First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. Q4 2025 Earnings Call Summary

Moby Intelligence

Tue, February 24, 2026 astatine 11:32 AM CST 3 min read

• Achieved 20% full gross maturation and affirmative same-restaurant postulation successful 2025, importantly outperforming a antagonistic industry-wide postulation environment.

• Balanced a mean pricing strategy with disciplined outgo absorption to support restaurant-level operating nett margins of 18.5%, wrong the semipermanent people range.

• Successfully scaled a data-driven integer selling inaugural to one-third of the comparable base, driving measurable increases successful marque consciousness and lawsuit visits.

• Optimized third-party transportation partnerships to guarantee the transmission remains incremental and profitable portion serving arsenic a top-of-mind touchpoint for aboriginal in-restaurant visits.

• Executed the astir important halfway paper redesign successful 10 years, aimed astatine reducing back-of-house complexity portion elevating the lawsuit acquisition with fashionable seasonal items.

• Maintained a record-setting improvement gait with 64 caller openings successful 2025, with the caller people exceeding underwriting income targets by 19%.

• Prioritized quality superior done enactment improvement and updated operational roles, resulting successful decreased worker turnover and a 40% summation successful applicant volume.

• Projecting 2026 same-restaurant income maturation of 1% to 3%, assuming continued outperformance comparative to a projected 3% industry-wide postulation decline.

• Elected to forgo a January terms summation to support the worth proposition, resulting successful carried pricing of astir 4% successful the archetypal fractional and 2% for the afloat year.

• Anticipating full gross maturation of 12% to 14%, supported by 59 to 63 caller system-wide edifice openings and a displacement toward marketplace densification.

• Guidance assumes commodity ostentation of 1% to 3%, with rising java and bacon costs partially offset by expected deflation successful eggs and avocados.

• Expects superior expenditures betwixt $150,000,000 and $160,000,000 to enactment the robust 2026 and 2027 improvement pipelines.

• CFO Henry Melville Hope announced retirement; an enforcement hunt is underway with a planned modulation play extending into 2026.

• Expanded equity-based compensation to divisional operators to align enactment incentives, which volition interaction G&A but is excluded from adjusted EBITDA.

• First 4th 2026 show impacted by weather-related disruptions successful January and higher G&A owed to the timing of the biennial enactment conference.

• Recognized a $10,700,000 income taxation payment successful 2025 chiefly owed to a favorable non-cash appraisal of aboriginal FICA extremity recognition realizations.