The 52-year-old CEO and co-founder has watched Cava, the cult-classic Mediterranean fast-casual spot, skyrocket. Since its IPO final summer time, the chain’s inventory has grown over 300%; it hit a brand new peak—$128 per share—in late September.
The smash success hardly got here in a single day. Following a short however unfulfilling profession in finance—and a short foray into client packaged items—Schulman was launched to his future companions, with whom he developed the Cava from a single sit-down restaurant, Cava Mezze, in a suburb of Washington, D.C.
The method was guided by a day-one dedication to a handful of tenets: bringing coronary heart, well being, and humanity to meals—and caring for each the shoppers (no preservatives) and the workers (above-minimum wage pay, lengthy earlier than different chains caught up). They actually have a particular “love button,” which, when a cashier pushes it, the patron will get an computerized free meal. (Used correctly, after all.)
In an interview with Fortune, Schulman particulars his first job washing vehicles, his uphill battle after a dangerous acquisition of one other chain, what number of occasions he eats Cava every week—and whether or not there’s a secret system to ordering the right bowl.
The next has been calmly condensed and edited for readability.
Inform us about your background.
I used to be born and raised simply exterior Philadelphia. My father labored within the automobile enterprise and had a chance to put money into a automobile dealership in Bethesda, Maryland, and develop into a accomplice there. So we packed up and we moved to Maryland proper earlier than I began highschool.
I had plenty of jobs after I was a teen, whether or not it was chopping or promoting firewood, or promoting mulch and landscaping. However my very first job was washing vehicles, in all probability making $6 or $7 an hour.
I walked into highschool not realizing anybody. I had to determine easy methods to construct new friendships and set up a brand new world for myself in Washington, D.C. I graduated highschool and began school in Arizona. However that was a bit bit far for me, and wound up coming again and ultimately transferring to the College of Maryland, the place I graduated.
My unique main at Maryland was felony justice and criminology. I assumed I wished to go to legislation college and be an lawyer. My senior yr of faculty, I interned at a legislation agency, and I didn’t prefer it, and realized that that wasn’t for me. So I discovered what I used to be going to do subsequent, and was capable of get an internship at an funding financial institution known as Alex Brown. I used to be ready to make use of that internship to get a full-time job after I graduated. Ultimately, I went into fairness buying and selling.
I beloved the finance world. It was thrilling and enjoyable. Round 1997, there was a legislation known as Glass-Steagall, and once they repealed that legislation, it allowed business banks and funding banks to merge and accomplice up—and that created many various mergers within the business.
So our firm, Alex Brown, obtained purchased by Bankers Belief, after which Bankers Belief obtained purchased by Deutsche Financial institution. One yr, the top of our group stated, “Everything’s going really well. We’re not going to fix it. We’re going to leave you all be. You’re doing a great job.” After which two weeks later, [it was]: “We’re moving you all to New York.”
I used to be really dwelling in Baltimore, Maryland on the time, the place the headquarters was. That actually was the start of interested by, perhaps I wish to do one thing totally different. I assumed the world was going to be very predictable and I used to be going to work my means up. Unexpectedly, that modified very quickly. In the event that they hadn’t repealed Glass-Steagall, I don’t know that Cava would have ever existed.
I then began to consider what we have been going to do subsequent. I had met my spouse, Mary, who had all the time been a really wholesome eater. Round 2004, we began to consider leaving our careers to do one thing extra entrepreneurial; that actually got here to life in a pure snack-food firm.
The corporate was known as Snikiddy Snacks. It was actually the concept of better-for-you snacks for youths, as a result of we had simply began to have youngsters. At the moment, we had a younger daughter, and Mary was about to have our second little one, our youthful daughter, and so we actually simply created it and went and located co-manufacturers to supply the merchandise, and cold-called Entire Meals Market and different retailers, and we have been capable of get distribution. So we began to develop that enterprise.
We had some success, nevertheless it was all the time sort of an uphill battle. We introduced on a gentleman to be our CEO. On the time, I used to be the chief working officer. I ran all of our manufacturing and logistics and transport to all of our retail companions, and Mary did all of the gross sales and advertising and marketing. So it was actually complementary.
A pair years later, as we have been rising that enterprise—I hadn’t essentially deliberate to try this full-time—I made a decision with our CEO on the time that I used to be going to do one thing totally different, and we had really disagreed on among the technique. I made a decision I used to be going to do one thing alone, and discovered what that was going to be.
