BJ’s Restaurants Inc.’s profit surged to $8.3 million in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 30, due to cost cuts, restaurant efficiency efforts and higher sales, the company said Wednesday.
Fourth-quarter net income increased from $500,000 the same period a year ago. For the year, the Huntington Beach, Calif.-based casual-dining operator saw net income increase 30.3 percent, to $27.4 million, or 97 cents per share.
BJ’s CEO Greg Trojan said the company’s “Project Q” initiative to improve kitchen productivity helped improve restaurant-level margins by 330 basis points, to 18.4 percent. He also said BJ’s cut general and administrative spending by 40 basis points, to 5.8 percent of sales.
“BJ’s strong fourth-quarter financial results reflect our team’s progress in reigniting comparable restaurant sales, refining our operating disciplines and menu offerings, launching a new higher return restaurant prototype and continuing to execute on our long-term restaurant expansion plan,” Trojan said in a statement, adding that 2015 sales “are off to a solid start.”
“Overall, our sales and operating initiatives are bearing success, restaurant and operating margins are headed in the right direction, guest traffic per square foot is solid and increasing, and our restaurant expansion is on track,” he said.
The company said it plans to open at least 15 new restaurants in 2015, and that it opened three new restaurants in the fourth quarter. All but one of the restaurants opened in the fourth quarter are new, 7,400-square-foot prototypes that cost $4 million to build, $1 million less than BJ’s traditional prototype.
4Q NET INCOME
Result: $8.3 million, or 31 cents per share% Increase: 1,583% (from $504,000, or 2 cents per share)
4Q REVENUE
Result: $213.9 million% Increase: 7.1% (from $199.8 million)
4Q SAME-STORE SALES
% Increase: 1.2%Source: Company report
FULL YEAR NET INCOME
Result: $27.4 million, or 97 cents per share% Increase: 30.3% (from $21 million, or 73 cents per share)
FULL YEAR REVENUE
Result: $845.6 million% Increase: 9.1% (from $775 million)
FULL YEAR SAME-STORE SALES
% Decrease: 0.8%Source: Company report
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