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CAVA’s newest restaurants are opening stronger, its existing stores are attracting more traffic, and its highest-volume locations suggest the fast casual has room to push sales well above its current average
That combination stood out in the Mediterranean chain’s second quarter, when revenue increased 31.3 percent to $365.4 million and same-restaurant sales rose 9 percent, including 5.3 percent traffic growth. CAVA opened 17 net new restaurants and finished the quarter with 476 locations, up 19.6 percent year-over-year. Adjusted EBITDA increased 30 percent to $54.7 million, and net income reached $23 million.
Average unit volume climbed to $3.1 million from $2.9 million a year earlier. CFO Tricia Tolivar says CAVA’s top-performing restaurants provide a glimpse of how much more volume the model can support. “What we find is in our top quartile of restaurants, our AUVs are above $4 million and deliver above 30 percent restaurant-level margin,” Tolivar says. “There isn’t a lot that’s needed to incrementally add to the restaurant to be able to do that.” The chain’s restaurant-level profit increased 28.1 percent to $93.8 million in Q2, although margin declined from 26.3 percent to 25.7 percent. Food, beverage, and packaging costs increased 50 basis points, driven largely by the launch of Pomegranate Glazed Salmon.