Cava lifts full-year outlook after 32.2% revenue growth in first quarter

Cava’s latest quarter was less about one strong sales print than about how the company keeps turning traffic into profit without leaning hard on price. Same-restaurant sales rose 9.7% in the first quarter of fiscal 2026, driven by 6.8% guest traffic growth, while revenue climbed 32.2% to $434.4 million and net income reached $23.6 million.

That mix matters on the line. When a fast-casual chain is bringing in more guests without depending on big menu hikes, the pressure shifts to throughput, prep discipline, and labor scheduling. Cava said its restaurant-level profit came in at $108.9 million, with a 25.1% margin, and digital revenue made up 39.9% of sales. Average unit volume was about $3.0 million, up from $2.9 million a year earlier, a sign that each store is being asked to do more with the same basic footprint.

The company also opened 20 net new restaurants in the quarter, bringing its total to 459 locations, a 20.2% increase from a year earlier. On May 19, Cava raised its full-year outlook to 75 to 77 net new openings and same-restaurant sales growth of 4.5% to 6.5%, up from its prior forecast of 74 to 76 openings and 3.0% to 5.0% comp growth. For managers, that kind of growth can mean more hiring, more training, and more pressure to keep the line moving when volume spikes.

The quarter was Cava’s strongest comparable-sales result since the first quarter of fiscal 2025, when same-restaurant sales grew 10.8%. That earlier period included 7.5% guest traffic growth and 3.3% from menu price and product mix, and the current quarter again showed that traffic, not just pricing, is doing much of the work. Industry coverage has said Cava has kept menu price increases to a minimum amid affordability concerns, which can help with guest counts but leaves little room for slippage in execution.

That is why Cava’s numbers land differently for restaurant workers than a standard earnings beat. A brand posting 6.8% traffic growth while preserving a 25.1% restaurant-level margin is usually squeezing harder on staffing efficiency, training, and consistency at the unit level. The question for the broader industry is whether that is a durable operating model or a Cava-specific stretch of momentum. Chipotle’s same-store sales were up 0.5% with traffic up 0.6%, while Sweetgreen’s comparable sales fell nearly 13% and traffic dropped more than 11%, underscoring how uneven the fast-casual market has become.