Pricing strategies keep Cava growing amid slowing restaurant sales

Many restaurant chains have had a rough year and a half, as consumers pull back on spending. Major chains have announced restaurant closures: Wendy’s plans to shutter around 300 to 350 restaurants, while Papa Johns will close around 300 and Pizza Hut around 250. If high energy prices continue, the pain will likely only increase: More than two fifths (43%) of consumers, one survey found, said they’ve cut back on meals outside the home due to gas prices.

Against this backdrop, Mediterranean bowl-and-pita purveyor Cava, which increased revenue 22.5% and opened 72 net new stores in fiscal 2025, has managed to thrive. In Q1 2026, its same-store sales were up 9.7% year over year while traffic grew 6.8%. Its revenue grew 32.2% compared with last year’s Q1, and it announced plans to open 75–77 net new restaurants in fiscal 2026. (It had a total of 459 locations at the end of the first quarter.)

Keeping value choices. Cava’s pricing strategy may have something to do with its success. Despite incurring a 1.4% cost increase in January, the chain hasn’t raised prices on its core items.

“Over the past year, we did not raise pricing on our base bowls,” Cava CFO Tricia Tolivar told CFO Brew. “Chicken, roasted vegetables, and falafel are the same price that they were last year, and we believe that’s creating greater accessibility.” Recently, Cava has seen its highest growth “in the lower household income categories,” she said, the same demographic that high gas prices have hit hardest.

The pricing is giving Cava a competitive advantage. A Cava bowl doesn’t cost much more than a fast-food meal, Tolivar pointed out, “and that, I think, is something that is attractive to more and more people every day.”

Moving forward, Cava will still choose to keep prices steady despite headwinds, CEO and cofounder Brett Schulman said during the company’s May 19 Q1 earnings call. The chain is looking “to absorb some of those fuel surcharges that we’re expecting and some other inflationary pressures and not pass [them] along to our guests,” he said.

That’s all part of maintaining a strong brand, Tolivar said. “Often,” she said, “you can be pressured by things that are happening externally” to “respond in ways that might have a short-term benefit but could have a negative long-term benefit for the brand.”

Fishing for the well-heeled. But Cava’s also using a “barbell” pricing strategy—targeting the more affluent consumers in addition to the value-minded ones. In 2023, 59% of its customers had household incomes over $100,000, while 37% belonged to households making $150,000 or more. In 2024, Cava introduced a slightly pricier protein—grilled steak—to its menu, and this April it brought out its first premium seafood option: salmon.

Salmon “is a bit of a margin headwind, because it is a premium item,” Tolivar said. But it lets the chain “have core offerings that are more accessible and affordable but also create premium experiences for those guests that are interested in that,” she said.

Novel items like salmon can keep foot traffic high. Cava aims for a “tentpole moment each year bracketed by some seasonal moments” such as bringing back roasted white sweet potatoes, Schulman said during the earnings call. “That is the balance we’re trying to strike, to have the right amount of newness and excitement for our guests without overcomplicating operations.”

Hands on. Getting to that “tentpole moment,” though, involves a process as long as the making of some feature films, Tolivar told us.

Over 18 to 24 months, she said, Cava’s teams examined every aspect of the new dish, from sourcing and food safety to cooking methods, flavor profiles, and consumer preferences. The fish filets are relatively easy for staff to prepare, she noted, taking just six minutes in the restaurants’ existing TurboChef ovens. Over the coming months, she and her team will look at metrics such as foot traffic to see whether the new protein is living up to expectations and whether it’s earned a permanent menu spot.

Though she keeps her eye on the numbers, Tolivar manages to keep one foot in the kitchen. “At a minimum, we spend time in our restaurants at least once a quarter, working with our team members,” she said. “I’ve worked closing shift, I’ve worked the grill, I’ve worked the line, I’ve been the cashier, you name it.”

Her time in-house showed her “how challenging it is to do what our team members do every day,” she said, adding, “I’ve worn the hat, and I think that makes me a better business leader.”