Chickening out: Sweetgreen isn't up for a fight with Chipotle

4/6/23 7:00PM

Chickening out

‍The 2 day Sweetgreen-Chipotle war is over after the salad maker agreed to change the name of its latest menu offering, the “Chipotle Chicken Burrito Bowl”, after Chipotle filed a lawsuit accusing the chain of copyright infringement.

The move makes sense for Sweetgreen. The company's shares had closed 6% down on the day Chipotle staked its claims that the promotional materials for the product used the fast-Mexican chain’s iconic font and that the new “very similar and directly competitive” bowl could confuse customers.

‍Wilting

‍Sweetgreen was dreamed up back in 2007 by 3 college students who’d grown tired of the nutritious-but-overpriced or cheap-but-unhealthy options they’d encountered while at school. The company’s seen impressive growth since, from its debut store in Washington DC, to becoming the “first-ever restaurant unicorn”, and an IPO in 2021. Getting the financials into the green, however, hasn’t come easily.

Even though its salads and sides aren’t particularly wallet-friendly, Sweetgreen's bowls can easily cost $15+, the company is yet to turn its sales into profit. Despite revenues of $470m in 2022, Sweetgreen posted an operating loss of $193m, building on the $134m loss the year before. Even with the resolution of the lawsuit the company’s shares are still down ~85% since going public.

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Ford joins GM in backing off of its EV tax credit extension plan following GOP criticism

Ford, despite benefiting from an electric sales surge in recent months, is giving up on a clever accounting plan to extend the expired $7,500 EV tax credit to some of its customers.

Like its rival GM earlier this week, Ford on Thursday night confirmed to Reuters that it will not claim the tax credit, backing off from its short-lived leasing strategy.

The automakers’ plan was to extend the subsidy by using their financial arms to put down payments on electric vehicles already on their dealers’ lots in late September. Those transactions would qualify for the credit, and Ford and GM could pass the discount on to customers through leases.

But the strategy angered GOP senators, who last week wrote a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent accusing the automakers of “bilking” taxpayers.

Ford CEO Jim Farley last month said he expects the end of the tax credit to cut EV sales in half.

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But the strategy angered GOP senators, who last week wrote a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent accusing the automakers of “bilking” taxpayers.

Ford CEO Jim Farley last month said he expects the end of the tax credit to cut EV sales in half.

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Domino’s just announced its first rebrand in 13 years — maybe a new, “doughier” font will help sales pick up

Shaboozey! Domino’s Sans! Hotter colors as a nod to the melty heat of a pizza pulled fresh from the oven!

In a buzzword-laden justification of its rebrand yesterday, Domino’s laid plain its new aesthetic direction, coined the term “Cravemark,” and announced it would be bringing the focus back to its food, having (at least in its executive vice president’s words) become known as “a technology company that happens to sell pizza” over the last decade.

It can’t go any worse than Cracker Barrel’s refresh efforts, at least...

The raft of changes, which will roll out across the US and other international markets in the coming months, includes a new “audio and visual expression” of the brand’s name (throwing a few extra M’s on the boxes and getting country/hip-hop artist Shaboozey to elongate the letter in a jingle); brighter packaging and hotter colors; “more youthful” team uniforms (company-color Salomons and an apron with “pizza is brat” on it, maybe?); and a new “Domino’s Sans” font, which is “thicker and doughier” and has circles and semicircles “in nod to pizza, with lots of personality baked right in!”

Domino’s is down about 2% so far this year.

Domino's® New Craveable Brand Refresh Makes You Say "Mmm" | Domino's Pizza