Sweetgreen Champions Sustainable Food, Design, and Communities

nat rosasco • October 5, 2016

As a firm supporter of a restaurant world filled with fresh food and green design, we’ve often taken the opportunity to share inspiring examples of these ideals (click here and here for past posts). With the August opening of Sweetgreen in Chicago, we knew this was a restaurant we could stand behind and were thrilled with the opportunity to work with them on the restaurant’s interior.

Founded in 2007 in Washington D.C., Sweetgreen now has more than 50 locations throughout the United States, with many more opening soon. It’s easy to see why. Sweetgreen’s seasonal menu varies by location and consists of salads, grain bowls and beverages that are made fresh daily from produce received every morning. Plus, Sweetgreen works with trusted farmers and sources locally whenever possible. Most of the produce suppliers for the Chicago location are less than two hours away.

Sweetgreen even has transparency written into its ethos. As co-founder Nicolas Jammet said in a recent Chicago Tribune article , “[Our] food ethos was about honoring the land and understanding that people should have closer connections to their food and this idea that transparency is everything. So not only being able to source incredible ingredients, but wanting our customers to know where they came from and connecting with it.” The farmers who provide the ingredients are listed on the restaurant walls, with a select group featured on the Sweetgreen website. The restaurants also have open kitchens, allowing customers to have the opportunity to watch the food being prepared.

Our hickory butcher block table and hickory shelving at Sweetgreen on North State Street in Chicago

Sweetgreen incorporates sustainability into everything it does, not only in terms of the food it serves, but also in terms of waste management and store design. The restaurant works to preserve the natural exterior of its stores and uses furniture made from reclaimed materials. At the Chicago location, we provided hickory shelves along with a hickory butcher block table, all made from eco-friendly materials.

If all of that isn’t enough, Sweetgreen also knows how to build a positive, healthy community both inside its restaurants and out. According to a Zagat article , the Sweetgreen teams have daily morning meetings, known as “sweet talks,” before opening the restaurants. During the “sweet talks,” the teams partake in a cheer and positive affirmations. Sweetgreen also manages a program called Sweetgreen in Schools, which uses fun, interactive activities to educate students on healthy eating, fitness, and sustainability. Currently, over 1,000 kids in Washington D.C., Maryland, Virginia, and NYC participate every year.

Next stop on Sweetgreen’s Chicago list is the West Loop early next year, with more to follow. We’re looking forward to seeing Sweetgreen spread their fresh food movement ideals further and are excited to be a part of it.

Interested in incorporating beautiful, sustainable design into your next project? Contact us today to get started!

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Inventory Sale

By nat rosasco • January 22, 2019

Reclaimed Table's huge selection of one-off, custom table tops are being sold at deep discounts at our Villa Park showroom. Find the durable tables you need for your next project, at prices you won't come across again!

Client Feature: Oak Tables & Benches for Navy Pier's Centennial Vision

By nat rosasco • July 17, 2018

Chicago’s iconic Navy Pier has always been a popular attraction since it opened just over 100 years ago in 1916. It currently welcomes 9 million guests per year. As explained on the Navy Pier website, the Pier was designed by architect Charles Sumner Frost and was originally based on architect’s Daniel Burnham’s “the People’s Pier” in his 1909 Plan of Chicago . It was originally known as “Municipal Pier,” but was renamed in 1927 in honor of the World War 1 Navy personnel who were housed there. As we blogged about a couple of years ago , Navy Pier has been undergoing renovations in honor of its “Centennial Vision” to reimagine and enhance the pier. While updating the pier with new programming and a greener landscape, this vision has also been attracting more local eateries ( like Tiny Tavern ) and shops, creating a space that’s more inviting to local Chicagoans. After providing pieces for the first phase of the remodel last year, we were pleased to continue to be part of this project for the recently completed phase two. Partnering with Gensler, we provided white oak tables and benches near the main entrance and for the brand new, 200,000 square foot Family Pavilion that features over 50 businesses. Fortunately, these pieces were created not only with their visual aesthetic in mind, but also to impressively withstand this sort of high traffic area. We also built the reclaimed red and white oak blade signs flanking all of the restaurants and shops, which creates a unified look within the complex. Much like the Pier, these signs have an interesting, rich history behind them. The red and white oak wood used to make the signs were actually horse fences on a farm in Mercy County, Kentucky that dates back to the late 1800s. Mercer county was one of the first settlements in the state, and the farm itself, Shawnee Springs, was originally over 2,000 acres. In the 1970s the farm was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. We knew the Navy Pier project was the right one for this specific wood-- historic wood for an historic landmark. (See our other applications of reclaimed red and white oak Kentucky horse fence here .) Check out photos of our tables, benches, and signs at the recently updated and unveiled Pier below. And if you’re in the Chicagoland area, you can check them out for yourselves in person, along with a whole host of entertainment on the Pier. Interested in some durable tables and benches for a high-traffic area? Contact us here to get started on your next project.

Aging Booker's Bourbon: Finding the 'Sweet Spot' for Flavor

By nat rosasco • June 18, 2018

When it comes to aging bourbon, Booker’s small batch bourbon has the process literally down to a science. Currently produced by the Jim Beam distillery, it was Jim Beam’s grandson, Booker Noe, who founded this brand in 1992 with bourbon from barrels he personally selected. According to the Booker’s Bourbon website, Booker was actually raised at a Kentucky distillery and brought his family’s six generations of master distillery knowledge to his bourbon batches. How does Booker’s perfectly age their bourbon? As we pretty much all know, bourbon ages in wooden barrels. When the weather becomes hot and humid, like it does during those sticky Kentucky summers, the wood expands and absorbs the bourbon, allowing for a chemical interaction between the bourbon and the wood. In colder weather, the wood contracts and the bourbon escapes the barrel’s walls. This interaction changes the spirit’s taste and color. The longer bourbon is in the barrel, the smoother the taste, (up to a certain point, that is). Barrels are kept in rackhouses where temperatures can easily be regulated. Rackhouses were originally built out of stone with several wooden floors and an exposed dirt basement to control humidity and large temperature swings. The windows were designed to keep the buildings well-ventilated.