All of the Zoës Kitchens in Duval County are under conversion into CAVA Grill.
CAVA Group bought Zoës Kitchen four years ago and has been converting the locations. Both are Mediterranean food concepts.
The city issued a permit Oct. 13 to Embree Construction Group Inc. of Georgetown, Texas, to renovate the 3,569-square-foot Zoës at 10422 San Jose Blvd. in Mandarin into CAVA at a cost of $175,000.
That follows permits for Embree to convert the other three Jacksonville locations.
• A permit was issued Aug. 8 for the 3,100-square-foot Zoës at 90 Riverside Ave. in Brooklyn Station on Riverside at $175,000.
• A permit was issued June 30 for the 3,000-square-foot Zoës at 13920 Old St. Augustine Road, No. 101, in Bartram Village at $285,101.
• A permit was issued June 2 for the 2,230-square-foot Zoës at 4624 Town Crossing Drive, No. 149, in St. Johns Town Center at $175,000.
Cava.com lists the four restaurants on its careers site.
Zoës continues to operate at 240 Florida A1A in Ponte Vedra Beach in St. Johns County.
Washington, D.C.-based CAVA Group bought Plano, Texas-based Zoës in late 2018.
Zoës offers a Mediterranean-themed menu that includes hummus, falafel, salads, soups, pitas, kabobs, plates, bowls and sandwiches.
CAVA Grill features a build-your-own line for diners to choose among bases, dips and spreads, proteins and toppings, including lamb meatballs, roasted vegetables and grilled chicken. It serves bowls, pitas and salads.
CAVA Grill’s site shows 233 locations open or coming soon in 21 states and Washington, D.C.
CAVA.com lists nine locations in Florida. It says the Bartram and Riverside locations are “coming soon,” but does not refer to the others.
Nation’s Restaurant News reported March 24, 2021, that CAVA Group’s $300 million acquisition of Zoës expanded the company from 66 to 326 locations across the U.S.
Zoës Kitchen previously listed 93 restaurants in 15 states. The 19 in Florida included the five in the Jacksonville area.
NRN.com quoted Brett Schulman, CEO and co-founder of CAVA Group at the time of the sale:
“Our goal has always been to bring CAVA to more communities, and with the acquisition, we were able to strategically expand and diversify our real estate portfolio, unlocking significant value through scale and cost-effective real estate conversions.”
He said “conversions are an efficient, cost-effective means of market entry, as we repurpose a good deal of the existing restaurant infrastructure when converting to a CAVA location.”
He said a motivation behind the acquisition of Zoës was the chain’s presence in suburban communities, noting that CAVA Group had seen a shift toward suburban living before the pandemic began.
“As the pandemic accelerated the shift towards suburban life, with people moving from major cities at a faster rate than ever before, we were able to accelerate plans to convert Zoës Kitchen locations to continue meeting customers where they are,” he said.
The NRN.com site said the acquisition gave CAVA Group opportunities for menu synergies across the two Mediterranean-themed concepts.