Sweetgreen Wants to Shower Boston in Salads

A Washington D.C.-based chain of salad restaurants has already made its mark on the Boston area, becoming a staple of the lunchtime rush in Back Bay and beyond. Now, Sweetgreen has plans to open five more locations this year, according to Boston Magazine, doubling its local presence.

Two previously reported locations — 13 School St. in Downtown Crossing and 132 Brookline Ave. in Fenway — are slated to open in the spring and summer, respectively. The new locations, which the company announced yesterday, are at 87 Summer St. in Downtown Crossing, 39 JFK St. in Harvard Square, and 354 Harrison Ave. in the Ink Block development in the South End. The Summer Street location is coincidentally headed for a summer opening, while the other two are slated for fall.

According to a statement, the company has built up relationships with farmers and distributors in the region that allow the restaurants to source sustainable and seasonal food. Sweetgreen offers a range of salad and grain bowls, and diners can choose from pre-imagined combinations or opt for the choose-your-own path, selecting vegetables, protein, other toppings, and a dressing to round out the feast.

Sweetgreen co-founder Jonathan Neman, who has lived in Boston, previously praised the city's "really incredible" customer base. "[The Boston customer] is educated and socially responsible and really has this expectation of the brands and the companies that they support," he told Eater in July 2015. "The idea of authenticity and transparency and good for you and good for the world at the same time — I think people in Boston really identify with that." At the time, he said that the "really tight real estate market" was the limiting factor in Boston expansion, but he was looking forward to being able to expand more in order to tap into the "great people pipeline," promoting from within the company.