sweet team research report · o diet crazes rise in popularity o fast food industry has most to...

Sweet Team Research Report

Professor David Ashley

MARK 221: Marketing Research

December 16th, 2013

Thierry Camerlynck, Hannah Franklin, Kelyn Freedman, Caitlin Green, Wissam Hamady

Sweet Team Research Report 2

Sweet Team Marketing Research

MARK 221-02

BSB 160

Mr. David Ashley

Professor

McDonough School of Business

Marketing Research

Dear Professor Ashley,

On behalf of Sweet Team Marketing Research, please accept the attached report as the final

product completing our contract with McDonough School of Business Marketing Research class

(Class code MARK 221-02) for the fall term of 2013. This report details the findings of the

secondary and primary research conducted that will provide you with a comprehensive

assessment of current customer base of the Georgetown SweetGreen as well as recommendations

to improve purchase amount and frequency of the current customers.

We greatly appreciate the opportunity to have worked with you on this project. Please let us

know if we can assist you further. Thanks again.

Best,

Sweet Team

Thierry Camerlynck, Hannah Franklin, Kelyn Freedman, Caitlin Green, and Wisam Hamady


Table of Contents:

4• Executive Summary

• Research Purposes

6• Research Methods

8

• Findings

• Secondary Research

• IDI and Focus Group Report

• Questionnaire Findings

29• Limitations

30• Conclusions and Recommendations

32• Appendices


Executive Summary:

After doing secondary research on the SweetGreen company and competitive

environment, we determined SweetGreen’s persona and primary appeal to customers as well as

discovered that D.C. is a great location for this eatery. We discovered that SweetGreen has

strategically targeted their customers. Their customers are a growing group that wants easy price

points as well as simple menu options. Customers like convenience and the ability to quickly

grab a prepared meal. Furthermore, they want that meal to not only be healthy, but also organic.

The organic food industry has a growth rate of 12% which is expected to diminish over time but

we believe that this is because it will become an established lifestyle in the near future.

Veganism and vegetarianism are also growing rapidly. Overall people are becoming more and

more health conscious and D.C. has become the 2nd healthiest city in the United States.

SweetGreen has also tapped into discount loyalty programs via smart phones and social media,

which is a rising trend in the restaurant industry.

The purpose of our research of SweetGreen was twofold. We wanted to better understand

the typical Georgetown SweetGreen customer. We wanted to profile them and find out about

their likes and dislikes, and what they value not only in a food eatery but in their food lives in

general. We also wanted to determine how to encourage customers to purchase SweetGreen

more frequently or to begin going to SweetGreen if they are not already regular customers.

During the focus group, we discovered that SweetGreen would benefit from adding

ingredients to their menu, especially more healthy meats and fish. We also discovered that a

sandwich or panini option would possibly attract more male customers and provide variety for

the frequent customer base. Another popular suggestion was that SweetGreen offer a delivery

service because it is not always convenient to walk all the way to SweetGreen regardless of


whether they lived near or far from the eatery. The focus group participants also emphasized

that SweetGreen would benefit from having combination options and cheaper options to make

the salads and frozen yogurt more affordable and convenient for customers.

The survey findings were in sync with the focus group from a delivery, combo menu, and

additional ingredients standpoint. The questionnaire revealed that SweetGreen has some

potential in the male market and that the company could improve its efforts to appeal to its male

customers and potential customers. We also discovered that the company could more effectively

leverage their frozen yogurt option to appeal to customers and increase sales, as awareness of the

SweetFlow brand and product offering is extremely low.


Research Methods:

Organizing and executing the focus group was a crucial part of our research. We made

sure that we were thorough in our questioning and the tactics that we used. This started with

planning how we were to run the group. We planned a variety of question chains, word

associations, finish the sentence, and conversation starters. We wanted to make sure that our

member running the focus group was facilitating instead of talking at the participants. There was

a great turnout to the focus group and a diverse group in the realm of SweetGreen customers.

We had mostly females and one male, but we felt that since SweetGreen primarily attracts

females this was a good representation of the customers for Georgetown’s SweetGreen. Each

member of our research group was responsible for bringing 2 to 3 people to the group. While

some participants canceled at the last minute, this was not a problem for us because we had

planned to recruit more candidates than we needed in the case of such a scenario. Most of the

participants gave very good input and we managed the group so that it was not dominated by any

one person. They worked together nicely and we were able to get a feel for most opinions as

well as to develop what we felt were strong conclusions from the group.

The development of our questionnaire was greatly influenced by the information from the

focus group as well as the in-depth interviews we performed. After discovering that SweetGreen

should add a delivery service, add cheaper combo options, have more ingredients, and that they

have more potential in the fro-yo market, we developed a survey to test these findings. Our

survey was meant to find the particulars of what we could do with what we had learned from

earlier stages of research. We started with general questions so that we could make sure that

people taking our survey were relevant to our cause and had knowledge of the company. For

example, we asked whether they have been to SweetGreen and where they live. Then, we asked


more specific questions such as which particular toppings the respondent would want added and

how much she would be willing to pay for a delivery service. We were careful not to word the

questions so as to influence or bias the respondents’ answers.

We used an online questionnaire website for our survey and each member of our group

sent out the questionnaire to various student groups across campus. We made a Facebook group

to take advantage of social media and encourage our friends and classmates to answer the survey.

As a result of our collection methods, most of the respondents were Georgetown students.


