Chuy's Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHUY) Q1 2023 Earnings Conference Call May 4, 2023 5:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Steve Hislop – President and Chief Executive Officer
Jon Howie – Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Conference Call Participants
Nick Setyan – Wedbush Securities
Alex Slagle – Jefferies
Todd Brooks – The Benchmark Company
Andrew Wolf – CL King
Daniel Breen – Stephens
Drew North – Baird
Operator
Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Chuy's Holdings First Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded. [Operator Instructions]
On today's call, we have Steve Hislop, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Jon Howie, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Chuy's Holdings, Inc.
At this time, I'll turn the call over to Mr. Howie. Please go ahead, sir.
Jon Howie
Thank you, operator. And good afternoon. By now, everyone should have access to our first quarter 2023 earnings release. If not, it can be found on our website at chuys.com in the Investors section.
Before we begin our formal remarks, I need to remind everyone that part of our discussions today will include forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance, and therefore, you should not put undue reliance on them. These statements are also subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from what we expect. We refer all of you to our recent SEC filings for a more detailed discussion of the risks that could impact our future operating results and financial condition.
With that out of the way, I would like to turn the call over to Chuy's President and CEO, Steve Hislop.
Steve Hislop
Thank you, Jon. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us on our first quarter earnings call today. We're proud of our results for the quarter with top line momentum from the fourth quarter continuing into the new year, resulting in comparable restaurant sales growth of 8%. In addition, we achieved store-level operating margins of 19.7%, up 70 basis points year-over-year, which continues to be among the best in casual dining industry. Combined with the extensive unit growth opportunity ahead of us, we have never been more excited about what lies ahead for Chuy's.
During the first quarter, we saw positive comparable sales growth across all periods with January and February benefiting from the Omicron variant and favorable weather comparisons. Importantly, our positive momentum has continued into April. Ultimately, we believe our fresh, made-from-scratch food and drink and incredible value continue to resonate with our guests across the income spectrum and are the driving force behind our growth.