Chuy's Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Provided by Quartr
August 3, 2023

Key Takeaways

  • Strong Q2 performance: revenue up 7.3% to $119 million, comparable sales +3.2%, and restaurant-level operating margin improved 250 basis points to 21.6% of revenue.
  • CKO menu innovations drove incremental traffic (estimated 1–1.5%) and higher mix, while off-premise channels grew to 28% of sales with delivery volume +30% and catering rising to 3.5% of revenue.
  • Development update: opened two new restaurants in Q2 and Q3 to date, now targeting five net openings in 2023, and aiming for 10% annual unit growth long term in high-AUV, high-awareness markets.
  • Profitability gains: net income increased 36.4% to $10.7 million ($0.59 per share), adjusted EPS rose 31.6% to $0.61, with a strong balance sheet of $82.6 million cash and no debt.
  • 2023 outlook: adjusted EPS guidance of $1.80–1.85, expecting flat annual commodity inflation, mid-single-digit labor cost inflation, G&A of $30–31 million, and $30–35 million in capex.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Chuy's Q2 2023
00:00 / 00:00

There are 11 speakers on the call.

Operator

Day, everyone, and welcome to the Chuy's Holdings Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded. At this time, all participants have been placed in a listen only mode and the lines will be open for your questions following the prepared remarks. On today's call, we have Steve Hislop, President and Chief Executive Officer and John Howie, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Chuy's Holdings Incorporated. At this time, I'll turn the call over to Mr.

Operator

Howie. Please go ahead, sir.

Speaker 1

Thank you, operator, and good afternoon. By now, everyone should have access to our Q2 2023 earnings release. If not, it can be found on our website atchuys.com in the Investors section. Before we begin our formal remarks, I need to remind everyone that part of our discussion today will include forward looking statements. These forward looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance, and therefore, you should not put undue reliance on them.

Speaker 1

These statements are also subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that Could cause actual results to differ materially from what we expect. We refer all of you to our recent SEC filings for a more detailed discussion of the risks that could impact our future operating results and financial condition. Looking ahead, we plan to release our Q3 20 3 earnings on Thursday, November 2, after the market closed. With that out of the way, I'd like to turn the call over to Chuy's President and CEO, Steve. Mr.

Speaker 1

Mark?

Speaker 2

Thank you, John. Good afternoon, everybody, and thank you for joining us on our call today. Our results marked another strong quarterly performance with 2nd quarter revenue growth of over 7%, including a 3.2% improvement During the quarter, we saw solid comparable sales growth across all periods. Moreover, Our strong top line momentum has continued and we are pleased with the results we've seen thus far into the Q3. In terms of profitability, we grew restaurant level operating margin dollars by over 21% and generated an industry leading restaurant level margin As of a percent of revenue, up 21.6 percent, which represents a 250 basis point improvement over last year.

Speaker 2

We are proud of what our team was able to accomplish during the quarter and believe that these results are a testament to the continued progress we are making on the various Initiatives were put in place to drive sustainable top line growth and profitability. Moving on To our growth drivers, we continue to focus on menu innovations through our Chuy's Knockouts, our CKO platform. In April, we introduced our guests to several exciting menu items, including the Tex Mex Burrito Bowl, Grilled Grouper Tacos And Creamy Green Chili Chicken Enchiladas. The CKO perform continues to resonate with our guests As our April CKO drove incremental traffic and mix at a higher percentage of the sales than our previous CKOs. To build upon this excitement, in late July, we launched our most recent CKO with Hatch Green Chili Burger, Steak Burrito Bowl And Chicken Tenga enchiladas.

Speaker 2

Early feedback from our guests thus far has been very encouraging. Our off premise channel also performed very well during the quarter, mixing at approximately 28% of total sales as compared to 27% a year ago. The delivery channel helped drive our off premise growth with over a 30% increase in volume, Mixing now at approximately 10.6 percent of our 2nd quarter sales, an increase of approximately 2 10 basis points versus last year. In addition, we saw a significant improvement in our catering channel as we continue to build out build out our catering markets, representing 3.5% of our Q2 sales, an increase of approximately 80 basis points versus last year. Over time, we continue to believe our off premise business will represent Our optimized digital media strategy effectively communicates our defining differences from our incredible value for our made from scratch food and drink to our exciting CKO offerings and overall differentiated experience at every Chuy's restaurant.

