Ark Restaurants Aktie

Greetings. Welcome to Ark Restaurants' Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to Christopher Love, Secretary. Thank you. You may begin.

Thank you, Operator. Good morning, and thank you for joining us on our conference call for the third quarter ended June 27, 2026. My name is Christopher Love, and I am the Secretary of Ark Restaurants. With me on the call today is Michael Weinstein, our Chairman and CEO, and Anthony Sirica, our President and CFO.

For those of you who have not yet obtained a copy of our press release, it was issued over the newswires yesterday and is available on our website. To review the full text of that press release, along with the associated financial tables, please go to our homepage at www.arkrestaurants.com.

Before we begin, however, I'd like to read the safe harbor statement. I need to remind everyone that part of our discussion this morning will include forward-looking statements and that these statements are not guarantees of future performance, and therefore undue reliance should not be placed on them. We refer everyone to our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a more detailed discussion of the risks that may have a direct bearing on our operating results, performance, and financial condition. I'll now turn the call over to Anthony.

Morning, everyone. A couple of things I want to go over before we turn it over to Michael. Our cash is $9.4 million. Our debt is $7.1 million, which is up $4.5 million from the prior quarter. We drew down $5 million in June, in April, I believe it was, to finance the construction of America in Las Vegas.

Our EBITDA for 13 weeks ended June compared to the prior year was down $1.4 million. That's the result primarily of a decrease in sales and gross margin of about 6.5% without a corresponding decrease in payrolls for the quarter, which have been stubborn. A decrease in sales is generally related to two markets. Las Vegas was off 11%. That is due to lower traffic, as we all read in the news, as well as the partial closure of America, which should be fully reopening by September sometime. Florida was off 10% as well in the quarter. It continues to be a challenging local economic climate, which is resulting in lower headcounts.

Excluding updates to Bryant Park and the Meadowlands situation, which Michael will speak to, the only other item of note in the quarter is that we finalized a 2-year lease restructure at Sequoia in early July, and we expect that to provide savings of somewhere $200,000 to $300,000 a year. I'll turn it over to you.

Several comments before we get into the Bryant Park situation and the Meadowlands. Despite the fact that sales are off 10% or 11% at New York-New York, our cash flow has improved from last year. We have great management there. They've really become more efficient, and we just look forward to sales returning and the efficiencies to yield even better cash flow. At New York-New York, we've reached a deal with MGM Management to build a new bar. Construction on that will begin in about 2 or 3 months and should be open the early part of next year. In addition to Las Vegas, we have two potential new venues that we have been negotiating for. I think they're likely to happen, but we'll see. I'll update you next quarter.

The situation in Bryant Park, we think the litigation is going kind of well for us. There's not necessarily certainty about us renegotiating a new lease, but the judge in the last hearing did award us the right to monetary damages on a breach of lease by Bryant Park Corporation. There is a hearing to set a trial date in September. I would imagine that trial would take place the early part of next year. Monetary damages on that could be significant. That does not mean that we're necessarily going to get a new lease. That's going to be a negotiation at some point. We hope with the Parks Department and the proper people at Bryant Park Corporation, but that those monetary damages could be significant and hopefully give us an opening for a negotiation.

As far as the Meadowlands is concerned, the legislators in New Jersey did not put the referendum that we need to get voted on for a casino license on the ballot this year. The governor was not behind it, although she promised that next year she'll be behind it. She just said her agenda for this year complicated her getting behind this referendum. We're still hopeful. We think it makes a lot of sense. There were legislators who were very much in favor of it, but not enough to get the vote.

Our business in general remains the same, down overall sales 6% this quarter, cash flows sort of mirroring what they were this quarter as well. We think we're efficient at most of our places. If you look at the percentages of payroll to sales and cost of goods to sales and occupancy, you know, they're pretty much in line. We're just focusing on trying to be more efficient as best we can and make sure the product that we're serving to the customer on the plate and service is excellent. We think we're achieving that. With that, I'll take any questions.

