Dine Brands Global, Inc. (DIN) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Thank you. Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Dine Brands second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. ask a question during the session, you'll need to press star 11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your host today, Matt Lee, Senior Vice President, Finance and Investor Relations.

Good morning and welcome to DineBrands Global's second quarter fiscal 2026 conference call. This morning's call will include prepared remarks from John Payton, CEO and President of Applebee's, and Vance Chang, CFO. Following those prepared remarks, Lawrence Kim, Chief Commercial Officer and President of IHOP, will also be available, along with John and Vance, to address questions during the Q&A portion of the call. Please remember our safe harbor regarding forward-looking information. During the call, management will discuss information that is forward-looking and involves known and unknown risk, uncertainties, and other factors, which may cause the actual results to be different than those expressed or implied. Please evaluate the forward-looking information in the context of these factors, which are detailed in today's press release and 10-Q filing. The forward-looking statements will be used to evaluate the information that is forward-looking. statements are as of today and we assume no obligation to update or supplement these statements. We will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures, which are described in our press release and available on Dynabrand's Investor Relations website. With.

That is my pleasure to turn the call over to Dine Brands CEO, John Payton. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us. Today, I'd like to start with our results, and then I'll share some perspective on what's driving those results at each of our brands before turning it over to Vance for a deeper look at the financials. Our second quarter financial performance reflected the continued resilience of our brands in a dynamic operating environment. IHOP posted positive 1.5% comp sales and delivered its third consecutive quarter of industry outperformance versus Black Box on both traffic and sales. Applebee's reported comp sales of negative 1.8%, shaped by a difficult April comparison period, although we did see improvement in May and June. Fuzzy's delivered positive comp sales for the second consecutive quarter, and our adjusted EBITDA was $54 million, compared to $56 million in the same quarter last year. With those results as context, let me share some insights on what's driving them. The economic conditions we described at the end of Q1 continued into Q2. Inflation in food away from home, elevated gas prices, and declining consumer sentiment contributed to more deliberate spending behavior. Guests aren't walking away from dining out, but they are making intentional choices of when and where they choose to go. Our results show that when they choose Applebee's or IHOP, they are engaging fully. Average check was slightly up at both brands, and value mix remained consistent with Q1 levels, 26% at Applebee's and 22% at IHOP. We believe this is a result of the commitment we made roughly a year ago to deliver core, consistent value through our everyday value platforms. Two for $25 at Applebee's and everyday value at IHOP. We're seeing that consistency show up in our Q2 results, and we're encouraged by the early trends in the third quarter. Underpinning all of this is a shared framework across the brands, building long-term equity and everyday value, balancing check with premium options, and driving buzz through innovation. These aren't separate playbooks. They're the same priorities executed through the distinct platforms and personalities of each brand. While we expect the macro environment to remain dynamic throughout the rest of the year, we enter the second half in a stronger position than we were a year ago. Our operations are sharper, our value messaging is more consistent, and our brands are showing up as part of culture, not just reacting to it. Combined with our long-term growth initiatives, dual brands, a refreshed physical footprint, and our company-owned portfolio, and supported by our AcidLight model, we have a strong foundation to build on the momentum we're seeing across the brands and deliver growth for our franchisees and our shareholders. And so with that, I'll share some updates across the portfolio, beginning with Applebee's. Applebee's comp sales performance this quarter reflects the nature of building momentum, a slower start to gain traction as the period progressed. This April, we were comping against one of the strongest 2 for 25 promotions, the Sizzlin' Skillets campaign, in the same period last year. As the quarter progressed, results improved sequentially, driven by All You Can Eat and Poolio with Don Julio campaigns. This is our barbell strategy and our marketing playbook in action. An accessible, value-driven All You Can Eat campaign anchored in affordability, paired with a culturally resonant, higher-priced indulgence that drove traffic and generated social buzz among the younger audience. Together, these campaigns lifted both food and beverage sales, with liquor comps up 10.5% during the promotional period. That commitment to cultural relevance isn't limited to just marketing. It shapes how we innovate the menu, too. Our new loaded potato waves, a modern take on loaded potato skins that taps into the nostalgia trend, became our strongest appetizer launch since the pandemic. Looking ahead to Q3, we're seeing a solid performance for both both the Dollarita and the bacon cheeseburger wonton taco on the two for $25 platform, a combination that plays into the strength of