News

FAT Brands reports 7.5 % increase in same-store sales

December 1, 2017

FAT Brands Inc., parent company of Fat Burger and Buffalo's Express, announced Thursday that systemwide sales were up 7. 5 percent to $32.9 million for its 13-week fiscal third quarter ended Sept. 24, 2017.

"We are proud of our third quarter results, which included same-store sales growth of 3.8 percent at Fatburger and 3.9 percent at Buffalo's, despite what remains a challenging industry backdrop. These results continue the trend of seven consecutive years of positive same-store sales for both Fatburger and Buffalo's franchisees domestically," Andy Wiederhorn, president and CEO of FAT Brands, said in the press release. 

Earlier this year, the brand completed an initial public offering and acquired Hurricane Grill & Wings, Ponderosa and Bonanza Steakhouses.

"There are a number of attractive opportunities to consolidate brands onto our platform as part of our asset light growth strategy, which we believe will drive meaningful value for our shareholders over the long term. We are just getting started," said Wiederhorn, who will keynote the Restaurant Franchising and Innovation Summit, July 16-18 in London. "Our robust management and systems platforms support the expansion of our existing brands, while enabling the accretive acquisition and efficient integration of additional restaurant concepts.

"This scalable platform generates significant efficiencies in franchise support services and corporate overhead. Pro forma for the Hurricanes acquisition and expected synergies, we expect annualized revenue to exceed $17 million, and annualized adjusted cash earnings of greater than $11 million, or $1.10 per share."

Other 3Q highlights (Ponderosa and Bonanza Steakhouses' financials not included) are:

• Restaurant count of 174 locations, as compared to 178 locations in the third quarter of last year.
• Total revenue of $2.4 million versus $3.0 million in the prior year.
• Operating income of $1.6 million versus $2.1 million in the prior year.
• Net income of $1.0 million versus $1.3 million in the prior year.
• EPS of $0.10 compared to $0.13 in the prior year.
• EBITDA, a non-GAAP measure, of $1.6 million, compared to $2.1 million in the prior year.