STKS

Welcome to The ONE Group first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star and then zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Nicole Thaung. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator, and hello, everyone. Before we begin our formal remarks, let me remind you that part of our discussion today will include forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and you should not place undue reliance on them. These statements are also subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from what we expect. Please also note that these forward-looking statements reflect our opinion only as of the date of this call. We undertake no obligation to revise or publicly release any revisions of these forward-looking statements considering new information or future events. We refer you to our recent SEC filings for a more detailed discussion of the risks that could impact our future operating results and financial condition.

During today's call, we will discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures, which we believe can be useful in evaluating our performance. However, the presentation of these matters or other information should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for results prepared in accordance with GAAP. For reconciliations of these measures, such as adjusted EBITDA, restaurant operating profit, Comparable Sales, annual adjusted operating income, and total food and beverage sales at company-owned, managed, licensed, and franchised units to GAAP measures, along with a discussion of why we consider these measures useful, please see our earnings release issued today. With that, I would like to turn the call over to Manny Hilario.

Thank you, Nicole. Good afternoon, everyone. I appreciate you joining us today. I want to start where I always do by thanking our teammates. Every day, our teams across every brand and market show up focused on creating memorable experiences for our guests. These days, consistency is more important than ever, and I appreciate all that they do in executing with excellence and upholding the vibe dining experience that defines our brands. Today, I will begin with an overview of our first quarter performance, and then I will walk you through our progress with respect to our strategic priorities before turning it over to Nicole for the financial details. We are excited about our continued momentum. Our operational performance is resulting in strong financial results. Total GAAP revenues grew year-over-year, and comparable sales are sequentially better than the previous quarter.

Own restaurant cost of sales improved to 19.4% from 20.8% in the prior-year quarter. Operating income increased 30%. Adjusted EBITDA increased 12.1%. Capital expenditures, net of tenant improvement allowances, reduced 23% year-over-year as we prioritize capital efficient growth and free cash flow generation. Total GAAP revenues for the first quarter were $213 million, an increase from $211 million in the same quarter last year. First quarter consolidated comparable sales were relatively flat at a -0.3%, representing a continuation of the positive momentum we experienced exiting the fourth quarter. For clarity, consolidated comparable sales are reported on the same number of days year-over-year. Looking at each brand, U.S. STK total comparable sales reported another positive quarter at 1.4%.

Benihana comparable sales were flat, reflecting stable demand for the brand. Our Grill concept comparable sales, while down 4.9%, represented the strongest quarterly performance since early 2023, and Grill transactions were positive for the quarter. Each segment continues to improve from the previous quarter. What is most notable, particularly in a period of elevated inflation, is the strength of our margin performance, a direct result of the hard work we have been doing across our supply chain, including, most importantly, beef sourcing. Restaurant operating profit increased 11% to $40 million, while restaurant operating profit margins expanded 100 basis points to 19%. The margin improvement was driven by a 140 basis point reduction in food and beverage costs, reflecting menu optimization, integration synergies, and supply chain efficiencies.

We also achieved a 40 basis point improvement in restaurant operating expenses as a percentage of restaurant revenues. STK delivered particularly strong results, with restaurant operating profit margins expanding 280 basis points to 21%, while Benihana margins improved 130 basis points to 21%. Adjusted EBITDA grew 12% to $29 million. The improvement was driven by cost management discipline, our contracted beef pricing, continued Benihana integration synergies, and the benefit of portfolio optimization actions. The key point I want to make is that these results are execution driven. We are not dependent on macroeconomic recovery or shifts in consumer sentiment but would certainly welcome them. Over the past 18 months, we have implemented a series of strategic initiatives. Operational improvements at Benihana, the barbell strategy at STK, portfolio optimization across the grill concepts, and rigorous cost management.

It's those initiatives that are driving our successful performance. Let me update you on our four strategic priorities. Priority one, accelerating comparable sales through execution. Our first strategic priority is accelerating comparable sales through disciplined execution. I want to highlight that Valentine's Day 2026 was a record-breaking day for our portfolio. Easter was also strong across our brands, with our sales up high single digits compared to last year. These results are a testament to both the operational capabilities we have built and the strength of our brands as a celebration destination. As we look ahead, we are gearing up for what we expect to be a strong Mother's Day and graduation season. Both occasions are critically important to us, and our teams are focused on delivering exceptional guest experiences during these high-volume periods.

Through the first five weeks of the second quarter, the company has positive comparable sales and transactions. Momentum has continued through all of our brands, with STK and Benihana so far delivering positive comparable sales and the grills sequentially improving. We have made operational improvements to position the brands for a strong spring and summer and are seeing encouraging trends as happy hour has been a real driver and is working well, while lunch traffic is also returning. Our Friends with Benefits loyalty program continues to gain momentum. Since launching last year, we added over 8,000 new organic members into the program per week. Newly enrolled guests continue to show strong repeat participation, we are seeing loyalty members spend more per visit compared to non-loyalty guests.

We will be actively targeting our Friends with Benefits members for Mother's Day and graduation celebrations, leveraging personalized outreach to drive traffic during these occasions. We continue to focus on growing membership, driving organic signups, and increasing engagement within the program to strengthen brand connection and repeat visits. We are driving growth through seasonal innovation, launching new food and beverage menus four times a year across all brands. This keeps our offerings fresh, differentiates us from competitors, and generates strong engagement on social media. We are expanding our off-premises business with a focus on curbside operations. Highlights includes burgers and sides, which continue to drive strong takeout and delivery volume across all brands, and Benihana and RA Sushi's fried rice burritos for takeout and delivery, which have performed well. Priority two, capital-efficient growth with disciplined expansion. Next, our second priority is capital-efficient growth.

We currently have two company-owned STK restaurants and one company-owned Benihana restaurant under construction, an STK in Phoenix, Arizona, a relocation of STK downtown in New York City, and a Benihana in Seattle, Washington. We intend to open six to 10 new venues in 2026 as we prioritize locations requiring $1.5 million or less in net capital investment to open. Capital expenditures net of TI allowances was 22% lower at $10 million in the first quarter compared to the year-ago period. Of this amount, $6.5 million was related to new restaurant construction, with the remainder supporting existing restaurants. This reduction reflects our disciplined approach to capital allocation as we focus on high return, capital-efficient growth.

On the franchise side, our 10-unit California Benihana and Benihana Express development agreement continues to progress, and our commitment for a franchise Benihana and a licensed Benihana Express in the Florida Keys remains on track. The Benihana Express format continues to generate strong franchise interest as it delivers the Benihana food experience without the teppanyaki tables, making it more labor efficient and more appealing from a cost of entry perspective for potential franchisees. In January, we completed the relocation of our Kona Grill in San Antonio, Texas, to a smaller footprint location. In February, we converted a franchise Benihana in Monterey, California, to a company-owned restaurant to accommodate a long-term franchise partner who wished to retire. Both are tracking in line with our expectations. Priority three, portfolio optimization to improve returns.

Our third priority is a portfolio optimization to improve returns. We have made significant progress improving the quality and returns of our portfolio. As we discussed last quarter, we are converting grill locations to higher performing STKs and Benihanas. In 2025, we exited six RA Sushi and Kona Grill locations. In January 2026, we exited one additional RA Sushi location that did not fit our conversion criteria. The remaining grill locations are healthy, profitable restaurants in quality real estate. We expect them to generate approximately $10 million in restaurant-level EBITDA and over $100 million in revenue. Five Grill locations closed on January 5, 2026 for conversion to either Benihana or STK. Construction is in progress, with all five expected to reopen by the end of 2026.

