Good Times Restaurants Inc. Aktie

Thank you. Hello everyone, thank you for joining us and welcome to the Good Times Restaurants Incorporated Q3 2026 earnings call. After today's prepared remarks we will host a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, press star 1 again. now hand the call over to Carrie August, Chief Accounting Officer. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Good Times Restaurants, Inc. Fiscal 2026 Third Quarter Earnings Call. I am Carrie August, the company's Chief Accounting Officer. By now, everyone should have access to the company's earnings release, which is available in the investor section of the company's website. As a reminder, a part of today's discussion will include forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and therefore you should not put undue reliance on them. These statements involve known and unknown risks, which may cause the company's actual results to differ materially from results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.

Such risks and uncertainties include, among other things, the market price of the company's stock prevailing from time to time. the nature of other investment opportunities presented to the company, the disruption to our business from pandemics and other public health emergencies, the impact of staffing constraints at our restaurants, the impact of supply chain constraints and inflation, the uncertain nature of current restaurant development plans, and the ability to implement those plans and integrate new restaurants, Delays in developing and opening new restaurants because of weather, local permitting, or other reasons. increased competition, cost increases or ingredient shortages, general economic and operating conditions, risks associated with our share repurchase program, risks associated with the acquisition of additional restaurants, adequacy of cash flows, and the cost and availability of capital or credit facility borrowings to provide liquidity. changes in federal, state, or local laws and regulations affecting our restaurants, including wage and tip credit regulations, and other matters discussed under the risk factor section of Good Times annual report on form 10K for the fiscal year ended September 30th, 2025. other reports filed with the SEC. During today's call, we will discuss non-GAAP measures, which we believe can be useful in evaluating our performance. The presentation of this additional information should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for results prepared in accordance with GAAP and reconciliation to comparable GAAP measures available in our earnings release. And now I would like to turn the call over to our Chief Executive Officer, Ryan Zink. Thank you, Carrie, and thank you all for joining us today.

It is exciting to report the shift of good times same store sales to positive year over year. What is equally encouraging is that this positive trend has continued on into the fourth fiscal quarter. As I mentioned on last quarter's call, we have been seeing success with a test of a $2 promotional price for our Bambinos, which are simple cheeseburger sliders with sauce and pickles. We expanded this system-wide test beginning in June and experienced same-store sales in the mid-single digits during the June fiscal month. month. Beyond that, we saw a combination of sales, average check, and transaction growth during both fiscal June and fiscal July on a same-store basis. Although the promotion was originally planned to be a summer promotion, its success has resulted in us considering expanding the length of the $2 pricing beyond its originally intended end. The promotion hits on real value, the guest's power to choose how much they want to eat, and it simply being a fun eating experience. experience.

It also is a different format than our large burgers. And so while there is certainly some cannibalization, there are distinct differences in products that prevent interchanging Bambinos with, say, a deluxe cheeseburger or modifying the Bambino to be equivalent to that item. The year-over-year change in average check indicates that in spite of the significant opt-in into our Bambinos, which have become the largest single burger item purchased, our guests are supplementing those purchases with other items. Although we have a product calendar including seasonal favorites and fresh news scheduled throughout the next quarter, We are intent on consistent execution and increasing the friendliness and hospitality our guests experience, whether in the drive-through, at an outdoor walk-up window, or in one of our few restaurants that have a lobby with indoor dining. Bad Daddy's sales were not as strong, and we continued to develop new limited-time and permanent menu items to reach our guests. The Smashadia burger in the month of May was a huge success, easily the best-selling individual limited-time burger we have ever launched. We are currently featuring the Big Dill in August and have monthly drops planned out for the balance of the calendar year, including new items and the return of a couple of fan favorites.

In addition to upcoming monthly drops during the 1st quarter of fiscal 2027, we expect to add a sampler platter to the core menu. The 1st, such item in bad daddy's history. Additionally, we expect to add a new Power Bowl to the core menu as we reintroduce ahi tuna to Bad Daddies, an item that was last part of our core menu in 2019. As discussed in last quarter's call, we are expanding our team member training and retraining with the use of our new learning management system, as we believe improved salesmanship is key to improving both sales and traffic. During the quarter, we paid down the balance of our revolving credit facility and ended the quarter with a strong cash balance and approximately 300,000 in seller finance debt related to the June 2024 acquisition of one good times restaurant. I will now turn the call back over to Carrie for a review of our performance during the quarter.

Thank you, Ryan. Let's review this quarter's results. Total revenues decreased approximately for the quarter to 35.2 million. We'll start by going through Bad Daddy's results. Total restaurant sales decreased 1.6 million to 24.9 million for the quarter. The sales decrease was primarily due to fewer restaurant operating weeks due to a reduced number of operating restaurants and reduced customer traffic, all of which were partially offset by menu price increases. Our average menu price during the quarter was 2.5% higher than Q3 of 2025. Same store sales decreased 2.3% for the quarter, and we're negative 1.5% year to date.

There were 36 bad daddies in the comp base at quarter end. Food and packaging costs were 30.3% for the quarter, a 30 basis point decrease from last year's quarter. The decrease is primarily attributable to improved non-beef protein costs, combined with the impact of a 2.5% average increase in menu pricing, partially offset by higher produce costs and fuel surcharges. Labor costs decreased by 70 basis points compared to the prior year quarter to 33.6% for the quarter. This decrease is primarily attributable to reduced salary costs, partially offset by higher hourly labor costs. Occupancy costs were 6.3%, an increase of 20 basis points from the prior year quarter. Other operating costs were 15.3% for the quarter, an increase of 70 basis points, primarily due to increased customer delivery and travel expenses, partially offset by decreased repair and maintenance expenses.