our value platform and bar and beverage program. Off-premise sustained its positive momentum with comp sales of 1.5% and a fifth consecutive quarter of double-digit delivery comp sales growth, a meaningful signal of the underlying demand for the brand across different platforms. On the development front, the Lookin' Good remodel program continues to gain momentum. Sixty-six remodels have been completed year-to-date, with over 100 planned for 2026, putting us on pace for approximately one-third of the system to be remodeled by year-end. These remodels continue to deliver a mid-single-digit sales lift. on average. Alongside the physical transformation, we've remained equally focused on the in-restaurant experience. Manager-guest interactions rose to 75% of dine-in guests in Q2, up from 2025 baseline of 68%, and that's showing up in our guest satisfaction scores, which continued to climb quarter over quarter. Our average Google rating increased to 4.4 out of 5 in q2 that's up from 4.1 a year ago and across a review base that grew more than 23% year-over-year higher ratings on a larger base of reviews is a strong indication that our operational and physical improvements are registering with guests overall we're encouraged by the brand's improved performance as the quarter progressed the continued strength of our off-premise platform and attraction of our operational agenda heading into the second half of the year And now IHOP. For the third consecutive quarter, IHOP outperformed BlackBox industry benchmarks for sales and traffic, specifically beating traffic by mid-single digits. Comp sales grew 1.5 percent, driven by a new value-focused advertising campaign that brought guests in and deliberate check-driving initiatives that kept average ticket moving in the right direction. Q2 was a clear expression of IHOP's barbell strategy, everyday value driving frequency on one end, premium offerings driving check at the other. In April, we expanded our $6 value menu with the BLTAF, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and fries, responding to our guest demands for complete meals across day parts. Beyond value, our menu continues to balance approachable everyday options with premium offerings, including the promotion of IHOP's signature stuffed and stacked omelets and culturally relevant LTOs. Most recently, we responded to overwhelming fan enthusiasm by bringing back Dubai chocolate pancakes as a national LTO, following a wide-ranging demand for them. widely popular limited release the year prior. In just the first few weeks, it's already over-indexing in sales versus forecast, and we'll have more to share in Q3. IHOP also saw consistent growth in off-premise, delivering its fifth consecutive quarter of positive off-premise comp sales with a 3.5% lift in Q2. Our catering business was a particular standout. Comp sales accelerated 22% in Q2, up from 16% in Q1, reflecting growing demand across the board. across occasions beyond the restaurant. Operationally, our progress is tangible. Table terms at IHOP improved by four minutes compared to the end of last year, a meaningful throughput gain. And guests are responding. IHOP's average Google rating rose to 4.0 out of 5 in Q2, up from 3.9 a year ago, while its grew by more than fourfold over the same period, reflecting broader guest engagement and consistent in-restaurant experience. IHOP has now outperformed black box benchmarks on both sales and traffic for three consecutive quarters. An early Q3 trend suggests that momentum is continuing. The strategy is working, and the operational foundation behind it is still in place. is stronger than it was a year ago. And Fuzzy's delivered positive comp sales for the second consecutive quarter, outperforming its black box competitive set. The results reflected our sustained effort to strengthen that business by improving technology, streamlining the menu, and enhancing the in-restaurant experience. Off-premise remains a meaningful and consistent contributor to the brand's quarter-over-quarter improvement. improvement, and we're encouraged by Fuzzy's performance in the first half of the year and remain focused on sustaining and building on this momentum going forward. Now I'll turn to our dual brand initiative. The platform continued its steady expansion in Q2. As a reminder, our target's open 80 dual brands by year end, and as of today, we have 45 domestic dual brand locations open, including seven company owned, with 12 additional locations under construction. With each new opening, we refine our pre-opening process, reduce construction timelines, and sharpen our operational playbook, resulting in a faster path to steady-state performance. The concept is also continuing to reach new markets. In June, we opened our first dual brand in Los Angeles, one of the most competitive restaurant markets in the country. Opened by an existing franchisee who knows our brands well, the location is already performing at high sales levels, a strong proof point that the concept can win in new markets and that experienced operators are continuing to lean in. We're pleased that franchisee interest in the dual brand program remains strong and our pipeline continues to grow. We see increased engagement from franchisees who are incorporating dual brand conversions into their long-term development plans as a growth vehicle, given the compelling economics versus the prior standalone unit. And taken together, dual brands... and investing in the physical restaurant experience matter, and the early results validate that conviction. Before I turn it over to Vance, I'll reiterate that we're seeing steady performance across our brands, which gives us continued confidence that our near-term priorities are setting us up for long-term growth and value creation.

