If you have eaten at a Cava restaurant in the last year, you already know what the buzz is about. The bright Mediterranean bowls, the assembly-line format, the customizable pitas and poke-style plates — it is a concept that has taken America’s fast-casual dining scene by storm. But Cava is not just a popular lunch spot. It is now a $10.5 billion publicly traded company that just crossed $1 billion in annual revenue for the first time in its history, is racing toward 1,000 restaurants by 2032, and is being called by many analysts the next Chipotle.
So who actually owns Cava? The answer starts with three childhood friends who grew up cooking Greek food, runs through a $318 million IPO that nearly doubled on its first day of trading, and ends with the world’s biggest institutional investors holding the largest stakes in one of America’s most exciting restaurant stories.
What Is Cava?
Cava Group, Inc. owns and operates a chain of Mediterranean-inspired fast-casual restaurants offering customizable menu items — bowls, pitas, salads — built around fresh ingredients and bold flavors rooted in Greek and broader Mediterranean cuisine. The company also produces dips, spreads, and dressings sold in grocery stores nationwide under its CAVA Foods consumer packaged goods segment.
CAVA operates a company-owned restaurant model, with 439 restaurants at fiscal year-end 2025 and 459 restaurants after the first quarter of 2026. The company is headquartered in Washington, D.C.
The numbers speak for themselves. For the first time in its history, revenue surpassed $1 billion for a full fiscal year in 2025, growing 22.5% year over year. The company opened 72 net new restaurants and delivered same-restaurant sales growth of 4.0%.
Who Owns Cava in 2026?
Cava Group, Inc. is a publicly traded company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol CAVA. It has no single private parent company and no controlling family. Ownership is distributed across institutional investors, company insiders, and public shareholders.
Cava Group (NYSE: CAVA) is owned by approximately 94.46% institutional shareholders and 30.77% insiders — with Swan Hospitality LLC being the largest individual shareholder, owning 9.62 million shares representing approximately 8.27% of the company.
The current CEO and co-founder is Brett Schulman, who has led the company since 2010 and guided it through its landmark 2023 IPO. The board is chaired by Ron Shaich, founder of Act III Holdings and the man behind Panera Bread — one of the most respected names in American restaurant history.
Who Owns Cava — Ownership and Key Stakeholders Table
| Shareholder / Party | Type | Ownership Stake | Key Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Vanguard Group | Largest Institutional Shareholder | Largest institutional position | Passive index fund giant; top holder of NYSE: CAVA |
| BlackRock, Inc. | Major Institutional Shareholder | Significant position | World’s largest asset manager; holds via index funds and ETFs |
| State Street Global Advisors | Institutional Investor | Significant position | Major passive index fund investor |
| Swan Hospitality LLC | Largest Individual Shareholder | ~8.27% (9.62M shares) | Linked to early CAVA investors; shares valued at ~$815 million |
| Brett Schulman | Co-Founder and CEO | ~1.3% | Co-founded CAVA in 2010; led IPO; runs day-to-day operations |
| Ted Xenohristos | Co-Founder and Chief Concept Officer | Part of insider stake | One of three original founders; shapes food and brand identity |
| Ike Grigoropoulos | Co-Founder | Part of insider stake | Original founder; childhood friend of Ted and Dimitri |
| Dimitri Moshovitis | Co-Founder | Part of insider stake | Original founder; helped launch Cava Mezze in 2006 |
| Ron Shaich / Act III Holdings | Board Chairman & Early Investor | Significant insider stake | Founder of Panera Bread; chairs CAVA’s board of directors |
| Public Shareholders | Retail Investors | Remaining shares | Anyone can buy CAVA stock on the NYSE |
The Origin Story: Three Friends, One Mediterranean Dream
The story of Cava is one of the most genuinely heartwarming founding stories in modern American business — because it started not with venture capital or MBA spreadsheets, but with childhood friends who just loved cooking food from their culture.
Cava’s founding story began in 2006 when three childhood friends — Ted Xenohristos, Ike Grigoropoulos, and Dimitri Moshovitis — opened Cava Mezze in Rockville, Maryland, aiming to bring authentic Mediterranean mezze and communal dining to the United States. Their Greek-immigrant backgrounds and culinary expertise shaped the brand’s early direction.
The original Cava Mezze was a full-service sit-down restaurant — not the fast-casual bowl chain you see today. But the founders quickly realized that the flavors and ingredients they were using could translate beautifully into a faster, more accessible format that could scale nationally.
The founders translated family recipes into a restaurant, then pivoted to a fast-casual assembly model in 2011 to serve a broader lunch crowd. That pivot — from a sit-down Greek restaurant to a Chipotle-style build-your-own-bowl concept — changed everything.
In 2010, the founders brought in Brett Schulman as CEO and fourth co-founder to professionalize the business, lead fundraising, and execute the fast-casual rollout. It was the decision that transformed a beloved neighborhood restaurant into a national brand.
The Zoës Kitchen Acquisition That Changed Everything
Cava’s path to national scale was accelerated by one bold strategic move — a massive acquisition that gave it the real estate footprint it needed to grow fast.