Each conversion is expected to cost between $1 million and $1.5 million and to be EBITDA accretive. As a reminder, our first conversion, the RA Sushi to STK in Scottsdale, Arizona, is currently operating at a run rate of approximately $7 million in annual sales, delivering an increase of over $4 million in sales and a return on investment of approximately four times. This validates our conversion strategy and give us confidence in the pipeline. As we have said before, we will continue to evaluate the portfolio as leases expire. We have approximately one to two Grill leases that come up each year as part of the natural end-of-cycle process, and we'll make decisions on a case-by-case basis. Priority four: maintaining balance sheet strength and flexibility. Our fourth priority for 2026 is conserving cash and optimizing the balance sheet.

We are significantly reducing discretionary capital expenditures, targeting company-owned development to projects requiring, on average, $1.5 million or less in build-out costs. We are also working through our existing lease pipeline rather than adding new commitments. This discipline gives us flexibility in an uncertain environment and position us to invest selectively in the highest return opportunities. We finished the quarter with $6.6 million in cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash. We have $33.7 million available under our revolving credit facility. Under current conditions, our term loan does not have a financial covenant. Cash flow from operation was a strong $22 million compared to $9 million in the prior quarter. This improvement was primarily attributable to increased net income and collections on holiday credit card receivables.

We also reduced our debt with $2 million in repayments under the credit agreement and $7 million in repayments on the revolving facility, bringing our revolving facility balance to zero. As we discussed on our previous call, we expect to generate free cash flow in 2026. Debt reduction and creating shareholder value remain a top priority. Before I turn it over to Nicole for the financial details, I want to reiterate the items that I have outlined today are fundamentally execution-driven and within our direct control. We are focused on strategic initiatives that position us to deliver results regardless of broader economic trends. With that, I will turn the call over to Nicole.

Thank you, Manny. As a reminder, beginning this year, we're reporting financial information on a fiscal quarter basis using four 13-week quarters with the addition of a 53rd week when necessary. For 2026, our fiscal calendar began on December 29, 2025, and our first quarter contained 91 days. Consolidated comparable sales are reported on the same number of days year-over-year. Let me start by discussing our first quarter financials in greater detail before introducing our outlook for the second quarter of 2026 and reiterating our fiscal 2026 guidance, with the exception of an update to our expected effective tax rate. Total consolidated GAAP revenues were $212.8 million, increasing 0.8% from $211.1 million for the same quarter last year.

Growth was driven by two primary factors: the fiscal calendar shift that moved New Year's Eve into fiscal 2026, which added approximately $8.3 million to our top line, as well as contributions from new openings and conversions completed in the second half of 2025. These gains were partially offset by the closure of underperforming Kona Grill locations as part of our portfolio optimization strategy, which reduced revenues by approximately $1.8 million. Included in total revenues were our company-owned restaurants net revenues of $209.3 million, which increased 0.9% from $207.4 million for the prior year quarter. The increase was primarily due to the change in the fiscal year calendar, which resulted in a shift in New Year's Eve into fiscal year 2026 and the sales generated by eight new restaurants.

These gains were partially offset by a decrease in revenue from the Grill restaurants closed and a 0.3% decrease in comparable restaurant sales. Management license, franchise, and incentive fee revenues decreased slightly to $3.5 million from $3.7 million in the prior year quarter. The decrease is primarily attributable to the exit of a management agreement in Scottsdale, Arizona in the second quarter of 2025. As Manny noted, we converted a former RA Sushi to a company-owned STK in that market. Turning to expenses. We continue to implement targeted cost management initiatives. Last year, we made strategic adjustments to our beef tenderloin sourcing and have contracted pricing through September 2026, eliminating our exposure to significant U.S. beef price fluctuations and providing significant cost certainty.

We also optimized our labor structure across the business last year by improving scheduling management, and we are still realizing synergies from the Benihana acquisition. Company-owned restaurant cost of sales as a percentage of company-owned restaurant net revenue improved 140 basis points to 19.4% from 20.8%. This improvement was primarily due to menu optimization, integration synergies, supply chain initiatives, increased menu pricing, and more efficient cost of sales associated with New Year's Eve and our record-breaking Valentine's Day. Company-owned restaurant operating expenses as a percentage of company-owned restaurant net revenue improved 40 basis points to 61.7% from 62.1%. This reflects improvement in labor costs.

Restaurant operating profit, excluding Grill concepts restaurants closed, was $39.9 million or 19.1% of owned restaurant net revenue, improving by 100 basis points from 18.1% in the prior year quarter. On a total reported basis, general and administration costs increased $1.9 million to $15 million from $13.1 million in the same quarter prior year, driven by inflation on salaries and bonus, higher audit-related fees, investments in information technology, specifically AI-related technologies, and increased marketing expenses. When adjusting for stock-based compensation of $1.1 million, Adjusted general and administrative expenses were $13.9 million, compared to $11.5 million in the first quarter of 2025.

As a percentage of revenues when adjusting for stock-based compensation, Adjusted general and administrative costs were 6.5% compared to 5.4% in the prior year. Depreciation and amortization expense was $10.4 million, compared to $9.8 million in the prior year quarter. The increase is attributed to new restaurants opened during fiscal year 2025. Lease termination and restaurant closure expenses were $2 million for this quarter, primarily as a result of the Grill portfolio optimization, which included $500,000 in non-cash expenses related to closed restaurants. Pre-opening expenses were approximately $1.5 million, primarily related to pre-opening rent for restaurants under development, including $500,000 in non-cash rent and payroll costs for Kona Grill Landmark, which opened in January 2026. Pre-opening expenses decreased by $200,000 compared to the prior year period.

Transition and integration expenses were $500,000, down significantly from $3.7 million in the prior year quarter, as we're nearing completion of the integration of the Benihana and RA Sushi acquisition. Operating income was $13.9 million compared to operating income of $10.7 million in the first quarter of 2025, an increase of $3.2 million, primarily due to improved restaurant operating profit and the reduction in transition and integration costs. For a reconciliation, please refer to our press release issued earlier today. Interest expense was $9.7 million compared to $9.8 million in the prior year quarter. Our weighted average interest rate was 10.2% compared to 10.9% in the prior year quarter.

Provision for income taxes was $1.2 million compared to $300,000 in the prior year quarter as a result of an increase in pre-tax book income. Net income attributable to The ONE Group Hospitality, Inc. was $3.2 million compared to net income of $1 million in the first quarter of 2025. Net loss available to common stockholders was $6.2 million or $0.20 net loss per share, compared to $6.6 million in the first quarter of 2025 or $0.21 net loss per share. Adjusted EBITDA attributable to The ONE Group Hospitality, Inc. was $28.8 million compared to $25.7 million in the prior year quarter, an increase of 12.1%.

We finished the quarter with $6.6 million in cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash and cash equivalents. We have $33.7 million available under our revolving credit facility subject to certain conditions. As Manny said, as of quarter end, we had no borrowings outstanding on our revolving credit facility, nor does our term loan currently require a financial covenant. Now, I would like to provide some forward-looking commentary regarding our business. This commentary is subject to risks and uncertainties associated with forward-looking statements as discussed in our SEC filings. We remind our investors that the actual number and timing of new restaurants for any given period is subject to factors outside of the company's control, including macroeconomic conditions, weather, and factors under the control of landlords, contractors, licensees, and regulatory and licensing authorities.

Based on the information available now and the expectations as of today, we are issuing the following financial targets for the second quarter of 2026. Beginning with the top line, we project total GAAP revenues of between $202 million and $206 million, which reflects our anticipation of consolidated comparable sales of 1%-2%. Management license, franchise, and incentive fee revenue are expected to be approximately $3 million-$4 million. Total company-owned operating expenses as a percentage of company-owned restaurant net revenue between 81% and 82%. Total G&A excluding stock-based compensation between $13 million and $14 million. Adjusted EBITDA of between $24 million and $26 million. Finally, restaurant pre-opening expenses of between $1 million and $2 million.

