Cava Group goes ahead with IPO plans

Investing.com -- Cava Group is proceeding with its initial public offering, seeking to sell 14,444,444 shares at about $17 to $19 apiece.

The stock offering, led by JPMorgan, comes as fast-casual restaurants are recovering from the pandemic shutdowns. Cava is a Mediterranean inspired restaurant chain with 263 locations. In a securities filing on Monday, Cava said its total revenue rose from $45.4 million in fiscal 2016 to $564.1M in fiscal 2022, a 52.2% compound annual growth rate. Its total revenue rose from $159.0M in the first quarter of 2022 to $203.1M in the first quarter of 2023, an increase of 27.7%.

Cava bought Zoe's Kitchen in 2018 and has since converted 145 Zoe's locations into Cava restaurants, in addition to opening 51 new CAVA restaurants during such period, it said in a filing. "At the same time, we have successfully managed through the mid-to-high-single digit inflationary environment and were able to expand CAVA Restaurant-Level Profit Margin to 20.3% in fiscal 2022, despite only increasing our in-restaurant menu price by less than 5%," the company added.

Pending a successful roadshow, Cava would list on the NYSE under the symbol CAVA.

It has been a challenging year for stock debuts, with big deals including Johnson & Johnson's (NYSE:JNJ) spinoff of consumer product company Kenvue.