With dining rooms back in operation at 873 of Chili’s Grill & Bar’s 1,622 restaurants, the casual chain is generating enough cash to meet all of its rent obligations and pay down debt, parent company Brinker International said today.
Sales for Chili’s units that have resumed dine-in service climbed on average to within 10.8% of their year-ago levels during the week ended June 3, Brinker said. It noted that those stores have retained 70% of their heightened takeout and delivery business, the sole source of revenues while dining rooms were closed because of state governors’ emergency stay-at-home directives.
Systemwide, same-store sales for the week were down 18.9%. Executives had earlier indicated that Chili’s cash flow would turn positive when the slide in comparable sales had been checked at 30%.
Brinker’s second concept, Maggiano’s Little Italy, did not fare as well. Comps for the week ended June 3 were down 69.9%, the company said. Last week, the family-style Italian chain named a new president, Steve Provost, to succeed Kelly Baltes, who had held the post for less than two years. No reason was given for Baltes’ departure.
Overall, Brinker says it has cash on hand of $113 million, with access to another $429 million from a revolving credit facility.
The midquarter business update from Brinker was the latest indication that many large restaurant chains are bouncing back from the sales free-falls of March, when dining rooms were shut down by state edict and consumers were encouraged by government and health officials to stay home. Wendy’s reported yesterday that its same-store sales for May were down just 1.9%.
Like Wendy’s, Brinker said today’s intra-quarter business update will be its last, and that it will resume providing financial updates on a quarterly basis.
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