CAVA Group ($CAVA) podcast mentions

  1. Welcome back to Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing. We did get an interesting earnings report this week from Cava. I'm, I'm sad to say we still don't have Cava where I'm at. I hear such good things from you guys about Cava.
    Travis Holyham · Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing · IPO Fever Heats Up For OpenAI and Anthropic · 2026-08-14
  2. Yeah, I, I think so to a degree. I mean, there, there are, I mean, the restaurant business right now is obviously very difficult and we're starting to see the lines blur between traditional fast food, right? And fast casual. I mean, the menu prices for traditional fast food are really starting to creep up there. I mean, going to get like a value meal from one of these McDonald's or Burger King or whatever it may be, that's just, it, it, it's not cheap anymore. And so I think the fast casual restaurants have a little bit of an opportunity right there to sort of keep, keep close, at least in regard to pricing while offering a higher quality meal. Right. And so, Cava really rhymes with Chipotle. I think, I mean, it was a good quarter, right? I mean, the revenue up 31-plus percent. That growth was fueled by a 9% increase in comps. They opened 17 new stores. They are seeing, as you mentioned, traffic up. That was better than 5%. Another interesting data point that I found regarding the quarter, they saw their average unit volume, right? The average unit volume for their restaurants now hit, they cracked $3 million per year, right? And that's up modestly from around $2.8, $2.9 million recently. But that is on par with Chipotle now. Now, I think the caveat there is that we need to recognize the fact that Cava only has a handful of stores compared to the Chipotle, right? I mean, there's something like 350 Cavas versus 4,200 Chipotles. Now that is, I think at the end of the day, an opportunity. You mentioned you don't have them out there in Minnesota yet, at least where you live. And so maybe there is a nice runway of growth because I mean, as a consumer, and I think Lou would agree, we, we do like what Cava has to offer. It's, you know, not terribly hard on the wallet. And it is something that I think could continue to grow for some time.
    Jason Moser · Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing · IPO Fever Heats Up For OpenAI and Anthropic · 2026-08-14
  3. Salad sounds good. Look, I'm biased here, but I mean, I don't know. I think Cava is winning because they're well managed and they have a good product. And look, it's early. These growth stories don't last forever, but I do think, you know, it's a reminder that leadership matters and concept matters, that not all restaurants are the same. To your point, Travis, the other thing, and I know I don't want to like, you know, stomp on any, you know, the big narratives, but can we get over this GLP-1 is killing restaurants narratives? I believe in GLP-1s. I believe in that, but you're going to have to do runs of clinical trials to figure out why it doesn't stop us from craving Mediterranean, I guess. I do think that it's overstated. I think what's gone on with restaurants is a little bit of macro. It's a little bit of oversaturation. Maybe it's a little bit of GLP-1s, but earlier in the year when we had all of these restaurant stocks that were struggling, it was just GLP-1 is stopping everyone from eating. I think that that is one of those, just kind of the narrative overwhelms the evidence things. And I think good restaurants can still win is what we learned from Cava.
    Lou Whitman · Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing · IPO Fever Heats Up For OpenAI and Anthropic · 2026-08-14
  4. When you take a step back, Nick, we are going to get retail sales at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. And we've seen a real mix picture when it comes to some of the fast casual restaurants. On one hand, McDonald's flagging some of their lower income consumers and the potential reluctance to traffic frequently. On the other hand, you've seen Cava outperform, you've seen Starbucks outperform. How do you understand who's winning and who's losing and how much that really hinges on which cohort, which economic cohort they seem to target?
    Lisa Abramowicz · Bloomberg Surveillance · Bloomberg Surveillance TV: August 14th, 2026 (Podcast) · 2026-08-14
  5. Rachel, one of the big earnings reports in the last 24 hours too was Cava, this restaurant that I keep hearing about, but we still don't have here in the Midwest. So I'm waiting. I, I really have a hard time investing in restaurants until I can actually go eat at them. So maybe I need to make a trip down to Lou's area where he says he loves his Cava. But this was one of the really positive earnings reports, and we've seen some pretty negative reports from a lot of these restaurants. Higher commodity costs are hitting certain companies. Less spending. We'll talk about inflation in just a moment, but those pressures don't seem to be hitting Cava right now.
