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Dive Brief:
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Cava's shift to a loyalty model where customers earn and bank points is paying off with greater engagement, co-Founder and CEO Brett Schulman said on a Q1 2025 earnings call last week. The program originally followed a “spend X, get Y” format but relaunched with a points-based system last October.
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The restaurant’s loyalty program is adding about 50,000 members per week and approaching 8 million total members, according to Schulman. The percentage of total revenue coming from loyalty members is up 3.4% since the program relaunched.
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Cava plans to test a tiered loyalty structure that can better tailor benefits to customer preferences starting later this year.
Dive Insight:
Cava is using loyalty to bring new consumers into its ecosystem while leaning into the in-restaurant experience to deepen its relationships with existing customers.
“To deliver the best guest experience possible, we remain focused on our third pillar: running great restaurants every location, every shift,” Schulman said during the call. “Consistency, efficiency, quality and hospitality are integral to our operations, and we continue to invest in initiatives that elevate performance in each of these areas.”
Cava is maintaining its focus on the human touch, backed by technology, to help the company achieve these hospitality goals, according to Schulman.
“A great guest experience at Cava begins with a great team,” Schulman said. “We remain deeply committed to building a workplace that fosters growth, leadership and long-term career development.”
The restaurant chain’s revamped scheduling model has improved productivity throughout the day, according to Schulman. Cava is redistributing hours to make shifts less frenetic and reduce the staffing holes that keep managers and workers stuck back in the kitchen.
“That frees our team members up to deliver that human connection and get out into the dining room, do table touches, have more guest-facing interaction, and have a less stressful shift,” Schulman said. “So, we're very pleased with what we've seen to date.”
While the early results are promising, Schulman still sees room to adjust scheduling practices and drive greater productivity.
Cava’s Connected Kitchen initiative, which includes display screens that help cooks determine how much food to prepare at a given time based on historical data, is likewise aimed at improving the in-restaurant experience.