Texas Roadhouse, Inc. (TXRH) Q2 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

Good evening, and welcome to the Texas Roadhouse Second Quarter Earnings Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded. All participants are now in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. At that time, if you would like to ask a question, please press star, then the number one on your telephone keypad. Should anyone need assistance at any time during the conference, please press star zero, and an operator will assist you. I would now like to introduce Michael Balin, Head of Investor Relations for Texas Roadhouse. You may begin your conference.

Thank you, Tamika, and good evening. By now, you should have access to our earnings release for the second quarter ended July 1, 2025. It may also be found on our website at texasroadhouse.com in the Investor section. I would like to remind everyone that part of our discussion today will include forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and therefore undue reliance should not be placed upon them. We refer all of you to our earnings release in our recent filings with the SEC. These documents provide a more detailed discussion of the relevant factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those forward-looking statements. In addition, we may refer to non-GAAP measures. If applicable, reconciliations of the non-GAAP measures to the GAAP information can be found in our earnings release. On the call with me today is Jerry Morgan, Chief Executive Officer of Texas Roadhouse, and Keith Humpik, our Interim Chief Financial Officer. Following the prepared remarks, we will be available to answer your questions. In order to accommodate everyone that would like to ask a question, could everyone please limit yourself to one question? Now I would like to turn the call over to Jerry.

Thanks Michael and good evening everyone. We are pleased with our second quarter results and the continued top line momentum of the business. Strong traffic growth throughout the quarter drove a 5.8 percent increase in same store sales. As a result our revenue for the quarter grew to over 1.5 billion dollars for the first time in our history. We are especially encouraged to see that all three brands contributed to our second quarter traffic and sales growth. Texas Roadhouse averaged approximately $172,000 in weekly sales for the second quarter. The brand continues to benefit from a relentless focus on food, service, hospitality, and value. This is why Texas Roadhouse once again earned top recognition from external surveys for guest experience and satisfaction in the casual dining segment. At Bubba's 33, average weekly sales exceeded $128,000 in the second quarter. In addition to solid performance from our same-store sales group, we're also seeing strong sales at our most recent openings we believe bubbles 33 which currently has 53 locations in 16 states has a sound infrastructure and the season management team in place who can execute our road to 200 locations strategy this could include double digit openings next year we are equally excited about jaggers we delivered average weekly sales of nearly $76,000 in the second quarter. New store openings have been limited as we have been building the growth strategy for the brand. With our plan in place, we could open as many as eight company and franchise locations next year. We recently completed discussions with our operators regarding menu pricing. Based on those conversations, we will take a menu price increase of approximately 1.7 percent at the beginning of the fourth quarter. We feel confident this is the right level of pricing to maintain our everyday value while offsetting some of the inflationary pressures we are facing. On the development front, we recently opened our 800th system-wide restaurant. This milestone is a testament to the appeal of our brands our operational excellence and the effectiveness of our growth strategy during the second quarter we opened four company-owned restaurants including two buzz 33 locations and we remain on track to open approximately 30 company-owned restaurants this year our franchise partners open one jaggers location in the second quarter and we currently expect they will open four international Texas Roadhouse restaurants in the second half of this year. During the second quarter, we completed the acquisition of three franchise restaurants, bringing the total number of franchise restaurants acquired this year to 17. We also have plans in place to acquire three more franchise locations in the fourth quarter. Additionally, we will be purchasing our remaining five California franchise restaurants at the beginning of 2026. We are also excited to share we entered into an agreement to purchase our support center. The purchase of these two buildings, which we previously leased, solidifies space planning for the future and reflects our long-term commitment to our hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. We remain rooted in our community and look forward to growing our presence in Louisville for many years to come. As to our future, I am fully confident in the strength of our operations and the commitment of Roadie Nation. While there will always be challenges, we will continue to focus on what we can control for the long-term health of our business. Through it all, we will remain a people-first company that delivers on its mission of providing legendary food and legendary service to every guest. Now, Keith will provide some thoughts.