Based on the information available to us now and our expectations as of today, we are reiterating the following financial targets for fiscal year 2026, with the exception of increasing the range of the effective tax rate. We project total GAAP revenues of between $840 million and $855 million, which reflects our anticipation of consolidated comparable sales of 1%-3%. Management license, franchise, and incentive fee revenues are expected to be between $14 million and $15 million. Total company-owned operating expenses as a percentage of company-owned restaurant net revenue of approximately 82%-83%. Total G&A, excluding stock-based compensation, of approximately $53 million. Adjusted EBITDA of between $100 million and $110 million. Restaurant pre-opening expense of between $5 million and $6 million. An effective income tax rate of approximately 10%-20%.

Total capital expenditures, net of allowances received from landlords, of between $38 million and $42 million. Finally, we plan to open six to 10 new venues. With that, I will now turn the call back to Manny.

Thank you, Nicole. Before we open up for questions, I want to emphasize how excited we are about our business. Although the current environment remains challenging, our future looks bright. With our proven ability to execute, strengthened portfolio, and expanded franchise capabilities, we are well positioned to capture the significant opportunities ahead of us. We thank you for your continued support and look forward to sharing our progress in the quarters ahead. As always, a special thanks to all teammates all over the globe that live our mission every day, creating great guest memories by operating the best restaurants in every market by delivering exceptional and unforgettable guest experiences to every guest every time. Nicole and I look forward to your questions. Operator.

Thank you. At this time, we will be conducting a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star and then one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star and then two if you would like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. One moment please while we poll for questions. The first question we have is from Joe Gomes of Noble Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon, Manny, Nicole. Thank you for taking my questions.

Hi, Joe.

Hey, Joe.

I just want to start, you know, the revenues were a little below what the guide was for the first quarter, and the comps were a little off from where the guide was. Just maybe give us a little more color there, Manny, on what transpired during the quarter to cause that slight miss.

Yeah, I mean, I think the only thing that was less than we expected in the quarter was our volume at our STKs in malls. Really the first year where we've had two restaurants fully operating in the first quarter in the mall. I think that the first quarter is a little different from the other quarters for those restaurants. I would say just the seasonality of our mall STKs was a little bit different than what we expected. Other than that, I think that, you know, the quarter was solid. I think the only other noise in the quarter was just spring break this year seemed to have a lot of different, you know, changes in terms of how people took their holidays.

I think just Easter, being much earlier, you know, it just is a little bit of a different cadence of sales, if you will, in the year. Overall, I thought the business was very strong in all our brands.

Okay. Pardon me. I think also last quarter you talked about the conversions. You were hoping to have them all done by mid-July, and now it sounds like at the end of the year. Anything there? Is it just, you know, extended construction cycles or just being a little more conservative in the conversion opportunity?

No, I just think it's just the pacing of, and resources to reopen them up properly. I mean, they are reloads and, if you will, conversion sites, but you still have to go through the full training cycle. I think the timing of all these restaurants is really based on how we feel about the right pace of opening the units without, you know, being negatively impactful to operations. It's really just a timing pace, making sure that you're moving your opening teams to the right places at the right time. It's just an internal judgment relative to when we want to open the restaurants.

Okay, great. Last one from me, and I'll jump back in queue. Anything new on the franchising front or some more of the nontraditional venues? You had some success that we reported on, you know, the past couple of quarters, but just wondering if there's anything new in the pipeline there?

Yeah, I mean, I think franchising, still lots of interest. We're actively talking to people all the time. We have amped up our resources behind getting new deals. I think that it's progressing really well and interest is very high. I'm very pleased with the progress, and I feel very positive about the outlook relative to franchising, particularly for Benihana.

Okay, great. Thank you. I'll get back in queue.

Thank you, sir.

The next question we have is from Anthony Lebiedzinski of Sidoti & Co. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for taking the questions. Manny, just wondering if you guys saw any notable regional differences in terms of your same-store sales performance in the quarter?

Yeah, I mean, I think for us, you know, if there was one market that stood out a little bit differently was Texas. We did see a little bit of different trends in Texas, but other than that, everything was relatively, you know, very similar. That's probably the only market and if I had to drill down a little bit more, I think Dallas per se was one of the markets where we saw a little bit more softness in the business. Other than that, as our results show coming into the second quarter, we have a lot of momentum, and sales are positive for the company and sales and transactions.

In this environment, I believe that to be a really strong testament to the initiatives and all the activities that we're doing in building traffic and sales.

As it relates to Texas, was there any change in the competitive landscape or was it something else that drove some of the softness there you think?

I think in Dallas specifically, I think it's just a very competitive market and there's always a lot of competition coming into that market. I just think it's the at least from my perspective and our perspective in that market is that there's just a lot of people playing in that market and there's from time to time you'll have a little bit of a up and down in the business there just because there's just a lot of people. It's an attractive market, it's a large market and everybody wants to have a restaurant in Dallas. I think it's just a matter of what the competitors are doing in the marketplace.

Mm-hmm. Understood. Okay. In terms of the commentary about the second quarter same-store sales which are tracking positive, can you give us a sense as to, you know, traffic versus ticket? What's the kind of breakdown, approximately?

Well, we're up in traffic, you know, it's a good lead in. I think that to me that's the most important part of that mix of sales is that our initiatives, particularly around value and our continuous messaging around happy hour and some of the great price points we have at lunch and at dinner are starting to really resonate. Our marketing is starting to really make lots of progress in communicating those value points. I feel very good about that. Benihana we also launched our Power Lunch offering, which is starting at $15, $15.95, 45-minute guarantee. Lunch is starting to also gain traction.

I feel really good about all the initiatives and we're starting to see progress made on building traffic.

Got it. Okay. Last question from me. Nicole, you mentioned that there were some Benihana cost synergies realized in the quarter. Can you expand on that and are there any other synergies that you think may be realized this year as it relates to the Benihana acquisition?

Yeah. I think one of the biggest synergies we're still realizing is the beef contracts. You know, combining the different brands that are both very heavily reliant on beef products, we were able to secure a pretty decent contract. That's something that we'll continue to see through the coming months. We're also seeing some of our other contracts that were placed over the last year or so in terms of linens and other operating supplies that we're still realizing synergies on as well.

Got it. Okay. Well, thank you very much and best of luck.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

The next question we have is from Mark Smith of Lake Street Capital. Please go ahead.

Hi, guys. You got Alex Sturnieks on the line for Mark Smith today. Thanks for taking my questions. Just, you know, first one from me. Looking at capital allocation priorities, you know, you made good progress on the balance sheet with the revolver now, you know, paid down to zero, free cash flow generation improving. You know, as leverage comes down further, how are you guys thinking about balancing debt reduction, conversion investments, and, you know, potentially becoming more active on share repurchases?

I mean, I think as you saw in the quarter, you know, our focus has been debt, right? Because we did pay the revolver as well as term loan. That'll be continue to be a priority is really focusing on debt and really balancing that with a growth portfolio of restaurants that is really cost effective. That's really kind of on the short term is our primary objective. Of course, capital allocation and shareholder value creation is always a priority of our board, so we always are actively looking at anything and everything that makes sense in terms of creating value for the shareholders.

Okay. Last one from me, just switching over to the restaurants. You know, Benihana Express seems to be getting a lot of traction from a franchise interest standpoint. You know, maybe just talk about how you view that long-term opportunity for that format relative to the traditional Benihana concept and, you know, what you think franchisees are finding most attractive about the model today.

