Founded in 2007, sweetgreen is a destination for simple, seasonal, healthy food. Their team believes that the choices people make about what they eat, where it comes from, and how it’s prepared, have a direct and powerful impact on the health of individuals, communities, and the environment. That’s why sweetgreen is building a transparent supply network, why they cook from scratch, and why they’re building a community of people who support real food.
sweetgreen is in the business of feeding people, and they’re on a mission to change what that means. When it comes to hiring, they are a mission- and values-driven company. Working at sweetgreen is about working with passionate people who authentically ‘give a shiitake,’ as their team likes to say. And that doesn’t necessarily mean that prospective employees need to have a passion for food, although their team’s recruiters say that’s a bonus. What other qualities do they look for in new hires? Because they are continually innovating, they look for a passion to build upon.
Company culture is something that sweetgreen takes pride in fostering among their 3,500 employees. And while the company offers a plethora of standard benefits like health care and bonuses, there are some that are uniquely sweetgreen.
“With the goal of our mission to build healthier communities by connecting people to real food in mind, we help facilitate opportunities to connect our team to our mission,” Kirby Bumpus, Head of Social Impact, told ForceBrands. “We encourage volunteerism and civic engagement by providing every single employee with what we call ‘Impact Hours’ to be used for projects that strengthen the connection to our mission of building community and leaving people better than we found them. All employees, from the treehouse to our team members in our restaurants receive 5 hours of paid time off to volunteer each year.”
The company also offers a Family Fund which is an emergency reserve its employees can turn to when faced with unexpected financial hardship caused by catastrophic events. This reserve has seen team members and their families through hardships such as house fires, sudden deaths, or illnesses. Funded completely by employee donations, from the founders to team members, the Family Fund is available to all employees.
Interested in working at sweetgreen? Explore some open roles on their company FoodForce division’s job board.
