Dive Brief:
- Cava’s same-store sales in Q4 2025 grew by 0.5%, but traffic in the quarter was down roughly 1%, CFO Tricia Tolivar told Restaurant Dive in an interview.
- Tolivar emphasized the brand’s performance on a two-year basis, given the difficulty of lapping its Q4 2025 traffic growth, which was 15%.
- Cava also surpassed $1 billion in annual sales for the first time in company history in 2025, Tolivar said.
Dive Insight:
Cava has several cards to play with value and menu development when it comes to bringing in consumers, who have generally cut back on their fast casual dining as a result of inflationary pressure and economic uncertainty.
The chain’s relatively flat average unit volume of $2.9 million last year and its difficulty driving new traffic indicate that the brand is facing the same sectoral headwinds as other fast casual chains, like Chipotle, Sweetgreen and Wingstop, as consumers trade down to value-focused QSRs and up to experience-oriented casual chains.
Tolivar said the slight traffic pullback experienced by the chain was broad-based, rather than narrowly concentrated in one geography or income cohort. She also said the chain’s comparable sales accelerated at the end of 2025 and are currently pacing above its projections of a 3% to 5% increase for 2026.
Cava’s relatively steady performance across income bands, Tolivar said, shows the brand is acting as something of a bridge across the K-shaped economy. Key to this, and to the chain’s long-term strategy, is underpricing the consumer price index and general restaurant inflation.
Tolivar said Cava’s menu price increases lag behind CPI by about 10% over the post-COVID-19 pandemic period. This conservative menu pricing strategy has helped the chain avoid some of the downturn in consumer spending.
There are a number of reasons Cava can underprice inflation, Tolivar said.
“A certain amount of costs are fixed in our restaurants,” Tolivar said. Meaning increasing sales volume does not linearly increase costs. At the same time, the brand’s expansion across geographies and the growth of demand for it have resulted in other efficiencies.
“Think about in-bound shipping costs: Instead of partial truckloads we’ve got full truck loads now,” Tolivar said, as one example of scale-based efficiencies.
And this has helped avoid resorting to value deals, which could erode the brand’s identity over time.
“[Discounting] might have some short-term benefit from a comp perspective, but really degrades the value of the brand over the long term,” Tolivar said.
Instead, the brand is approaching value in a holistic fashion, incorporating food quality, cultural relevance, convenience and experience.
But to hit its growth projections, Cava will deploy menu innovation and continue longstanding strategic initiatives like Project Soul, a design push that emphasizes on-premise experience and aesthetic warmth.
The brand, Tolivar said, recently tested pomegranate-glazed salmon in at least two test markets, driving positive traffic trends, and expects to add the protein during the first half of the year. The protein is Cava’s first foray into seafood and would be at the upper-end of Cava’s price range, similar to steak, which boosted sales in its early quarters. Salmon would be a slight margin headwind, but “penny profit neutral.”
