Sprouts Farmers Market is turning over a new leaf as Jack Sinclair, arguably the face of the specialty grocery company, prepares to leave. Sprouts’ current president and chief operating officer, Nick Konat, will take over the top role from Sinclair early next year.
During Sinclair’s seven years leading Sprouts, he has navigated the specialty grocery through the COVID-19 pandemic and record-high inflation. He has also overseen the debut of a revamped, smaller store format, launched the grocer’s inaugural loyalty program and grown the store’s footprint by approximately 160 stores.
Despite garnering a reputation for being a fast-growing, health-focused specialty grocer, Sprouts has had to weather its fair share of rough patches over the past seven years. In 2021, for instance, following the outbreak of COVID-19, Sprouts’ comps were down as much as 10% after it saw impressive sales growth during the early months of the pandemic. More recently, Sprouts’ comparable-store sales growth peaked at nearly 12% during the first quarter of 2025, only to fall to 1.6% by the fourth quarter of that year and come in negative during the company’s latest two quarters. When wrapping up last year, Sprouts executives said the company underestimated the impact of softening consumers.
Sprouts has seen choppy comparable-store sales growth since 2020
It’s known throughout the industry that Sprouts is a top specialty retailer. But with recovery from lackluster financial results plus an ambitious growth plan still underway, what exactly is Konat inheriting?
Sprouts’ second-quarter earnings results announced in late July were in line with expectations, Sinclair told investors, adding that the company is keeping its focus on “areas we can control.” These include sharpening value, strengthening local product sourcing, improving in-store experiences, advancing supply chain capabilities and maintaining a strong new-store pipeline.
Continuing to communicate value
Sprouts has never been known for low prices, and while this was fine for a good stretch of time because of its specialty assortment, 2025 made affordability an apparent Achilles’ heel for the grocer. Sprouts has been working to turn around this image, and now Konat will pick up where Sinclair is leaving off.
“It’s not so much about price investments,” Sinclair said earlier this year during the 38th Annual Roth Conference about how Sprouts defines “value.” “It’s about bringing real clarity to the products that we’re launching and that the price points we launch them at make sense to our customers.”
For as long as Sinclair has helmed Sprouts, and regardless of the company’s financial performance, he’s held firm to the fact that Sprouts is not a full-basket shop. While it’s likely Konat will stick with this approach, the loyalty program available chainwide and more stores coming to new markets will give him ample opportunity to trial other value-centered methods to win over shoppers at a time when consumers are pinching pennies wherever they can.
Keeping the new store pipeline flowing
New store growth has been a focal point for Sprouts since 2023, when the grocer started opening at least 30 locations a year, all under the small-store format.
Sprouts aims to open at least 40 new locations in 2026.
Sprouts Chief Development Officer Dave McGlinchey recently confirmed to Grocery Dive that the company will enter two new major markets — New England and the upper Midwest — as well as strengthen its reach in Texas. But this growth isn’t just about stores; it’s also part of a long-term plan to further establish a self-distribution network.
In July 2025, Sinclair called Sprouts’ investment in self-distribution a “strategic priority.” Almost a year to the date late, during Sprouts’ most recent earnings call, Konat told investors that next steps in the grocer’s self-distribution push involve bringing select private brand items to existing company-owned facilities.
The news that Sprouts is looking to one of Sinclair’s closest colleagues to further the specialty grocer’s numerous growth initiatives generated a muted reaction from investors. Sprouts’ stock declined about 2.5% on Wednesday, but recovered much of that loss later in the week.
