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Cava Group Inc. (NYSE: CAVA), the parent company of Cava, a Mediterranean fast-casual restaurant brand, announced it is opening up to 68 new U.S. locations in fiscal 2025, after reporting better-than-expected first quarter earnings results. Cava, also known as Cava Grill, currently operates 382 locations across the United States, in 26 states and Washington, D.C. (as of the close of Q1). 2024 was Cavas first full calendar year as a public company. While Cava told Fast Company it does not release a full list of future locations, a look at the website shows restaurants in the following cities are “coming soon: Phoenix, AZ Huntington Beach, CA Plantation, FL Bel Air, MD Burlington, NC Charlotte, NC Cava told Fast Company of the targeted 64 to 68 new restaurants it plans to open this year, it has already opened 15 net new locations (in Q1) representing an 18.3% increase in total restaurants year over year. Those are in the following states: Florida (Ocala, Palm Harbor, Hialeah) New Jersey (East Brunswick, Union, Marlton) Massachusetts (Chelmsford, Chestnut Hill) Louisiana (Lafayette, New Orleans) Texas Virginia Indiana North Carolina New York The company previously said it wants to reach 1,000 locations by 2032. At the same time many fast-food chains and casual-dining restaurants are struggling, Cava’s growth stands out. Chief Financial Officer Tricia Tolivar told CNBC that over the last few quarters, Cava has found it’s hitting a sweet spot for customers who are trading up from fast food to purchase Cavas healthy bowls and pitas, while trading down, seeing it as cheaper than other casual-dining options. Cava cofounder and CEO Brett Schulman said the chain has purposely priced food items for the current economic times, while focusing on healthy food and hospitality. “At a time when guests are being more selective about where they dine, the appeal of our Mediterranean cuisine continues to resonate with the modern consumer,” Schulman told Fast Company. “We’ve also stayed focused on delivering our unique value proposition, investing in our guests, and underpricing inflation. We offer a warm, welcoming environment that fosters a genuine human connection. Its why we continue to drive traffic and sales growth, crossing $1 billion in revenue in the past 12 months.” Speaking of revenue, here’s a look at Cava’s first-quarter earnings numbers: Revenue grew 28.2% to $328.5 million, compared with $256.3 million in the prior year quarter Same restaurant sales growth of 10.8%, including guest traffic growth of 7.5% Cava Group net income of $25.7 million, compared with $14.0 million of net income and $11.9 million of adjusted net income in the prior year quarter Despite a strong quarter, Cava’s same-store sales forecast of a 6% to 8% increase remained consistent with last quarter, and could be one reason shares were down about 3% in afternoon trading on Friday. As Fast Company previously reported, while Cavas revenue grew 33% in 2024 along with a 9% jump in traffic, with same-restaurant sales up 13%, last quarter the chain forecast slower growth in the later half of fiscal 2025.
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E-Commerce
Novo Nordisk announced Friday that it would part ways with its longtime CEO, who steered the company into an unprecedented boom time for weight-loss drugs. The Ozempic makers chief executive, Lars Fruergaard Jrgensen, first joined the company as an economist in 1991. Jrgensen has served as Novo Nordisks CEO since 2017, leading the company before the current gold rush in weight-loss drug development was imaginable. Novo Nordisk cited market challenges and its declining share price in a press release announcing the leadership shake-up. Jrgensen will stay on as CEO temporarily for an undetermined period of time to support a smooth transition as the company looks for his replacement. Novo Nordisks value more than quintupled between 2017 and 2024, but the companys shares have fallen sharply since late last year, weighed down by Big Pharma rivals catching up and the proliferation of compounding pharmacies handing out affordable knockoffs of its signature drugs amid supply shortages. First out of the gate but struggling to stay ahead As a 100-year old company focused on treating diabetes since day one, Novo Nordisk initially enjoyed a first-mover advantagebut that edge has faded. Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide drug is in a class of drugs known as GLP-1 agonists, which simulate a hormone that would naturally be released during digestion. Its drug, marketed as Ozempic, was originally developed to treat type 2 diabetes. In 2021, the Food and Drug Administration approved Wegovy, a version of Novo Nordisks medication designed for weight loss and the first drug in that category to be approved since 2014. Novo Nordisks American competitor Eli Lilly made up ground quickly, securing FDA approval for its diabetes drug Mounjaro and its weight-management counterpart Zepbound in 2022 and 2023, respectively. Eli Lilly shares have soared since those drugs started hitting the market, showing no sign of flagging. Jrgensen was well aware that Novo Nordisk would need to push an aggressive pace of drug development to stay ahead. In late 2023, the company announced that it would buy a startup developing weight management drugs for $1.07 billion, just one massive deal in a flurry of acquisitions meant to shore up its defenses. A drug for everything To stay