CAVA Group raised its fiscal 2026 guidance for pre-opening costs to $28.5 million to $29.5 million, from $22.0 million to $22.5 million in August, while its guidance for net new restaurant openings moved up by one, to 76 to 78, according to its third-quarter results release filed on 4 November. At the midpoints, that is about 30% more pre-opening spending for one more opening, by our arithmetic.
Per planned opening, the guided pre-opening bill rose from about $293,000 to about $377,000, by our arithmetic. CAVA, the Mediterranean fast-casual chain, ended the quarter with 500 restaurants.
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The key insight: CAVA now guides about 30% more pre-opening spending for one more net new opening in 2026, about $377,000 per planned opening against about $293,000 in August, by our arithmetic, while third-quarter same restaurant sales rose 3.1%.
Pre-opening costs, which CAVA reports outside restaurant-level profit, were $8.4 million in the third quarter, against $4.9 million a year earlier, about 70% higher. CAVA opened 24 net new restaurants in the quarter, against 17. That is about $351,000 of pre-opening costs per net new opening, against about $291,000, by our arithmetic. Pre-opening costs can come before an opening, so these per-opening figures are approximate.
Over the first forty weeks of the year CAVA booked $21.3 million of pre-opening costs and added 61 net new restaurants. The new guidance leaves about $7.2 million to $8.2 million of pre-opening costs for the rest of the year, alongside 15 to 17 more net openings, by our arithmetic.
The release says the restaurants opened during or after the third quarter of 2025 “are exceeding our performance expectations”. Average unit volume was $3.1 million, against $2.9 million.
Pre-opening costs per opening, from CAVA Group’s third-quarter 2026 results release filed on 4 November 2026. Full-year guidance midpoints per planned opening: about $293,000 in August, about $377,000 in November. Third-quarter pre-opening costs per net new opening: about $291,000 in 2025, about $351,000 in 2026. All per-opening figures are our arithmetic and approximate.
What Was Posted on X
After-hours movers:
$APP +19%: Q4 guide above Street $COHR +8%: data center & comms sales +79% $JOBY +7%: Air Force deals expanded
$BROS -19%: EBITDA guide cut as capex rises $FSLY -17%: revenue chief to retire in 2027 $CAVA -11%: Cyclospora outbreak cut same-store sales $SNAP -9%: 30M paid subs, but ad growth anemic $HUBS -8%: Q4 revenue guide flat with Q3 $FIG -7%: AI push weighing on margins
Wall St Engine’s list of after-hours movers on 4 November, which put CAVA shares down 11% and summarised the reason as a Cyclospora outbreak cutting same-store sales. CAVA’s release says Cyclospora and broader produce concerns cut same restaurant sales by about 150 basis points.
Same-Restaurant Sales and the Cyclospora Hit
Same restaurant sales rose 3.1%, after 9.0% in the second quarter and 9.7% in the first. CAVA says same restaurant sales “decreased by approximately 150 basis points due to the impact of Cyclospora and broader concerns around fresh produce consumption”. Menu price and product mix added 3.0%, with “slightly positive Guest Traffic”.
CAVA Revenue rose 22.1% to $353.7 million. Restaurant-level profitmargin fell 120 basis points to 23.4%, which the release attributes to “incremental labor investments, a higher mix of third-party delivery, and investments in repairs and maintenance”. Restaurant-level profit per restaurant operating week was about $14,270, against about $14,580, by our arithmetic.
Wall St Engine’s list of after-hours movers on X put CAVA shares down 11% and summarised the reason as “Cyclospora outbreak cut same-store sales”.
The Guide, Line by Line
CAVA raised its full-year same restaurant sales guidance to 6.0% to 7.0%, from 4.5% to 6.5%. It narrowed restaurant-level profitmargin guidance to 23.7% to 24.0%, from 23.7% to 24.3%, and adjusted EBITDA guidance to $184 million to $189 million, from $181 million to $191 million. The adjusted EBITDA midpoint moved from $186 million to $186.5 million, by our arithmetic.
Third-quarter net income was $13.2 million, against $14.7 million, and adjusted EBITDA rose 5.7% to $42.3 million. Free cash flow for the year to date was $37.1 million, on $181.6 million of operating cash flow and $144.5 million of property and equipment purchases. Digital revenue mix was 38.5%.
As we read the guidance table, the openings plan barely moved while the money budgeted to open restaurants rose by about $6.75 million, by our arithmetic; the release does not say what the extra spending is for.
As we read the segment table, growth came mostly from new units: CAVA Revenue rose 22.1% while same restaurant sales rose 3.1%, and the release says the newer restaurants are exceeding its expectations.
Brett Schulman, CAVA co-founder and CEO, Q3 2026 release, 4 November 2026
“In the third quarter, despite broader industry pressures, we continued to gain market share, expand our footprint, and see strong performance from our new restaurants”
Three Implications
FOR NEW RESTAURANTS Third-quarter pre-opening costs were about $351,000 per net new opening, against about $291,000 a year earlier, by our arithmetic.
FOR EXISTING RESTAURANTS Same restaurant sales rose 3.1%, and CAVA says Cyclospora and broader produce concerns cut them by about 150 basis points.
FOR THE FULL YEAR CAVA raised same restaurant sales guidance to 6.0% to 7.0% and narrowed adjusted EBITDA guidance to $184 million to $189 million.
The framework says: “E-commerce, social, fintech, digitalmarketing, software-as-a-service all get amplified rather than replaced.”
As we read it, CAVA sits at the edge of that pattern: digital orders, including app and third-party delivery, were 38.5% of CAVA Revenue, and the release says third-party delivery lowers the margin rate while adding margin dollars. The release does not mention AI, and the framework does not discuss CAVA.
The release does not say why the pre-opening guidance rose by more than the openings guidance, or how much of it relates to restaurants opening after 2026. It gives no estimate of how long the Cyclospora effect lasts. CAVA’s 10-Q was not on EDGAR when we checked, so its risk factors are not reviewed here, and we did not use the earnings call. The share move is as reported by Wall St Engine.
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CAVA now guides about 30% more pre-opening spending for one more opening this year, about $377,000 per planned opening against about $293,000 in August, by our arithmetic. The third quarter’s same restaurant sales rose 3.1%, with Cyclospora cutting about 150 basis points, according to the company.
A note on sourcing. Figures and quotations are from CAVA Group’s third-quarter 2026 results release, filed with the SEC on 4 November 2026, which sets the August and November guidance side by side. The after-hours share move is as reported by Wall St Engine. Midpoints, per-opening figures and changes are our arithmetic.
Gennaro Cuofano is a CRO and tech executive who has worked in AI since late 2015, starting with bringing NLP, natural-language generation, voice and chatbot products to the marketing industry. His background is in law and finance: he holds a Master's degree in Law and an International MBA with an emphasis on corporate finance (LUISS Business School and the University of San Diego, 2012), and worked as a financial analyst at a real-estate investment firm in San Diego and as an assistant controller. His work focuses on business model strategy, business engineering and, more broadly, structural analysis: how companies make money, read from their own filings. He created FourWeekMBA and leads research there and at The Business Engineer, his newsletter on AI and business strategy, with over 95,000 subscribers and more than 1,000 published analyses. His writing has also appeared on Entrepreneur (for example, How to Digitize a Family Business in Europe) and HackerNoon. Find him on LinkedIn and Substack. See how we source.