Findings:

Secondary Research

1. Industry Analysis

Restaurant Industry Performance

Sales and customer traffic down in first quarter 2013, compared with 2012

Quick service restaurant segment reported a 0.5% decline in March, while overall

industry rose 0.1%

o Tax increase impacted low and middle income wage earners’ spending, so they

have been trading down or dining out less often (especially on weekdays)

Travelers and tourists accounted for 19% of sales at quick service restaurants

o As economic recovery continues, we will see modest uptick in travel-based traffic

Increasing health consciousness and expectations of high food quality are leading

consumers toward independent restaurants


Dual-earner households account for more than 50% of US familiesless time to prepare

meals at home

Low-single-digit same-store sales growth in 2013

o Reflects slow growing US economy

Revenue Growth

Year Revenue $ million Growth %

2002 157,646.2 0.0

2003 164,612.7 4.4

2004 171,558.4 4.2

2005 175,825.7 2.5

2006 178,313.4 1.4

2007 178,116.3 -0.1

2008 182,178.3 2.3

2009 181,065.7 -0.6

2010 186,317.3 2.9

2011 188,575.0 1.2

2012 190,098.7 0.8

2013 191,033.2 0.5

Restaurant Strategy Trends

Restaurants are offering smaller portions at lower price points

o Consumers want easy price points with simple menu options

Fast-food chains are expanding morning offerings


Some restaurants are seeking growth through offering catering services

Companies are retaining customers through interactions on social media

o Social media stimulates trials

o Increased use of discounts and loyalty programs incorporating social

media/technology

Restaurants change menu offerings to reflect American culture shift to focus on healthy

eating, decreased demand for traditional fast food restaurants

o Diet crazes rise in popularity

o Fast food industry has most to lose from consumer perceptions of healthfulness

o Healthy options for kids are rising concern

o Menu expansions to include healthier options (salads, fruit, smoothies)

Baby boomers are retiring- focus on convincing them to eat out more often

Restaurants are expanding their menus to fight to retain their share of customers

Retail competition is increasing as convenience stores and supermarkets capture market

share of take home prepared foods


Restaurant Industry Forecast

Quick service restaurant segment will see sales increase of 2.5% to $178 billion in 2013

o Guest traffic to rise 0.5%, continuing trend for customers to trade down from full

service restaurants

o Price increases of 2.0%

o Consumer spending expected to increase at average annual rate of 2.9 in the next

five years

Industry revenue expected to grow 1.9% through 2018 to $210.2 billion

Competition in domestic market with intensify over next five years, with significant

price-based competition and emphasis on regular introduction of new products

Breakfast and lunch parts will continue to outperform dinner part

Snack and nonalcoholic beverage segment will see sales increase of 4.0% to $28.8 billion

Operators are planning to raise their menu prices by average of 1.6% in 2013, which will

not fully cover the expected food cost inflation of 2%

Expect traffic to fall 1.0% in overall restaurant industry

Home meal replacement market (take out food) will continue to grow over next few years

o Casual dining operators to enter this market and compete with quick service and

grocery stores

o Take out food industry has been growing twice as fast as overall restaurant

industry

Healthy eating index expected to decrease slowly in 2013, but consumers also becoming

increasingly aware of diet related issues

o Consumers going out of their way to avoid fatty foods


o Demand for fast foods will increase as menu changes are implemented and health

concerns wane

o Offering healthier alternatives to red meat products, such as chicken burgers,

pasta, and salads

Agricultural price index expected to increase throughout 2013, resulting in lower profit

margins

Rapid growth of Hispanic and Asian populations in the US will drive demand for more

ethnically diverse foods, especially spicier flavors

Shift towards marketing to Millennial generation

o Boost to juice/specialty drinks industry

Boomers contributing to growing popularity of coffee, seafood, and breakfast food items

Organic Food Industry

Industry grew 12.3% in 2009 in the US

o Growth rate expected to diminish over time, trend towards consolidation

2. Market Demographics:

Younger generation- ages under 34- are the group that spend the highest percentage of

their income on food away from home.


54 percent of “super heavy” fast-food users

(who eat fast food at least once a day) and 37

percent of “heavy” fast-food users (two to six

times per week) are between the ages of 18 and

34.

Younger consumers are looking for more exotic

and unusual flavors.

Millennials are spending more on

juice/specialty drinks than ever.

Boomers are likely to spend less outside of

home. However, they shouldn’t be ignored as

they are looking for healthier options -low on

sodium.

Moms demographic also important as they hold

$1.6 trillion in purchasing power, are the lead

decision makers on where the family goes to

eat out and are looking for the optimal balance

of health, convenience and value.

Moms and millennials are both heavy users of internet and social media- mainly through

smartphones.

Moms and millenials demographics care for the overall actions of the company, including

causes they fight for and general social responsibility characteristics.


Avid Fast Food Eaters are 30 percent more likely to be single, and 15 percent more likely

to have an annual household income of $100,000 or more

3. Company Information

Background:

SweetGreen is a casual healthy food restaurant founded in 2007 by three Georgetown

students, Jonathan Neman, Nicolas Jammet, and Nathaniel Ru. The restaurant serves healthy,

affordable, and sustainable food. They use local and organic ingredients from farmers and

partners that they have a good relationship with and trust. SweetGreen’s core values are:

Win, win, win; create solutions where the company wins, the customer wins, the community wins. Think

sustainably; make decisions that will last longer than you will. Keep it real; cultivate authentic food and

relationships. Add the sweet touch, create meaningful connections everyday from farm to patron. Make an

impact; think smarter, work harder, do it together.

