Asuka Koda, Contributing Photographer

Sweetgreen, a fast-casual health food eatery, will fill the long-vacant corner storefront of the Shops at Yale on Broadway this year. The New Haven location will be the popular salad bar chain’s fifth Connecticut storefront.

Yale University Properties and the Shops at Yale, which manage a slate of retailers and restaurants along Chapel Street and Broadway in downtown New Haven, announced Sweetgreen’s impending arrival in December. The restaurant will occupy 1 Broadway, a corner storefront that has been empty since August 2022, and aims to open in the “first half” of 2025, according to David DelVecchio, Yale University Properties’ real estate asset manager.

Yale “initiated conversations” with Sweetgreen after the restaurant was frequently requested by students and residents in marketing surveys, according to Alexandra Daum, Yale’s associate vice president for New Haven Affairs and University Properties. 

“Sweetgreen’s entrance into our city is yet another indicator that the New Haven retail market is strong and attractive to chains and independent operators alike,” Daum said.

Sweetgreen’s menu consists of a variety of customizable salads, grain bowls and “protein plates” served in signature compostable hexagonal to-go bowls, reflecting its founders’ frequently repeated mission to “reimagine fast food.” A press release from Yale University Properties stated that Sweetgreen’s appeal in marketing surveys indicates a “local desire for additional fresh, healthy, and fast-casual dining options.”

Started in 2006 by three Georgetown University graduates frustrated by a lack of healthy fast food options near their school, Sweetgreen has several locations proximal to college campuses, including Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. 

Two columns in the Columbia Spectator from October 2015 and January 2016 disparaged the chain’s nearby New York City location for its high prices and calories-per-dollar value, significantly lower than a traditional fast food chain like McDonalds. A 2020 “Love it or Hate It” column in the Harvard Crimson’s blog section similarly deemed the franchise to be “on the pricier end” at best, or, at worst, “overpriced.”

Sweetgreen’s relatively expensive menu is partially due to the brand’s reliance on locally sourced produce — meaning that dishes and ingredients can vary between locations, the New York Times reported in 2016. 

Though the nearest Sweetgreen to New Haveners — in Westport — is currently more than a half-hour drive away, the local New Haven Salad Shop, which operates two locations near the Yale campus — on High Street and Whitney Avenue — offers a similar menu of customizable salads and wraps. 

Prices at the two eateries are comparable. A build-your-own salad at Salad Shop starts at $10.75, but adding a protein increases the cost anywhere from $2 for grilled chicken to $4 for warm salmon. Meanwhile, at Sweetgreen’s Westport location, a custom salad starts at $10.25. Adding a “premium” of blackened chicken brings the total cost to $14, and opting for the miso-glazed salmon would result in a check of $16.40.

University Properties aims to include both independent local businesses and “high-quality national brands” in its portfolio, Daum told the New Haven Register. The Shops at Yale has multiple storefront openings planned “over the next few months,” according to DelVecchio. 

1 Broadway has previously housed Patagonia, an outdoor clothing franchise, and Au Bon Pain, a bakery café chain. Daum said that Sweetgreen plans to offer outdoor seating on a “seasonal patio,” the Register reported.

Sweetgreen is based in Los Angeles, but operates over 200 locations in 23 states. In Connecticut, the chain has locations in Darien, Greenwich and Westport. A Farmington Valley Sweetgreen is scheduled to open this year.