Overall, restaurant-level operating profit, a non-GAAP measure for bad daddies, decreased $0.2 million to $3.6 million for the quarter, and as a percentage of sales, remained steady at 14.4% compared to the prior year quarter. Moving over to good times, total restaurant sales for company-owned restaurants decreased approximately 0.2 million to 10.1 million for the quarter compared to the prior year third quarter. Same store sales increased 0.6% for the quarter. There were 25 Good Times restaurants in the comp base at quarter end. The average menu price for the quarter was approximately 1.7% higher than the prior year quarter. Based upon the competitiveness in the current market, we are not currently planning for other price increases during the balance of the year. Food and packaging costs were 31.2% for the quarter, a decrease of 30 basis points compared to last year's quarter.

The decrease is primarily attributable to reduced waste, along with the impact of a 1.7% average increase in menu pricing, partially offset by higher fuel surcharges. Total labor costs decreased to 33%, a 120 basis point decrease from the 34.2% we ran during last year's quarter. primarily attributable to increased labor efficiency, partially offset by higher average wage rates resulting from a combination of market forces and the inflation index minimum wage rates in Denver and the state of Colorado. Occupancy costs were 9.1%, an increase of 50 basis points from the prior year quarter, primarily due to an increase in property taxes between the quarterly periods. Other operating costs were 13.7% for the quarter, a decrease of 50 basis points, primarily due to reduced operating supplies and R&M expenses, partially offset by utility cost increases. Good Times restaurant level operating profit increased 0.1 million over last year's quarter to 1.3 million. As a percent of sales, restaurant level operating profit increased by 150 basis points versus last year to 13%. Combined, general and administrative expenses were $2 million during the quarter, or 5.6% of total revenues, a decrease of 30 basis points from the prior year quarter, primarily related to decreased multi-unit supervision costs and legal and professional fees.

We anticipate 6-7% general and administrative costs on a full year basis for fiscal 2026. Our net income to common shareholders for the quarter was $1.9 million, or income of 18 cents per share, versus net income of $1.5 million, 14 cents per share, in the third quarter last year. There was $0.2 million of income tax benefit recorded during the quarter compared to $0.4 million in the prior year quarter. Adjusted EBITDA off of the quarter was $2.5 million compared to $2.1 million for the third quarter of 2025. We finished the quarter with 3.6 million in cash and 0.3 million of long-term debt.

And now I will turn the call back to Ryan. Thank you, Carrie. At this time, Ben, we can open the call for questions.

We will now begin the question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star 1 again. We ask that you pick up your handset when asking a question to allow for optimum sound quality. If you are muted locally, please remember to unmute your device. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. If you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 to raise your hand.

Your first question comes from the line of Steven Stern with Stern Investment Advisory. Your line is open. Please go ahead. Hello and congratulations on an excellent quarter.

Question is, earnings are good, balance sheet is good, no long-term debt. We have cash, we have a stock repurchase program, low price earnings multiple, and a very low market price to book value. Any thoughts on that? of initiating a cash dividend given the background numbers.

Yes, I mean, I think our board continually evaluates the best way to create create value for shareholders and ensure that shareholders receive value for their stock. I will say that that as well as many other alternatives are in the consideration set our board very good my my thinking is by becoming a cash dividend pay-in equity,.

the number of potential shareholders out there both individuals and institutions that are that are looking for or need an income producing item we automatically become on their list too so it expands the possibility of uh of uh shareholders out there.

I will take that information under consideration and as a board, I will share that with them as well.

Thank you very much and congratulations again. Thank you. Appreciate it.

There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call back to Ryan Zink for closing remarks.

I want to thank our team members and leaders as they continue to create great experiences for every guest, every shift, every day. And as always, thank you all for joining us today.

This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.

This live transcript is auto-generated without human intervention or review.

[Call has ended.]

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us, and welcome to the Q2 2026 Good Times Restaurants, Inc. Earnings Call. I will now hand the conference over to Keri August, Chief Accounting Officer. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Good Times Restaurants, Inc. Fiscal 2026 Second Quarter Earnings Call. I am Keri August, the company's Chief Accounting Officer. By now, everyone should have access to the company's earnings release, which is available in the Investors section of the company's website. As a reminder, a part of today's discussion will include forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and therefore, you should not put undue reliance on them. These statements involve known and unknown risks, which may cause the company's actual results to differ materially from results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.

Such risks and uncertainties include, among other things, the market price of the company's stock prevailing from time to time; the nature of other investment opportunities presented to the company; the disruption to our business from pandemics and other public health emergencies; the impact of staffing constraints at our restaurants; the impact of supply chain constraints and inflation; the uncertain nature of current restaurant development plans and the ability to implement those plans and integrate new restaurants; delays in developing and opening new restaurants because of weather, local permitting or other reasons, increased competition, cost increases or ingredient shortages, general economic and operating conditions; risks associated with our share repurchase program; risks associated with the acquisition of additional restaurants, adequacy of cash flows and the cost and availability of capital or credit facility borrowings to provide liquidity; changes in federal, state or local laws and regulations affecting our restaurants, including wage and tip credit regulations and other matters discussed under the Risk Factors section of Good Times annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2025, and other reports filed with the SEC.

During today's call, we will discuss non-GAAP measures, which we believe can be useful in evaluating our performance. The presentation of this additional information should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for results prepared in accordance with GAAP and reconciliation to comparable GAAP measures available in our earnings release. And now I would like to turn the call over to our Chief Executive Officer, Ryan Zink.

Thank you, Keri, and thank you all for joining us today. I'm encouraged by the results that our team has delivered in the second quarter of fiscal 2026. Our same-store sales at both brands again improved sequentially from the first quarter. Profitability also improved from the prior year, the result of a combined partnership between operations and supply chain to improve upon both our food and beverage costs and our cost of labor. While cost management continues to be a fundamental pillar of our forward-looking strategy, our leadership team continues to focus on same-store sales growth as our highest priority. Early in the second quarter, we retained Cultivator based out of Denver to serve as our design and advertising agency for the Good Times brand. Cultivator has extensive experience in the restaurant industry and blends expertise built from working on large accounts with a scrappiness that matches our own culture.

