Everything Brett Schulman said on any show that made the record, most notable first. Each card names its show and opens the statement there.
Zoës Kitchen's same-store sales plummeted 12% right as CAVA's acquisition closed
“And when we were negotiating the deal, the sales were declining about three to four percent, same restaurant sales, you know, year over year. And I get this report just sent to my inbox, and I open it up, and it's -12.”
Schulman: DTC customer acquisition has become too expensive for online-only marketing
“Post pandemic, the, you know, cost of acquisition or just awareness on the internet or being a DTC brand has gotten really expensive and people have gotten back out in the world. And even with the changes in third party data, privacy laws, it's restricted the …”
Schulman: Scaling physical restaurant operations requires upfront capital unlike SaaS
“Scaling restaurants is not like scaling SAS software. It takes people. It takes process. It's building physical restaurants. You're building physical roasteries. So that takes capital and it's hard to scale these things. So being able to afford the capabilitie…”
Schulman: Walk-the-line formats create labor efficiencies that fund premium ingredients
“And one of the things that struck me that really helped us make the decision was that the walk the line format allowed very efficient labor costs. You know, it's the old Henry Ford production line. That allowed you to invest in high quality ingredients”
Panera founder Ron Shaich helped engineer CAVA's acquisition of Zoës Kitchen
“Zoës had approached him, and he said, you know, what do you think about if our investors put together the capital, we acquire it, and give it to you, Brett, and your team?”
CAVA locations generated nearly double the revenue of neighboring Zoës Kitchen stores
“We had a few Kava's that were across the street from a Zoe's, and we were doing almost twice the revenue, and that emboldened us to make that decision, and take Zoe's private.”
Schulman: Mediterranean Cuisine Is Next Major Large-Scale Cultural Food Category
“We see Mediterranean as the next big, large-scale cultural cuisine category, and we want Kava to be synonymous as the defining brand of that category.”
Schulman: Integrating Zoës Kitchen made 2019 his hardest career year
“When we bought a company, Zoe's Kitchen, back in 2018, right? Devin Strahan: Yeah, I remember. Brett Schulman: Man, 2019 was the hardest year of my career.”
Schulman: CAVA turned around Zoe's Kitchen by simplifying and doing fewer things
“What you don't do is often more important than what you do do. And that really helped us turn the tide in the challenges of Zoe's is when I finally figured that out and we simplified and focused and did fewer things a lot Better. And that helped us get out of …”
Schulman: CAVA's Mosaic location opened at twice previous locations' run rate
“And we had two hour long lines and the restaurant opened, you know, for its regular service the next day at twice the revenue run rate of the other restaurants that had opened and the other restaurants all started to grow in concert with it.”
Schulman: Zoës Kitchen had 240+ locations, 100% suburban Sunbelt
“Oh, over 240 locations. And a hundred percent of Zoe's portfolio was in the suburbs and the Sunbelt.”
Schulman: CAVA's Grocery Dips Predated Its Fast-Casual Restaurants
“The Consumer packaged goods, the dips and spreads being sold in grocery stores predated the fast casual.”
How I Built This 1