Three Montgomery County natives who helped build CAVA from its local beginnings are celebrating a major milestone, as the Mediterranean fast-casual chain has officially reached 500 restaurants nationwide.
CAVA marked the milestone with the September 23 opening of its first Minnesota restaurant at 622 Washington Ave SE in Minneapolis. The opening expanded CAVA’s footprint to 30 states and Washington, DC, just 15 years after the company opened its first fast-casual location in Bethesda. All four co-founders, Ted Xenohristos, Ike Grigoropoulos, Chef Dimitri Moshovitis and CEO Brett Schulman, attended the Minneapolis celebration.
For CAVA, the road to 500 has deep Montgomery County roots. Xenohristos is a Paint Branch High School graduate, Grigoropoulos graduated Gaithersburg High School and Moshovitis attended Quince Orchard High School. The three first-generation Greek Americans initially launched the full-service Cava Mezze restaurant in Rockville in 2006 before eventually developing the fast-casual concept with Schulman.
The first fast-casual CAVA opened at 4832 Bethesda Ave at Bethesda Row in January 2011. Fifteen years later, that single restaurant has grown into a publicly traded national company with more than 15,000 employees. CAVA says it is currently ahead of schedule as it works toward a goal of at least 1,000 restaurants by 2032.
The growth has included plenty of experimentation and some very modest beginnings. In a recent video looking back at the company’s history (available below), the founders recalled that their Greek immigrant parents initially hoped they would pursue careers such as medicine or law rather than enter the restaurant business.
They also shared stories of improvising during the company’s early days. With a limited budget, the founders purchased headboards from Bed Bath & Beyond, cut off the legs and repurposed them as dividers for their restaurant. When they later began selling CAVA dips and spreads in grocery stores, they didn’t initially have commercial equipment to seal the containers and instead used handheld blow dryers.
CAVA eventually expanded beyond the DMV, taking what the founders described as a major leap by opening in California, roughly 3,000 miles from its home market. Expansion into New York and other markets followed, along with CAVA’s acquisition of Zoës Kitchen and continued growth of its packaged dips and dressings business.
Another major milestone arrived in 2023 when CAVA went public and its founders rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange. For the team, the moment provided an opportunity to bring along family, friends and early investors who had been part of the company’s journey.
Despite growing from one Bethesda fast-casual restaurant to 500 locations, the founders said their focus remains on sharing the Mediterranean food and hospitality they grew up with. CAVA describes its broader mission as bringing “heart, health, and humanity to food.”
The 500th opening also continued that community focus. During the Minneapolis celebration, CAVA presented a donation to The Food Group, the Community Day partner for the new restaurant. CAVA says its Community Day program has generated more than $1 million in monetary and food donations for organizations addressing food insecurity since 2019.
The company is already looking toward its next 500 restaurants. CAVA says new restaurants are currently generating more than $3 million in average annualized sales, and the company expects its workforce to grow from more than 15,000 employees today to more than 30,000 by 2032 as it continues its national expansion.
Dining and Cooking