CAVA to build $30M facility in Augusta County

Washington, D.C.-based fast-casual Mediterranean restaurant chain CAVA will spend more than $30 million to establish a new processing and packaging facility in Augusta County, a project expected to create 52 jobs, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Thursday.

CAVA will build the 57,000-square-foot facility in Mill Place Commerce Park in Verona.

“Food and beverage processing is at the heart of the Shenandoah Valley’s manufacturing sector,” Northam said in a statement, “and it is an honor to welcome CAVA to the region.”

CAVA, which has more than 130 restaurants nationwide, serves a customizable Mediterranean menu and sells dips and spreads through grocery retailers. Its owner, Cava Group Inc., bought Zoës Kitchen, another Mediterranean chain, in 2018. Between CAVA and Zoës Kitchen, the company has more than 900 employees in Virginia.

“As a Washington, D.C.-based business, the commonwealth of Virginia is a part of our hometown community,” CAVA CEO and co-founder Brett Schulman said in a statement. “We opened our first restaurant in Virginia in 2012, and today we operate more than 30 CAVA restaurants. With the opening of our new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, we look forward to the opportunity to continue our support for Virginia and its communities.”

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with Augusta County and the Shenandoah Valley Partnership to secure the project, which Virginia competed against North Carolina to land. Augusta County received a $200,000 grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund. Northam approved a performance-based grant of $300,000 from the Virginia Investment Performance Grant, which encourages existing Virginia companies to continue investing capital. The Virginia Talent Accelerator Program, an initiative run by  VEDP and the Virginia Community College System, will support CAVA with free customized workforce recruitment and training services.

Shenandoah Valley Partnership Executive Director Jay Langston said in a statement, “CAVA’s focus on extolling the virtues of food and family and the company’s entrepreneurial spirit perfectly resonates with the quality of life and philosophy of people in the Shenandoah Valley. It has been a pleasure assisting Augusta County and the CAVA team in choosing a location that embraces the spirit of wholesome food and the value of working hard, playing hard and giving back to the community.”