‘Never waste a crisis’: Sweetgreen cofounder on stolen recipes, the cyclospora cyclone and their first-ever chef-in-residence

{
  "signal_id": "cf0291ea-ca11-ad1e-79fe-cb3fc1d93ec3",
  "signal_type": "news",
  "signal_subtype": "launches",
  "detected_at": "2026-09-30T20:42:32+00:00",
  "company": {
    "name": "Sweetgreen",
    "domain": "sweetgreen.com"
  },
  "data": {
    "url": "https://fortune.com/2026/09/30/sweetgreen-cofounder-nic-jammet-sweetgreen-challenge-molly-baz-social-media/",
    "title": "‘Never waste a crisis’: Sweetgreen cofounder on stolen recipes, the cyclospora cyclone and their first-ever chef-in-residence",
    "author": "Catherina Gioino",
    "excerpt": "Sweetgreen doesn’t use iceberg lettuce, and it doesn’t buy lettuce from Mexico, according to cofounder Nic Jammet, but the salad chain still paid for this summer’s cyclospora outbreak anyway. Federal investigators tied the outbreak to iceberg lettuce from central Mexico, but fears about produce hit Sweetgreen regardless. The company cut its full-year outlook in August, projecting same-store sales would fall 7% to 8%, down from its earlier forecast of a 2% to 4% decline. The CDC declared the outbreak over on September 11. “It was a painful summer because that was like the headline for all summer,” Jammet, who is currently Sweetgreen’s chief concept officer, told Fortune . He said he worries the headlines and messaging around this summer’s recalls may have nudged people to believe “the safer thing is actually highly processed food.” He’s even watched farmers till fields of greens back into the ground, he added. The outbreak landed on a chain that was already in a turnaround, as the pre-pandemic desk-salad days have never quite returned. Same-store sales dropped 11.5% year-over-in 2025, but the stock has gained nearly 28% year-to-date as CEO Jonathan Neman has been running a turnaround plan built on tighter operations, marketing, menu changes and pricing. There’s also evidence that the customers are returning: on Sept. 28, Wells Fargo analyst Anthony Trainor upgraded Sweetgreen’s...",
    "product": "Molly Baz menu",
    "summary": "Sweetgreen launched a new limited-edition menu curated by chef-in-residence Molly Baz, featuring a Caesar wrap, a pickle Caesar salad, and a scoop of chicken salad, available through November 9.",
    "planning": false,
    "image_url": "https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/nic-e1790713538780.png?resize=1200,600",
    "confidence": 0.9,
    "product_data": {
      "name": "Molly Baz menu",
      "full_text": "Baz’s menu, which includes three limited-edition items: a Caesar wrap, a pickle Caesar salad and a scoop of chicken salad with a pickle spear",
      "fuzzy_match": false,
      "release_type": "collection"
    },
    "published_at": "2026-09-30T20:42:32Z",
    "article_sentence": "Jammet is the first to say Sweetgreen is more than just a salad chain, and points to Baz’s menu, which includes three limited-edition items: a Caesar wrap, a pickle Caesar salad and a scoop of chicken salad with a pickle spear, now through November 9."
  }
}

curl https://signals.autobound.ai/v1/signals/cf0291ea-ca11-ad1e-79fe-cb3fc1d93ec3 \
  -H "X-API-KEY: $AUTOBOUND_API_KEY"

curl -X POST https://signals.autobound.ai/v1/companies/enrich \
  -H "X-API-KEY: $AUTOBOUND_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"domain":"sweetgreen.com","limit":20}'