Same-store sales report: June 2019

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.’s first-quarter same-store sales growth of 9.9% marked the fast-causal brand’s best quarterly improvement since the first three months of 2017 when its comps rebounded 17.8% following earlier foodborne illness incidences at its restaurants that fueled a 20.4% drop in 2016 annual same-store sales. Leaders of the Newport Beach, Calif.-based chain said various strategies came together in the quarter to account for the near-double-digit bump, including momentum for delivery, the introduction of “lifestyle bowls” and excitement for the new loyalty reward program, which has enrolled 3 million members.

Biglari Holdings Inc. recently said it had closed 44 of its 413 company-operated Steak ‘n Shake restaurants while waiting to refranchise them to others. The tactic surfaced as Biglari reported a first-quarter same-store sales decline of 7.9% at its Steak ‘n Shake restaurants, which, while believed to be a sequential improvement to an estimated fourth-quarter dip of 8.4%, was significantly greater than the 1.7% falloff in the first three months of 2018. In its entirety, 2018 marked the third consecutive year of annual same-store-sales erosion for Steak ‘n Shake company operations.

Lower same-store-sales erosion on a sequential quarter basis at its two largest brands was among the performance highlights reported by Luby’s Inc. for the second quarter ended March 13. The company said Fuddruckers’ same-store sales were off by 5.3% in the quarter, versus an 11.2% first-quarter dip, and a 6.4% decline in 2018’s second quarter. Luby’s Cafeterias saw a 2.2% drop in Q2, compared with declines of 3% in Q1 and 1.8% a year earlier. “The business of operating mature brands in a highly competitive market is a hard one,” said Luby’s CEO Chris Pappas.

Kona Grill Inc., on its sixth chief executive since August 2018, recently reported a fiscal 2018 same-store sales decline of 12.3%, compared with a 5.9% drop in 2017. In early April, the beleaguered casual-dining brand reported shrinking revenue and growing losses for 2018, followed midmonth by a warning that it might be forced to file for bankruptcy even if talks with lenders to restructure debt and consideration of strategic alternatives, such as a sale, are successful. At that time, it named as chief executive Jonathan Tibus, a managing director with turnaround specialist Alvarez & Marsal North America LLC, succeeding interim CEO Christi Hing.

*Quarters ended closest to March 31, 2019, or between Feb. 24 and April 2, with 57 of 71 total tracked systems or divisions reporting.

**Excludes Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen Global

***U.S. company units, preliminary forecast

*Latest quarters ended closest to March 31, 2019, or between Feb. 24 and April 2, combined with same year-earlier quarters.

Annual same-store sales changes for the past three completed years combined. Excludes Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen Global and Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen.