Welcome to Chopping It Up. I'm your host, Mike Hallon, the senior Restaurant and Food Service Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. Our research and that a bi's five hundred analysts around the globe can be found exclusively on the Bloomberg terminal. Today, we're joined by Andy Rebin, chief Experience Officer at Cava. Thanks for joining me, Andy.
Hey, Mike, great to see you again.
Yeah. Man, it's been over a year and a half. We're long overdue for this episode. Man, it's great to finally catch up with you. Thank you again for having me.
Yeah.
For sure. Man, So when we met, you were the CMO at l Poyolco. Now you've been at Kava for almost a year and a half. Man, time flies. Can you talk about the culture that Brett and the team have built there.
For sure, Kava's culture is really aligned with our mission of bringing heart, health and humanity to food. It really drives everything we do. Everything we do is grounded in the Mediterranean Way, where food is at the center of connection. We implore a spirit of generosity to our guests, team members, in community. It's really ingrained in the culture. We have a special feature called the Love button, which I know
has gained some traction in social media. But if someone's having a bad day, we want to treat a regular and say thanks for coming in. And also some of our newer guests have the opportunity to experience that. We really create engaging experience through delicious, innovative and naturally good for you food. It helps people eat well and live well and it's really food without compromise. And our company culture is aligned with the heritage and values of our founders.
I know you mentioned Brett and Ted, Iike and Dimitri. They really focus on that generosity, warmth and welcoming everyone to our table. So it's a really beautiful culture and it was a huge reason why I joined the.
Organ So what's different about the new Project Soul store design.
Yeah, it's incredible. It really reflects elements of our heritage and culture. It makes our physical channel even more experiential and welcoming. Consumers still want to dine out, and Project Soul really allows us to re emphasize what it means to have Mediterranean hospitality. We reflected this in our new Wicker Park location, which features some of these elements, and we continue to refine the model we've rolled out a
few so far in twenty twenty four. You can actually check out our newest freestanding Project Soul location on McPherson Boulevard in Fort Worth, Texas, and you'll notice there's softer seating, increased greenery, and really a warmer brand palette to create a comfortable, welcoming environment and really better express our concept essence. So I'm really excited for you to check that one out, Mike.
Very cool. I'm looking to go plant shopping this weekend. Man, I need more greenery in my apartment.
I love it all right.
So you were CMO at Lpoil Loco. So how does your current role differ from your last one?
So current role is Chief Experience Officer. I lead the marketing, digital and catering teams and really focus on that end to end user journey from everything that the customer does
before they get into our restaurant. So all of our advertising, everything that would motivate a consumer to choose us, whether it be helping inform the menu strategy, really building the life cycle marketing capability through our loyalty program, and then building the off premise in group occation through catering and It's really a cool opportunity at Kava because it really
focuses on all elements of what that experience means. We're rapidly growing across the United States and really trying to build that experience from day one and even before consumers find out about the brand. It's a really great opportunity for us to build that journey and think about how all our different touch points are going to help inform the vision of cop for the future.
Awesome man. Yeah, and you see a lot about how it's bringing Mediterranean cuisine, so I guess to a lot of parts of the country that didn't have it prior. Do you have any data on how fast Mediterranean's growing in the US?
Yeah, Well, we believe Mediterranean is obviously the next major cultural cuisine category. It's ranked number one diet eight years running. As our nation has become more diverse, consumers are craving more bold, interesting flavors, and consumers are also increasingly focused on wellness but really unwilling to trade taste for health,
and Mediterranean definitely checks a lot of those boxes. We have over seventeen billion combinations at Kava, so it's one of those cuisine categories that you can dip your toe into lamb or Harisa chicken, or hummus or tasiki. It's fun. I love love the food. I can get something unique every single day. It's amazing.
No, it's cool, man. I'm a huge fan of Mediterranean food and cobs great. So, yeah, you don't have to sell me. Talk to me about the importance of value in this economy.
Yeah, value is very important. I think you've seen as fast food restaurant chains have become a little bit more expensive, the value equation of kava is becoming more reasonable for consumers to trade up. You know, many times you find two or three dollars difference between the menu prices, and when you think about kava. Our food is delicious. You bring in that Horisa chicken, you bring in hummus, rice,
super greens. It's really a full, complete meal. And many consumers can have one or two meals out of our food because our portions are very generous. And so you know, you think about what value means. It's really about consumer experience. It's about the food and really welcoming environment. And we do that at our restaurants and through our digital channels.
