Good Times Restaurants Inc. (GTIM): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money

Good Times Restaurants Inc. (GTIM) is a dual-brand operator, but can its unique mix of upscale casual and quick-service dining defintely deliver consistent returns in a tough market?

The company's latest fiscal 2025 third quarter showed a mixed financial picture, with total revenue declining 2.4% to $37.0 million, yet still managing to post a net income of $1.5 million by focusing on cost controls. This is a story about more than just burgers; it's about how the higher-revenue Bad Daddy's Burger Bar navigates same-store sales pressure while the Good Times brand struggles with a 9.0% sales drop. You need to understand this dual-strategy, so let's dig into the history, ownership, and the specific mechanics of how Good Times Restaurants Inc. makes money to map out the real risks and opportunities ahead.

Good Times Restaurants Inc. (GTIM) History

If you're looking at Good Times Restaurants Inc. (GTIM), you need to understand that its history is a story of two distinct concepts: the quick-service drive-thru born in Colorado and the upscale, full-service burger bar it acquired for growth. This dual-brand strategy, cemented by a major $21 million acquisition in 2015, is the core of the company's trajectory, even as it navigates the competitive restaurant landscape with a focus on margin improvement, which is defintely the right move.

Given Company's Founding Timeline

The company's roots trace back to a precursor, Round the Corner Restaurants, but the Good Times brand itself was a deliberate, drive-thru focused spin-off designed for speed and quality.

Year established

The first Good Times Drive-Thru Burgers restaurant opened in 1987.

Original location

The first restaurant was in Boulder, Colorado. The corporate headquarters are now in Golden, Colorado.

Founding team members

The founder of the Good Times Drive-Thru Burgers concept was Boyd Hoback.

Initial capital/funding

Specific initial capital figures from 1987 are not public, but the business was created by Round the Corner Restaurants, indicating internal funding for the new drive-thru concept. A major capital event later was the $21 million purchase price for Bad Daddy's International, LLC in 2015.

Given Company's Evolution Milestones

The company's evolution shows a clear shift from a regional quick-service chain to a diversified operator, a transition that required significant capital deployment and a strategic pivot toward the higher-margin, full-service segment.

Given Company's Transformative Moments

The company's most significant shifts were less about store count and more about strategic brand positioning and financial discipline.

The decision to fully acquire Bad Daddy's Burger Bar in 2015 for $21 million was the single most transformative moment. It fundamentally changed the company from a regional quick-service operator to a dual-concept entity, capturing both the drive-thru and the higher-average-check full-service markets. This move helped offset the challenges of competing in the traditional quick-service restaurant (QSR) space.

• The Pivot to Profitability: Following an internal restructuring, the appointment of current CEO Ryan M. Zink in 2020 signaled a hard pivot away from the previous high-growth, loss-generating strategy. The new focus was on stabilizing margins and leveraging the drive-thru model, a strategy that proved critical during the pandemic.
• Consolidating Ownership: In 2023, the company spent approximately $4.4 million in cash to purchase the remaining non-controlling interests in five Bad Daddy's joint-venture restaurants. This was a clear, actionable step to simplify the operating structure and consolidate all restaurant-level EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) under the parent company, which is just good clean-up work.
• Brand Refresh in 2025: The company is executing a long-term plan to modernize the Good Times brand, including slating 10 units for remodel in 2025 and launching a new 'Colorado Native Burgers' campaign [cite: 8, 14 from step 1]. This is a necessary investment to keep the legacy brand relevant against QSR giants.

To truly appreciate the current strategy, you should review the company's guiding principles: Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Good Times Restaurants Inc. (GTIM).

Good Times Restaurants Inc. (GTIM) Ownership Structure

Good Times Restaurants Inc. (GTIM) is a publicly traded company, meaning its ownership is distributed among institutional investors, company insiders, and the general public, creating a diverse set of stakeholders who influence its strategic direction.

This structure, with a significant retail float, means management must balance the interests of large funds seeking growth with the individual investors focused on near-term stock performance and operational stability.

Good Times Restaurants Inc.'s Current Status

Good Times Restaurants Inc. is a publicly traded entity, listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market under the ticker symbol GTIM. This status requires the company to adhere to rigorous reporting standards set by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), providing transparency into its operations and financials.

For the fiscal year 2025, the company reported total revenues of $37.0 million for the third quarter ended July 1, 2025, and a net income attributable to common shareholders of $1.5 million for that same quarter. The company's market capitalization was approximately $13.93 million as of November 2025, which puts it firmly in the micro-cap range.

