Company: CAVA
Filing Date: 2025-02-26
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001628280-25-007882
Chunk: 15

Company: CAVA GROUP, INC.
Filing Date: 2025-02-26
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 15
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 locations into CAVA Restaurants since our 2018 acquisition of Zoes Kitchen. These conversions helped drive the growth of our business. In fiscal 2024, we had 58 Net New CAVA Restaurant Openings. If we are unable to sustain the pace of new restaurant openings, which are primarily expected to be from greenfield expansions, our growth rate may decline. In addition, given the size and scale we have achieved, we expect our growth rates in percentage terms to moderate in the future. Therefore, our historical growth rates are not indicative of our future growth.

Our ability to open new restaurants depends on various factors, some of which are outside of our control. For example, delays in construction and increased construction costs, including as a result of macroeconomic factors, as well as delays in inspections, the receipt of necessary permits, and equipment availability, have caused, and are continuing to cause, a delay in opening restaurants, resulting in increased costs and lower than anticipated sales. Furthermore, while we work to manage cost overrun risks for our new restaurant development projects with detailed architectural plans, guaranteed or fixed price contracts, forward buys of certain equipment and materials, and close supervision by our executives and personnel, we have in the past experienced, and expect we will continue to experience, increased construction costs. In addition, we may not be able to anticipate and adapt to all of the changing demands that our planned expansion will impose on our existing digital infrastructure, including our restaurant management systems and back office technology systems and processes, as well as financial and management controls, and we may not be able to hire and retain the management and personnel necessary to support such expansion at a reasonable costs, or at all, any of which could harm our guest experience and our business. 

Our ability to manage our growth effectively will require us to continue to enhance these systems, processes, and controls and identify, hire, train, motivate, and retain management and operating personnel, particularly in new restaurant locations. In addition, we must maintain our culture as our operations expand and as we onboard new Team Members, as we believe our culture is a key competitive advantage and an important contributor to our success. Our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be negatively affected if we are unable to manage our growth effectively while preserving our culture.

We may not be able to successfully identify appropriate locations and develop and expand our operations in existing and new markets.

Our ability to successfully execute on our growth strategy requires us to identify target markets in which we can gain a foothold or expand our existing footprint on a