Sweetgreen Sells Robotics Unit to Wonder in $186M Strategic Pivot

LOS ANGELES, CA – December 29, 2025 – Sweetgreen, Inc. (NYSE: SG) has completed the sale of its robotics division, Spyce, to the rapidly expanding food-tech conglomerate Wonder Group, Inc. The deal, valued at $186.4 million, marks a significant strategic pivot for the fast-casual salad chain, allowing it to reap a substantial financial reward while refocusing on its core restaurant operations.

The transaction consists of $100 million in cash and $86.4 million in Wonder Series C Preferred Stock. While divesting the unit responsible for its much-touted “Infinite Kitchen” technology, Sweetgreen will continue to utilize the automated system in its restaurants through a long-term supply and services agreement with Wonder. This move allows the company to benefit from robotic efficiency without shouldering the burden of its development and scaling.

“This transaction reflects the strength of the Infinite Kitchen and the incredible work of the team behind it,” said Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO of Sweetgreen, in a statement. “It allows us to stay focused on our long-term growth while continuing to benefit from a technology that has become a key part of our restaurant operations.”

A Pivot Amidst Financial Headwinds

The sale comes at a critical juncture for Sweetgreen. The company has faced significant financial pressure, with its stock price falling over 84% in the past year and trading near a 52-week low. The chain also reported three consecutive quarters of same-store sales declines and a widened net loss in the third quarter of 2025, signaling a need for a strategic course correction.

This divestiture provides a much-needed capital infusion and allows management to sharpen its focus on improving profitability and executing its core growth strategy. The $100 million in cash represents a significant boost to Sweetgreen’s balance sheet, providing resources to reinvest in menu innovation, digital customer experience, and new store openings. By offloading the capital-intensive robotics division, the company can streamline its operations and dedicate its full attention to the foundational elements of its brand: connecting people to fresh, real food.

From In-House Innovation to Strategic Partnership

Sweetgreen’s journey with robotics began with high ambitions. The company acquired Spyce, a Boston-based robotics startup, in 2021 for approximately $70 million. The goal was to integrate automation to create a more efficient restaurant model, promising to cut labor costs, boost throughput, and improve order accuracy. In May 2023, the first “Infinite Kitchen” restaurant opened in Naperville, Illinois, and the technology has since been deployed in over 20 locations.

Initially, Sweetgreen executives envisioned a future where all its stores could be fully automated within five years. However, the reality of implementing the technology proved more complex. By September 2024, the company had scaled back its plans, with its CFO indicating that only about 50% of new stores would feature the Infinite Kitchen model. The high cost and logistical challenges of retrofitting the technology into smaller, older stores in dense urban markets proved to be a significant hurdle.

The sale to Wonder represents the final step in this strategic evolution. Sweetgreen transitions from being a technology developer to a technology customer. This partnership model allows the company to retain the operational benefits of automation—faster service and consistent portioning—while handing off the complex and costly R&D to a specialized partner. The deal also involves the transfer of 38 Spyce employees, including its co-founders and engineers, to Wonder, ensuring the continued development of the platform under its new ownership.

Wonder's Growing Food-Tech Empire

For Wonder Group, the acquisition of Spyce is a major strategic coup that strengthens its position as a dominant force in food technology. Founded by serial entrepreneur Marc Lore, who previously founded Jet.com and Diapers.com, Wonder is building a “super app for mealtime” through a combination of proprietary technology and aggressive acquisitions, which have recently included Grubhub and the meal-kit service Blue Apron.

Wonder operates on a “fast-fine” model, using centralized, highly efficient kitchens to prepare food from multiple restaurant concepts for delivery. The Infinite Kitchen technology aligns perfectly with this vision. Lore has stated that the technology will enable Wonder to operate more than 100 different restaurant concepts from a single, small-footprint kitchen, delivering food with “flawless accuracy and consistency.” The acquisition of Spyce’s proven robotics platform accelerates Wonder’s mission to transform how food is prepared and served at scale.

ROI and the Future of Food Robotics

Financially, the deal is a clear victory for Sweetgreen. The $186.4 million sale price represents a net gain of over $116 million on its initial $70 million investment in Spyce. This shrewd maneuver successfully monetized an internal R&D project, turning it into a significant financial asset at a time when the company needed it most.

This transaction is also a bellwether for the broader food robotics market. The restaurant industry continues to grapple with persistent labor shortages and rising costs, making automation an increasingly attractive solution. While overall venture funding in the food-tech space has cooled since its 2021 peak, investment in restaurant and kitchen technology has remained a bright spot, with investors continuing to back solutions that promise greater efficiency and profitability.

The Sweetgreen-Wonder deal highlights a potential industry trend: restaurant brands may increasingly opt to outsource complex automation to specialized technology firms rather than building it in-house. This allows restaurants to focus on their core competencies of culinary arts and hospitality, while tech companies handle the intricate engineering. This symbiotic relationship could define the next wave of innovation, creating a more sustainable and scalable path for bringing robotics into kitchens nationwide.