The new face of consumer AI
Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s new ‘CEO of Applications’, has a big opportunity with real problems to solve. Also: What Sweetgreen and DoorDash are saying about the post-tariff consumer.
Hello hello! It’s Dan Frommer, back with The New Consumer. I’m back in action after a stretch on the road, including a couple of weeks in Japan — more on that soon. Welcome, new members, I’ve topped you up with a few extra weeks. And now we begin what’s sure to be a wild summer.
What is happening with the consumer right now?
…Given increasing concerns about a possible recession, job cuts, and overall uncertainty, elevated by Trump’s sloppy trade war.
The good news is that, so far — and it’s still a little early, but so far — consumer spending and overall activity looks pretty solid; there is no evidence of anything resembling a collapse. But the exact answer depends on whom you’re asking.
At Sweetgreen, for example, after same-store-sales grew in March, they started declining in April, “coinciding with the tariff announcements,” CFO Mitch Reback said on the company’s Q1 earnings call this week.
Usually, April is the month when Sweetgreen’s business starts to pick back up after the winter. “This is the first time we haven’t seen that lift,” Reback said.
This slowdown was particularly prevalent in its largest markets, including New York, Boston, L.A. (still affected by the fires from January), and D.C. (perhaps affected by a different type of fire, that of the dumpster variety). Meanwhile, sales grew in other markets, led by the Upper Midwest, Texas, and Colorado.
“We believe this is noteworthy and reflective of the volatile external environment and the softening consumer sentiment marked by more deliberate purchasing behavior and lower frequency across discretionary categories,” Reback said.
But at DoorDash, “We haven’t seen any changes in consumer behavior, even if there are changes in consumer sentiment,” founder and CEO Tony Xu said on the company’s earnings call.
“So far in 2025, consumer demand on our marketplaces has remained strong, with engagement across different consumer cohorts and types that we believe is consistent with typical seasonal patterns,” the company reported in its release.
People spent $23 billion at DoorDash during the quarter, up 20% over the same period last year, representing a consistent growth rate.
Chipotle, too, surprised everyone last month when its Q1 same-store-sales declined for the first time since the Covid lockdown quarter in 2020. (Last year they grew 7.4%.)
This sticks out to me because Chipotle — which sells hearty, well-priced food — is in a sweet spot on the value continuum: It’s a great option for people who are trading down from more expensive, full-service restaurants when times are tough, and for people who are trading up from cheaper fast food restaurants when things are going well.
So are Chipotle and Sweetgreen diners cutting back on fast-casual while DoorDash diners keep spending on delivery? Or are people just stressed out and a little bored with Chipotle and Sweetgreen?
This mostly shows how the whole system is noisy right now. And I don’t expect that to change soon.
Fidji Simo to OpenAI is a big deal
If you were up late on Wednesday night you may have seen the surprising news that Fidji Simo, who has been Instacart’s CEO since 2021, and took the online grocery service public in 2023, had been poached by OpenAI founder Sam Altman to run most of the company as “CEO of Applications.”
It’s unusual for a CEO of a successful, publicly traded company to leave to become something other than the CEO of a publicly traded company. But this is an unusual situation — OpenAI is something different and special.