Round that very same time, a buddy of mine from school known as me and stated, Hey, will you discuss to my cousin Ted Xenohristos? They’ve a restaurant known as Cava Mezze, have you learnt it? And I stated, I feel I’ve heard of it. They stated, effectively, they partnered with a buyer to promote their dips and spreads in a few native Entire Meals Markets. I stated, yeah, we’ve really obtained the hummus in our fridge. He stated, Properly, you’re working with Entire Meals, will you discuss to them and assist them? I stated, Certain.
So I met with Ted and Ike [Grigoropoulos], one in all my different co-founders, they usually talked in regards to the challenges they have been having with that enterprise. On the time, my companions Ted, Ike, and Chef Dimitri [Moshovitis], had opened a full-service restaurant in 2006 known as Cava Mezze. That was actually the origin of our model; they wished to place a contemporary American perspective on their household’s heritage and delicacies and that got here to life in that restaurant.
Cava Mezze nonetheless exists immediately in Rockville, Maryland. They have been opening their second full-service restaurant, they usually had partnered with a buyer to promote these dips and spreads in a pair native Entire Meals Markets. However that enterprise was struggling.
They stated they have been centered on the full-service eating places and requested for my recommendation. So I gave them some recommendation, and we agreed to remain in contact. After which about two months later, after I determined I used to be going to do one thing totally different, I known as Ted again up. I stated, How’s all the things going? He stated, “not well, but what are you doing?” I stated, “Well, I’m thinking about what I’m doing next.” And he stated, “Well, why don’t you come on board? Would you want to consult for us and help us fix this business? You know we’re focused on our two full-service restaurants.” I stated certain.
I actually believed within the merchandise: the hummus, the loopy feta tzatziki. So I used to be capable of go in and get the enterprise worthwhile and get it rotated, and me and the blokes hit it off. They stated, Brett, why don’t you develop into our fourth accomplice? And I stated, effectively, that’s an awesome provide, let me discuss to my spouse, Mary.
Mary and I went right down to that second full-service restaurant—I didn’t inform the blokes that we have been going—to go have dinner, as a result of I actually wished to see, deep down, their operation. And what I noticed was so spectacular. How comfortable their staff was working, how nice the meals was, and most significantly, how nice we felt after we ate the meals.
So I went again to the blokes the following day and stated I used to be in. Let’s be companions. However I requested them, have you ever ever considered taking what we do in full-service and within the grocery shops and sort of combining it and bringing this wonderful Mediterranean delicacies to a bigger viewers in a quick health-based format? And Chef Dimitri beloved the concept.
We spent a few yr determining how that meals would translate from a full-service, made- to-order format into a quick format, and finally settled on the Stroll the Line format. We actually settled on the Stroll the Line format for 3 causes, and I’ll go from the least necessary to most necessary one.
First: We’re a bit impatient, so we like the concept that, even when the road was lengthy, you knew you bought your meals if you obtained to the register. You didn’t have to attend for a buzzer to buzz, or your identify to be known as. However extra importantly: that energy of customization. Inside our 38 components on the road, you can also make over 17 billion combos and make them to your particular wants and preferences. And we felt customization was going to be a a lot bigger development as time went on.
And third and most significantly, the Stroll the Line working mannequin permits us a extremely productive manufacturing mannequin. If you concentrate on it, it’s just like the previous Henry Ford manufacturing line. It permits for very environment friendly labor productiveness, which then permits us to take that effectivity and put money into our meals high quality. We all the time felt that we have been going to succeed with our high-quality meals that we have been already serving within the full-service eating places, or the components we have been utilizing in that loopy feta tzatziki that we have been promoting at Entire Meals Markets.
So we went forward. I’ll always remember: We obtained a bunch of oldsters collectively on the unique restaurant out in Rockville, and closed for lunch in the future, and plenty of prospects had been approaching the blokes about investing in a brand new full-service restaurant. We offered our thought, and we mocked up the meals, and we stated, you realize, this isn’t going to be a full-service restaurant, however right here’s our thought. We wish to open two or three and see if we are able to show this concept out. So we raised friends-and-family cash that summer time of 2010 and we opened our first fast-casual location in January of 2011. Quick ahead to immediately, and now we have over 340 eating places working in 25 states and the District of Columbia.
Did you ever aspire to be a CEO?
No, I by no means particularly thought I wished to be a CEO. However after I labored in finance in a big company, I knew I wished to construct one thing totally different. I felt very unfulfilled, and that led me to the concept that I wished to make a larger affect than what I used to be making in that profession, and I wished to be extra artistic or construct one thing that helped others and lifted others up. I feel that’s what led me, ultimately, down the entrepreneurial path.