All right. Thanks, John. On the top line, our total revenues increased 4.4% to $240.9 million in Q2 versus $230.8 million in the prior year. And it's really driven by an increase in the number and timing of when we acquired restaurants from franchisees. So if we take out advertising revenues, franchise revenues in Q2 decreased 6% due to decrease in the number of franchise restaurants, primarily from our restaurant take backs and a decrease in franchise termination fees. Rental segment revenues for the second quarter of 2026 decreased to $26.7 million versus $27.8 million in the prior year period, primarily due to lease terminations. G&A expenses were $55.6 million in Q2 of 2026, up from $50.8 million in the prior year period. in the same period of last year from higher employee-related costs associated with the expansion of company-owned restaurants and dual-brand operations, increased severance charges, and higher transaction expenses from the acquisition of 48 Applebee's restaurants in June of 2026. Adjusted EBITDA for Q2 of 2026 decreased to $54.2 million from $56.2 million in Q2 of 2025. Adjusted diluted EPS for the second quarter of 2026 was $1.16 compared to adjusted diluted EPS of $1.17 for the second quarter of 2025. Now turning to the statement of cash flows. We had adjusted free cash flow of $3.7 million for the first six months of 2026, compared to $48.7 million for the same period of last year. The decrease was primarily driven by higher capital expenditures, timing of marketing spend, and higher payments related to performance-based compensation and interest expense. Additionally, we continue to provide remodel and development incentives to our franchisees, which also had a negative impact on adjusted free cash flow for the period. The capex through Q2 of 2026 was $23.2 million, compared to $9.3 million for the same period of 2025. The increase is primarily due to our investments in company-owned restaurant remodels and dual-brand conversions. We finished the second quarter with total unrestricted cash of $97.5 million compared to unrestricted cash of $104.2 million at the end of the first quarter. On buybacks and dividends, we returned $9 million of capital to shareholders in Q2, including $7 million of share repurchases and $2 million of dividends. Year-to-date, we repurchased $29 million of shares, which was approximately 7% of our total shares outstanding at the beginning of the year. We made the board-authorized and additional share repurchase program of up to $100 million. We continue to believe our shares are undervalued and remain committed to share repurchases. Next, let me discuss Applebee's performance. Q2 domestic same restaurant sales decreased 1.8% year over year. Domestic average weekly franchise sales per restaurant were $57.7 thousand, including approximately $13.2 thousand from off-premise, or 22.8 percent of total sales, of which 10.9 percent is from to-go and 11.8 percent is from delivery. Off-premise saw a positive 1.5% lift in comp sales in 2026 compared to the same period of last year. IHOP's Q2 domestic same-restaurant sales increased 1.5%. Domestic average weekly franchise sales per restaurant were $39,700, including $8,000 from off-premise, or 20.2%. of total sales, of which 7.6% is from to-go and 12.6% is from delivery. Our premise saw a positive 3.5% live-income sales in 2026, compared to the same period of last year. Now turning to commodities. Applebee's commodity cost in Q2 increased by 8.2% and IHOP commodity cost increased by 1.6% versus the prior year. Our co-op supplier, CSCS, continues to expect commodity costs in 2026 at mid-single digits for Applebee's and low single digits for IHOP. The primary driver for both brands' commodity costs is higher beef prices, including the lapping of favorable beef contracts at Applebee's last year. To date, in 2026, we implemented projects resulting in over $12 million of annualized savings across both systems, and we continue to partner with CSCS to leverage our scale. Lastly, our company-owned portfolio remains instrumental in strengthening brand performance and supporting the overall health of our system, and our goal is to ultimately re-franchise these locations at the right time. At the end of Q2, we own 136 restaurants, which includes seven dual-branded restaurants, totally about 4% of our system. During the quarter, we completed 10 remodels and 3 dual-brand conversions, bringing our total to 30 remodels and 7 dual-brand conversions since taking back these restaurants. Although closures for construction impacted the profitability of our company-owned portfolio, we're making progress. Our dual-brand conversions are averaging approximately two times single-brand sales levels. While we're operating more company-owned restaurants than a year ago, we are actively looking at refranchising some of the restaurants in the portfolio and continue to remain a highly franchised business model. Before turning the call back over to John for Q&A, I'd like to add that we're maintaining our full year of financial guidance at this time.

