USC Village’s newest food venue, Sweetgreen, welcomed students for its soft opening Friday afternoon.
Sweetgreen is a fast-casual restaurant chain primarily serving salads and grain bowls. It was founded in 2006 by college students after they were reportedly dissatisfied with the food options on their campus. The restaurant is the first chain location at USC, and the first in South Central Los Angeles. Following its official opening date on Nov. 4, the restaurant will serve customers from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week.
Serving college students is something the company was passionate about, said Shirley Duong, the location’s head coach.
“Our founders actually created Sweetgreen as college students because they noticed that there wasn’t any nutritional food out there,” she said. “Coming here and doing it on a college campus, I think it’s like a great connection, making sure that they’re continuing with that same core value that they started when they first opened.”
Duong said USC’s Sweetgreen location is also the first in Los Angeles to feature an “infinite kitchen,” an automated technology that works on every bowl and helps speed up orders,, the location’s head coach. The automated system is already in use in Chicago and Bay Area locations, she added.
“It’s all the automation — there are some things that it can’t do, like, we have a version where it doesn’t mix, so we’ll mix in the dressing, we’ll put in the fish, because the fish is so delicate,” Duong said. “So there is still the human aspect of it, but it just helps, makes it a lot faster.”
She said she hopes the location’s automated model will help students get their food quickly on the busy campus.
“The infinite kitchen definitely will help us elevate that so that people are not waiting as long,” she said. “I’ve seen lines out of all the other vendors in the plaza, so we want to make sure that, yes, we also have those lines, but it’s a lot faster.”
Jacqueline Miller, a junior environmental engineering major, said she had never tried Sweetgreen, but was excited to see a new food option on campus, and to look for their vegetarian options.
“I heard that it’s like a pretty good blend of, like, healthy food, but not too expensive, which I think is a hard thing to find in LA,” she said.
Sweetgreen can feel like a good balance of healthy and tasty, said Selin Demircan, a junior environmental engineering major. She said she had enjoyed it when ordering previously.
“I’m also excited to maybe add it into my lunch rotation, like we need more healthy food in the village,” she added.
Duong said customers could also look out for some special seasonal autumn items currently on the menu, including their garlic parmesan cauliflower, romesco sauce and caramelized balsamic onions.
She added the location will welcome students to a second soft launch day on Saturday, Nov. 1, before closing until its official opening on Tuesday.
Additional reporting by Aditya Thiyag.