Sweetgreen Ties Manager Pay to Sales, With $200,000-Plus Possible

Sweetgreen will add sales-linked pay incentives for restaurant managers in 2027, giving eligible managers a chance to earn more than $200,000 a year by meeting company milestones.

The chain calls its managers head coaches. Their base pay can increase by as much as 45% at restaurants with higher sales volume, though Sweetgreen has not disclosed the sales threshold for that tier. Managers also can receive a share of sales above their stores’ goals, with the share increasing based on tenure.

Quarterly bonuses tied to store performance are scheduled to start Jan. 1, 2027. Base salary increases are due to take effect in the first quarter of that year. Performance-based equity remains part of the package and will continue to be available to managers.

Sweetgreen co-founder and CEO Jonathan Neman called the added compensation “definitely a bet.” He said the company believes better hiring, retention and incentives can help head coaches raise sales and margins. Some of the cost will come upfront through higher base salaries, while most of the investment depends on stores meeting performance targets.

The company plans to assess the program using measures beyond sales, including employee turnover, whether head coaches remain at their restaurants, quality and experience scores, and internal mobility. Those measures are intended to show whether the compensation changes are helping the business and its teams.

The plan comes after Sweetgreen’s labor and related costs reached 29% of revenue in the quarter ending in June, up from 28% a year earlier. Same-store sales and restaurant profits also fell from the year-earlier quarter. Sweetgreen is scheduled to report third-quarter results Thursday, Nov. 5.