Renewed restrictions led to 15 store re-closings throughout November for Dave & Buster’s and, in turn, overall sales took another shot. Previous April and July highs were short of 60,000.Īs infections and deaths eclipsed earlier records as well, more than 20 states rolled back reopening plans and put a lid back on capacity for restaurants. Industry tracker Black Box Intelligence reported restaurant comp sales across the entire chain sector declined 10.3 percent in November-the worst since August.ĬOVID-19 hospitalization rates climbed above 100,000. And December is likely to be even bleaker. November, though, proved a different story. Simply, the company’s recovery was pointing up. In Q3, 68 of Dave & Buster’s 104 reopened (total, not mature comp units) achieved positive store-level EBITDA, and 80 did so in October, bringing the company “within a few million dollars” of breakeven, despite the fact all of its California and New York stores were still closed, which represent 25 percent of Dave & Buster’s overall sales. More telling, four restaurants actually generated figures above 2019 results. And reopened location sales peaked in late October at a 68 percent index to year-ago metrics, with the top quartile reaching a combined index of 91 percent.

Over the full quarter, Dave & Buster’s averaged 74 reopened, fully operational stores in its comps base that generated revenues at 57 percent of 2019 levels, up from 35 percent in Q2 when the brand boasted an average of 39 open comp venues. Comps declined 62 percent in September and 59 percent in October.

The eatertainment chain’s same-store sales plunged 75 percent in August, yet started to tick up as store openings did and public fears subsided. The purgatory state restaurants find themselves in-wedged between looming vaccine distribution and a COVID-19 case resurgence-continues to flare up a familiar cliché: It’s going to get worse before it gets better.īut for Dave & Buster’s, it’s an irrefutable reality.

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