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To continue our guest-hosted series of CMO Moves, Kate Gunning, CMO of IEX sits down with Nathaniel Ru, Co-Founder and Chief Brand Officer of Sweetgreen to discuss healthy fast food at scale and their love for summer salads.
It all started in college for Nathaniel Ru where he met his business partner Jonathan Neman on their first day of accounting class freshman year of college. Nathaniel and John bonded over their passion for food and shared the experience of growing up with parents who are immigrant entrepreneurs. They then met another Co-Founder, Nicolas Jammet and from there, the idea of Sweetgreen was born. “We had this vision: how do we re-imagine fast food so that it can be synonymous with healthy food?”
The vision eventually came into fruition and after a hectic opening day at their first restaurant location and a stolen laptop with every salad recipe on it, Nathaniel says he’s no stranger to making mistakes. Instead, he used those challenges to lean forward with persistence and intention toward making bold moves. “I owe it to the power of partnership,” he says.
Nathaniel recalls a bold move his team made early on in an effort to bring culture and healthy food together called Sweetlife Festival. The “light bulb moment” that started as a local block party event with a $400 speaker set up near one of the busiest Starbucks in the entire region turned into 25,000 attendees, attracting the likes of major headliners like The Strokes, Haim, and Kendrick Lamar just to name a few.
While the brand sunset the Sweetlife Festival a while back, their bold moves continue full steam ahead, the latest being a partnership with global tennis athlete, Naomi Osaka. To find out more about Nathaniel’s unpredictable path to Co-Founder and Chief Brand Officer or simply to find out what is in the Naomi Osaka Bowl.
This episode is also available on Spotify, iHeartRadio, and Apple Podcasts.