Thanks, Jerry. During the second quarter, we saw our positive traffic trends accelerate from what we experienced in the first quarter. Also, our mixed trends in the second quarter remain similar to what we have seen the last several quarters. these traffic and mixed trends show that our guests continue to appreciate the high quality food experience and value that all three of our brands provide as for commodities our second quarter inflation was in line with our expectations looking ahead we have increased our guidance for full year inflation to approximately five percent primarily due to higher than previously forecasted beef inflation particularly in the third quarter this guidance includes approximately 30 basis points of full year 2025 inflation related to tariffs which remains consistent with our initial estimates from last quarter labor inflation in the second quarter was also in line with our expectations our operators continue to do a great job staffing the restaurants as labor hours grew at approximately 40 percent of comparable traffic growth with greater visibility into inflationary twins trends for the year we have lowered our guidance for full year wage and other labor inflation to approximately four percent with regards to capital allocation we ended the second quarter with 177 million dollars of cash cash flow from operations was 128 million dollars which was offset by 148 million dollars of capital expenditures dividend payments and share repurchases as well as 16 million dollars for the three franchise restaurant acquisitions as jerry mentioned we will be acquiring our support center buildings in the third quarter for a net purchase price of approximately 23 million dollars we are maintaining our full year capital expenditure guidance at approximately 400 million dollars inclusive of this transaction going forward our capital allocation philosophy remains unchanged our first priority remains the funding of new restaurant development and taking care of our existing restaurant base we also expect our dividend will continue to increase annually at a measured rate and at a minimum we will repurchase shares to offset deletion beyond that we will continue to look at opportunities to acquire additional domestic texas roadhouse franchise restaurants, as well as repurchase additional shares as appropriate. And now Michael will walk us through the second quarter results.

Thanks, Keith. For the second quarter of 2025, we reported revenue growth of 12.7%, primarily driven by a 5.3% increase in average weekly sales and 7.2% store week growth. We also reported a restaurant margin dollar increase of 6.1% to $257 million, and a diluted earnings per share increase of 4% to $1.86. Average weekly sales in the second quarter were over $167,000, with to-go representing approximately $22,000, or 13.3% of these total weekly sales. Comparable sales increased 5.8% in the second quarter, driven by 4% traffic growth and a 1.8% increase in average check. By month, comparable sales grew 4.3%, 7.2%, and 5.8% for our April, May, and June periods, respectively. And comparable sales for the first five weeks of the third quarter were up 5.3%, with our restaurants averaging sales of over $158,000 per week during that period. In the second quarter, restaurant margin dollars per store week decreased 1% to over $28,500. dollars. Restaurant margin as a percentage of total sales decreased 108 basis points year-over-year to 17.1 percent. Food and beverage costs as a percentage of total sales were 34 percent for the second quarter. The 131 basis point year-over-year increase was driven by 5.2 percent commodity inflation combined with shifts within the entree category, which was partially offset by the benefit of a 1.8% check increase. Labor as a percentage of total sales increased six basis points to 32.9% as compared to the second quarter of 2024. Labor dollars per store week increased 5.4 percent due to wage and other labor inflation of 3.8 percent and growth in hours of 1.6 percent. Other operating costs were 14.5 percent of sales, which was 32 basis points better than the second quarter of 2024. The improvement was driven by leverage on operator bonuses as well as the year over year change in our quarterly reserve for general liability insurance. These insurance adjustments include $300,000 of additional expense this year as compared to $2.1 million of additional expense last year. Moving below restaurant margin, G&A dollars grew 7.9 percent year over year and came in at 4.2 percent of revenue for the second quarter. Our effective tax rate for the quarter was 14.9 percent. Based on our outlook for the remainder of the year, we are updating the guidance for our full year 2025 income tax rate to approximately 15 percent. Now, I will turn the call back over to Jerry for final comments.

Thanks, Michael. I am so proud of our operators and support center roadies who work together as one team to deliver great results. I'm also excited to spend time with our managing partners on our annual fall tour. As always, we look forward to getting feedback on how we can better support them or remove any obstacles so they can focus on partnering with roadies, serving their guests, and growing the business.

That concludes our prepared remarks. Kamika, please open the line for questions.

At this time, if you would like to ask a question, press star 1 on your telephone keypad. If your question has been answered and you would like to remove yourself from the queue, press star 1. Your first question is from the line of Sarah Senator with Bank of America.

