Food trends rarely last forever. From TV dinners in the 1950s to frozen yogurt in the 2010s, and most recently, build-your-own salad and protein bowls, consumer tastes tend to shift quickly.
For restaurant chains, failing to evolve alongside changing preferences can lead to declining sales, store closures, and, in some cases, even bankruptcy, especially for brands built around a single category.
That challenge is becoming increasingly visible for Sweetgreen.
The company has begun closing locations as it works to adjust its strategy following slowing sales and rising costs.
Sweetgreen shuttered three restaurants in 2025 that were nearing the end of their leases, and additional closures are expected in 2026.
Founded in 2007, Sweetgreen now operates more than 300 locations across the U.S. and went public in late 2021, during the surge of investor interest in fast-casual restaurant brands.
Just a few years ago, the company revealed ambitious expansion plans to reach 1,000 units by the end of 2030, pledging to open at least 35 new restaurants in 2022 alone.
At the time, Sweetgreen operated 166 company-owned restaurants across 13 states and Washington, D.C., as of June 26, 2022, according to its 10-Q filing.
Leadership appeared confident that the expansion was on track.
“The confidence really comes from the fact that leases are being signed and deals are in construction,” said Sweetgreen CEO Jonathan Neman during an earnings call. “We have a very healthy, robust pipeline next year with some great sites, great deals and many leases already signed.”
However, by the end of 2025, that optimism began to fade as the company faced slowing sales and rising operating costs.
Sweetgreen (SG) has confirmed the permanent closure of its Crystal City restaurant at 2022 Crystal Drive in Arlington, Virginia, after serving customers in the area for a decade, according to local media outlet ARLnow.
Despite the closure, Sweetgreen still operates 14 locations across Virginia, including four in Arlington County, according to its store locator.
Pentagon City: 575 12th Rd South (about 1 mile away)
Rosslyn: 1800 N Lynn St (about 3.4 miles away)
Clarendon: 3100 Clarendon Blvd (about 4 to 5 miles away)
Ballston: 4075 Wilson Blvd #C (about 5 to 8 miles away)
Sweetgreen reveals more restaurant closures in 2026 amid a slowdown in expansion.Angus Mordant/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Sweetgreen’s latest financial results missed expectations, underscoring the challenges it now faces.
In the fourth quarter of 2025, revenue declined 3.5% year over year to $155.2 million, with same-store sales down 11.5%, according to the company’s earnings report.
For the full year of 2025, Sweetgreen posted a net loss of $134.1 million, which it attributed to lower restaurant-level profitability, rising operational costs, and increased expenses from the opening of 15 new restaurants.
“We are moving with urgency through the ‘Sweet Growth Transformation Plan’ to strengthen the core of the business,” said Neman in a statement. “We are tightening our operations, raising our culinary standards, and setting the business up to grow in the right way.”
During the fourth-quarter earnings call, Sweetgreen CFO Jamie McConnell said the company plans to close “a handful” of locations in 2026 as leases expire and is reviewing additional underperforming restaurants that could potentially shut down.
The company still expects to open 15 new restaurants in 2026, including expansion in Nashville and Salt Lake City.
More Restaurant Closures:
However, most of those openings are now anticipated to occur later in the year, reflecting a more cautious development pace.
“It’s making sure we have a healthy pipeline, so we have the optionality to speed up as comps improve, and we feel good about the unit economics,” said Neman during the earnings call. “Not necessarily committing to too much to make sure we’re disciplined from a cash perspective.”
Sweetgreen currently projects that same-store sales will decline between 2% and 4% in 2026.
In response to mounting challenges, Sweetgreen launched its “Sweet Growth Transformation Plan” in late 2025.
The strategy aims to strengthen the company’s operational foundation while improving profitability and customer engagement by focusing on five priorities.
Operational Excellence: Improving consistency across all restaurants to deliver reliable food quality, smoother operations, and better guest experiences.
Food Quality + Menu Innovation: Introducing new menu items and culinary concepts that better resonate with customers.
Personalized Experience: Using digital engagement, targeted offers, and personalized messaging to increase visit frequency and average order value.
Brand Relevance: Attract new customers by strengthening the brand’s identity and cultural relevance.
Disciplined Profitable Investment: Focus expansion spending on locations with stronger projected returns while maintaining tighter cost controls.
Sweetgreen’s stock has fallen nearly 15% year to date as of March 6, 2026, and is down almost 89% over the past five years.
Analysts at Barron’s have maintained a sell rating for the chain since February 2019.
“The company’s fundamentals look very poor, making an investment in its shares purely speculative,” said Barron’s analysts.
However, some analysts believe the company could still recover if its turnaround strategy succeeds.
Sweetgreen has a consensus price target of $15.54 based on 18 analyst ratings, according to Benzinga. The three most recent analyst ratings from RBC Capital, Oppenheimer, and UBS in February 2026 average $7.50, implying about 32.74% upside from current levels.
“Sweetgreen hasn’t exactly panned out the way that investors had hoped,” said The Motley Fool analyst Neil Patel. “Shares in the health-forward fast-casual dining concept are currently about 89% below their price on the initial public offering (IPO) date in November 2021. In fact, they are essentially trading at their lowest level ever.”
Fortune retail analyst Phil Wahba says Sweetgreen is facing a major shift in dining trends.
“Every food trend eventually runs its course, or just recedes to become part of the culinary landscape,” said Wahba. “That’s arguably what has happened to build-your-own-salad or grain bowls, the once-hot office lunches that are now often and perhaps unfairly derided as ‘slop bowls.'”
TCBY: The frozen yogurt chain closed the majority of its stores, and its parent company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, as reported by The Street.
Portillos: The Chicago-based restaurant chain scaled back expansion after new restaurants began “cannibalizing” sales from nearby locations, as reported by The Street.
Salad and Go: The drive-thru salad chain has closed several locations and exited multiple markets while assessing its growth strategy, as reported by The Street.
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