CALABASAS HILLS Calif. Cost savings of more than $8 million helped boost third-quarter profit nearly 38 percent at The Cheesecake Factory Inc., though sales declines continued, officials said Thursday.
For the quarter ended Sept. 29, The Cheesecake Factory reported net income of $16.3 million, or 27 cents per share, compared with $11.8 million, or 19 cents per share, for the same quarter last year.
Excluding interest costs on a revolving credit line, Cheesecake’s latest-quarter net income totaled $17.5 million, a more than 48-percent increase from the prior year third quarter, officials said.
Corporate revenue for the operator of 146 namesake restaurants, 13 Grand Lux Cafés and one RockSugar Pan Asian Kitchen fell 1 percent to $400.6 million.
Systemwide same-store sales fell 2.8 percent. The company’s namesake brand booked a same-store sales decline of 2.4 percent, and the Grand Lux Café chain reported a same-store sales drop of 6 percent.
Helping to drive traffic, officials said, were the successes of the smaller-portioned and lower-priced Small Plates & Snacks category on the namesake brand’s menu, as well as a new kid’s menu, and the new Stefanie’s Ultimate Red Velvet Cake Cheesecake.
Contact Lisa Jennings at [email protected].