Oh, thank you very much. Obviously, very strong top line results. I just wanted to ask about the maybe the inflation. I know last year, commodity inflation, beef inflation kind of consistently surprised the downside. This year, it seems to be surprising upside. I was wondering if you could maybe talk about some of the dynamics there. I know in the past, you know, the retail, you know, what's happening in retail and groceries has been a big impact, but, you know, there may also be, obviously, you know, the supply has been coming down consistently. And then within that, I know you said 3Q perhaps was the peak in terms of, you know, relative to your expectations. So is any of this maybe timing or, you know, quarter to quarter? So I know there's a lot in there, but you always have good insight into the fee cycle.

Thanks, Sarah. This is Michael. I'll do my best to cover those questions. Yeah, I think we obviously, you know, updated our guidance and, And, you know, it's a combination of demand, specifically retail demand for beef, has remained resilient. So we're seeing strong demand out there. And the supply situation, which we knew was going to be tight as we moved through the year, saw some additional pressure on the production side from the beef suppliers cutting back on how much they were producing, uh given some of their you know margin commentary that we've probably heard so we saw um a further tightening of supply which certainly drove the cost higher in in june and so we are expecting um you know to as that beef ages to see the impact of that here in the third quarter um you know we have about 80 percent of our beef locked for the third quarter and about 50 percent locked for the fourth quarter. So, you know, our team continues to monitor the situation and, you know, we'll update you all accordingly.

Thank you. Your next question is from the line of David Palmer with Evercore ISI.

Thank you. Just a couple of line item questions that maybe there's some insights behind. You know, when I look at the mix effects, you know, for over two years now, And initially, I was thinking this would make a lot of sense, that mix would be negative coming out of COVID. There was a lot of check growth during those, particularly the leather stages, people had some money. But now, you know, two and a half years of a slightly negative mix. I wonder, you know, how you're thinking about that. You know, maybe what are the behaviors that's driving that? Maybe it's some of the alcohol dynamics, or maybe it's just the cautious consumer. but anything that maybe, you know, drives your strategy as you think about pricing, for example. And then secondly, you did really well with labor leverage this quarter. Obviously, traffic accelerated. That's a good way to get that. You know, does it really come down to that if you're doing a very nice traffic number like this quarter? Does that labor, is the labor leverage, that gap of two points, you know, just much more possible than cutting back on hours? I'd love to hear your thoughts on that.

Hey, David, it's Michael. On the mix front, I'll tell you, you know, all of the negative mix pressure is coming from the alcohol category. We are actually, you know, continue to see positive entree mix. The guest is actually trading up still to, you know, bigger steaks or, you know, more often ordering a steak from us. And, you know, we're seeing positive mix in the mocktail categories. So really no downward pressure overall from our menu pricing actions. It's all in that alcohol category, which a lot of that, you know, we've talked about before is societal and not just a roadhouse specific item. And that's what drove us partly to introduce mocktails, which have been well-received by the guests. So I think we feel very good about how the guest is using our menu and where they're trading on the menu. As far as the labor question, yes, certainly more traffic helps on the labor line. But our operators are doing a very good job of staffing their restaurants. And they're also, you know, benefiting from, you know, lower turnover in their restaurants. And a longer tenured employee is a more productive employee. And some of that can go to our, you know, digital kitchen investments and just the overall, you know, way we're running those restaurants. So we are definitely encouraged by those, you know, labor productivity trends that we've seen. And we're cautiously optimistic that those can continue throughout the year. Thank you.

Your next question is from the line of David Tarantino with Baird.

Hi, good afternoon. Maybe two questions. I'm going to cheat here. But Michael, can you just give us a sense of what the inflation in Q3 and Q4 is going to look like based on your current outlook? And I just want to make sure everybody's on the same page. And then I guess my real question is, Jerry, you mentioned the step up in Bubba's openings for next year, and I just wanted to get your thoughts on what that means for the total enterprise and your overall growth rate. I know you said in the past you're pretty comfortable with 30 or so openings, but does this allow you to push higher than that as you think about next year and in future years? Thank you.