Speaker 2

This includes the use of TikTok, Organic Influencer Programs on Instagram and Facebook, YouTube Video Advertising and the Promotional Advertising Partnership with DoorDash. Lastly, let me provide some update on our development plan. During the Q2, we successfully opened 1 new restaurant In Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, subsequent to the end of the second quarter, we opened one additional restaurant in Harker Heights, Texas. We're pleased to report that all of our recent openings have performed to our expectation. Additionally, in the Q2, we closed one restaurant in the state of Illinois.

Speaker 2

This was a unique opportunity to exit the lease of a satellite location at no cost to the company and we do not currently expect any additional strategic closures. As we look ahead, we remain excited about our organic growth opportunities. For 2023, due to the continued Permitting and inspection delays that are outside of our control, we are now expected to open 5 new restaurants, 3 of which have already opened and the remaining units scheduled for the Q4. Unit growth remains a core piece of our long term growth model With our strategic focus on markets where our concept has is proven with high AUVs and brand awareness, we continue to believe we can achieve 10% unit growth over time And the growth we expect to achieve in 2023 2024 will be important steps to get there. With that, I'll now turn the call over to our CFO, John Howie, to discuss our Q1 results in greater detail.

Speaker 2

Thanks,

Speaker 1

Steve. Revenues for the Q2 increased 7.3 percent to $119,000,000 compared to $110,900,000 in the same for last year. The increase was primarily related to improved improvement in our comparable restaurant sales as well as an additional 53 operating weeks from new restaurants opened subsequent to the Q2 of 2022. In total, we had approximately 1289 operating weeks during the Q2 of 2023 and off prem sales were approximately 28% of total revenue as compared to 20 7% a year ago. Comparable restaurant sales in the 2nd quarter increased 3.2% versus last year, primarily driven by a 5.8% increase in average check, partially offset by a 2.6% decrease in average weekly customers.

Speaker 1

Effective pricing during the quarter was just shy of 7% and we expect to carry approximately 3.25% to 3.5% Pricing the remainder of the year. Turning to expense. Cost of sales as a percentage of revenue decreased 310 basis points to 24.7 percent driven by leverage on menu price increases as well as overall commodity deflation of approximately 4% During the quarter, based on the current market conditions, we continue to expect flat commodity inflation for the fiscal year With deflation of low single digits for the Q3, labor cost as a percentage of revenue increased approximately 40 basis points to 29.5%, primarily due to hourly labor inflation of approximately 5% at our comparable restaurants as well as incremental improvement in our hourly staffing levels as compared to last year. This was partially offset by menu price increases Taken subsequent to the Q2 of 2022, we continue to expect hourly Labor rate inflation of mid single digits for the fiscal year and Q3 in addition to a continuation of year over year staffing level increases. Operating costs as a percentage of revenue increased 10 basis points to 15.9 percent, driven by higher delivery service charges from increase in delivery sales and an increase in repairs and maintenance costs, partially offset by lower Utilities and higher sales leverage on insurance costs as compared to last year.

Speaker 1

General and administrative expenses increased to $7,700,000 in the 2nd quarter from $6,500,000 in the same period last year, driven mainly by higher performance based bonuses. As a percentage of revenue, G and A increased to 6.5% from 5.9% during the same period last year. In summary, net income for the Q2 of 2023 increased $2,800,000 or 36.4 percent to $10,700,000 or $0.59 per diluted share compared to $7,900,000 or $0.41 per diluted share in the same period last year. During the Q2 of 2023, we incurred $500,000 or $0.02 per diluted share in impairment closed restaurant and other costs compared to $0.07 or $0.03 per diluted share in the same period last year. The decrease was primarily related to a reduction in rent paid on previously closed restaurants.