During the past couple of months, we have worked with them to create new brand imagery and refine our brand position, and we are excited to activate this new creative image, starting with on-premise merchandising and ultimately in outside the 4 walls advertising as well. We are having good success with a test of a $2 promotional price for our Bambinos in a handful of our restaurants in Northern Colorado. Bambinos are sliders, topped with burger sauce, American cheese and pickles. We've seen strong results in both same-store sales and same-store traffic improvement in the test restaurants as compared to the balance of the system. We expect to roll this promotional price system-wide beginning in June as a summer promotion to catalyze traffic growth with a simple-to-execute tasty burger that fits the needs of today's customers, both in portion size and in price.

It provides a clear message of value to strike right at the value-based promotions being used by many of our competitors. Bambinos are quintessentially Good Times, having been on our menu for 19 years. Though Bambinos have a strong following, we hope to attract new customers and to increase frequency with our Bambino OGs. Simultaneously, we will strongly merchandise our full-size burger lineup, now featuring a larger cook-to-order patty while remaining a speedy experience for our guests. We continue to have our seasonal burger features as well with our Jalapeno Popper Burger beginning June 1. Our intent is to drive traffic and build guest frequency while managing the impact of the mix shift into the promotionally priced Bambinos. On May 1, based on loud and clear guest feedback, we reintroduced cheese curbs to the menu and are promoting this to build traffic and attract returning guests that really love this proprietary product.

Within our custard lineup, we have a trio of brand-new spoon benders made with our signature vanilla custard for June, July and August. The Berry Cool Spoon Bender will kick summer off with strawberries, blueberries and granola, followed by the cherry pie spoon bender and then wrapping up summer will be a Colorado-inspired trail mix spoon bender. We continue to grow our GT Rewards program, which is a key method we have to connect with and engage with our regular guests. Fully 7% of our sales are now generated by GT Rewards members, and this is up from just shy of 4% immediately prior to switching our loyalty engine to Thanx in December from our prior provider. GT Rewards will be a strong supplement to our messaging strategy around the multiple price and product promotional news we will be sharing with guests this summer.

Our approach of growth is aimed at organic sales and traffic growth at Bad Daddy's as well. As discussed during last quarter's call, we have implemented our new monthly drops program that has replaced our previous traditional LTO. Leaning into drop culture, we feature a single item that is limited to a single month. While to date, these items have been exclusively burgers and our pipeline for the balance of this fiscal year is burger-centric, the program is designed to be more expansive than a simple burger of the month program, and a drop could apply to any section of our menu. At both concepts, we are nearing completion of the rollout of our new learning management platform that we call BurgerHub.

Powered by the Schoox LMS, this platform expands beyond our already existing digital access to concept-specific training materials and provides defined learning paths and validations within the system, along with data and reporting that can be accessed both at the unit level and by above-store leadership. Burger Hub itself is but one manifestation of our operations team's strategic focus during the year to deliver high-impact training and learning to employees in all roles within our restaurants. I will now turn the call back over to Keri for a review of our performance during the quarter.

Thank you, Ryan. I'll review this quarter's results now. Total revenues decreased approximately 3.1% for the quarter to $33.2 million. We'll start by going through Bad Daddy's results. Total restaurant sales decreased $0.9 million to $23.9 million for the quarter. The sales decrease was primarily due to the fourth fiscal quarter 2025 closure of one Bad Daddy's restaurant, the first fiscal quarter 2026 closure of one Bad Daddy's restaurant and decreased guest traffic, partially offset by menu price increases. Our average menu price during the quarter was 0.2% higher than Q2 of 2025. Same-store sales decreased 0.8% for the quarter, which continued the improvement trend over the prior quarter.

There were 37 Bad Daddy's in the comp base at quarter end. Food and beverage costs were 29.6% for the quarter, a 110 basis point decrease from last year's quarter. The decrease is primarily attributable to reduced waste and improved chicken pricing, partially offset by higher beef and bacon purchase prices. Due to seasonality and the continued tightening of beef supply, we anticipate ground beef costs will increase in the last half of the fiscal year. We did not take any menu pricing during the quarter and have year-over-year pricing that is approximately 1% higher than prior year. We took approximately 1% menu pricing in April.

Additionally, beginning in May, we have been rolling over our promotional $8 margarita pricing from last year. Labor costs decreased by 20 basis points compared to the prior year quarter to 34.1% for the quarter. This decrease is primarily attributable to lower employee benefit costs, partially offset by higher average wage rates. Occupancy costs were 6.8%, an increase of 10 basis points from the prior year quarter. Other operating costs were 15.6% for the quarter, an increase of 110 basis points, primarily due to increases in customer delivery and repair and maintenance expenses. Overall, restaurant-level operating profit, a non-GAAP measure for Bad Daddy's, remained relatively flat at $3.3 million for the quarter or 13.8% of sales compared to $3.4 million or 13.8% last year.

Moving over to Good Times, total restaurant sales for company-owned restaurants decreased approximately $0.1 million to $9.2 million for the quarter compared to the prior year second quarter. Same-store sales decreased 0.8% for the quarter, which is a notable improvement over the prior quarter's decrease. There were 26 -- good Times restaurants in the comp base at quarter end. The average menu price for the quarter was approximately 1% higher than the prior year quarter. We increased core menu prices by approximately 1% in March and have a blended menu price that is approximately 1.7% higher on a year-over-year basis as of the end of the quarter. Based upon the competitiveness in the current market, we are not currently planning for other price increases during the balance of the year.