Yeah, I mean, good question. What the franchise interest is around the product itself. You know, the fact that we have fantastic fried rice products and protein offerings going with it. There's excitement about the product offering. There's also excitement about the price point positioning of that product 'cause it being a Benihana product, it's a premium in market, so they do like that. Of course, in franchising economics are paramount. I think within the Benihana Express, we get the best of Benihana in great COGS, cost of goods. We also get a very beneficial labor equation, meaning that we don't have to service at the table, at the teppanyaki table.

There's a really relatively predictable and strong labor on that. Obviously, it goes without saying the fact that these footprints are small, occupancy is also very, very effective. Also the fact that the footprint is smaller allows for a lot more flexibility in terms of what real estate is available for that brand. Again, you start adding all those things and of course, the cost of development is also very affordable relative to building other full-size stores. I think once you add all those up, the franchisees are very interested in pursuing that.

That's very helpful. Thank you for taking my questions.

Thank you.

The next question we have is from Jim Sanderson of Northcoast Research. Please go ahead.

Hey, thanks for the questions. I wanted to go back to your update on same-store sales and traffic and build on that. Any feedback on what your bookings are looking like for Mother's Day and graduation events relative to where you were, say, one year ago?

I mean, without getting to precise numbers, I would say that, you know, traffic is positive coming to the quarter. I think, you know, just in mind with that, I think in general, our bookings, 'cause we, you know, we do manage that very closely. Our books in general are very solid. I would say that I feel very good about the forward look on the books.

Excellent. Shifting over to your store margin guidance, I noticed that relative to the first half of the year, you're probably expecting some modest margin compression. Can you walk through how margin is going to progress over the year?

I mean, for us, it's always the third quarter, right? We always have first, second quarter, and fourth quarter are always very good margins. Of course, our third quarter is our lowest volume quarter. We do always get that shift in margin in the third quarter just because of seasonality. Other than that, everything in the margin, as Nicole reported during her update is strong. You know, we have great momentum and COGS. As a matter of fact, our cost of goods is the lowest we've ever reported for the company. We, I think the margin overall outlook for the year is very solid.

Speaking to margin, a little bit more, you mentioned you've got beef visibility until September. Any thoughts on what you're looking at for locking in those prices as we get to the holiday quarter?

I mean, always an active dialogue about what to do with beef. I think the thing that we spend a lot of, and of course, I don't have a crystal ball, so I wish I could give you an exact fourth quarter, you know, look on beef.

Yeah

You know, again, we, you know, our view on beef is still a tough market right now. There's a lot of to manage there. Our focus really with beef right now is just looking at alternative cuts and promotional windows to try to take advantage of other cuts that might be lower cost than maybe a filet or something else. It's really more about PMIX management and start to really plan out for a Q4 promotional windows that is not so reliant on filets, because that then takes a pressure off the cost line.

Very good. I think you also reported your weighted average interest rate was down. Could you walk us through what's driving that and what your outlook for the rest of the year is?

I mean, I think that, you know, the Fed rates came down a bit, which impacts overall rates. I think that's the big part of it. Again, our focus on debt right now is to as much as we have free cash flow, is to bring it down. That's our number one objective as we go forward, is to really balance that growth and be effective on growth and still have free cash flow to service debt, we keep bringing that principal down.

All right. Last question from me. Any feedback on what your off-premises mix was in the first quarter and how that was broken up between delivery and pickup, third party delivery and pickup?

As I reported in previous quarters, very low double digits is our percentage mix in delivery. I think that the majority of our mix right now is still reliant on delivery. It's more delivery than pickup at the restaurants. As you might imagine, our focus right now is building up that pickup at the store because that's more P&L effective, and we think that there's also big opportunities on that.

Very good. I'll pass it on. Thank you very much.

Thank you, sir.

The next question we have is from Roger Lipton of Lipton Financial Services. Please go ahead.

Yes. Hi, Manny. Hi, Nicole. Thanks for taking my question. A great number of my potential questions have been answered. I did wanna just explore a little bit more the store level margin, which it looks like you could have been in a position to bring down operating expenses, bring up your margin a little bit in terms of your full year guidance, beating the first quarter by 100, I guess 150 basis points, 160 basis points over the mid-80, the 19.1% instead of 17.5% At the midpoint of your previous guidance. In the second quarter, you're 81%-82% instead of 82-83% in terms of expense totals.

It looks like you've got a little room for the full year to improve upon that 82%-83%.

I mean, Thanks, Roger, and good to hear from you. I think our view on this is and as I answered the, you know, the previous question is, you know, our fourth quarter is really our big quarter, and I just wanna make sure that we have numbers that we're super comfortable with. Again, I'm very happy with our first quarter results, and I think that we're making tremendous progress in the second quarter and forward. I always wanna make sure that, you know, we're realistic about the environment. It's still a challenging environment. Lots of noise with, you know, gas prices. As you know, gas prices over time can impact your supply chain.

Again, I'm not saying that we believe that that's ultimately gonna happen, but we're just being cautious about how we go about guiding for the rest of the year on the margin.

Okay, that's fair. Just you went over so quickly the new economics on that Scottsdale conversion. You're saying the ROI 4x, increasing the ROI by 4x. Could you just run by that, those numbers one more time quickly?

Yeah, yeah. That's a good question. Just for clarity, that restaurant was doing about $3 million-$4 million in revenues. It's now north of $7 million. We grew revenues there by about $4 million, we think, year-over-year on an annual basis, and we spent about $1 million getting that $4 million in sales. It's really 4x return on sales on the investment we put in the site.

Okay.

The ROI-

The increase in sales.

The ROI.

Go ahead. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. The ROI will also be very good because that $4 million increase in revenues will drive a significant amount of incremental EBITDA. Our ROI on that conversion will be very, very high.

Got it. Okay. I'm glad we clarified that. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Roger.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached the end of the question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference call back to Manny Hilario for closing remarks.

Thank you, everyone. I appreciate everyone taking time to be with us here today. As I said earlier, we're very excited about the future for the company. As I always tell everyone, you know, nothing of this would be possible without the incredible contributions from all our teammates who live our mission every day. I wanna thank them all once again, and then I look forward to running into all of you in our restaurants. Everybody have a great summer. Back to you, operator.

Thank you. This concludes today's conference. Thank you for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines.

Good day, and welcome to the The ONE Group Hospitality fourth quarter 2025 earnings conference call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press Star, then one on a touch-tone phone. To withdraw your question, please press Star and then two. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Nicole Thaung, CEO. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator, and hello, everyone. Before we begin our formal remarks, let me remind you that part of our discussion today will include forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and you should not place undue reliance on them. These statements are also subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from what we expect. Please also note that these forward-looking statements reflect our opinion only as of the date of this call. We undertake no obligation to revise or publicly release any revisions to these forward-looking statements considering new information or future events. We refer you to our recent SEC filings for a more detailed discussion of the risks that could impact our future operating results and financial conditions.

During today's call, we will discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures, which we believe can be useful in evaluating our performance. However, the presentation of these measures or other information should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for results prepared in accordance with GAAP. For reconciliation to these measures, such as Adjusted EBITDA, restaurant operating profit, comparable sales, annual adjusted operating income, and total food and beverage sales at company-owned, managed, licensed, and franchise units to GAAP measures. Along with the discussion of why we consider these measures useful, please see our earnings release issued today. With that, I would like to turn the call over to Manny Hilario.

Thank you, Nicole, and good afternoon, everyone. I appreciate you joining us today. I want to start where I always do by thanking our people. Every day, our teams across every brand and market show up focused on execution and creating memorable experiences for our guests. In an environment like this one, consistency is everything, and I appreciate all that they do in executing with excellence and upholding the Vibe Dining experience that defines our brands. Today, I will begin with an overview of our performance, and then I will walk you through our strategic priorities for 2026 and beyond. As we shared in January, total GAAP revenue for the full year 2025 was approximately $805 million, representing approximately 20% growth year-over-year, driven primarily by the inclusion of Benihana for all twelve periods.