Good Times Restaurants Inc.'s Ownership Breakdown

The ownership is heavily weighted toward the public, or retail, investor base, a common characteristic for smaller-cap stocks. Institutional holdings are relatively modest, which can sometimes lead to higher stock price volatility but also means a single large fund doesn't defintely dictate strategy.

Here's the quick math on who holds the shares, based on the latest available data around the end of fiscal 2025:

You can dive deeper into the major holders and their investment theses here: Exploring Good Times Restaurants Inc. (GTIM) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

Good Times Restaurants Inc.'s Leadership

The company is steered by a lean executive team focused on navigating the challenging restaurant environment, particularly with same-store sales declines reported for both the Bad Daddy's Burger Bar and Good Times Burgers & Frozen Custard brands in fiscal 2025.

The current leadership is tasked with executing a strategy to improve sales, which includes new marketing initiatives like the 'Colorado Native Burgers' campaign for the Good Times brand.

• Ryan M. Zink: President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). He has served in this role since April 2020, having previously held the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) position starting in 2017.
• Keri August: Senior Vice President of Finance and Accounting and Corporate Secretary. Ms. August was appointed to this role in January 2024 and has been instrumental in managing the company's balance sheet, which ended Q3 2025 with $3.1 million in cash.

The board and management team are critical in determining capital allocation, especially after the company temporarily paused its share repurchase program in fiscal 2025 to focus on debt repayment and cash accumulation.

Good Times Restaurants Inc. (GTIM) Mission and Values

Good Times Restaurants Inc.'s non-financial purpose centers on delivering a superior dining experience through high-quality, all-natural ingredients, which provides the foundation for their dual-brand strategy. This commitment to quality and a guest-first mindset is the cultural DNA that guides their pursuit of sustainable growth, even amidst a challenging operating environment.

Given Company's Core Purpose

The core purpose at Good Times Restaurants Inc. goes beyond just transactions; it's about a 'guest first mindset' and creating truly memorable experiences, as articulated by CEO Ryan Zink during the fiscal 2025 reporting period. This focus on execution and value perception, driven by quality and service rather than just price, is crucial when you consider the competitive pressure that contributed to a net loss of $600,000 in the second fiscal quarter of 2025.

The company defintely operates on a set of core values intended to translate this purpose into daily operations:

• Integrity: Conducting business with honesty and transparency.
• Customer Focus: Prioritizing satisfaction across all aspects of the business.
• Passion: Fueling the team to deliver exceptional experiences and maintain high standards.
• Teamwork: Fostering a collaborative and supportive work environment.
• Community: Actively supporting local initiatives and building neighborhood connections.

Official mission statement

The operational mission for Good Times Restaurants Inc. is a three-pronged commitment, ensuring a consistent and elevated experience across both the quick-service and full-service concepts.

• Customer Satisfaction: Providing a positive dining experience.
• Quality of Food: Serving fresh, high-quality ingredients.
• Community Engagement: Contributing to the local community.

This is why the Good Times brand, for example, commits to featuring 100% all-natural burgers and chicken sandwiches, using responsibly raised beef and chicken with no added hormones or antibiotics.

Vision statement

The company's vision is centered on achieving sustainable growth and operational excellence, which is the long-term goal that justifies near-term capital allocation decisions.

• Expanding Market Presence: Growing the footprint of both Good Times Burgers & Frozen Custard and Bad Daddy's Burger Bar locations.
• Maintaining High Standards: Ensuring consistency in food quality and customer service across all locations.

To support this vision, the company slated 10 Good Times units to undergo remodels in fiscal year 2025, which is a concrete investment in maintaining those high standards and brand modernization. You can read more about how these operational choices impact their bottom line in Breaking Down Good Times Restaurants Inc. (GTIM) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors.

Given Company slogan/tagline

While Good Times Restaurants Inc. doesn't use a single, overarching corporate slogan, each of its primary brands employs a clear, descriptive positioning that acts as a consumer-facing tagline.

• Good Times Burgers & Frozen Custard: Focuses on being a source of 'better fast food,' emphasizing their signature Wild Fries and small-batch frozen custard.
• Bad Daddy's Burger Bar: Positioned as a 'full-service 'small box' restaurant concept' that features a chef-driven menu of gourmet burgers and a focus on craft beers.

The core message across both brands is premium quality, whether it's in a quick-service drive-thru or a full-service casual dining setting. That's the differentiator in a crowded market.