[Operator Instructions] There are no questions at this time. I would like to turn the floor back over to Michael for closing remarks.

Thank you all. Speak to you next quarter. Appreciate your attendance. Thank you.

Thank you. This will conclude today's conference. You may disconnect at this time, and thank you for your participation.

Greetings, and welcome to the Ark Restaurants Second Quarter 2026 Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce Anthony Sirica, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everyone. Chris has to read the safe harbor. Sorry.

Hello, everyone. My name is Christopher Love. I'm the Secretary. With me on the call today is Michael Weinstein, our Chairman and CEO; and Anthony Sirica, our President and CFO. For those of you who have not yet obtained a copy of our press release, it was issued over the Newswires yesterday and is available on our website. To review the full text of that press release along with the associated financial tables, please go to our home page at www.arkrestaurants.com.

Before we begin, however, I'd like to read the safe harbor statement. I need to remind everyone that part of our discussion this morning will include forward-looking statements and that these statements are not guarantees of future performance, and therefore, undue reliance should not be placed on them. We refer everyone to our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a more detailed discussion of the risks that may have a direct bearing on our operating results, performance and financial condition. I'll now turn the call over to Anthony.

Good morning, everybody. As always, Michael will discuss the business in Bryant Park and the Meadowlands situation. As far as the balance sheet goes, we did draw down $5 million before the end of the quarter to finance our leasehold improvements in Las Vegas. Our cash at the end of the quarter was $11.5 million, and our debt was $7.6 million. Other than that, the balance sheet remains very stable and in good shape. That's really -- it's pretty uneventful as far as the balance sheet goes.

This is Michael. Just a brief review of what's going on. It's sort of a repeat of the last quarter and the quarter before that. We haven't increased prices by any measurable amount. There are certain increases on certain items. But menu pricing remains pretty much stable. We're challenged with sales everywhere. Essentially, the check averages remain pretty much the same, but we're losing what we consider the bottom end of our business with people who are being challenged by their own home expenses and prices of grocery stores and gas prices, et cetera.

It's pretty much across the board. The Vegas sales are down about 11%, which is sort of in line with what [indiscernible] saying in terms of [indiscernible]. However, our cash flow there has actually improved as we have gotten better at managing payroll expenses and certain other expenses. We're really very well managed there. In Florida, everything is down 10%. We check with other operators and vendors and pretty much in line with all restaurants. Washington, D.C., same situation down 5% in sales. But again, we have new management there. We're operating more efficiently with less payroll. So we're actually running a little bit ahead of last year in terms of not having the losses we had last year.

New York, Robert is doing very well. We're challenged with events at Bryant Park because of the litigation that we're going through. We're still very profitable, but our litigation expenses offset a good portion of that profitability. So all in all, not much different from the last quarter. It's just a sales problem. I would say that overall, we're very pleased with the product we're putting out, services, food. We are hopeful that we'll be opening our new America in Las Vegas in early July. We think that's going to help us dramatically. We think we're turning what is basically a restaurant that services customers of the hotel into what should be a sought-after destination.

In terms of Bryant Park litigation, it's ongoing. We suggest to everybody who's interested that they go to the website, the court website to see all the filings. So far, there's nothing to indicate that this litigation is going to end soon. The trial will probably take place somewhere in very late this year, calendar year or early next year. I'm sure whoever wins that trial will be faced with an appeal from the opposite side, which will take another 1 year, 1.5 years. Meadowlands, we are at the point where we are hopeful that a referendum will be suggested by the legislature to be put up for vote in November. There is strong opposition always from the Atlantic City legislators and there is strong push forward to get this done by the Northern legislatures.

We'll know more in the next month or so whether or not that referendum will be put on the ballot. The polling from the public is fairly positive. I mean there are 3 polls that have been done, all of them in favor, one was very close 51%, 49% in favor but the 2 others show anywhere from 62% to 66% in favor. So I think the polling should be persuasive. But again, this is Jersey politics and we're just hopeful we get on the ballot this year. With that, any questions?