SweetGreen uses 100% plant-based compostable packaging, including their bowls, cutlery, and

cups. Their manifesto embodies what their company is about:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=TLi981B5aDXIBM&tbnid=aT-Gk-2ptO236M:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http://www.phillyburbs.com/lifestyle/food/sustainable-eatery-sweetgreen-opening-at-upenn-tuesday/article_4e208e88-644d-11e0-a6d3-0019bb30f31a.html&ei=xSBAUrWaDuf84APAuYFI&bvm=bv.52434380,d.dmg&psig=AFQjCNGR7XSu9UHXAwUwtvQZ3vJmh2USEA&ust=1380020784781659


SweetGreen’s main offerings are simple: salads, wraps, and salads on warm grains. A

basic build-your-own salad or wrap at SweetGreen is $6.35; an average ticket is between $9 and

$11. The house-crafted salads and wraps range in price from $7 to $11. They adhere to their

natural theme with their drink menu by selling only bottled water, house-made tea and lemonade,

and bottled tea, even though they have customers who really want a diet coke with their meal.

SweetGreen also offers a tart yogurt with multiple different toppings for the patron to choose

from. However, the yogurt is just a nice finishing touch to a healthy meal; not a big part of

SweetGreen’s business.

4. Competitive Edge

Brand image and offerings:

People are giving SweetGreen the slight edge over its main competitor (Chop’d) due to

its organic ingredients and the look of their store. They go for the all-natural look with

the wood furniture and the wooden bowls in the bigger SweetGreen establishments. With

http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=79BkzokUcAhzAM&tbnid=YqwMbhgBnpDpUM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http://www.behance.net/gallery/Sweetgreen-Manifesto-Layout-and-Design/7580187&ei=eR1AUtewF7Di4AO4y4Bo&bvm=bv.52434380,d.dmg&psig=AFQjCNG5_pa_B3x54bk7MWXEM5tBNhersA&ust=1380019959364979


people so health conscious in this day and age they really appreciate the local freshness

of the ingredients. In addition people flock to SweetGreen for their SweetFlow. A

healthy dessert Froyo option that Chop’d does not offer.

Compostable containers, and locally sourced and in-season ingredients

Target market:

According to Forbes Washington D.C. is the 2nd healthiest city in the United States. This

gives SweetGreen another competitive edge in the market. Originating in Georgetown,

this healthy salad shop is extremely popular among the people in the area whether they

are looking for a healthy option or are continuing their healthy eating habits. As a healthy

eating establishment in a healthy city there is an obvious advantage for SweetGreen.

Number and location of stores:

SweetGreen: 10 DC Locations; 1 Mass; 3 Maryland; 1 NY; 2 Pennsylvania; 3 Virginia

Chop’t: 5 DC Locations; 6 NY

SweetGreen has more stores and is in more states than Chop’t. This is yet another edge

that SweetGreen holds over Chop’t. Being in more states and cities gets the awareness

out about SweetGreen a lot better than Chop’t. They need to make sure they’re keeping

up the pace at which they are expanding.

5. Food Trends

Current Trends:

Healthy eating, focus on organic and free range foods


Vegetarianism and veganism

Reasons:

Diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure

Environment/ sustainability

More information on how food is produced

More information on benefits of a vegetarian diet

More nation-wide focus on a balanced-healthy lifestyle in general

Emergence of a healthy living culture- eg. Yoga

Effects:

More healthy eating/ organic stores

Gluten free/ organic/ natural sections in supermarkets

Healthy options in fast food restaurants

Healthy casual eating restaurants

Forecast:

One of the top five consumer health trends for 2013 will be veganism and gluten-free

diets, according to a national survey of 2,800 adults conducted by social science research

group, Values Institute at DGWB.

According to a 2008 Vegetarianism Times’ study, 7.3 million Americans consider

themselves vegetarian.


“When you look at the entire food industry, our organic and natural products outpace

conventional products by three times,” Mr. Simon said. “Overall food consumption is not

growing; consumers are seeking out more and more organic and natural products versus

conventional products.”

“… In the U.S., the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) recently showed some

stabilization in obesity rates in adults, the first time in a long time, and even a decline in

obesity rates in children across several state”

IDI and Focus Group Report

In-Depth Interviews

We conducted four IDIs before holding the focus group. All four of our IDIs had very

similar results because all four of the people interviewed were senior females who live in West

Georgetown and consider themselves to be health conscious people. We tried to get some

diversity but they were the only people who would agree to do the IDI with the time constraints

that we had. We also tried to have an IDI with the management of SweetGreen to get a different

perspective, however they never got back to us so we were unable to do that. What we took from

the IDIs to talk more about in the focus group was the perception of SweetGreen, a possible

delivery option, and their current offerings. What we ultimately found in our focus group largely

reflected what we found out in the IDIs.

Focus Group

Date: October 18th

Location: MSB UG common room, breakout room 184


Moderator: Kelyn Freedman

Duration: 55 mins

Participants: 10 total participants

Demographics:

Gender: 9 females, 1 male

Geographic: 6 live in West Georgetown, 4 live in Burleith

Year in school: 7 seniors, 2 juniors, 1 sophomore

The average number of times this group goes to SweetGreen a month was 4.7; however,

the range was from 0 to 20. Taking out the 20 as an outlier, the average is 2.94. The average self-

rating of health-consciousness was 7.8, and the range was from 7 to 9.

We used two projection techniques to get the participants talking. The first was the initial

impressions survey. Along with demographic questions that lead to our demographics shown up

top, we also asked the focus group members to rate their perceptions of SweetGreen on a scale of

1-10; a 1 meaning not at all, a 5 meaning average, and a 10 meaning very. The words we had

them rate were; sustainable, authentic, smart, hard-working, real, meaningful, negative, natural,

attractive, reusable, energy efficient, wasteful, valuable, friendly, challenging, gentle, passionate,

simple, tasteful, and extraordinary. The highest average rated perception of SweetGreen was

natural with an average of 8.9 out of 10. Exhibit 2 shows all of the data collected in the survey.

We used this projection technique to get the focus group members to start thinking about

SweetGreen. The second projection technique was word association. Kelyn would say a word

and then the participants went around the circle and said the first thing that came to their mind

after hearing that word. We used the words: fresh, SweetGreen, salad, green, farm, M Street,


lunch, bread, Panera, Chopped. This word association loosened the participants up and they were

able to talk more after it.