We inform this to our staff day by day. We don’t need you hitting the snooze button on Monday morning. We would like you leaping off the bed excited to make an affect. I wished to create one thing the place we may construct careers for our staff members, not simply give them employment. And that actually led, I feel, to the position I’m in immediately, to assist lead these efforts and create that sort of surroundings and make that sort of affect.
How did you go from turning into a fourth accomplice in Cava Mezze to turning into CEO?
Ted jokes about it, saying, “you know, we hired ourselves a boss.” Sarcastically, Mary and I did that on the snack-food firm. We employed ourselves a boss as a result of we didn’t have actual business experience or information. I feel Ted and the blokes acknowledged that we had this philosophical alignment. We very a lot seen the world and the way we wished to point out up and construct the enterprise equally.
We discovered ourselves with very complementary expertise, and I feel they felt that I delivered to the desk a ardour for among the features of the enterprise that they weren’t as keen on. Whether or not it’s the culinary facet, or the idea facet that Ted works on, or the operations facet that Ike had a ardour for, or the meals itself, which Chef Dimitri definitely had a ardour for—all of us discovered ourselves with complementary ability units. And so they requested me to take the lead from a CEO perspective.
Is Snikiddy Snacks nonetheless round immediately?
It was acquired by Utz, the potato-chip firm, again in 2014. We have been making baked puffs, baked veggie fries, sort of like veggie straws. Initially it was additionally better-for-you cookies, however that line obtained discontinued. It was actually centered on the baked puffs and veggie straws.
Did you ever, as an entrepreneur, have moments the place you thought you’ll fail?
On a regular basis. I say that being an entrepreneur could be very a lot the cliche of driving a curler coaster. Even at Cava, we’ve stared into the abyss a couple of occasions and lived to speak about it. I feel that’s a very necessary lesson: You study extra out of your adversity than you do out of your success. And it’s these moments that actually take a look at you and actually show you how to perceive how one can overcome these hurdles. Should you can overcome these hurdles, that’s what sometimes results in nice outcomes.
Bloomberg lately estimated that every Cava location is now value roughly $33 million. To what would you attribute that success?
We don’t give attention to metrics like that, however I feel the success we’ve had can be a byproduct of all the things we put into it, how we put money into our staff, how we put money into our visitor and the visitor expertise, and the way we’ve tried to strategically construct this enterprise to be sustainable in its progress—and to have the ability to ship that worth, each to our staff members and our friends.
Even the working mannequin we selected to make use of—the Stroll the Line format—allowed us to ship the delicacies the best way we wished to, at a worth and a price that was compelling. The way in which we’ve all the time paid our staff members helps, too.
Again in 2016, we took our nationwide beginning wage to $13 an hour, which was considerably greater than most states have been mandating on the time. Even our rivals have been paying $9 or $10 an hour. We’ve clearly raised wages considerably greater since then, and even immediately, we pay on the prime finish in most markets, and never simply headline wage. We put money into team-member advantages. In 2021, we rolled out psychological well being advantages to all staff members and their households, no matter whether or not they’re on our well being plans or not.
We additionally put money into our friends. I talked about meals high quality, but additionally, we’re not passing alongside worth will increase as a lot as perhaps a few of our friends do. We’ve been dwelling by way of a excessive inflationary interval lately. Between the tip of 2019 and the tip of 2023, we raised costs round 12%. The CPI grew at 18%. The Labor Division has famous that many fast-food firms have raised [wages] upwards of 30%. Much more particularly, there was laws handed in California known as AB-1228 which required chains of a sure measurement, like us, to be paying a minimal wage of $20 or extra.
We didn’t have fairly as a lot floor to make up there as some others did, as a result of we have been already paying near these [new requirements]. However we elevated our wages additional, and selected to not move alongside these incremental prices to our prospects.
We have been the one limited-service model to not increase costs because of that laws. It sort of all comes collectively to speak about how we view constructing our enterprise. It actually comes from an funding standpoint; if we put money into our staff and our friends, nice monetary outcomes and success will finally be a byproduct of that.
Cava inventory has skyrocketed 300% since your IPO. What do you assume has been the primary contributor to that progress?
I instructed the staff the night time earlier than the IPO that this was not the vacation spot. This was the start of the following chapter of our journey, and that inventory costs will go up and down day by day. But when we give attention to our mission to carry coronary heart, well being, and humanity to meals, and if we proceed to be consistently curious and beneficiant, and have a ardour for positivity, and we give attention to our strategic plan, that inventory efficiency will comply with. That once more, is a byproduct of all these items we’re doing, and the way we handle our staff and our friends. We’re constructing this enterprise not for the following 10 weeks or the following 10 months, however the subsequent 10 years and past.