Good Times Restaurants Inc. (GTIM) How It Works

Good Times Restaurants Inc. operates a dual-brand strategy, generating revenue by serving distinct segments of the quick-service (QSR) and full-service restaurant markets with a combined total of 70 owned, operated, and franchised locations as of November 2025. This model balances the high-volume, regional focus of Good Times Burgers & Frozen Custard with the higher average check and margin potential of the Bad Daddy's Burger Bar concept.

Given Company's Product/Service Portfolio

The company's value proposition is split between two complementary, yet distinct, dining experiences that target different customer needs and price points.

Given Company's Operational Framework

The operational framework focuses on unit-level economics, cost control, and strategic menu engineering to counter industry headwinds like rising labor and commodity costs. Here's the quick math: in the third fiscal quarter of 2025, Bad Daddy's maintained a strong Restaurant-Level Operating Profit (RLOP) margin of approximately 14.4% of sales, largely due to solid cost controls, even as the Good Times brand struggled with a 9.0% same-store sales decline. That's a huge divergence in performance.

• Menu Engineering: The Bad Daddy's brand successfully expanded its smash patty burger lineup in 2025, which provided a more favorable food cost of sales and helped offset a 4.5% year-over-year menu price increase.
• Cost Management: Management is actively reducing General and Administrative (G&A) costs and focusing on labor productivity to mitigate the impact of minimum wage increases, particularly in Colorado.
• Capital Allocation Shift: Following a challenging second quarter that saw a net loss of $600,000, the company temporarily paused its share repurchase program to redirect cash flow toward accumulation and debt repayment, aiming to maintain a strong balance sheet.
• Brand Refresh: A new 'Colorado Native Burgers' marketing campaign is launching for the Good Times brand, complete with new outdoor advertising, a fresh website, and a mobile app redesign, to address significant traffic declines.

Given Company's Strategic Advantages

Good Times Restaurants Inc.'s primary competitive edge lies in its two-concept portfolio, which allows it to capture different consumer dollars-from the quick-lunch crowd to the full-service dinner guest-plus, its regional concentration provides operational efficiencies. Still, the near-term strategy is all about stabilizing the Good Times brand while leveraging the Bad Daddy's strength.

• Dual-Concept Diversification: The quick-service Good Times brand (30 locations) offers speed and convenience, while the full-service Bad Daddy's (40 locations) provides a higher-quality, experiential dining environment, appealing to a broader market segment.
• Regional Dominance: The Good Times brand's concentration, primarily in Colorado, creates a strong regional identity and potential for supply chain and marketing efficiencies.
• Balance Sheet Prudence: Ending the fiscal 2025 third quarter with $3.1 million in cash and only $2.3 million in long-term debt gives the company flexibility to navigate current sales volatility. That's defintely a manageable debt load.
• Product Quality Focus: Ongoing operational improvements, such as new cooking procedures and holding standards for burger patties, aim to enhance product quality and customer experience, which is crucial for repeat business.

If you're looking to dig deeper into who is driving the stock, you should be Exploring Good Times Restaurants Inc. (GTIM) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

Good Times Restaurants Inc. (GTIM) How It Makes Money

Good Times Restaurants Inc. (GTIM) generates nearly all its revenue, about 99.6%, by selling food and beverages through its two distinct, company-owned restaurant concepts: the full-service Bad Daddy's Burger Bar and the quick-service Good Times Burgers & Frozen Custard. The remaining, tiny fraction of revenue comes from franchising fees and other ancillary sources, so it's a pure-play restaurant operator.

Good Times Restaurants Inc.'s Revenue Breakdown

You can see the company's financial engine clearly when you break down the sales by brand, using the most recent fiscal Q3 2025 data. Bad Daddy's is the clear revenue driver, but both brands are facing sales headwinds right now.

Business Economics

The core economic model for Good Times Restaurants Inc. relies on driving traffic and managing commodity costs across two very different operating environments: casual dining and quick service (QSR). This dual-brand strategy offers some diversification, but it also means managing two separate cost and pricing structures.