We noticed a few overall trends from this focus group. Our focus group’s general

consensus was that SweetGreen is a very fresh, green, top notch salad place. First, most of the

members of our focus group considered themselves to be a health conscious person; however,

most of them admitting to it being hard so they do not always make healthy choices. The overall

trend was that healthy living made you feel better, but it is time-consuming, expensive, and very

hard if you do not know how to cook. Another trend was the demographics about the typical

SweetGreen customer. Our focus group members all agreed that the typical people that they see

at SweetGreen are young, active girls. They even went on to say that when they think of

SweetGreen customers they see them having come straight from yoga with a yoga mat and all.

Another trend of the focus group members was that most of them ordered off the menu rather

than making their own salad. Some reasons given for this was because it is quicker, it is easier,

the combinations on the menu show you what ingredients go well together, and they feel rushed

if to make choices when they make their own. On the other hand, most of the focus group

members said that they sometimes switch some of the ingredients or add something to the menu

salads.

Some of the key demographic differences in our focus group were where they live and

price sensitivity. The focus group members who live in Burleith, farther away from SweetGreen,

do not get SweetGreen as much as those who live in West Georgetown, closer to SweetGreen.

Most of the members who live farther away admitted that if they lived closer to SweetGreen that

they would get it more often. Price sensitivity was another big demographic difference. Many of

the focus group members said that they resist going to SweetGreen as much as they want to


because of the price; as one of our focus group members put it, “it is cheaper to cook something

at home.” On the other hand, one of the group members who is not as price sensitive goes to

SweetGreen about 20 times a month.

Through this focus group we learned three major things about delivery, SweetFlow, and

additional offerings. First, all of our focus group members were very interested in a delivery

option. One of the focus group members who lives farther away said that she would pay up to $5

to get it delivered, while most of the other members who live farther away said only $2 or $3.

The focus group members who live closer to SweetGreen said that they would be interested in a

delivery option but would probably still go to the actual restaurant more often than they got

delivery. Second, our focus group members said that SweetGreen’s SweetFlow is the best frozen

yogurt. They justified it because it tastes the healthiest, no added sugar, so they do not feel bad

eating it. When we asked if they get SweetFlow a lot with their salads, the overall consensus was

that it is an either, or deal. They either go to get a salad, or they go to get SweetFlow, very rarely

do they get both at the same time. One, it is expensive; two, the SweetFlow will melt before they

finish their salad; and three, they are usually very full from all of that salad. The third thing that

we learned from our focus group is that they would like some additional offerings such as

salmon, tuna, and sandwiches. The focus group members believe that if SweetGreen added

sandwiches, then more males would be interested in eating there.

Our next step is to make a survey based on our focus group response. In this survey we

want to find out if our focus group’s thoughts are reflective of the thoughts of the general public.

In the survey we will ask questions finding out what people think of SweetGreen and how it

stacks up against other salad places in the area. Other questions will delve into whether delivery

really is a good addition and how much people would be willing to pay for it. We will also see


how SweetFlow stacks up compared to its competition, in the general public’s eye. Finally, other

questions will explore the additional offerings, finding out if it is a good idea and what they

would like for additional options.

Questionnaire Findings

1. Men are not large portion of loyal customer base, so we focused on women.

As the pie chart illustrates, we received 68% female responses and only 32% male

responses. Based on these responses we decided to mainly focus on analyzing the female

responses in our effort to increase SweetGreen sales. While a majority of males have been to

SweetGreen (70%), the eatery is not high on the list of their favorite food shops, especially due

to perceptions of girliness. While 36% of males said that they eat out 2 to 3 times a week, the

majority of also answered that they went to SweetGreen less than once a month.


Frequency of male visits to SweetGreen:

On top of this and possibly an explanation for these results is that none of the male

ratings for importance of freshness, taste, variety and price was above a 4 out of 5 mean. Their

satisfaction with SweetGreen was also not rated above a 4 out of 5 mean. This shows that most

male students do not care very much about freshness and healthiness, which are two of

SweetGreen’s most important attractions and values. Therefore SweetGreen is not a highly rated

option when male customers are deciding where to eat out and we should not take them into

consideration for the purpose of our project. In order to research methods to appeal to male

customers, SweetGreen would need to conduct an additional survey.

Importance for Males:

# Question Mean

1 Taste 3.30

2

Quality,

freshness

2.92

3 Variety 2.65

4 Price 3.08

Satisfaction for Males:

# Question Mean

1 Taste 3.32

2

Quality,

freshness

3.30

3 Variety 3.03

4 Price 2.46

Women and SweetGreen

Women are very important to SweetGreen’s business, and we think that it will be through

the main female customer base that SweetGreen can improve sales. For women, the qualities of

freshness, taste, variety, and price were all rated above a 4 out of 5 on average. This also closely

related to their satisfaction of SweetGreen’s freshness and healthiness, all of which were also

above a 4 average except price. The data shows that SweetGreen is a front-of-mind option when

female students decide to eat out.

Importance for Women when eating out:

Question Mean

Taste 4.68

Quality,

freshness

4.66

Variety 4.23

Price 4.05

Satisfaction of SweetGreen for Women:

# Question Mean

1 Taste 4.48

2

Quality,

freshness

4.49

3 Variety 4.19

4 Price 2.79

The expected customer loyalty implied by the convergence of women’s values and those

of SweetGreen’s is further backed up by the frequency of which women purchase SweetGreen

meals. The majority of female customers frequent SweetGreen 2 to 3, which is significantly

more than their male counterparts.

