CAVA's Summer Hospitality Contest Improved Guest Metrics at About Two-Thirds of Locations

CAVA is scaling hospitality practices drawn from a summer contest with its restaurant general managers after about two-thirds of locations posted higher guest experience metrics, the chain said on its third-quarter 2026 earnings call. Restaurant Dive reported the contest and the call remarks.

CAVA is a publicly traded Mediterranean fast-casual chain with more than 400 company-owned U.S. restaurants, according to akta.pro company records, serving customizable bowls, pitas and salads alongside catering, grocery retail products and branded merchandise.

How the CAVA Hospitality Contest Worked

CEO and co-founder Brett Schulman said CAVA ran the contest over the summer to surface hospitality best practices from general managers. The behaviors identified are now being rolled out across the system, he said.

"The hospitality contest was a great way for us to gain the key behaviors and activities that are driving some of those exceptional hospitality results that we can scale across the system, and that's going to be a focus," Schulman said on the call.

Schulman said CAVA is investing in leadership readiness and training at new restaurants, and that the effort has produced higher guest satisfaction and lower turnover at affected locations. CFO Tricia Tolivar said CAVA added worker hours to support customer service and newly opened restaurants, which lifted labor and related costs as a share of revenue by 0.5% year over year to 26% of revenue.

"These robust openings that we've been delivering across the country wanted and needed the appropriate support to be able to deliver on that guest experience and continue that momentum as we move forward," Tolivar said.

CAVA's Third-Quarter Sales and Labor Costs

According to akta.pro company records, CAVA's full-year 2025 revenue topped $1 billion for the first time at $1.17 billion, roughly 20% year-over-year growth. Fourth-quarter 2025 revenue was $272.8 million, up 21% year over year, with restaurant-level margins at 21.4%, and the chain operated 439 restaurants at the end of that quarter after opening 24 new locations in the period.

In the third quarter of 2026, comparable restaurant sales rose 3.1% year over year and revenue rose 22.1% to $353.7 million, according to the earnings report cited by Restaurant Dive.

Earlier CAVA Management Moves

CAVA created the assistant general manager role to build a management pipeline and had filled it at 75% of its restaurants during fiscal Q3, The Wall Street Journal reported on November 5, 2026. The position serves as a stepping stone to general manager roles, where employees can earn six figures.

On November 4, 2026, Restaurant Dive reported that CAVA raised its full-year comparable sales forecast to a 6-7% range, citing pricing and mix shifts rather than traffic. Restaurant Business reported the same day that CAVA's general manager investments include equity grants and Academy GMs, and that the chain aims to reach 1,000 units by 2032.

CAVA's Next Restaurant Openings

CAVA plans to open a second Minneapolis restaurant at 3040 Excelsior Blvd., with a 2027 opening planned, Yahoo reported on November 7, 2026. The chain also plans a sixth Columbus-area location near Ohio State University's campus, Yahoo reported on November 9, 2026, after opening its fifth Columbus-area restaurant in Upper Arlington.