Sweetgreen raises top store managers’ pay to over $200K

California-based salad spot Sweetgreen is set to give their managers an enviable pay raise.

The company has unveiled a new compensation and incentive plan for 2027 that will see managers at the chain’s top-performing locations earn more than $200,000 annually.

To qualify, managers must have worked at Sweetgreen for at least 3 years. The company will also offer revenue-based bonuses when a location surpasses its sales goals.

“This sets Sweetgreen up to be in the top tier of restaurants for total compensation for general managers,” Sweetgreen chief operating officer Jason Cochran told Business Insider.

“Our ability to be able to attract, retain, and also inspire many of our internal team members to want to be head coaches — I think it’s going to be meaningful for many years to come.”

Under the new incentive, managers are also eligible to receive shares in the company, which went public in 2021, based on their performance.

The incentive is part of a push to improve employee retention within the company.

“Great leaders build great teams, and great teams build a great business. As we approach 300 restaurants, we’re betting big on our Head Coaches,” Sweetgreen co-founder and CEO Jonathan Nemen said to Businesswire. “The restaurant industry has always been one of the great engines of opportunity, and we want to make that real for thousands of people.”

The typical tenure of a manager at the chain ranges from 3 months to 10 years, according to Cochran.

“One of the shift leads was telling me they heard the news and how excited they were for their career at Sweetgreen,” Cochran told the outlet. “She’s been with us six years.”

Founded in 2006 in Washington D.C., Sweetgreen began rapidly expanding in the late 2010s. The chain moved its headquarters to Los Angeles in 2016, and now has over 290 locations across the U.S.

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The “slop bowl” chain’s sales have rebounded after a third-quarter performance slump caused by the Cyclospora outbreak.

In October, same-store sales were up 5% and traffic was up 4%, The Motley Fool reported.

Sweetgreen isn’t the only California-based fast food chain to give their managers a sweet compensation deal. Burger giant In-N-Out Burger also pays their managers into the six figures.

In September, In-N-Out CEO Lynsi Snyder revealed that managers at the chain make an average of $200,000 per year, more than the average software engineer or accountant in the Golden State, and far above the average $68,774 salary of a California fast food manager.