Frequency of female visits to SweetGreen:

2. Competition

In terms of SweetGreen’s competition, we evaluated Chop’t and Pinkberry in the salad

and fro-yo markets respectively. Our results show us that Chop’t is not relevant and is not a main

competitor for the Georgetown branch since the majority of survey respondents had never been

to a Chop’t restaurant. However, Pinkberry is currently the category leader in Georgetown frozen

yogurt shops.


Percentage of female respondents who have been to Chop’t:

In addition to the poor attendance rating, Chop’t salads were rated below a 4 out of 5 on

average, indicating a poorer quality product as compared to SweetGreen’s salads.

Female respondents rating of Chop’t:

# Answer

Min

Value

Max

Value

Average

Value

Standard

Deviation

1 Taste 1.00 5.00 3.82 1.03

2

Quality,

freshness

1.00 5.00 3.74 0.93

3

Variety of

ingredients

1.00 5.00 3.97 1.19

4 Price 1.00 5.00 3.53 0.99

Survey respondents overwhelmingly preferred SweetGreen’s salads to Chop’t’s salads.


SweetGreen VS. Chop’t in terms of salads:

# Answer

%

1 Chop's

26%

2 SweetGreen's

74%

Total 100%

Pinkberry on the other hand was actually rated higher than SweetGreen in most

categories. The disparity in ratings was due to two main reasons: the lack of awareness of

SweetGreen’s SweetFlow and the variety of sweet toppings that Pinkberry offers in contrast to

SweetGreen’s healthier options.

Female respondent ratings for Pinkberry’s frozen yogurt:

# Answer

Min

Value

Max

Value

Average

Value

Standard

Deviation

1 Taste 1.00 5.00 4.41 0.79

2

Quality,

freshness

1.00 5.00 4.20 0.86

3

Variety of

ingredients

1.00 5.00 4.41 0.83

4 Price 1.00 5.00 2.96 1.08

3. SweetFlow’s lack of awareness:

How often female respondents buy SweetFlow when visiting SweetGreen:


# Answer

%

1 0 out of 5

60%

2 1 out of 5

21%

3 2 out of 5

8%

4 3 out of 5

4%

5 4 out of 5

3%

6 5 out of 5

5%

Total 100%

Why female respondents did not buy SweetFlow:

# Answer

%

1

Size/quantity of

food

34%

2 Price

31%

3

You just don't

like SweetFlow

15%

4 Other

37%

The “other” option was the majority and in the additional comments to the question, the

most common response was that they did not know what SweetFlow was or were not aware that

SweetGreen offered frozen yogurt.


Limitations:

We ran into a few limitations throughout our research project. In the beginning we were

trying to get in contact with SweetGreen management and they never got back to us. We sent

multiple emails and never got a response. This was a shame because we believe not only could

they have helped us with our secondary research but we feel that we could have given them some

information that could have helped grow their business.

Our main problem that we ran into was our survey issue. Somehow through sending out

the survey the last few key questions got cut off. We had to resend out the last questions and

actually managed to get maximum number of responses allowed. After doing some tests we

discovered that we had valid information even though we had this glitch in the research. We

overcame this obstacle with poise but we recognize that we could have benefited more if we had

the complete questionnaire sent in the first place.

Another thing we discovered when we got responses back from our survey was that some

people did not know what SweetGreen’s fro-yo (SweetFlow) was. We thought it was common

knowledge for people who frequented SweetGreen and were in touch with the lingo of

Georgetown. While this helped us pinpoint one of SweetGreen’s main problems, it would have

helped to have explained what SweetFlow was to our respondents.

Another limitation we faced was time constraints. If we had more time we feel we could

have developed even better research as well as widened our research outside of the Georgetown

bubble to help benefit SweetGreen on a regional scale as well.


Conclusions and Recommendations:

In conclusion, there are a few things that we believe SweetGreen would really benefit

from and have a number of recommendations. Our main recommendations is to add a delivery

service. Most people were willing to pay extra for the service and we think that an additional

delivery fee per mile would work, as those living further away were willing to pay more. For this

delivery we would recommend using a bicycle or a ‘green’ car, in order to stay consistent with

SweetGreen’s values. We expect this to have a great impact on frequency of sales for both the

salads and the fro-yo, which could be kept in a fridge in the car. Delivery adds convenience,

which is value that customers are willing to pay premiums for.

We also recommend that SweetGreen adds some additional toppings to their salads.

SweetGreen should add turkey and salmon to the available options. These are healthy options

that frequent customers would enjoy and would also encourage new customers to try

SweetGreen.

Combo options at pricing discounts are another recommendations. Respondents

mentioned that they do not purchase SweetFlow with their salads because it is too much food or

it becomes too pricey. SweetGreen should add an option of a small salad and small froyo for one

low price to encourage trial of SweetFlow and add a more affordable option to SweetGreen’s

current offerings.

We also think that SweetGreen should more effectively sell its frozen yogurt. While

SweetFlow is not typically the primary reason that customers visit SweetGreen, there is a market

opportunity here. SweetGreen should look into rebranding SweetGreen to become a salad and

frozen yogurt shop so that customers recognize SweetGreen’s diversity of product offerings.

SweetGreen should rebrand their SweetFlow product. In order to fight the competition from


Pinkberry, we recommend adding new toppings. These toppings however must stick with

SweetGreen’s values of healthiness and freshness. We recommend toppings such as cereals and

more fresh fruit options. The name SweetFlow could also be changed as it has not proven to be

effective in raising awareness. A change of layout for the shop may help to bring attention and

focus to the frozen yogurt aspect of SweetGreen.

We also recommend that SweetGreen look into the male market. With a diverse segment

of the population becoming more health conscious there is great opportunity in marketing more

to men so that they feel that SweetGreen is not too feminine and that it has options that will fill

them up but still keep them healthy.

