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Leaders in Customer Loyalty: Brand Stories | CAVA Blends Bold Mediterranean Flavors with Experience, Innovation, and Outstanding Service

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As one of the fastest-growing fast-casual brands, Mediterranean eatery, CAVA, was founded in 2010 as a full-service restaurant. The company’s goal is to make delicious food that customers feel good about buying and eating. Today, the company has grown substantially, with more than 400 restaurants in 28 states across the country. 

In this edition of Leaders in Customer Loyalty: Brand Stories, Loyalty360 spoke with Andy Rebhun, Chief Experience Officer for CAVA, about the secret to this brand’s dramatic growth strategy.  

SPEAKER_01:

Good afternoon, good morning. It's Mark Johnson. Welcome back to our Leaders in Customer Loyalty series. This is a Thursday, so it's another edition of Brand Stories. It's always great to have you with us every Thursday. Today we're going to be diving into one of the most talked-about brands in Fast Casual today, Kava. Kava has redefined modern Mediterranean, offering customizable bowls, salads, and pitas with bright, fresh flavors. In a category crowded with build your own bowl players, Kava stands apart by pairing flavor-forward food and disciplined pricing with a hospitality-first dining experience that fosters true human connection. While many brands compete on speed alone, Kava adds distinctive culinary identity and hospitality. Redesigning dining rooms, team-led moments of delight, and a service culture that invites guests to linger, not just transact. It also boosts one of the most robust and respected customer loyalty programs in the market. It's supported by operational discipline, tech-enabled ordering, and thoughtful in-store design that continues to fuel growth. As everyone knows, our focus is customer experience and customer loyalty. Kava's recently refreshed rewards program introduces clear earning opportunities, status-based recognition, and a challenge-driven engagement paradigm that turns routine visits into progress and perks. It's a strategy that blends transactional rewards with emotional resonance, using data to tailor offers while keeping the guest experience authentic. Stay tuned as we uncover how Kava combines bold flavors, human-centered hospitality, and data-driven personalization to create lasting customer loyalty. Today, we're going to be hearing from Andy Revan. He's a chief marketing and experience officer at Kava. Andy, as always, it's great to see you again. How are you? I'm good, Mark. Thank you so much for having me. As we heard in the intro, there's a great deal of fanfare with Kava these days, so congrats to that. Yet for those who may not be familiar, can you give us a brief introduction to Kava?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, the founders designed Kava to share what they experienced growing up. Everyone, welcome at the table. And, you know, our founders are Greek, and there's an element of Mediterranean warmth and hospitality in everything we do here at Kava. And it's it's focused on bringing heart, health, and humanity to food. And, you know, the concept is amazing. We're very much focused on abundance and not restriction. And we really, again, focus on serving um bold, adventurous flavors and really have a strength in culinary innovation. We have over 415 restaurants uh in 28 states in DC. And we opened up uh a couple new cities this year in Miami, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, uh, and Detroit. So really excited about uh how we've expanded and uh excited for the future.

SPEAKER_01:

How, why was the company started and what has led to this great success that we're seeing?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, essentially um our um founders grew up, their their parents were in the restaurant industry and would wait tables, and um, they wanted to provide something uh from a living wage perspective that they knew that workers at their concept, as well as um, you know, people could feel good about food that they were delivering, essentially. And so um the concept started out as a full-service restaurant and um then eventually migrated to the fast casual concept that it is today. And so that fast casual concept started in 2011 and um there was an acquisition of Zoe's Kitchen in 2019, which really helped uh supercharge the growth of the organization and um company went public in 2023. Uh it's really neat to be part of a founder-led uh organization because um they very much instill the values of what they had intended the concept to be very early on, and that stayed true as we've grown. And uh it's something very special and unique, and it's not something you see in every single restaurant concept.

SPEAKER_01:

And we've had the pleasure of interviewing you before, both with Kava and in previous roles that you've had. Uh, can you tell us a little bit more about your role at Kava and uh what you do, how you do it, and also maybe how some of the previous roles that you've had led you to this position?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so current role, uh Chief Marketing and Experience Officer at Kava, I have the fortunate opportunity to lead a team of about 70 people across uh the US. I have um 17 different states on my team, which is really unique. And so we get people from a lot of different places and have a lot of really broad perspectives that help shape our strategy. Um, but in this role, um have marketing, digital uh catering, customer service. Um, and it really is the end-to-end experience for the customer. So from that time that we bring awareness of what it means to have Mediterranean cuisine to driving them into our restaurants, getting them signed up on our loyalty program, um, getting them to order catering for their office or their family, um, and ultimately converting them to come back. Um it's a really great role. Um, and it's something that's very much encompassing, I think, of a more modern CMO title, I'd say. Um because there's so many components to um to the remit.