In 2018, Cava acquired Zoës Kitchen — a large Mediterranean fast-casual chain — in a major platform move that expanded its store footprint and conversion opportunity. Zoës Kitchen had hundreds of locations across the United States but was struggling to compete in an increasingly crowded fast-casual market. Cava bought it and began converting those locations into Cava restaurants — effectively shortcutting years of organic growth and real estate development.
This was the move that set up the 2023 IPO. By the time Cava went public, it had a proven national footprint, strong unit economics, and a brand that was resonating powerfully with health-conscious American consumers.
The 2023 IPO: The Restaurant World’s Most Exciting Debut
Cava completed its IPO in June 2023, listed on the New York Stock Exchange under CAVA, raising approximately $318 million at an IPO price of $22 per share.
The market’s reaction was electric. The stock nearly doubled on its first day of trading — one of the strongest restaurant IPO debuts in recent memory. Investors saw exactly what the founders had been building: a scalable, culturally resonant, health-forward brand with the kind of unit economics and growth trajectory that comes along once in a generation.
CAVA trades as a large-cap restaurant growth company with a current market cap of approximately $10.5 billion. Its stock trades at $90.34 as of May 2026.
How Big Is Cava’s Business in 2026?
The growth numbers coming out of Cava are some of the most impressive in all of American retail food.
Fiscal 2025 CAVA revenue was $1,169.3 million, up 22.5% year over year. Net new CAVA Restaurant Openings of 72, bringing total CAVA Restaurants to 439 — a 19.6% increase year over year. Same Restaurant Sales increased by 4.0%. Average Unit Volume (AUV) was $2.9 million. Digital Revenue Mix was 37.9%.
Q1 2026 revenue rose 32.2% to $434.4 million as new units and same-restaurant sales growth compounded. The company had 459 restaurants after the first quarter of 2026.
The target is clear and ambitious: Cava is executing an aggressive rollout of 50–60 new restaurants yearly under “Project 1000”, aiming for 1,000 U.S. sites by 2032.
Who Is Brett Schulman? The Man Running Cava
Brett Schulman is the CEO, President, and co-founder of Cava Group — the man who took a beloved neighborhood restaurant in Rockville, Maryland and built it into a $10 billion national brand.
Brett Schulman co-founded CAVA in 2010 and has served as its Chief Executive Officer, President, and Director ever since. Before establishing the company, he worked as a Partner and COO at Snikiddy Snacks and previously held financial leadership positions at FBR Securities and Alex Brown.
Schulman owns approximately 1.3% of the company — a meaningful stake that keeps his personal financial interests aligned with every shareholder. Under his leadership, Cava has gone from a handful of Maryland restaurants to a publicly traded company with nearly 460 locations, $1.17 billion in revenue, and a roadmap to 1,000 restaurants within a decade.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q1. Who owns Cava restaurant in 2026?
Cava Group, Inc. (NYSE: CAVA) is a publicly traded company owned by institutional investors led by Vanguard and BlackRock, with founders and insiders holding approximately 30.77% combined.
Q2. Who founded Cava and when?
Cava was founded in 2006 by three childhood friends — Ted Xenohristos, Ike Grigoropoulos, and Dimitri Moshovitis — as Cava Mezze in Rockville, Maryland.
Q3. Who is the CEO of Cava in 2026?
Brett Schulman is the co-founder, CEO, and President of Cava Group, a role he has held since 2010 when he joined the founding team.
Q4. When did Cava go public?
Cava completed its IPO in June 2023 on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: CAVA), raising approximately $318 million at $22 per share — the stock nearly doubled on its first day of trading.
Q5. How much revenue does Cava make?
Cava reported $1.169 billion in revenue for fiscal year 2025 — the first time in its history it crossed the $1 billion annual revenue milestone, growing 22.5% year over year.
Q6. How many Cava restaurants are there in 2026? Cava operates 459 restaurants as of Q1 2026 across the United States, with plans to reach 1,000 locations by 2032 under its “Project 1000” expansion strategy.
Q7. Who is the largest shareholder of Cava?
Swan Hospitality LLC is the largest individual shareholder with approximately 8.27% of shares. The largest institutional shareholder is The Vanguard Group, followed by BlackRock and State Street.
Q8. Does Cava sell products in grocery stores?
Yes. Cava’s CAVA Foods segment produces and sells dips, spreads, and dressings in major national retailers including Target, giving the brand a consumer packaged goods presence beyond its restaurants.
Cava Group, Inc. is a publicly traded company (NYSE: CAVA) with no single controlling owner. The company was founded in 2006 by three Greek-American childhood friends — Ted Xenohristos, Ike Grigoropoulos, and Dimitri Moshovitis — as Cava Mezze in Rockville, Maryland. Brett Schulman joined as CEO and co-founder in 2010, and the brand pivoted to fast-casual dining in 2011 before acquiring Zoës Kitchen in 2018 and completing a landmark $318 million IPO in June 2023.
Today, the largest shareholders are institutional giants including The Vanguard Group, BlackRock, and State Street, alongside founding insiders and the largest individual shareholder, Swan Hospitality LLC (~8.27%). The company generated $1.17 billion in revenue in 2025, operates 459 restaurants as of Q1 2026, and is on a mission to reach 1,000 locations by 2032. At a market cap of $10.5 billion, Cava is not just a lunch spot anymore — it is one of the most valuable restaurant brands in America.