The Fast-Casual Greek Chain That's Coming To A Town Near You

A popular fast casual Mediterranean restaurant brand, Cava has grown substantially in 2017. This year alone, Cava has announced six new locations in the Greater New York City Area. Focused on fare that is both fresh and better-for-you, Cava was launched in 2011 by childhood friends Ted Xenohristos, Ike Grigoropoulos, and executive chef Dimitri Moshovitis. Beyond its brick-and-mortar locations, Cava also sells small-batch dips and spreads available at more than 200 Whole Foods Markets and other specialty grocery stores.

On behalf of The Daily Meal, I conducted a Q&A with Dimitri Moshovitis via e-mail. Prior to the launch of Cava, Moshovitis had attended the Baltimore Culinary Institute. Beyond that schooling, Moshovitis had worked at fine Washington D.C. restaurants like the now-closed Vidalia, Kinkead's, and Bistro Bis.

The Daily Meal: How would you describe Cava to someone who has not yet been there?

Executive Chef Dimitri Moshovitis: Cava is a chef-driven, vibrant, and flavorful fast-casual Mediterranean restaurant. We play with bold, innovative flavors and cook our food from scratch every day, using top quality, fresh ingredients sourced from the best partners we can find. The flavors complement each other, and we give our guests the opportunity to customize from start to finish, knowing they're going to get a fulfilling meal no matter what they add to their bowl or pita.

[The current concept] was born from our full-service restaurant, Cava Mezze. Three of us started that restaurant in 2006 as my interpretation of Greek food, rooted in our families' heritage. The flavors and meals we create are as true to those roots as possible, but I still have fun with it. With Cava, we took those same values and translated that experience into a fast format.

Where did the Cava name come from?

Our first restaurant was really tiny, all brick and wood. As we were building it out, we kept thinking about how it reminded us of a Greek cava, which is like an underground wine cellar – a high-end wine shop, of sorts. When you go into a cava, you sit down for a while and taste a number of different wines while they serve you cheese, anchovies, olives on the house to pair with the different wines. We'd tossed a number of different ideas around, but the word cava kept sticking, and one day we decided it was going to stick for good. It's also pretty easy to say with an American accent!

Do you have a favorite item on the Cava menu?

Yes! Protein-wise I love the lamb meatballs. They're my go-to. We use Border Springs lamb and the seasoning in there is just our harissa. I'm more of a simple type when I eat and I don't like too much going on, so it's really nice that you can get the flavor of the awesome harissa that we make from scratch in small batches, and then this just great lamb. Put those two things together and you have really great protein.

What's coming up for Cava? I understand you're growing in the New York market?

Right now we're focusing on New York and New Jersey, and then still growing here at home [in Washington, D.C.] with the upcoming opening in Union Station, and out in L.A. With New York, you also have all those little neighborhoods that are so, so different. We're that type of brand that crosses all different types of demographics. We think our food touches everybody, and we're really proud of that.

We're really excited about our expansion in New York. Union Square has really welcomed us. It's always intimidating, entering a market like New York, especially coming from outside. But because we have such an established relationship with our customers back here and because so many travel back and forth, it felt like a natural next extension for us.

Whole Foods has been selling our dips and spreads in the New York market for many years, and it's been an incredible partner, so that's also helped build awareness of Cava as well. We're seeing that people are coming into the restaurant and saying, "Hey, I've bought your hummus before. I didn't know you had a restaurant."

The other route that we're taking is that urban and suburban route — we've got this nice mix of both. We have a "food for all" mentality, and want to fit into people's lifestyles in all ways, though each different occasion and phase. So to be in suburban locations outside of the city and in New Jersey, for example, where obviously there's a ton of crossover with folks in the city, and to be succeeding, is really exciting.

Are your small-batch dips and spreads, as sold at Whole Foods, the same in the restaurant as they are packaged?

Yes, they're the same dips that we use in our restaurants. We started selling them in 2008. We were making them in our first full-service restaurant and from there they just grew. Some of our best customers kept asking us to put our dips and spreads in containers so they could buy them and take them home. Fast forward to today, and we're in four regions of Whole Foods across the country. We're really proud of the final product – no preservatives, made in small batches with the freshest and highest-quality ingredients.