We would also recommend additional research, for both how SweetGreen could market

themselves towards the male population as well as how SweetGreen could rebrand their frozen

yogurt product to alleviate the awareness issue. The male market has a very big potential for

SweetGreen as it is currently untapped. New products and marketing ideas might be needed to

attract this group of customers. Research should be done to see what exactly should be

implemented.


Appendices:

Exhibit 1. Observation Report of Focus Group

What We Did Well:

We believe that we did six things very well during our focus group. First, we had a very

good turnout for the number of people who showed up. We invited 16 people and had 10 people

actually come to the focus group which is the maximum amount of people you would want for a

focus group. Second, Kelyn did a great job of keeping the conversation flowing throughout the

entire focus group. Starting out with the word association was a great way to loosen up the focus

group members. Third, everyone was very involved in the focus group. We did not have any one

person dominating the meeting. Again, the word association was a great help for this because it

made everyone comfortable speaking up from the start. Fourth, the conversation touched on very

good, important topics, such as the perceptions of SweetGreen. Fifth, we learnt very valuable

information. We did not think that much about the SweetFlow prior to the focus group. They

really opened our eyes to the potential that SweetFlow has. Finally, the focus group was a very

good length. 55 minutes was just enough time to find out all of the information that we needed to

know and keep everyone engaged.

What We Would Do Differently: There are a few things that we would do differently if we could do it again. The main

thing that we would do differently would be increase diversity of our focus group and IDI

participants. The only category that our participants were diverse was geographically. There

were nine females to one male, and they all considered themselves health-conscious. While the

typical SweetGreen customer is a health-conscious female, it would be helpful to understand the

opinions and perceptions of the brand and of the restaurant itself. By having more males


represented we could get a better understanding of what they think of SweetGreen. Another

person that we would to have liked to be present at the focus group would be someone who is not

heath conscious. It would be interesting to see what they think of the brand and to get their

opinions on everything. As mentioned in the IDI section, we also wanted thought it would be a

great idea to have a representative of the SweetGreen management present. Another thing that

we would do differently would be to actually bring SweetGreen to the focus group so the

participants could have SweetGreen fresh in their mind while they are talking about it.

What We Learned from the Process:

We learned a few things from this process. First, we learned the value of projection

techniques. A third of what we did well was due largely in part from starting the focus group

with the word association. It allowed people to get comfortable with each other and the

moderator. Second, we learned that prescreening is key for a focus group. If we had the time or

could afford to prescreen then we could have had a much more diverse group of people come to

our focus group, and therefore we could have gotten different opinions about SweetGreen in

general. By not being able to afford to prescreen, we mean that our pool of people who would

actually come to the focus group, because of the lack of incentives that we had, purely consisted

of non-diverse people.


Exhibit 2: Focus Group Survey Data

Perceptions of SweetGreen on 1-10 scale (1-not at all, 5-average, 10-very)

Average Rating Highest Rating Lowest Rating

Sustainable 8.2 10 7

Authentic 8.2 10 5

Smart 7.4 10 5

Hard-working 7.3 10 5

Real 8.6 10 5

Meaningful 6.6 10 1

Negative 1.7 3 1

Natural 8.9 10 6

Attractive 8.1 10 5

Re-usable 7.4 10 1

Energy efficient 7.5 9 5

Wasteful 3.0 5 1

Valuable 7.2 10 5

Friendly 7.3 10 5

Challenging 2.9 5 1

Gentle 4.6 6 1

Passionate 6.4 10 1

Simple 6.9 10 5

Tasteful 8.7 10 6

Extraordinary 7.1 10 3


Exhibit 3: Copy of Questionnaire 1 (filtered to exclude male respondents and

edited to remove skipped questions re-asked in questionnaire 2)

1. Gender # Answer

Response % 1 Male

0 0% 2 Female

137 100%

Total 137 100%

2. Status # Answer

Response % 1 Student

127 93%

2 Working professional

10 7%

Total 137 100%

3. Overall, which frozen yogurt do you prefer? # Answer

Response % 1 Pinkberry's

78 78% 2 SweetGreen's

22 22%

Total 100 100%

4. Where do you live? # Answer

Response % 1 Burleith

21 15%

2 West Georgetown

34 25%

3 On campus

68 50% 4 Other

14 10%

Total 137 100%


5. How often do you eat out? # Answer

Response % 1 Never

1 1%

2 Less than Once a Month

0 0%

3 Once a Month

5 4%

4 2-3 Times a Month

30 22%

5 Once a Week

35 26%

6 2-3 Times a Week

49 36%

7 Daily (or almost)

17 12%

Total 137 100%

6. How often do you order delivery? # Answer

Response % 1 Never

28 20%


39 28%

3 Once a Month

20 15%

4 2-3 Times a Month

31 23%

5 Once a Week

16 12%

6 2-3 Times a Week

3 2%

7 Daily

0 0%

Total 137 100%

7. Have you ever been to Sweet Green? # Answer

Response % 1 Yes

124 91% 2 No

13 9%

Total 137 100%


8. For every 5 times you go to SweetGreen, how many times do you

get sweet flow? # Answer

Response % 1 0 out of 5

67 60% 2 1 out of 5

23 21% 3 2 out of 5

9 8% 4 3 out of 5

4 4% 5 4 out of 5

3 3% 6 5 out of 5

5 5%

Total 111 100%

9. Have you ever been to PinkBerry? # Answer

% 1 Yes

94% 2 No

6%

Total 100%

10. If you don't always order Sweet Flow with your salad, why is

that? # Answer

Response %

1 Size/quantity of food

38 34%

2 Price

34 31%

3 You just don't like Sweet Flow

17 15%

4 Other

41 37%


Other allergic Lactose intolerance I don't know what that is it's cold Convenience Don't feel like eating it What is it? I don't want it at the moment I don't know what that is. Haven't tried it yet, but I want to i don't know what it is... i don't know what it is i dont know what sweet flow is calories I don't know what Sweet Flow is, unfortunately. Total price with salad do not know what that is don't feel like dessert Haven't gone enough I always get sweet flow I don't know what it is I don't know what it is I do always order it Sometimes it's too cold for frozen yogurt, sometimes I don't want to spend the money, etc Weather outside What is sweet flow? allergy I don't know what Sweet Flow is. I only ever get Sweetflow. It would melt while I ate my salad and I'm usually full when I finish my salad. Too much food otherwise! Can't eat it all. Usually just going for food, not dessert I never knew it was a thing don't know what it is

