Kura Sushi experienced an 11.5% drop in traffic in its fiscal fourth quarter and a decrease of 5.7% in same-store sales compared to the same period in 2025.
The Asian casual-dining chain attributed the traffic decline to strong consumer headwinds and plans to add value-priced weekday lunch packages to bolster that daypart, President, CEO and CFO Hajime Uba said during the company’s earnings call on Thursday.
Kura Sushi’s average check is $29, a price that is higher than its casual-dining competitors for lunch. The Irvine, California-based chain recently tested two lunch value combos at $9.99 and $11.99 that accounted for 5% of the menu mix and attracted new guests, and it plans to roll these out systemwide in the second quarter of 2027, said Uba. Also in the works are value bundles for off-premises customers.
For the fiscal fourth quarter ended Aug. 31, Kura Sushi’s total sales were $88.9 million compared to $79.4 million in 2025. The company opened four new restaurants in the quarter, and in the past two months, it has opened three more. Kura Sushi now has locations in 25 states, including recent expansion in Oklahoma, Iowa, and North Carolina, reaching close to 100 U.S. units. Rapid growth is now less of a consideration, the company noted on the call.
Operating loss in the fourth quarter was $0.6 million, compared to an operating income of $1.5 million in 2025, and adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, dereciation, and amortization) was $7.7 million. Food and beverage costs as a percentage of sales were 29.7% compared to 28.4% in the fourth quarter of 2025. The increase is primarily due to tariffs on imported ingredients, partially offset by increases in menu prices.
“As we look back at our fiscal year 2026, I’m proud of our efforts to protect margin despite tariffs and consumer headwinds,” said Uba. “While tariffs collectively increased our costs of goods sold and other costs by 180 basis points, we were able to offset these increases with labor leverage of 190 basis points as compared to fiscal year 2025, driven by the technological innovation that is core to our concept. Our continued commitment to G&A [General and Administrative] leverage is reflected in the 90 basis point improvement, and we were also able to grow Adjusted EBITDA margin and dollars as compared to fiscal year 2025.”
In its outlook for 2027, Kura Sushi forecasts total sales of $376 million to$381 million and unit growth of 17 new restaurants. “Relief from tariffs and our goal of getting traffic to flat should accelerate improvement in comps,” said Uba.