I don’t know if you realize, however Panera Bread’s founder [Ron Shaich] simply grew to become a billionaire because of his funding in Cava. Do you and Ron ever discuss to one another?
Yeah, we textual content on a regular basis. Ron likes to trend himself as “Sherpa Capital,” and I feel it’s an excellent metaphor. Ron had climbed the fast-casual mountain constructing Panera. An extremely large-scale enterprise. He’s been down the trail we’ve embarked upon, and he is aware of what could also be across the nook or the place a unsuitable flip would possibly lie. It’s invaluable to have that have and that perspective on the desk as we navigate our personal journey.
I’ve a standing assembly with Ron each month, however we textual content forwards and backwards on a regular basis, and that’s been very useful in how I function as a CEO. I’ve needed to reinvent myself 4 occasions as a CEO. First, I used to be a startup CEO and a founder. Then I used to be a progress CEO. Then a progress firm CEO. Then I used to be a personal firm enterprise CEO. We purchased an organization known as Zoe’s Kitchen again in 2018. It was 3 times’ our measurement on the time, so in a single day, I went from working an organization of round 70 eating places to working virtually 300 eating places. That’s a really totally different firm to handle.
Now as a public firm enterprise CEO, it’s been useful to have that recommendation alongside the journey, particularly at an enterprise degree, the place Ron had deep expertise working that sort of scaled group.
Inform us in regards to the Zoe’s Kitchen acquisition.
That’s how I obtained all my grey hair. We had this actually distinctive alternative delivered to us in 2018. Our investor and chairman, Ron Shaich, had been approached by a public firm on the time known as Zoe’s Kitchen that was having plenty of challenges.
Cava had roughly 55 eating places. We have been going to open about 29 new eating places that yr, and had been on a straight progress trajectory. That spring, Ron got here to me and stated, “Hey, would you be interested if we got our investors together and acquired this company, and gave this company to you and your management team? They want to engineer a turnaround. I don’t think that they’re capable of doing that, but this could be a unique way to catapult Cava.”
As I considered it, there have been two actual theses we had that intrigued me. One was that Zoe’s had a real-estate footprint in a big a part of the nation we have been attempting to enter, which was the Solar Belt. And this was again in 2018. We have been already seeing inhabitants migration in direction of the Solar Belt. Second: 80% of our eating places at Cava have been already within the suburbs, and we have been seeing how well-received we have been and the way effectively we have been performing within the suburbs. Zoe’s real-estate portfolio was 100% within the Sunbelt and 100% within the suburbs. So this was an awesome complementary footprint to our present real-estate footprint and the place we have been attempting to broaden.
Zoe’s eating places have been doing about half of our income at some comparable areas the place we had Cavas. So we felt there was a chance, if we transformed it to a Cava, we may unlock important income progress.
After which the second huge thesis was that scale was going to matter greater than ever in our business, and know-how was being a giant driver of that, bifurcating the business into the haves and the have-nots. People who have the related assets to put money into applied sciences to create differentiated visitor experiences, in addition to the operational insights to compete in a contemporary enterprise surroundings versus those that are relegated to extra out-of-the-box, commoditized options—in addition to having the ability to have the size to resist the associated fee and labor strain inflation we’ve seen in recent times—that’s all performed out.
What didn’t play out as anticipated once we finally determined to amass the enterprise, was the misery of the Zoe’s enterprise.
I’ll always remember, it was a few week after we had taken management. Our management staff went and visited. We did regional city halls with all of our Zoe’s operators to know what was happening within the enterprise, and what was challenged, in order that we may proceed to function it with stability as we prepped it to transform areas to Cavas.
I used to be on a airplane going from one regional city corridor to a different, and I obtained an electronic mail [saying] Zoe’s same-restaurant gross sales had declined 12%, which is fairly important. In order that was a little bit of a shock. It was not fairly as anticipated. And I keep in mind going to my co-founders the following day, and stated, OK, now we have to stabilize this. We’ve got to triage this enterprise. So we spent the following six months actually virtually firefighting, in a way, attempting to stabilize that enterprise. And on the similar time, it took our consideration a bit away from Cava.
And I’ll let you know, it was a very important second in our journey and our historical past, and it was the concept of actually having perseverance, persevering with to determine how we have been going to be the victor, not the sufferer, of our circumstances. We weren’t going to let this undermine the eight years of nice work we did constructing Cava. So I feel the largest lesson realized got here at a important second once we have been principally simply attempting to carry the road.