Full year 2025 comparable sales declined approximately 3.7%, reflecting continued pressure across the full service dining segment. For the fourth quarter, total GAAP revenue was approximately $207 million compared to $222 million in the prior year quarter. It is important to understand the two main drivers of that comparison. First, approximately 35% of the year-over-year revenue decline was driven by portfolio optimization actions, including the closure of underperforming RA Sushi and Kona Grill locations. These were not reactive decisions. They were the result of a deliberate evaluation of returns, real estate quality, and long-term fit. While these closures reduced near-term revenue, they improved the quality and durability of the portfolio. Second, our fiscal calendar shift resulted in a fiscal year of only 362 days.

The fourth quarter had one fewer operating day, and the year shifted to fiscal 2026. Historically, that is one of our better sales day in a full year. Fourth quarter consolidated comparable sales declined approximately 1.8%, representing about four points of sequential improvement from the third quarter. What is important to note is that all brands demonstrated sequential improvement in comparable sales during the quarter. That momentum has accelerated to 2026. That was not just a holiday spike. This is sustained execution. Year to date, consolidated comparable sales are slightly positive. This represents a significant inflection point for the business and demonstrates that our execution work is paying off. We are achieving this while consumer confidence sits at historical lows, which makes it even more meaningful. We are extremely pleased with each of our brands' performance.

Year-to-date, both Benihana and STK are positive in sales. Kona Grill's turnaround is gaining traction. While year-to-date comparable sales are down mid-single digits, transactions are positive, representing the best same-store performance for the brand since the beginning of 2023. This validates our strategic focus of optimizing the portfolio for the right locations and unit economics. We are growing consolidated same-store sales with flat to positive traffic, while many full-service concepts are still facing traffic declines. This reflects strong execution across our portfolio, better table efficiency at Benihana, our barbell strategy at STK, improved unit economics at Kona Grill, and operational discipline throughout. What sets us apart is our Vibe Dining positioning. As consumers dine out less frequently, they seek experiences that combine quality food with entertainment, energy, and a sense of occasion.

We embody these attributes, and they resonate with guests. With that context, let me walk you through our strategic priorities. Priority one: accelerating same-store sales through execution. Driving same-store sales remains our top priority. We have established clear, measurable initiatives for 2026 to ensure we execute at the highest level across all brands and are guiding to a 1%-3% increase this year. We are focused on operational excellence across multiple dimensions, social review scores, secret shopper evaluation, and EquiShare assessments. We have set ambitious benchmarks in each area that represent the level of consistency required to build guest frequency in today's environment. The holiday season reinforced Benihana's strength as a destination for celebrations. As we have discussed in prior quarters, frequency remains the biggest opportunity for the brand. Guests love the chef experience, showmanship, and the social nature of the tables.

Our focus has been making the overall experience more comfortable, more efficient, and more repeatable. Table efficiency and improved reservation and throughput management remain among the most impactful leverage in the business. This is not about rushing guests. It's about eliminating unnecessary downtime. Through better logistics, improved staffing, and better coordination between the front and back of the house, we are reducing turn times while improving guest satisfaction. Valentine's Day 2026 was a record-breaking performance for our portfolio. Over 40 restaurants exceeded 1,000 coverage for the day, which we view as a testament to both the operational capabilities we have built and the strength of our brands as celebration destinations. The ability to execute at that volume while maintaining the quality and experience our guests expect demonstrates the progress we have made on throughput, staffing, and operational excellence. Cost predictability is central to our operational excellence.

Last year, we strategically shifted our protein sourcing and contracted beef pricing on beef tenderloin and other cuts through September 2026, eliminating our exposure to volatile U.S. beef markets. This decision, combined with continued Benihana integration synergies, is driving meaningful margin improvement while providing the cost certainty we need to execute our growth strategy. At STK, our barbell strategy is resonating. Guests are being more intentional about when and how they dine. Value offerings bring them in during the week. Premium menus and celebrations drive weekends and holidays. Returning to positive comps in the fourth quarter was an important milestone, and Valentine's Day reinforced that STK is a go-to destination for special occasions. We are expanding brand awareness through marketing and digital initiatives.

In 2025, we launched Friends with Benefits, our loyalty program, which gives us a direct line to our most frequent guests and allows us to drive targeted traffic during key day parts. Additionally, we are leveraging product innovation through seasonal menus for both food and beverage to keep our offerings fresh and differentiated from competitors. We are also focused on driving off-premises business with particular emphasis on growing our curbside operations. While dining remains our core business, off-premises represents an incremental revenue opportunity with attractive margins. Underpinning all of this is our commitment to our people. Through the power of one, our goal is to hire, train, develop, and retain the best team in the industry. In this labor market, retaining talent is a competitive advantage and drives the consistency that shows up in guest scores.

Across the portfolio, we are investing in operational excellence, culinary innovation, and targeted marketing, the same three pillars we talk about regularly. These are execution-driven initiatives, and they are within our control. Priority two: capital-efficient growth with disciplined expansion. Our second priority is a capital-efficient growth, and we made meaningful progress in 2025. During the fourth quarter, we entered into two significant asset-light development agreements that demonstrate the scalability and appeal of our brands. We secured development rights for 10 Benihana and Benihana Express locations in California, representing the largest asset-light development agreement in the company's history. We also secured a commitment for an additional franchise Benihana location and a licensed Benihana Express location in the Florida Keys. These agreements allow us to accelerate growth in high-quality markets with sophisticated operators that are committed to our iconic brand while preserving our own capital.

Benihana Express is a key element of our growth strategy. It delivers the Benihana food experience without the teppanyaki tables, making it more labor efficient and highly franchise friendly. This format gives us a scalable asset-light engine for future expansion. We also continue expanding into non-traditional venues, particularly professional sports and entertainment stadiums. Today, we operate Benihana and STK concepts in high-traffic stadium environments that generate millions of fan impressions annually, inspiring confidence in the flexibility and scalability of our concepts. These venues introduce our brands to a wide audience in a highly efficient format with limited capital investment and attractive high margin royalty revenue. In the fourth quarter, we renewed our concession agreement at the Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix, home of the Suns and Mercury. The renewal extends our Benihana presence and creates an opportunity to introduce STK branded offerings.

We also secured a new Benihana concession at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, expanding our footprint in the New York metro area and complementing our existing presence at the Yankee Stadium. On the company-owned side, our fourth quarter openings delivered strong returns. We completed our first conversion of a RA Sushi to an STK in Scottsdale, Arizona. The results have been encouraging. This location converted in approximately 8 weeks at a build-out cost of about $1 million, and it's currently operating at a run rate of approximately $7 million in annual sales, delivering an increase of over $4 million in sales and a return on investment on sales of approximately 4 times. This validates our conversion strategy. We also opened a new STK in Oak Brook, Illinois, for approximately $1.5 million. Both locations exemplify our second-generation strategy focused on capital efficiency and rapid returns.

In 2026, we are maintaining the same level of capital discipline. We have already relocated our Kona Grill in San Antonio, Texas, to a superior, smaller footprint location in January and converted a franchise Benihana in Monterey, California, to a company owned in February as our franchise was looking to retire. Beyond physical expansion, we continue pursuing capital-light ways to extend our brands beyond the four walls of the restaurant, and the Benihana brand gives us a unique opportunity to do that thoughtfully. During the fourth quarter, we launched Benihana branded Crispy Chicken Chips through a third-party partnership. This is a small, disciplined way to extend the brand beyond the restaurant, increase awareness, and test new channels without meaningful capital or operational complexity. Priority three, portfolio optimization to improve returns. We have made significant progress improving our growth portfolio.

