Cava Group Inc. notified the Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday of a $35 million equity offering. Of that, it’s already raised $33,461,206 from 10 investors, according to the filing. As of last September, Cava had filed documents that indicated it raised a total of $96 million to date, the most recent being a $34.9 million raise in March 2017. That last infusion of cash carried its restaurants into new markets, including Charlotte, North Carolina; Austin, Texas; and Boston. The company also has locations in the Los Angeles area and the New York tri-state area. Previous funding rounds included cotributions from local funds Revolution Growth of D.C. and SWaN & Legend Venture Partners of Leesburg, along with New York’s The Invus Group. The latest SEC filing does not show details about investors in this current round, though it does list the following among Cava’s directors: David Strasser, managing director of SWaN & Legend; Philippe Bourguignon, vice chairman of Revolution Places; Karen Kochevar, chair of Greyston Foundation and former CFO of Union Square Hospitality Group, operator of Shake Shack and Gramercy Tavern; and Ronald Shaich founder, chairman and former CEO of Panera Bread. We’ve reached out to Cava for more information on the raise and will update this post when we learn more. Venture funding has been flowing into food businesses for the past few years, especially fast-casual, tech-savvy restaurant businesses. D.C. pizza chain &pizza raised $25 million in late 2016. Last time we checked, Cava, which offers customizable and signature Greek-inspired salads, bowls and other dishes, was on pace to add 20 new locations in 2018. The company also has a substantial packaged foods business, making its dips and spreads for sale in grocery stores in two facilities on the East and West coasts. The company, led by CEO Brett Schulman won restauranteur of the year at the 2017 RAMMY awards, the local restaurant awards from the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington. –Source: Washington Business Journal