Employers across the country increasingly have been asking their remote workers to come back to the office five days a week. That may be terrible news for many workers, but it’s good news for Sweetgreen—and likely other restaurant chains.
During the post-COVID-19 years, when many workers continued to stay at home, traffic at restaurant chains in urban centers that rely heavily on the office lunch crowd, like Sweetgreen, suffered.
In a presentation at the Bank of America Securities Consumer & Retail Conference this week, Sweetgreen CFO Mitch Reback said the fast-casual chain’s stores in urban centers have regrouped and now see a strong business Monday through Thursday.
But Fridays tend to be more like Saturdays, when the brand sees a big drop-off in business because so many people in those urban centers work from home.
Now, however, employers are increasingly calling folks back to the office five days a week.
“More people coming back to work, and back to offices, is a tailwind for Sweetgreen’s business,” Reback said. “We’re happy to see it.”
The pandemic opened the door for workers across the country to do their jobs from home or elsewhere outside their offices. Some even declared the five-day workweek dead, and office buildings around the country sat virtually empty.
Though employers have increasingly been calling workers back over the past five years, it really wasn’t until this year that large employers have begun reclaiming five-day work week policies.
In February, federal workers were called back five days a week by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Earlier this month, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said state workers must come back to offices at least four days a week, starting in July, a move that could impact an estimated 95,000 people across the state. And a growing number of private employers have followed suit by increasing in-office workdays—including companies like Starbucks.
Sweetgreen isn’t the only restaurant company that will benefit from the repopulation of office centers. The movement is expected to be a boost for breakfast and coffee concepts, as well as for those offering catering.
The traffic-tracking data firm Placer.ai said office visits were 34.3% below pre-COVID levels (2019) last year, though that was up 10% from 2023 levels. Tuesdays (24.6%), Wednesdays (23.4%) and Thursdays (21.7%) were the biggest days for workers to be in offices last year, while Mondays (17.9%) and Fridays (12.3%) were the lowest.
In what Placer.ai calls “the stubborn staying power of the TGIF workweek,” Friday office foot traffic last year was essentially half what it was in 2019, down 53%.
But, as the return-to-office (RTO) mandates began to rise, so did visits to leading fast-casual chains and coffee shops, Placer.ai said in a recent white paper.
In 2019, 17.3% of visits to Chipotle, for example, came directly from workplaces, Placer.ai said. That share fell to just 10.8% in 2021. But it has risen each year since, reaching 16% in 2024.
Similar patterns have emerged for other chains, including Panda Express, Jersey Mike’s and Five Guys. “So as people increasingly go back to the office, they are also returning to their favorite lunch spots,” the report said.
Coffee chains are also benefitting.
In 2019, 27.5% of visits to Dunkin’ and 20.1% of visits to Starbucks were followed by a visit to a workplace, reflecting the snag of a cup of coffee or breakfast pastry before coming to work, or a later-day coffee break.
After COVID, the office visits for both brands plummeted, Placer.ai said, but began a rebound in 2022 that has continued, “another sign of how RTO is shaping consumer behavior beyond the office.”
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