GOOD TIMES RESTAURANTS INC

Company Overview

Good Times Restaurants Inc. operates two restaurant concepts in the Consumer Cyclical sector, within the Restaurants industry: Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar and Good Times Burgers & Frozen Custard. Bad Daddy’s is a full-service “better burger” and bar concept with a more premium, customizable menu, while Good Times is a quick-service drive-thru brand focused on speed, accuracy, and convenience, with a heavy concentration in Colorado. Fiscal 2025 was relatively flat at the top line, but same-store sales declined at both brands, reflecting softer traffic, cost pressures, and a challenging consumer backdrop. The company’s business is highly sensitive to consumer spending, local competition, commodity inflation, labor availability, and seasonal/weather-driven traffic swings.

Executive Compensation Practices

For a restaurant operator like Good Times Restaurants, executive compensation is likely to be tied to metrics such as same-store sales growth, restaurant-level margins, operating income, Adjusted EBITDA, cash flow, and successful unit-level expansion or acquisitions. Given the company’s recent results, pay programs would typically emphasize traffic recovery, cost control, labor productivity, and improvement in food and packaging margins, especially as management highlighted pressure from beef, eggs, wages, and occupancy costs. In the Restaurants industry, executives are often incentivized on a mix of annual bonus targets and long-term equity awards, with performance conditions that reflect both top-line comp performance and profitability. For a smaller-cap restaurant company with modest earnings and liquidity sensitivity, boards may also pay close attention to balance sheet management, covenant compliance, and disciplined capital allocation when setting incentives.

Insider Trading Considerations

Insider trading patterns at Good Times Restaurants may be influenced by restaurant traffic trends, commodity price volatility, and the timing of monthly or quarterly sales data, since these can materially affect earnings and near-term sentiment. Because the company operates in a highly competitive consumer-facing business, insiders may have a strong view of same-store sales momentum, promotional effectiveness, labor challenges, and whether pricing actions are being accepted by customers. Seasonal effects are important here: Bad Daddy’s is said to be weaker in the October-to-January period, and weather can materially impact Colorado sales, which may create periods of heightened uncertainty around results. In addition, as a smaller restaurant operator with a credit facility and tight liquidity, insiders may be especially sensitive to cash flow trends, capital spending, and the risk that inflation or tariffs could squeeze margins further.