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CAVA Joins the U.S. Food Waste Pact
December 2, 2025
CAVA Joins the U.S. Food Waste Pact
CAVA Becomes the Fourth Quick-Service Restaurant to Join the Initiative to Reduce Food Waste Across the Food System
[Washington, D.C., DECEMBER 2, 2025] — CAVA, the category-defining Mediterranean fast-casual restaurant brand, has become the newest quick-service restaurant to join the U.S. Food Waste Pact (Pact), a joint initiative led by ReFED and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to reduce food waste throughout the supply chain. CAVA joins 27 other food businesses and organizations signing onto the Pact’s voluntary agreement, which utilizes the “Target, Measure, Act” framework to facilitate industry collaboration and action to reduce food waste across the food system.
According to ReFED, 31% of food produced in the United States goes uneaten or unsold, with the vast majority becoming waste that gets sent to destinations like landfills, incinerators, and sewer systems. The surplus food generated in the quick-service subsector is equivalent to over four billion meals and is valued at nearly $30 billion—giving these restaurants a unique opportunity to help their bottom lines while supporting their communities.
“Joining the U.S. Food Waste Pact only bolsters our mission to bring heart, health, and humanity to food,” said Jenny Roberts, Senior Director Sourcing and Sustainability at CAVA. “We’re focused on making CAVA restaurants an important part of their communities through food donation programs and outreach, and we’ve been testing waste management strategies to keep food out of landfills. Getting the opportunity to share insights with our peers through the Pact will maximize these efforts and help us launch new ones, reducing food waste in our own operations and across the food system.”
In 2024, CAVA donated nearly 43 thousand meals to communities in need through their unique food donation program, which donates food made during training periods at new locations to local food banks. CAVA's “Thoughtful Cooking” approach limits food prep to only what is needed to reduce food waste in their operations. CAVA has also been a sponsor of the ReFED Food Waste Solutions Summit, helping facilitate collaboration and conversation between food system experts at the premier gathering on the subject.
“We are excited to have CAVA join the U.S. Food Waste Pact,” said Jackie Suggitt, vice president of business initiatives & community engagement at ReFED. “They’re committed to reducing waste while getting food to those who need it, and they’ll be a valued voice in the room when exploring innovative food waste reduction ideas. We look forward to their collaboration with other signatories, and we hope that they inspire others in the subsector to address food waste.”
CAVA is the twenty-eighth business to join the U.S. Food Waste Pact. Other signatories are retailers Albertsons Companies, Ahold Delhaize USA, ALDI US, Amazon Fresh, Kroger, New Seasons Market, Raley’s, Sprouts Farmers Market, Walmart Inc., and Whole Foods Market; manufacturers Bob’s Red Mill, Del Monte Fresh Produce Company, and Lamb Weston, Inc.; coalition signatories Health Care Without Harm and R&DE Stanford Food Institute; trade associations FMI—The Food Industry Association and Western Growers Association; foodservice signatories Aramark, Compass Group USA, ISS Guckenheimer, and Sodexo USA; quick-service restaurants Chick-fil-A, Starbucks, and Wawa; hospitality signatory Hilton; and distributors Organically Grown Company and Midwest Foods.
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About the U.S. Food Waste Pact
The U.S. Food Waste Pact is a national voluntary agreement that uses the “Target, Measure, Act” framework to reduce food waste across the supply chain. The Pact works with waste-generating food businesses and organizations to collect and analyze data about food waste in their operations, share best practices through precompetitive working groups, and test and scale solutions through intervention projects. The Pact is an initiative led by nonprofits ReFED and World Wildlife Fund. For more information about the U.S. Food Waste Pact, visit http://usfoodwastepact.org/.
About CAVA
CAVA is the category-defining Mediterranean fast-casual restaurant brand, bringing together healthful food and bold, satisfying flavors at scale. Our brand and our opportunity transcend the Mediterranean category to compete in the large and growing limited-service restaurant sector as well as the health and wellness food category. CAVA serves guests across gender lines, age groups, and income levels and benefits from generational tailwinds created by consumer demand for healthy living and a demographic shift towards greater ethnic diversity. We meet consumers’ desires to engage with convenient, authentic, purpose-driven brands that view food as a source of self-expression. The broad appeal of our food combined with these favorable industry trends drive our vast opportunity for continued growth.
Media Contacts:
Nia D’Emilio, ReFED
Susan McCarthy, WWF
ReFED is a U.S.-based nonprofit that partners with food businesses, funders, solution providers, policymakers, and more to solve food waste. Its vision is a sustainable, resilient, and inclusive food system that makes the best use of the food we grow. The organization serves as the definitive source for food waste data, providing the most comprehensive analysis of the food waste problem and solutions to address it. Through its tools and resources, in-person and virtual convenings, and services tailored to help businesses, funders, and solution providers scale their impact, ReFED works to increase adoption of food waste solutions across the supply chain.
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