The Chefs' Warehouse, Inc.

Second-quarter 2026 net sales increased 12.9% to $1.169 billion from $1.035 billion a year earlier, driven by 12.2% organic growth and 0.7% from acquisitions. Gross profit rose 15.2% to $292.9 million, and gross margin improved 49 basis points to 25.1%. GAAP net income was $33.8 million, or $0.76 per diluted share, versus $21.2 million, or $0.49 per diluted share, last year; adjusted net income was $34.7 million, or $0.78 per diluted share, versus $22.5 million, or $0.52 per diluted share. Adjusted EBITDA was $88.1 million versus $65.4 million last year. For 2026, management raised guidance to $4.5 billion-$4.6 billion in net sales, $1.102 billion-$1.125 billion in gross profit, and $305 million-$315 million in adjusted EBITDA; it also noted expected fully diluted shares of approximately 46 million-46.7 million.

Chris Pappas framed the quarter as broad-based execution across sales, product penetration, case volume, and customer growth, saying the company is still in the “early innings” of market share expansion. He emphasized that the business is benefiting from years of investment in facilities, salespeople, specialists, technology, and route consolidation, and said the company is starting to see operating leverage as scale builds. His tone was upbeat and confident, with repeated references to the moat, the long runway in under-penetrated markets, and continued growth into 2027-2030.

Jim Leddy highlighted the quarter’s financial outperformance, including 12.9% net sales growth to $1.169 billion, gross profit of $292.9 million, and adjusted EBITDA of $88.1 million. He said SG&A rose 9.6% to $234.2 million, but adjusted operating expenses increased only 8.4% as a percentage of sales, helping lift EBITDA margin. He also pointed to balance sheet strength, with total liquidity of $321.1 million, $135.5 million in cash, $185.6 million of ABL availability, $30 million of ABL debt repaid during the quarter, and net debt of about $478.5 million, or 1.6x net debt to adjusted EBITDA. On capital allocation, he said CapEx should average about 1% of revenue, free cash flow conversion should be 40%-60% of adjusted EBITDA, and share repurchases should increase as leverage stays within the 1.5x-2.5x target range.

Analysts focused on what is driving demand, whether the company is winning share, and how durable the margin expansion could be. Management said growth is coming from a combination of sales-force expansion, capacity investments, category expansion, cross-selling, and improving execution, rather than one single factor. On the Middle East, management said business there was running around 94% of prior year in May and June, logistics disruptions have raised product costs, and tourism uncertainty in the fourth quarter led them to build conservatism into guidance. They also said Texas is performing well after lapping a prior attrition issue, with EBITDA margin improving by multiple hundred basis points.