Good Times Restaurants
NASDAQ: GTIM
$1.39 ▲ +0.02  (+1.46%)
At close: Jul 24, 2026 · 3:59 PM UTC
Financial Ratios
Market Cap14.67 Mn
P/E13.34
P/S-3.81
Div. Yield0.00
ROIC (Qtr)0.10
Total Debt (Qtr)1.08 Mn
Revenue Growth (1y) (Qtr)-3.05
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About

Good Times Restaurants Inc. operates two distinct restaurant concepts: Bad Daddy's Burger Bar and Good Times Burgers & Frozen Custard. The company runs full-service casual dining establishments under the Bad Daddy's brand and quick-service drive-thru restaurants under the Good Times brand. It owns and operates or licenses thirty-eight Bad Daddy's locations across seven states and owns and operates or franchises thirty Good Times restaurants primarily in Colorado, with…

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Sector: Consumer Cyclical Industry: Restaurants CIK: 0000825324

Investment Thesis

▲ Bull case
  • Good Times Restaurants Inc. is strategically pivoting toward value-focused innovation with its Bambino slider promotion, which has demonstrated strong same-store sales and traffic improvements in test markets and is set for system-wide rollout in June. This initiative directly addresses evolving consumer preferences for smaller portion sizes and lower price points, a trend underscored by CEO Ryan Zink’s commentary on the influence of GLP-1 drug usage and health-conscious eating habits. By leveraging a menu item with a 19-year history and strong brand affinity, the company minimizes execution risk while tapping into pent-up demand for affordable indulgence. The promotional pricing strategy is designed not only to stimulate immediate traffic but also to increase guest frequency through the introduction of Bambino OGs, a tactic aimed at converting trial into habitual visits. Crucially, this approach allows Good Times to compete effectively against rivals’ value promotions without eroding brand equity, as it remains rooted in core offerings rather than relying on deep discounting of premium items. The early success in Northern Colorado test locations suggests scalability, and a successful national rollout could rejuvenate same-store sales momentum in a segment that has faced sequential declines. This initiative represents a low-cost, high-impact catalyst that could accelerate top-line recovery and improve operating leverage as fixed costs are spread across higher volume.
  • The company’s GT Rewards loyalty program is exhibiting robust organic growth, with members now generating 7% of total sales—up from under 4% prior to the December switch to the Thanx platform—and monthly enrollment increasing at a compounding rate of approximately 5%. This trajectory implies a potential near-doubling of loyalty-driven sales within a year if growth sustains, significantly enhancing customer retention and lifetime value. Management highlighted improved operational execution in promoting the program at the point of sale, including updated window-based materials, QR code-enabled bag stuffers, and enhanced staff communication, all of which are reducing friction in enrollment. Unlike many competitors whose loyalty programs suffer from low engagement, Good Times is building a proprietary data asset that enables personalized marketing, targeted promotions, and more efficient allocation of advertising spend. The program’s integration with upcoming summer campaigns—such as the Bambino rollout and seasonal spoon benders—creates a synergistic flywheel where promotions drive trial, and loyalty drives repeat visits. As the program scales, the marginal cost of engaging existing members declines, improving promotional ROI and contributing to higher-margin sales over time. This underappreciated asset could become a durable competitive advantage in a crowded quick-service restaurant landscape.
  • Operational efficiencies are driving meaningful margin expansion despite top-line pressures, as evidenced by a 150 basis point increase in Good Times’ restaurant-level operating profit margin to 10.1% year-over-year, achieved through labor efficiency gains, waste reduction, and improved supplier negotiations. Food and packaging costs decreased by 100 basis points due to reduced waste and better chicken pricing, while labor costs at Good Times fell 60 basis points to 35% despite wage inflation, reflecting improved scheduling, training, and productivity initiatives like the BurgerHub learning management system. Similarly, Bad Daddy’s saw food and beverage costs drop 110 basis points and labor costs improve by 20 basis points, indicating that operational discipline is taking hold across both brands. These gains are particularly significant given the ongoing headwinds from rising ground beef prices due to supply chain tightening, suggesting the company is successfully offsetting commodity cost pressures through internal controls. The BurgerHub platform, powered by Schoox LMS, is nearing full rollout and standardizes training across roles, reduces onboarding time, and improves consistency—factors that directly contribute to lower turnover and higher service quality. Unlike temporary cost-cutting, these improvements are structural and scalable, positioning the company to maintain or expand margins even as sales recover, thereby improving the quality of earnings and free cash flow generation over time.
