In its continuing mission to redefine fast food, Sweetgreen got really excited about the idea of offering a signature side, said Nic Jammet, co-founder and chief concept officer of the Los Angeles-based fast casual. And what goes better with salad than french fries?
Sweetgreen’s Ripple Fries rolled out nationwide Tuesday, the last leg of an R&D journey that began in July. The fries are air-fried until crispy in seed-free avocado oil and simply seasoned with salt and parsley. The result is a cleaner, healthier version of America’s favorite side. But it took Chad Brauze, Sweegreen’s head of culinary, several iterations to get there.
It starts with the potato
I had a chance to sit down with Jammet and Brauze for a tasting of Ripple Fries at a Sweetgreen location in New York City just prior to the launch, and they shared that journey.
“When you look at french fries from 50 years ago, a lot of places were making them with just three things: Potatoes, salt and oil,” said Jammet. “But when we started to research, we saw that today, most of them are using 20 ingredients that you can’t pronounce. We were aiming for a really simple, plain, delicious take on french fries, everything from the shape, to the cuts and the sauces.”
To start, Chef Brauze had to find the right potato. “Some had too much sugar and darkened too quickly when air fried,” Brauze said. “And Idaho potatoes were too large to fit in our slicers.” Russets worked the best both for their starch content and size. They come in fresh and are prepped at each location.
The shape was the next challenge. “We tried wedges, dices, quarter-inch slices, thicker slices and lot of other things,” said Brauze. “Then we discovered the ripple blade [on the slicer], which gives us extra surface area and more crispness.”
The ripple shape makes the fries crispier. | Photo by Pat Cobe.
Once the potatoes are sliced, they’re washed in water overnight to remove some of the starch. Then they’re drained and tossed with avocado oil and a little bit of potato starch to enhance the crispness. In 2023, Sweetgreen stopped cooking vegetables, grains and proteins with seed oils, and the avocado oil not only meets that criteria, it has a neutral flavor and high smoking point to produce a crisp, golden exterior.
The potatoes are air-fried on a special setting in the combi oven, a versatile piece of equipment Sweetgreen added when Caramelized Garlic Steak joined the permanent menu last year. Ripple Fries are cooked in small batches throughout the day, “and the only new equipment we added were warmers for brief holding,” said Brauze. The finishing touch is a sprinkle of salt and parsley.
Taking a dip
Ripple Fries are designed for dipping, and Sweetgreen offers two flavorful choices: Pickle Ketchup and Garlic Aioli, each made without refined sugars. Both sauces are more complex than standard ketchup and mayo, differentiating the fries from those served at most other limited-service concepts. Some fans like to mix the two together, said Brauze.
Each order of fries comes in a generous portion served in a paper container with two condiment cups of sauce. The container is vented so the fries stay crisp. Ripple Fries are now on the permanent menu and sell for $4.95.
Sweetgreen customers can now order Ripple Fries to side a salad. | Photo courtesy of Sweetgreen.
Salad and fries have trended on Tiktok as the perfect meal combo, sometimes categorized as a trendy “girl dinner.” And Jammet is excited that Sweetgreen is now making that pairing possible.
But, he said, “our ethos is not about salad. That’s our core product and we’re proud of it and own it, but we aspire to broaden beyond it. We know that we have to broaden and continue to add a range of items to keep growing.”
Jammet shared that more menu innovation is in the works this year. Brauze recently devised a whole new recipe for the chain’s chicken—Sweetgreen’s most popular protein—making it juicier-tasting, said Jammet. “We’re continuing to look at our ingredients through a different lens and saying ‘what can we make better? What can we upgrade and elevate?’”