Sweetgreen closes 9 restaurants, plans more shutdowns in 2027

Sweetgreen’s decision to close nine restaurants and signal further shutdowns in 2027 highlights operational challenges that could pressure cash flow and credit metrics. For middle-market lenders and investors, this signals potential distress or strategic retrenchment in a competitive casual dining segment, raising caution on covenant compliance and refinancing risk. Monitoring how Sweetgreen manages these closures and adjusts its capital structure will be critical for assessing credit quality and the broader impact on leveraged finance appetite in consumer-facing sectors.