After announcing that it’s “time to make America healthy again”, the fast-casual salad chain Sweetgreen has decided to nix both bacon and Sriracha from its menu, according to a May 25 Medium post that was emailed to customers.
“Today, we roll out some changes to our core menu — we’ve removed bacon and Sriracha, and we’ve added warm portobello mix and roasted steelhead to our everyday offering, with the Hello Portobello and OMG Omega bowls,” reads the post.
“Our updated signature menu is a dynamic lineup of dishes featuring freshly cooked healthy food, like roasted chicken, baked falafel, roasted tofu, roasted steelhead and roasted portobello mushrooms.”
While I doubt that anybody is seriously arguing that Sriracha is a super-health food (never mind bacon), the decision has still thus far been met with a lukewarm reception, with many customers taking to social media to voice their displeasure with the company’s new menu.
“I'll have a kale caesar heavy dressing, but hold the politics please, @sweetgreen” —@jennifanglee.
However, according to Chef Michael Stebner’s statement, much of the resentment probably stems from customers’ ignorance about what they are actually consuming when they order a conventional restaurant meal; Stebner alleges that unnecessary and unhealthy amounts of sugar and cream are added to up the flavor ante in restaurant dishes, “so that chef-guest trust is undermined.”
“I’m not adding a bunch of junk to your food,” he writes. “I’m starting with the best and then leaving it alone — that’s our food philosophy at sweetgreen. This kind of food is inherently healthful and nutritious, and your good health is an output of eating natural, simple food like that.
“As the signs in our stores say, we’ve gone ‘less sweet and more green.’ And I couldn’t be more proud of the progress we’ve made.”
For such a fast-growing company, it’s a bold move to completely exile one of America’s most hyped-up and overplayed ingredients: bacon. However, as Grubhub reports, the chain does claim, “Simply put, you can't be a healthy food business and serve bacon.”
My own taste preferences aside, I can only commend Sweetgreen for its commitment to serving only the food it believes in; even if it costs the company some of its formerly loyal customers.