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Sweetgreen is attempting to make sure the survival of farmers markets due to the important function they play in the neighborhood and as a vital income stream for farmers.
Earlier this month, the fast-casual restaurant chain, based in 2006 by Nicolas Jammet, Nathaniel Ru and Jonathan Neman, introduced its assist for Meals Entry LA, a nonprofit that oversees eight Los Angeles farmers markets that had been liable to closing.
In a bid to protect them, Sweetgreen pledged to cowl the nonprofit’s working prices by way of 2025, which can assist maintain small-scale agriculture and assist meals and beverage entrepreneurs whereas enhancing meals safety in underserved neighborhoods.
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Staff put together apples and avocados at a Sweetgreen restaurant in Boston Oct. 24, 2017. (Adam Glanzman/Bloomberg through Getty Photos / Getty Photos)
Jammet, who serves because the chief idea officer, emphasised the significance of those markets, telling FOX Enterprise that, for many individuals, they’re typically the one locations the place contemporary meals is accessible. The markets, now financially supported by Sweetgreen, serve greater than 10,000 guests every week throughout the Los Angeles space. A few of them characteristic farmers that Sweetgreen depends on.
“Farmers markets have played a very important role in how we’ve built, developed and discovered our own food ethos,” Jammet mentioned.
Within the firm’s early days, Jammet and his co-founders incessantly visited the Dupont Circle Farmers Market in Washington, D.C. It was the place they constructed direct relationships with native producers, which later “formed the foundation of Sweetgreen’s first menu,” Jammet mentioned.
Nicolas Jammet, co-founder of Sweetgreen Inc., speaks through the Milken Institute World Convention in Beverly Hills, Calif., April 30, 2018. (Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg through Getty Photos / Getty Photos)
The corporate nonetheless buys from the farmers it first constructed relationships with 15 years in the past, Jammet mentioned.
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“In the midst of inflation, it’s important for consumers and businesses to support small food growers and markets,” he added.
A Sweetgreen restaurant in New York April 22, 2024. (Angus Mordant/Bloomberg through Getty Photos / Getty Photos)
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Whereas he incessantly hears how robust the restaurant enterprise is, he mentioned “it’s way harder being a farmer.”
“There’s no business harder. And their margins can be so tight, and a lot of them are living season to season,” Jammet mentioned. “Often I think the farmers markets are where farmers actually make most of their margin because they’re buying and selling direct to customers. So, it’s a really important revenue source for a lot of farmers.”
Jennifer Grissom, government director of Meals Entry LA, mentioned these markets make it “possible for farmers to earn up to four times more than they would through traditional grocery settings.”
