Sweetgreen has not accepted cash since 2016. Now, due to pushback from multiple state governments, the company has decided to once again allow customers to pay with cash, starting in July.
Credit: Erica XinFast food salad chain Sweetgreen will once again accept cash at all of its six Philadelphia locations starting July 1, Bloomberg News reported.
For two years, the company had only accepted credit cards, debit cards, and payments from the Sweetgreen mobile app. After announcing their transition as a cashless company in 2016, Sweetgreen is reversing their decision due to “the unintended consequence of excluding those who prefer to pay or can only pay with cash,” Sweetgreen's online statement reads.
The change will be implemented first at Sweetgreen's six Philadelphia locations, and then will expand to include all 94 locations.
In September 2017, Sweetgreen CEO Jonathan Neman said Sweetgreen became cashless to reduce the wait for food and the risk of robbery.
On Feb. 14, The Philadelphia City Council passed a bill prohibiting cashless stores. Under this bill, companies cannot refuse cash as a payment method or charge higher prices if a customer uses cash. The ban, which Mayor Jim Kenney signed into law in late February, protects low-income residents who may not have bank accounts from discrimination.
A similar law was passed by the state of New Jersey on March 18, Bloomberg News reported. A law banning cashless stores was already in place in Massachusetts, where Sweetgreen locations still had to accept cash. Similar bills have been proposed in New York City and San Francisco.
To begin the transition back to cash, Sweetgreen has implemented cash registers, armored vehicle pickups and delivers, and asset protection consultants, according to Bloomberg News.
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