BBQ Holdings Inc. swung to profit in the second quarter and completed the acquisition of the Village Inn and Bakers Square brands in July, the company reported Monday.
For the second quarter ended July 4, the Minnetonka, Minn.-based parent to Famous Dave’s and other brands swung to net income of $15.8 million, or $1.64 a share, from a net loss of $6.3 million, or 68 cents a share, in the prior-year period. The company said net income included load forgiveness of $14.1 million. Revenues rose to $45.5 million from $27.8 million in the same quarter last year.
In late July, after the quarter’s close, the company completed its earlier-announced purchase of VIBSQ Holdco LLC, which had 114 franchised and 21 corporate Village Inn restaurants, and 12 Bakers Square company-owned restaurants. The deal had been valued at about $13.5 million.
“With the recently completed acquisition of Village Inn and Bakers Square,” said Jeff Crivello, BBQ Holdings CEO, in a statement, “we look forward to working collaboratively to improve, reinvigorate and leverage our infrastructure as a launch pad for growth. Our ability to drive cash flow throughout the year has been a huge step toward building a very strong balance sheet.”
Crivello said the company had four growth initiatives: operational improvements, organic new units, filling the latent capacity of current restaurants and acquisitions. The company acquired the 18-unit Granite City Food and Brewery and the Real Urban barbecue restaurant brands in 2020.
During the quarter, BBQ Holdings purchased four Famous Dave’s franchised restaurants in Nashville and Kentucky, the company said.
Earlier in August, a Famous Dave’s franchisee opened the first line-serve restaurant in Las Vegas, Nev., an initiative announced earlier in the year.
Same-store sales at company-owned Famous Dave’s in the second quarter increased 35.2% compared from the same period in 2020 and increased 14.5% compared to the pre-pandemic second quarter of 2019. Same-store sales at franchised Famous Dave’s increased 42.7% from the same second quarter of 2020 and increased 4.4% from the same period of 2019.
Same-store sales at Granite City in the second quarter increased 138.6% compared to same period in 2020 and 10.4% from the same period of 2019.
As of Aug. 13, BBQ Holdings had six brands with 299 locations in three countries including 85 company-owned locations and 214 franchised restaurants. In addition to these locations, BBQ Holdings opened eight company-owned Famous Dave’s ghost kitchens within its Granite City locations and 17 Famous Dave’s franchisee ghost kitchens operating out of the kitchens of another restaurant location or a shared kitchen space.
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