How Consuming a Competitor Fueled Cava’s Rapid Growth | WSJ The Economics Of

Cava has quickly grown to about 300 locations through an acquisition of another Mediterranean fast-casual restaurant chain, Zoe’s Kitchen. The chain has turned into a nearly $4 billion business, but can it continue to grow at a rapid pace when it has to start building new locations from scratch?

WSJ examines if Cava can become the Chipotle for Mediterranean food and continue to grow at such an ambitious pace.

Chapters:
0:00 Mediterranean fast-casual food
0:58 Growing through conversions
3:05 Business model
4:35 Growing without Zoe’s Kitchen

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#Cava #Economics #WSJ

[heychrisfox]

That CEO spit out so many buzzwords that I think my brain melted.

[flipsolo]

This country needs more chain restaurants because we are sorely lacking in that department.

[NomadOverNormal]

Cava is so freaking good, healthy and affordable. It's ridiculous how clean it is. Almost nothing has preservatives or garbage of any kind. Im a huge fan of the business.

[chrischungy]

I love Cava. But it's high prices encouraged to make my own Mediterranean food. And now I spend $2-5 per meal.

[gamesavage]

Even though it's more expensive, CAVA is so much better. Chipotle is consistently on the decline with multiple price increases and smaller portions (especially mobile orders) over the years. Chipotle values their stock price more than their food quality/portions.

[tamaralaird]

Zoes kitchen was amazing. They had a delicious half chicken over rice, and amazing lemon bars. I went there almost daily. Cava doesn't hit the same.

[SecretCollage]

This CEO is very good at articulating how they tackled and is capturing the market.

[robertc]

Hard disagree. They are going to same Chipotle route where they were amazing in quality & portion sizes but post-covid has been lacking.

[dillonweaver]

As someone that has liver disease Cava is a life saver when you are out and about and can’t cook.

[jicalzad]

Tried cava for the 1st time recently. I actually thought it was pretty good, and prefer it over chipotle as it seems healthier. Is it overpriced? Yeah, but all food at all restaurants is expensive now. I mostly eat at home, and only eat out maybe once or twice a week, so the cost doesn’t bother me as much as those that eat out more frequently.

[katherinecabrera]

cava is AMAZING. my bowl is 11 dollars- fills me up, fresh, gosh it’s good

[BetterNBetter]

Loved Cava when I had it! Definitely better than Zoe’s, which was way too bland for me. However, we all know that usually as these small chains start to go mainstream and grow, food quality and customer service tend to decline. Prayerfully that doesn’t happen.

[KhalidAun]

As an Arab I will say Mediterranean is not only some of the healthiest food but also some of the most delicious food you'll have I hope Cava expands into even more states 🔥

[flaviantropy]

Both Chipotle and Cava portions are not what they were. Chipotle has also gone through price hikes several times but also made changes to portions while at it.

[fomfom]

New facilities is the easy part. Running them well after the grand opening is the challenge. Look for them to fail. Classic path for a restaurant chain to go under? Expand faster than you can staff/manage the new units, while keeping the existing operations running at 100%. Most can't do it. Resources get stretched. Some of the new locations aren't as popular as hoped. Money starts drying up, as obligations climb. Quick; raise prices, cut corners, cheapen the product, to improve cash flow/cover ballooning expenses. Pull top management out of successful, older, operations to save the newer faltering operations. Leaving the once solid older operations to now falter, losing customers. Their sales were already under stress, due to recent chain-wide cost cutting measures. And the entire thing goes down. Maybe a handful of the original units survive after the bankruptcy. I hope they prove me wrong.

[aidenworth]

Aubergine (fast casual mediterranean) restaurant chain has been doing great here in Utah. Would love to try Cava sometime. CEO blowing smoke trying to sound special by saying “we look at customer data” lol. So does every restaurant worth its salt, that doesn’t make you special as a business.

[gcc]

Awesome video. I love knowing why they haven’t expanded more.

My big feedback for them is how dirty some of their stores are. They need to ensure cleanliness of lobbys, bathrooms, and the behind the line area

[ronitpatel]

cava is expensive but imo, the healthiness and flavor you get here is pretty good bang for your buck and i'm lowkey addicted

[rachelm.]

I was so upset when Cava replaced Zoe's Kitchen here in Dallas, TX. I eat at Cava often enough, but flavor and menu wise...Zoe's was so much better IMO.

[phil]

It will probably be $15+ for a meal and the quality will decrease, just like Chipotle. Olive U in Florida is still better than Cava in my opinion.