BJ's Restaurants, Inc.

Total revenue was $388.9 million, up 6.4% year over year. Comparable restaurant sales increased 6.5%, driven by 8.3% traffic growth and offset by 1.8% average check compression. Restaurant-level operating profit was $66.8 million, with margin up 20 basis points to 17.2%; cost of sales was 25.5%, up 70 basis points, reflecting about 5% commodity inflation and a 120 basis point headwind. Adjusted EBITDA was $44.4 million versus $42.1 million last year. For the full year 2026, BJ’s raised guidance to 3%-4% comparable sales growth, $228 million-$235 million in restaurant-level operating profit, and $145 million-$152 million in adjusted EBITDA. Capex is still expected at $85 million-$95 million, and share repurchases remain up to $50 million; management also said total effective pricing should be about 3.7% in Q3, 2.6% in Q4, and 3% for the full year.

Lyle Tick framed Q2 as another very strong quarter and emphasized that the company is still gaining share in the social splurge occasion. He highlighted broad-based growth across geographies, dayparts, and channels, along with strong results from seasonal Pizookies, the Pizookie Meal Deal, and menu innovation. His tone was confident but measured: he said the team wants to keep doing what it says it will do, avoid getting ahead of itself, and continue building the brand through better operations, product, atmosphere, and technology.

Todd Wilson focused on the financial leverage in the quarter: restaurant margin expanded 20 basis points despite a 120 basis point commodity headwind, and adjusted EBITDA increased by $2.3 million to $44.4 million. He said food inflation was driven by about 5% commodity inflation, including an expected 20% increase in beef costs, but expects inflation to ease in the back half of the year and cost of sales to improve somewhat. He also noted disciplined cash deployment: $23.3 million of capex, $2.4 million of share repurchases, and $18 million of debt repayment, which reduced net debt to about $30 million from $61 million at the start of the year.

Analysts focused on margin flow-through, the sustainability of comp trends, and whether Q2 mix pressure was mainly from seasonal Pizookies. Management said Q2 margin upside was limited by commodity inflation, but they expect better dollar and percentage margin expansion in Q3 and Q4 as inflation moderates. On comps, they said Q3 should outperform Q4 based on prior-year comparisons, and on mix they expect easing in Q3 and further improvement in Q4, though seasonal Pizookie success can still pressure check. They also said there were no unusual one-time boosts in Q2; performance was driven mainly by execution, marketing, and menu programming.