Cava Group


Cava Group is a privately held restaurant chain founded in 2006 in Rockville, Maryland, by Ted Xenohristos, Chef Dimitri Moshovitis and Ike Grigoropoulos focusing on casual Mediterranean cuisine with locations across the United States under the names Cava Grill. In 2018, the company bought Zoës Kitchen in a deal worth $300 million. The combined company is the largest restaurant operator in the Mediterranean category in the U.S. restaurant industry. As of April 2019, the company owns 330 restaurants.
Cava was founded in 2006 by first-generation Greek Americans Ike Grigoropoulos, Dimitri Moshovitis, and Ted Xenohristos. In 2009, Brett Schulman joined as CEO. Fishbowl Analytics named Cava Grill its top emerging restaurant brand in 2019.
The restaurant is piloting drive-thru-style pickups at several locations.
In addition to its restaurants, Cava makes a line of 10 dips and spreads that are available at all 474 Whole Foods Market locations in the United States.
In addition to its brand, the three founders still operate the original five locations under the Name Cava Mezze as a separate entity.
In the weeks following the Covid-19 pandemic, Grigoropoulos said revenue was down "85 percent."