Cashless Restaurants – Sweetgreen and Amazon Go To Take Cash

By | May 8, 2019

From Kiosk Industry republished

cashless restaurant Sweetgreen AmazonGo

CASHLESS RESTAURANTS – SWEETGREEN WILL START TAKING CASH

Excerpt from Restaurant Business 4/1/2019

Washington, D.C.-based salad chain Sweetgreen will also start accepting cash again at all of its 94 locations by the end of the year following backlash cashless stores have faced for excluding people without credit cards or bank accounts, the company said last week.

‘Going cashless had positive results, but it also had the unintended consequence of excluding those who prefer to pay or can only pay with cash.’

—Sweetgreen salad chain
From the Sweetgreen Blog

We’ve made the decision to accept cash in all our restaurants nationwide by the end of 2019.

When we decided to go cashless it was based on our core value of win win win — the customer wins, the community wins, the company wins. We believed there were many advantages that would benefit the sg community, including employee safety — reducing incidents of robbery, sustainability — fewer armored cars and less paper, and efficiency — it would speed up service in our restaurants. If you want to read more about why we decided to go cashless, please read this article we published in 2016. Going cashless had these positive results, but it also had the unintended consequence of excluding those who prefer to pay or can only pay with cash.

Ultimately, we have realized that while being cashless has advantages, today it is not the right solution to fulfill our mission. To accomplish our mission, everyone in the community needs to have access to real food.

Author: Site Manager

Craig Allen Keefner is a longtime technology publisher, analyst, and industry advocate focused on self-service kiosks, digital signage, retail automation, accessibility, and edge computing. As founder and editor of the Kiosk Industry Group and The Industry Group (TIG) , Keefner has spent more than two decades covering the evolution of self-service technologies across retail, hospitality, healthcare, transportation, government, and financial services. Known for his independent editorial approach, Keefner emphasizes practical deployment realities over marketing hype. His work frequently explores topics such as kiosk lifecycle management, accessibility compliance, Edge AI, payment systems, operating systems, digital signage integration, and enterprise-scale deployment strategy. He is particularly recognized for his analysis of long-lifecycle self-service systems and the operational risks associated with poorly planned hardware refresh cycles. Keefner also serves as a leading voice in accessibility and standards discussions surrounding ADA, EAA, EN 301 549, and HHS Section 504 compliance. Through industry coverage, technical analysis, and association initiatives, he advocates for accessible self-service design that accommodates all users, including blind and low-vision consumers. Under his leadership, Kiosk Industry Group and affiliated platforms including Kiosk Asia , Patient Kiosk , Retail Systems , and Thin Client Computing have become recognized information resources for manufacturers, integrators, operators, software developers, and enterprise buyers worldwide. Keefner is also closely involved with the Kiosk Manufacturer Association (KMA) , supporting industry collaboration around accessibility, standards, interoperability, and emerging technologies such as conversational AI and edge inference platforms.