CAVA | Order Online 4+

I work in the digital product design and development space. I am a harsh critic on user experiences in my day-to-day apps. Never have I opened an app that recently had a new version released and been as pleasantly surprised as I was today when I went to order my lunch. (I was actually so happy with my experience that I tweeted about this as well.) The experience really speaks for itself — intuitive it is and it’s beautiful design and innovation for a mobile ordering app. I would like to call out how refreshing it is to see the inclusivity and integrity of a company shown through their user experience. The simple (and not hidden!) pop up to offer the user the option to either SHOW or HIDE calorie information is so inclusive of and sensitive to those with sensitivities around calorie counting. I know this is a simple feature in comparison to the rest of this unbelievable redesign, but I wanted to call that out as it does not go unnoticed! LOVE this update — congrats to the product team and all designers, developers, etc involved!

I was pleasantly surprised when I placed my order today using this app. Usually, customizations are a hassle to communicate when placing food orders, but not here.
I quickly learned that each of the selection buttons will toggle between options for that specific item. I.e. I initially chose the spicy chicken protein for my pita wrap. After reconsideration, I wanted to switch to the the grilled chicken with less bite to it. I pressed the grilled chicken button and instead of completely removing the spicy chicken, it read “1/2” over the grilled and “1/2” over the spicy. Perfect! Press the button again and it toggled to choose just the grilled chicken.
It was the same with the sauces. Press it one time to get a single amount and twice to get extra. Very simple to use - a lot simpler than trying to understanding what I just attempted to describe.
Enjoy!

The apps layout is easy to understand and simple to use if your just looking to preorder your food. If your trying to manage your calorie intake and track the nutrition information then the app is basically useless for these two purposes.

For starters the calorie estimates are off by a few hundred calories at the least. One of their standard meals (without ANY edits) comes out significantly higher in calories when the individual ingredients calories are added up separately. Also there is no sign of a meals nutrition information whats so ever. It would be nice to have a overview like the chick-fil-a app gives you of the calories, adjustments and overall information.

This is either a relatively new app, this a work in progress, or cava is not putting in half the effort other companies are with the food ordering apps. Love the food and would love to eat it more but I’d need a reliable platform to change me from an occasional user to using it 3 to 4 times a week because accounting for their mistakes takes too much time.