Sweetgreen says its robot kitchens save at least 7 points on labor

February 2025 — Sweetgreen told investors its automated kitchens are cutting labor costs, and that it will put them in half its new restaurants this year. Here's what launched, what it cost, and what went wrong.

Cost and outcome (as of Feb. 27, 2025)

Labor: "at least 7 percentage points in labor savings and one point in improved COGS" against similar restaurants, Neman said. (QSR)
Count: 12 Infinite Kitchens at the end of 2024, 10 of them added that year, including three retrofits. (QSR)
2025 plan: at least 40 new restaurants, "with 20 featuring the Infinite Kitchen." (SEC)
Company results: 2024 revenue of $676.8 million and a net loss of $90.4 million. (SEC 10-K)
Cost per unit: not disclosed.

What the machine does

Sweetgreen describes the Infinite Kitchen as a way to "leverage automation to improve speed and consistency" while reducing labor intensity. QSR Magazine reported it can fulfill about 500 orders an hour. Every bowl still has to be completed by a team member at a finishing station. Neman said that is where bottlenecks happen, and that Sweetgreen reworked the station to make it faster and more accurate.

The first unit opened in Naperville, Illinois, on May 10, 2023, according to Restaurant Dive. Sweetgreen's annual report says it deployed the system in two restaurants in fiscal 2023 and ten in fiscal 2024: seven new restaurants and three retrofits. Spyce, the Boston company that built it, was started by four MIT alumni, MIT News reported in 2018. It ran two restaurants of its own when Sweetgreen bought it in 2021, CNBC reported. Terms were not disclosed.

What Sweetgreen says it saves

On the Feb. 26 call, Neman said the kitchens "are delivering at least 7 percentage points in labor savings and 1 point in improved COGS compared to restaurants of similar age and volume," according to the transcript. COGS is cost of goods sold.

Sweetgreen generally does not disclose store-level results, QSR noted, but it gave one example. Its Hingham, Massachusetts, Infinite Kitchen had a 30% margin in its first full month, against 26% for Naperville in its first full month in 2023. Neman also cited a January survey in which 90% of guests at Infinite Kitchen restaurants reported a positive experience.

All of these figures come from Sweetgreen. It did not publish the comparison restaurants or the survey method.

The 2025 plan

Half of at least 40 new restaurants will get the system, plus one to three retrofits, QSR reported, and two New York stores will add it when they relocate. QSR put the result at "from 12 to 33" units, and in the same piece cited at least 25 new units in 2025. Those QSR figures don't add up, since 12 plus 25 is already 37. Neman said retrofits should pick up in 2026 and 2027.

The China parts

Sweetgreen's annual report says: "We currently import certain components of our infinite kitchen units from China." It expects their cost to rise with the 10% tariff on Chinese imports effective Feb. 4, 2025. "Any such cost increases may cause the manufacture and deployment of additional Infinite Kitchen units to become cost-prohibitive for our business," the filing says, which could delay new restaurants designed for them. Sweetgreen also holds one issued patent in the People's Republic of China.

What went wrong

Self-reported savings. The 7-point labor figure has no published method or comparison set.
A loss-making company. Sweetgreen lost $90.4 million in 2024 while spending on automation.
Tariff exposure. Its own filing says Chinese-made components could make more units too costly.
A weak start to 2025. Weather and the Los Angeles wildfires pushed same-store sales down 6% through February, QSR reported.
What we don't know yet: what each unit costs, and whether the savings hold as the count grows.

Our follow-up question for Sweetgreen

How are the 7 points of labor savings measured, and against which restaurants?

Later developments (added Oct. 2026)

In November 2025, Sweetgreen agreed to sell Spyce to Wonder, the food hall and delivery company led by Marc Lore, for $186.4 million: $100 million in cash and $86.4 million in Wonder stock. Restaurant Dive reported that the system was then "in over 20 restaurants," after three quarters of same-store sales declines. (Restaurant Dive)
The sale closed Dec. 29, 2025. Wonder agreed to sell Infinite Kitchen units to Sweetgreen "on a long-term basis," with a royalty-free license back. (SEC 8-K)
Sweetgreen's fiscal 2025 annual report says 30 restaurants had the system at year-end, short of the 33 QSR had reported for the 2025 plan. (SEC 10-K)

Sources

QSR Magazine, Danny Klein, “Sweetgreen's Automated 'Infinite Kitchen' Readies for a Step Up in 2025,” Feb. 27, 2025. qsrmagazine.com
Sweetgreen, Q4 and fiscal 2024 earnings call transcript (third-party copy, roic.ai), Feb. 26, 2025. roic.ai
Sweetgreen, “Sweetgreen, Inc. Announces Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2024 Financial Results” (SEC Exhibit 99.1), Feb. 26, 2025. sec.gov
Sweetgreen, Form 10-K for fiscal 2024, filed Feb. 27, 2025. sec.gov
CNBC, “Salad chain Sweetgreen bets on automation by acquiring Spyce and its robotic kitchen tech,” Aug. 24, 2021. cnbc.com
MIT News, “Alumni-founded robotic kitchen cooks up tasty meals,” July 2, 2018. news.mit.edu
Restaurant Dive, Aneurin Canham-Clyne, “Sweetgreen sells Spyce to Wonder for $186M,” Nov. 6, 2025. restaurantdive.com
Sweetgreen, Form 8-K, filed Jan. 5, 2026. sec.gov
Sweetgreen, Form 10-K for fiscal 2025, filed Feb. 27, 2026. sec.gov

Disclosure: [not in copy] Editor placeholder