Speaker 1

Taking that into account, adjusted net income for the Q2 of 2023 increased $2,700,000 or 31.6 percent to $11,100,000 or $0.61 per diluted share compared to $8,400,004.44 per diluted share in the same period last year. Moving to our liquidity and balance sheet as of the quarter End of the quarter, we had $82,600,000 in cash and cash equivalents, no debt outstanding, dollars 35,000,000 available Under our revolving credit facility, we also purchased 83,521 shares of our common stock during the quarter for a total of $3,000,000 As of June 25, 2023, we had $47,000,000 remaining under our $50,000,000 Repurchase program, which will expire on December 31, 2024. With that, let me provide an update on our outlook. For 2023, we are now expecting an adjusted EPS of $1.80 to 1 $0.85 which includes an estimated $0.08 to $0.10 per share positive impact due to the Q4 of 2023 containing 14 weeks versus 13 weeks in fiscal 2022. This is based in part on the following annual assumptions: G and A expense of $30,000,000 to $31,000,000 5 new restaurants net capital expenditures or expenditures of approximately $30,000,000 to $35,000,000 restaurant preopening expenses of approximately $2,500,000 to 2,700,000 Effective annual tax rate of approximately 13% to 14% and annual weighted diluted shares of 18,100,000 to 18,200,000 shares.

Speaker 1

With that, I'll turn the call back over to Steve.

Speaker 2

Thanks, John. Our passion has always been to provide our guests with the unique Chuy's experience through our high quality made from scratch food and drinks offered at an incredible value. We believe this is clearly reflected by our performance year to date. Through our continued focus on 4 wall operational excellence, Thoughtful capital allocation and exciting pipeline of unit growth, we are well positioned to capitalize on our positive momentum and the vast opportunity ahead of us. Most importantly, I'd like to thank each and every Chuy's team member for their hard work and dedication to earning the dollar every single day.

Speaker 2

With that, we're happy to answer any questions. Operator, please open the line for questions.

Operator

Thank you. And ladies and gentlemen, at this time, we'll conduct our question and answer Our first question comes from Joshua Long with Stephens. Please state your question.

Speaker 3

Great. Thank you for taking my question. When we think about just the underlying environment and the strong results you reported, Steve, I think you mentioned that There was solid comps through the quarter. Curious if you could talk about that, what you're seeing from the consumer? And then maybe just any Other reads you have in terms of how they're using your concept, it feels like perhaps the mix piece and the traffic piece is Consistent, if you kind of look at the underlying piece, but would be curious what your perspective is given kind of the update in the current environment?

Speaker 2

We haven't seen it's been pretty consistent over the last year, year and a half, and we've been we haven't A whole bunch of pullback in any one area, maybe slightly in bar mix and a few months back, Probably slightly in apps, but since we added on our bulls, you've seen that rebound a little bit. So we haven't really seen any main issue As far our real differences of our track head over the last year.

Speaker 3

Got it. That's helpful. And when we think about some of the strength you called out On the CKO platform, can you talk about how that's progressing versus your expectations? And it seems like that maybe in April or in the 2Q period that brought in Some incremental guests and just curious if you attribute that to awareness, just culinary innovation, maybe all of the above, but Anything that you could share there in terms of just

Speaker 2

Yes. All of the above. Thanks for answering the question. Yes, so a little bit all of the above. We've realized probably 1%, 1.5% of traffic, I'd say, by the CKOs.

Speaker 2

And obviously, we just finished our 3rd we have just finished our 3rd Entering our 4th one ever for us. And so it's really got a level of excitement starting with our people first and then obviously On all our digital marketing and so far that we're doing is really getting people excited about trying some new stuff that's out there. Like we mentioned We usually run 3 items that will run for a total of 4 weeks in our stores, so 4 to 6 weeks. So we're pretty excited about those. Coming up in the Q4, you'll see a little bit of a change in some of the CKOs where we're going to do a barbell approach to one item that will start in quarter 4.

Speaker 2

That's coming up. But yes, it's built with a nice excitement and really it's nice to have some new things to talk about on a quarterly basis.

Speaker 3

Appreciate it. And then one last one, I'll hop in the queue. When we think about just the overall development environment, we've heard a lot from your peers in terms Just permitting being the primary point of friction, it seems like you might be seeing something similar to that. But just curious how you're thinking about development overall, Human Capital Investments to support that. And then specific to the 2 units that sound like they might have slipped as part of your updated unit development guidance, you think about those flipping into next year and being additive?

Speaker 3

Or does that just kind of push the entire pipeline out?

Speaker 2

I'll go with the end first. It's definitely going to just push the whole pipeline out a little bit. That's how that's going to work. With the construction, not only the Not only the permits and getting some people coming out and walking the units, it's still the construction cost is still Quite a bit higher than it has been. We've seen that kind of flatten out, but it definitely hasn't come back down yet.

