MarketsAug 24, 2024
A Bowl Market Is Propping Up Big Returns in the Fast Casual, Health Food Industry
Dining Shift
Noah Weidner
It might not be 10,000 BC, but Americans are keeping one of humanity’s oldest culinary trends in style — food in a bowl. As fast food chains like McDonald’s and Starbucks face slower growth, affluent Americans are helping health food chains like Cava, Sweetgreen, and Chipotle buck the dining slowdown.
- Same-store sales at the three firms grew by 14.4%, 11.1%, and 9% year-over-year (YoY), respectively — even as traffic remained flat or grew in the low single-digits.
- The three firms also expanded their footprint despite economic conditions — Chipotle opened 52 new locations, while Cava and Sweetgreen opened 18 and 4 net locations.
The bowl market: The stocks of all three companies have posted strong performances this year, a sign of investors’ appetite for health food’s fast-casual makeover. Chipotle, already one of the largest dining chains, has risen 20% — and its CEO was poached by Starbucks. Even then, returns from the smaller, faster-growing and have been 242% and 200%, respectively. Turns out, there’s a bull market for bowl food.
