Seasonings Change: Spyce to Close Harvard Square Location

Spyce, a robotic kitchen startup founded by MIT graduates, announced last Thursday it will close its Harvard Square location.

The start-up, which shuttered its original location in Downtown Crossing in October, opened its Brattle Street storefront in 2021 and was acquired by Sweetgreen in August. The restaurant will close on Feb. 18th.

Spyce engineered “Infinite Kitchen” technology, an automated cooking system featuring steamers and grills, to prepare its salads and bowls according to customers’ “diet or preferences and ready in minutes,” its website stated.

Originally developed by students at MIT, the food technology service was supported by French restaurateur Daniel Boulud who has run Michelin-starred restaurants.

In a customer newsletter declaring its closing, owners Michael Farid, Brady Knight, Luke Schlueter, and Kale Rogers — self-titled the “Spyce boys” — wrote that they maintained a commitment to “scale healthy fast food and bring some of the magic of Spyce to more communities.”

“While we are winding down our Spyce restaurant operations, we still have a team committed to achieving our mission,” they wrote. “By partnering with sweetgreen we’ve been given the opportunity to accelerate our impact.”

Following sweetgreen’s acquisition of the company in August, Spyce’s menu underwent significant changes to incorporate Sweetgreen offerings.

Georgina M. Younes ’25, who has visited both the now-closed downtown Boston and Harvard Square locations, spoke highly of Spyce’s bowl offerings and automated food system.

“It really just became like sweetgreen 2.0 without actually having to talk to someone,” Younes said.

While Spyce initially planned to maintain its storefronts after the sweetgreen acquisition, when the company announced the closing of its downtown location, its focus shifted to implementing the Infinite Kitchen across sweetgreen franchises, according to its website.

Zoe R. Dienes ’25, who worked at Spyce last summer, recalled her experience fondly.

“The work environment was really positive,” she said. “I was friends with a lot of my co-workers, which was really nice.”

“Most of my job was to just sort of be a face for the robot,” Dienes added.

The Spyce boys addressed Cambridge residents gratefully in their closing notice.

“Cambridge is where we got our start — it’s where the idea for Spyce was first imagined,” they wrote. “Your support has been the sustaining energy that has kept us going over the years.”

—Staff writer Katherine M. Burstein can be reached at katherine.burstein@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @kmburstein1.