Yeah, David, I'm assuming you're talking about, you know, beef inflation and our expectations there. And as we said, you know, as of now, we expect that highest pressure in the third quarter, and that could be as much as, you know, seven percent, you know, commodity inflation in the third quarter. And then, you know, the expectation is it would probably come down, you know, from From there, more in the 4% to 5% range in the fourth quarter would be our current expectations. And remember, we are feeling some additional negative impact on the cost of sales line in addition to that inflation coming from the guest trading more often to stakes. So that's something we've seen the last several quarters and would expect us to see in the third quarter as well.

And David, this is Jerry. On the growth of Bubba's, yeah, we've got seven openings slated that will happen this year, and the pipeline for 26 looks very solid. We are approaching that double-digit count, and so we obviously have said around 30 or 30-ish, approximately 30, so it could be a little bit on the high side of that approximate 30 with the escalation of Bubba's growth. So we are excited about the results that we're getting and the investment and the brand in itself. So I think we could see a little tick up on that.

Great. Thank you.

Thank you.

Your next question is from the line of Lauren Silberman with Deutsche Bank.

Thank you so much. On the comp side, the monthly cadence, any additional call you can provide on what drove some of the monthly differences? I think broadly the industry has seen some choppiness. So just wondering if there's anything you're seeing that's different than typical consistency.

Hey, Lauren, it's Michael. Obviously, we were pleased with the overall performance that we have seen. I guess the July period probably had about a 70 basis point negative impact from the timing of Easter. and the five-week period that we gave for the beginning of the third quarter has about 60 basis points of negative pressure from the calendarship of the 4th of July.

Sorry, 2Q is a 70 basis point negative impact?

Well, that was on just our April period. On the quarter, it was about 20 basis points, yes, just April of the 70.

Understood. Anything you can provide on comp performance or differences that you're seeing across region days?

Yeah, I'll tell you, when we look at that, and this has been the case for a while, we're seeing solid growth seven days a week through all day parts of each day, both in our dining room and to go. And when you look at it regionally, strong performance in all areas. So nothing really to call out as a specific area of weakness or of outsized strength. So we're very pleased to what we're seeing across the board.

Great. Thank you very much.

Your next question is from Dennis Geiger with UBS.

Great. Thanks, guys, and appreciate all the color on the cost inflation pieces. Maybe just one more in thinking about restaurant margins for the back half of the year. Just as far as the other OPEX line, thinking about that, if there's any differences, 3Q and 4Q, as we think about how the labor setup might play out, anything to highlight there to kind of fully fill in the pieces for us in thinking about 2H restaurant margins? Thank you.

Hey, Dan, it's Michael. I think you guys saw both labor and other op. And I would see, obviously, a part of it will be based on your assumption for traffic growth. But if you're assuming that we continue with some modest level of traffic growth, then I think that other op line could continue to get a similar level of leverage that it's been getting the last two quarters. So you could see that again in Q3 and Q4. And the labor line, again, with some traffic growth, is probably in that flat to maybe a little potential for a little bit of leverage as we move into the back half of the year. Great.

Thanks, Michael. Appreciate it.

Your next question is from Brian Harbour with Morgan Stanley.

Hi, this is Kelly Merrill on for Brian. Thank you for taking our question. Obviously, I saw some commodity inflation in the second quarter with the expectation of that continuing into 2-H. Could you just provide some color on what's driving that? Obviously, beef, but is there anything else inflationary outside of that? And could there be any offsets to beef on the commodity side? And then on labor, is there anything to explore there just from an efficiency standpoint as you look to offset the commodity inflation? Thank you.

Yeah, it's Michael. It really is the beef that is driving that inflation for commodities, with it being over 50% of our basket, and they're really not being another item that's large enough to make a serious impact on the overall numbers. I'd say the rest of the proteins maybe are slightly inflationary, getting a little bit of offset, maybe a little benefit on the produce area, but really all the pressure is coming from, you know, beef. And on the labor side, you know, our operators are always looking to run efficient, you know, restaurants. We aren't mandating any kind of scheduling, you know, for them. And, you know, they do what is appropriate for their restaurants for staffing for the sales they have and the sales they want, you know, in the future. And so they're always looking at that to see if there is opportunity. But I don't believe there are any levers to be pulled that will dramatically change our approach to labor. Thank you so much.

