Copyright Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles restaurant group Sweetgreen Inc. entered into an agreement to sell its Spyce Food Co. business, which is responsible for developing and launching robotic kitchen technology, to Wonder Group for $186.4 million. Sweetgreen will use the proceeds to reinvest in key priorities and sharpen its focus on growth and profitability. “We’re incredibly proud of the work our team and the Spyce team have done to develop, scale and monetize one of the world’s most advanced robotic food technologies,” said Jonathan Neman, chief executive and co-founder of Sweetgreen, in a statement. “We remain deeply confident in both the Infinite Kitchen’s future impact and the brilliant team behind it. As we focus on driving long-term, profitable growth, our collaboration with Wonder will enable us to continue expanding and enhancing the Sweetgreen experience for our guests, while unlocking new opportunities for innovation and scale in the years ahead.” Sweetgreen acquired Spyce and its groundbreaking Infinite Kitchen technology in 2021 for approximately $70 million when including post-acquisition true-up and milestone amounts. Since that time, the team designed, developed and commercialized the Infinite Kitchen, which is now in use in over 20 Sweetgreen locations across the U.S. As Sweetgreen has expanded its Infinite Kitchen footprint, it has proven the ability to deliver significantly faster throughput and enhanced food quality, accuracy and consistency, all while elevating the guest and team member experience. The technology simplifies operations so that front-of-house team members can focus more on hospitality and fresh food prep. In connection with the sale, Sweetgreen has put in place a supply agreement and license agreement that will allow Sweetgreen, after the sale, to continue to deploy Infinite Kitchens across its restaurants, ensuring the technology’s benefits remain central to scaling, with even greater flexibility. As part of the agreement, 38 exceptional Spyce engineers and support staff, including Spyce co-founders Michael Farid, Kale Rogers, Brady Knight and Luke Schlueter, will transition to Wonder. Cooley LLP acted as legal advisor for Sweetgreen Inc. Latham & Watkins LLP acted as legal advisor for Spyce Food Co.