▼ Bear case
  • Good Times Restaurants Inc. continues to face persistent same-store sales declines across both brands, with Bad Daddy’s down 0.8% and Good Times down 0.8% in Q2 FY26, marking the second consecutive quarter of negative comp sales despite sequential improvements from Q1. This ongoing weakness suggests that promotional initiatives like the Bambino slider test, while showing promise in limited markets, have not yet translated into broad-based demand recovery, and there is no guarantee that national rollout will replicate the Northern Colorado test results. The company’s reliance on value-driven promotions to stimulate traffic risks conditioning customers to wait for discounts, potentially undermining long-term pricing power and encouraging a race to the bottom with larger competitors who possess greater scale and marketing budgets. Furthermore, the average menu price increases—0.2% for Bad Daddy’s and 1.7% blended for Good Times—are minimal and may not be sustainable if input costs, particularly ground beef, continue to rise as management anticipates in the second half of the fiscal year. Without meaningful top-line growth, the company remains vulnerable to operating deleverage, where fixed costs cannot be adequately absorbed, pressuring margins despite current cost-saving efforts.
  • The GT Rewards program, while growing at 5% per month, remains a small contributor to overall sales at just 7%, indicating that the majority of customers are still not engaged with the loyalty ecosystem, and the program’s impact on frequency and spend may be overstated if growth is driven primarily by heavy users rather than incremental visits from occasional guests. The reliance on QR code-based enrollment tactics—such as bag stuffers and window posters—may yield diminishing returns as novelty wears off, especially in a drive-thru-dominant model where customer interaction time is limited and attention is fragmented. Moreover, the program’s success is contingent on sustained operational execution at the unit level, which varies across franchised and company-owned locations and is difficult to standardize, posing a risk to consistent performance. There is also a potential cannibalization effect where loyal customers shift purchases to promoted low-margin items like the $2 Bambino, reducing average check size and potentially offsetting gains from increased frequency. Without clear data on incremental contribution margin from loyalty-driven visits, the program’s long-term financial value remains uncertain, and the current growth rate may not be maintainable as the base expands.
  • Macroeconomic and industry-specific headwinds are intensifying, particularly the sustained tightening in beef supply and seasonally driven ground beef cost increases that management expects to impact the latter half of FY26, which could erode the recent improvements in food and beverage costs. Both brands have already noted offsetting factors—such as higher beef and bacon purchase prices—counteracting waste reduction gains, signaling that cost pressures are beginning to reemerge. Concurrently, the restaurant industry is facing elevated labor costs due to wage inflation and persistent staffing challenges, yet Good Times has not outlined a clear strategy to counteract this beyond efficiency gains, which may have diminishing returns. The company’s general and administrative expenses, while down 90 basis points to 6.6% of revenue, are still elevated relative to peers and may not decline further without significant structural changes, limiting upside to profitability. Additionally, the shift in consumer behavior driven by health trends and GLP-1 drug adoption—while presenting an opportunity for smaller portions—could also reduce overall category frequency if consumers opt for fewer, healthier meals outside the home, posing a structural threat to the quick-service burger segment that is not yet reflected in current performance but could materialize over time.

Segments Breakdown of Revenue (2025)

Segments Breakdown of Revenue (2025)

Peer Comparison

Companies in the Restaurants
S.No. Ticker Company Market CapP/EP/STotal Debt (Qtr)
1 SBUX Starbucks Corp 118.28 Bn79.083.0715.08 Bn
2 YUM Yum Brands Inc 41.26 Bn23.744.8611.95 Bn
3 CMG Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc 41.21 Bn28.383.40-
4 QSR Restaurant Brands International Inc. 25.26 Bn26.452.6313.30 Bn
5 DRI Darden Restaurants Inc 22.64 Bn-5,264.331.772.43 Bn
6 YUMC Yum China Holdings, Inc. 15.35 Bn15.431.270.02 Bn
7 TXRH Texas Roadhouse, Inc. 12.76 Bn30.712.100.05 Bn
8 DPZ Dominos Pizza Inc 11.11 Bn14.992.214.88 Bn