Sweetgreen CEO Neman Talks Cyclospora Outbreak

Summary

Podcast Summary: Bloomberg Talks – "Sweetgreen CEO Neman Talks Cyclospora Outbreak"

Date: August 12, 2026
Host: Bloomberg
Guest: Jonathan Neman (CEO & Co-Founder, Sweetgreen)

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on Sweetgreen’s response to the Cyclospora outbreak that has struck the broader restaurant and produce industry, shaking customer confidence in fresh greens. Bloomberg interviews Jonathan Neman, the CEO and co-founder of Sweetgreen, who discusses how the outbreak has impacted the business, the company's supply chain practices, their crisis response, and how they plan to reassure customers and regain momentum. The episode offers insights into crisis management in the food industry, supply chain transparency, and the broader implications for consumer habits.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Impact of the Cyclospora Outbreak on Sweetgreen

• Early Business Impact:

  • The outbreak had an immediate and significant negative effect on Sweetgreen sales (01:01).
  • Neman clarifies Sweetgreen is not directly implicated:
    • "None of our customers or our supply chain has been implicated in the outbreak. We do not serve iceberg lettuce." (01:13)
  • Outbreak was tied to iceberg lettuce from Mexico; Sweetgreen sources all greens domestically from the U.S.

• Industry & Consumer Effects:

  • Widespread consumer anxiety affected everyone selling fresh produce.
  • Neman observes the knock-on effects on both restaurants and farmers:
    • “I was at a barbecue this weekend, nobody was touching the greens. People weren't eating blueberries... We've seen about a reported 40% impact to farmers that are growing produce.” (02:35)

2. Communication with Government and Outbreak Management

• Coordination with Authorities:
  • Sweetgreen has been in direct contact with FDA and health officials (02:23).
  • The FDA recently announced it is safe to eat iceberg lettuce again.
  • Neman underscores the need to update public perception:
    • “I think it's now the responsibility of everyone who said... it's not safe to eat produce, to really correct the record, because I think there has been a bit of a mass panic, hysteria.” (02:32, 02:46)

3. Addressing the Jalapeno Recall (Salmonella)

• When asked about a separate recall of jalapenos used in Sweetgreen dressings, Neman details the response:
  • Proactively removed jalapenos from 23 restaurants sourcing from the affected supplier.
  • No illnesses or positive salmonella cases were found in the supply chain.
  • Jalapenos are a minor ingredient in only 2 of 16 dressings.
    • “Out of abundance of caution, we removed jalapenos entirely from those restaurants.” (03:51)

4. Strategies to Rebuild Trust and Foot Traffic

• Transparency in Sourcing:

  • Sweetgreen has always listed all farms they source from in each restaurant for full transparency (04:46).
  • “You will see a chalkboard listed with dozens and dozens of ingredients and where each, where those ingredients come from.” (04:54)
  • Differentiates from competitors by sourcing directly from farmers.

• Menu Diversification:

  • Salads now make up less than half the product mix; warm bowls and wraps (recently launched) are growing.
  • “Over 50% of our products mix today is warm bowls and wraps... We have a huge portion of cooked foods.” (05:18–05:31)
  • Recent wrap launch accounts for 20% of sales; aiming to counteract the perception that Sweetgreen only serves raw produce.

• Marketing & Consumer Engagement:

  • Upcoming robust marketing campaigns and seasonal menu innovation to attract back both existing and new customers (06:45).
  • Recently launched collaboration with Fish Wife.

5. Breaking Down Sales Trends and Looking Forward

• The impact of Cyclospora began “about 10 days into July.”
• Notable initial drop in transactions, but sequential improvements each month, especially as operational execution improved.
  • “In June, transactions were flat. 10 days into July we were seeing some really good momentum...” (06:25)
• The company’s financial guidance anticipates improvement by the end of September, but uncertainty remains.

6. Lessons from the Restaurant Industry

• Learning from Peers (e.g., Chipotle):
  • Several team members, including board members, have previous experience managing food safety crises at other chains (08:01).
  • Identified keys to recovery:
    • Swift and transparent communication with customers.
    • Rigorous supply chain audits and food safety standards.
    • Traceability: the ability to rapidly identify and recall ingredients by lot number and farm.
    • “Traceability is really, really important...we have that technology and the ability...to understand which farms any product at any...restaurant comes from.” (08:32–08:44)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Jonathan Neman:
  • “None of our customers or our supply chain has been implicated in the outbreak. We do not serve iceberg lettuce.” (01:13)
  • “It’s now the responsibility of everyone who said...it’s not safe to eat produce, to really correct the record.” (02:32)
  • “You will see a chalkboard listed with dozens and dozens of ingredients and where those ingredients come from.” (04:54)
  • “Over 50% of our product mix today is warm bowls and wraps...salads are actually less than 50% of the product mix today.” (05:18)
  • “Transparency and speed of communications...securing your supply chain...traceability...We have that technology.” (08:13-08:44)