Your next question is from the line of Jim Saylor with Stevens.

Hey guys, good afternoon. Thanks for taking our question. I wanted to dig in a little bit on Bubba's 33.

You guys crossed 50 units, mainly concentrated in Texas.

But just thoughts around, you know, how do we kind of continue to scale that and maybe regional attack plan and where we should anticipate to see new units in the strategy for, you know, engaging new guests as that brand becomes more and more visible?

Yeah, thanks, Jim. This is Jerry. Yeah, we've, like we said, we're in 16 states and we're continuing to focus. Just typically in our program, we have a multi-unit operator that lives in a certain area, and we try to build out that turf. And as we continue to expand and bring on more market partners and get into a new turf or two demographic areas, we'll continue to grow. We're having good success on the openings. We're kind of spread out over those 16 states, and we'll probably keep that philosophy. But the big thing really has been getting stable on the leadership side, clearly focusing on our menu and our execution. And we've always felt great about the look of the building and the energy that the restaurant provides between the entertainment and the sports and the food is incredible. But as we continue to just settle in and really start executing at a high level, I think we'll continue to be able to develop it at a higher rate than we have in the last few years. So exciting times for sure. Great. Thanks. I'll thank you. Thank you.

Your next question is from Jeff Bernstein with Barclays.

Hi, this is Anisha Dat on for Jeff Bernstein. I wanted to ask about value. How has the mix of value-oriented sales evolved at both Texas Roadhouse and Bubba's compared to historical levels? And do you have plans to further emphasize value offerings in coming quarters, particularly to support lower-income guests?

Yeah, I'll start with that. On the value side, we've always believed that there's a lot of value built into our menu. And there are the country dinners, and because we offer multiple cuts of beef, you can pick how much you want to spend from 6 ounces to 16 ounces. So I think from that side of it, we've got an early dine feature. All of those things have been in play for a very long time, and we really see people picking and choosing how they want to have their dining experience. And we like it that way. We want people to to spend as much money as they like or to be as much very conscious as they want to be, too. And but you get a protein and two free sides and bread and butter and and all of the things that go with it, the peanuts. So it's just like I said, the value is really built into it. I think in the last year, we leaned into more on a $5 beverage mix menu, so offering a value pint beer and a value 10-ounce margarita, and our mocktails are $5, which are really new to us. So there's a lot of things that are very reasonably priced with great quality, and I think that's what's always been the big driver for our success on the top line and our operators executing at a high level and acting like owners. they're they're all owners in the business and they grow their sales they control their costs and they run a great business and they get rewarded by driving that top line so i hope that answered your question great thank you thank you your next question is from the line of peter saleh with btig great uh thanks for taking the question um just a couple quick ones on my end

In the past, you guys, when we've seen beef inflation, sometimes you see a highly promotional retail environment, which kind of contributes to those elevated beef prices. Are you seeing any of that today, or is this mostly a function of the shorter or tighter supply? And then second, on construction costs going forward, are you seeing any elevated costs or anything that's been dislocated, anything with tariffs that may be impacting the construction costs going forward? Thank you.

Hey, Peter. It's Michael. First, on the beef comment, I think that certainly beef is being offered at retail, but I don't think the retailers are being irrational in their pricing. They are not using it as a loss leader to drive people into their stores, but they are marketing beef at a pretty high level. And what we've seen this year is the consumer, you know, willing to, you know, to pay for that.

So I think that's really been part of what's driven, you know, the pressure is a consumer who's willing to keep, you know, spending and, you know, a supply that has been very, very tight. yeah and then peter uh this is keith on the on the construction side we really aren't seeing any impact yet from tariffs uh you know we had a lot of inventory for all of our builds for the year so uh we like i said we just really haven't seen anything yet and we're still evaluating that to see how that's going to affect us going forward thank you very much your next question

is from the line of jeff balmer with gordon haskett uh thanks just shifting gears a bit i'm Just looking for an update on the Roadhouse mobile app. Specifically, can you guys share the number of active users, how quickly that's growing, and how you guys have been leveraging that customer database?