Food and packaging costs were 29.7% for the quarter, a decrease of 100 basis points compared to last year's quarter. As with Bad Daddy's, the decrease is primarily attributable to reduced waste, partially offset by higher beef and bacon prices, and we expect higher ground beef prices for the remainder of the fiscal year due to seasonality and the continued tightening of supply. Total labor costs decreased to 35%, a 60 basis point decrease from the 35.6% we ran during last year's quarter, primarily attributable to increased labor efficiency, partially offset by higher average wage rates. Occupancy costs were 10%, a decrease of 10 basis points from the prior year quarter. Other operating costs were 15.2% for the quarter, an increase of 10 basis points, primarily due to increased customer delivery expenses.

Good Times restaurant-level operating profit increased $0.1 million over last year's quarter to $0.9 million. As a percent of sales, restaurant-level operating profit increased by 150 basis points versus last year to 10.1%. Combined general and administrative expenses were $2.2 million during the quarter or 6.6% of total revenues, a decrease of 90 basis points from the prior year quarter, primarily related to decreased multiunit supervision costs and technology costs.

We anticipate 6% to 7% general and administrative costs on a full year basis for fiscal 2026. Our net income to common shareholders for the quarter was $0.1 million or income of $0.01 per share versus a net loss of $0.6 million or $0.06 per share in the second quarter last year. There was $23,000 of income tax benefit recorded during the quarter compared to $57,000 of expense in the prior year quarter. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $1.4 million compared to $1 million for the second quarter of 2025. We finished the quarter with $2.7 million in cash and $1 million of long-term debt. And now I will turn the call back to Ryan.

Thank you, Keri. As Keri discussed, we've made strides in lowering our leverage, strengthening our balance sheet so far in fiscal 2026. We believe that a debt-free balance sheet with adequate liquidity is important given our scale and the specific operating segment that we operate in, and it additionally creates greater flexibility for value creation. At this time, we can open the call for questions.

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Zachary Segal from August Investors.

I was just curious if you guys could speak about the settlement with the White Winston lawsuit and what proceeds, if any, have been received or will be received from that?

Yes. So with respect to that, I think the disclosure that we provided last quarter in the 10-Q gives as much information as I'll speak to. I think we said ultimately from that, that it was not substantially material to our financials. I will say all of those funds have been received and all of that has been recognized in the results of this quarter.

Your next question comes from the line of David Schwartz from Morningstar.

So maybe you can tell us a little bit more about what the marketing plans have been in the last few quarters and how they're going to change with this new advertising relationship you talked about? And how do you think this will be more effective than what you've done in the past?

So I'll step back to maybe about 18 months ago and with that prior to that, we were significantly heavy on radio advertising. And I would say about 12 months ago, we went away from nearly all radio advertising and we're pretty much -- and I'm speaking specifically to -- Good Times now, that concept and switched really to primarily social media advertising. Without substantial additional media that we had been using. What we are looking at moving forward and although the final media plans have not been fully developed and committed to, we are looking at a greater deployment of digital media, which could include some digital audio streaming, will likely include digital video streaming, whether that is on connected TV or on platforms such as YouTube as well as just general display campaigns.

I think the biggest difference in terms of what we are looking at moving forward compared to any of the prior campaigns that we've run in the past year. And I would go so far to say back towards even the past 2 or 3 years is the message itself and that we are really looking at what our guests are demanding in the market. And it's very clear that as components of value, what they are specifically looking for are smaller portion size and lower price. And I think the smaller portion size is driven in part by a need for a lower price, but it's also being driven by factors such as healthy eating and even the use of GLP-1 drugs. And I think -- so what has changed really is our focus on that and the fact that we have a really salient message to deliver with a very compelling $2 price point with a product that already is very attractive to our guests and that we expect to create greater awareness around.

That's helpful. So how do you plan to use this marketing plan to drive more membership in GT Rewards? I know you had said in past calls that because it's primarily a drive-thru restaurant that it's difficult to get people to sign up for the loyalty program.

So we are doing a couple of things there. One is we do have and we are updating the, I'd call it, window-based point-of-sale materials and so posters with QR code to invite guests to join with more attractive creative that have a much clearer call to action. Beyond that, we expect to begin using what we call bag stuffers basically little cards with QR code and/or link, explaining the benefits on that, that we would include with each order.

We have some other ideas that we're tossing around that are not committed to yet. Those are the primary ways. I will say that in the past 6 months, we have done a much improved job within the operations capability of speaking to GT Rewards at the window and at the order box. And we are growing that membership base right now at a clip of about 5% per month. So if you do the math on that, that's about a 75% annual growth rate. As we grow the system base, that obviously will decline at the rate of increase, but we're very happy with the progress we're making on a monthly basis of growing the participants in that program right now.

There are no further questions at this time. I would like to turn the call back to Ryan Zink, CEO, for closing remarks. Ryan, please go ahead.

Our operations leaders as well as our support capability leaders are committed to delighting our guests and creating memorable experiences during each visit in the mission of building a same-store sales flywheel. My sincere gratitude goes out to every single member of our team at every level for every contribution they make to our brands. And as always, I'd like to thank all of you for joining us today.

This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.

Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us, and welcome to the Good Times Restaurants, Inc. Q1 2026 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions]

I will now hand the call over to Keri August, Chief Accounting Officer. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Elodie. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Good Times Restaurants, Inc. Fiscal 2026 First Quarter Earnings Call. I am Keri August, the company's Chief Accounting Officer. By now, everyone should have access to the company's earnings release, which is available in the Investors section of the company's website.

As a reminder, a part of today's discussion will include forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and therefore, you should not put undue reliance on them. These statements involve known and unknown risks, which may cause the company's actual results to differ materially from results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.