SPEAKER_01:

When you look at the role of chief marketing officer, how is that role changing more globally? And how do you think that role as a CMO of Kava may be changing as well?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I think one of the things that's so interesting and energizing about marketing in general is there's new technologies and new social platforms and new trends that you have to stay up on pretty much every single day. And so it keeps the role always interesting. And, you know, we have a number of cultural savants on our team that um, you know, really help us decide when we want to enter the conversation and when it makes sense for our brand to um, you know, have a have a uh part of that conversation. And so it's it's really special that um, you know, we uh have had the fortunate opportunity the last couple of years to have a lot of cultural relevancy through a number of the initiatives that we've um launched and been a part of.

SPEAKER_01:

And what keeps you up at night? CMO is a very important position. Uh, to deal with technology and marketing and customer loyalty. You know, you know, what are the biggest challenges or maybe even opportunities you face with your position?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, look, I think um the restaurant space is very competitive. And our founders and our organization is maniacally focused on the guest experience and trying to make sure that every single visit that someone has at Kava, whether they go into one of our restaurants, order it on DoorDash or Uber Eats, have a catering visit, um, you know, we want to be um that top-tier experience every single time when a customer uh chooses to use us. And, you know, I'll say that um having that level of execution every single time is difficult. But if um it's a great visit, we we want to obviously celebrate those great visits. And if it's not, you know, we make sure that we do right by the customer, get back to them, and try to find a way to win them back. And I would say what keeps me up at night is there is so much competition out there, and I know Kava um excels in providing that um amazing customer experience. And so it's just continuing to stay two steps ahead. Um, and you know, we're always challenged to do so and think about unique and innovative ways to communicate our value proposition.

SPEAKER_01:

Over the last couple of months, we've talked a great deal about choice and conversion. You know, how do brands like Kava get a customer to choose them? And then once they do choose you, how do you get them to convert?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah. Top, I would say top of mind, top of stomach. It's really important to make sure that you continue to build that emotional connection with the guests, whether that be through loyalty programs, social channels, paid advertising, organic media, et cetera, uh, you need to make sure that you're uh regularly a part of that conversation. I know realistically, someone's not going to visit us for um, you know, 14 meals a week. That's just a little unrealistic to think that. But if we can get them for three, five, seven, you know, that's that's amazing. And I think one of the things that's very unique about our value proposition is we have 17 billion combinations. So there's a number of proteins, dips, uh, toppings. You can you can do it a lot of different ways at Kava. And I think that's what keeps our concept so interesting and so innovative.

SPEAKER_01:

Now, when you look at uh the program uh in whole, you know, what are some innovations or opportunities at Kava that that you've converted on that you developed uh that you're most proud of?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so we recently just launched our new loyalty program. Um it has tiers, um, Sea, Sand, and Sun. Um it's very much uh the names reflect our concept essence as a Mediterranean concept. And um I've always been a fiend of of loyalty programs. I I have always been that first person to sign up for a new credit card offer or a hotel loyalty program or airline program. And, you know, I think loyalty programs um have gotten a little bit stale in the restaurant space. And one of the things that I think Kava did that was really unique is really try to um take what else is out there and really build on that and then elevate it in its own unique way. And I feel like we've done that. We launched the program uh approximately five weeks ago. And then we also launched it with status matching, uh, which is an industry first for the restaurant industry concept where if Mark has status on American Airlines or Marriott Bonvoy, uh, we will match your status to the Kava top status. So um it's pretty neat. We've had a number of people take advantage of it. Uh, you pretty much go to kava.com backslash status match um and people upload just a picture of their uh loyalty card with the other program. And it's very easy. We um confirm the match within 24 hours, and um, we've gotten really good feedback. Um people um people have said it's it's very quick, very easy. We don't make you spend 10 minutes to get the status match. And again, um it's very much reflected in the brand spirit of generosity. Um, you know, our founders, uh, very, very generous people, uh, very generous with our our portions, our brand experience. And this is just another uh foundational element to build on that.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, that's great to hear about all the success you're seeing so far. You know, what results uh have you seen?

