According to Knapp Track data, July was the worst month (by at least 100 bps) for casual dining operators from a traffic standpoint (biggest decline on a 2-year average basis as well). Earlier this week, Sanderson Farms commented that foodservice and restaurant demand has been weak with August shaping up like July. Darden’s weaker than anticipated same-store sales results for 1Q09 (ended August 24), particularly at Olive Garden, which has held up relative to other concept, reaffirmed this comment and signals that trends had not yet bottomed in 2Q for the overall industry. According to recent comments by management, some casual dining companies’ guidance may be at risk as they thought trends had stabilized and that the worst was behind them.
Management teams that were optimistic (or at least communicated their expectation that trends would not worsen further in 2H08):
Management teams that were optimistic (or at least communicated their expectation that trends would not worsen further in 2H08):
- MSSR 2Q08 earnings call: “Similar to last quarter we have seen stabilization at our suburban restaurants as well as some Friday day parts and Saturday dinner part which indicates to us that the decline in these guests’ dining frequency has at least plateaued and we do not see further erosion in this consumer base.”
“We’ve definitely seen, as we said earlier, that middle income, aspirational consumer, we’re no longer seeing a continuation decline of that customer. We’ve also seen continued strong results from the business traveler which I, as you’re aware, hotel occupancies and flights are down but I think because of our national advertising campaign and our price point relative to some of the higher end options in the industry we’re holding up that consumer pretty well. So as we’ve implied earlier we’re definitely seeing stabilization and I think the initiatives we put in place are in fact very improved.” - RUTH 2Q08: Although management acknowledged that current trends could persist, guidance assumes an improvement in same-store sales growth. “Coming back to 2008 guidance. We now expect comparable sales declines to be in the minus five range, which is at the low end of our original range. We believe that the above-mentioned cost-cutting initiatives will largely offset the drop in earnings associated with the sales shortfall and, as such, at this time we still believe that we can deliver EPS from continuing operations without an -- within our original guidance range of $0.55 to $0.60, excluding charges associated with our CEO transition. However, if negative sales trends persist at the level we experienced in the first half or if cost savings do not materialize as quickly or as significantly as we expect, we will likely come in below this range. We will update this guidance at the end of the third quarter.
“I won't -- we won't make any comments about -- on a go-forward basis, if you will. But what the guidance does imply is that we will have improvement in the second half of the year over the first half of the year, in part due to the easier comparison, but also in part to what we believe are very effective marketing initiatives that are in place.” - CAKE 2Q08: Relative to comp guidance, management stated, “Really what we’re saying is as of today, best guidance that we have and that contemplates the fact that we started to see some of the consumer slowdown in the fourth quarter of last year, and so really it would just be a nominal lapping of that, if we maintain as of today. “
- BWLD – The Company was very optimistic about the 2H08. "Same-store sales continue to be strong in July, with increases of over 6% at company-owned and over 2% at franchised restaurants. We are in final preparation for the start of football season, with a redesigned menu rolling throughout the system this week, our HDTV and remodel projects nearing completion, our media and local marketing plans set, and our operations team trained and energized. We expect the purchase of our nine Las Vegas franchised locations to close in late September. With the momentum continuing from the first half of the year, we are confident in our ability to achieve our 15% unit growth, 20% revenue growth, and 25% net earnings growth targets for 2008."
