Ron Shaich

Ron Shaich, born in 1953 and based in Florida, has an estimated net worth of ~$1.2B RTB. He founded Panera, which he built into a chain of more than 2,500 locations, and he is chairman and lead investor at Cava NewsAPI.

Business & SEC Activity

Shaich led the investment that converted Zoe’s Kitchen into Cava, a Mediterranean fast-casual chain, and helped take Cava public NewsAPI. In July 2026, Fortune reported that he was backing Level99, an interactive challenge-based entertainment venue company, with a $100 million investment NewsAPI.

Philanthropy

The Miami-based Shaich Family Foundation reported $75,915,772 in assets, $619,751 in revenue, and $3,574,362 in expenses for tax year 2023 ProPublica 990. The foundation reported paying $3,423,394 in grants that year ProPublica 990.

Political Activity

FEC records show at least 100 federal contributions in the most recent sampled records, while the FEC reports 142 contributions overall; the sampled records total at least $633,243.87 and cover only the 100 most recent contributions on file FEC. In that sample, contributions were $406,100 to unknown-party recipients, $181,639.92 to Democratic recipients, $36,103.95 to Republican recipients, $6,600 to Independent recipients, and $2,800 to Democratic–Farmer–Labor recipients FEC. The largest listed recipients in the sample were AB PAC ($200,000), the Democratic National Committee ($76,800), Unite America PAC Inc. ($50,000), Biden Victory Fund ($50,000), and Harris Victory Fund ($44,600) FEC.

These donations are matched to this person by name only, so some may belong to a different person with the same name: FEC filings can include a donor's employer and city, but our matching does not check them against what we know about this person.

In the News

A July 2026 Fortune report described Shaich’s $100 million Level99 investment and his role at Cava NewsAPI. The report connected the investment to his prior work building Panera and helping develop Cava after the conversion of Zoe’s Kitchen NewsAPI.