Same-store sales at Jack in the Box company's Qdoba Mexican Grill brand, systemwide same-store sales were down 1.7 percent in the first quarter ended Jan. 17, vs. a year-ago decrease of 1.1 percent.
Same-store sales for Qdoba improved sequentially throughout the quarter and turned slightly positive in the last half, company chairman, CEO and president Linda Lang told investors during the company's first quarter earnings conference call Thursday. Additionally, Lang told investors that Qdoba benefited from its higher income core customer, reflecting a boost of consumer confidence amount the affluent segment while lower income segments remained depressed.
Systemwide revenues for the quarter were down 12 percent at $681.3 million, compared to $776.7 million in the same period last year. Net income for the quarter was down 14.7 percent at $24.2 million compared to $28.4 million last year.
Restaurant openings
In the first quarter, six Qdoba restaurants opened, including four franchised locations, vs. 17 new restaurants in the year-ago quarter, 15 of which were franchised.
At the end of the first quarter, the company's system total comprised of 2,228 Jack in the Box restaurants, including 1,052 franchised locations, and 507 Qdoba restaurants, including 348 franchised locations.
For the second quarter ending April 11, 2010, the company expects same-store sales to range from flat to down 2 percent at Qdoba restaurants versus a 2.3 percent decrease in the year-ago quarter.
Conference call
The company will feature a replay of the call through the conference-call link on the Jack in the Box Inc. home page until March 11.
