The latest sign remote work is losing its grip: Expensive salads are back 

On an overcast Thursday afternoon, a line of customers at Sweetgreen on Folsom and Main streets wound around belt stanchions, the hungry office workers waiting in groups, chatting while gazing at the menu, or alone, earbuds firmly inserted.

“We’re always busy, but it feels even more crowded lately,” the employee working the cash register said between ringing up protein-packed $20 salad bowls.

The uptick in spending on customizable salads is no coincidence. At the beginning of September, Gap instituted a five-day-a-week return-to-office policy at its headquarters nearby. The Sweetgreen staffer confirmed he’d seen “a lot of new faces” in the previous week.

While workers may grumble about getting yanked back into offices, purveyors of pastries, sandwiches, take-out sushi, and salads — perhaps the quintessential San Francisco office lunch — are celebrating. In fact, Sweetgreen’s three local stores have had such “consistent increases in both foot traffic and sales” this year that the city is one of the brand’s “strongest markets nationwide,” according to Chief Development Officer Chris Tarrant.

Case in point: Sweetgreen opened its fourth SF store Monday in the buzzy Mission Bay neighborhood. In many ways, it’s the ideal location, said Mark Goonan, the area manager. Chase Center and Oracle Park loom nearby, and newly opened OpenAI, Visa, and Uber offices bustle with employees. Gesturing toward apartments above and around the store, he anticipated the work-from-home set will likely want their steak-topped kale Caesar salad fix, too.

“We’ve got all angles,” he said. “It’s been great to see San Francisco coming back to life.” 

Sweetgreen is not the only salad chain increasing its lettuce lately. Homegrown company Mixt, which has 11 stores in the city, this year has measured its highest sales downtown since the start of the pandemic. 

“We’ve seen an exponential change in foot traffic downtown in the past year, but this change is off an abysmal base,” said Mixt cofounder and CEO Leslie Silverglide. Downtown sales are still “significantly off” where they were before Covid. “We remain hopeful that downtown San Francisco will continue to improve,” she added. “It is just unbelievable that it’s taking so long.”

Other local businesses are noticing a similar bump. 

“Today has really been busy,” a staff member at Woodlands Market in the East Cut, near Gap HQ, said Thursday. The upscale specialty grocer entices workers with deli sandwiches and a build-your-own salad bar, alongside organic produce and freshly baked breads. Down Folsom at Saint Frank Coffee, the line at 1:30 p.m. stretched out the door, with nearly 10 people waiting to get a caffeine fix. “It’s been picking up lately,” a barista said of foot traffic.  

But for every Gap bringing in workers five days a week, there are a handful of other companies that have settled into a two- or three-day-a-week stasis. Mondays used to be Mixt’s busiest days — it’s hard to rally the energy to pack a lunch coming off a busy weekend — but now the middle of the week dominates sales. “Friday continues to be very light,” Silverglide said. 

Still, she’s grateful for the “small but meaningful changes” that Mayor Daniel Lurie is making to encourage businesses to bring workers back in, like mandating an office presence for city workers and focusing on cleaner streets. She also hopes some of the empty office buildings (opens in new tab) surrounding her stores will reduce their rents to meet the market. 

For the employees being pulled back to in-person work, the influx has its downsides. As one man muttered while approaching the crowded Super Duper at Mission and Spear streets around noon: “Goddamn it, there’s a line.”