In 2025, we exited six underperforming RA Sushi and Kona Grill locations. While these decisions impacted near-term revenue, they improved the quality and returns of the portfolio overall. We have identified up to five additional Kona Grill locations for conversion to Benihana or STK by the end of 2026. These locations close as of January 5, 2026, in preparation for conversion. We expect each conversion to cost between $1 million and $1.5 million, and be EBITDA accretive, representing a compelling use of capital. Additionally, in January, we exited one RA Sushi location that did not fit our conversion criteria. Priority four, maintaining balance sheet strength and flexibility. A priority for 2026 is conserving cash and optimizing the balance sheet. We are significantly reducing discretionary capital expenditures, targeting company-owned development to projects requiring on average $1.5 million or less in build-out costs.

We are also working through our existing lease pipeline rather than adding new commitments. This discipline gives us flexibility in an uncertain environment and positions us to invest selectively in the highest return opportunities. With that, I will turn the call over to Nicole to walk through the financials in more detail.

Thank you, Manny. As a reminder, beginning this year, we're reporting financial information on a fiscal quarter basis using four thirteen-week quarters, with the addition of a fifty-third week when necessary. For 2025, our fiscal year calendar began on January 1, 2025, and ended on December 28, 2025, and was comprised of 362 days. Our fourth quarter contained 91 days. Let me start by discussing our fourth quarter financials in greater detail before introducing our outlook for the first quarter of 2026 and fiscal year 2026. Total consolidated GAAP revenues were $207 million, decreasing 6.7% from $222 million for the same quarter last year.

Included in total revenues were our company-owned restaurants' net revenue of $203 million, which decreased 6.8% from $218 million for the prior year quarter. The decrease was primarily due to the change in the fiscal calendar, which resulted in a shift of New Year's Eve into fiscal year 2026. The impact of that shift accounts for approximately $5.7 million or 37% of the decrease. The remaining decrease is attributable to a 1.8% reduction in consolidated comparable sales and the closure of underperforming restaurants from the prior year period. Management license, franchise, and incentive fee revenues decreased slightly to $4 million from $4.1 million in the prior year quarter. The decrease is primarily due to lower management license and incentive fee revenue at our managed STK restaurants in North America.

It is important to note that sales of our managed STK in Las Vegas have notably improved quarter to date. Additionally, we exited our management deal with STK Scottsdale and converted a former RA Sushi to a company-owned STK in that same market. Now turning to expenses. As Manny noted, we continue to implement targeted cost management initiatives. Last year, we made strategic adjustments to our beef tenderloin sourcing and have contracted pricing through September 2026, eliminating our exposure to significant U.S. beef price fluctuations and providing significant cost certainty. We also optimized our labor structure across the business last year by improving scheduling management, and we are still realizing synergies from the Benihana acquisition. Company-owned restaurant cost of sales as a percentage of company-owned restaurant net revenue improved 80 basis points to 19.6% from 20.4%.

This improvement was primarily due to additional integration synergies from our Benihana acquisition and strategic cost management, including our beef pricing. Company-owned restaurant operating expenses as a percentage of company-owned restaurant net revenue was 61.5%, flat compared to the prior year quarter. This reflects our disciplined cost management despite sales de-leverage, investment in marketing and general cost inflation. Restaurant operating profit, excluding Grille Concepts restaurants closed or to be closed, was $38.9 million or 19.5% of owned restaurant net revenue, improving by 10 basis points from 19.4% in the prior year quarter. On a total reported basis, general and administrative costs increased $1.3 million to $14.5 million from $13.3 million in the same quarter prior year, driven by increased marketing expenses.

When adjusting for stock-based compensation of $1.1 million, adjusted general and administrative expenses were $13.4 million compared to $11.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2024. As a percentage of revenues when adjusting for stock-based compensation, adjusted general and administrative costs were 6.5% compared to 5.3% in the prior year. Depreciation and amortization expense was $11 million compared to $11.4 million in the prior year quarter. This decrease reflects our disciplined capital allocation strategy. During the quarter, we completed our regular assessment of the recoverability of the net book value of our fixed assets and intangible assets.

A non-cash impairment charge may be necessary when the net book value exceeds the future expected cash flows of the asset and can happen due to economic factors, end of lease, or restaurant performance. As a result of this assessment, we identified one Kona Grill restaurant and the Kona Grill trade name that require impairment charges that totaled $7.2 million, primarily related to the Grille portfolio optimization. Pre-opening expenses were approximately $1.8 million, primarily related to the pre-open rent for restaurants under development and payroll costs associated with the pre-opening training team as we prepare for restaurants scheduled to open in early 2026. Pre-opening expenses decreased slightly by $200,000 compared to the prior year period.

Operating income was $4.5 million compared to an operating income of $12.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2024. Annual adjusted operating income, a non-GAAP measure, increased 15.2% to $38 million from $33 million, primarily due to the additional periods of Benihana operations. For a reconciliation, please refer to our press release issued earlier today. Interest expense was $10.3 million compared to $10.5 million in the prior year quarter. Provision for income taxes was $600,000 compared to $100,000 in the prior year quarter. Net Loss Attributable to The ONE Group Hospitality, Inc. was $6.4 million compared to net income of $1.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2024.

The increase in net loss attributable to The ONE Group Hospitality, Inc. was primarily driven by the non-cash impairment charges of $7.2 million and exit costs associated with the Grille Concepts portfolio optimization. Net loss available to common stockholders was $15.3 million or $0.49 net loss per share, compared to $5.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2024 or $0.19 net loss per share. Adjusted EBITDA attributable to The ONE Group Hospitality was $28.1 million compared to $31 million in the prior year quarter, a decrease of 9.5%. We finished the quarter with $4.7 million in cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash. We have $27.2 million available under our revolving credit facility.

As of quarter end, we had $7 million outstanding on our revolving credit facility. Under current conditions, our term loan does not have a financial covenant. Now, I would like to provide some forward-looking commentary regarding our business. This commentary is subject to risks and uncertainties associated with the forward-looking statements as discussed in our SEC filings. We remind our investors that the actual number and timing of new restaurant openings for any given period is subject to factors outside of the company's control, including macroeconomic conditions, weather, and factors under the control of landlords, contractors, licensees, and regulatory and licensing authorities. Based on our information available now and our expectations as of today, we're also providing the following financial targets for fiscal year 2026.

We project total GAAP revenues between $840 million and $855 million, which reflects our anticipation of consolidated comparable sales of 1%-3%. Management franchise and licensed revenues are expected to be between $14 million and $15 million. Total company-owned operating expenses as a percentage of company-owned restaurant net revenue of approximately 82%-83%. Total general and administrative costs excluding stock-based compensation of approximately $53 million. Adjusted EBITDA of between $100 million and $110 million. Restaurant pre-opening expenses of between $5 million and $6 million. An effective income tax rate of approximately 10%. Total capital expenditures net of allowances received from landlords of between $38 million and $42 million. Finally, we plan to open 6-10 new venues. I will now turn the call back to Manny.

Thank you, Nicole. Before we open up for questions, I want to emphasize how excited we are about the future of our business. Our future looks bright. With our strengthened portfolio and expanded franchise capabilities, we are well positioned to capture the significant opportunities ahead of us. We thank you for your continued support and look forward to sharing progress in the quarters ahead. As always, a special thanks to all teammates all over the globe that live our mission every day, creating great guest memories by operating the best restaurant in every market that we operate in by delivering exceptional and unforgettable guest experiences to every guest, every time. Nicole and I look forward to your questions. Operator.

We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star, then one on your touchtone phone. If you're using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. To withdraw your question, please press star and then two. Our first question comes from Allison Arfstrom with Piper Sandler. Please go ahead.