Yeah. I mean, obviously, it is out there. I don't know that we know the exact amount of users, but, I mean, there is a large percentage of folks that are obviously placing their to-go orders, getting on our wait list, the efficiency of being able to really do that we did upgrade our our mobile app to have more pictures when you are kind of ordering the side items so we continue to look at the mobile app on and making it easier to navigate and place your order and then we're executing at the restaurants at a much higher level um on how we grade making sure we don't have missing items that the order ready when you get there. And all of those little details that really do matter when you're an off-premise orderer and the consistency of the product and the food. And obviously, we believe the mobile app is really widely used in a lot of ways. And it's been a game changer in a lot of ways since early on coming out of the pandemic from that. And we continue to upgrade and find ways to make it easier for our guests to get that order placed. And then again, at the restaurant level, we're executing at a higher level than we ever have, and we're continuing to find ways to improve that experience at the pickup window. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

Your next question is from the line of Andrew Strozik with BMO Capital Markets.

Hey, thanks for taking the question. Obviously, a lot of focus on the discussion of value in the industry these days. And I'm curious, you know, where now are your price gaps against your competitive set versus either the last several years or historical levels? Is there anything that has changed? And also, can you remind us over the next several quarters and especially with the 1.7 coming in in the fourth quarter where your price will trend? Thank you.

Thanks, Andrew. I believe we still always look at where we're positioned. I think we look at ourselves first and make sure that we're comfortable with our pricing. And then we fact check a little bit against some of our competitors just to make sure that we feel comfortable with that gap. And it has changed over the years and in different items for different reasons. But I think in general, we're very happy with the value that's built into the menu, the gap that we have between our competitors. And some of that gap, is it really just about the dollar or is it about the ability to execute? Is it the portion side? There's so many components that are built into value. And with getting a protein and two sides and free butter and bread and peanuts and all of that, I think that's all built into the value component. And then you had the question on the – Michael's got the other side of that question?

The other side of the question was on our pricing and how much pricing we'll have in the menu. We'll have 2.3% pricing in the menu here for the third quarter, and then we'll have 0.9% that rolls off when the 1.7 rolls in.

That'll leave us with 3.1% pricing for the fourth quarter of this year and the first quarter of 2026. great thank you very much thank you your next question is for the lineup brian vaccaro with raymond james hi thanks and good evening i had a question on california and i think you said you're acquiring uh the remaining five franchise units in that state and it's a state i think with only around 20 uh roadhouse units so i'm just curious how do you think about the growth opportunity there, and if you're setting the table, so to speak, to maybe accelerate growth there over the next few years.

Thanks, Brian. This is Jerry. Yeah, we're very excited. We obviously were able to get an acquisition done on the Northern California Group, and now through some great partnership and hard work through both our company and our great franchise group down in Southern California have been able to come to terms. We're very excited to have them in the family. And that is a very special unit to us is obviously that group has been with our organization for a very, very long time. And we're really proud of that partnership. And it's a little bittersweet, but we are happy for Steve and his family and happy for the Roadhouse family. And as we look at the owning all the stores in California and our growth strategy, we are meeting as a group and really discussing from a real estate team to an operations team on how do we look at California. We know there's a lot of folks there that love great food, and we've had a lot of success there with our 19 stores open, and we will continue to see our presence in California grow. We believe that people of California are loving legendary food and high-level hospitality, and that's what Texas Roadhouse provides. Absolutely.

All right, Well, thank you. And then, Michael, just a quick follow-up. What's a reasonable expectation for G&A spend this year?

Oh, yeah. This is Keith. I'll take that one. Yeah, on G&A, I'd say for the rest of the year, you can expect us to get some leverage, I'd say especially in the fourth quarter as we're lapping the 53rd week. And then, you know, just one thing to mention with us purchasing the support center on an annual basis, we're going to be saving about $2.5 million in rent. And so you'll see a little, you know, a prorated benefit of that for this year also in the back half.

Very helpful.

Your next question is from the line of Jim Sanderson with North Coast Research.

Thanks for the question. I was hoping you could talk a little bit more about how you expect corporate store margin to evolve as you start to look more closely at developing Bubba's and then how you foresee mix of company versus franchise as you target that 200-unit growth goal.