Such risks and uncertainties include, among other things, the market price of the company's stock prevailing from time to time, the nature of other investment opportunities presented to the company, the disruption to our business from pandemics and other public health emergencies, the impact of staffing constraints at our restaurants, the impact of supply chain constraints and inflation, the uncertain nature of current restaurant development plans and the ability to implement those plans and integrate new restaurants, delays in developing and opening new restaurants because of weather, local permitting or other reasons, increased competition, cost increases or ingredient shortages, general economic and operating conditions, risks associated with our share repurchase program, risks associated with the acquisition of additional restaurants, adequacy of cash flows, and the cost and availability of capital or credit facility borrowings to provide liquidity, changes in federal, state or local laws and regulations affecting our restaurants, including wage and tip credit regulations, and other matters discussed under the Risk Factors section of Good Times' annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2025, and other reports filed with the SEC.

During today's call, we will discuss non-GAAP measures, which we believe can be useful in evaluating our performance. The presentation of this additional information should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for results prepared in accordance with GAAP and reconciliation to comparable GAAP measures available in our earnings release.

And now I would like to turn the call over to our Chief Executive Officer, Ryan Zink.

Thank you, Keri, and thank you, all, for joining us today. I am pleased with the results that our team has delivered in this first quarter of fiscal 2026.

Although same-store sales at both brands remained negative for the quarter, performance improved sequentially from last quarter at both brands. Also, in spite of rolling over a 14-week quarter from 2025, we delivered marginally better net income and approximately the same adjusted EBITDA as last year with 1 fewer week in the fiscal calendar.

Underlying sales trends in the second quarter have continued to improve at both brands. As you may have read, 2 weeks ago, Winter Storm Fern was a major presence in the Southeastern United States. It impacted 75% of the Bad Daddy's system and another more concentrated storm last weekend affected all of our North Carolina stores, with Charlotte receiving its fourth largest snowfall on record. We lost 28 full restaurant operating days between both storms and an additional 73 restaurant operating days had significantly reduced sales.

On the flip side, weather in Colorado has been generally favorable to last year and warmer than historical averages, marginally offsetting the winter storm sales losses in the Southeast.

During January, we completed our transition to cook-to-order at Good Times, resulting in fresher, tastier patties compared to the previously -- previous process of cooking and holding batches of burger patties in advance of guest orders. We selected a new beef manufacturer to deliver fresh 100% Angus beef patties that work with our existing grills and allow us to still achieve speed of service under 3 minutes from point of order to the time when the guest drives away from the window with their meal. During this process, we have increased patty size by about 10%, which we have been able to do without any cost increment.

On the advertising and promotion front, we are already seeing benefits from our enhanced loyalty program powered by our partnership with Thanx. This was primarily a technology and user experience change, but the fundamental design of the program from a points and rewards standpoint did not change. We are measuring success by what we call loyalty attachment rate, which is the percent of sales attributable to loyalty members. Under our prior program, we were achieving 3% to 4% attachment rate and now with just 2 months under the new program, are exceeding a 7% attachment rate with the highest performing restaurants exceeding a 10% attachment rate. The new technology powering our loyalty program has also added another endpoint from which we are able to collect and respond effectively to guest feedback.

There has been recent commentary in the industry press and by market analysts about the effectiveness of loyalty programs in the restaurant industry, with the increasingly common theory that loyalty programs merely pull forward existing visits and don't deliver true incrementality. We view loyalty differently for Good Times.

And while there is likely some truth that the gamifying effect of the points-based program do primarily pull forward visits rather than increasing the total number of visits, the greater impact is the ability to better understand our guests, segment them and then deliver hyper-targeted messaging. This ability to drive more relevant messaging to each guest is what we believe ultimately will deliver incremental traffic for Good Times.

At Bad Daddy's, we rolled out our final multi-month limited time menu promotion in January, which will end later this month. This promotion included 2 regionally inspired burger builds and a Mediterranean protein bowl. We've received positive guest feedback on all of these items. The protein bowl is currently performing better than all of the signature salads on our menu. And after a brief hiatus at the end of the LTO, we expect to add it to our core menu in April. The April core menu update will also feature a return of the strong selling Elote dip from last year's summer LTO and the addition of our Giant Bavarian pretzel, which was the top-selling appetizer during its run in our most recent fall LTO.

As mentioned in our press release, we are shifting to a Burger of the Month platform beginning in March. The focus of this program is to allow us to be more flexible with items that might have a shorter promotional value shelf life than a full 8 to 10-week LTO.

Additionally, we view the GLP-1 trend as somewhat more long-lived and more than just a short-term fad. In alignment with this view, we expect to lean more into our Smashburger lineup with our Burger of the Month platform or future core menu items, while satisfying our guests that dine with us with our existing Pub style burger. Between these 2 separate platforms, we believe we have products that appeal to a greater breadth of guest base, and we will be promoting that attribute of our brand more in the future.

For Bad Daddy's, our Director of Marketing, Jason Murphy, has launched a brand study to refresh previously fielded research related to our guest perceptions of our brand across different demographic and psychographic profiles. We expect this research to be completed during the second fiscal quarter and to influence future product and promotional decisions beginning in the third quarter.

Across both concepts, our vision continues to be running great restaurants that deliver a consistent guest experience with high-quality ingredients and exceptional operations execution while creating an emotional connection with each guest that makes us memorable.

One of the pillars of our business is the guest-first mindset. In addition to viewing all decisions through this lens, it is also an operations North Star, ensuring that our employees, each and every -- ensure that each and every guest leaves delighted. Ultimately, we believe that is what delivers long-term sales and profit gains.

I'll now turn the call over to Keri for a review of our performance during the quarter.