SPEAKER_00:

The customers, uh customers have given us great feedback on the program so far. Um, you know, C is the entry level. Uh it gives customers the opportunity to get core rewards, birthday surprises, uh, get a little bit of sneak peek information. That's usually kind of that base level. Uh, once you get to sand, um, it's about 1,500 points to get to sand. Uh, you get essentially more things like um multipliers, there's a couple of free delivery events that you get to take a part of. And then Sun is the highest tier, uh, it's 4,500 points. And then you get uh point multiplier, you get 12 points per dollar um spent. And then um there's various experiences that we haven't uh had one of those experiences yet because we're only five weeks into the program, but stay tuned. Uh, we're gonna be doing some fun things with uh Sun members.

SPEAKER_01:

With the new focus on experiences, what are some of the experiences you have planned for your Sun guests?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I mean, I think when you look at brand experiences, people want to have early access to things. So whether it be um having an opportunity to try a new protein or uh be a part of a special unique opportunity with um our founders, there's a number of different things that I think we're assessing and looking at that can be truly unique and ownable by Kava in that experience realm. And so um very much in the uh this generation definitely uh values experiences. And so we we're gonna continue to double down on what an experience with the Kava Rewards program looks like.

SPEAKER_01:

As you know, they always say that copying is the best form of flattery. So do you expect other brands, or should I say, when do you think other brands will follow your lead?

SPEAKER_00:

You know, I I I look to other brands for inspiration, and if they if they follow our lead, you know, it's it's humbling when when brands um you know try to take pieces and and components of your program. But again, one of the things that I would say that challenge the team on every single day is we try to see around corners and look one to two steps ahead and figure out how we can continue to define our our category, defining Mediterranean brand. And it's um it's one of those things that you have to keep innovating. You got to make sure the tech staff can support it and make sure that there's a financial business case that uh makes sense for the enterprise in order to continue to offer new things and do things in a way that um is differentiating.

SPEAKER_01:

And you have a uh pretty deep history in customer loyalty and customer experience. You know how important customer feedback and data that's driven from customer feedback is, especially uh from a program to maybe shape that next generation customer loyalty program. You know, how do you leverage feedback to drive this new program?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, you know, we we initially about two and a half years ago had a uh you spend uh$88, you get an$8 reward. And sometimes, and I've kind of seen this throughout my career at some of the other brands that I've been a part of, the threshold to entry or to reward redemption sometimes was a little bit of a barrier, especially for those guests who don't visit you as frequently. And so what was unique about the way we rolled out um, you know, what we call internally loyalty 2.0 about a year ago was we gave the guests the opportunity to have a choice in a reward catalog. And so what used to take uh$88 threshold to get an$8 reward now was taking a$40 threshold to get a reward. And so just being having that um, you know, that item within reach a little bit sooner was one of the pieces and areas of feedback that we just saw in the data. And by having that lower threshold available, um, it encouraged guests to come uh and redeem a little bit more frequently because they knew that that uh reward was there. The other thing that I'd say I've seen a little bit more uh throughout the space is just this notion of challenges. And so trying to come during different day parts, um, come during a different frequency metric or different spend um levels in a in a condensed period of time uh is just another thing that I've seen in the space that has grown in popularity as a means of giving uh another um access point for the brand without doing uh significant discounting.

SPEAKER_01:

You've mentioned a couple times the idea of choice. You know, can you talk to us a little bit more about how choice in this new program is very important and how are you giving customers choice?

SPEAKER_00:

I think, you know, again, it's about the bigger picture. It's about customer lifetime value, it's frequency metrics, um, it's understanding the overall engagement rates. And you know, ultimately the goal of the loyalty program is to get people to spend more. And you know, you want them to build a stronger connection with the brand overall. And so if if we can prove that out through um, you know, our lifecycle campaigns or some of the other initiatives that we have going on in the program, uh, that's a win for the brand. And that that to me is if you can get them hooked uh early and often, uh, you have a winning value proposition.

SPEAKER_01:

One of the things we continue to hear about is how customers are changing uh holistically, uh whether it's how they're learning or how they're engaging with brands. When you look at the fast casual industry, how are customers changing within that industry? And how are you adapting to that change?

