Cava's CEO has big plans for the newly public Mediterranean fast-casual restaurant chain fresh off a successful IPO. 

"There are 26 states in the continental U.S. we are not operating in. We're looking forward to going into those states. And one of them will be Illinois. Chicago is where we've we said we are going to expand to next year, and then we'll continue to grow within the 22-state footprint," CEO Brett Schulman said during an interview on "The Claman Countdown."

"But Chicago gives us an entry into the Midwest region, which is a region of the country that we don't have any existing restaurants in today." 

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Its IPO began trading Thursday, marking just the 10th company to go public in 2023 while potentially giving a boost to other restaurant stocks. Shares rallied over 88% during the debut but traded back below the offering price at the week's end with a loss of 13%. 

CAVA made its initial offering to potential investors of 14.4 million shares at $22, above the expected range of $19-$20. 

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In addition to opening new restaurants, some of the proceeds from the deal will go toward general corporate purposes like loan repayments used to finance its second production facility in Verona, Virginia, which broke ground in 2022, according to its SEC filing. 

As of April 16, there are 263 Cava restaurants, and the restaurant plans to open 34-44 new locations in 2023 and total 1,000 U.S. sites by 2032.

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In an interview with FOX Business ahead of the IPO, Edward Moya, a senior market analyst from OANDA in New York, said, "Cava’s IPO might not just give restaurant stocks a boost up, but also some hope to a nonexistent IPO market.

"The macro backdrop might not be as bad as feared if we see more offerings occur," he added." After the initial offering, there will be an additional 111.4 million outstanding shares, bringing the high-end valuation to what Cava believes is a $2.1 billion business.

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"The IPO market has faltered since the central banks began raising interest rates higher, leading many to fear an IPO bubble burst." 

Data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence shows there were just 1,671 IPOs launched around the world last year, totaling $179.73 billion. In 2021, 3,260 IPOs were launched equaling $626.56 billion.