Thank you, Ryan. Let's review this quarter's results. Total revenues decreased approximately 10% for the quarter to $32.7 million. We'll start by going through Bad Daddy's results. Total restaurant sales decreased $2.9 million to $23.2 million for the quarter. The sales decrease was primarily due to an additional week in the prior year fiscal quarter versus the current year fiscal quarter, the fourth fiscal quarter 2025 closure of one Bad Daddy's restaurant and the current quarter closure of one Bad Daddy's restaurant, partially offset by menu price increases. Our average menu price during the quarter was 1.7% higher than Q1 2025.

Same-store sales decreased 1.2% for the quarter, which is a significant improvement over the prior quarter's decrease. There were 37 Bad Daddy's in the comp base at quarter end. As Ryan mentioned, same-store sales have continued to improve into the second quarter. We increased core menu prices by a blended 2.3% during the first 2 periods of fiscal 2026, and our move away from $8 Margaritas has the impact of another 1% of blended price, resulting in year-over-year food and beverage pricing that is in aggregate flat to 1 year ago. We expect to increase menu prices by approximately 1.1% in April and then expect the benefit of rolling over our $8 Margarita promotion beginning in May.

Food and beverage costs were 30.2% for the quarter, a 130 basis point decrease from last year's quarter. The decrease is primarily attributable to the impact of recipe portion and waste controls, along with favorability in chicken and cheese prices, partially offset by higher beef, bacon and bison purchase prices. Thus far into the second quarter of 2026, we have experienced lower beef and bacon costs.

Labor costs decreased by 60 basis points compared to the prior year quarter to 34.5% for the quarter. This decrease as a percentage of sales is primarily attributable to reduced incentive compensation and other employee benefit costs, partially offset by decreased labor productivity resulting from the deleveraging impact of lower sales and higher average wage rates paid to attract qualified employees. Although we expect continued solid labor controls on a full year basis, as mentioned during last quarter's call, in January, Colorado's minimum wage increased to $15.16, a 2.4% increase, and the tips minimum wage increased to $12.14, a 3% increase.

Occupancy costs were 7%, an increase of 30 basis points from the prior year quarter. The increase is primarily due to the deleveraging impact of lower sales on fixed costs.

Other operating costs were 14.6% for the quarter, an increase of 90 basis points, primarily due to increased customer delivery, repair and maintenance and utility expenses.

Overall, restaurant-level operating profit, a non-GAAP measure for Bad Daddy's, was approximately $3.2 million for the quarter or 13.7% of sales compared to $3.4 million or 13% last year. As a percentage of sales, the increase is primarily due to favorability in food and labor costs.

Moving over to Good Times. Total restaurant sales for company-owned restaurants decreased approximately $0.7 million to $9.2 million for the quarter compared to the prior year first quarter. Same-store sales decreased 3.1% for the quarter, which is a notable improvement over the prior quarter's decrease. There were 27 Good Times restaurants in the comp base at quarter end.

The average menu price for the quarter was approximately 0.7% higher than the prior year quarter. We took a small menu price increase in the first quarter and currently expect to take approximately 1% in late February. We have expanded our pricing tiers and now have 3 different tiers based upon testing and measuring price elasticity, allowing us to achieve greater flow-through of menu pricing by being more surgical with changes in pricing. Following the planned February price increase, our year-over-year menu pricing will be higher by approximately 1.7% compared to the prior year. We expect to continue monitoring competitor pricing during the year and plan to continue the surgical approach to pricing of specific menu items and multiple smaller adjustments during the year instead of making broad-based across-the-board pricing changes.

Food and packaging costs were 30.8% for the quarter, a decrease of 100 basis points compared to last year's quarter. As with Bad Daddy's, the decrease is primarily attributable to the impact of recipe portion and waste controls as well as lower chicken and egg purchase prices, partially offset by higher beef and bacon prices. As is the case with Bad Daddy's, input costs have decreased into the second quarter.

Total labor costs decreased to 35%, a 170 basis point decrease from the 36.7% we ran during last year's quarter due to increased labor efficiency, partially offset by higher average wage rates resulting from market forces in the CPI index minimum wage in Denver and the State of Colorado.

Occupancy costs were 10%, an increase of 40 basis points from the prior year quarter. Other operating costs were 13.9% for the quarter, an increase of 120 basis points, primarily due to increased customer delivery, repair and maintenance and utility expenses.

Good Times restaurant-level operating profit was flat quarter-over-quarter at $0.9 million. As a percent of sales, restaurant-level operating profit increased by 110 basis points versus last year to 10.3%, mostly due to favorability in food and labor costs.

Combined general and administrative expenses were $2.1 million during the quarter or 6.3% of total revenues, a decrease of 80 basis points from the prior year quarter, primarily related to decreased multiunit supervision costs, health insurance underwriting costs and technology costs. We anticipate 6% to 7% general and administrative costs on a full year basis for fiscal 2026.

Our net income to common shareholders for both the current quarter and the prior year quarter was $0.2 million or $0.02 per share. There was approximately $50,000 of income tax expense recorded during both current and prior year quarters. Adjusted EBITDA was $1.3 million for both the first quarters of 2026 and 2025. We finished the quarter with $3.3 million in cash and $1.8 million of long-term debt.

And now I will turn the call back to Ryan.

Thank you, Keri. We can now open the call for questions.

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Kevin Holden with Bite Brands.

I'm a shareholder. I'm familiar with the company for a while. Now that you've bought back the remaining franchises of Good Times and you're generating cash, EBITDA is positive, what's your plan to deploy that cash, additional Bad Daddy's or paying down debt or keeping the stock purchases back up?

Certainly, and thanks for your question. Yes, I think our first priority is paying down the remaining debt that we have. I think our point of view on the overall economic environment is such that it's a bit unpredictable, and we would rather have a little more cash and liquidity to deploy, should we need to.

That said, I think priority #2 would likely to be building a little bit additional cash. But then beyond that, I think we would resume our share repurchase. And I think our priority would be Bad Daddy's development, and we do continue to look for sites, as has been the case historically. We're pretty picky about the sites that we select. We have a couple that are very, very early in just evaluation, but that would be third on the priority list.

