How CAVA, QDOBA & Wagamama Are Rethinking Restaurant Growth

When the cab driver asked if Wagamama was a furniture store, Suk Singh knew his brand had a problem. At a RestaurantSpaces panel moderated by Sean McGuinness (Hospitality Director, Sargenti), three operators—Rob Gerstenfeld (VP of Real Estate, Construction & Design, Qdoba), Melissa Ng (SVP Design & Construction, CAVA), and Suk Singh (Chief Development Officer, Wagamama)—shared what's actually working in today's market.

Why Wagamama is Abandoning NYC for Florida

Singh didn't sugarcoat Wagamama's US challenge. Despite being an iconic 160-unit Pan-Asian concept in the UK, their seven US locations are all in the two most expensive markets. "I kind of went back and looked at the rent structure and the five best restaurants in the world would have to be in Boston and New York for them to make money," Singh explained.

His solution? Florida and Texas. The logic: 6.5 million Brits visit Orlando annually and already know the brand. "You can go into Orlando and you can build a Pan-Asian restaurant and you'll be one of a handful," Singh noted. "In New York, there's a lot of competition from independents that are really, really good."

He also challenged market penetration assumptions: "I was astonished that Sweetgreen had 40 restaurants in New York. You walk around and you spot one or two, but if they had one or two, you wouldn't know that Sweetgreen was really a concept."

The Tabletop That Moved the Needle

Ng shared a retrofit story with immediate results. One change—new dining room tables with white solid surface tops—generated fast feedback. "The area lead actually wrote my team a really nice note thanking us for making that investment in their restaurant. Not only is it a beautiful new look, but it's easier to maintain, the element has more longevity," Ng said.

Guest reviews on Google and Yelp reflected the change quickly. "To get that feedback so quickly after we rolled out such a simple element like a tabletop was so validating."

The 20% Sales Lift from Pickup Lanes

Gerstenfeld revealed Qdoba's pickup lane strategy is delivering results. "We're seeing almost a 20% increase in sales across restaurants that have that pickup lane," he said. The pitch to franchisees: "Even though rent might be 15 or 20% more, you're gonna add 20% sales. You're gonna get better visibility being on that end cap."

His site selection philosophy protects franchisee success: "We've said no, probably more than we want to, to sites. But we understand how important it's for the franchisee to build their first two, three, and four. Otherwise they won't build five and six."

AI Just Saved Days of Budget Work

When Ng's team faced a facilities budget deadline, they pulled every Service Channel ticket from 12 months and ran it through an AI platform. "What would have normally taken days of pulling reports, doing the analytics ourself, packaging it up, took hours and in some cases minutes."

Her CFO asked about accuracy. "I would say for what we used it for, probably 80% accurate," Ng admitted. "It got us to the finish line faster, but it still required that we reviewed the output, that we validated the data."

Understanding Your Market: The UK vs. US Problem

Singh's biggest challenge? Cultural translation. UK guests accept bench seating and food arriving as it comes out. Americans want space and sequential courses. And critically: "Having an active bar and having people come in to enjoy the bar experience and then go to dining is something that the US wants, it needs at the price point that we are at."

The solution: "We basically said we're gonna rethink everything. So everything from the service model to how we deliver our food, to how the kitchen's laid out, to how the bar's laid out, to how we welcome guests."

Cost Management Through Partnership

Ng's approach emphasizes planning and partnership: "You've really got to look at your pipeline at least 18 months, 24 months, if not greater. Do we need to start talking about making bulk commitments, what's the right mix of local contractors versus having a couple national ones in the mix so that every dollar that we spend, we are getting value from?"

Singh's message to vendors: "We love it when people come to us and go, 'Hey, this is $200 a square foot, but I think I can get it done for 150 if we think about this a little bit differently.'"

What's Coming in Five Years

• AI becomes essential. "Start small, start using it for personal reasons. Just experiment with prompting in ChatGPT," Ng advised. "If we and our teams have not already started exploring AI, our teams are going to be left behind."
• Value dominates. Singh pointed to the economic pressure driving choices: "For the family that's earning 50, 60, $70,000 a year, it becomes a real challenge thinking about getting value for those dollars." That's why value promotions deliver massive results: "When a brand does hit it out of the park with a single promotion, it can relaunch a brand and increase the stock price of a company by 300%, like it did with Chili's."
• Space efficiency wins. "How do we make the best use of the space in the restaurant efficiently?" Gerstenfeld asked, pointing to tankless water heaters and back-of-house innovations. "Things that will allow us to make that bowl better, faster, and fresher."

The Bottom Line

Success isn't about being everywhere—it's about being strategic. Whether abandoning expensive coastal markets, proving simple design changes drive results, or protecting franchisee success through selective site approval, smart operators choose quality over quantity.

Watch the full talk below: 👇