Chopt
Salad chain · 105+ locations · NYC, DC, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Charlotte, Boston
Chopt is an environmentally committed salad chain, with compostable packaging and 500+ named farm partners. Ownership is a separate story: it's been fully PE-owned since 2015, and the founders have been out of the picture for nearly a decade.
The Big Picture
L Catterton, one of the largest consumer-focused PE firms in the world, has held majority control of Chopt since 2015, and a professional CEO has run the company since 2008 — the founders haven't been in operational control for nearly two decades. Chopt has invested in genuine sustainability commitments: compostable packaging, a published GHG reduction target, and 500+ named farm partners with a 400-mile sourcing radius. But no sustainability goal changes who Chopt ultimately answers to: a PE firm with financial return requirements, not the communities where it operates.
The Dirty Details
Ownership
L CattertonPrivate Equity
L Catterton is the world's largest consumer-focused private equity firm, 40%-owned by luxury conglomerate LVMH and the Arnault family, with portfolio brands including Birkenstock. Its current and former holdings on Ferret span dining, fitness, and clothing, including two it has since sold (CorePower Yoga and Everlane).
Assets under management: ~$40B (2026)
See all L Catterton companies on FerretWhat do these scores mean? Learn more.
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Company data last updated August 2026
How does one person build and research all this? They don't: here's how it actually works. Verdicts are our opinions, based on the public sources cited above as of August 2026. Spotted something off? or learn more.