DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2024

DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Sweetgreen, Inc., a Delaware corporation, together with its wholly owned subsidiaries (the “Company”), is a mission-driven, next generation restaurant and lifestyle brand that serves healthy food at scale. The Company’s bold vision is to be as ubiquitous as traditional fast food, but with the transparency and quality that consumers increasingly expect. As of March 31, 2024, the Company owned and operated 227 restaurants in 19 states and Washington, D.C. During the thirteen weeks ended March 31, 2024, the Company had 6 Net New Restaurant Openings.

The Company was founded in November 2006 and incorporated in the state of Delaware in October 2009 and currently is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. The Company’s operations are conducted as one operating segment and one reportable segment, as the Company’s chief operating decision maker, who is the Company’s Chief Executive Officer, reviews financial information on an aggregate basis for purposes of allocating resources and evaluating financial performance. The Company’s revenue is derived from retail sales of food and beverages by company-owned restaurants.

The Company has prepared the accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) for interim financial statements and pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). In the opinion of management, the accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements reflect all adjustments consisting of normal recurring adjustments necessary for a fair presentation of the Company’s financial position and results of operations. Interim results of operations are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be achieved for the full year. The financial statements and related notes do not include all information and footnotes required by U.S. generally accepted accounting principles for annual reports and should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023.

Principles of Consolidation—The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company. All intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.

Fiscal Year—The Company’s fiscal year is a 52- or 53-week period that ends on the Sunday closest to the last day of December. Fiscal year 2024 is a 52-week period that ends December 29, 2024 and fiscal year 2023 was a 53-week period that ended December 31, 2023. In a 52-week fiscal year, each quarter includes 13 weeks of operations. In a 53-week fiscal year, the first, second and third quarters each include 13 weeks of operations, and the fourth quarter includes 14 weeks of operations.

Management’s Use of Estimates—The condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared by the Company in accordance with GAAP and the rules and regulations of the SEC. The preparation of condensed consolidated financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect certain reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the condensed consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Significant accounting estimates made by the Company include the income tax valuation allowance, impairment of long-lived assets and right-of-use assets (“ROU assets”), legal liabilities, valuation of the contingent consideration liability, lease accounting matters, valuation of intangible assets acquired in business combinations, goodwill and stock-based compensation. These estimates are based on information available as of the date of the condensed consolidated financial statements; therefore, actual results could differ from those estimates.

Cash and Cash Equivalents—The Company considers all highly liquid investments with a maturity of three months or less at the time of purchase to be cash equivalents. Amounts receivable from credit card processors are converted to cash shortly after the related sales transaction and are considered to be cash equivalents because they are both short-term and highly liquid in nature. Amounts receivable from sales transactions as of March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, were $4.5 million and $3.0 million, respectively.

Restricted Cash—The Company’s restricted cash balance relates to certificates of deposit that are collateral for letters of credit to lease agreements entered into by the Company.

The reconciliation of cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash presented in the Company’s accompanying condensed consolidated balance sheets to the total amount shown in its condensed consolidated statements of cash flows is as follows:


(dollar amounts in thousands)	As of March 31, 2024		As of December 31, 2023
Reconciliation of cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash:
Cash and cash equivalents	$	243,756	$	257,230
Restricted cash, noncurrent	125		125
Total cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash shown on statement of cash flows	$	243,881	$	257,355

Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements Not Yet Adopted— In December 2023, the FASB issued ASU No. 2023-09, “Income Taxes (Topic 740): Improvements to Income Tax Disclosures.” The ASU includes amendments requiring enhanced income tax disclosures, primarily related to standardization and disaggregation of rate reconciliation categories and income taxes paid by jurisdiction. The guidance is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2024, with early adoption permitted, and should be applied either prospectively or retrospectively. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of adopting this ASU on its disclosures.

The Company reviewed all other recently issued accounting pronouncements and concluded that they were either not applicable or not expected to have a significant impact to the condensed consolidated financial statements.