Speaker 2

So we're kind of also looking at that as we move forward. But you'll see us this year in that $5 the $5 that we mentioned. And then our long term goal right around probably in 2025 is to get back to that 10% growth rate.

Speaker 3

Got it. One more there. Do you think that you can accelerate that in 2024, kind of as a step function if you're going to do 5 this year? Is that the right number in absolute terms? Or can you step that up despite some of the headwinds that we're seeing out there?

Speaker 2

I'd say a couple more Then 5%, we'll be looking at probably for next year and then by 25% to get back to that 10% growth as I mentioned a second ago.

Speaker 3

Great. Thank you.

Speaker 2

Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from David Tarantino with Baird. Please state your question.

Speaker 4

Hi, good afternoon. First question is on the recent sales trends. I think Steve, you mentioned that you were pleased with what you've Seeing so far in Q3, I was wondering if you could elaborate on what you're seeing more specifically. I know you have less Pricing than you had in Q2. So any color would be helpful.

Speaker 4

Thank you.

Speaker 2

You're welcome. It's Really trending fairly similar to P6 in that 2 plus range, 2 to 3.

Speaker 4

Okay. And that's the total comp?

Speaker 5

Yes, sir. The total comp.

Speaker 1

Yes. And as you mentioned, we had about 3%, 3.5% pricing roll off. So that's talking you're talking about a 1% negative traffic possibly. Yes.

Speaker 4

Got it. Okay. That's good. That's helpful. And then, John, if I look at your guidance and the performance target you shared previously.

Speaker 4

So, I was wondering if you could kind of frame up how you're thinking about the margin structure longer term and is it possible to think about 20% Plus type restaurant margins as you look at the business?

Speaker 1

Well, I mean, it's all related to The volumes and how those shake out. But what we're seeing for the rest of the year, we're looking in the Q3 with those prices We're not going to have the sales leverage that we've had in the 1st two quarters. And so we're going to see a little less margin here in the 3rd quarter. And then in the Q4, obviously, we have the extra week, but we're also rolling over the addition of our extra Delivery partner in the Q4, so that's going to flatten that out a little bit as well. So I think that will temper the margins a little bit than what we're seeing right now.

Speaker 1

But long term, I mean, we're still looking at that 300 basis points above, so in that 19% to 20% range.

Speaker 4

Got it. Thank you very much.

Speaker 2

Thanks, David.

Operator

Our next question comes from Brian Mullen with Piper Sandler, please state your question.

Speaker 6

Hi, good afternoon guys. This is actually Ashling on for Brian. My question is about your recent catering business and how that is coming along versus your own Internal expectations of that? And what kind of impact has it had to your off premise business? Thanks.

Speaker 2

Yes. We're excited. Obviously, we're in 16 states well, how many 16 markets 17 markets Currently on the catering and we're excited. I think I mentioned in my prepared statement about 80 basis points higher than the year. And so we're very, very excited about that.

Speaker 2

We'll continue to add certain trucks and refill some markets as we continue forward. But we believe long term, we believe that catering number can be in that 4% to 6 Percent range over the next few years.

Speaker 6

That's great. Thank you for the color. I'll pass it back.

Speaker 2

Thank you.

Operator

Your next question comes from Brian Vaccaro with Raymond James. Please state your question.

Speaker 5

Hey, thanks and good evening. I just wanted to circle back on commodities. And John, could you provide some more color on the items you're seeing favorability On driving that recent deflation and also remind us where you are on your beef contracts specifically? Sure.

Speaker 1

So I'll just start with the beef. Beef we're contracted through the rest of the year, just a little spillover in the next year, but not much. So it's really just basically through the rest of the year and those are at prices a little less than last year. So that's some of that deflation. We're also seeing significant Obviously in chicken as I think most people are coming off of the all time highs from last year, seeing deflation in Dairy as well.

Speaker 1

And then some of our produce, but we expect kind of the produce that always kind of jumps up here in the kind of 3rd and Q4. We're also seeing inflation in some of our grains and oils and things in our grocery basket. But those are really the big items.

Speaker 5

Okay, great. Thank you for that. And on labor, I just don't you talked about increasing staffing levels, which

Speaker 1

I think it makes a

Speaker 5

lot of sense as dine in continues to recover. But could you provide any perspective just on how much average hours were up or Some other way that you might be able to quantify that and maybe more broadly just speak to what you're seeing in terms of turnover And are you seeing any tangible benefits of more tenured teams driving better ops, increasing guest satisfaction, etcetera? Can you Speak to that dynamic a little bit?

