CAVA CEO Brett Schulman shares the blueprint for the chain’s early growth
Take-Away with Sam Oches
Nation's Restaurant News
4.9 • 17 Ratings
🗓️ 28 October 2025
⏱️ 40 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode of Take-Away with Sam Oches, Sam talks with Brett Schulman, cofounder and CEO at CAVA, the Mediterranean fast casual concept that has grown to more than 400 locations across the U.S. Brett sat down with Sam during the Investment Summit portion of the recent CREATE Event for Emerging Restaurateurs, where he shared the blueprint for CAVA’s remarkable growth, which started back in 2010 as a fast-casual offshoot of a full-service Mediterranean restaurant. In this conversation, you’ll learn more about why you should be patient to find the right investor, why setting expectations early is critical to building a business, and why the things you say no to are more important than things that get a yes.
In this conversation, you’ll find out why:
- If you have a good product, brand, and team, money will find you
- You should be patient to find an investor who is aligned with your interests
- Set your expectations early for the kind of business you hope to build
- Consider how you can achieve escape velocity within your market
- Restaurant leadership is a matter of solving the next problem in front of you
- What you say no to is usually more important than what you say yes to
Have feedback or ideas for Take-Away? Email Sam at sam.oches@informa.com.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | 55% of Gen Z and millennials say social media reviews are the top reason they try a restaurant, |
| 0:06.1 | and 73% have visited a restaurant in the last three months because of one. |
| 0:10.5 | Do you have timely reviews working for you? |
| 0:13.0 | Quick turn influencer review campaigns from Bell Communication can fill tables fast. |
| 0:18.0 | Visit bellcommunication.com slash influence to learn more. |
| 0:24.0 | Welcome to Takeaway with Sam Ocas, a podcast for leaders of growing restaurant companies |
| 0:28.2 | who are looking to take their businesses to the next level. In nearly two decades covering |
| 0:33.2 | restaurants, I've gained access to some of this industry's most influential decision |
| 0:37.4 | makers, and I'm letting you in on the conversations. |
| 0:40.8 | In today's episode, you'll hear from the CEO of one of the most exciting restaurant |
| 0:45.3 | chains in America about how he and his partners successfully grew their business, and you'll |
| 0:50.9 | get a step-by-step process for how they funded that growth. |
| 0:54.5 | Brett Shulman is the co-founder and chief executive officer for Kava, |
| 0:58.7 | the Mediterranean fast casual concept that has grown to more than 400 locations across the U.S. |
| 1:04.9 | Brett sat down with me at our recent Investment Summit portion of the Create Event for Emerging |
| 1:10.0 | Restaurateurs, where he shared the |
| 1:12.1 | blueprint for Kava's remarkable growth, which started back in 2010 as a fast casual |
| 1:17.8 | offshoot of a full-service Mediterranean restaurant. In this conversation, you'll learn more about |
| 1:23.5 | why you should be patient to find the right investor, why setting expectations early is critical to building a business, |
| 1:30.2 | and why the things you say no to are more important than the things that get a yes. |
| 1:35.7 | If you learn something from this episode, |
| 1:37.5 | go follow, take away wherever you're listening, and leave some feedback. |
... |
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