Dive Brief:
- Sweetgreen has appointed Jamie McConnell as chief financial officer, succeeding Mitch Reback, who is retiring on Sept. 21. McConnell will start in her new role on Sept. 22, according to a Thursday press release.
- Reback, who has been CFO for a decade, will stay on as an advisor to the salad company for six months to help with the transition.
- Sweetgreen also appointed Zipporah Allen as chief commercial officer this week and Jason Cochran as COO in April.
Dive Insight:
The biggest challenge McConnell will face in her new position is helping Sweetgreen find a path to profitability, as sales and traffic slid during the first half of the year. The chain posted $26.4 million in operational losses in Q2, compared to $16.2 million in the year-ago quarter. The company also cut 10% of open and existing roles in its support center.
McConnell brings more than 20 years of financial experience in restaurant, retail and e-commerce. She most recently served as chief accounting and administrative officer at Chipotle for over seven years, according to her LinkedIn profile. She has also worked at Aviation Capital Group, Rent-A-Center, Allergan and Deloitte.
“[McConnell] is a dynamic financial leader with deep experience guiding complex organizations through growth and transformation,”Jonathan Neman, co-founder and CEO of Sweetgreen, said in a statement. “She brings invaluable expertise and will be a trusted partner in our next growth phase.”
McConnell has big shoes to fill in succeeding Reback, who joined Sweetgreen when it was just a regional brand with a handful of locations. He built the chain’s financial infrastructure from the ground up, including critical systems as well as controls and processes, according to the press release. Reback later guided Sweetreen through its IPO.
