Cava Mediterranean Review As It Plans to Go Public-Review

Brett Schulman, Ike Grigoropoulos, Dimitri Moshovitis, and Ted Xenohristos founded Cava in 2011 to share the “Mediterranean Way” of eating with others in an accessible fast-casual format.

Cava founders


Cava


The first Cava restaurant opened in Bethesda, Maryland, in 2011.

Cava in Anaheim Hills, California


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Cava’s setup might be familiar if you’ve visited Chipotle. It’s a walk-along ordering system, where two to three employees prepare your order along a prep line.

CAVA, starting line


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With many ingredients available, there are endless choices for customizing the perfect bowl or pita.

Cava in Anaheim Hills, California


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Last month, Cava owner Cava Group, announced plans to go public by filing a confidential draft of its S-1 prospectus with regulatory authorities.

Cava interior


Cava


The IPO market has slowed down over the past year. But, Cava joins a few other chains looking to go public, including Panera Bread and the owner of the Brazilian steakhouse of Fogo de Chão, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Panera Breads.

Panera Breads.

Scott Olson/Getty Images


Source: Wall Street Journal

Cava operates 260 fast-casual restaurants in 22 states and Washington DC. Each restaurant’s average yearly sales is $1 million.

Cava exterior


Cava


In 2018, Cava Group bought Zoës Kitchen in a deal valued at $300 million. The company took the publicly-traded Zoës private and began rebranding stores as Cava.

Zoe's Kitchen


Facebook/Zöe’s Kitchen


Source: Insiders

CAVA has since sunsetted the Zoës brand. As of March 2, Cava Group does not operate any Zoës Kitchen locations.

Zoes Kitchen


zoeskitchen.com/screengrab


Besides building their own bowl or pita, customers can select from one of 10 signature meal choices.

The first CAVA restaurant was in Bethesda, Maryland, in 2011.


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The bowls have nine base choices: black lentils, saffron basmati rice, brown rice, RightRice, arugula, a Supergreens of blend of lettuces, baby spinach, Splendidgreens (a mix of chopped romaine, radicchio, escarole, chicory endive, and cabbage).

Cava in Anaheim Hills, California


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We tried the Chicken and RightRice bowl because I wanted to compare the RightRice to Chipotle’s cauliflower rice. It had the texture and look of short-grain rice and was hands-down much superior as a base than Chipotle’s mushy cauliflower rice.

Cava bowls


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Cava serves pita chips with dips and toppings. Choices include roasted eggplant, crazy feta, hummus, harissa, tzatziki, and red pepper hummus. The pita chips, cooked in-house daily in small batches, are crunchy but not as oily as tortilla chips.

The first CAVA restaurant was in Bethesda, Maryland, in 2011.


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Other CAVA restaurant dips and spreads sold at Whole Foods include the roasted red pepper hummus, tzatziki, crazy feta, harissa, roasted eggplant dip, lemon herb tahini dressing, and yogurt dill dressing.

Whole Foods tour

Additional CAVA products found at Whole Foods but not sold in restaurants include spicy hummus, everything bagel labneh, spicy labneh, green harissa dressing, and spicy lime tahini dressing.

Mary Meisenzahl/Insider


The spicy lamb meatballs, spicy chicken, and falafel pitas were all finger-licking messy, and crazy delicious. I especially liked the spicy topping and dressing choices of the Skhug sauce, a mix of jalapeños, cilantro and lemon juice; and the Hot Harissa vinaigrette. The acid and heat combo made for flavor bomb bites.

The first CAVA restaurant was in Bethesda, Maryland, in 2011.


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Cava sells Maine Root fountain sodas and bottled beverages. The Portland, Maine beverage company makes sodas such as root beer and Mexican cola from 100% organic sugar cane.

Maine Root beverages


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