GENK · GEN Restaurant Group, Inc.

GEN Restaurant Group's Q1 2026 results showed revenue declining 6.0% to $53.9 million from $57.4 million in Q1 2025, driven by an 8.8% same-store sales drop amid a challenging restaurant environment with rising fuel prices impacting discretionary spending, especially in California where 45% of U.S. stores operate. This improved from a 11.7% decline in Q4 2025. Total restaurant operating expenses rose to 100.5% of revenue from 92.6%, with food cost increasing 440 basis points to 38.0% due to commodity inflation, payroll and benefits up 33 basis points to 32.1%, and occupancy costs up 184 basis points. Restaurant pre-opening costs fell to $1.7 million from $2.6 million as fewer stores were in pipeline. Loss from operations widened to $7.2 million or 13.4% of revenue from $2.1 million or 3.8%, with restaurant-level adjusted EBITDA margin contracting to 7.4% from 15.6%. G&A expenses rose to 12.8% of revenue from 11.1%. Management highlighted a joint venture with Chubby Cattle International on five locations to boost profitability in H2 2026, slowing 2026 openings to 5-7 and suspending six under construction to preserve capital, with cash at $4.4 million. The CPG division emerged as a growth driver, with 56 SKUs now in Safeway, Stater Bros., BevMo, plus new Albertsons and Costco deals, projecting 2,000+ locations by year-end 2026 and 7,000-8,000 by 2027, aiming for $100 million run-rate revenue with high-teens EBITDA margins. CEO David Kim emphasized scaling the K-Food ecosystem for shareholder value. A conference call was held on May 14, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. ET.