Guzman y Gomez closes all U.S. restaurants, exits Chicago

Guzman y Gomez ceased trading astatine each 8 of its Chicago-area restaurants connected Thursday, ending the Australian fast-casual chain's six-year propulsion into the U.S. marketplace and generating a complaint of betwixt US$30 cardinal and US$40 cardinal successful its 2026 full-year results.

The institution said currency exit costs — covering lease liabilities, worker costs, and different contractual commitments — are not expected to transcend US$15 million, and that the one-time charges are not expected to impact its last dividend for fiscal twelvemonth 2026.

"I person ever been assured successful the differentiation of our nutrient and impermanent experience, nevertheless this was not translating to an betterment successful income momentum," laminitis and co-CEO Steven Marks said successful a statement. "Having spent the past 3 months successful the US, I realized this was going to instrumentality importantly much clip and superior than we had expected."

As precocious arsenic February, the institution had publically reaffirmed its committedness to the U.S. market, making Thursday's closure a crisp about-face, Reuters reported. Operating successful the U.S. had proven persistently difficult, with rising costs crossed fuel, food, and labour squeezing margins; the company's shares had besides ne'er recovered to their 2024 IPO terms of A$22.00, Reuters reported.

On the Australian Securities Exchange, the company's shares swung arsenic precocious arsenic 20% intraday earlier settling into a adjacent of A$19.81, a summation of 9.57% connected the day, CNBC reported.

The institution said it would absorption superior and resources connected Australia, wherever it presently operates 237 restaurants and has a semipermanent people of 1,000 locations. In Australia, the institution is projecting conception underlying EBITDA of astir A$85 cardinal for the existent fiscal year, which would correspond a 29% summation implicit the erstwhile year, and it expects to adhd 32 caller home locations earlier the fiscal twelvemonth closes.

"We person a agelong runway up of america successful Australia arsenic we advancement towards our semipermanent people of 1,000 restaurants," Marks said successful a statement.

Guzman y Gomez archetypal entered the U.S. successful 2020, choosing Chicago arsenic its motorboat marketplace with ambitions to unfastened hundreds of locations nationwide. The institution said the determination to exit does not change its condemnation successful the brand's planetary appeal, and that it plans to proceed expanding successful Singapore and Japan, wherever it said income maturation and portion economics stay strong. Singapore is acceptable to unfastened its 24th restaurant, and some markets program caller openings successful the adjacent 12 months, the institution said.