Fast-casual Mediterranean chain set to enter Austin, Texas, market
.svg?width=1280&auto=webp&quality=95&format=jpg&disable=upscale "Nation's Restaurant News")
Cava Group Inc. is working on another round of funding after passing the 50-unit mark for its fast-casual Cava concept, according to recent Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
The Washington, D.C.-based company, which raised $34.9 million in March 2017 and $44.3 million in September 2015, has filed for a $35 million investment round, according to the filings. The company said it had already raised $33.5 million so far in the latest round.
Fast-casual Cava has 52 units in eight states and the District of Columbia and is scheduled to enter the Austin, Texas, market this year.
The company said in announcing its earlier March 2017 investment round that its Series C funding came from existing investors, including the private-equity group Invus, along with venture-capital firm Revolution Growth and Swan & Legend. The three investors were also in the earlier Series B investment in September 2015.
The first Cava restaurant opened in 2011, in Bethesda, Md., after starting as a full-service restaurant in Rockville, Md., in 2006. Cava was created by childhood friends Ted Xenohristos, Ike Grigoropoulos and executive chef Dimitri Moshovitis.
The company also sells a line of dips and spread, including hummus and tzatziki, in more than 200 Whole Foods Markets.
The most recent filing notes for the first time that the Cava board includes Ron Shaich, the former CEO of St. Louis-based Panera Bread Co., and Karen Kochevar, retired partner and former chief financial officer at Union Square Hospitality Group, which created such concepts as Shake Shack, Union Square Café and Gramercy Tavern.
Cava was a Nation’s Restaurant News Hot Concepts honoree in 2015.
Contact Ron Ruggless at [email protected]
Follow him on Twitter: @RonRuggless
