Andy Rebhun, chief marketing and experience officer at the Mediterranean-inspired fast casual chain CAVA, is driving innovation one bowl at a time.
From innovative products to in-store design, Rebhun’s leadership role is about creating best-in-class experiences to drive brand engagement.
“I have the ability to not only impact the look and feel of the brand creative , but I also oversee the digital experience. The catering experience, and the customer service experience to ensure there is a constant through line. CAVA is the category- defining Mediterranean brand and it’s important to ensure we maintain consistency throughout all the different channels that we interact with guests,” says Rebhun.
“We have the ability to impact so many different brand touch points that many CMOs don’t have access to (such as digital, catering, communications, or customer service. This is a really special opportunity,” he says.
Founded in Rockville, MD in 2006, CAVA has grown into a business valued at more than $1 billion that is traded on the NYSE. With more than 400 locations across the U.S., the brand is in line to open 1,000 stores by 2032.
The brand recently revamped its loyalty program and is partnering with professional gamer and streamer Cody “Clix” Conrod. The strategy brings a gamified experience to customers with a limited-time series of challenges, rewards and exclusive offers designed to highlight CAVA’s fan-favorite menu items. Clix revealed the partnership at TwitchCon.
“We’re always looking for ways to meet our guests where they are, and we’re seeing more and more of our fans in gaming culture,” says Rebhun. “This collaboration with Clix lets us celebrate two things our fans love: bold flavors and immersive, interactive experiences.”
Prior to joining CAVA, Rebhun held senior marketing positions at El Pollo Loco, McDonald’s and the Ford Motor Company. Brand Innovators caught up with Rebhun from his office in the Washington DC area, to discuss menu innovation, store expansion and how working in the automotive business in 2008 taught him about perseverance in tough economic situations. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Can you talk about your approach to creative?
When you look at just our creative overall it’s very much focused on a level of consistency that really reflects our values. We focus a lot on human connection stories that are strong and relatable. It can be reflected in some of the partners that we work with so earlier this year we worked with Gabby Thomas who is just an incredible human, Olympian athlete and huge CAVA fan. One of the things that might be different from other brands is we like to work not just with big name celebrities.
We very much work with people who want to grow with us and who lots of times are CAVA fans to begin with so when we think about the creative approach it really leans into our spirit of generosity it leans into the fresh Mediterranean ingredients and leans into people who are just themselves incredible storytellers and we are very laser focused on making sure that we deliver brand stewards that very much reflect our values.
Tell me more about the strategy behind your new loyalty revamp.
Loyalty is probably my favorite part of my job. I love when we have the ability as a brand to influence what the consumer is ultimately going to choose for lunch or dinner at the end of the day. What’s new with our loyalty program is we launched a leveled system. It essentially follows a Mediterranean look and feel. The tiers are sea, sand and sun. If you think about how as the sea is, everything just goes up from a leveling perspective.
The sea starts on the floor and the elevation goes a little bit higher to the sand. Then the sun is your peak and the sun is that glowing look. We had a lot of guests who gave us feedback that they want more rewards when they come to CAVA. Through this program, we essentially gave them the opportunity to have different types of customized rewards through accelerated point opportunities with the different levels. There are free delivery rewards. We’re doing a couple of different things with unique member-only rewards and unique experiences. It’s going to be a much more elevated experience across the board.
The other big thing, we recently announced status matching, and we’re the first restaurant company in the industry to offer this. We essentially told guests that if they had status with another loyalty program – whether it be with a hotel chain, an airline program, etc. – we would match their status to our levels. We’ve had a tremendous amount of success and inquiry on that front. It’s giving people the opportunity to try CAVA in the highest tiers in the new levels
Are you trying to reach Gen Z through this partnership with Clix?
If you look at generational drivers in general, Gen Z and Gen Alpha are fueling the demand for some of the bold flavors. They are prioritizing healthy living and are values-driven individuals. We found that Clix personifies all of that. He is very much focused on his health and has a very passionate fan base. He’s also a personal CAVA fan. We felt through the years that some of our biggest fans make the best partnerships. He’s really making this partnership come to life on a bunch of different fronts. There is also a customized Clix bowl as a part of this that Clix designed himself.
Can you talk about how CAVA is innovating in the fast casual category?
We have an incredible culinary team and we have the ability to really lean into our take on some very popular menu items such as everything from our Grilled Steak, which launched about a year and a half ago, to our Chicken Shawarma, which launched in September. We’re very focused on innovation that speaks to our take on classic Mediterranean flavors while also leaning into spices and other snacking trends that we know our guests like to dabble in.
When we talk about culinary in general, we like to meet consumers’ desire to have flavorful, energizing, and culturally- diverse ingredients. Our menu does just that. There are a lot of different ways that you can experience CAVA. We have four different greens, three different grains, six different dips, eight different proteins, 12 toppings, and eight different dressings. No matter your approach to eating – from clean, to vegan, to vegetarian, to carnivore, to gluten free, you can find something you love at CAVA. We really can speak to any single type of audience. It’s set us up for a lot of different ways that people want to experience the brand.
The restaurant keeps opening new restaurants, can you share your expansion plans?
Our goal is to have one thousand restaurants by 2032. We’re at over 400 now. We just recently opened up in Bricklell in Miami, which I was happy to be at. We had two to three hour lines on that first day. It’s always special to see how long people are willing to wait to experience the brand. It was pouring rain and it didn’t bother people. The week before I was at our Woodward Avenue Detroit opening. We had our second restaurant open in Detroit. Our first one was in Canton, Michigan. We also opened the first locations in two other new markets this year: Indianapolis and Pittsburgh.
In addition to some of these new cities, we’re opening up a bunch in some of our established territories too. We opened up a couple restaurants in downtown Chicago we had only had one in downtown previously and now we’re open in struderville and we have one opening at the willis tower. The Los Angeles market has grown immensely and had a lot of new openings in that territory.
Can you share how your past experiences have helped shape your current perspective?
I’ve been very lucky to work for a couple of really great brands and even better people. Over the course of my career, I’ve learned lots of what to do and a lot of what not to do. I started my career in automotive at Ford Motor Company in 2008, in the height of the car bailouts. The job market was really tough and I had a chance to just see how you persevere through very tough economic situations.
In business, you go through hills and valleys of consumer demand and you see different brands doing different things. I’ve had an opportunity to learn from some of the best in the world at McDonald’s and how to grow a smaller brand like El Pollo Loco. I’ve worked for great leaders. I’ve had great leaders work under me and work with a ton of great cross-functional partners. I lived in six cities in 11 years and went to 31 states. Experiences like this have allowed me to see how different consumers in different markets function.