ahead, Novo Nordisk is pushing its semaglutide treatments into other areas of medicine. Cardiologists started being interested in GLP-1s, Jrgensen told Fast Company in 2023. The whole medical understanding of the link between obesity and diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and all of these cardiometabolic diseases is being understood now. Last year, the FDA approved Wegovy to reduce the risk of heart disease, and in January Ozempic got the green light for treating kidney disease. For semaglutide drugsand their counterparts from rival companiesosteoarthritis, Alzheimers disease, liver disease, and even addiction are all in play in the race for the next big thing. This week, the company announced a $2.2 billion partnership with Bay Area biotech startup Septerna to develop a pill form of its weight-loss and diabetes drugs. Novo Nordisk characterized Jrgensens departure as a mutual agreement but noted that the change was the wish of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, an independent nonprofit that controls the companyan ownership structure that is common among large Danish businesses. The foundation is designed to steer leadership from a long-term perspective and also doles out large scientific grants on topics ranging from endocrinology to climate-adapted soil. Lars Rebien Srensen, who chairs the Novo Nordisk Foundation, will join its board as an observer while the company seeks a new CEO. Srensen, Novo Nordisk’s CEO from 2000 to 2016, is expected to be nominated for a seat on the board during an annual meeting in 2026. We think, of course, in delivering here and now, but equally we think in decades forward, Jrgensen told Fast Company in 2023, describing the foundations role.
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E-Commerce
In February, the newly appointed chair of the Federal Communications Commission opened a probe into Verizon just as the company was awaiting approval for a sizable acquisition. The telecom giant had announced plans last fall to purchase internet provider Frontier in a $20 billion deal, which was under review by the FCC. Verizon has now made the decision to cut its DEI programs, seemingly in response to FCC chair Brendan Carr’s investigation into its diversity practices. In a letter to the agency obtained by Reuters, Verizon disclosed that the company would scrub employee trainings of any references to DEI, along with changing its practices around hiring, supplier diversity, and corporate sponsorships. This afternoon, barely a day after receiving the letter from Verizon, the FCC announced that the acquisition of Frontier had been approved. According to Reuters, Verizon is eliminating workforce representation goals and will no longer tie compensation for managers to progress on hiring women and underrepresented employees. The company is also taking down its public page on “diversity and inclusion” and will no longer use the term DEI in its external messaging. (Verizon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.) Verizon conceded in its letter that “some DEI policies and practices could be associated with discrimination.” In a statement, Carr applauded Verizon’s decision, calling it a “good and important step forwardone that promotes equal opportunity, nondiscrimination, and the public interest.” Verizon is hardly the first company to divest from its DEI commitments or make significant changes to those programs. Since January, President Trump has issued a wide range of executive orders targeting DEI programs across the federal government and private sector. Many major employers have pulled back on DEI to shield against potential litigation, accelerating a shift that had already been underway since the Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action in 2023. Like Verizon, a number of companies have stopped tying executive compensation to diversity metrics, while tech giants like Meta and Google have also eliminated representation goals. It’s not yet clear which corporate sponsorships will be impacted by the changes at Verizon, but other companies have stopped sponsoring Pride events. Still, Verizon’s decision stands out as an example of how the private sector is responding to explicit pressure from the Trump administration to stamp out DEI programs. In an interview with CNBC, Carr was direct about what companies would need to do if they were seeking FCC approval. We’ve told everybody that’s trying to do deals before the FCC that they need to end their own promotion of invidious forms of DEI,” he said. Carr also specifically noted that the agency would be willing to block Verizon’s deal with Frontier over the company’s DEI practices. The FCC has already launched similar probes into Comcast and Disney to investigate their DEI practices. Paramount’s negotiations with the FCC over its proposed merger with Skydance reportedly involved a commitment to steer clear of DEI programs, according to the Wall Street Journalin line with changes the company already made earlier this year. Other commissioners at the agency have been critical of Carr’s investigations into DEI practices. “Stoking partisan culture wars is not the FCCs job,” FCC commissioner Anna Gomez said following the probe into Comcast. In a statement, FCC commissioner Geoffrey Starks added that from what I know, this enforcement action is out of our lane and out of our reach.”
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E-Commerce
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