Awesome. Yeah, and I noticed no price hikes in California, right.
Yeah, We've we've maintained a very good price value experience equation in our California market for sure.
And that's good man. I mean, I've seen outperformance in the companies I cover. Unfortunately I don't cover Cave yet. I'm hoping soon. But you know, for Winkstop and Texas Roadhouse are two names that really come to mind that underpriced competitors, and it's really helped their traffic. Can you talk a little bit about how the IPO has impacted sales?
Yeah, it's difficult to tease out one thing as you look at our revenue growth, but the IPO clearly increased brand awareness and the interest which helps drive some of the sales on the near and long term. But you know, we've really focused on building what it means to be a category defining Mediterranean brand, and you know, the IPO was one of several different levers that I think we've pulled to really increased brand awareness across the United States.
We really have leaned into our social media. It's been a huge part of our growth strategy and it's been effective from a cost perspective as well as just making sure that people feel that accessibility and that personality, and so it's definitely been a combination of factors that has helped really increase that brand awareness.
I think I saw that customer awareness is about forty percent. How much has it have grown over the last few years.
Yeah, awareness is growing as we've expanded our presence across the country. We have more than three hundred and forty restaurants now in twenty five states in the District of Columbia, and like I stated earlier, we have an extremely passionate fan base on social media who have followed us and have reposted a lot of earned media has helped support that brand awareness as well as our CpG business has grown, so people are making the connection between the restaurant and
what we sell in CpG. So brand awareness has grown. It's been really exciting to see as we've opened up more locations and had a more well rounded media strategy.
Yeah awesome, I'm the Red Pepper Hummus for years.
Local that's awesome. So here, so yeah, thank you?
Yeah so yeah, yeah. Man, I'm customer. I've been a longtime customer, both in and outside the restaurant, dude, and this is just you know, This is a small sample size, this is my local kava, but it sure seems like the customers are getting younger.
Yeah, I mean, look, we have a broad appeal across ages and genders, geographies and market types. It's really one of the things that's made the company successful. We don't talk about the specific demographics, but we do do well among some of our younger consumers, and like I stated earlier, lots of diversity. From a background perspective, they really create
bold and interesting flavors over the more standard cuisine. Eating is a form of self expression, and so with our Mediterranean way hospitality, delicious and differentiated food, it clearly resonates with this cohort.
Yeah, there's definitely been They've definitely taken over my local kava for sure. Man grilled steak that was has been highly successful for you. I think even on the call, Brett said it was even more successful than you had expected. You know, is there anything interesting about who's ordering that the demographics of the customers that are ordering that order.
We don't really talk about the demographic deal, you know, detail for competitive reasons, but our menu with steak and it really has broad appeal. You know, we've seen it ordered at lunch, at dinner. It's light, it feels really good, especially when you pair it with our super greens. It's a really delicious entree to have throughout the day, and so we've seen customers order it at all day parts in all types of customer bases.
So I'm usually a Lamb meatball guy, So i haven't had the steak. Yeah, I'm going to have to try it.
Sounds like that might be dinner tonight in the Haleen household.
Dude, it might be. I you know, I'm we eat a lot of steak and ground beef here, so you know, when I go out, I try not to eat it. But yeah, I know what's going to happen. I'm going to get the grilled steak and it's can be awesome, But then I'm also going to be like I need now, i need Lamb meet Ball. So I think you might get an incremental visit from me this month.
Amazing, thank you.
So on the last Ernie's called, Brett mentioned there were some gaps in the menu that you're going to try to attempt to fill through innovation. Is there anything you could share about those gaps?
Yeah, I think to offer just a little clarity there. Guests have been asking for a beef option, so we saw a perceived gap and we felt we could fill it with steak. It's already something for there's really already something for everyone at Kava, and we really felt like steak was another opportunity to add to that. Everyday Craving shared this earlier, but seventeen billion possible combinations, and we really try to use our culinary authority and strength and
innovation to provide that newness for the guests. We really try to offer items that aren't available elsewhere and then put our spin on it. Grilled steak is obviously seasoned with our bold Mediterranean spices, sun dried tomatoes, smoky a lepo pepper, It's fired on our grill. You really can't find anything else like it, So I'm excited that you're gonna have it for dinner tonight. And then we recently came out with garlic ranch peda chips. It's our first
ever new peda chip flavor. Peda chips have been a cult favorite both in the restaurants and on social media, and we really felt like there was an opportunity to lean into it.