There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call back to Ryan Zink for closing remarks.

As I mentioned previously during this call, I'm encouraged by the continued improvement in sales trends that we are seeing at both brands. Our leaders of both brands and in our restaurant support center are the driving force behind this improvement, and I am grateful for their industriousness, their hustle and their grit. Additionally, I want to thank all of the restaurant and support center team members for all the contributions they make to our 2 brands.

Finally, thank you, all, for joining us today.

This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Good Times Restaurants Inc. Fiscal 2025 Fourth Quarter and Year-end Earnings Call. I am Keri August, the company's Senior Vice President of Finance and Accounting.

By now, everyone should have access to the company's earnings release, which is available in the Investors section of the company's website. As a reminder, a part of today's discussion will include forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws.

These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and therefore, you should not put undue reliance on them. These statements involve known and unknown risks, which may cause the company's actual results to differ materially from results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.

Such risks and uncertainties include, among other things, the market price of the company's stock prevailing from time to time, the nature of other investment opportunities presented to the company, the disruption to our business from pandemics and other public health emergencies; the impact of staffing constraints at our restaurants, the impact of supply chain constraints and inflation, the uncertain nature of current restaurant development plans and the ability to implement those plans and integrate new restaurants, delays in developing opening new restaurants because of weather, local permitting or other reasons, increased competition, cost increases or ingredient shortages, general economic and operating conditions, risks associated with our share repurchase program, risks associated with the acquisition of additional restaurants, adequacy of cash flows and the cost and availability of capital or credit facility borrowings to provide liquidity.

Changes in federal state or local laws and regulations affecting our restaurants, including wage and tip credit regulations and other matters discussed under the Risk Factors section of Good Times annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 24, 2024, and other reports filed with the SEC, including Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2025.

During today's call, we will discuss non-GAAP measures, which we believe can be useful in evaluating our performance. The presentation of this additional information should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for results prepared in accordance with GAAP and reconciliation to comparable GAAP measures available in our earnings release.

And now I would like to turn the call over to our Chief Executive Officer, Ryan Zink.

Thank you, Keri, and thank you all for joining us today. As have been reported by other company-operated quick service burger companies, the fourth fiscal quarter was a challenging 1 for us, in particular, at our Good Times concept.

The combination of soft sales and higher costs most specifically, the significantly elevated cost of ground beef put a dent in profitability for the quarter. Keri will go into details surrounding the financial performance during the quarter, but it goes without saying that we are disappointed in the results and committed to immediate improvement.

Of note, although the same-store sales at Good Times remained negative in the fourth quarter, the 6.6% decline represented a 240 basis point sequential improvement from the fiscal third quarter. And for the first 11 weeks of the first fiscal quarter, Good Times same-store sales were down approximately 3.6% compared to the same time period in the prior year.

[ Craig Soto ], our Director of Operations, for -- good Times continues to demonstrate strong leadership and has been holding a higher level of accountability among above store leaders, which is cascaded down to our restaurant level general managers. Craig is focused on realigning general manager schedules to better align the time GMs are in restaurant with peak revenue periods, which is creating greater GM level awareness and interaction with team members throughout the day, enabling them to address product and service opportunities that exist primarily in the dinner and late-night dayparts.

Craig, along with our learning and development team have made significant strides in improving restaurant-level training paving the way for us to roll out True Cook to order among all of our burger products with minimal impact on speed of service. We have several different price tiers within our system and remain sensitive to menu price increases as the quick service burger segment has earned a poor reputation recently for value as a result of the significant price increases major players have taken in the years since the pandemic.

Our core menu pricing at Good Times remains near its lowest premium to our large competitors in fast food as we have only taken approximately 1% of menu price, since January of 2024. With our upcoming cook-to-order process and continued improvements in ops execution, we believe we can re-earn a premium to those competitors over time.

We continue to be adverse to large-scale discounting due to its impacts on profitability however, we will be addressing value concerns with highly targeted value promotions starting this spring and expect expanded offerings through our GT Rewards loyalty program and a recently refreshed mobile app meant to simplify the mobile ordering experience.

For Bad Daddy's, although our same-store sales weakened during the fourth quarter, they have improved sequentially to date in the first quarter and were down approximately 1.6% through the first 11 weeks of the quarter compared to the same time period in the prior year. Same-store sales improvement has been most evident in our Colorado restaurants marking a change in trend from 2025 when our Colorado restaurants had been a drag on same-store sales for the Bad Daddy's system.

Similar to Good Times, we've made some targeted pricing adjustments and have made some upward adjustments to our bad a** margarita pricing in the fall. We currently have a blended year-over-year price increase covering food and beverage of less than 1% and and expect an average year-over-year price increase for the first quarter of approximately 1.7%.

Our fall product promotion, which, among other items, featured a giant shareable Bavarian Pretzel served with a house-made sauce trio of Halpino-Cheddar, Sam Adams Beer Cheese and whole grain Digene, was a hit with our guests, and we see opportunity for the pretzel to be included in our core menu at some point in the future.

Our holiday promotion includes the chocolate cookie Cheesecake that is made in-house and a satisfied a long-term guest request for a chocolate dessert. Similar to the Pretzel we see the Cheesecake as a potential future core menu addition. Following a winter promotion anchored by a Mediterranean Powerball and 2 regional burger features, we expect to move to a burger of the month platform, which will simplify messaging around the product feature, enable a sharper focus on product execution and salesmanship, but more importantly, will feature approachable and familiar items to our guests, but still with Bad Daddy's quality, and scratch-made ingredients.

I'll now turn the call over to Keri for a review of our performance during the quarter.

