Cheesecake Factory

Financing

Investors find opportunity in public casual-dining chains

First Cheesecake Factory, then BJ’s Restaurants, now Dave & Buster’s. RB’s The Bottom Line looks at the latest trend in investing amid the coronavirus.

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The Cheesecake Factory

The Cheesecake Factory

The private-equity firm, which owns Arby's and Buffalo Wild Wings, has acquired 200,000 shares of preferred stock for $200 million.

Per-unit sales are running at about a third of the volume of pre-COVID-19 days, but that's still $3 million in annual per-store revenues. And costs have been aggressively cut.

Takeout and delivery business recently jumped 85%, but comps for March fell 46%.

The company said it is negotiating with landlords for a break on rent for the duration of the COVID-19 crisis.

Landlords have been alerted by letter that restaurants will stop payments beginning with their April obligations.

But conditions forced the temporary closure of 27 properties, the company said.

Tables will be set aside on a limited basis for prebookings, a move intended to draw more convenience-driven patrons.

A new ranking shows innkeepers may have a better perception within the workforce than most restaurant operations do.

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