Revenue during the quarter grew 21.79 percent to $73.85 million from $60.64 million in the previous year period. Gross margin for the quarter expanded 138 basis points over the previous year period to 53.86 percent. Total expenses were 96.28 percent of quarterly revenues, down from 97.09 percent for the same period last year. This has led to an improvement of 82 basis points in operating margin to 3.72 percent.

Operating income for the quarter was $2.75 million, compared with $1.76 million in the previous year period.

However, the adjusted EBITDA for the quarter stood at $8.44 million compared with $6.77 million in the prior year period. At the same time, adjusted EBITDA margin improved 26 basis points in the quarter to 11.43 percent from 11.17 percent in the last year period.

“Our fourth quarter results included a 21.8% increase in total revenue and our 52nd consecutive quarter of positive comparable restaurant sales. We’re particularly proud of these results as they occurred during a fiercely competitive environment in the restaurant industry. Our growth in the quarter was driven by innovation, new digital marketing campaigns as well as our long-standing strategy of providing a differentiated high-quality fast-casual experience at a tremendous every day value,” said Russ Bendel, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Habit Restaurants, Inc. “We opened 11 new company-operated Habit Burger Grills during the quarter. These openings included three locations in Florida, one in New Jersey, one in Arizona and six locations in California. In addition, we opened two franchise locations, one in Dubai and one in Sharjah. These are our first international locations”

For fiscal year 2017, The Habit Restaurants, Inc expects revenue to be in the range of $338 million to $342 million.