CAVA’s dining rooms look a lot different today than they did when the brand first hit the scene in 2011. Back then, its design reflected the post-recession aesthetic—minimalist, industrial, and stripped down.
At a time when people were downsizing and decluttering, excess was out, and simplicity was in. CAVA’s early stores leaned into that bare-bones, modern feel. But as the brand grew, it became clear that while the food transported guests, the atmosphere didn’t. The sleek, utilitarian spaces lacked the warmth and vibrancy that define Mediterranean dining. CAVA set out to change that last year, introducing a sun-washed color palette, softer lighting, plush seating, and lush greenery to cultivate a more inviting and communal environment.
With the initiative—dubbed Project Soul—the brand is doubling down on heightened hospitality, which CEO Brett Schulman says is as much a part of the “Mediterranean way” as pita wraps and feta cheese.
“It’s the sense of community, the sense of welcoming everyone to our table and sharing a meal,” he says. “That’s a lost art these days. Sharing a meal is the oldest social act known to humankind, and I think what we’ve seen is that as technology and automation infiltrate our everyday lives, it has created an increasing void of human connection.”
He points to a 2023 report from former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy that found the average American has lost 24 hours of in-person connection per month in the last two decades. People today are spending significantly less time together, with young adults feeling the shift most acutely. The report found that social interaction among 15- to 24-year-olds has dropped by 70 percent. It warned of an “epidemic of loneliness” that can be linked back to the rise of mental health challenges.
While fast casual has traditionally bridged the gap between quick service and full service, many brands in the segment are going with drive-thru-only restaurants without dining rooms. CAVA is making similar moves, investing in digital-friendly store formats that cater to off-premises demand. These models attract guests trading up from traditional fast food—sometimes for just a few dollars more, or even at price parity. But with over 60 percent of customers still going inside and interacting with employees, Schulman sees another opportunity: capturing diners who are trading down from casual dining, drawn to CAVA’s experience at a more accessible price point.
“I think the trick is walking and chewing gum at the same time,” he says. “It’s creating a great experience on both the physical and digital channels, and then the way we think about our formats in relation to it is adjusting the weighting of those channels depending on how we view the trade area.”
Typically, the greater urbanicity, the more the brand indexes to the digital side, he adds.
“We look at the complexion of the trade area, the way people are trafficking the trade area, what their needs states are in the trade area, and what they’re doing when they’re coming to CAVA,” Schulman says. “Are they coming for an office lunch? Are they coming before a movie? Are they coming after school? Are they coming from work? Are they on their way home driving? Are they out running errands? We look at all those need states and ask if they are more physically-driven need states or more digitally-driven need states, and then we adjust the number of seats in our dining rooms and the capacity of the order area accordingly.”
Many of CAVA’s recent openings incorporate elements of the Project Soul design, a standard that will apply to every new restaurant opening this year. The company is also developing a remodel program to bring older locations up to the same elevated look and feel over time.
Beyond aesthetic upgrades, the initiative extends into the kitchen. The brand is moving greens from behind the pita station to the makeline, enabling team members to stay engaged with guests without turning their backs. A new kitchen display system is improving order accuracy and productivity while reducing customer complaints.
CAVA is making additional tech investments, including generative AI video technology that monitors ingredient depletion in real time, helping teams manage prep and cook batch amounts more efficiently. These upgrades reduce out-of-stocks, food waste, and workflow bottlenecks that slow down the speed of service and keep guests waiting. Ultimately, Schulman views these tools as a way to simplify the job, enhance the work experience, and, most importantly, enable employees to concentrate on delivering human-based hospitality.
“I think the more people are losing those spaces to congregate, interact, and connect, the brands that are able to fill that void are the ones that are going to continue to gain more occasions and build a deeper, more emotional connection to their guests,” he says. “If you’re solely a place where your guests are interacting with screens and automated equipment, I don’t know how you create an emotional connection and differentiated relationship with your guests.”
Starbucks is taking a similar stance on the importance of the dining room. Lately, the coffee chain has been prioritizing more comfortable seating, thoughtful designs, and a clearer distinction between to-go and dine-in services while it works to bring back personal touches that elevate its in-store experience.
The brand once prided itself on being a “third place” between work and home, where customers could spend hours working or meeting with friends. But the rise of technology, drive-thru service, and mobile ordering has reshaped that dynamic. The COVID-19 pandemic, which kept customers out of dining rooms for extended periods, only accelerated the shift. Today, fewer guests linger inside Starbucks. It’s far more common to see customers waiting near the mobile pickup counter before making a quick exit.
The company is on a mission to restore its identity as a community gathering spot under CEO Brian Niccol’s leadership. When he took the helm last year, he issued an open letter acknowledging that the brand had “drifted from its core” and that customer-employee relationships had become overly transactional. He pledged to refocus on what has long set Starbucks apart and turn it back into “a welcoming coffeehouse where people gather.”
This renewed emphasis on the sit-down experience comes at a time when many competitors are moving in the opposite direction, launching formats without dining rooms and prioritizing drive-thru and digital orders.