[Operator Instructions] There are no questions at this time. I'd like to hand the floor back over to Michael Weinstein for any closing remarks.

See you next quarter. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you again for your participation.

Greetings, and welcome to the Ark Restaurants First Quarter 2026 Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Ark's Secretary, Christopher Love. Thank you. You may begin.

Thank you, operator. Good morning, and thank you for joining us on our conference call for the First Quarter ended December 27, 2025. My name is Christopher Love, and I am the Secretary of Ark Restaurants. With me on the call today is Michael Weinstein, our Chairman and CEO; and Anthony Sirica, our President and CFO.

For those of you who have not yet obtained a copy of our press release, it was issued over the Newswires yesterday and is available on our website. To review the full text of that press release, along with the associated financial tables, please go to our homepage at www.arkrestaurants.com.

Before we begin, however, I'd like to read the safe harbor statement. I need to remind everyone that part of our discussion this morning will include forward-looking statements and that these statements are not guarantees of future performance, and therefore, undue reliance should not be placed on them. We refer everyone to our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a more detailed discussion of the risks that may have a direct bearing on our operating results, performance and financial condition.

I'll now turn the call over to Michael.

Before I get going, let's have Anthony go over the balance sheet and anything that was significant. It was really a quiet quarter. So Anthony, go ahead.

Yes. Real quick. As you saw in the release, our adjusted EBITDA was about $150,000 better this year than it was last year. Our balance sheet, the cash was $9 million and change, and our debt is $3 million. Other than that, the balance sheet did not have any significant changes. Like Michael said, it was a very quiet quarter compared to the last several quarters with impairments and things like that. So it's really pretty consistent with the balance sheet.

I'll turn it over to Michael.

Yes. On the operations side, I'll speak to that in a second. Just with regard to the cash balance, as we have indicated, we signed a new lease with MGM for New York, New York a couple of years ago. And part of the requirement of that new lease was doing some work within our restaurants. And the work is mostly done at this point. But the redo of America, which will -- it's open, but the new facility that we're building will be open in April. That's taken a lot of cash in the last couple of months.

Also, our litigation bills at Bryant Park has taken a lot of cash. So we expect once the build-out of America is completed, the cash position will start to improve.

And in the March quarter, that's a low point for us in cash on an annual basis. So we'll see cash starting to improve in the next couple of months.

On the income side, venue by venue, Las Vegas remains a high point for us. We're seeing better results there despite the strip being down 11%. Our operations are doing quite well. We're more efficient. Keith here, who runs those operations is doing a spectacular job for us. And we're starting to see hopefully some expansion opportunities in Vegas for what we do.

Alabama is fine. The Florida restaurants have continued to be down 10%, 12%, 13% on the revenue side. So margins are squeezed, expenses although we think we're efficient, they're much higher than they were a couple of years ago, just inflation. We haven't -- we raised some prices along the way, but revenues are soft. That's in our full-service restaurants. Our Hollywood fast food in the Hard Rock continues to do extremely well. Sequoia in Washington, we have new management there. I was down there last week. We're really excited about the opportunity the new management is affording us. Washington has been a difficult environment for everybody. The project we're in is not doing well as a whole, but we're starting to see a little perk up in Sequoia.

New York, Bryant Park, again, we're still in this litigation mode. It has hurt us with events. It continues to hurt us with events. But the litigation, we think we're in good shape. And the beneficiary of us being operating the restaurants over the last 1.5 years despite the fact that everybody seems to know that there's a litigation going on. More Event business is starting to be signed up. So I think this year we'll be better on the revenue side in the event and corporate and social event side than it has been. So I think we'll pick up a little bit there. Robert continues to do very well.