Yeah, hey, Jim, it's Michael. I guess I'll take the second part first. With that 200 number, I assume this is a question about Bubba's. Bubba's is all planned to be company development at this time. So that is all company. And really, most of our growth for Texas Roadhouse and Bubba's domestically is company growth. Jagger's will be a mix of company and franchise, and International is a franchise business. You know, we expect Bubba's over time will deliver similar margins to a Texas Roadhouse. Now, obviously, Roadhouse sales are a little bit higher, which helps on the margin side. But, you know, Bubba's is proving that it can do a very strong performance as well. So over time, we would, you know, expect to continue to, you know, drive strong, you know, margins out of both brands. All three brands.

All right. Thank you very much.

Your next question is from the line of Gregory Frankfurt with Guggenheim.

I know it's a bit of a tongue twister. I blame my parents. The question I had, Jerry, is margin profile. And I know you guys have said for a long time that 17 to 18 is the right place to be. But maybe between the beef cycles in 2024, you got kind of just over 17. And I guess we're probably headed lower with just this level of inflation. as I look back five or six years, I think your AUVs are up 10 to 15 points more than your development costs are up. And so I wonder if that 17 to 18 is going to be 16 and a half to 17 and a half, or you still think 17 to 18 is the right place to be. Thanks.

Yeah. And thank you. And we do believe that internally, that obviously the world has to cooperate too, and the beef cycle does have to turn for us. But, you know, I want to always challenge ourselves to be a strong balance when we're talking about financial results. And for our organization to believe that over the years, in 32 years or so, you know, that's a great spot for us to be. But again, things have to work out. So we are not changing that as of right now. We did get our chin over the bar last year, and we were very happy with that. And it had been growing, and the momentum had been building up to that point. And obviously, we're fighting some inflation this year, which we thankfully didn't have as much of last year. And that helped us through there. But I believe that as of right now, we're going to continue to focus on that top line and do everything we can to control that cost and be very balanced when it comes to fiscal responsibility for our roadies, our guests, and for our shareholders. And we'll continue.

If we ever did feel like that was unreasonable we would have some internal discussions but as of now we still believe that we can get our chin over that bar at some point thank you very much thank you your next question is from jake bartlett with truest securities great thanks for taking the question um i had one and then i had a follow-up um you know the question is about your off-premise sales, and this might build on the answer about your app, but over the last four quarters, off-premise sales for operating week have been growing much faster than on-premise and has been a driver of your comps. The question is, what is driving that? Is it just really just spill over and people kind of peeling out of the line and taking it home? Or is it something operationally that you've done? Is it the app? And then I guess most importantly, how sustainable do you think that is.

Yeah, Jake, this is Jerry. Thanks for the question. I truly believe it's a combination of all those things. The convenience of us putting in windows for folks to be able to walk up and get their order. The mobile app, the easier that it is to order and navigate through that app. We're seeing a more completion rate through that. And then the missing items is really the biggest thing and we've just gotten better at it we've focused on it we've got ways of it's really the operators in my opinion that are executing at a very high level the guest is rewarding us because when they get home they have their items they're opening our food in their dining room table with their families and they've got everything that they need and we've heard it over and over again if you focus on something you put energy on it then the result improves and I think that's what we're seeing from that standpoint. So it is exciting to see it continuing to grow. But I really believe it's the app, it's the ease of pickup, and it's the operators delivering a great experience to our consumer.

Great. Great. And the follow-up was on, you know, building on your comments, and I just want you to kind of maybe say it again, or I just want to make sure I'm hearing it right. But the idea that as you increase the number of Bubba's, you also talked about some some company-owned jaggers in 26 um you know you've been very consistent about kind of about keeping the the total number of units um about um about 30 you know because of operational limitations or just making sure you execute very well is that changing i mean it seems like you you have the capacity you've gotten bigger you could i just want to make sure i'm hearing it right so we didn't get over my skis um as we as we look at your ability to maybe sustain um the pace of roadhouse openings and then add to that with these other concepts.

