1% of All Sales Made Through sweetgreen Rewards App to Benefit FoodCorps; sweetgreen to join FoodCorps Corporate Council. May 01, 2014 – As part of its mission to educate children about healthy eating and nutrition, sweetgreen, the much-loved collection of organic, farm-to-table salad shops, has selected FoodCorps as its official charity partner. FoodCorps is a … Continued
May 01, 2014 – As part of its mission to educate children about healthy eating and nutrition, sweetgreen, the much-loved collection of organic, farm-to-table salad shops, has selected FoodCorps as its official charity partner. FoodCorps is a national organization that connects children in underserved communities to real food in order to help them grow up healthy. As sweetgreen’s official charity partner, FoodCorps will receive 1% of all qualifying sales transactions processed through the sweetgreen rewards app. Additionally, sweetgreen will commit a $10,000 contribution from proceeds from its 2014 sweetlife music + food festival on May 10.
Through the collaboration, FoodCorps will serve as the “sweetgreen in schools” community liaison, helping sweetgreen identify the underserved communities most in need and connecting sweetgreen with its extensive network of local partners across the country. FoodCorps will help scale “sweetgreen in schools” into all existing sweetgreen locations by training its in-store coaches to host wellness workshops in their communities.
FoodCorps has invited sweetgreen to join its Corporate Council, an assembly of proven corporate leaders who collaborate around the collective goal of a healthy future for all children. Current Council members include Gary Hirshberg, Co-Founder and Chair of Stonyfield Farm, Sarah Bird, Senior VP of Marketing at Annie’s Homegrown, Jeff Dunn, President and CEO of Bolthouse Farms, Gina Asoudegan, Director of Communications at Applegate Organic and Natural Meats, and more.
“With our shared commitment to increase access to healthy food in our nation’s schools, sweetgreen is incredibly proud to select FoodCorps as our official national charity partner,” said Laura Rankin, Director of sweetgreen in schools. “FoodCorps has been an inspiration to us and we are truly looking forward to working together to bring sweetgreen in schools to a national scale and to make healthy eating a reality for all children.”
“FoodCorps is ecstatic to partner with sweetgreen and have their innovative leadership on our Corporate Council,” said Debra Eschmeyer, FoodCorps Co-Founder and VP of External Affairs. “Through our aligned commitment to connecting kids to real food, we will demonstrate the exponential impact made possible through public-private partnerships.”
FoodCorps is a nonprofit national service organization that strives to give all youth an enduring relationship with healthy food. There are currently 125 service members serving at 108 sites in 15 states around the country. Each state also has a FoodCorps fellow, a statewide team leader. FoodCorps teaches children about what healthy food is and where it comes from, builds and tend school gardens, and connects public schools to local farms to bring high-quality ingredients into school cafeterias.
sweetgreen is dedicated to its communities, healthy eating, nutrition in schools, supporting local farmers, and sustainability. Focusing its philanthropic efforts on healthy eating in schools, sweetgreen launched “sweetgreen in schools” in 2010 to introduce kids to the benefits of nutritious eating and to teach them the larger impact of the food choices they make through fun, hands-on activities. Throughout the year, students in limited-resource areas take field trips to sweetgreen stores for wellness workshops covering crucial topics like nutrition, eating local, fitness, sustainability, helping your community, and eco-literacy. In 2013, sweetgreen raised approximately $80,000 through their charitable initiatives, including the sweetgreen rewards app 1% donation, sweetlife music + food festival, and the “Pay What You Want” program, where they donate 100% of proceeds from sales on day one of new store opening to a local charity. Going forward, sweetgreen will work with FoodCorps to identify a FoodCorps service site as the “Pay What You Want” beneficiary.
Founded in 2007 by Georgetown University graduates Nicolas Jammet, Jonathan Neman and Nathaniel Ru, sweetgreen has become a favorite not only for its delicious and healthy food, but also for its commitment to local farmers, the community, sustainability, and outstanding company culture. They opened their first location, a 560-square-foot space in Georgetown, in August 2007 – just three months out of college. The shop quickly grew a cult-like following and, over the next six years, the threesome went on to open 24 additional locations throughout Washington, D.C., Virginia, Maryland, Philadelphia, Boston and New York City with the first West Coast location to open in 2015. The company also founded sweetlife, an annual food and music festival that attracts a curated selection of cutting edge artists and 20,000 attendees – not to mention outstanding food from top chefs, food trucks, local purveyors, and farmers. Over the years, sweetgreen has received numerous accolades from the press including The Washington Post, USA Today, Food & Wine, bon appétit, Forbes, Bloomberg, Washingtonian, CBS and NBC, among others, and the founders were voted Food & Wine’s “40 Big Thinkers Under 40,” Forbes’ “30 Under 30” and Refinery29’s “30 Under 30.”
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