The other things, I guess, we should discuss is the Meadowlands. Right now, we are doing -- we -- the owners of Meadowlands Racetrack, we're doing surveying to find out where the public will stand on a referendum to vote for a casino in the northern part of the state away from Atlantic City. So once that survey is complete, if it's positive, we think that the ammunition, the legislature needs to go forward and put a referendum on the ballot this November. We just started this process about a week ago. It will take 1 month, 1.5 months to complete. So hopefully, we'll see a positive result.

So with that, any questions?

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Roger Lipton from Lipton Financial.

It looks like because you're operating line by line cost decreased in food beverage and payroll. It looks like your menu prices were raised noticeably kind of across the board. You mentioned down in Florida, but it came down quarter-to-quarter from your fourth quarter to first quarter, cost of sales, as you well know, I'm sure, is down 270 basis points and your payroll was down 349 -- several hundred, yes, over 300 basis points. So that's pretty material. So that -- it sounds like that was the case. And has it affected traffic, I guess, is the question.

Too hard to answer the last question, has it affected traffic. There's so much that goes on, weather and other things. We're just trying to be more efficient. We have not raised prices significantly. I would disagree with that. I think we're just being more efficient. And...

Yes. I mean we've reengineered some menu items. We're trying to be more efficient on payrolls, reduce overtime, things like that.

Well, that's good to hear. I mean it's preferable to improve margins without raising prices, obviously...

No. But we have raised them a little bit. And certain menu items, I mean, it's crazy. And I go back to Rustic again, King Crab Legs. Pre-COVID, it was a $99 item. Now it's a $235 item. Why? The cost per pound has gone through the roof. So -- but other than a couple of items where just shortages and the cost, the menu increases have been very modest.

All right. That's good to hear. So how has the traffic trend been, we've had very cold weather in the Northeast, but obviously, most of your revenues -- you said Las Vegas has been firm. How has the weather been in Alabama and Florida this first quarter?

Alabama is fine. Florida has been a disaster. It got down to 45 degrees.

Last 2 weeks.

Yes, last 2 weeks, it's been brutal. And not to try to be funny and -- but Iguanas have fallen out of trees, if you read those articles. The -- so that impacts us dramatically. I mean, last week, we were down 40% at some of our full-service restaurants in Florida. It has -- it's just been a disaster as well as in New York. I mean the -- nobody was going out. So the first 2 weeks were very, very tough.

So the good news is that the comparisons will be easy next year. It will not be any colder next year than this year.

Hope not.

Our next question comes from the line of Jeffrey Kaminsky with JJK Consultants.

Two questions, different directions, but 2 questions. Michael, you just said on the call that with respect to the litigation at Bryant Park, you feel that you guys are in pretty good shape. I was wondering, I know the -- it's a legal issue and it's probably things you can and can't say. But what gives you the belief that you're in good shape?

As I pointed out on this call 3 months ago, it's my understanding that when it came to winning the lease back that Ark actually came in third, not second. So should you be successful in this litigation, that doesn't necessarily mean that Ark gets the lease back because there was someone who came in second, not you. So that's one question, and I'll pivot and you can address them both.

In the press release, you mentioned, as you have spoken in the past with respect to the Meadowlands that there's likely to be some dilution in terms of Ark's ownership. I understand that Ark owns about 8% roughly. You can correct me if that's a wrong number. What do you expect the dilution impact to be on the ownership of the casino in the Meadowlands?

So on the Bryant Park issue, the discovery process has brought to light certain things that we think are beneficial to us -- that as well as the time period over which we will remain in possession, we believe, has -- while the litigation goes forward and any appeals go forward, we think we've got a significant amount of time to resolve the issues. So that's -- and I encourage everybody to read the court process that is public documentation that's available on the city.

New York State Supreme Court website.

Yes. With regard to dilution at the Meadowlands, there are too many moving parts. Where there is no dilution if a casino is a license is granted to the Meadowlands is our exclusive on all food and beverage. So that is apart from our ownership position in the LLC, which is New Meadowlands Racetrack.

