Technology-enabled Japanese restaurant concept Kura Sushi USA has reported sales of $57.3m for the second quarter of the fiscal year 2024 (FY24), a jump of 30.5% compared with $43.9m a year previously.
The growth is attributed to a 3% increase in comparable sales and the opening of five new restaurants.
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For the quarter ending 29 February 2024, Kura Sushi’s food and beverage costs as a percentage of sales decreased slightly to 29.6%, down from 30.1% in the second quarter of 2023.
This improvement was primarily due to menu price increases and supply chain initiatives.
Despite these cost efficiencies, the company reported an operating loss of $1.7m, a slight increase from the $1m operating loss in the same quarter of the previous year.
The net loss for the quarter stood at $1m, or $0.09 per diluted share, which remained consistent with the net loss reported in the second quarter of 2023.
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By GlobalDataRestaurant-level operating profit was reported at $11.2m, or 19.6% of sales, a slight decrease from 20.3% of sales in the previous year.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the quarter saw an improvement, reaching $2.9m compared to $2.3m in the second quarter of 2023.
The company opened new restaurants in Kansas City, Missouri; Skokie, Illinois; Columbus, Ohio; and Euless and Webster, Texas, during the fiscal second quarter of 2024.
Following the end of the quarter, Kura Sushi also opened a new restaurant in Orlando, Florida.
Looking ahead to the full fiscal year 2024, Kura Sushi anticipates total sales of between $243m and $246m.
The company’s growth strategy includes plans to open 13 to 14 new restaurants, with average net capital expenditures per unit of $2.5m.
Kura Sushi USA president and CEO Hajime Uba said: “I‘m very pleased to report the ongoing strength of our business as we progress through a record fiscal year. It was unprecedented for us when we announced a guidance raise so early in the year with our first quarter call, and being able to follow the next quarter with another guidance raise demonstrates our incredible confidence in the business.
“We’ve opened ten restaurants to date, putting us well on track for our new unit guidance and giving us the confidence to upgrade our revenue guidance. For our second quarter, we leveraged general and administrative expenses year-over-year as a percentage of sales by 190 basis points and grew adjusted EBITDA by 23%.
“We’ve introduced new projects such as DoorDash, and our operations teams have more than risen to the challenge of implementing them. I’m extremely proud of everyone’s efforts, and want to acknowledge all of our team members and thank them for creating so much great news.”
