Fiesta Restaurant Group Inc., parent to the Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana brands, swung to a profit in the fourth quarter on increased sales and guest traffic, the company reported Thursday.
For the quarter ended Dec. 30, Addison, Texas-based Fiesta reported a profit of $2.6 million, or 11 cents per share, compared to a loss of $130,000, or one cent per share, in the same period last year. Revenue in the fourth quarter increased 8.2 percent, to $126.6 million, from $116.9 in the prior-year period.
Fiesta was spun off from Syracuse, N.Y.-based Carrols Restaurant Group last year.
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Same-store sales in the quarter increased 8.3 percent at Pollo Tropical and 6.8 percent at Taco Cabana. Comparable guest traffic rose 6.7 percent at Pollo Tropical and increased 4.2 percent at Taco Cabana.
“Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana both posted robust comparable restaurant sales and transaction growth over the three-month period, which enabled us to achieve substantially higher operating profitability," said Tim Taft, Fiesta’s president and chief executive, said in a statement.
New restaurants are integral to Fiesta’s business strategy, Taft added.
“We plan to open 14 to 17 company-owned restaurants in 2013 on top of the 10 company-owned restaurant openings in 2012,” he said. “While most of this year's growth will be in core Texas and Florida markets, Pollo Tropical opened its first of two locations planned for 2013 in the Nashville area on Feb. 1., and will further expand its emerging presence in Atlanta as well.”
The company also plans to open 10 Pollo Tropical franchised units internationally in 2013, with its first store in India.
Sales at Pollo Tropical restaurants in the quarter increased 8.8 percent to $56.1 million from $51.6 million in the prior-year period. Taco Cabana restaurant sales increased 7.6 percent in the quarter, to $69.8 million from $64.9 million in the same quarter of 2011.
As of Dec. 30, 2012, Fiesta owned and operated 91 Pollo Tropical restaurants and 160 Taco Cabana units. The company franchised 35 Pollo Tropical restaurants in the United States, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Panama, Trinidad & Tobago, and Venezuela, and eight Taco Cabana restaurants domestically.
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