With that, I'll hand it back over to John. Thank you all for your time today, and we look forward to taking your questions. Operator, I'll turn it back to you for instructions on how to access the queue.

Thank you. At this time we will conduct a question and answer session. As a reminder, to ask a question, you may need to press star 1 1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, press star 1 again. We also ask that you limit yourself to one question and one follow up. Please stand by while we compile the questions. the Q&A roster. Our first question of the day will be coming from the line of Nick St. Jan of Michoosu. Please go ahead.

Hi, thanks for the question. One just kind of bigger picture, it seems like the casual dining category overall has seen a big acceleration through June and here into the Q3 to date. period. I know you guys talked about some solid trends both in June and into Q3. Just given the magnitude of the acceleration of some of your peers, any chance that you would be willing to give us a little bit more color on what kind of trends you're seeing?.

Good morning, Nick. It's John. What we can say about Q3 and obviously July specifically is that we also see the positive trends that are there. I can comment on the the work we've done. So you've already seen in Q3 that Applebee's, for example, launched the cheeseburger wonton taco as part of the two for 25 menu. That's part of our strategy to make sure there's a new menu item each quarter on two for 25. And we also had dollar Rita in July. And so you can point to those launches as programs that drove performance in the third quarter. For IHOP, they launched Dubai chocolate pancakes in the beginning of the third quarter, and that too is performing better than expectations. So while we can't quantify the quarter so far, we can tell you that we like what we're seeing and we can point to great menu innovation that's driving it.

it. Okay. And on the dual brand conversions, which obviously is a big part of the thesis going forward, I think you guys said two times the sales levels of the... the single branded, you know, the single brands. Is that a level you're comfortable with? Does that imply higher profitability? What are the franchisees seeing? Any color there would be helpful as well.

Yes, Nick, it's John. I can take that as well. So for the dual brand program, we're pleased overall with where we are. Keep in mind that the first dual brand opened about a year and a half ago. And a year and a half later, we've got the 45 open on our way to 80 this year. That's number one. Number two is, yes, the revenue The incremental revenue from adding the second brand is about 2x, and we're pleased with that. We're also pleased with the stabilizing cost of the conversion, which is about a million dollars, plus or minus, depending on which brand you are leading with. And then we're pleased with the pipeline that we're developing for next year as well. The focus that we have right now is on the operations of the restaurant. So now that we've got 45 open, we can go back in, challenge our assumptions, and we're looking at the cost model. We're looking at the menu mix. We're looking at the way in which... We've designed the menu, et cetera, to improve the profitability. But the profitability, yes, is intended to be incremental on that incremental portion of the revenue.

Thank you. One moment for the next question. And our next question is coming from the line of Todd Brooks of Benchmark StoneX. Please go ahead.

Hey, thanks for taking my questions. First one, on the corporate store portfolio, I was wondering if we could look at that by maybe time that you've owned it back in the portfolio to understand Okay, whatever you want to call the first cohort of reacquired stores. Have they achieved profitability? If you look at that group, have you had enough time on task to improve? Just trying to get a sense for when we should see profitability for owned units improve. And especially, I think, Vance, you talked about maybe some more focus on refranchise. I'm imagining that some of the acquired base has improved nicely and is maybe ready to attack that effort.

Yes, thanks, Todd. Vance will take that question. Hey, Todd. Good to hear from you. The company restaurants were on track to this sort of three-year timeline that we provided to investors. A reminder that we took these restaurants back at little or no cost to dine in terms of purchase price. And the ultimate goal is just to remodel, to reinvest. and re-franchise them back to the system over time. So we're seeing progress with operation improvements, with guest, gets feedback and then by and large we're done with the bulk of the construction work for this year. So we're tracking well, encouraged by it. And then I think Todd, you mentioned this yourself, which is we're already getting interest from franchisees to re-franchise. And so we're going to consider the inbound interest on a case-by-case basis and we're going to make the right decision for the franchisees and for for our guests.

Okay, great. Good to hear. And then I was wondering, I know you said guidance is unchanged, But we did have a kind of a G&A pop in Q2 relative to, I think, taking back the Applebee's units late in the quarter. I'm just wondering if If there's anything we need to think about kind of shape of the G&A guidance relative to the full year, any nuances that we should be building into our models? Thanks, Lance. Yes, of course. You know, Todd, we're on track to maintaining our guidance, maybe towards the lower end of the guidance, but we're definitely within that range. And let me sort of...