So from that point of view, there's no dilution in our exclusive, but there will be dilution based upon what deal is made with an operator and how much money that has to be raised. And if it's speculative, obviously, I don't know what our ability to raise money will be if a casino license is issued in the North. And I guess that would depend greatly on the price of our stock and whether it makes sense to do a secondary to keep the dilution to a minimum or whether we just decide to be diluted or taking a partner. There are too many issues. So -- but I imagine there will be some dilution. I hope that answers your question.

And we have reached the end of the question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the floor back over to Michael Weinstein for closing remarks.

All right. Thank you for your participation, and we'll speak to you in 3 months.

Thank you.

Thank you. And this concludes today's conference, and you may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

Greetings, and welcome to Ark Restaurants Fourth Quarter and Year-End 2025 Results Call. [Operator Instructions]. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to your host, Christopher Love, Secretary for Ark Restaurants. Thank you. You may begin.

Thank you, operator. Good morning, and thank you for joining us on our conference call for the fourth quarter and year ended September 27, 2025. My name is Christopher Love, and I am the Secretary of Ark Restaurants. With me on the call today is Michael Weinstein, our Chairman and CEO; and Anthony Sirica, our President and CFO. For those of you who have not yet obtained a copy of our press release, it was issued over the newswires yesterday and is available on our website. To review the full text of that press release, along with the associated financial tables, please go to our homepage at www.arkrestaurants.com.

Before we begin, however, I'd like to read the safe harbor statement. I need to remind everyone that part of our discussion this morning will include forward-looking statements and that these statements are not guarantees of future performance, and therefore, undue reliance should not be placed on them. We refer everyone to our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a more detailed discussion of the risks that may have a direct bearing on our operating results performance and financial condition. I'll now turn the call over to Anthony.

Good morning, everyone. A couple of items on our balance sheet. Our cash is $11.3 million, which has been holding relatively steady every quarter compared to last year, which was $10.2 million, so we're up a little. Our debt is $3.6 million [indiscernible] the release -- for the full year, our adjusted EBITDA was $1.4 million compared to $6.1 million last year. That is basically primarily due to Bryant Park. The increased legal fees of approximately $2 million as well as the impact on our -- mostly the Catering business has cost us almost another $2 million. So the entire decrease is attributable to Bryant Park.

For the full year, we have a provision for taxes even though we have a loss, a pretax loss that was again a result from the third quarter where we had to write off our deferred tax assets in the prior quarter. For the current quarter, quarter-over-quarter, our EBITDA was negative $1 million compared to $500,000 in the same quarter last year. Again, that was the result of Bryant Park situation. The only other item of note in the current quarter is, we have a tax provision even though we have a pretax loss that is a result of -- we have these naked tax credits that relate to indefinite-lived intangibles. And because we have not -- we have a full valuation allowance on the deferred taxes, we have to recognize tax expense on those credits because they're not expected to reverse in the near future.

Other than that, there's really nothing unusual in the current quarter P&L. Let's turn it over to Michael.

Hi, everybody. First of all, we are -- I want to concentrate mostly today on the Meadowlands and Bryant Park. But in an overall view, this December quarter, as compared to last December quarter, we are nicely ahead. The restaurants are running on a more efficient basis, cash flows have improved, especially in Vegas, in Robert, in New York, the properties in Alabama are doing nicely. We're still seeing some deterioration in revenue in our Florida properties. That seems to be a problem that everybody is having in Southern Florida. But we're down anywhere from 5%, 6%, 7% on depending on which full service restaurant.

Up until recently, we were running ahead at the Food Court in the Hollywood Casino. That's sort of now flat to down slightly. So Florida has been a constant negative in terms of revenues and cash flow, but the business is solid in Las Vegas, solid in Alabama, solid at Robert in New York, we'll get to Bryant Park in a second, and Sequoia has had a bad year primarily, we think due to what's going on in Washington, D.C. in general and what's going on there affects our Catering business dramatically. So our Event business has not been beneficial to the company in Washington, D.C. But overall, we're looking at it December, which is going to be, I think, significantly better than last year's December quarter.