    Travis Williams · Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing · Neoclouds Shine · 2026-08-12
  6. Yeah. And you know, it's interesting looking at Cava's results. I think it's less of a commentary on the consumer and more about how the strategy they're deploying is working in today's environment. So, you know, they had 9% same-store sales growth. Most of that was traffic-driven. Traffic was up more than 5% year over year. Pricing, product mix changes, that only accounted for about 3.7% of that growth. I mean, we're in an environment where rivals are forcing price hikes. They're dealing with empty dining areas in some cases, but Cava seems to be winning really on transaction volume. And, you know, we saw their revenue skyrocket even as a lot of the fast casual restaurants are really struggling. What was interesting was management on their earnings call said that a lot of their lower income customer tiers are actually generating the highest same restaurant sales results. And this is at a time where you've got a lot of the competing, say, fast food giants, fast casual, whatever you want to categorize them. As that are discounting, trying to retain that customer traffic. Well, Cava's absorbing that demographic organically, and instead of hiking prices to match inflation, they've actually minimized any type of price increases, which has been notable. They opened 17 net new restaurants during the quarter. Now they have just under 500 locations across, I believe it's 29 states. Their average unit volume has hit 3 million. And hate to mention it, but there we've got the recent cyclospora outbreak that has impacted competitors like Sweetgreen significantly. There was a bit of a dip in July, Cava's CFO said, but they said same store sales have already bounced back. So there's really, I think, a strong loyal customer base there. One final thing that also stuck out to me, we've seen some of these fast casual restaurants deploying automation. There's been concerns about what that would mean for the workforce, but they're really shifting employee focus away from chopping ingredients, but more towards customer service, digital order fulfillment. They have zero long-term debt, really healthy cash stockpile. It's a well-run business and I think at least today the stock seems to be actually responding in kind to that growth story. Yeah.
    Tyler Crowe · Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing · Neoclouds Shine · 2026-08-12
  7. I was reading between the lines a little bit, and as Rachel mentioned, you know, comps were up. The one thing I did notice was there was a little bit of margin compression over the past couple of years, and they said they didn't push price, but it did seem like the mix of products that they were selling tend to be a little bit higher price, ever so slightly lower margin, probably some of the seafood options, something like that, where your gross margins just obviously aren't as high. Gross margins on proteins are always lower relative to what else you ever have in the restaurant. I think overall it was pretty good. To be frank though, like it's gotta be one of the hardest businesses. Yeah. The numbers this time around looked really good, but guidance actually was trending ever so slightly lower. They were saying margins might come in a little bit weaker, but comp estimates are supposed to grow a little bit. So again, it kind of trends towards that, what they're selling mix getting a little bit better. This is a really hard industry in general. It's hard for me to invest in as an investor. I actually love restaurants. I used to work in restaurants. The thrill of working in the back of the house, front of the house, it is kind of stressful but fun in its own way. But actually being an investor on it, God, I almost would be taking Alka-Seltzer all the time because it's hard to track like what is trendy, what isn't. And often it can defy expectations. We're talking about Cava, one of the new trendy restaurants that's been growing like crazy. And then Just same day, Brinker International reported their earnings. It looked like it was on a slow decline from the 2010s all the way to 2023. Then voilà, everyone loves chilies again, and the company's posting 5.6% comps, 11% year-over-year revenue growth, and raising guidance. Who saw that on their bingo card?
    Rachel Warren · Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing · Neoclouds Shine · 2026-08-12
  8. Yeah, this has been a really hard one. Shares of Cava are about flat since the early part of 2024 and are actually down more than 50% from their high. Which was hit late in 2024. So they can go on these rocket ship runs and then those can end really quickly. Next up, we are going to talk about what's going on in inflation. We'll be back in a moment.
