What You Need To Know About Sweetpass, Sweetgreen's First Loyalty Program In 2 Years

Fast casual salad chain Sweetgreen has revamped and unveiled its loyalty program with two different tiers, according to an April 24 press release. The program's free version is called Sweetpass and allows customers to earn rewards through challenges, receive a birthday gift, get exclusive offerings, and buy limited edition merchandise.

Salad lovers can opt-in for the loyalty program's subscription-based tier called Sweetpass+. For $10 a month, customers are offered a variety of additional perks, such as $3 off their orders every day, free delivery, and exclusive early access to merchandise. Sweetgreen also launched its new merchandise store dubbed "The Market." Currently, Sweetgreen stans can purchase Sweetgreen-style hoodies, shirts, hats, mugs, and mousepads, but the chain plans to drop new items weekly.

Before launching the loyalty program nationwide, the Los Angeles-based company piloted it in January 2022. Sweetgreen tested the paid loyalty program in Washington D.C. and parts of Texas and Colorado, according to Fast Company.

Before introducing Sweetpass, Sweetgreen rewarded a free bowl for every 10 bowls purchased to its customers. Chief Brand Officer Nathaniel Ru tells Fast Company the brand decided to reconstruct its reward program to be more personable for every individual, adding that the new program is tailored to "...reward loyalty behavior versus discount behavior." The program also tries to attract more customers to eat at Sweetgreen by offering rewards during off-peak hours.

Sweetgreen's new loyalty program is the latest subscription-based program offered by restaurant chains to "...encourage larger checks, collect valuable data and boost customer retention," Restaurant Dive reports. In 2020, Panera Bread launched a monthly coffee subscription, in which customers can get unlimited coffee for $8.99 a month (it has since been replaced by Unlimited Sip Club, which gives guests unlimited access to all drinks for a monthly payment of $11.99). Domino's also recently brought back its Piece of the Pie loyalty program, according to Yahoo Finance.