Meadowlands. The issuance of casino licenses in downstate New York, three licenses were issued in early December. That has always been, and I think if you look back at our previous calls, we've always said we didn't think New Jersey would move on [indiscernible] licenses away from Atlantic City, until there was some activity in downstate New York. There has been a bill passed in the New Jersey legislature, suggesting from the bill that there will be a referendum on the next ballot, which is in November, for approval of -- and if you look at the bill, it says the Meadowlands Racetrack and Monmouth Racetrack. We don't know what the referendum will wind up being, whether it combines Monmouth and the Meadowlands Racetracks as one referendum or separate them. We don't know if the pinpointing of a casino at the Meadowlands Racetrack, just doesn't become the Meadowlands instead of the Meadowlands Racetrack.

The Meadowlands has a distinct advantage to any of the location, including Monmouth because there is no residential around it. And all the environmental [indiscernible] issue, assuming that this referendum passes, and the racetrack is the beneficiary of a casino license. We would literally be able to be in business with the casino in the present facility before any significant expansion by the first quarter of 2027. So this could be a very exciting year, in terms of our ownership of the minority ownership I must emphasize of the of Meadowlands LLC, which controls the Racetrack, but we also have an exclusive on all food and beverage if a casino is built in the casino. So this is a big deal for us if this were to go forward.

Again, there are obstacles, there's no assurances, but we've been waiting for New York to issue these casino licenses for quite a while now.

As far as Bryant Park goes, we have a litigation going. Nothing has been done in the court to disturb the merit of that litigation. We are operating -- the effect on our business until recently has been significant because we weren't able to do events because people were concerned whether we would be there. Certainly, we do not book social events because social events are generally 1 year to 18 months lead time and the uncertainty of the litigation in the minds of those people booking those social events is that they can't take the chance. However, corporate events are starting to flow in. We're seeing nice activity there, not where it used to be, but starting to build. And there is positive cash flow coming out of Bryant Park that essentially covers the cost of our litigation and our consultants. And so it's sort of paying for itself.

How the litigation resolves itself or whether it's a political settlement with the new mayor, I had no opinion about it. But the longer we're there, I think the better our position is. And right now, I don't see anything on the immediate horizon that will disturb our ability to operate the Bryant Park facility. So that's all I have. Please open it up for questions.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Jeffrey Kaminsk with JJK Consultants.

I'm going to ask a question that I've asked a number of times on this call, not really got a satisfactory answer. Last time I pointed out that Ark stock had hit another new low. Today its [indiscernible] on big volume. The question that I have asked in the past has been what is the strategy going forward to turn the core business around? We're still waiting on the Meadowlands. It may or may not happen. I think the Meadowland situation is much more precarious than in the past, you've now got approval of 3 New York casinos that are going to be 30 miles away from the Meadowlands. And our interest in the Meadowlands was initially to be partnered with Hard Rock and Hard Rock is now in bed with the Queen's Casino that got approval with Steve [indiscernible]. So you now have much deeper competition in Meadowlands, should it ever pass and the partner that Ark supposed to be partnering with is not even involved any long.

So let's put that aside. I appreciate, Michael, that you wanted to talk about the Meadowlands, but that's just a helm area at this point. What's not a helm area is the basic business of Ark Restaurants. I've always asked what the strategy is going forward to turn things around, okay? And I always get back where we're always looking for properties. We're looking to acquire the right properties. At the same time, you [indiscernible] the fact that input costs are higher labor, food, insurance, and yet you still want to acquire properties. While you're saying that, a couple of years ago, you closed flights, you sold off the lease in Tampa, and you close El Rio brand. So the footprint is shrinking, business is not really good. And again as a shareholder who's getting crushed, while your competition may not have had banner years, but nobody is at all-time lows, when you look at hospitality restaurant indexes. So my question simply again is what is the strategy going forward to turn all around?

