The restaurant industry just lost customers for eight months in a row. CAVA picked up almost 7% more in that same stretch.
The Mediterranean chain pulled in $438.3 million in revenue last quarter, up 32.2% from a year ago and well past Wall Street's $411 million estimate.
Same-store sales drove the growth, jumping 9.7%, with guest traffic alone contributing 6.8 points and price and menu mix adding the rest. That came on top of a 10.8% same-store sales gain in the same quarter last year.
Most chains growing same-store sales right now are doing it through price hikes. CAVA is doing it through volume - more guests are walking through the door, not just bigger checks.
That gap matters because traffic is the hardest line in this business to move. Industry traffic fell 2.3% in March, the eighth straight monthly drop tracked by Black Box Intelligence, while CAVA grew its traffic 6.8% in the same window.
CAVA opened 20 net new stores in the quarter to take its total to 459 - a 20.2% jump from last year - with new markets in Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Columbus.
CEO Brett Schulman called the results proof of "the structural strength of our business" and CAVA's spot as "the dominant leader in Mediterranean."
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CAVA now expects same-store sales growth between 4.5% and 6.5% for the year, up from a prior 3% to 5%.
Adjusted EBITDA guidance got the same lift - $181 million to $191 million, up from a prior $176 million to $184 million.
Adjusted EBITDA is a way to measure operating profit. It strips out taxes, interest, and one-off charges to show how much cash the core business is making.
The chain also bumped its new store opening plan to 75 to 77 for the year, up from 74 to 76.
Average revenue per store rose to $3.0 million from $2.9 million a year ago, with digital orders now making up 39.9% of sales.
Store-level profit margin held at 25.1%, even as higher delivery costs and wage spend pulled the other way. In dollar terms, restaurant-level profit grew 32.3% to $108.9 million.
Net income dipped to $23.6 million from $25.7 million last year on a higher tax rate.
Operating performance told a different story, with adjusted EBITDA - the cleaner read on operating health - jumping 37.6% to $61.7 million.
Free cash flow grew nearly six-fold to $15.5 million from $2.7 million in the same quarter last year, leaving CAVA sitting on $295.8 million in cash at the end of the period.
Investors didn't seem hung up on the dip in net income, with shares climbing 6.2% after hours to $82.95.
The restaurant industry is losing customers. CAVA is grabbing them.
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