BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) Q3 2023 Earnings Conference Call October 26, 2023 5:00 PM ET

Company Participants

Rana Schirmer - Investor Relations

Greg Levin - Chief Executive Officer & President

Tom Houdek - Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Mike Tamas - Oppenheimer & Company

Alex Slagle - Jefferies

Tyler Prause - Stephens Inc.

Andrew Wolf - CL King

Nick Setyan - Wedbush Securities

Todd Brooks - The Benchmark Company

Sharon Zackfia - William Blair

Teddy Farley - Citi

Operator

Hello, and welcome to the BJ's Restaurants Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Release and Conference Call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. [Operator Instructions] After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. [Operator Instructions] Please note, this event is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Rana Schirmer, Director of SEC Reporting. Please go ahead.

Rana Schirmer

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to our fiscal 2023 third quarter investor conference call and webcast. After the market closed today, we released our financial results for our fiscal 2023 third quarter. You can view the full text of our earnings release on our website at www.bjsrestaurants.com.

I will begin by reminding you that our comments on the conference call today will contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and that undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. These statements are based on management’s current business and market expectations and our actual results could differ materially from those projections in the forward-looking statements.

We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements or to make any other forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required to do so by the securities laws. Investors are referred to the full discussion of risks and uncertainties associated with forward-looking statements contained in the company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

We will start today’s call with prepared remarks from Greg Levin, our Chief Executive Officer and President and Tom Houdek, our Chief Financial Officer, after which we will take your questions.

And with that, I will turn the call over to Greg Levin. Greg?

Greg Levin

Thank you, Rana. BJ has delivered another quarter of positive comparable restaurant sales and year-over-year margin expansion. Our total revenues increased a little over 2% led by a 1.5% increase in our average weekly sales, driven by continued positive comparable restaurant sales and the strong performance f our new restaurants.