Zoe’s Kitchen Inc. saw same-store sales increase 8.1 percent in the first quarter ended April 18, with menu additions giving customers new reasons to visit, the company said Tuesday.
Zoe’s reported that net income rose 101.7 percent, to $1.4 million, or 7 cents a share, from $692,000, or 4 cents a share, in the same period last year. Revenue increased 27.6 percent, to $80.4 million, from $63 million in the prior-year period.
“Our menu additions have been well received by our guests, giving them new reasons to ‘Live Mediterranean,’” said Kevin Miles, Zoe’s Kitchen president and CEO, citing the chain’s slogan in a statement.
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The company opened 11 new restaurants in the quarter.
“Our successful openings in the first quarter, including our new Denver and Kansas City markets, bolster my confidence that guests in all geographies desire the quality and convenience Zoës Kitchen offers,” Miles said. “We are on pace to deliver on our 2016 development objective of 34 to 36 new locations.”
The first-quarter performance led Zoe’s Kitchen to increase its guidance for the full fiscal 2016, Miles said.
The company now expects total revenue in the range of $277 million to $281 million, an increase from $275 million to 280 million that it had forecast earlier. Same-store sales growth was also increased to a range of 4.5 percent to 6 percent, compared with an earlier range of 4 percent to 5.5 percent.
As of April 18, Zoe’s Kitchen had 174 company-owned restaurants and three franchised units.
The company has added five additional restaurants so far in the second quarter and reopened a restaurant in Columbia, S.C., that was closed last year because of damage from Hurricane Joaquin.
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