DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

6 Months Ended

Jun. 29, 2025

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 June 29, 2025, the Company owned and operated 260 restaurants in 22 states and Washington, D.C. During the thirteen and twenty-six weeks ended June 29, 2025, the Company had 9 and 14 Net New Restaurant Openings, respectively.

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. Additional details on the nature of the Company’s business and their reportable operating segment is included in Note 15, “Reportable Segment”.

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 GAAP for annual reports and should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 29, 2024.

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 2025 is a 52-week period that ends December 28, 2025 and fiscal year 2024 was a 52-week period that ended December 29, 2024. 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, legal liabilities, valuation of the contingent consideration liability, lease accounting matters, 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 June 29, 2025 and December 29, 2024, were $5.4 million and $2.3 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 and letters of credit associated with the Company’s workers’ compensation insurance policy.

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 June 29, 2025		As of December 29, 2024
Reconciliation of cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash:
Cash and cash equivalents	$	168,452	$	214,789
Restricted cash, noncurrent	4,199		2,640
Total cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash shown on statement of cash flows	$	172,651	$	217,429

Approximately $4.1 million of the restricted cash balance as of June 29, 2025 was associated with letters of credit required by the Company’s workers’ compensation insurance policy. The remaining balance was associated with letters of credit from lease agreements.

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.

In November 2024, the FASB issued ASU No. 2024-03, "Disaggregation of Income Statement Expenses (Subtopic 220-40)." The ASU requires public entities to disaggregate, in a tabular presentation, certain income statement expenses into different categories, such as purchases of inventory, employee compensation, depreciation, and intangible asset amortization. The guidance is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2026, with early adoption permitted, and may be applied retrospectively. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of adopting this ASU on its consolidated financial statements and related 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.