I met with a few of my board members and Ron, and we stated, Okay, we’re gonna spend the day collectively and actually strategize easy methods to get the enterprise shifting ahead positively. And we spent about 4 or 5 hours whiteboarding, they usually stated, Brett, you’re doing all the things in all places. What are the 5 issues which can be going to vary the trajectory of this? What are the 5 issues that matter most which can be going to be actually the catalyst to get this rotated?
So we synthesized it into 5 pillars. After which they challenged me once more. They stated, Brett, you may solely be main one or two of these. Who else are you able to rely on to steer these others?
I feel it goes again to the concept of simplifying and focusing. And so as soon as we synthesized that, and we had our 5 pillars, and we had who was going to steer these pillars, that principally grew to become my stump speech to the group. And in order that Monday, I might say to the staff, listed here are the 5 issues we’re engaged on. Should you’re not engaged on a type of, come discuss to me, as a result of it’s an issue. It was wonderful to look at the enterprise begin to backside and switch once we gave the staff that sort of clear focus and path.
It took a short while, however by January of 2020, we have been positively comping at Zoe’s for the primary time since that model had comped positively since 2017, which was a yr earlier than we purchased it, and Cava was positively comping double digits. Similar factor in February and in March. We have been doing a market conversion in Denver, Colorado, the place we had six struggling Zoe’s Kitchens that we have been going to transform to Cavas. We had carried out a single restaurant conversion in fall of 2019 that was very profitable, so now we have been going to do a market conversion, and within the first week of March, we have been coaching in Denver, about to open, and the pandemic hit.
I simply keep in mind saying to the staff, “Hey, listen, you know what? We don’t deserve to be here.” We simply sort of stared into the abyss and got here out of it. However we all know what issues. We all know easy methods to get by way of this. And within the pandemic, we’re going to give attention to staff member security, we’re going to give attention to visitor security, and contactless ordering. It goes again to simplifying and focusing—that obtained us by way of the Zoe’s challenges and finally allowed us to achieve success in navigating the pandemic.
What number of Zoe’s have you ever efficiently transformed?
After we purchased Zoe’s, its restaurant rely was virtually 3 times ours. We knew that about two-thirds of the real-estate portfolio was what we known as strategic that we wished to transform, and about one-third of that was deemed non-strategic. So we both let these leases naturally finish, or we struck an settlement with the owner to exit the location after which finally transformed roughly 170 of Zoe’s areas to Cavas, which actually helped speed up our progress. It additionally helped us get an awesome footprint in part of the nation that we have been actually attempting to ascertain Cava in.
Do you remorse the choice to amass Zoe’s?
By no means. Our thesis has performed out the best way we had hoped. I feel what we perhaps obtained unsuitable within the second was how distressed the enterprise was. However once more, we realized a lot, and having the ability to overcome that adversity finally propelled us to the success that now we have immediately,
After we acquired Zoe’s, we acquired an organization that had been challenged, and a a lot bigger group that had had a discount in drive earlier that yr, so the morale was fairly low. And at Cava, we had a extra startup progress group that was confused about why we purchased this struggling firm that was greater than us, and the mixed firm was now a really totally different firm. It had plenty of people on the Cava staff who didn’t wish to be in that large-scale of a company anymore, and we had people on the Zoe’s staff who didn’t wish to embark on the transformation problem that we have been about to do. So we had lots of people go away. We had an awesome tradition at Cava going into that acquisition; the tradition obtained actually challenged when plenty of people began leaving.
We had had a lot success at that time, then we have been having adversity. This was all new to us, totally different from what we had been experiencing the previous couple of years. After which the pandemic hit, after which the Nice Resignation, and also you had lots of people shifting across the nation. And it actually challenged our tradition.
I may really feel it within the enterprise. And it hurts your coronary heart if you’re feeling that sort of problem within the enterprise culturally, when it was such a badge of delight that we had and the way we had constructed it earlier than the Zoe’s acquisition. And so I used to be lucky to recruit and rent a girl named Kelly Costanza, who’s my present chief individuals officer. She’s been with me over 4 years now, and we talked about this, and about how we have been going to get again to the kind of power and tradition we had pre-acquisition.
So in 2021, we determined to embark on what we name our ENPs, our worker internet promoter rating. We began to essentially measure the well being of our tradition, like we measure the well being of many different areas of the enterprise. And we obtained all the information again, and we noticed the areas that we scored actually poorly in, which, on the time, have been just about all. As we have been working by way of the Zoe’s conversions, we realized we have been going to exit and are available out the opposite facet a brand new collective. And with this new collective, we wanted to provide this group, this new group, its personal set of mission, values, and competencies.