Thank you, Ryan. Let's review this quarter's results. Total revenues decreased approximately 5.1% for the quarter to $34 million and decreased approximately 0.5% compared to our all-time record fiscal year 2024 sales to $141.6 million.

We'll start by going through Bad Daddy's results. Total restaurant sales decreased $1.7 million to $24 million for the quarter and decreased $2.2 million to $101.4 million for the full year. The sales decrease for the quarter was primarily driven by reduced customer traffic as well as the closure of the Longmont, Colorado restaurant in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024, partially offset by menu price increases.

Our average menu price during the quarter was 0.4% higher than Q4, 2024. Same-store sales decreased 4.6% for the quarter with 38 Bad Daddy's in the comp base at quarter end. As Ryan mentioned, same-store sales have improved into the first quarter of the new year, with the most significant improvement in our Colorado restaurants.

We expect an average price increase of approximately 1.7% for the first quarter 2026. With the exception of certain targeted adjustments due to menu engineering, we do not expect any significant price increases over the next 6 months. Food and beverage costs were 31.6% for the quarter, a 40 basis point increase from last year's quarter.

The increase is primarily attributable to record high ground beef prices in fourth quarter 2025 as well as significantly higher prices for other proteins over the prior year quarter, partially offset by the impact of the 24% average increase in menu pricing. Thus far in the first quarter 2026, we have experienced lower input costs and despite the large number of complementary burgers for our military guests on Veterans Day, expect food and beverage costs as a percent of sales to improve quarter-over-quarter.

Labor costs increased by 140 basis points compared to the prior year quarter to 35.7% for the quarter. This increase as a percentage of sales is primarily attributable to lower team member productivity resulting from sales deleverage. Although we expect improvement in this metric in the current year, in January, Colorado's minimum wage increases to $15.16, a 2.4% increase and the tipped minimum wage increases to $12.14, a 3% increase.

Occupancy costs were 6.7%, an increase of 50 basis points from the prior year quarter. The increase is primarily due to a decrease in benefit from the GAAP required noncash rent adjustments between the quarterly periods. Other operating costs were 16% for the quarter, an increase of 80 basis points primarily due to increased repair and maintenance and utility expenses.

Overall, restaurant-level operating profit, a non-GAAP measure, for Bad Daddy's was approximately $2.4 million for the quarter or 9.9% of sales. compared to $3.4 million or 13.2% last year, primarily due to increases in labor and food and beverage costs as well as the deleveraging impact of lower sales on various fixed costs.

Moving over to Good Times, Total restaurant sales for company-owned restaurants decreased approximately $0.3 million to $9.7 million for the quarter compared to the prior year fourth quarter and increased $1.2 million to $39.2 million for the year compared to the 2024 fiscal year.

Same-store sales decreased 6.6% for the quarter with 27 Good Times restaurants in the comp base at quarter end. The average menu price for the quarter was approximately the same as the prior year quarter. We have taken a small menu price increase for the first quarter of fiscal 2026 and currently expect to take only modest price increases as we have assessed our relative pricing position in the market.

We expect to monitor competitive pricing in January and continue to make very targeted adjustments to the pricing of specific menu items, but believe it is unlikely we will take any significant across-the-board price increases. Food and packaging costs were 32.1% for the quarter, an increase of 120 basis points compared to last year's quarter.

As with Bad Daddy's, we experienced record high beef prices during the quarter. We also saw significantly higher costs for bacon and eggs. As is the case with Bad Daddy's, input costs have decreased into the first quarter, and we expect food and beverage costs as a percent of sales to improve quarter-over-quarter.

Total labor cost increased to 35.9% and a 200 basis point increase from the 33.9% we ran during last year's quarter due to higher average wage rates resulting from market forces and the CPI index minimum wage in Denver and the state of Colorado, as well as decreased productivity due to sales deleverage.

Occupancy costs were 9.1%, an increase of 10 basis points from prior year quarter. Other operating costs were 15% for the quarter, an increase of 110 basis points, primarily due to increased customer delivery, technology and utility expenses. Good Times restaurant-level operating profit decreased by $0.4 million for the quarter to $0.8 million.

As a percent of sales, restaurant-level operating profit decreased by 420 basis points versus last year to 8% due to elevated costs throughout the P&L. Combined general and administrative expenses were $2.4 million during the quarter or 7% of total revenues, a decrease of 70 basis points from the prior year quarter. Primarily related to decreased multi-unit supervision costs, legal and professional services and outsourced accounting fees as well as health insurance underwriting costs, partially offset by an increase in recruiting and training related costs.

We anticipate 6% to 7% general and administrative costs in fiscal 2026. Our net loss to common shareholders for the quarter was $3,000 or $0.00 per share versus net income of $0.2 million, $0.02 per share in the fourth quarter last year. There was approximately $0.5 million of income tax benefit recorded during the current quarter versus $0.4 million in the prior year quarter.

Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was negative $74,000 compared to $1.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2024. We finished the quarter with $2.6 million in cash and $2.3 million of long-term debt. And now I will turn the call back to Ryan.

Thank you, Keri. Happy, we can open the call for questions at this time.

[Operator Instructions] And we have no questions at this time. I will turn the conference back over to Mr. Ryan Zink.

Thank you, Abby. Although the fourth quarter was a difficult 1 for our concepts, the first quarter of fiscal 2026 is shaping to mark improvement in same-store sales and in adjusted EBITDA. Our product and promotional road map at both concepts is robust and targeted towards broadcast appeals, and we continue to drive operating improvements translating into great guest experiences.

I am proud of our leaders and team members in our restaurants, who each day deliver memorable experiences for our guests and who ultimately are the ones who create value for our shareholders. Thank you all for joining us today. And in conclusion, I wish all of you as well as all of the members of the Good Times and Bad Daddy's teams happy holidays.

And ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's call, and we thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.