Giggles N’ Hugs (OTC:GIGL), owner and operator of family-friendly restaurants that combine high-end, organic food with active, cutting-edge play and entertainment for children, this morning announced its financial results for the 13 weeks ended June 28, 2015.
Second-quarter 2015 net sales were $830,812, up 0.8% from net sales of $824,611 reported in the second quarter of 2014. Giggles N’ Hugs attributes the increase to the continuing trend for higher party rentals. Sales were up 3.4% for private party rentals and other sales, offsetting the higher allowances, returns and discounts. The Glendale location showed the highest increase of 5.5% over the comparable period from last year, which offset the slightly lower sales from the other locations.
Giggles N’ Hugs posted a second-quarter 2015 net loss of $474,826, a decrease of 0.5% compared to a net loss of $477,309 for the comparable quarter of 2014. Management believes losses will continue to be reduced and profitability will be attained in future quarters as the popularity of its restaurants increases.
“The recent additions to our management team, Philip Gay as chief business development officer and John Kaufman as interim-president, have brought a tremendous level of experience and leadership to Giggles N’ Hugs in the few short months they’ve been on board,” Joey Parsi, founder and CEO of Giggles N’ Hugs, stated in the news release. “Having worked together previously in their roles as CFO and COO respectively at California Pizza Kitchen, where they helped grow the chain from two locations to more than 70, they are helping us immensely as we prepare for our expansion on the West Coast and beyond.”
Parsi continued, “Together with the help of Todd Star, the former head of west coast leasing at Westfield USA who is now spearheading our negotiations with all the major mall owners in the country, we’re moving forward on our plans to open new locations in markets like Seattle and San Francisco in the north and San Diego and Orange County in the south. With the expected significant discounts from current market rents as well as attractive tenant allowances that have been offered, we should see great reductions in construction costs and rent for the new locations.
“We also continue to receive substantial interest from large multi-unit franchising operators and small individual franchisees, both domestically and internationally. This is an area that represents immense growth potential for Giggles N’ Hugs, and will provide very attractive margins, and complements our core company-owned expansion plans. With John and Philip’s extensive experience in the franchising space, with John serving as president of Koo Koo Roo Chicken and Philip serving as CFO at California Pizza Kitchen, and interim CEO at Wolfgang Puck Foods, I believe this will be an area that brings solid improvements to shareholder value as we execute. With what I consider to be an all-star management team we now have in place, we are very excited about what the future holds for Giggles N Hugs.”
For more information, visit www.gigglesnhugs.com
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