So the answer to that unfortunately, is maybe not what you want to hear. The -- I don't think I agree with you on the Meadowlands being a Hail Mary, quite the opposite. I'm very optimistic about it.

But you lose Hard Rock, which you did. Someone's going to need to raise capital, which is to dilute...

Jeffery, I don't interrupt you. Please, I'll give you your answers, okay? Number one, I don't think we have a problem acquiring a new partner and perhaps on better terms than we had with Hard Rock. The reason for that is that the demographics of Northern New Jersey are very compelling for a casino. When we were first searching many years ago for a partner and the referendum that was issued that did not pass some 7 years ago, required a partner that owned the casino in Atlantic City.

Hard Rock at the time when the referendum was first formed, did not -- they went out and bought a casino, the Taj Mahal, primarily not -- I guess they thought it was a good deal to own a Taj Mahal as well. But Atlantic City has been a deteriorating market forever now. They did that I think, primarily to qualify to operate a casino in the northern part of the state with us. So that was what was compelling to Hard Rock.

That same idea of the demographics in Northern New Jersey will be compelling to other operators. So I don't think we have a problem finding another operator, and those negotiations have just started. So that's my answer to you on the Meadowlands. I don't think it's a hail mary by any means, all right?

In terms of our regular business, what we've been doing is trying to be more efficient here under circumstances, which are very, very difficult. Our insurance premiums are up dramatically. Labor is up dramatically. We just started to feel comfortable of raising some prices. I probably waited too long to do so to make up for the additional expense of the product that we buy to service our customers. So we've been working hard on our business. The most dramatic turnaround has been Vegas. We have a great manager there, who we hired, latter part of last year. The cash flows from there have improved dramatically despite the fact that Vegas is down and head count is probably 10% or 11%, depending on who you believe.

Bryant Park has certainly been a big distraction. I spent enormous number of hours with consultants and litigators and try to maneuver ourselves in a position where we can retain this operation. But in the meantime, we are looking at other properties. We have two letters of intent out right now. We're in the due diligence process. We have another negotiation going on, for a brand. The problem with acquisitions for us has been either the numbers deteriorate the targeted acquisition. They show us numbers. We like the deal. There's a period of due diligence -- and we've been looking primarily in the South. And the South has not been good in terms of comparative revenues with prior years in general. So the deals we look at -- we're paying based upon last year's numbers. But by the time we do the due diligence, those numbers have generally been deteriorating for the targets all right?

The -- if it's not that, it's a landlord who wants to use the acquisition as a means of getting new benefits in the lease. So we've just had a difficult time in the last 18 to 24 months of concluding deals that we thought were good deals when we entered into them. But as I said, we have two letters of intent out now. We're looking at another acquisition, which is a brand. We're not just sitting here trying to be neutral. We're being very aggressive about trying to find stuff. We just haven't found the right stuff. So I apologize to that -- but our plan is always that -- go ahead...

Turning Vegas around, you have spoken highly of, which is a good thing with the head count down, but the numbers are better. You hired a new manager apparently. So doesn't that indicate that with better management at your properties, you can actually do better business. And they just prove that. So what about finding managers to turn other properties around. I take this guy in Vegas who did such a good job and get him an expanded role in org.

One last point, Michael. One last point. And looking at your Board of Directors, you have outside Board of members who get paid as Board of Directors, two or three of which have restaurant and hospitality background, which is why they sit on your board. What did they say? What is the strategy that they're bringing to the table? That's why they're on the board, right? We seeing with people in the restaurant industry, you guys don't have a quarterly meeting and talk about how we're going to turn business around other than finding another restaurant to buy?

I'm just puzzled by the fact that you are in the restaurant business, and we're talking about a casino that may may not happen and if it does terrific. But you're not in the casino business, okay? And when we talk about litigation [indiscernible] gone more which is also puzzling for me. I understand you dug in, but I also understand they don't [indiscernible] it. It was also my understanding that whatever the cases that Ark is making about an unfair props [indiscernible] or unfair procedure in losing the lease, it's my understanding that Ark did not came in second, they don't came came in third.