Hi, this is Allison on for Brian Mullan. Thanks for taking the question. Just wanted to ask about Benihana first. What are the strategic priorities there for the balance of this year?

Hi, Ally. You know, our priority for Benihana right now continues to be marketing, you know, working on digital, working on Friends with Benefits. Those are the primary strategies there. We've also continued to downsize the size of the menu, so continue to working on bringing a smaller size menu. Then, the other big piece continues to be operations and turn times and improving, frankly, just the turn times at the table and overall guest experience.

Awesome. Thank you so much.

Thanks, Ally.

The next question comes from Joe Gomes with Noble Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Good morning, Manny and Nicole. Thank you for taking my questions.

Hi, Joe.

Manny, I just wondered if you could just walk through a little bit here. You know, when your third quarter call, you were optimistic about the fourth quarter. Obviously, you know, you took the numbers down. You know, the portfolio optimization and the calendar shift were known at, you know, the time you made your comments in the third quarter. Just trying to get a better feel, you know, when, you know, the consolidated comp sales improved by four percentage points during the quarter. You know, what happened in the fourth quarter that, you know, I think the consensus numbers are more in the $220-$225 range for revenues and, you know, you guys came in at $207. What happened there?

Yeah, I think. Thanks, Joe. I think we've talked about that when we pre-announced the fourth quarter sales in at the ICR conference. I think probably the differential came mostly with you know, although the quarter was better sequentially in same-store sales, we thought we could get more out of the Benihana brand, particularly with table turns and the fact that you know, we were expecting it to bring them down all the way to around 90 minutes. The table turns ended up being closer to about 105 minutes. We weren't able to achieve the full, I would say, synergies that we wanted to do on table turns.

Part of that is just because, you know, we're really learning how to, you know, operate the brand, and we just wanna make sure that we preserve guest experience and didn't compromise the guest experience in favor of the table turns. It was more of our own internal, you know, strategy of holding out to great guest experiences and we weren't able to get to those turn times that we thought at Benihana.

Okay. You talk about in your prepared remarks today, you know, some significant cost synergies still from the Benihana acquisition. I was wondering maybe you could give us a little more color as to what they would be. One would have thought that, you know, over the past, you know what, 18 months or so, you would have gotten most of those synergies. You know, what else is available there? What size are we talking about of potential synergies from the Benihana acquisition that are left?

Yeah, I mean, I think in the fourth quarter, you saw our costs actually going sub 20%. You know, a really good mark for the company. I think we've realized some of the initial synergies, such as, you know, distribution, you know, increasing our distribution sites or synergy from distribution. I think we're still working on some of the finer points, like for instance, beef synergies, in terms of getting, you know, bigger purchasing power. We've really been working on consolidating our beef purchases in the second half of last year. I still think that there's some benefits of doing that.

We've also consolidated a lot of other things that don't seem like a major thing, but like our rice purchases, and we changed our linen supplies and even our chemical supplies in the restaurant. A lot of those things. We work throughout 2025, but some of it actually was done in the third and fourth quarter last year. We think there is still some items that we will benefit from in 2026. I think we talked in our prepared remarks about beef and our contracting of beef and how we went about. That's one of the examples where we actually just leveraged from the fact that we have so much more tenderloin utilization as a combined company.

We're able to leverage that actually to some very good and beneficial beef contracting.

Okay. Just one more for me to get back in queue. Obviously it's a situation that's totally in flux here, but you know, given the recent world events, the significant increase in gas prices, have you seen any impact on traffic over the past couple of weeks? Or what are your kind of thoughts on how this potentially could impact traffic, you know, going forward here for however long this happens to last?

Yeah, I mean, obviously so far, I mean, our guidance that we issued today kind of, you know, is based on what we've seen throughout the, you know, the first full quarter of this year. Obviously gas and, you know, it's really how long it's gonna go, right? It's really a function of, you know, the term of the price being up on gas. So we're still very early on that. We're maybe a week, two weeks into it, so we haven't seen an impact and really my ultimate answer on that is all depends on how long it actually lasts, so.

Okay, thanks, Manny. I appreciate that. I'll get back in queue.

Thanks, Joe.

The next question comes from Anthony Lebiedzinski with Sidoti & Company. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for taking the questions. Just wondering if you guys saw any notable regional differences in traffic. I heard that Las Vegas did better, which is encouraging, but any sort of commentary on the different regions that you operate in?

I mean, in the fourth quarter, I think coming out of the third quarter, I think that we had a bit of a difference in California, Texas and Florida. I think we talked about that. I think going into the fourth quarter, I think some of those gaps narrowed, so we didn't see as big differential coming out of those states. As it comes to Vegas specifically, I mean, I just wanna make sure that our Vegas comment is on our experience. We're not per se talking about the overall market situation in Las Vegas and the Strip.

I think for us, we did change a little bit of our marketing in Vegas, in terms of our strategy of marketing out more to the suburbs and emphasizing that. I think that's actually helped us and it's been good for us. Again, I think the geographical differences that we saw in the third quarter narrowed down in the fourth and so they were less significant for us in the fourth quarter.

Got it. Yeah. Thanks, Manny. Then in terms of the expected same-store sales guidance for the full year, how are you thinking about the pricing, or average ticket versus traffic? Are you looking at any additional price increases, or you think this will be more volume driven in terms of the same-store sales gain that you're expecting?

Yeah, I mean, a great question. Right now, value is paramount, and so our next contemplated pricing action would be into the fourth quarter like we usually do, you know, going into the holiday season. We don't have any short-term pricing actions planned right now, but of course, we'll always monitor what happens with the environment and what's going out there. As I just commented, there's still some uncertainty on gas prices and stuff, so I can't say that something isn't gonna happen because of just the flux in the environment. Right now, we're only planning fourth quarter action on pricing.

Gotcha. Okay. My last question. You talked about the beef contract. I was just wondering about other protein costs. How are you managing those? What's the outlook for that?

Yeah, I mean, another good question. We're coming off you know last year we saw a pressure on frozen seafood because of tariffs, and we have to move around some of our sourcing for shrimp and particularly shrimp. I think coming off I think the tariff environment might be more favorable for us, so we might be able to pick up some efficiency in the frozen seafood category. I think the rest of our commodity basket outside of beef and seafood will probably go with the market.

Understood. Thank you very much, and best of luck.

Thank you, sir.

The next question comes from Mark Smith with Lake Street Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Hi, guys. I wanted to dig a little bit more into some of the conversions. Can you give us just a little more insight into maybe the timeline on openings of some of these conversions?

Yeah. Right now we have five restaurants that are closed that are in conversion mode. We're in early construction on one or two of those right now, our plan is to reopen them by July 2026 or mid-year plan to get them all back. They've all been designed. They're all in permitting. We're expediting. You know, it's all gonna really be determined by the permitting cycles on these and the actual construction cycle we think is gonna be relatively short. We're thinking maybe six to eight weeks on the actual construction site cycles. The only thing about these conversions to Benihana is we're converting with electrical tables, and sometimes we do have to upgrade you know the electrical power for the property.

That could take another week to two weeks in the construction cycle. I would say right now our best projection on having them all back on would be July of this year.

Okay. Just as we think about it, you've got really positive results from kind of initial conversion. I'm curious if there's anything that makes it maybe not repeatable with some of these other locations, just whether it's geography, footprint that you have. You know, just curious your thoughts around how repeatable some of these results are.

Well, I mean, because these are always obviously forward-looking statements and how you're looking out, I think we obviously always have to say that what we think and what actually happens may be different. We took a lot of care and diligence in making sure that the real estate that you know we are converting actually met our views on quality real estate for the concept. I think we mentioned that we actually had to close one of them down just because we didn't think it met our criteria. We were very selective on those, and I think the quality of the real estate that we're converting is super high quality. Some of it is RA's.