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Segment Timestamps

• 00:38 — Start of Sweetgreen discussion
• 01:01 — Neman details initial outbreak impact & Sweetgreen's sourcing
• 01:48 — Contact with FDA/government and perception issues
• 03:22 — Distinction between cyclospora (lettuce) and jalapeno (salmonella) issues
• 04:46 — Transparency, farm sourcing, and product mix
• 06:02 — Traffic, trends, and menu innovation
• 07:35 — Lessons from other food safety crises; importance of traceability
• 08:57 — Conclusion

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Summary

In the wake of a national cyclospora outbreak tied to lettuce, Sweetgreen’s CEO Jonathan Neman articulates how transparency, direct sourcing, and supply chain diligence have kept Sweetgreen’s products safe, even as consumer fears dampened sales for the entire industry. Neman highlights steps taken to restore confidence, including transparent farm sourcing, diversifying their menu toward more cooked options, and launching new marketing initiatives. The episode closes with industry lessons on rapid communication, supply chain audits, and traceability as best practices to restore trust after food safety events.

Transcript

[A]

AI is entering its most consequential phase where scale, safety and sovereignty will determine who leads and who lags. Join Bloomberg Tech in London on November 2nd and 3rd as global leaders across business, finance and policy examine the defining trade offs shaping the future of AI. Thank you to our presenting sponsor Salesforce and supporting sponsors Ida Ireland and Schneider Electric. Learn more at BloombergLive.com TechLondon.

[B]

Bloomberg Audio Studios Podcasts Radio News all

[C]

right, we're going to stay in the restaurant sector. Share the sweetgreen actually rebound today today after a multi day sell off after the chain cut its outlook last week over reduced demand that it did tie to some of the concerns about cyclospora. I had a chance to catch up with the CEO and co founder Jonathan Neiman to talk about the impact and well how he thinks he can turn things around.

[B]

Obviously Cyclospora has had an impact on our business as it has had a business had an impact on really anyone selling fresh produce. The good news is is just over the last week the FDA has announced that it is safe to eat iceberg lettuce. So as we mentioned on our earnings call, we had a really big initial impact. We have seen some recovery since but you know, it has been a significant impact given this fear customers have about having leafy greens. The important thing for Sweetgreen though is that none of our customers or our supply chain has been implicated in the outbreak. We do not serve iceberg lettuce. The outbreak is been isolated to iceberg lettuce from Mexico. We source all of our greens from the United States. And in a lot of ways this is a moment where the sweet green supply chain and the right relationships with farmers is so critically important.

[C]

Well before we get deeper into that, have you had any sort of contact or any of your folks there with the government? We had the former acting deputy director, excuse me, for the CDC national center for Infectious Diseases and he seemed to suggest that at least based on his data that the outbreak overall of cyclospora was actually starting to sort of plateau and taper off and basically saying that a lot of controls that the government had either put in place or alerts they have put out there, at least for right now, seems to have curbed the issue. What contact have you had at all with government health officials?

[B]

They've been wonderful in direct communications with them and I think they've done a good job of explaining what's going on and that it's now safe. I think it's now the responsibility of everyone who said Excuse me, everyone who said that, you know, it's not safe to eat produce, to really correct the record, because I think there has been a bit of a mass panic, hysteria, and most people, you know, I was at a barbecue this weekend, nobody was touching the greens. People weren't eating blueberries. Was at a supermarket a few days ago. And you're seeing people, you know, instead of grabbing, you know, a bag of greens or a head of lettuce, picking up a. Picking up some processed food in a bag. And you've seen some of the impact, not just the restaurants has been severe, but the impact to farmers. We've seen about a reported 40% impact to farmers that are growing produce. So to answer your question, yes, we have been in touch. Again, they've said that they believe that the outbreak is under control. I think it's now more about that message getting out to consumers and them getting back into their, into their habits.

[C]

I do want to be clear, though. I mean, because there are two separate events. Obviously the cyclospora outbreak associated with lettuce, which, which, as you' stated, Sweetgreen does not actually use that, that type of lettuce that was known to be infected. There was a separate issue with, regarding a recall of jalapenos, I believe, related to salmonella. And my understanding was you do use those jalapenos in your dressing. Has that issue been addressed?