SPEAKER_00:

I think customers in general are less patient. Um I think generally speaking, you you as a brand don't hit the mark. And I think there's an expectation that you recover quickly. And, you know, one of the things I'm super proud of our customer service team at Kava, um, you know, we have one of the industry-leading uh customer service recovery metrics. Um very, very short SLA time, um, and making sure that we recover guests quickly if they don't have as good of an experience with us. And I think that level of expectation of service experience uh continues to rise. And I think with the bifurcation of the different ways that you can experience the brand and product. I mean, we have, you know, digital pickup lane, we have digital takeout, we have digital Uber Eats and digital DoorDash, you have the front counter experience, um, the operation's gotten very complex and that expectation has risen with that complexity. And so um, you know, we're we're trying to do things at Kava that uh make it easy on our team members and also make sure that our guests have a seamless experience.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, another area of symphony interest we hear about, we talk about it in our weekly meetings with brands, is this big push for value and what value means to customers. When you think about brand loyalty, this big push for value can take many forms and factors. It can value in the program, a value of customers to the program. Many brands are focused now on offering discounts potentially to their customers or you know, different services that may push for value. Yet there are different ways to address value. You know, uh it can be convenient, it can be uh, you know, offering different products at different price points potentially. You know, how are you at Kava looking at value?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I think for us, value is about uh leaning into some of our values, which include spirit of generosity. If you look at our baseball price, which um for a chicken bowl is anywhere between uh 1065 and 1295, depending on the market that you're in. You know, you build your bowl, you get your up to three dips, um, you get up to 12 toppings included. And to me, that's part of the value experience. We're not a brand that will nickel and dime you for adding uh additional toppings to the bowl. And, you know, making sure that people feel full and satisfied with our cuisine. Our cuisine is unique. I don't feel like you need to eat a snack after you have Kava. And many times people say that it's it's enough for two meals. And so when you talk about that value equation, uh being generous with the product, being um, you know, very intentional about where you're sourcing the product from, which um one of our co-founders, Ted, he leads our culinary team. He has extremely, extremely impressive um sourcing standards of all our products. Um it's just really unbelievable the TLC he puts into the ingredient choices that we have on the menu. And um, you know, to me, that's that's value. It's it's making sure that you fair you pay a fair and affordable price for the product and um you're generous with it.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, you took some uh cross-industry ideas, uh kind of expanding the match uh opportunities for your loyalty program. You know, how do you see other cross-industry influences shaping the future of customer loyalty in the restaurant industry?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, look, I think um programs that have been around for a while have had the opportunity to um have great success, but then also learn from their mistakes. And so you see regularly um airline programs, hotel programs, they're regularly changing their value equation for what it costs to redeem at different thresholds. They have new types of rewards and challenges and experiences that they're launching. And I feel like there's a lot of value in seeing what some of the others outside of your space are doing because it can give you an opportunity to look at the business through a different lens and create some innovation.

SPEAKER_01:

And what is your favorite customer loyalty program?

SPEAKER_00:

Um my favorite uh loyalty program is Hyatt. Um, they do such an incredible job with their um earn to redeem ratio. Um they have a lot of different brand experiences, they give you the option of trading. Some of your rewards with other members you can trade up to 10 times a year.

SPEAKER_01:

When you look at the program holistically and most importantly from a digital perspective, how has Kava's app and online ordering experiences kind of enhanced the customer loyalty program? You know, what enhancements or new capabilities were critical to make the relaunch successful?

SPEAKER_00:

I think our cross-functional team, we have an incredible cross-functional team at Kava. We had finance, operations, tech, you name it. Everybody had a hand in the most recent iteration of our app. And, you know, that's really what it takes. It's getting people aligned to that same common goal and having the belief to push boundaries. And, you know, having uh, you know, most importantly, like a CFO and CEO who really believe in, you know, just doing things differently and trying to do things the best way we possibly can as a brand. And so uh I feel really good about where we've landed right now. And, you know, we're already figuring out what loyalty 4.0 is going to look like.

SPEAKER_01:

Many brands struggle with technology. They want to use it in a way that drives simplicity, creates engagement. It can be challenging though. You know, how does technology enable KABA to drive more personalized rewards, communication, and surprise and delight moments?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I mean, I think it's really making sure that you have those touch points and you have those life cycle journeys. So you try to understand, you know, when people are engaging, when they're not engaging, building strong welcome and lapse journeys, uh, trying to understand uh different frequency cycles and patterns so that you're trying to get that incremental visit within the 90-day period, you have a foundation in place to be able to get a guest to do that. And so it's really about setting up a data foundation and attribution touch points that make a ton of um sense for the brand. And every brand is different. Every brand's average customer spends differently, they visit differently. And so trying to learn from guest behavior and trying to get people to go into different segments of cohort visitation is always a fun challenge as a marketer and one I don't take like lightly, but the the tech really enables that. Um, you know, our tech stack really helps us be better marketers and try to figure out how to um, you know, gaining from mental traffic to our restaurants.

