🥗😭 Sweetgreen is in its flop era

🌭 How’s this for the luck of the Irish? Order a pitcher of beer at The Silhouette Lounge in Allston today and two free, magically delicious “Sil Dogs” will appear. Happy St. Paddy’s Day!

💋 Speaking of deals … B-Side Members can enter to win two tickets to see “Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous,” a shamelessly fabulous performance that refuses to play it safe. Start a free trial to enter!

👀 What’s on tap today:

Up first…

Slop bowls are in their flop era. Once the queen of corporate lunch, fast-casual bowl spots like Chipotle, Sweetgreen, and Cava (a.k.a. “slop bowls”) might be on the way out, according to The New York Times.

Here’s what to know: 

🥗 Slop bowls are expensive these days. Chipotle and Sweetgreen’s prices have respectively risen by nearly 25% and 20% over the past four years. These days, a bowl at either spot can run you upwards of $15 or $20 (see: this $22 power max protein bowl). 

🤑 Those prices aren’t sitting well with penny-pinching consumers. Especially Gen Z and Millennials. And it doesn’t take a business bro to know that high prices + less consumer spending = bad news for their bottom line. Sweetgreen saw an 11.5% drop in sales last fall, which caused its stock to plunge a whopping 76%, according to NYT. Cava’s stock has dipped 9%. 

🥬 The cost of fresh produce definitely isn’t helping. Unlike some of their fast-casual competitors, slop bowl spots use fresh meat and protein, which might taste better, but are waaay more $$$. Beef prices are higher than ever thanks to drought conditions, and even the cost of lettuce is absurd. Some restaurants are shelling out up to $40 for two dozen heads of iceberg, up from $22 in Sept. 2025, according to NYT.

🍟 Their solution? Follow the fast food playbook. When the same problem came for McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and Burger King, the chains pulled out new, less expensive snacks and value meals to lure stingy customers back in. Though slop bowl spots historically avoid discounts to stay ~on brand~ and keep margins high, low sales have caused some to reconsider.

💸 Translation: Deals, baby, deals! While we probably won’t see a $5 meal deal at Sweetgreen anytime soon, the brand is attempting to offer “more entry-level pricing” and a line of high-protein wraps under $15, per CEO Jonathan Neman. Meanwhile, Cava has intentionally left out basic chicken, falafel, and roasted vegetable bowls from recent price increases. But TBD on whether this strat actually works.

🍴If you’d rather ditch the slop entirely … Boston has plenty of cheap, slopless lunch spots to go around. Here are a few recommended by Boston.com readers.

🎓💸 Don’t just “find yourself” after graduation — find work that makes a real difference. The Behavioral Health Service Corps is a free, year-long service program placing recent grads in entry-level mental health roles across Massachusetts and Rhode Island. You’ll support underserved communities while gaining hands-on experience — plus earn credits and a scholarship toward a future degree at William James College. It starts Fall 2026, and it’s basically a career-launching gap year. Want the details? Join the info webinar on March 24 at 1 p.m.

🍀 The St. Paddy’s parade was less unhinged than usual. Hundreds of thousands of people descended on Southie this past Sunday for the annual parade, and true to their word, local officials cracked down on frat bro behavior. Despite the bar being basically on the floor, parade-goers did notice a difference. That said, police still arrested 17 people and collected over 30 BORGs in 25 minutes; 311 saw more than a few complaints of public indecency and unauthorized parties; and of course, the commuter rail home still looked like this.

⏰ Mass. residents may have turned back their last clock. Senate President Karen E. Spilka announced she’s backing a bill that would bring permanent daylight saving time to Mass. Translation: Our current summer schedule could be here year round. To be clear, this proposal isn’t a new idea — Mass. officials debate the topic basically every time we change the clocks. But support from Spilka could signal that lawmakers might actually vote on the measure. The when, where, and whether the House will support the bill are still TBD, so stay tuned!

🏳️‍🌈 Boston Pride is BACK, baby! Boston Pride for the People officially dropped the deets for Boston’s 2026 Pride parade and celebrations. Here’s the deal: It’s all going down June 6, and per usual, we can expect a massive parade from Copley to the Common, followed by an all-ages festival and concert, and a late-night block party. Wanna help out? Applications for volunteers will open soon on their website, so check back soon for more info. 

🏀 The (March) madness begins now. Starting today, 68 of the best men’s and women’s college basketball teams will compete in a knockout-style tourney until only one remains. UConn is basically New England’s only hope this year, earning the No. 1 seed in the women’s bracket, and a No. 2 seed in the men’s (they don’t play until March 21 and 20, respectively). In the meantime, we’re bringing back B-Side Brackets! Join our men’s bracket here, and our women’s bracket here for the chance to $100 to your restaurant of choice!

Dance to 90s and 2000s hits with DJ Deja at High Street Place’s Home by Midnight party on March 21. Enjoy bites, cocktails, and a lively social atmosphere designed for adults over 30, plus a $20 food hall gift card with each ticket.

Purchase tickets here!

For many, St. Paddy’s Day means chugging Guinness and making poor decisions. For Boston politicians, it means roasting their colleagues. 

Enter: Boston’s annual St. Paddy’s Day breakfast-slash-roast, where officials sling lighthearted-ish jokes over eggs and whiskey. Generally, it’s about as funny as you can imagine — sometimes very and sometimes … not at all. 

Gov. Healey took swings at RFK Jr.’s infamous Dunkin’ comments, suggesting he might prefer a “brain worm cold brew”; Rep. Ayanna Pressley may-or-may-not have joked about President Trump’s genitals; and most notably, State Auditor Diana DiZoglio did an audit-themed spoof of Raye’s “WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!,” which you can watch at your own risk.

Though this year’s breakfast was notably missing Mayor Wu, who sat out over a tax dispute with host Sen. Nick Collins (he joked that Wu found it “too taxing”). Lol.

— Written by Gia Orsino and Emily Schario

🍀 Thanks for reading! If you can believe it, this is not DiZoglio’s first audit-related song. 

💜 Special shoutout to today’s sponsor, William James College, for supporting local journalism and creating meaningful pathways into careers that truly matter.

🚲 The results are in: 45% of B-Siders are firmly pro-bike lanes. One reader said: “I like getting to work in one piece and I want there to be some planet left for the next generation!”

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