“We continue to be a leader in the industry, and our focus on execution and profitability again produced strong year-over-year growth in units, revenue, and net earnings,” said Sally Smith, president and CEO. “Buffalo Wild Wings has grown by 81 restaurants over the last 12 months, 20 of these in the third quarter, for a year-over-year unit increase of 13%.
“We plan to open 15 company-owned and 17 franchised restaurants in the fourth quarter, on track to meet our 13% unit growth goal for 2010,” she added. “For the first four weeks of the fourth quarter, same-store sales at company-owned locations are [0.7%] and franchised locations are [1.7%], comping over prior year same-store sales of 5.9% and 3.8%, respectively.
“With sustained efforts to drive traffic throughout the football season, combined with higher media spending, we believe we can achieve at least flat same-store sales at company-owned restaurants for the fourth quarter and accomplish our 2010 net earnings goal of 20% growth for the year,” she continued.