage to park and enter the store.

Streets of Buckhead would be a great candidate for some turnover to introduce more popular fast casual locations, such as this.

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