Q4 2025 First Watch Restaurant Group Inc Earnings Call Transcript
Key Points
- First Watch Restaurant Group Inc (FWRG) achieved a total revenue growth of more than 20% in 2025, with same restaurant sales growing by 3.6%.
- The company opened 64 new restaurants in 2025, marking the most openings in its history, demonstrating strong development capabilities.
- FWRG successfully launched a new digital marketing initiative, generating a positive return on investment and increasing brand awareness.
- The company was recognized as one of Yelp's most loved brands, ranking #4, which underscores its strong customer satisfaction and brand strength.
- FWRG's new restaurant class of 2025 exceeded expectations, with first-year sales trends running 19% above their underwriting target.
- Same restaurant traffic growth was negative 1.9% in the fourth quarter of 2025, indicating challenges in maintaining customer visits.
- The company faced macro-environment pressures, with industry traffic being negative and casual dining only slightly positive.
- FWRG experienced commodity inflation, particularly in coffee and bacon, which could impact future profitability.
- The company anticipates a challenging year ahead, with industry-wide same restaurant traffic expected to decline by roughly 3% in 2026.
- FWRG's guidance for 2026 includes a modest same restaurant sales growth of 1 to 3%, reflecting cautious expectations for the year.
(Operator Instructions)
Thank you for standing by and welcome to the First Watch Restaurant Grouping 4th quarter earnings conference call occurring today, February 24, 2026 at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time. I would now like to turn the conference over to Steven Moana, Vice President of Investor relations at First Watch, to begin.
Hello everyone, I am joined by First Watch's Chief Executive Officer and President Chris Tomaso and Chief Financial Officer Mel Hope. This morning, First Watch issued its earnings release for the full year and fourth quarter, a fiscal '25 on Globe Newswire, and filed its annual report on the 100 with the SEC. These documents can be found at investors.firstwatch.com.
This conference call will include forward-looking statements that are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause the company's actual results to differ materially from these statements. Such statements include, without limitation, statements concerning the
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