    Travis Williams · Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing · Neoclouds Shine · 2026-08-12
  9. One place I haven't eaten, my kids tell me I have to, is Cava. They reported some numbers. What'd you learn?
    Paul Sweeney · Bloomberg Intelligence · CoreWeave Shares Soar After Booming AI Demand Boosts Outlook · 2026-08-12
  10. Cava does a nice job. You know, you should get over there. I get there once in a while. And over there in Wayne, New Jersey, we have a Chick-fil-A and a Shake Shack next to Cava. So I'll go to Cava. It's very competitive. And my son will do the Chick-fil-A or the Shake Shack. Nice. You know, but they do a great job and They've crushed it in the first half of this year. Same-store sales over 9%, traffic over 5% here in the first half of the year, mainly being driven by new pomegranate-glazed salmon.
    Speaker I · Bloomberg Intelligence · CoreWeave Shares Soar After Booming AI Demand Boosts Outlook · 2026-08-12
  11. Because from what I understand, this is a really tough time in the restaurant industry, especially in kind of the, the middle-class restaurant section. I know it's gotten really, really, really competitive and there's cyclospora and there are a lot of challenges right now, tariffs, all of it. What is Cava doing? What is its secret other than the salmon, of course?
    Stacey Vanek Smith · Bloomberg Intelligence · CoreWeave Shares Soar After Booming AI Demand Boosts Outlook · 2026-08-12
  12. Well, number one, I'd say healthy Mediterranean cuisine, right? That's, that's people. More and more people are eating healthy, especially with GLP-1. It's like healthy fast food, right? Yeah. And so that's a big part of it. And really the equation in restaurants is The value equation's about what you get for what you pay. And people are coming away from the Cava experience happy, right? They, they had a good tasty meal, right? In, in a nice environment, you know, good service with a smile and, and people come back. So we're just seeing a massive divergence between winners and losers in the restaurants. And it's been this way now for a few years because of the inflation. People are becoming more discerning. When they have a good experience, they go back.
    Speaker I · Bloomberg Intelligence · CoreWeave Shares Soar After Booming AI Demand Boosts Outlook · 2026-08-12
  13. Coming up on Squawk Pod, fast casual chain Cava may not have been directly affected by recent salmonella or cyclospora outbreaks. That's a relief. But CEO Brett Schulman is prepared just in case.
    Katie Kramer · Squawk Pod · AI Deals Go Round and Round & Cava’s CEO 8/12/26 · 2026-08-12
  14. When you partner with CDW, you get more from technology with AI-powered tools that turn complexity into clarity. CDW experts are simplifying workflows with Microsoft solutions. Uniting teams with on-the-go connectivity, speeding workflows with exceptional performance, and protecting assets with chip-to-cloud security. Make amazing happen. Learn more at cdw.com/modernwork. Welcome back to Squawk Pod. It's time for lunch. Fast casual restaurant Cava reported a boost in profit from this time last year. In the second quarter, the Mediterranean chain found an uptick in traffic, despite a broader dip related to the outbreaks of foodborne illness that shook consumer confidence in produce. CEO and co-founder of Cava, Brett Schulman, sat down with our Leslie Picker, Mike Santoli, and Brian Sullivan this morning. Here's Mike.
    Katie Kramer · Squawk Pod · AI Deals Go Round and Round & Cava’s CEO 8/12/26 · 2026-08-12
  15. So you're not a lettuce I can't believe I'm going to say these words— lettuce-heavy restaurant. Well, that's the beautiful thing about it. So you're not— I don't think of like shaved lettuce when I think about Cava. So how much— in fact, I went there Monday where I didn't know you were on, obviously, whatever. I just went there for lunch. It was delicious. My shirt loved it too, by the way. Um, is there a way in which maybe you're helped by that? Because I don't think of you guys necessarily as like a, like a shaved lettuce type restaurant.
    Brian Sullivan · Squawk Pod · AI Deals Go Round and Round & Cava’s CEO 8/12/26 · 2026-08-12