What do you look for when choosing a new location for Cava?

When we're entering a new market, we look for vibrant communities with a great energy. I think that's what all of our restaurant locations have in common. We're also finding that our suburban locations are often in areas that don't have a ton of great choices when it comes to food – and we're trying to change that – make quality, healthful food accessible.

What's a typical workday like for you these days? Do you spend much time in the kitchen?

I do. I'll get up in the morning and go to the test kitchen in Maryland with our culinary team, which is about 10 people, and our culinary coordinator, Amanda, and I might start a conversation about what we could do for next year's summer menu. We're always working on new things. We want to have 200 or 300 ideas in our playbook at any point in time so that we always have stuff in our pipeline. It makes it easier for us to sit down and say, "OK, this is perfect for our next summer feature items or juices."

Then I'll leave the test kitchen and I'll go to the full service restaurant kitchen and see how my guys are doing. I'm involved heavily on both sides of our restaurant business, fast format and full service, so I'm always thinking about new ideas and keeping it fresh. Since I spearhead our R&D, creative side, that's pretty much my day – all about food, all the time.

When Amanda and I are developing recipes, we get inspiration from everything. It could be an item that we've never worked with, or a fruit, berry, or new spice that doesn't scream Greek, but something about it makes us want to use it. So we'll get together and make a bunch of stuff that will probably never make it onto the menu, but once in a while, you get something that works. Then my two partners, our CEO, the marketing team, and I sit down and taste the item and decide to add it to the menu. There's a lot of moving parts because then our sourcing team needs to jump in to see where we can get these new ingredients from, which farm would be best. And that's the side you don't see. Sometimes, even something as simple as a juice can be in R&D for six months before it gets introduced — we take it very seriously.

We want to show that we have actual chefs who are behind the scenes. We're not just a little factory where someone hands down a recipe and says, "Here, make this." Our little culinary team has this great passion, and it channels into the food and makes it taste like home.

When not working, how do you like to spend your free time?

The only time I'm not working is when I'm with my children. Other than that, I'm always at a restaurant doing something. Even if I don't have my kids on like a Sunday, I don't just chill at home. I'm not one for chilling; I'm not used to it. I've been cooking since I was 15 years old, so I don't know much of anything else. When I travel, I love going out to eat and just seeing how L.A. and New York lives. But other than that, I'm working.

Other than Cava, do you have a favorite restaurant in New York?

Anything Danny Meyer I love. I think he's done such a great job and Marta is amazing. To be honest, I'm very traditional and very simple and I love something that's lacking in D.C. Like an old-school Brooklyn steakhouse – you just can't find here in D.C. I like the simplicity of it and I like that it's been untouched by trends. Trends are great, but you get to see some of this old-school nostalgic type of places still around in New York City. I'm also a huge lover of Sugarfish, and I'm so happy that it opened in New York so I don't have to fly five hours to get sushi!

I love both the new and the old and I think that sometimes shows with the way I cook. I like to touch on some trends, but I like to keep tradition alive.

Finally, Dimitri, any last words for the kids?

We're just so happy to be experiencing this kind of growth. We don't take it for granted. We never rest on our laurels. We work really hard and we respect what's going on with our brand. We respect and are grateful every day for the hype and the love that we get out there. We never rest; we're always looking to be better and on top of our game. We are still the three Greek buddies that started this 11 years ago. And that's the crazy thing, sometimes I'll be with my partners and we're together in the car, and we're just like, "Can you believe that we have 30 restaurants?!" We just can't believe how much it's grown.

It shows what you can do with hard work and an amazing team because none of this is possible, my food wouldn't be out there, our brand wouldn't be out there, without the awesome team that we have in place. It kind of humbles you a bit when you go from three employees to 1,500 employees, to maybe 2,000 employees by the end of the year. We're really happy to have this opportunity and get our name out there and show people what we love doing.