So we took our unique mission and values and actually put pen to paper and considered the way it wanted to evolve with this new collective, and it’s actually a core a part of our tradition immediately. Then we created the launch plan, and we cascaded it all through the org. By the tip of 2022, we had moved these scores from abysmal rankings to top-decile and top-quartile rankings. You possibly can really feel the group coalesce.
It was plenty of work, and it was very intentional. It wasn’t set-it-and-forget-it. I feel that’s one other lesson realized: You need to proceed to work at this, and reinforce this day by day by way of all components of the enterprise, particularly at our scale.
Are you able to stroll us by way of your morning routine and the way you mentally put together for the day?
I get up, and I attempt not to take a look at my cellphone. I attempt to let my head alter to the day and never get on the display instantly. Then I begin to take a look at yesterday’s gross sales and knowledge. I all the time take a look at that, each morning.
I work out, sometimes, 4 occasions every week. I prefer to say wholesome physique, wholesome thoughts, and it’s a must to handle your self to have the ability to handle others. I actually give attention to that. After I work out, I develop into a barista in our home. I make espresso for my spouse and for one in all our daughters earlier than she heads to high school. I’m capable of spend a bit little bit of high quality time and be grounded earlier than I am going into the workplace. Then, I learn a lot of publications to get a way of what’s taking place on this planet at that second, and what could have shifted from the day earlier than.
How typically do you really eat at Cava?
About 4 occasions every week. Actually, my household will get a bit irritated with me, as a result of I’ll eat it for lunch loads. There’s a Cava a five-minute stroll from our workplace. So sometimes, I’m consuming Cava if I’m on the workplace. Some days I’ll do a doubleheader, lunch and dinner, as a result of you may get so many various flavors.
Many individuals recently have been pushing again towards processed meals. How is Cava responding to that? Have you ever modified something?
I feel [our ingredients] are one of many core features of our enterprise and the way we’re vertically built-in. We now have two large-scale manufacturing services. We simply opened our second in Verona, Virginia. It’s 55,000 sq. ft. We’ve invested in very distinctive contemporary manufacturing capabilities to have the ability to ship this high-quality meals, not ultra-processed, at scale throughout the nation.
In our facility, we’re making 9,000, 10,000-pound batches of tzatziki utilizing contemporary dill, contemporary garlic, lemon juice, and contemporary cucumber, the place many different co-manufacturers could also be utilizing powdered or dried components. We felt like this was important to have the ability to ship high-quality Mediterranean delicacies throughout the nation persistently with high quality and value effectiveness at scale.
What’s your go-to Cava order?
I sometimes have two at a given time, and it shifts, in all probability each six months or so. My accomplice, Ted Xenochristos, is our chief idea officer and he leads our culinary innovation staff with our cooks, together with Chef Dimitri, and brings nice new objects to market. So I all the time need to attempt them.
We lately launched steak, so my bowl immediately is arugula and saffron basmati rice as my base. After which I get a scoop of hummus and a scoop of loopy feta—all the time need to get loopy feta. After which I get half steak, half harissa honey hen—a pleasant steadiness there. After which I’ll do a bunch of toppings, like our fiery broccoli, our roasted corn, pickled onions, a bit crumbled feta, some pita crisp for some crunch, after which prime it off with both lemon herb tahini or tahini Caesar. But when I would like it actually spicy, I’ll go along with our sizzling harissa French dressing.
Have you ever ever labored at a Cava restaurant earlier than?
Sure, within the early days, I labored loads on the road. However as we’ve gotten greater, as a result of we wish to make sure that we’re staying related to the enterprise, we do two issues. First: For all of our company staff members, we name it shoulder-to-shoulder. Each quarter it’s a must to do a shoulder-to-shoulder shift, at the very least a four-hour shift, in a restaurant. My present quarter, one’s arising. I’m gonna go work in our Laurel, Maryland restaurant.
It’s a means not solely to remain related with our staff members, however for us to know what’s taking place on the entrance traces with our friends and operations. It may typically spur nice inspiration. The opposite factor we do as an govt management staff is make quarterly visits to sure markets throughout the nation.
