Cava announced the official opening of its 55,000-square-foot production facility in Verona, Virginia, the company said in a press release Wednesday.
The company invested at least $35 million in the facility, which will manufacture the chain’s salad dressings, dips and spreads, including tzatziki, harissa and Crazy Feta.
The Verona facility, along with its Laurel, Maryland, facility, can support at least 750 restaurants and help expand the company’s consumer packaged goods business. The company, which had 325 restaurants as of April, has a goal of reaching 1,000 units by 2032. It opened its first Midwestern restaurant in Chicago in April and opened 72 net new units last year. It expects about 15% growth in 2024 and 2025, as its development slows moderately following the end of conversions of Zoe’s Kitchen units to Cavas.
Building manufacturing facilities is part of Cava’s strategy of vertical integration. The company has created a directly sourced supply chain with over 50 grower, rancher and producer partners, according to the company’s 10-K filed with the SEC.
“This vertically integrated model takes complexity out of the restaurants and improves costs overall and lets us maintain the quality and integrity of our chef-crafted recipes,” CEO Brett Schulman said during the company’s February earnings call.
The Verona facility can churn out over 100,000 pounds of products a day using high-pressure processing and a cold pasteurization technology, according to the press release.
