Brinker International, Inc. (NYSE:EAT) Q2 2023 Earnings Conference Call February 1, 2023 10:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Mika Ware - VP, Finance & IR
Kevin Hochman - CEO & President
Joe Taylor - CFO
Conference Call Participants
Andrew Strelzik - BMO
Dennis Geiger - UBS
John Ivankoe - JP Morgan
Eric Gonzalez - KeyBanc Capital Markets
Chris O'Cull - Stifel
David Palmer - Evercore ISI
Brian Vaccaro - Raymond James
Jeffrey Bernstein - Barclays
Brian Harbour - Morgan Stanley
Operator
Good day, and welcome to the Brinker International Q2 F2023 Earnings Call. At this time, all participants have been placed on a listen-only mode. The floor will be open for questions and comments following the presentation.
It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to your host, Mika Ware, Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations. Ma'am, the floor is yours.
Mika Ware
Thank you, Holly, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for participating on today's call. Joining me today are Kevin Hochman, our Chief Executive Officer and President; and Joe Taylor, our Chief Financial Officer.
Results for the quarter were released earlier this morning, and are available on our website at brinker.com.
As we always do, Kevin and Joe will first make prepared comments related to our strategic initiatives and operating performance. Then we will open the call for your questions.
Before beginning our comments, I would like to remind everyone of our Safe Harbor regarding forward-looking statements. During our call, management may discuss certain items, which are not based entirely on historical facts. Any such items should be considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those anticipated. Such risks and uncertainties include factors more completely described in this morning's press release and the company's filings with the SEC.
And of course, on the call, we may refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures that management uses in its review of the business and believes will provide insight into the company's ongoing operations.
And with that said, I will turn the call over to Kevin.
Kevin Hochman
Thanks, Mika, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us as we share insights on the momentum we're seeing in the business, progress against our strategy, and plans to maintain that momentum.
I'll start with Maggiano's, which delivered a very strong second quarter sales and margin growth as some of the business model changes have had accelerated recovery. We expected Maggiano's performance to exceed pre-COVID levels during the quarter and the team delivered. Comp sales were up 21% year-over-year and margins improved significantly.