Portillo's Q4 Earnings Call Highlights

• 2 fast-casual restaurants to drawback earlier they get taken out

Portillo's (NASDAQ:PTLO) executives said the institution ended fiscal 2025 balancing beardown show successful its halfway markets with continued unit from its Texas expansion, portion pointing to aboriginal results successful Atlanta arsenic grounds the marque tin win with a much measured improvement strategy.

Chairman of the Board and Principal Executive Officer Mike Miles said the 4th fourth “reflected the strengths and challenges” the institution faced successful 2025. He reiterated that Portillo’s has reset its improvement strategy, slowing caller edifice openings and prioritizing steadfast portion economics and four-wall profitability. Miles acknowledged that respective restaurants slated to unfastened successful 2026 bespeak the anterior strategy and volition instrumentality clip to enactment through.

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Miles highlighted the company’s introduction into the Atlanta market, wherever a Kennesaw edifice opened successful November. He said the edifice generated much than $2 cardinal successful income successful its archetypal 8 weeks and aboriginal clarified it delivered $3.8 cardinal successful its archetypal 100 days. Miles noted the portion uses the reduced-cost “Restaurant of the Future 1.0” prototype, a 6,200-square-foot gathering that is astir 20% smaller than astir restaurants opened implicit the anterior 5 years.

Under the updated approach, Portillo’s plans to abstraction caller marketplace improvement much widely. Miles said the adjacent Atlanta determination is not expected to unfastened until 2027 and volition beryllium astir 50 miles from Kennesaw, a strategy designed to trim cannibalization seen successful different expansions. Responding to an expert question, helium said Kennesaw has been “settling successful astir $200,000 a week” and is not expected to stay astatine an annualized gait implied by the opening period.

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Miles besides said the institution precocious hired Brett Patterson arsenic Chief Executive Officer, describing him arsenic a “people-first” person with operations acquisition and a beardown taste fit.

Chief Financial Officer Michelle Hook reported fourth-quarter gross of $185.7 million, up $1.1 million, oregon 0.6%, from the anterior year. Growth was driven by restaurants extracurricular the comparable base, which contributed $7.8 cardinal of the year-over-year increase. Same-restaurant income declined 3.3%, which Hook said reduced gross by astir $5.4 cardinal successful the quarter, driven wholly by a 3.3% alteration successful transactions.

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