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REVENUE FROM CONTRACTS WITH CUSTOMERS
3 Months Ended
Apr. 01, 2026
REVENUE FROM CONTRACTS WITH CUSTOMERS  
REVENUE FROM CONTRACTS WITH CUSTOMERS

10. REVENUE FROM CONTRACTS WITH CUSTOMERS

The Company has two revenue streams, company-operated restaurant revenue and franchise-related revenue.

Company-operated restaurant revenue

Revenue from company-operated restaurants are recognized as food and beverage products are delivered to customers and payment is tendered at the time of sale. The Company presents revenue, net of sales-related taxes and promotional allowances.

The following table presents the Company-operated restaurant revenue disaggregated by geographic market:

Thirteen Weeks Ended

April 1, 2026

  ​ ​ ​

March 26, 2025

Greater Los Angeles area market

71.9

%  

71.6

%  

Other markets

28.1

%  

28.4

%  

Total

100.0

%  

100.0

%  

The Company offers a loyalty rewards program, which awards a customer points for dollars spent. Customers earn points for each dollar spent and points can be redeemed for multiple redemption options. Points earned prior to January 26, 2026 expire 365 days after a customer completes an eligible transaction to earn them and points earned after January 26, 2026 expire 6 months after a customer completes an eligible transaction to earn them.  When a customer is part of the rewards program, the obligation to provide future discounts related to points earned is considered a separate performance obligation, to which a portion of the transaction price is allocated and recorded as deferred revenue on the balance sheet. The performance obligation related to loyalty points is deemed to have been satisfied, and the amount deferred in the balance sheet is recognized as revenue, when the points are transferred to a reward and redeemed, the reward or points have expired, or the likelihood of redemption is remote. A portion of the transaction price is then allocated to loyalty points, if necessary, on a pro-rata basis, based on stand-alone selling price, as determined by menu pricing and loyalty points terms. As of April 1, 2026 and December 31, 2025, the revenue allocated to loyalty points that have not been redeemed was $1.2 million and $1.1 million, respectively, which is reflected in the Company’s accompanying condensed consolidated balance sheets within other accrued expenses and current liabilities.

Changes in the loyalty rewards program liability included in deferred revenue within other accrued expenses and current liabilities on the condensed consolidated balance sheets were as follows (in thousands):

  ​ ​ ​

April 1, 2026

  ​ ​ ​

December 31, 2025

Loyalty rewards liability, beginning balance

$

1,106

$

844

Revenue deferred

 

763

 

2,667

Revenue recognized

 

(688)

 

(2,405)

Loyalty rewards liability, ending balance

$

1,181

$

1,106

The Company expects all loyalty points revenue related to performance obligations that were unsatisfied as of April 1, 2026 to be recognized over a period exceeding six months but less than one year.

The Company sells gift cards to its customers in the restaurants and through selected third parties. The gift cards sold to customers have no stated expiration dates and are subject to actual and/or potential escheatment rights in several of the jurisdictions in which the Company operates. Furthermore, due to these escheatment rights, the Company does not recognize breakage related to the sale of gift cards due to the immateriality of the amount remaining after escheatment. The Company recognizes income from gift cards when redeemed by the customer. Unredeemed gift card balances are deferred and recorded within other accrued expenses and current liabilitites on the accompanying condensed consolidated balance sheets.

The gift card liability included in other accrued expenses and current liabilities on the condensed consolidated balance sheets was as follows (in thousands):

April 1, 2026

December 31, 2025

Gift card liability

$

5,160

$

5,559

Revenue recognized from the redemption of gift cards that was included in other accrued expenses and current liabilities at the beginning of the year was as follows (in thousands):

Thirteen Weeks Ended

  ​ ​ ​

April 1, 2026

March 26, 2025

Revenue recognized from gift card liability balance at the beginning of the year

$

295

$

375

Franchise revenue and franchise advertising fee revenue

Franchise revenue consists of franchise royalties, initial franchise fees, license fees due from franchisees, IT support services, and rental income for subleases to franchisees. Franchise advertising fee revenue consists of advertising contributions received from franchisees. These revenue streams are made up of the following performance obligations:

Franchise license - inclusive of advertising services, development agreements, training, access to restaurant development plans and help desk services;
Discounted renewal option; and
Hardware services.

The Company satisfies the performance obligation related to the franchise license over the term of the franchise agreement, which is typically 20 years. Payment for the franchise license consists of three components, a fixed-fee related to the franchise/development agreement, a revenue-based royalty fee and a revenue-based advertising fee. The fixed fee, as determined by the signed development and/or franchise agreement, is due at the time the development agreement is entered into, and/or when the franchise agreement is signed, and does not include a finance component.

The revenue-based royalty fee and revenue-based advertising fee are considered variable consideration and are recognized as franchise revenue as such revenue are earned by the franchisees. Both revenue-based fees qualify under the royalty constraint exception, and do not require an estimate of future transaction price. Additionally, the Company is utilizing the practical expedient available under ASC Topic 606, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers” (“Topic 606”) regarding disclosure of the aggregate amount of the transaction price allocated to the performance obligations that are unsatisfied for revenue-based royalties.

In certain franchise agreements, the Company offers a discounted renewal to incentivize future renewals after the end of the initial franchise term. As this is considered a separate performance obligation, the Company allocated a portion of the initial franchise fee to this discounted renewal, on a pro-rata basis, assuming a 20-year renewal. This performance obligation is satisfied over the renewal term, which is typically 10 or 20 years, while payment is fixed and due at the time the renewal is signed.

The Company purchases hardware, such as scanners, printers, point-of-sale systems, kiosks, and tablets, from third party vendors, which it then sells to franchisees. As the Company is considered the principal in this relationship, payment received for the hardware is considered revenue, and is received upon transfer of the goods from the Company to the franchisee. As of April 1, 2026, there were no performance obligations related to hardware services that were unsatisfied or partially satisfied.

Contract balances

The Company’s franchise contract liability includes development fees, initial franchise and license fees, franchise renewal fees, lease subsidies and royalty discounts and is included within other accrued expenses and current liabilities and other noncurrent liabilities within the accompanying condensed consolidated balance sheets. The Company receives area development fees from franchisees when they execute multi-unit area development agreements. Initial franchise and license fees, or franchise renewal fees, are received from franchisees upon the execution of, or renewal of, a franchise agreement. Revenue is recognized from these agreements as the underlying performance obligation is satisfied, which is over the term of the agreement.

The following table provides information about the change in the franchise contract liability balances during the thirteen weeks ended April 1, 2026 and March 26, 2025 (in thousands):

December 31, 2025

$

6,153

Revenue recognized

 

(239)

Additional contract liability

 

240

April 1, 2026

$

6,154

December 25, 2024

$

6,730

Revenue recognized

 

(154)

Additional contract liability

 

66

March 26, 2025

$

6,642

The following table illustrates the estimated revenue to be recognized in future periods related to performance obligations under the applicable contracts that are unsatisfied as of April 1, 2026 (in thousands):

Franchise revenues:

  ​ ​ ​

  ​

2026

$

414

2027

 

542

2028

 

525

2029

 

497

2030

 

472

Thereafter

 

3,704

Total

$

6,154

Contract Costs

The Company does not currently incur costs to obtain or fulfill a contract that would be considered contract assets under Topic 606.