• Pricing Power: In Q3 2025, Bad Daddy's, the full-service concept, showed some pricing power, with its average menu price running 3.8% higher than the prior year, partially offsetting a drop in customer traffic. In contrast, the Good Times QSR brand's average menu price remained approximately the same, reflecting the intense competitive discounting in the quick-service burger segment.
• Cost Pressures: The biggest near-term risk is input cost inflation. Both brands are facing record-high ground beef costs heading into Q4 2025, forcing management to consider further incremental menu price increases.
• Labor & Occupancy: For Bad Daddy's, total labor cost increased to 34.2% of sales in Q3 2025, up 150 basis points year-over-year, largely due to higher average wage rates from market forces and minimum wage increases in key areas like Denver. Occupancy costs were also up to 8.6% of sales due to the deleveraging effect of lower sales on fixed costs.
• Strategic Shift: The company is moving away from heavy discounting, especially at Good Times, to focus on quality and brand identity, launching a new 'Colorado Native Burgers' campaign to drive incremental sales and traffic. Honestly, you can't discount your way to long-term health.

Good Times Restaurants Inc.'s Financial Performance

The financial picture as of Q3 2025 is mixed: profitability is up, but the top-line revenue trend is a serious concern. The company is managing costs well, but sales volume is declining across the board, which puts pressure on margins.

• Revenue and Profitability: Total revenue for Q3 2025 declined 2.4% year-over-year to $37.0 million, but net income still climbed by 10.5% to $1.5 million, up from $1.3 million in the prior year. This net income growth was primarily driven by improved cost control and a reduction in general and administrative expenses.
• Same-Store Sales (SSS) Decline: Same-store sales, a key health metric for restaurants, decreased significantly in Q3 2025. Bad Daddy's SSS fell 1.4%, while the Good Times brand saw a sharp drop of 9.0% compared to the same quarter in fiscal 2024. Year-to-date (YTD) same-store sales declines are 1.2% for Bad Daddy's and 4.4% for Good Times.
• Key Metrics: Adjusted EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization), a non-GAAP measure of operating performance, was $2.2 million for the quarter, down from $2.4 million in Q3 2024, reflecting the pressure from lower sales.
• Balance Sheet Health: The company ended the third quarter of fiscal 2025 with a stable cash position of $3.1 million and a manageable long-term debt of $2.3 million. This liquidity provides a defintely necessary buffer to execute their new marketing and operational strategies. You can dive deeper into the sustainability of these figures by reading Breaking Down Good Times Restaurants Inc. (GTIM) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors.

Good Times Restaurants Inc. (GTIM) Market Position & Future Outlook

Good Times Restaurants Inc. (GTIM) is currently navigating a challenging, bifurcated market: its Bad Daddy's Burger Bar concept shows margin strength, while the Good Times Burgers & Frozen Custard brand faces significant sales headwinds, evidenced by a 9.0% same-store sales decrease in the fiscal 2025 third quarter. The company's near-term outlook hinges on successfully executing its brand modernization and cost-control initiatives, especially against a backdrop of rising commodity and labor costs.

Competitive Landscape

GTIM operates in two distinct, highly fragmented segments: the Quick-Service Restaurant (QSR) burger space with Good Times and the Upscale Casual/Fast-Casual burger space with Bad Daddy's. The total U.S. Burger Restaurant industry is estimated to reach $173.6 billion in revenue in 2025, with the fast-casual burger segment alone valued at roughly $7.2 billion. Given its regional focus and size, GTIM holds a niche position, making its market share in the fast-casual/QSR burger segment around 1.9% based on its projected annual revenue of approximately $140 million for fiscal year 2025.

Opportunities & Challenges

The company's strategy for the rest of fiscal 2025 is a focused effort to stabilize the Good Times brand while leveraging the operational efficiencies at Bad Daddy's. The new 'Colorado Native Burgers' campaign is a clear attempt to re-establish a compelling brand narrative for its QSR concept. You can dig deeper into the company's financial stability by reading Breaking Down Good Times Restaurants Inc. (GTIM) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors.

Industry Position

Good Times Restaurants Inc. is a small-cap, regional player in a market dominated by giants like McDonald's and Wendy's, but it competes most directly in the premium burger niche. Its dual-brand structure is a strength, allowing it to capture both the QSR drive-thru and the fast-casual dining dollar, but it also creates operational complexity.

• The Bad Daddy's brand is the key profit driver, with its restaurant-level profit margin improving to 12.6% of sales in Q1 2025, showing strong operational control.
• The Good Times brand, however, is struggling with intense discount competition and high costs, resulting in a Q1 2025 restaurant-level operating profit of only 8.6% of sales.
• The company's market capitalization of approximately $20.75 million (as of May 2025) positions it as a micro-cap investment, highly sensitive to regional economic shifts and single-quarter performance.
• Management is defintely focused on internal efficiencies, like reducing General and Administrative (G&A) costs, to offset sales softness, which is a prudent, near-term capital preservation move.