“If you throw a handful of nickels up in the air, you’re going to hit a competitor who’s trying to come into our market and steal share with a drive-thru-only model,” says Celton Hayden Jr., CEO of Louisiana-based CC’s Coffee.
CC’s Coffee House, as it’s officially known, was one of the first coffee shops in New Orleans to introduce a drive-thru back in the late ’90s. Hayden understands why many coffee brands have moved away from traditional cafés over the years in favor of the channel. Operating a drive-thru-only model comes with significantly lower costs than a sit-down coffeehouse. The smaller footprint reduces real estate expenses, requires less investment in interior design, and allows for a leaner staff—making it an attractive option for brands focused on efficiency.
Now, as CC’s prepares to franchise for the first time, it’s introducing a drive-thru-only format to meet the rising demand for convenience. The new 800-square-foot model will complement the brand’s existing store formats, which range from 1,500 to 1,800 square feet in endcap and free-standing conversion locations.
Hayden sees the new prototype as a strategic addition rather than a shift in CC’s identity. While the smaller format could help the brand fill gaps in existing markets or break into new ones, he emphasizes that drive-thru-only stores won’t define its future or be its primary focus going forward.
“For us, there is no unbridled desire to reorient the entire concept, save a boatload of overhead, and just build drive-thru-only stores,” he says. “It’s great as a portfolio play, but we need to keep our core intact. We don’t want to send an inadvertent message to our loyal guests and future guests that we no longer seek to serve them our brand of hospitality or that we’re just resigning ourselves to only be for commuting people.”
Instead, he believes CC’s core identity—rooted in Southern hospitality and a welcoming in-store experience—will be what sets the brand apart as it expands through franchising.
“Especially in a world that’s getting coarser every day, where we’re all hurtling toward every activity at the speed of light—what are the places where we can actually let the door close behind us? We have 30 years of history of serving one cup and one customer at a time, of building relationships and having conversations,” Hayden says. “That’s why we’re never going to strip ‘coffeehouse’ from our name. It’s a meaningful part of our moniker, and we’ve really built our brand identity around that.”
Mountain Mike’s is applying this mindset to the pizza segment, aiming to revive the dine-in experience in a category long dominated by takeout and delivery.
Pizza has always been the ultimate to-go food. The in-store experience for most brands mirrors the grab-and-go culture that Niccol hopes to move Starbucks away from—customers come in, pick up their order, and leave just as quickly. But in an era where digital ordering reigns and dine-in feels more and more like an afterthought, Mountain Mike’s wants to bring back the nostalgia of the “lost pizzeria.”
The 47-year-old brand has been on a growth streak lately, fueled in large part by a refresh of its branding, technology, and restaurant design to stay relevant, says CEO Jim Metevier. That includes both guest-facing and back-of-house updates to ensure teams can manage digital and off-premises orders without interrupting the in-restaurant experience.
Most locations also now feature arcade games for kids, flexible seating for large groups, big-screen TVs, and a bar counter with beer on tap. All of this creates an atmosphere designed for lingering.
Metevier often hears from guests who grew up with Mountain Mike’s and associate the brand with cherished memories of teammates, family gatherings, and celebrations.
“Yes, there’s the great pizza that we gave them, but there’s also that community feel and the memories that were created here that bring up strong emotions,” he says. “We talk about that with our franchisees all the time. How do we capitalize on those nostalgic feelings, celebrate the past, and then build places that create new memories for the next generation?”
Since taking over as CEO two years ago, Metevier has made it a priority to meet with prospective franchisees on a monthly basis, giving them a firsthand look at the brand and its operations. One of the key takeaways? Most candidates also are drawn to Mountain Mike’s because of its dine-in experience and strong community presence.
While the brand primarily targets inline and endcap locations around 2,500 to 3,000 square feet, it has experimented with smaller formats. A 1,600-square-foot store with a limited six-table dining area, for example, has performed well—ranking among the top 15 units in the system. This won’t be the focus as the brand continues growing beyond its home turf on the West Coast. Smaller units will instead serve as strategic infill locations in markets where larger, full-service Mountain Mike’s restaurants already exist nearby.
“We play with different things, but as we go into new markets, we’re very much focused on being that community, neighborhood pizza restaurant,” Metevier says.
He echoes Schulman’s concerns about America’s loneliness epidemic and the way it is reshaping how people connect. With streaming services replacing movie nights at the theater, video calls taking the place of in-person meetings, and e-commerce diminishing the role of shopping malls, opportunities for real-world interaction are dwindling. That’s why brands that foster genuine, in-person experiences—whether it’s a lively neighborhood pizzeria or a bustling coffeehouse—hold such deep emotional significance for people seeking community in an increasingly digital world.
“People are craving true connection in a society that’s become so isolated,” Metevier says. “We want to be a place where they can gather and have that. It’s always been very core to who we are, and now we think it’s actually a big differentiator for us as we move forward.”