My son, he'll like to hear that he likes to peda chips. I'm going to give you one of my cooking secrets.
Man.
I use Aleppo on my steaks too, so it sounds like it's right up my alley. And you mentioned social media advertising is doing well for you. I guess where do you do? You know where have you been most successful on social media? And do you have any plans? Are there anything big coming up either this year and next?
Yeah? So social media continues to be a strong in cost effective marketing strategy for us, particularly with people in driving consideration. Our campaigns have been affected because they've been organic, authentic, and really expressed that genuine love guests have for Kava.
What I really like about it too is as we've opened up in new markets like Chicago, there was a really growing speculation about when we were getting ready to open, and once we opened, we had incredible amount of receptivity for that Wicker Park location. We had a organic video post by a guy by the name of Cody Premer who did something called make me your Favorite. It has over forty million views now and many of our brand fans were passionate before they work with us. So a
great example would be Lindsay Horan. She's captain of the US women's soccer team. Her and her team reached out to us heading into the Olympics, and she loves our food and incorporates it into her training regimen. And she has an extensive and growing following.
And I saw your testing some ads on connected TV. So what kind of av bump do you think you can get from National Advertising?
Yeah, we ran a very small test several months ago. It performed well, and we continue to learn and we continue to be focused on digital, social and earned media.
Yeah, it's something I'm going to be watching, you know, because you know, obviously it's more online and connected media now, but you know, TV ads still have an ROI and you know there's some examples of some chains. I once say when National man, they kind of blew up Sonic pop Eyes. You know, from what I know of Kava, it's always been a leader in terms of, you know, in restaurant technology, right and so I know that you have your fingers in a lot of different technologies right now.
Can you talk a little bit about the Connected Kitchen initiative?
Yeah, we're really in the second wave of our digital transformation at Kava and the Connected Kitchen initiative is just another example of our attempt to continue to lean into it. And so we're using data driven and gen AI tech to drive quality and consistency, increase order accuracy, and boost
our speed of service. So we're running a small pilot of AI video tech that monitors how quickly ingredients on the in restaurant makeline are being depleted, and it also alerts the team in real time for prep and cook batch amounts. So it's a really really neat technology and it's going to really help us as we continue to grow.
Okay, very cool, and there's been talk about some labor model improvements right I think is hourly turnover improved twenty eight percent in the second quarter.
Yeah, we're we're also doing some testing on labor deployment, so we're reallocating hours to deliver better food, better hospitality, and more efficient speed of service. This test is progressing. It's in twenty nine restaurant where net neutral labor dollars
and labor hours in the test locations. We're really focusing on more time to coach and train and more time to interact with guests and a more positive work environment and we'll continue testing throughout twenty twenty four, with hopefully the intent to rollout in twenty twenty five if the results meet the expectations.
All right, great, And then I also saw something about real time guess feedback technology. What's out of.
Yeah, we're doing restaurant health testing. That technology that really allows us to try to keep a finger on the pulse of the business down to the specific locations, and it really supports our teams in consistently delivering an exceptional guest experience.
Awesome. All right, So the most important question, what's your favorite kava order?
My favorite kava order spinach, brown rice, I get hummus, two scoops of eggplant, I do half horisa chicken, half roasted veggies, tomato, onion, tomato, cucumber, feta, pickled onions, avocado, and then I do either scub or I do Greek vinagrette. I have that down to a tea. That was the easiest question of the day.
You do have that? You do have that down to a tea? Because it's gonna take me a little while to think about everything. But now I'm a lamb meatball guy. I have I definitely herisa crazy feta and that red pepper Hummus pickles, hot peppers. I'm definitely missing some other stuff in there, but yeah, Covas CoV is great man. And you guys, you guys do a great job. Man. I I'm I'm very excited to continue following this story and hopefully covering it pretty soon. Well, listen, man, thanks
for joining me. This was a lot of fun. It's great to see you. You know, obviously our guests can't see you, but it was good to see you. It's been a while.
Great to see you too, Mike, Thank you so much.
Yeah, and I want to thank the audience for tuning in. If you liked the episode, please subscribe and leave us a review. Check back soon for another installment of Chopping It Up.