β€’
Jun 30, 2021

El Pollo Loco Q2 2021 Earnings Report

Reported strong financial results driven by sales recovery and operational efficiencies.

Key Takeaways

El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. announced strong second quarter results with a 22% increase in top line and a system-wide comparable restaurant sales growth of 14.8% compared to Q2 2019. The company leveraged sales improvements and labor efficiencies to achieve a 20.8% restaurant contribution margin.

Total revenue increased to $122.0 million from $99.6 million.

System-wide comparable restaurant sales increased by 21.0%.

Net income rose to $8.8 million, or $0.24 per diluted share, compared to $5.5 million, or $0.16 per diluted share.

Pro forma net income was $10.7 million, or $0.29 per diluted share, compared to $6.9 million, or $0.20 per diluted share.

Total Revenue
$122M
Previous year: $99.6M
+22.5%
EPS
$0.29
Previous year: $0.2
+45.0%
System-Wide Comp Sales
21%
Gross Profit
$29.1M
Previous year: $22.4M
+29.7%
Cash and Equivalents
$12.6M
Previous year: $60.3M
-79.1%
Free Cash Flow
$15.7M
Previous year: $17.8M
-11.9%
Total Assets
$599M
Previous year: $666M
-10.0%

El Pollo Loco

El Pollo Loco

El Pollo Loco Revenue by Segment

Forward Guidance

Due to the uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, the company is not yet providing a financial outlook for the year ending December 29, 2021. However, the company is reiterating the following expectations for 2021:

Positive Outlook

  • The opening of three to five new company-owned restaurants
  • The opening of four to six new franchised restaurants.
  • Pro forma income tax rate of 26.5%.

Challenges Ahead

  • Increased commodity costs during the second half of the year due to continuing supply chain challenges.
  • Increased labor costs during the second half of the year due to continuing restaurant staffing challenges.

Revenue & Expenses

Visualization of income flow from segment revenue to net income