11. Importance

# Question 1 2 3 4 5 Total

Responses Mean

1 Taste 2.70% 0.90% 0.00% 18.92% 77.48% 111 4.68

2 Quality, freshness

1.80% 0.90% 1.80% 20.72% 74.77% 111 4.66

3 Variety 0.90% 2.70% 16.22% 32.43% 47.75% 111 4.23 4 Price 2.70% 7.21% 19.82% 23.42% 46.85% 111 4.05


12. Have you ever been to Chop’t? # Answer

Response % 1 Yes

34 31% 2 No

77 69%

Total 111 100%

13. Overall, which salads do you prefer? # Answer

Response % 1 Chop't

9 26% 2 SweetGreen's

25 74%

Total 34 100%

15. How often do you go to Sweet Green?


# Answer

Response %


35 32%

3 Once a Month

19 17%

4 2-3 Times a Month

35 32%

5 Once a Week

17 15%

6 2-3 Times a Week

5 5%

7 Daily

0 0%

Total 111 100%

16. How would you rate Chop on their salads?

# Answer Min Value Max Value Average

Value Standard Deviation

Responses

1 Taste 1.00 5.00 3.82 1.03 34


1.00 5.00 3.74 0.93 34

3 Variety of ingredients

1.00 5.00 3.97 1.19 34

4 Price 1.00 5.00 3.53 0.99 34

17. Importance


Responses Mean

1 Taste 11 2 15 23 57 108 4.05


10 2 18 29 49 108 3.97

3 Variety 10 12 33 22 31 108 3.48 4 Price 10 5 29 25 39 108 3.72

18. Satisfaction


Responses Mean

1 Taste 10 4 29 33 32 108 3.68


10 2 26 34 36 108 3.78

3 Variety 11 19 41 24 13 108 3.08 4 Price 14 17 46 24 7 108 2.94


20. How would you rate PinkBerry's frozen yogurt?

# Answer Min Value Max Value Average

Value Standard Deviation

Responses

1 Taste 1.00 5.00 4.41 0.79 100


1.00 5.00 4.20 0.86 100

3 Variety of ingredients

1.00 5.00 4.41 0.83 100

4 Price 1.00 5.00 2.96 1.08 100

23. Satisfaction


Responses Mean

1 Taste 1 4 5 32 69 111 4.48


2 2 5 33 69 111 4.49

3 Variety 1 4 21 32 53 111 4.19 4 Price 15 25 46 18 7 111 2.79

27. Any other additions you recommend? Text Response none Pinkberry's froyo tastes like artificial flavoring while Sweetflow doesn't. Even if the variety is limited for Sweetflow, they just added a dark choc flavor and that's good enough for me. Most froyo fans prefer tart anyway. Pinkberry has different flavors of fro-yo and they offer mango Overall, I would prefer pink berry No Saxbys is my favorite froyo! Sorry, at the beginning of the survey I didn't know what Sweet Flow was! A sweeter-tasting option for sweetflow I'm pretty sure the other salad place is called Chop't not Chop N/A no It's Chop't! I like sweetgreen the best for tart yogurt, but if I want another flavor then I'd go to pinkberry because sweet green doesn't have other flavors besides chocolate which I don't like Red Mango is my favorite froyo because it's self-serve If I knew what sweet flow was my answers might be more helpful. I only ever order Sweetflow at Sweetgreen, but I have tasted various salads that my friends have bought. no Go Caitlin!


Exhibit 4: Copy of Questionnaire 2 (filtered to exclude male respondents)

1. Gender # Answer

Response % 1 Male

0 0% 2 Female

46 100%

Total 46 100%

2. Status # Answer

Response % 1 Student

43 93%

2 Working professional

3 7%

Total 46 100%

3. Where do you live? # Answer

Response % 1 Burleith

4 9%

2 West Georgetown

8 17%

3 On campus

30 65% 4 Other

4 9%

Total 46 100%

4. Have you ever been to Sweet Green? # Answer

Response % 1 Yes

44 96% 2 No

2 4%

Total 46 100%


5. In your opinion, Sweet Green should add more variety in...

# Answer

Response %

2 Product options

5 12%

3 Sweet Flow ingredients

8 20%

4 Salad ingredients

9 22%

5 Specials (combo options)

19 46%

6 Services (delivery)

21 51%

9

Sweet Green does not need any more variety

6 15%


6. How would you rate these product additions?

# Question

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Mea

n

1 Sandwich

0.00%

0.00%

0.00%

20.00%

40.00%

20.00%

0.00%

0.00%

20.00%

0.00%

5.80

2 Smoothie

0.00%

0.00%

20.00%

0.00%

0.00%

0.00%

40.00%

0.00%

20.00%

20.00%

7.20

3 Warm beverage

40.00%

20.00%

0.00%

0.00%

20.00%

0.00%

0.00%

20.00%

0.00%

0.00%

3.40

7. How would you rate these Sweet Flow ingredients additions? # Question 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Mean 1 Chocolates 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 2 1 2 7.25 2 Cereals 1 1 0 0 2 1 1 1 1 0 5.38 3 Sweets 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 1 3 0 6.75