Speaker 1

Well, I'll speak to turnover. Turnover from an hourly standpoint, we're still a little over 100 From a management standpoint, a little over 26%, 27%. And as far as the hourly, I don't have that figure for As far as the increase over last year, but what we have been doing is replacing a lot of our overtime hours with kind of full positions now, which obviously when you replace them with fresh people, that's going to help the guest experience as well. So you don't have as much overtime. So that's also Helping out, but we're continuing to get fully staffed on each and every shift, and that helps the customer experience.

Speaker 7

All right. That's great. And then

Speaker 5

just lastly on the development front, obviously build out costs have been pressured in recent years. Are you seeing any green shoots of relief on that front on the horizon? And maybe you could just level set us Just in terms of your unit economics that you're underwriting as you think about the pipeline ex 12 to 24 months?

Speaker 1

Well, we continue to underwrite. We're looking at the cost in the new unit in that 2.9% to 3.3%. It's kind of the cost of it All in net of landlord dollars. But as far as what we're seeing From a construction cost standpoint, we're seeing costs starting to flatten out, but not yet come I think I've heard somebody else saying we don't want to get these developers used to these prices. And so Hopefully, we're trying to get as competitive as we can in some of these pricings, so we can bring those costs down.

Speaker 1

But right now, we're not seeing it.

Speaker 5

All right, great. I'll pass it along. Thank you.

Speaker 2

Thank you.

Operator

Your next question comes from Todd Brooks

Speaker 8

Steve, you referred to kind of the June, July trends and I think they are Johnny by size, I mean the 2 to 3 range, which with the pricing roll off is very impressive for the July result. I'm just wondering with your geographic footprint, This crushing heat, have you been able to use the patios to the full extent that you normally would seasonally in the summertime? And do you have a sense of maybe is there actually a stronger underlying demand that just this It's keeping from being able to use the restaurant? Thanks.

Speaker 2

Yes. It's been wild, but is that really exactly I think if you remember a year ago at this time, we talked about the 60 something days of over 100 and we're just in it again. It's very similar to a year ago. And yes, it definitely affects in Texas, obviously, and elsewhere, definitely Some of the patio sales, no one's sitting out in the patio at 100 degrees. So that's definitely in effect.

Speaker 2

But like I said, it's very similar to a year ago at this particular time.

Operator

Our next question comes from Nick Setyan with Wedbush Securities. Please state your question.

Speaker 7

Thank you. In terms of the commodity inflation, I appreciate the Q2 Disclosure and down 4%. What's and I'm sorry if I missed this, but what's Q3 expectation and the Q4 expectation? Or maybe better way to ask it is sequentially versus Q2, are we kind of flattish in terms of What a food basket is, are we continuing to see it go down?

Speaker 1

I think it's flattening out. I mean, if you're looking like Over last year, we're looking I think we said low single digit deflation for the Q3. We looked something similar to that to flat deflation in The back half in the Q4, which gets us to basically flattish for the year is kind of how we're looking at it right now.

Speaker 7

And so just given the math on the lower pricing and that inflation is sort of a mid 25% COGS, the right way to think about Q3 because it just seems like there will be a big jump from Q2?

Speaker 1

Yes. That's kind of what we're looking at.

Speaker 7

Okay. Okay. And in terms of just Q3, Q4 level margins, historically Q4 is a little bit lower, but we have the So weak. So I mean, do they end up being a little bit closer to each other, both of them maybe in the sort of high 17% range?

Speaker 1

Come back again on the unit level margins. Is that what you're saying for the Q4?

Speaker 7

Q4 tends to be lower than Q3 historically. Right. But given that extra week, Does that kind of help it come up closer to Q3 this year?

Speaker 1

Yes. It actually increased it a little bit

Speaker 7

Over to Q4. Okay, got it. Okay. Thank you very much.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Nick.

Operator

Our next question comes from Andy Barish with Jefferies. Please state your question.

Speaker 9

Hey, good evening, guys. I'm wondering if you can give us an update on sort of dining room Traffic versus pre COVID, I know there's been some big changes in seating and hours, but just trying to level set on that. And do you See that as an opportunity, just given some of the shifting consumer behavior out there?

