Sweetgreen on Boylston Reopens After Temporary Closure for Health Violations [UPDATED]

A City of Boston health inspector shut down one location of a growing chain of salad-focused restaurants for assorted violations, Universal Hub reported. Sweetgreen’s 659 Boylston St. restaurant was cited for storing food at incorrect temperatures, for employees’ hand-washing practices, and for poor storage of to-go items.

Yesterday, Sweetgreen president and COO Karen Kelley released the following statement on the matter:​

In our Back Bay store yesterday, we were cited for issues that led to the temporary closing of our store, including food temperature and hand washing inconsistencies, and a customer’s dog on the premises.

At sweetgreen, we have and maintain strict standard operating procedures to run our stores, including rigorous food delivery audits, food prep and washing standards, ongoing line + temp checks, and cross-contamination and zone sanitation standards. Each and every team member is thoroughly trained in these measures, and we are constantly re-validating that the team is complying with our standards on a shift-by-shift basis.

As a result of the complexity around our operations - serving real, fresh food, cooked from scratch on premises - we have implemented a new structure and new role within our restaurant operations, the first of which is being deployed today at Back Bay.

We're working around the clock to get back up and running as soon as humanly possible and are looking forward to serving you, our guests, and to being better than ever.

The City of Boston will re-inspect Sweetgreen, and if it passes, the restaurant will be permitted to reopen.

UPDATE, 8/12/16: Sweetgreen is now open again, according to a new statement by Kelley:

This afternoon we were pleased to reopen our sweetgreen Back Bay location. Over the past several days we have worked closely with the City of Boston and its Health Department to correct the issues raised by inspectors. We want to assure our customers that this was an isolated incident and that we have taken steps to make sure it does not happen again. The safety of our guests is our top priority, and something we take extremely seriously at sweetgreen. Effective immediately, we have a designated food safety expert on staff in Back Bay and will assign a similar expert to all of our locations.

As a young, growing company, we are constantly striving to be the best. We will work tirelessly to maintain the trust of our community in Boston, and we understand that great communities are built one connection at a time.

The headline of this article has been updated accordingly.

• Boylston Street salad place shut for health violations [UH]
• Mayor’s Food Court Inspection Result, Sweetgreen [City of Boston]