DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Good Times Restaurants Inc. (NASDAQ: GTIM), operator of Good Times Burgers & Frozen Custard, a regional quick service restaurant chain focused on fresh, high quality, all natural products, and Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar, a full service, upscale concept, today announced its preliminary unaudited financial results for the fourth fiscal quarter ended September 26, 2017.

Key highlights of the Company’s financial results vs prior year include:

• Same store sales for company-owned Good Times restaurants increased 3.9% for the quarter and increased 2.1% for the year on top of last year’s increase of 0.3% for the year
• Same store sales for company-owned Bad Daddy’s restaurants increased 1.4% for the quarter and 1.6% for the year on top of last year’s increase of 1.9% for the quarter and 3.3% for the year
• Total revenues increased 31% to $22,584,000 for the quarter and increased 23% to $79,080,000 for the year, which reflects the addition of one new Good Times restaurant and six Bad Daddy’s restaurants during the year
• Subsequent to the year end two additional Bad Daddy’s opened during the first two weeks of October

• Income from Operations declined by $1,122,000 to a loss of $1,422,000 for the year, which includes the impact of $2,588,000 of new store preopening costs incurred in fiscal 2017.
• Restaurant Level Operating Profit (a non-GAAP measure) for Good Times restaurants improved to $1,333,000 for the quarter versus $1,313,000 in the same quarter last year*
• Restaurant Level Operating Profit (a non-GAAP measure) for Bad Daddy’s restaurants improved 28% to $2,081,000 in the fourth quarter from $1,631,000 in the fourth quarter last year*
• Total Restaurant Level Operating Profit (a non-GAAP measure) increased 16% to $3,414,000 for the quarter and increased 15% to $12,378,000 for the year*
• Adjusted EBITDA (a non-GAAP measure) for the quarter increased 24% to $1,305,000 from $1,051,000 and increased 12% to $3,777,000 from $3,368,000 for the fiscal year*
• The Company ended the quarter with $4.3 million in cash and $5.3 million of long term debt

Boyd Hoback, President & CEO, said, “We are pleased with our results that were slightly ahead of our revised guidance for the fourth quarter, particularly given the intense discounting and value pricing environment in both segments and absorbing the spike in commodity costs that began in our third quarter. For the first nine weeks of our first quarter of fiscal 2018 same store sales are +4.3% for Good Times and +1.7% at Bad Daddy’s. Our class of 2017 new Bad Daddy’s are averaging above our systemwide sales average and we are pleased with their performance as they reach stabilized sales trends after their honeymoon sales periods.”

Hoback added, “We opened two Bad Daddy’s on October 2^nd and October 9^th in North Carolina that had been planned for the last two weeks of fiscal 2017 and expect to open an additional seven restaurants during the balance of fiscal 2018. We expect to open our next Bad Daddy’s in the Atlanta, Georgia market in very early January 2018 with additional units following in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. We have eight Bad Daddy’s leases signed and expect to sign an additional four leases by the end of the calendar year for our fiscal 2018 and initial 2019 development.”

Fiscal 2018 Outlook:

The Company has confirmed and updated its guidance for fiscal 2018:

• Total revenues of approximately $100 million to $102 million with a year-end revenue run rate of approximately $109 million to $111 million
• Total revenue estimates assume same store sales of approximately +3% to +3.5% for Good Times consistently throughout the year and +1% to +2% for Bad Daddy’s.
• General and administrative expenses of approximately $7.8 million to $8.0 million, including approximately $700,000 of non-cash equity compensation expense
• The opening of 9 new Bad Daddy’s restaurants (including 2 joint venture units)
• Net loss of approximately $1.4 million, including pre-opening expenses of approximately $2.5 million
• Total Adjusted EBITDA* of approximately $5.0 million to $5.5 million
• Capital expenditures (net of tenant improvement allowances) of approximately $9.5 million including approximately $1.2 million related to fiscal 2019 development

*For a reconciliation of restaurant level operating profit and Adjusted EBITDA to the most directly comparable financial measures presented in accordance with GAAP and a discussion of why the Company considers them useful, see the financial information schedules accompanying this release.

Conference Call: Management will host a conference call to discuss its fourth quarter 2017 financial results on Thursday, December 7, 2017 at 3:00 p.m. MT/5:00 p.m. ET. Hosting the call will be Boyd Hoback, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Ryan Zink, Chief Financial Officer.

The conference call can be accessed live over the phone by dialing (888) 339-0806 and requesting the Good Times Restaurants (GTIM) call. The conference call will also be webcast live from the Company's corporate website www.goodtimesburgers.com under the Investor section. An archive of the webcast will be available at the same location on the corporate website shortly after the call has concluded.