SPEAKER_01:

One of the biggest challenges brands have now as well is kind of training around the program, understanding the program at the front lines, at the CMO level, uh, having organizational alignment around the program is very important. So when you look at, you know, what are the store needs uh when it comes to customer loyalty, customer experience, how does a brand get that right, especially when oftentimes that main customer contact, that customer touch point could be a little bit transient.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, for sure. I mean, it's it's kind of like the single pane of glass type of idea where you know you can certainly have five, 10, 15, 20 reports. And once you get into report and data overload, it becomes a little bit overwhelming for anybody. I mean, I think any of us would be overwhelmed by something like that. But obviously trying to focus on doing fewer things better and thinking what the big rocks and priorities are for the organization and making sure that, you know, if a restaurant isn't performing well from a sales perspective, what are the levers like loyalty that you can pull in order to help build frequency and visitation? And can you deploy different types of emotional connection building initiatives with the customer base in a given trade area? Or is there an opportunity to do something um, you know, unique and differentiated that um, you know, the general manager or an area leader requests in an organization because they know that they have opportunity. And so I think it's communication is key, um, having that opportunity to communicate regularly and often and just making sure uh you bring people along uh that just with two-way communication is very important.

SPEAKER_01:

Andy, what's the next big thing Kava is focused on for customer loyalty and customer experience?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I mean, look, I think AI is a fun buzzword that everybody's uh using and everybody's trying to figure out how um AI can play a part in the equation. And you know, our CEO says it best like AI will um enhance and not replace the human experience for us at Kava. And um, you know, there's gonna be some components I think of of customer service within our app and um just kind of the next level of rewards and experiences like gamification that I think you might see come out in 4.0. Um we have a number of different things that we're exploring and um looking forward to updating you soon when we can share those things publicly.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, thank you very much for taking the time to join us, but you're not off the hook yet. Uh, we have our rapid fire question round. Uh, we like to keep these uh limited to one word or a short phrase so I don't get in trouble with the content team. Uh first off, you know, how would you describe your work life? My work life. Um complex. If you have a day, a week off from work, what are you doing? Going to Dodger Games. If you could live in any city, any country, where would you live and why?

SPEAKER_00:

Los Angeles, California. Uh my family lives here. If you could go back to school, you know, what would you study? Probably still study business. I mean, I love the ability to uh influence and change somebody's uh what they might be buying. It's I just marketing and business has always been something I'm passionate about.

SPEAKER_01:

Is there a facet of your job uh you would like to know more about?

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, I love my my favorite part of my job is the loyalty program piece. I just to be able to uh encourage people and guess, you know, there's just there's been so much change. So um it'd be interesting to see how they teach digital and email marketing now in school.

SPEAKER_01:

When you look at the kind of the challenges facing Kava, you know, what motivates you to tackle the challenges that you see?

SPEAKER_00:

I think um the team, um, you know, seeing the team succeed is um the biggest reward and seeing some of the less tenured folks on my team having the opportunity to present to leadership and um have big milestones, whether it be campaigns or deliverables. Um I love to see it. I love to see that next generation of marketers succeeding.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, who or what do you draw inspiration from?

SPEAKER_00:

I draw a lot of inspiration from the world around me. And I I try to always stay up on um, you know, what brands are doing from a from a cultural savviness perspective. Uh I try to regularly read publications that'll challenge me to think differently. Um and I try to you know learn as much from my mentees that um I you know teach them as a mentor. So it's kind of how I draw my inspiration.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, Andy, thank you very much for taking the time to join us today. It's always been a pleasure to speak with you, to hear what you are seeing in your respective roles around customer loyalty, customer experience. And it's amazing to hear the great success that Kala is having, how you're putting market uh first and very unique innovations in your program to drive deeper customer experience and customer loyalty. So thank you very much for taking the time to join us today. It was uh very inspirational to hear what you're up to.

SPEAKER_00:

Awesome. Thank you again for having me. Really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01:

Excellent, and thank you very much, everyone, for taking the time to join us. Make sure you join us back every Thursday for another edition of our Leaders in Customer Loyalty series. Until then, have a wonderful day