So this quarter, we visited our groups in Nashville, Tennessee, Columbia, South Carolina and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. It’s a chance for us to get out once more and join with our groups, but additionally to acknowledge them. We have a good time them, after which we exit to staff dinners. So it’s invaluable when you’ve gotten a distributed workforce, and we’re attempting to function eating places throughout 25 states and the District of Columbia, and scale additional. It’s important that we keep related to our frontline staff members and perceive how we are able to finest assist them, what their challenges are, the place the alternatives are, and the way we make their lives simpler, which finally delivers a greater visitor expertise.
What do you assume units Cava aside from its rivals?
Firstly, it’s our delicacies. We’re Mediterranean by way of and thru, and we expect we’re creating the following large-scale cultural delicacies class, bringing Mediterranean throughout the nation, and once more, this distinctive delicacies the place style and well being unites. As our nation continues to get extra numerous, individuals’s palates are shifting. They’re in search of bolder, extra fascinating flavors that our delicacies delivers on. You match that with curiosity and want for contemporary well being and wellness views in meals. And that’s the place our delicacies actually serves that want and solves that drawback.
Then, secondarily, is the opposite side of our model: our Mediterranean hospitality. You realize, after I first met the blokes, Ted stated one thing that’s all the time caught with me. He stated, “We don’t really think we’re in the restaurant business. We’re in the hospitality business.” And it goes again to that in-person human connection. Even on our digital channels, we ask, How will we ship that hospitality, whether or not digitally or bodily? We would like you to really feel that if you come into our eating places.
One of many issues that we’ve seen get a bit little bit of buzz on TikTok is that now we have what’s known as a “love button.” We’ve had this since our very first restaurant, and it goes to our spirit of generosity as a model, the place we empower our staff members each shift to have the ability to give away a couple of meals. The thought is that they’re seeing a visitor who’s perhaps having a very tough day. Or it could be a visitor that comes on a regular basis. And we wish to say thanks.
Or it could possibly be a visitor that forgot their pockets, or their cellphone died, they usually’re attempting to pay with cell pay. We get to say, hey, you realize what? That is on us. It’s that random act of kindness, and it resonated with our friends and is so appreciated. It’s an expression of our spirit of generosity that you simply’re sharing a meal with us. We’re welcoming you to our desk, so we would like you to really feel that hospitality, and we expect that that’s a differentiator, particularly when mixed with our distinctive delicacies.
Do you keep in mind when that began? Or has that all the time been a factor?
We began that with our very first restaurant. Should you’re one of many recipients of the love button, on the credit score line on the backside of the verify, it’ll say “love” subsequent to it. It’s been a enjoyable factor we’ve carried out since our origins. Me and the blokes got here up with that concept.
Cava is being referred to on social media as the following Chipotle. What are your ideas on that?
I feel that’s excessive reward. Chipotle has constructed an unbelievable enterprise. There are 3,500 eating places, I feel, immediately throughout the nation. That’s a a lot bigger scale than us. However we give attention to attempting to be the perfect Cava, or the following Cava. And once more, I feel we’re creating one thing very distinctive with our delicacies. Definitely, we share a really comparable working mannequin [with Chipotle] with the Stroll the Line format, however we’re centered on bringing Mediterranean to people throughout the nation.
Do you assume Cava’s portion sizes are constant?
Sure, we work on it day by day. Do I feel they’re constant throughout each restaurant? No. Do we would like them to be? Sure, and that’s one thing we work with our groups day by day, as a result of we wish to ensure that if any person’s ordering 9 components of their bowl, or any person’s ordering 15 components of their bowl, that they really feel prefer it’s equally as voluminous. That may be difficult for our staff. So what can we equip them with? Instruments and processes and coaching and procedures to get it as constant as potential throughout the nation, in order that our friends really feel that spirit of generosity that’s core to our model nice.
We frequently see, on Tiktok, individuals speaking about how they eat half of their Cava bowl and save their subsequent half for a second meal, as a result of it’s such a giant portion measurement. We’re very centered on that, as a result of we don’t need individuals feeling like they’re getting short-changed. We work with our staff, and we educate our friends, to ensure they perceive how our format works and what they’ll do to make sure that they get an ample portion.
What’s your recommendation for brand new school graduates, or individuals of their 20s trying to develop into a profitable entrepreneur?
Work out not essentially what you like to do, however what your strengths are. Work out what you’re good at, as a result of what you’re finally good at, you’ll like to do. If you’re succeeding at one thing, it’s extra enjoyable. You’re extra obsessed with it. So attempt various things. Perceive the place you naturally have success, or the place you’re naturally robust. After which all the time keep in mind that if it was that simple, all people can be doing it.