[B]

That issue has also been addressed. We, out of abundance of caution, removed jalapenos from 23 restaurants. That, that, that source from that supplier. We have no indication of any illness from that or any trace of salmon anywhere in our supply chain. We do only source that. That jalapeno only goes in two of our 16 dressings. So it's a very small bit of jalapeno we use on our. In our restaurant. And out of abundance of caution, we removed jalapenos entirely from those restaurants. I am buyer.

[C]

Yeah. I'm curious what steps you're going to take next. I mean, you were giving this anecdote about people kind of being afraid of raw produce. And let's face it, I mean, the primary, your primary business traffics primarily in raw produce here. So how do you convince people to not only come back wheatgrain, but overall just to trust what you're selling. Have you sort of planned any sort of marketing campaigns any more, maybe greater disclosures about the farms and other, you know, sources of your food?

[B]

Yeah, absolutely. So going back 19 years ago, when we started Sweetgreen, we had this pretty bold idea that we Were going to list every single farm that we source our food from on the wall and it to be fully transparent for every single restaurant in every single city. And we still do that today. So if you go into any, any of our restaurants today, you will see a chalkboard listed with dozens and dozens of ingredients and where each, where, where those ingredients come from. What we do differently than most restaurants versus going directly to a distributor to source our food. For the vast majority of our products we source directly with farmers. We spend a lot of time with them and making sure they are how, how they're taking care of their soil, the conditions on the ground there are coming are delivering food that is not only safe but delicious and nutritious. I want to address another point. You know, while sweet known mostly for salads and that's how we started, over 50% of our products mixed today is warm bowls and wraps. So salads are actually less than 50% of the product mix today. We have a huge portion of cooked foods, you know, chicken, rice, wraps. We launched wraps just a few months ago. It's already mixing in at 20%. So I think it's a little bit of a misconception with the name of sweetgreen that it only sells fresh raw produce. While we're great at fresh raw produce, we also serve a lot of cooked, delicious cooked food.

[C]

Well, point taken. I am curious though about just foot traffic overall and how much of the contraction that we saw in the most recent quarter and what was baked into your forecast, how much of that could actually directly be linked to the fears over Cyclospora and how much of that was just sort of longer term trends that sweetgreen had already been dealing with prior to this outbreak.

[B]

So you know, while the quarter was overall challenged and we have a lot of work to do, we did see sequential improvement month over month. And in June Transactions were flat 10 days. 10 days into July we were seeing some really good momentum and it was a product of a few things. First and foremost, just consistent execution in our restaurants. We had the right staffing, the right leadership, the right hospitality and delivering on food quality is starting to take hold. Secondly, our menu innovation, things like wraps and more to come. We launched yesterday a new collaboration with Fish Wife and to your earlier question, we have a really robust marketing calendar for the balance of the year with a combination of seasonal items and new menu which is to really get new customers back and both acquire new customers and engage existing customers. So Cyclospora really began to impact us about 10 days into July. Has a huge impact so far on the quarter. Our guide has it, you know, our high end of the guide has it getting better by the end of September. We're not sure how long it's going to impact guests, but we're doing everything in our power to deliver on a great experience, great marketing and great new food to welcome guests back into our restaurants.

[C]

There have been so many restaurant chains over the years that have dealt with foodborne illness outbreaks, whether it's of their own fault or not their fault at all, whether they actually had the ingredients or didn't have the ingredients. And there's been a lot of lessons learned over the years about how you approach this, how you approach the customer, how you try to get them back and when they're trusted back. Have you had a chance to talk to any of your peers in the restaurant space that maybe have gone through this before and sort of how they dealt with it?

[B]

Absolutely. I have a number of my, my leaders that were at Chipotle Post Food either at during the time of the food safety crisis or afterwards, including one of my board members. I'm in touch with many other leaders in the restaurant industry and I'll tell you a few of the things that I've learned. One is, is transparency and speed of communications. So acting quickly when you know something and being honest with customers too. It's really securing your supply chain, having the right checks and audits in place, having the right food safety standards in the restaurant. And then the last piece is the importance of traceability. Traceability is really, really important for many reasons. But in these instances, knowing in the, in the case of a recall, being able to know which lot number is impacted and being able to pull that product immediately and we have that technology and the ability to pull to understand who, which farms any product at any, any of our 300 restaurants around the country comes from.

[C]

And that was Jonathan Neiman. He's the co founder and the CEO of Sweetgreen.