Ron Shaich

These were two companies that emerged out of the DC market about the same time.

One was out there with a ton of press and a ton of built-up expectations.

That was Sweetgreen.

Kava was slower, more disciplined.

You know, I think Sweetgreen went in one direction with its real estate.

Kava stayed much more disciplined as it went forward.

Ultimately, they both went public.

I think that in the Sweetgreen IPO,

We see a case where a number of the investors sold fairly quickly.

It was a different headset.

Let's get this thing off the ground.

You saw a lot of very instant gratification for some of the folks involved in the IPO.

I think you see in Kava a very different approach.

We took a slower approach to that IPO, a much more disciplined approach to it.

And I think we were much more disciplined in the consistency of the brand and the brand integrity.

Concebessence, as we call it.

I think that you see the byproduct of it.

Today, I would gather that kava is going to market cap five times what sweet greens is worth, something in that order, four or five times.

Depends on, you know, but it's stayed in that range.

And I think that that value creation is a byproduct of the very real decisions we made in CAVA about staying disciplined, staying focused on concept essence, building something that really delivered for our team members first, for our guests second.