Entrepreneurship is difficult. You need to have unbelievable emotional resilience as an entrepreneur. You’ll face adversity. You should have challenges. I talked earlier about how we stared into the abyss a pair occasions at Cava. You need to have that perseverance and dedication to have the ability to finally obtain the imaginative and prescient you’re getting down to construct. It may be extremely rewarding and extremely enjoyable if you’re capable of navigate these challenges with others.
I feel that’s the opposite factor: ensuring you get good individuals round you alongside the journey, as a result of you may solely go thus far your self.
What’s the perfect enterprise recommendation you’ve ever acquired?
It was in all probability midway by way of our journey, as we have been constructing the enterprise. I talked earlier about reinventing myself 4 occasions as a CEO, and I feel a part of that reinvention, or my means to achieve success by way of the totally different levels, was the concept of “right people, right roles,” and ensuring you’re placing your individuals able for achievement—and that what you’re asking them to do, they’re actually able to doing. Finally, that gives enormous worth for the enterprise, and finally makes your life simpler. However when you don’t have that alignment, you’ll really feel these headwinds. It is going to be a battle, and it will likely be very troublesome. I imagine Ron [Shaich] gave me that recommendation.
Are there every other enterprise leaders or CEOs that you simply significantly look as much as?
Yeah, there are various. I attempt to study from all enterprise leaders. I feel there are such a lot of nice enterprise leaders on the market, and I’m all the time attempting to know what they’re doing, how they’re incorporating it into their organizations. We’ve been lucky to have many mentors and nice buyers round our boardroom desk. One other one in all our buyers, a gentleman named Fred Schaufeld, constructed an organization known as NEW, which ultimately merged with an organization known as Asurion, doing electronics guarantee work.
Fred’s an entrepreneur by way of and thru, and he’s given me nice recommendation and mentorship by way of our journey. After we have been dealing with actually difficult, troublesome conditions, he helped information me, finally, to the solutions that I got here to. He helped and supported me to find and determining that reply.
The Mediterranean weight-reduction plan is taken into account significantly wholesome nowadays.
Yeah, the Mediterranean weight-reduction plan is the number-one ranked weight-reduction plan now, seven years working. I feel it’s not a lot a weight-reduction plan as a lifestyle. This concept of consuming entire meals carefully, and meals which can be very excessive in dietary worth, but additionally very satiating. Whether or not you consider legumes or like, chickpeas, Greek yogurt—these are very flavorful components, however in addition they make you are feeling fuller, so that you simply’re not snacking between meals. The factor we prefer to say is after Cava, you don’t want a snack or a nap. It doesn’t make you are feeling too heavy. It doesn’t make you are feeling hungry once more earlier than your subsequent meal. I feel that’s actually necessary.
Additionally, the Mediterranean weight-reduction plan, like I stated, is a way of life, too, which works to our hospitality side and that sort of neighborhood thought of human interplay. I feel it should solely proceed to achieve in adoption as individuals perceive the advantages of consuming this delicacies. You’re consuming actually flavorful meals, you’re consuming very satisfying meals, and, oh, by the best way, it’s higher for you. You don’t need to make compromises, you don’t need to make sacrifices. And you’ll stroll down our line and select what you need, to your tastes and preferences.
Do you are expecting that Cava will enhance costs anytime quickly?
We’ve got no plans to extend costs for the remainder of 2024.
Do you’ve gotten any sizzling takes on work-life steadiness? Do you personally assume you’ve gotten achieved work-life steadiness?
I do have a sizzling tackle work-life steadiness. I feel it’s a false time period. I’ve stated this to our staff for years. I feel there’s life, and the work you do both contributes positively to your life or detracts negatively out of your life. That goes again to a remark I made earlier. We don’t need our staff hitting the snooze button on Monday, as a result of if hey don’t wish to rise up to do the work they’re doing and obtain our mission of bringing coronary heart, well being and humanity to meals, we have to perceive why we would like individuals obsessed with and we would like the work they do at Cava to be a constructive contributor to their life, each personally and professionally.
What’s your secret to creating the right bowl or wrapping the right pita?
That’s the great thing about Cava—there are over 17 billion combos. So the right bowl to me could be totally different from the right bowl to you or to anybody else. That’s what’s so unbelievable. Individuals are so obsessed with their very own explicit combine, which we simply love. And we love the flexibility to have the ability to meet so many various individuals’s wants. That’s mirrored in a very, actually numerous buyer base, which is likely one of the issues we’re most happy with. If you stroll into our eating rooms and also you see such a broad cross-section of oldsters which can be capable of be happy and that love our meals—excellent.