About Good Times Restaurants Inc.: Good Times Restaurants Inc. (GTIM) operates Good Times Burgers & Frozen Custard, a regional chain of quick service restaurants located primarily in Colorado, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Good Times Drive Thru Inc. Good Times provides a menu of high quality all natural hamburgers, 100% all natural chicken tenderloins, fresh frozen custard, natural cut fries, fresh lemonades and other unique offerings. Good Times currently operates and franchises a total of 38 restaurants.

GTIM also owns, operates, franchises and licenses 26 Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar restaurants through its wholly-owned subsidiaries. Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar is a full service, upscale “small box” restaurant concept featuring a chef driven menu of gourmet signature burgers, chopped salads, appetizers and sandwiches with a full bar and a focus on a selection of craft microbrew beers in a high-energy atmosphere that appeals to a broad consumer base.

Good Times Forward-Looking Statements: This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. The words “intend,” “may,” “believe,” “will,” “should,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “seek” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, which may cause the Company’s actual results to differ materially from results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks include such factors as the uncertain nature of current restaurant development plans and the ability to implement those plans and integrate new restaurants, delays in developing and opening new restaurants because of weather, local permitting or other reasons, increased competition, cost increases or shortages in raw food products, and other matters discussed under the “Risk Factors” section of Good Times’ Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 27, 2016 filed with the SEC. Although Good Times may from time to time voluntarily update its forward-looking statements, it disclaims any commitment to do so except as required by securities laws.

Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Measurements to US GAAP Results

Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Measurements to US GAAP Results

The Company believes that restaurant-level operating profit is an important measure for management and investors because it is widely regarded in the restaurant industry as a useful metric by which to evaluate restaurant-level operating efficiency and performance. The Company defines restaurant-level operating profit to be restaurant revenues minus restaurant-level operating costs, excluding restaurant closures and impairment costs. The measure includes restaurant level occupancy costs, which include fixed rents, percentage rents, common area maintenance charges, real estate and personal property taxes, general liability insurance and other property costs, but excludes depreciation. The measure excludes depreciation and amortization expense, substantially all of which is related to restaurant level assets, because such expenses represent historical sunk costs which do not reflect current cash outlay for the restaurants. The measure also excludes selling, general and administrative costs, and therefore excludes occupancy costs associated with selling, general and administrative functions, and pre-opening costs. The Company excludes restaurant closure costs as they do not represent a component of the efficiency of continuing operations. Restaurant impairment costs are excluded, because, similar to depreciation and amortization, they represent a non-cash charge for the Company’s investment in its restaurants and not a component of the efficiency of restaurant operations. Restaurant-level operating profit is not a measurement determined in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) and should not be considered in isolation, or as an alternative, to income from operations or net income as indicators of financial performance. Restaurant-level operating profit as presented may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies. The tables above set forth certain unaudited information for the fiscal quarters and fiscal years ended September 26, 2017 and September 27, 2016, expressed as a percentage of total revenues, except for the components of restaurant operating costs, which are expressed as a percentage of restaurant revenues.

Adjusted EBITDA is a supplemental measure of operating performance that does not represent and should not be considered as an alternative to net income or cash flow from operations, as determined by GAAP, and our calculation thereof may not be comparable to that reported by other companies. This measure is presented because we believe that investors' understanding of our performance is enhanced by including this non-GAAP financial measure as a reasonable basis for evaluating our ongoing results of operations.

Adjusted EBITDA is calculated as net income before interest expense, provision for income taxes and depreciation and amortization and further adjustments to reflect the additions and eliminations presented in the table above.

Adjusted EBITDA is presented because: (i) we believe it is a useful measure for investors to assess the operating performance of our business without the effect of non-cash charges such as depreciation and amortization expenses and asset disposals, closure costs and restaurant impairments and (ii) we use adjusted EBITDA internally as a benchmark for certain of our cash incentive plans and to evaluate our operating performance or compare our performance to that of our competitors. The use of adjusted EBITDA as a performance measure permits a comparative assessment of our operating performance relative to our performance based on our GAAP results, while isolating the effects of some items that vary from period to period without any correlation to core operating performance or that vary widely among similar companies. Companies within our industry exhibit significant variations with respect to capital structures and cost of capital (which affect interest expense and income tax rates) and differences in book depreciation of property, plant and equipment (which affect relative depreciation expense), including significant differences in the depreciable lives of similar assets among various companies. Our management believes that adjusted EBITDA facilitates company-to-company comparisons within our industry by eliminating some of these foregoing variations. Adjusted EBITDA as presented may not be comparable to other similarly-titled measures of other companies, and our presentation of adjusted EBITDA should not be construed as an inference that our future results will be unaffected by excluded or unusual items.

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