Zoës Kitchen is a fast casual restaurant chain headquartered in Plano, Texas, United States that is a subsidiary of the Cava Group. Serving a menu of variety of chicken salad, pasta salad, pitas and grilled chicken sandwiches, the chain has grown to include over 200 locations across 17 states with plans to expand further. Zoës’ menu features Mediterranean-inspired comfort food with made-from-scratch recipes using fresh ingredients.
History
Zoës Kitchen was originally incorporated in Homewood, Alabama, in June 1995 as Zoe's Kitchen, Inc. It was founded by Zoë and Marcus Cassimus. Originally, the restaurants were not franchised, with Cassimus retaining a 51 percent ownership stake in all newly opened locations. Its first location opened in October 1995 in downtown Homewood. A second location opened in the Riverchase section of Hooverin 1999 and a third in downtown Birmingham in March 2001. The restaurant continued its expansion with the opening of its first store outside the Birmingham area in Tuscaloosa in May 2001 and its first out-of-state location in Nashville, Tennessee, in the fall of 2001. By 2006, Zoës had expanded to sixteen restaurants, with eight located in Alabama and others located in Phoenix, Nashville, Memphis, Baton Rouge and Destin. With 20 stores open by 2007, Cassimus sold a majority ownership stake to Brentwood Associates of Los Angeles. Following the purchase, Cassimus announced that he would remain as chief executive, the company would remain headquartered in Birmingham, and the menu would not be affected. Additionally it was revealed that the sale could potentially result in the opening of 200 new franchises over the next five years. By Spring 2008 GE Capital Solutions loaned the company $10 million to allow for the development of 50 new stores across the southeast and southwest. In November 2008, Cassimus resigned, with Greg Dollarhyde taking his place as CEO. Formerly the CEO of Baja Fresh, Dollarhyde announced that he would be looking to expand the restaurant to new locales with two-thirds remaining company owned and the remainder being franchised. As of August 2011, Zoës has 11 franchised stores and the rest are company-owned . Miles announced that Zoës would consider multi-unit franchisees in the future. Zoës launched online ordering in 2011 and a mobile loyalty app in 2013. Miles promised that the company would stay headquartered in Birmingham, in 2011. In 2014, though, when the company announced that it was going to be publicly traded, SEC filings showed the headquarters as Plano, Texas. Reasons given for the shift included simplifying travel, a lack of talent available in Birmingham, and the need to consolidate offices to prepare for an IPO. Local media, business, and civic leaders said they were unaware of the move. In August 2018 Zoës was acquired by Cava Group, Inc. for $12.75 in cash for each Zoës common share. CAVA is a privately held Mediterranean restaurant chain. On September 24, 2018, American Airlines announced that Zoe's Kitchen will be the primary food partner to serve the light snack and food items in Main Cabin seats.
Locations
As of March 2015, Zoës Kitchen has 203 locations throughout seventeen states of the United States.
