Revenue during the quarter grew 14.48 percent to $603.15 million from $526.84 million in the previous year period. Gross margin for the quarter expanded 54 basis points over the previous year period to 76.77 percent. Total expenses were 92.18 percent of quarterly revenues, down from 92.64 percent for the same period last year. This has led to an improvement of 45 basis points in operating margin to 7.82 percent.

Operating income for the quarter was $47.15 million, compared with $38.80 million in the previous year period.

"We delivered our 28th consecutive quarter of positive comparable sales, marking seven years of strong financial performance and meaningful shareholder value creation," said David Overton, chairman and chief executive officer. "We significantly outperformed the casual dining industry again during the fourth quarter as we continued to take market share.” Overton concluded, “We delivered on all of our objectives in 2016, including producing solid comparable sales performance, achieving our domestic unit growth goal, expanding our international presence to a total of 15 locations and increasing operating margins, all of which contributed to approximately 20% earnings per share growth. By maintaining our differentiated positioning and commitment to operational excellence, we believe we will uphold our leadership position in the casual dining industry in 2017 and beyond."