Sweetgreen is raising compensation for the managers who run its restaurants, offering pay packages that could top $200,000 a year starting next year. The fast-casual salad chain, a favorite of the office lunch crowd, says the richer plan will reward the managers who drive its results and help lift sales at a time when its costs are climbing.
Under the new program, managers, known within the company as head coaches, will be eligible for a mix of base salary and equity. Base pay at restaurants with higher sales volume can rise by as much as 45 percent. Sweetgreen declined to say how high sales must climb to reach that threshold. Managers will also earn a revenue share bonus when their restaurants beat sales goals, with the percentage rising according to how long they have been with the company. Equity grants will continue to depend on performance. Base salary increases take effect in the first quarter of 2027, and quarterly store-performance bonuses begin on January 1, 2027, according to the company.
The move comes as Sweetgreen faces mounting cost pressure. Higher labor and related costs consumed 29 percent of revenue in the quarter ending in June, up from 28 percent a year earlier. Same-store sales and restaurant profits also fell that quarter compared with 2025. The company is scheduled to report third-quarter earnings on November 5.
Co-founder and chief executive Jonathan Neman acknowledged the risk in the strategy. He said investing in additional manager compensation "is definitely a bet," but argued that the company's data shows that attracting, retaining and incentivizing better head coaches will produce stronger sales and better margins. Neman said Sweetgreen is putting some money in up front through higher base salaries, but most of the investment depends on stores meeting performance targets. "Typically the company would take more of that upside," he said. "Now we're sharing in that upside with our team, but we think that's a good trade."
Sweetgreen is not the first fast-casual chain to bet heavily on store leadership. Chipotle announced in 2021 that its top general manager position could pay $100,000 on average, as it sought to keep workers in a tight labor market. Chipotle's restaurant operating margins have remained between 23 and 26 percent in recent years, and more than 85 percent of its general managers were promoted internally in 2025, according to its 2026 proxy statement.
Neman said Sweetgreen drew inspiration from chains such as In-N-Out Burger, which recently confirmed that its store managers earn more than $200,000 on average, and Raising Cane's, which pays monthly sales-based bonuses and said in 2024 that its managers could earn up to $175,000 a year. Beyond sales and profit, Sweetgreen will track team member turnover, head coach stability, meaning whether managers stay at their stores, quality and experience scores, and internal mobility to judge whether the program is working.