We knew when we acquired the brand that these sites were kind of already kind of scoped as kind of, well, this would have been a really good fill in the blank location. We generally feel really good about the quality of the real estate, but like I said, you know, it's forward-looking and there's always risks with it, but it's a really good portfolio of real estate.

Excellent. The last one from me is just, you know, you talked about what sounds like some good momentum here around comps into Q1, you know, being slightly positive here. You know, curious your thoughts on consumer behavior and what's kind of driving some of this comp strength. Is it, you know, how much of this is maybe price increases that were recently taken versus, you know, people just feeling better and maybe spending a little more or having more traffic?

Yeah. I mean, I think our sales momentum and again, it's been sequential, so this is like in our continual building up from what we've done. I think it's really a function of the initiatives. For us, it has been traffic, so value has been important. I think we're now starting to really see the payback of continued focus on value. Then, of course, as I mentioned, Benihana is really an operational initiative in terms of working on the chef experience at the table. I think these are things that are relatively directly correlated to our actions and plans. I think in general, as we mentioned earlier, consumer confidence is still low, right? It's not as if the confidence of a consumer has really shifted.

It's more of, you know, value working in that environment as well as all the operations and marketing initiatives that we've done throughout the last, call it 18 months. It's more of an internal, I think, versus external impact on the sales. But as you mentioned earlier, we're super excited about the fact that we do have positive STK and positive Benihana working for us right now, and we've made significant improvement on just traffic at Benihana's, I mean, at Kona Grill and RA. We're feeling pretty optimistic about the year. As a matter of fact, our guidance for the full year does project that we feel that it can be a positive same-store sales year for us.

Excellent. Thank you.

Thanks, Mark.

The next question comes from Jim Sanderson with Northcoast Research. Please go ahead.

Hey, thanks for the questions. Wanted to go back to your original comments about ideas to drive targeted traffic with product innovation. I think you've got the loyalty program. You also mentioned off-premises. I wonder if you could walk through how you plan to improve each of those opportunities and what that could generate for 2026.

Yeah. I mean, I think particularly on takeout and delivery, I think we're very early on potential there. I think we can really build that business up significantly. You've probably seen the product innovation on the Benihana side for takeout and delivery is we launched our version of burritos, and that's done extremely well. So new products really can support the growth of that channel of business. I think that's pretty exciting. We're also very early on loyalty. We rolled out our loyalty program in 2025, and we're still very early getting organized with the program and learning how we can drive incremental traffic with the significant database of engaged guests that we have. That's what we're very early on there.

Then just in terms of product innovation, if you go to our restaurants, we're doing seasonal menus at all brands, including, you know, Benihana. We've introduced products like turkey on the holidays at Benihana, and we have a significant amount of new ideas that we're introducing this year. Product innovation will continue to be a significant builder of our product business for us. Then last but not least, we haven't talked about the event business. The event business was very good for us in the fourth quarter 2025. We continue to invest in building that business up. As a matter of fact, we're now building infrastructure for Benihana, and we're starting to see some traction on actually marketing and selling group occasions at Benihana.

I think there's a whole new level of business that we can drive that way. I'm particularly excited in markets where we have an STK and a Benihana where somebody wants to do a big group event or maybe they don't wanna pay the STK price points. Now we're doing a lot more of packaging. Maybe we can do the Benihana package, which is a little bit less of a price point. We're starting to see some synergies, if you will, in convention cities, you know, at the L.A.'s of the world, even the Orlando's of the world, and Vegas, where people may not be able to go all the way to the premium package with STK, and we're able to drive incremental sales with our other brands. So lots of excitement.

Like you mentioned innovation, execution, table turns at Benihana continue to also be a big one for us. We got a lot of initiatives and strategies that we're working on to build same store sales.

All right. Thank you for that. I was wondering, did you benchmark what your sales mix for delivery or off-premises is right now and how that could improve over time?

I mean, I think, we're like in the low double digits as a percentage of total sales on, you know, on takeout delivery. I think our internal stretch goals is to try to bring the whole business up to 20%. That's kind of like the big arrival moment. You know, we're really early, particularly on takeout delivery, we're not as sophisticated on curbside as some of our other competitors are. That's one of the challenges I have out to the team this year, is to really, you know, evolve the takeout delivery business to become more, curbside versus dependent on third party. I think that can really open up a whole new long-term, you know, revenue generator for us.

I mean, I think that, if I look now versus pre, you know, COVID, in terms of even STK as a brand on takeout and delivery, it's been incredible to see the growth on that business. Particularly driving that has been our emphasis on the burger program.

All right. Going back to your guidance for same store sales for the year, the 1%-3% positive, what's the price check baked into that forecast?

I think we have pricing right now around 5%-6% for the whole year, and that's mostly coming out of the pricing that we did in the fourth quarter, 2025. Just rolling that out throughout the

All right, you'll be able to carry through that mid-single digit pricing pretty much through the rest of the year until you get to fourth quarter and you can decide.

Correct. Exactly.

All right. I think you also have a guidance of about 100-200 basis points in store margin improvements on a consolidated basis. You've locked in, it sounds to me, the bulk of your food costs are relatively stable. Is that primarily coming from sales leverage? How does that change based on the way your sales grow or decline?

Yeah, I mean, I think a piece of that is just the portfolio, right? Rotating the grills, that helps the margin. I think all the other items that you mentioned there, the purchasing, locking and purchasing. I also think that, as I mentioned earlier, frozen seafood will help us get there. I think it's a combination of the synergies that we still haven't realized. Frozen seafood locks into the beef and as well as just the portfolio strategy that we've done would be the biggest reasons.

All right. Yep. Just a question on your unit development. Are you satisfied with the Grille Concepts, the store count you've got now, or do you think you'll have to continue to prune that over time?

I mean, I think we kind of done the majority of the heavy lifting on that. On the grill. I think the ones that we have right now, they're specifically here because we really want to work that piece of the real estate. We've kind of followed the trend so far. Obviously the only thing about the grills now is just as leases come up, we'll evaluate them on a single one. I think all the one-time pruning and trimming has been done on the grills.

Okay. How does that lease review process? Is that you have a few every year, or how should we look at that as far as exposure to closures?

We have about one or two that come up every year. It's just part of the natural end of cycle for the leasing.

All right. I just wanted a question on G&A. I think you're guiding to about $53 million. That's a bit of a step up over prior year. Can you walk us through what's driving that dollar increase?

I mean, I think that, you know, our bonuses this year are not as significant as we'd like them to be. You know, and so this year, I think we're building into our guidance and our outlook that we will be on target with our guidance and objectives for the year.

All right, last question for me. I just wanted to go back to the idea of eventually refinancing your debt. Any thoughts on change in philosophy, attitude about the potential there with respect to interest expense?

Working the balance sheet and creating shareholder value is always top priority for us. Our revolver now is we've actually paid back the whole balance on the revolver. Coming out of the year, you know, our EBITDA, you know, assuming that we were open for the whole, you know, 364 days is greater than $92 million. On a run rate, it's even more significant than that. We do have a very financeable base of EBITDA, and we'll be looking at opportunities. Creating shareholder value and improving the balance sheet always key priority for us.

All right. Very good. Thank you very much. I'll pass it on.

Thank you.

This concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Manny Hilario for any closing remarks.

Thank you, sir. I appreciate everybody taking time to join us today. As I always do, I wanna thank our team again for, frankly, incredible performance throughout the fourth quarter and this year already. I appreciate everybody's commitment to the business and what we're working on. I look forward to seeing you all out in our restaurants. Everybody, have a great day. Thank you.

The conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.