Salad chain Sweetgreen opens first restaurant in Arizona

Sweetgreen, the Washington, D.C.-born salad chain, has made its Arizona debut.

The health-driven fast-casual restaurant opened at Scottsdale Quarter near Greenway Hayden Loop and Scottsdale Road on Tuesday. Going forward, the 2,515-square-foot restaurant will be open daily from 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.

A second Phoenix location, on Camelback Road and 32nd Street, will open later this fall. That restaurant is located in a portion of the former Tomaso’s on Camelback, and a specific opening date has yet to be announced.

“We’re thrilled to introduce Sweetgreen to Arizona and become part of the vibrant communities in Scottsdale and Phoenix,” co-founder and CEO Jonathan Neman said in a news release.

Sweetgreen was launched in 2007 with a focus on serving fresh, healthy food with the efficiency and scalability of a tech company. Today, it has more than 250 restaurants nationwide, including its pilot robotic kitchen, dubbed the “Infinite Kitchen,” in Naperville, Illinois.

Sweetgreen’s seasonal Harvest Bowl is one of the restaurant’s fan-favorite items, featuring chicken, roasted sweet potatoes, apples, goat cheese, roasted almonds, wild rice, shredded kale and balsamic vinaigrette.

The chain’s menu also includes kale caesar and buffalo chicken salads as well as “Protein Plates” that put meats such as garlic steak or miso-glazed salmon at the center, atop a bed of wild rice.

As part of the Scottsdale opening celebration, Sweetgreen will donate a meal to St. Mary’s Food Bank for every meal sold on Tuesday. There will also be a balloon arch, live vinyl DJ and free scoops of Jeni’s Ice Cream from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Sweetgreen

Now Open: 15323 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale
3221 E. Camelback Road, opening this fall