Brett Schulman started his professional career as an investment banker, and though he loved the principles of finance, he found his job unfulfilling. He left that behind for ventures in the food space, and eventually got a call from a college friend, who needed advice for his cousin who was struggling with a Mediterranean restaurant and snack business.

That business grew into Cava, the fast-casual chain that has seen its reach and profits grow—even as upscale fast-casual restaurants in general have seen a slowdown. In its most recent earnings report earlier this month, Cava reported 31.3% year-over-year revenue growth, with same-restaurant sales increasing 9%—and traffic at each restaurant growing 5.3%. In the last quarter, Cava opened 17 new restaurants, and has more underway.

I talked to Schulman, CEO and co-founder of Cava, about the inner workings of the business that are helping it grow. Of course a restaurant needs to have good food, but Schulman said Cava’s career and ownership culture—and emphasis on loyalty—also drive growth. An excerpt from our conversation is later in this newsletter.

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In the last week, the economy has seen highs and lows—but these highs aren’t the type that anyone really wanted to see. Last week, the national debt hit the new milestone of $40 trillion—and there currently are no major plans underway to reduce it. The debt has more than doubled in the last decade as domestic spending has outstripped revenues, CBS News reports. The milestone caused drops on Wall Street, and big changes in the bond market as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pledged to double the planned buyback of long-term Treasury securities as a way to head off borrowing costs. What this is likely to mean, according to the Washington Post, is there may be either tax increases or spending cuts coming from Washington in the near future. In the meantime, gold, silver and cryptocurrency prices have been rallying.

But—as has been the case since President Donald Trump’s second term began—tariffs are also at the center of economic upheaval. After negotiations between the U.S. and Canada went awry over the weekend, new 50% tariffs on several Canadian products took effect on Saturday. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. will take effect next month. And while the new tariffs only apply to about 5% of the $380 billion worth of Canadian products the U.S. imports and........

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