Statistic Chocolates Cereals Sweets Min Value 2 1 4 Max Value 10 9 9 Mean 7.25 5.38 6.75 Variance 7.64 7.70 4.79 Standard Deviation 2.76 2.77 2.19 Total Responses 8 8 8

8. How would you rate these main meal ingredients additions?

# Question

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Mea

n

1 Smoked salmon

25.00%

0.00%

0.00%

12.50%

0.00%

12.50%

12.50%

25.00%

0.00%

12.50%

5.63

2 Tuna 50.00

% 0.00

% 0.00

% 0.00

% 12.50

% 0.00

% 0.00

% 0.00

% 12.50

% 25.00

% 4.75

3 Beef 25.00

% 0.00

% 0.00

% 0.00

% 0.00

% 0.00

% 12.50

% 37.50

% 0.00

% 25.00

% 6.63

4 Turkey 12.50

% 0.00

% 0.00

% 0.00

% 0.00

% 12.50

% 25.00

% 12.50

% 12.50

% 25.00

% 7.25


Statistic Smoked salmon Tuna Beef Turkey Min Value 1 1 1 1 Max Value 10 10 10 10 Mean 5.63 4.75 6.63 7.25 Variance 11.13 18.50 13.13 8.50 Standard Deviation

3.34 4.30 3.62 2.92

Total Responses 8 8 8 8

9. How would you rate this combo addition?

# Question 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Mea

n

1

Salad/Wrap with "snack size" Sweet Flow

5.56%

5.56%

5.56%

0.00%

16.67%

5.56%

27.78%

11.11%

16.67%

5.56%

6.39

Statistic Salad/Wrap with "snack size" Sweet Flow Min Value 1 Max Value 10 Mean 6.39 Variance 6.25 Standard Deviation 2.50 Total Responses 18

10. How would you rate this service addition?

# Question

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Mea

n

1 Pick-up 9.52

% 4.76

% 4.76

% 14.29

% 19.05

% 9.52

% 4.76

% 14.29

% 0.00

% 19.05

% 5.81

2 Delivery

0.00%

0.00%

0.00%

0.00% 0.00% 4.76

% 4.76

% 19.05

% 9.52

% 61.90

% 9.19


Statistic Pick-up Delivery Min Value 1 6 Max Value 10 10 Mean 5.81 9.19 Variance 8.36 1.46 Standard Deviation 2.89 1.21 Total Responses 21 21

11. How much would you pay extra for a delivery option? # Answer

% 1 $1-1.99

43% 2 $2-2.99

33% 3 $3-3.99

14% 4 $4-4.99

10% 5 $5-5.99

0%

Total 100%

12. Any other additions you recommend? Text Response soup options and drinks More fruit. I don't eat fish but I'm sure other people would appreciate smokes salmon and tuna. I would like more sweet salad options such as berries and other fruits. I would like to be able to add unlimited ingredients like at Subway without getting charged


Exhibit 5: Analytical Model


Works Cited

Standard & Poors Industry Surveys- Restaurants, July 2013

http://www.netadvantage.standardandpoors.com.proxy.library.georgetown.edu/NAS

App/NetAdvantage/showIndustrySurvey.do?code=rst

Standard & Poors Sub-Industry Review: Restaurants, July 2013

http://www.netadvantage.standardandpoors.com.proxy.library.georgetown.edu/NAS

App/NetAdvantage/showSubIndustryReview.do?subindcode=25301040

IBISWorld Industry Report 72221a (fast food restaurants in the US)

http://clients1.ibisworld.com.proxy.library.georgetown.edu/reports/us/industry/default

.aspx?entid=1980

SBDCNet, Organic Food Retailers, NAICS Code: 445299, SIC Code: 5499

http://www.sbdcnet.org/small-business-research-reports/retail-organic-food-industry-

in-the-u-s

Fast Food Business Overview & Trends, 2012, SIC Code: 5812, NAICS Code: 722210

http://www.sbdcnet.org/small-business-research-reports/fast-food-industry-in-the-u-s

Sweetgreen Website:

http://sweetgreen.com/

“On the watch: Sweetgreen” – QSR magazine: January 2013:

http://www.qsrmagazine.com/emerging-concepts/one-watch-sweetgreen

http://www.netadvantage.standardandpoors.com.proxy.library.georgetown.edu/NASApp/NetAdvantage/showIndustrySurvey.do?code=rst

http://www.netadvantage.standardandpoors.com.proxy.library.georgetown.edu/NASApp/NetAdvantage/showIndustrySurvey.do?code=rst

http://www.netadvantage.standardandpoors.com.proxy.library.georgetown.edu/NASApp/NetAdvantage/showSubIndustryReview.do?subindcode=25301040

http://www.netadvantage.standardandpoors.com.proxy.library.georgetown.edu/NASApp/NetAdvantage/showSubIndustryReview.do?subindcode=25301040

http://clients1.ibisworld.com.proxy.library.georgetown.edu/reports/us/industry/default.aspx?entid=1980

http://clients1.ibisworld.com.proxy.library.georgetown.edu/reports/us/industry/default.aspx?entid=1980

http://www.sbdcnet.org/small-business-research-reports/retail-organic-food-industry-in-the-u-s

http://www.sbdcnet.org/small-business-research-reports/retail-organic-food-industry-in-the-u-s

http://www.sbdcnet.org/small-business-research-reports/fast-food-industry-in-the-u-s

http://sweetgreen.com/

http://www.qsrmagazine.com/emerging-concepts/one-watch-sweetgreen

sweet team research report · o diet crazes rise in popularity o fast food industry has most to...

Documents