First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. Reports Preliminary Operational Metrics for the Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2023

BRADENTON, Fla., Jan. 08, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: FWRG) (“First Watch” or the “Company”), the Daytime Dining concept serving breakfast, brunch and lunch, today reported certain preliminary operational results for the fourteen weeks ended December 31, 2023 (“fourth quarter”) and fiscal year ended December 31, 2023 (“2023”).

Management Commentary

“First Watch is the clear category leader in the fast-growing Daytime Dining segment, and we delivered on our same restaurant sales and traffic expectations for 2023. Our dining room traffic growth improved sequentially in Q4, which is a reflection of the exceptional experiences that our teams create for our customers each day. Furthermore, the restaurants enjoyed better food and labor cost than we previously projected,” said Chris Tomasso, First Watch CEO and President. “Our expanding system grew 11% in 2023 versus 2022 as we opened a total of 51 system-wide restaurants across 19 states. We also view franchise acquisitions as an important part of our growth strategy, and since May 2023 have acquired, or announced agreement to acquire, 44 franchise-owned restaurants.”

Sales and Traffic Highlights

	Fourth Quarter			2023
Same-Restaurant Sales Growth (*)	+5.0	%		+7.6	%
Same-Restaurant Sales Growth compared to 2019 (**)	+35.2	%		+38.9	%
Same-Restaurant Traffic Growth (*)	-1.3	%		+0.2	%
Same-Restaurant Traffic Growth compared to 2019 (**)	+6.2	%		+7.5	%

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* Comparison to the fourteen weeks ended January 1, 2023, and 53 weeks ended January 1, 2023, is provided for enhanced comparability.
** Comparison to the fourteen weeks ended January 5, 2020, and 53 weeks ended January 5, 2020, is provided for enhanced comparability.

Restaurant Development

During 2023, there were 51 system-wide new restaurant openings consisting of 37 company-owned restaurants and 14 franchise-owned restaurants with one company-owned restaurant closure.