Dive Brief:
- Cava’s comparable sales increased by 21.2% year over year in Q4 2024, and its average unit volume reached about $2.9 million, according to the brand’s full-year earnings release.
- The bulk of the chain’s sales growth this quarter came from traffic, which increased 15.6%, with the remainder driven by pricing and sales mix changes, CFO Tricia Tolivar said in an interview with Restaurant Dive.
- The chain is in the early phases of testing in-store changes to furniture and colors, called Project Soul, intended to make its dining rooms more inviting for on-premise diners, Tolivar said.
Dive Insight:
Cava expects same-store sales growth to moderate in 2025 to 6% or 8%, Tolivar said. Despite strong customer spending, this prediction isn’t surprising given the chain’s exceptionally strong 2024. Last year, comps grew 13.4%, a record matched by only a handful of publicly traded competitors, like Wingstop, in the last year.
Cava’s same-store sales growth from Q2 2023 through Q4 2024
That sales growth has not been limited to a particular geography or kind of market, Tolivar said.
“We've seen increases in AUVs across every part of the country overall,” Tolivar said.
Urban, suburban, college-adjacent, freestanding and end cap outposts are all capturing rising sales, she added.
“There really isn't one way that we need to win,” Tolivar said. “That gives us the confidence in our ability to continue to expand.”
Tolivar said the chain’s sales momentum has been driven by a combination of factors, including the increasing popularity of Mediterranean food, new market entries, social media marketing and an emphasis on digital and in-store guest experience . Cava has also kept pricing below the general rate of inflation — since 2019 the CPI has increased 23%, while Cava’s prices rose 15%.
“I often refer to traffic or same-restaurant sales results as [being] like a Cava bowl,” Tolivar said. “It's hard to say what one thing in the bowl makes it super incredible, but it's the combination of things and how they're working together.”
Key to that long-term performance is the brand’s on-premise experience. Cava has been interested in improving its restaurant ambiance for several quarters. Tolivar did not share the specific number of restaurants included in its Project Soul experiments, but said the company would have a good idea what improvements it wanted to generalize from Project Soul by year’s end.
When Cava started, its branding tended to be very black-and-white, and has since shifted towards warmer colors, like yellow and green, Tolivar said. The company is looking to add more wood features, softer corners and better seating to its interiors, as well. Such changes could encourage consumers to stay in-restaurant. Starbucks is also considering similar changes, potentially signaling that major restaurant brands are seeing on-premise experiences as a key competitive factor going forward.
Cava CEO Brett Schulman said on the brand’s earnings call that its focus on in-store experience meant the brand was not planning to turn to ordering kiosks, as competitors like Shake Shack have.
“Don't expect [kiosks] in Cava anytime soon. We believe in human interaction in our restaurants. And if people want a kiosk-type experience they can download, open up the app,” Schulman said.
