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Sweetgreen opens latest 'sweetlane' drive-up store in McLean, Virginia. Aug 18 2026 Sweetgreen, the mission-driven restaurant brand serving healthy food at scale, today announced the opening of its fourth newest sweetlane location in McLean, Virginia, on August 20th, bringing the brand's innovative order-ahead drive-up format to Northern Virginia. Located at Chesterbrook Shopping Center (6220 Old Dominion Drive, McLean, VA 22101), the new restaurant introduces a faster, more seamless way for guests to enjoy Sweetgreen's chef-crafted salads, warm bowls, plates and wraps through a dedicated sweetlane drive-up window. The McLean location marks the latest milestone in Sweetgreen's continued investment in digitally enabled customer experiences. First introduced as a pilot concept in 2022, sweetlane was designed to offer a seamless pickup experience for guests ordering through Sweetgreen's owned digital channels. As more guests turn to digital ordering, sweetlane continues to evolve how guests connect with real food in ways that fit their lifestyle. To use sweetlane, guests place orders in advance through the Sweetgreen app or website and select sweetlane as their preferred pickup method. Once their order is ready, guests can drive through the sweetlane lane to pick up their meal directly from Sweetgreen team members. The restaurant also offers dine-in seating and traditional in-store pickup options for guests who prefer to order inside. "At Sweetgreen, we're all about reimagining where fast food can go and meeting customers where they are," said Ryan Slemons, Chief Development Officer at Sweetgreen. "sweetlane brings that to life by pairing the convenience of a drive-through with the scratch-cooked, craveable food that guests expect. As we continue to evolve our restaurant formats, we're excited to bring that experience to McLean and continue learning how we can make Sweetgreen even more accessible." Open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., the McLean restaurant will feature Sweetgreen's signature menu of chef-crafted salads and warm bowls, protein-forward plates, and handheld wraps. In addition to fan favorites like the Harvest Bowl, Crispy Rice Bowl and Miso Glazed Salmon, guests can explore Sweetgreen's newest menu innovations, including its lineup of wraps, which bring the brand's signature ingredients into a more portable format, and the all-new Omega Glow, a permanent menu addition featuring miso-glazed salmon and miso sesame ginger dressing. Guests can also enjoy the Sweetgreen x Fishwife Summer Niçoise, available nationwide for a limited time through August 24th, while supplies last. The seasonal collaboration pairs Sweetgreen's Niçoise with Fishwife's Albacore Tuna with Spanish Lemon, which guests add themselves for an interactive twist on the classic summer salad. The McLean sweetlane location represents another step in Sweetgreen's ongoing investment in Northern Virginia, bringing the brand's latest restaurant innovation to a community where convenience, quality and accessibility continue to shape the way guests dine. Founded by Georgetown University alumni, Sweetgreen has deep roots in the greater Washington, D.C. region, and continues to grow its presence across the communities that helped inspire the brand's journey. To celebrate the opening, Sweetgreen will host a grand opening celebration on Thursday, August 20th, inviting the McLean community to experience the new sweetlane format. From 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., while supplies last, guests can enjoy special giveaways with the purchase of any salad, bowl, plate, or wrap. Festivities will include complimentary flowers from Calluna Flower Truck and Sweetgreen's signature green vintage Ford Bronco, serving cookies from For Cups Sake.

Fishwife, Whole Foods tote bag collaboration sees immediate success. Tinned seafood company Fishwife recently partnered with U.S. grocery chain Whole Foods Market to create a limited-edition cotton tote bag, marking a collaboration Fishwife CEO and Co-Founder Becca Millstein called an "incredible honor." "We were already stoked to be part of their 'Kitchen Couture' trend forecast earlier this year, so when they came to us to collaborate on their first-ever retail merchandise partnership, it was an immediate yes," Millstein told SeafoodSource. The totes did not take long to catch on with shoppers, as Millstein said they quickly began flying off the shelves. "It's been wild to watch. The response was so far beyond our wildest expectations: 70 percent of our total inventory sold out on the very first day, and we hit a 99.3 percent sell-through rate by the end of week one," Millstein said, adding that the bags have since popped up on eBay for "resale at crazy markups." "You always hope a launch will resonate with your community, but seeing people swarm the aisles with such excitement has been an incredibly affirming experience for Fishwife as a brand." Millstein further explained Fishwife's and Whole Foods' values are deeply aligned, especially their shared commitment to high-quality products and sustainable sourcing, so the collaboration gave Fishwife an "amazing opportunity to take the vibrant, joyful world we've built inside the pantry and bring it out into the physical world alongside a retail partner we deeply respect." The canvas totes essentially function as walking billboards, Millstein said, but in a way that feels completely organic and design-forward. "When someone carries our tote to the farmer's market or a coffee shop, it's a physical touchpoint that sparks curiosity in the real world. Someone might see the bag, love the aesthetic, and then naturally gravitate toward our colorful tins the next time they are walking down the canned goods aisle at Whole Foods," she said. "Making Fishwife a recognizable piece of people's daily routines is a really effective way to introduce the brand to new shoppers." Fishwife Illustrator Danny Miller designed the totes, which are available in three sizes at Whole Foods stores across the country. The Whole Foods collaboration came as Fishwife rolled out another partnership with restaurant chain Sweetgreen. Sweetgreen recently debuted a limited edition Sweetgreen/Fishwife Summer Niçoise - a salad that comes with a custom co-branded tin of Fishwife Albacore Tuna with Spanish Lemon for guests to open and add themselves. This is the first time Sweetgreen, which operates more than 285 restaurants around the country, is featuring tinned fish on its menu, and it also marks Fishwife's first national restaurant collaboration. The dish is the centerpiece of Sweetgreen's Summer of Fish promotion the chain has dubbed a "late-summer menu moment celebrating bold, seafood-forward flavors." "Fishwife has built an exciting brand around exceptional tinned seafood, bold flavor, and thoughtful sourcing," Sweetgreen Chief Concept Officer and Co-Founder Nicolas Jammet said. "We saw an opportunity to create something that went beyond a traditional ingredient collaboration by making the tin part of the meal itself." Contributing Editor Christine Blank, a veteran freelance writer and editor, covers all aspects of the seafood industry, from fishing to processing to selling and serving the final product. When she is not writing for SeafoodSource, Christine gets to taste scrumptious seafood dishes at U.S. restaurants for her food and travel blog, Flavorful Excursions (www.flavorfulexcursions.net). Christine loves to eat seafood of any kind, but lobster, crab and crawfish are among her favorites. In addition to SeafoodSource.com and SeaFood Business, Christine's articles have been published in hundreds of leading magazines and newspapers, such as The New York Times, USA Today and Associated Press.