Ark Restaurants Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

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Provided by Quartr
May 12, 2026

Key Takeaways

  • Negative Sentiment: Management said sales are down across most markets, with Las Vegas down about 11%, Florida down 10%, and Washington, D.C. down 5%, attributing the softness to pressured consumers and weaker visitation.
  • Neutral Sentiment: Menu pricing has remained mostly stable, and the company is not seeing meaningful price increases despite some increases on select items.
  • Positive Sentiment: The company said cash flow in Las Vegas improved as it tightened payroll and other expenses, and overall the balance sheet remains stable with $11.5 million in cash and $7.6 million of debt at quarter-end.
  • Neutral Sentiment: Ark Restaurants expects its new America location in Las Vegas to open in early July, and management believes it could significantly improve the property’s appeal and results.
  • Negative Sentiment: Litigation at Bryant Park continues and is still creating meaningful expense drag, with management warning the case may not go to trial until late this year or early next year and could face an appeal afterward.
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Earnings Conference Call
Ark Restaurants Q2 2026
00:00 / 00:00

There are 5 speakers on the call.

Speaker 3

Greetings, welcome to The Ark Restaurants 2nd quarter 2026 results conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance, please press star 0 on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce Anthony Sirica, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

Operator

Good morning, everyone. Hold on, Chris has to read the safe harbor. Sorry.

Speaker 1

Hello, everyone. My name is Christopher Love. I'm the secretary. With me on the call today is Michael Weinstein, our Chairman and CEO, and Anthony Sirica, our President and CFO. For those of you who have not yet obtained a copy of our press release, it was issued over the Newswire yesterday and is available on our website. To review the full text of that press release, along with the associated financial tables, please go to our homepage at www.arkrestaurants.com. Before we begin, however, I'd like to read the safe harbor statement. I need to remind everyone that part of our discussion this morning will include forward-looking statements and that these statements are not guarantees of future performance, and therefore, undue reliance should not be placed on them.

Speaker 1

We refer everyone to our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for more detailed discussion of the risks that may have a direct bearing on our operating results, performance, and financial condition. I'll now turn the call over to Anthony.

Operator

Good morning, everybody. As always, Michael will discuss the business and Bryant Park and the Meadowlands situation. As far as the balance sheet goes, we did draw down $5 million before the end of the quarter to finance our leasehold improvements in Las Vegas. Our cash at the end of the quarter was $11.5 million, and our debt was $7.6 million. Other than that, the balance sheet remains very stable and in good shape. That's really it. Pretty uneventful as far as the balance sheet goes.

Speaker 2

Yeah. This is Michael. I'll just do a brief review of what's going on. It's sort of a repeat of the last quarter and the quarter before that. We haven't increased prices by any measurable amount. There have been certain increases on certain items, but the menu pricing remains pretty much stable. We're challenged with sales everywhere. Essentially, the check averages remain pretty much the same, but we're losing what we consider the bottom end of our business with people who are being challenged by their own home expenses and prices at grocery stores and gas prices, et cetera. It's pretty much across the board.

Speaker 2

The Vegas sales are down about 11%, which is sort of in line with what the city is saying in terms of visitorships. However, our cash flow there has actually improved as we have gotten better at managing payroll expenses and certain other expenses. We're really very well managed there. In Florida, everything's down 10%. We check with other operators and vendors, and we're pretty much in line with all restaurants. Washington D.C., same situation, down 5% in sales. Again, we have new management there. We're operating more efficiently with less payroll. We're actually running a little bit ahead of last year in terms of not having the losses we had last year. New York, Robert is doing very well.

Speaker 2

We challenge with events at Bryant Park because of litigation that we're going through. We're still very profitable, but our litigation expenses offset a good portion of that profitability. All in all, not much different from the last quarter. It's just a sales problem. I would say to you that overall, we're very pleased with the product we're putting out, services, food. We are hopeful that we'll be opening our new America in Las Vegas in early July. We think that's gonna help us dramatically. We think we're turning what is, you know, basically a restaurant that services customers of the hotel into what should be a sought after destination. In terms of Bryant Park litigation, it's ongoing.

Speaker 2

We suggested to everybody who's interested that they go to the website, the court website to see all of the filings. So far there is nothing to indicate that this litigation is going to end soon. The trial will probably take place somewhere in very late this year, calendar year or early next year. I'm sure whoever wins that trial will be faced with an appeal from the opposite side, which will take another year and a half. Meadowlands. We are at the point where we are hopeful that a referendum will be suggested by the legislature to be put up for a vote in November.

Speaker 2

There is strong opposition always from the Atlantic City legislators, and there is strong push forward to get this done by the northern legislators. We'll know more in the next month or so whether or not that referendum will be put on the ballot. The polling from the public is fairly positive. I mean, there are 3 polls that have been done, all of them in favor. One of them very close, 51%-49% in favor. The 2 others show anywhere from 62%-66% in favor. I think the polling is should be persuasive, but again, this is Jersey politics, and we're just hopeful we get on the ballot this year. With that, any questions?

Speaker 3

I'd like to hand the floor back over to Michael Weinstein for any closing remarks.

Speaker 2

See you next quarter. Thank you very much.

Operator

Thank you.

Speaker 4

Thank you.

Speaker 3

This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you again for your participation.

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