Yeah, Jake, I am encouraged by our ability to get that approximately 30. I think you will see us a little on the high side of that the next couple of years. The pipeline for roadhouse is still strong. We are pressing on the gas with above us a little bit, and you'll see, as we mentioned jaggers coming into the fold also so i really want to get into the next year and have that confident before i move that number up but we are clearly starting to tip our head over the skis on in that direction that's great to hear thank you thank you your next question is from line of john tower with city group john your line is open hi uh this is uh karen holt house

on for john um piggybacking a little bit on the off-premise questions um you know i understand there's your state argument state doesn't travel well and some things like that but would you consider you know doing kind of uh doing delivery on a unit by unit basis um you know if managing partners were asking for it um you know it was maybe in unit in a denser marketplace like or their tech or back-of-house limitations to doing that?

Yeah, thanks for the question. We have resisted the temptation of going that route as of now. We do do it at the Jaggers Concept and at Bubba's, and we have one store that's in a very urban market in New Rochelle, New York, that we do delivery at. And then I will continue to have conversations with operators, but as of right now, You know, I think we're holding the line on not doing delivery and the rest of the concept. Unless there's a real reason to do it individually, we will have some conversations. But as of right now, we have resisted going that route. We're focused on providing our guests a great experience in the dining room and through our off-premise, through our pickup system and through the app and all of that. That's where we'd really like to continue to focus as of right now.

Great. Thank you.

Your next question is from the line of Zachary Fadam with Wells Fargo.

Hey, good afternoon. On the entree mix, shifting more to beef, looks like it's been about a 30-basis point headwind on the food and beverage line, assuming that held in Q2. Curious if you view this more cyclical or a structural phenomenon. And as you think about the impact in the second half, is the 30-bit still the right impact, or would you expect it to step down?

Hey, Zach, it's Michael. And it was around 30 basis points in the first quarter. It probably stepped down to about 25 basis points in the second quarter. And maybe it holds in that 20 to 25 level in the third quarter would be my expectation. And then I think it would step down a little bit more in the fourth quarter as we lap it. So I kind of view it as a one-year change in behavior, and whether that means it'll change back and we will see something else occur, we'll have to wait and see on that. But I do think what's driving a lot of it is the value on the menu in the state category and the guests appreciating the price they can pay with Texas Roadhouse for a stake. And, you know, that helps our top line growth, but you see a little bit more pressure right now on the COGS line, you know, from that. But as a steakhouse, we love seeing people wanting to, you know, try our steaks. We think that is great for our long-term success.

Thanks for the time.

Your next question is from Todd Brooks with Benchmark Company.

Hey, thanks. I'm going to keep the off-premise train rolling here. So it looks like off-premises have been mixing in kind of that mid-13% range recently. I think there was one point as the rollout of KDS was happening and it brings that additional efficiency and calm to the kitchen that there might have been a theory that more off-premise demand could be met out of the kitchens and that managers would be more comfortable going after and servicing that demand. Has that been the case? Is that still on the come? And if you look at maybe your best quartile of stores with off-premise, how high is their mix versus the 13% chain-wide?

Hey, Todd, this is Jerry. Yeah, I believe it is definitely one of the components probably helping us be able to have a little more capacity through the to-go business. So I think you're right. As we're almost 80% done of having all the concept on the digital kitchen at this point, Then as we get finished this year and we continue to learn from each other about how we can utilize that technology to help us bigger, faster and stronger and improve our guest experience as well as our roadie experience in the back of the house. We believe that the digital kitchen will have some components that will play into our ability to be faster and to be focused on taking great care of our guests. So I do believe that it's a component of that increase for sure.

Yeah, and Todd, there are definitely restaurants that do higher levels of to-go on a dollar basis and a percentage basis. Don't have all those numbers, you know, at our fingertips. But, you know, we definitely have stores that are examples to others that you can do even more to-go in your restaurant. So we think there still is a lot of opportunity.

Okay, thank you both.

Thank you.

At this time there are no further audio questions. I will now hand today's call over to Jerry Morgan for closing remarks.

Thank you all. I want to close with a special shout out to our Jaggers team in Lexington, Kentucky, which represents our 800th system-wide restaurant. Great job on delivering high-level hospitality and creating raving fans. Let's go TXRH! Good night, y'all.

This concludes today's call. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.