Speaker 1

Well, again, with our addition of our other delivery service And that increasing from a percentage of sales. Our dine in sales are still right from a Traffic standpoint still at about 75% to 80% of what they were prior to the pandemic. And then we've been pretty consistent With that, as you know, we still take have taken some of those seats out and we haven't put those back in, just from a productivity standpoint. Hours. And the also the hours.

Speaker 1

We haven't brought those hours back either. Those we've deemed that those haven't been very profitable hours as well. So, yes, we're still at that 75% to 80% in traffic From a dine in perspective, but our off premise has grown a little bit.

Speaker 9

Okay. And then On the marketing side, I know you're up back up to about 1.5% or so of sales. Is there any Channels or waiting kind of that you're looking at for that media spend?

Speaker 2

Yes. Right now, we're pretty happy with that percent. And as things change, we're obviously looking at everything. We're doing a little bit I mentioned a few during my prepared statement, but a couple of other things that are fairly new is Programmatic TV and we're doing a lot of stuff with Yelp and So on top of that, but we're always looking at things and redistributing, but we're pretty pleased with all the mediums that we're using.

Speaker 9

Okay. A few years back, I mean, again, pre pandemic, you guys were doing outdoor, which seemed to have some effectiveness Kind of the core values, anything along those lines in certain markets or just keeping it balanced?

Speaker 2

Yes. No, we consider that. I have that in that local store marketing fund that we do and that's part of the 1.5, 1.45 And those are continuing. We do have quite a bit of outdoor and a lot of local store initiatives that we always will do from a local store profile.

Speaker 9

Appreciate it guys. Stay cool.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Andy. Thanks.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Chris Akyol with Stifel. Please state your question.

Speaker 10

Thanks. Good afternoon, guys.

Speaker 2

Hi, Chris.

Speaker 10

My question relates to development. Just given the company's strong performance and sizable cash position, why not try to accelerate unit growth in 2024 beyond just a handful of locations?

Speaker 1

Well, I mean, we're going to grow as fast as Deemed reasonable given the environment. I mean right now it's not a matter of finding sites. It's a matter of Getting those sites open with the permitting and things like that. So if we can Right now, we're saying that. We'd also like some of the costs to come down a little bit, but that's kind of where we're looking right now until we see Kind of the construction and the permitting and some of that stuff to turn around a little bit.

Speaker 2

Yes, it needed some relief in those areas.

Speaker 10

I know you guys have struggled with openings in certain markets like Chicago and Denver. So I'm just wondering how those experiences Are shaping your development plans over the next couple of years?

Speaker 1

Well, I think that's why we're looking at The 5 to 7 and focusing on those states, Chris, because as we focus on those states, I think we'll get better brand recognition And some of the other states that will enter after the 3 to 5 years, but those states we're currently focusing in on have high AUVs, Great brand recognition. And quite honestly, they're very favorable from a business standpoint, from a margin standpoint. So those are The states we're focusing in on the next 3 to 5 years.

Speaker 10

Is the strategy to be more follow more of a Contiguous market, going from markets in close proximity because you just need that brand awareness as you go into newer markets?

Speaker 1

I think so. And I think if you go back to I hate to bring up 2013, but we kind of jumped into a lot New markets. So we'll take that more slowly, I guess, when we start branching into new markets, and not all at once in 1 year. So We'll continue to open in these states that we have high brand recognition and contiguously next to that state open in Some new markets.

Speaker 2

Yes. And that's over the next and the states that we're talking about was our growth over the next 5 years and getting a little bit beyond. So plenty

Speaker 9

of room.

Speaker 10

Okay. And I apologize if I missed it. But John, did you comment on just the cash position of the company And what you guys are maybe considering for deploying that cash or returning to shareholders maybe more aggressively? Yes.

Speaker 1

I mean, we continue to want to be somewhat opportunistic in buying back the stock, but we did buy back $3,000,000 this quarter. We still have about $82,000,000 to $83,000,000 on the balance sheet and then continue obviously opening stores. We'd like to get a little more aggressive in buying that stock back. But again, we want to be somewhat opportunistic in that as well.

Speaker 10

Okay. Thanks guys.

Speaker 2

Thanks Chris.

Operator

Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I'll now hand the floor over to Steve Hislop for closing remarks.

Speaker 2

Thank you so much. John and I appreciate your continued interest in Chuy's and

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