So even if you prove as [indiscernible] one release did so in a failed process. You guys didn't even come in second place. You came in third. So you spent $2 million on Bryant Park and writing this $2 million -- and again, that's litigation. The casino is a casino. But as far as I know, and the reason I was a shareholder of Ark because you're on the restaurant business. And I'm asking for some answers of how you expect to turn your restaurant aroun. Why not give the guy in Vegas, a bigger role, let them turn our other businesses around.

So Jeffrey, I know you're frustrated. We're frustrated, all right. I wish you would not read the PR or the articles related to Bryant Park. They're not necessarily accurate. I can tell you, we think our position is a good position. We may not win it, but we did not go into this thing thinking that we just want to be a holdover tenant and disturb things because we were angry. We went into the litigation because we really thought we had a good position. And we continue to think we have a good position.

And the recent decisions of December 11 by the judge in the case where Bryant Park Corporation made certain claims against us and those claims were dismissed, indicate that we have a judge that who'll look at this fairly and Bryant Park Corporation has tried to get a summary dismissal of the case and they failed in that, not that they're -- not try again. Not that they can't get that. But so far, there has been nothing going on in the litigation that seems to disturb our position and give us negative feelings about our case.

Let me finish, please. So I tell my employees not one of whom has left since the beginning of this, don't listen to the press, just be calm -- we think our position is a good position. And I would urge you to look at it the same way as my employees look at it.

Look, I agree with you that we have not been successful in finding a path beyond the restaurants we run. We sold Tampa because Hard Rock asked us what -- they wanted us out of Tampa because they were expanding their casino floor and they didn't want to move us because they basically had a feeling that the fast food, they would run on the second floor, which was a terrible location, and we cooperated with them. We try to cooperate with landlords, and we didn't hold them up. We got a fair price, and yes, we're missing that EBITDA, but we got a fair price for it. The -- but all along, I agree with you. We have not found the right path forward. I think we may be closer and the deals we're looking at now, but it has been difficult and it's a difficult environment to work in.

But not to try to be an analyst because I'm not -- but right now, the stock is trading, if you look at the restaurant EBITDA and the cash is trading at a little 1x that value, 1.5x that value. it's ridiculous.

So where is the insider buyer, Michael? Where are you and your insider are not buying stock. Traded at $5.75 for Ark Restaurants. Markets have a way of being efficient, Michael. There's a reason your stock is where it is. You can tell us not to pay attention to...

I can have that discussion with you. at any time our stock is very illiquid. Anybody that goes and sell will mark it down substantially. Anybody who goes to buy will probably knock it up, but the company at $5, whatever or $6, in my opinion, that doesn't represent the value of what we have here even without the Meadowlands or without...

So insiders should be buying your Boards of directer should be buying. You have three people in the board who are in the restaurant business. They must -- they don't see value at $5.75. What about -- what about the C suite? Why isn't there insider buying?

That's a question that's not appropriate. But -- everybody makes the decisions.

So I shouldn't pay attention to the press release. I shouldn't pay attention to the noise coming out of the litigation at Bryant Park -- but -- and the stock price is also...

What I said to you is you should not pay attention to the press read the decisions that are public decisions and they'll be informative. But the press has been -- the press is not with us, right?

Well, the market has gotten it right, Mike. The market has gotten it right, when it traded down from $14 to $12 to $10, you had impairment charges because you didn't want to do a buyback, et cetera. The stock sits at $5.75. I've taken much of everybody's time. I hope there are some other people who have something to say because somehow I feel are the only one I want to say anything. So anyway, good luck.

Thank you. That concludes our question-and-answer session. I'll turn the floor back to Mr. Weinstein for any final comments.

All right. Thank you all. Have a good holiday, and we'll speak to you on the next conference call, Thank you.

Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.