FoodBud
RankingsInsightsMixue SeriesArchiveMethodologyDataSearch中文
RankingsInsightsMixue SeriesArchiveMethodologyDataSearch中文
FoodBud

Global foodservice chain intelligence. Every figure should link back to a source.

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Company card

First Watch

Medium
Brand

Nasdaq FWRG · US

Listing status
listed
Operating model
Mixed direct + franchise
Scale basis
GMV / system sales
Confidence
Medium
Segment
daytime cafe

Official 10-K parsing resolves the earlier denominator error and adds system-wide sales, AUV and restaurant-level profit.

Scale basis note

Terminal transaction scale across the network. Useful for franchise reach, not the same as listed-company revenue.

Compare this operator
Every number has a source row

Metrics below keep source tier, quality, period, and source link visible at the metric level.

Source tiers
S1Official primary — filings, annual reports, prospectuses
S2Official secondary — IR decks, transcripts
S3Supplementary — vetted media, databases
S0Not usable — flagged, never published

Source tiers — S1 official primary · S2 official secondary · S3 supplementary · S0 not usable. Open “Provenance” on any number for its tier, basis, precision, and do-not-use note.

GMV is not revenue

GMV/system sales, revenue, and royalty pool sales are separate scale bases. Screening proxies are directional only.

MetricValuePeriod / basisQualitySource
Stores
Reported restaurant, coffee shop, tea shop, bakery, or comparable chain units.
633 stores
FY2025 (52 weeks ended December 28, 2025): 633 system-wide restaurants (560 company-owned and 73 franchise-owned) across 32 states as of December 28, 2025.
Source-backed
S2 official secondary (opens in new tab)
Press Or Ir · 633 system-wide restaurants (560 company-owned and 73 franchise-owned) across 32 states as of December 28, 2025.
Provenance
Tier: S2 official secondary
Source: Press Or Ir
Scale
Terminal transaction scale across the network. Useful for franchise reach, not the same as listed-company revenue.
$1.38B
FY2025 (52 weeks ended December 28, 2025): System-wide sales increased to $1.4 billion in 2025 from $1.2 billion in 2024; exact figure $1,375,045 thousand per selected operating data table.
GMV / system salesTerminal transaction scale across the network. Useful for franchise reach, not the same as listed-company revenue.
Source-backed
S2 official secondary (opens in new tab)
Press Or Ir · System-wide sales increased to $1.4 billion in 2025 from $1.2 billion in 2024; exact figure $1,375,045 thousand per selected operating data table.
Provenance
Tier: S2 official secondary
Source: Press Or Ir
Basis: GMV / system sales
Precision: Source-backed
Scale per store
Screening proxy: scale divided by store count. It is not audited AUV or unit profit.
$2.17M
Screening proxy
Derived scale_per_store using scale ÷ store_count at the linked scale basis; not a separately reported company metric.
GMV / system salesTerminal transaction scale across the network. Useful for franchise reach, not the same as listed-company revenue.
Source-backed
S1 official primary (opens in new tab)
Operator Metric Source · Source used for operator metric extraction.
Provenance
Tier: S1 official primary
Source: Operator Metric Source
Basis: GMV / system sales
Precision: Derived
Profit signal
Profit signal from the source period. Read with local accounting and segment mix in mind.
$19.43M
FY2025 (52 weeks ended December 28, 2025): Net income increased to $19.4 million in 2025 from $18.9 million in 2024; exact figure $19,432 thousand per consolidated statements.
Profit-positiveScale basis not specified. Use as a screening signal until a source pack is attached.
Source-backed
S2 official secondary (opens in new tab)
Press Or Ir · Net income increased to $19.4 million in 2025 from $18.9 million in 2024; exact figure $19,432 thousand per consolidated statements.
Provenance
Tier: S2 official secondary
Source: Press Or Ir
Basis: Profit-positive
Revenue
Source-backed operating metric from the locked research snapshot.
$1.22B
USD 1.22B revenue (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
Revenue proxyRecognized company revenue. Useful for accounting scale, but not directly comparable with GMV/system sales.
Source-backed
S1 official primary (opens in new tab)
Operator Metric Source · Source used for operator metric extraction.
Provenance
Tier: S1 official primary
Source: Operator Metric Source
Basis: Revenue proxy
Precision: Source-backed

Market data (listed companies)

Market valuation · fluctuates · not operational scale · do not compare with GMV / system sales. Listed companies only.

MetricValuePeriod / basisQualitySource
Market cap
Public market capitalization captured in the locked source snapshot.
$708.3M
May 22, 2026: FWRG closing price on May 22, 2026: $11.49; shares outstanding approximately 61.64M; implied market cap approximately $708.3M.
Market cap (USD)Scale basis not specified. Use as a screening signal until a source pack is attached.
Source-backed
S3 supplementary (opens in new tab)
Media Or Aggregator · FWRG closing price on May 22, 2026: $11.49; shares outstanding approximately 61.64M; implied market cap approximately $708.3M.
Provenance
Tier: S3 supplementary
Source: Media Or Aggregator
Basis: Market cap (USD)
Precision: Market snapshot · not operational scale
⚠ Do not use for: Market valuation · not operational scale · never compare with GMV/system sales

Operator profile

12/20 source-backed

Classification, firmographics, ownership and operating dimensions — source-backed where disclosed, marked as a gap (never inferred) where not.

Format & positioning
Cuisine (primary)
casual variedS2 official secondary (opens in new tab)
Cuisine (secondary)
not disclosed
Service model
casual dining
Price tier
midmenu_data (opens in new tab)
Company
Founded
1,983aggregator (opens in new tab)
HQ country
United Statesaggregator (opens in new tab)
CEO
Chris Tomassocompany-ir (opens in new tab)
Employees
16,000 headcountaggregator (opens in new tab)~
Ownership
Parent
Public-standalone; controlled-company status diminishing as PE sponsor sells downtier1_filing (opens in new tab)
PE / holding
Advent International — acquired majority control 2017, took public 2021; still a major (~10%+) holder, held ~19.19M shares as of Mar 31 2025 but steadily selling downtier1_filing (opens in new tab)
Recent M&A
not disclosed
Growth
System sales YoY
not disclosed
Revenue YoY
13.9%S1 official primary (opens in new tab)
Net new units
50 unitsS1 official primary (opens in new tab)
Pricing & digital
Avg check
not disclosed
Digital sales
not disclosed
Off-premise
19%company (opens in new tab)
Franchise terms
Royalty
4%FDD aggregate (multiple FDD-based sources) (opens in new tab)
Franchise fee
$40,000FDD aggregate (multiple FDD-based sources) (opens in new tab)
By-market footprint
United States
633 storesS1 official primary (opens in new tab)

Store counts by market/region — footprint context, not a same-basis comparison.

Disclosed store model

disclosed7/7 source-backed

Company-operated vs franchised footprint, AUV and store-level economics — taken verbatim from each operator's own filing, never inferred. A separate axis from company scale and single-store economics.

Total stores
633 stores
633 system-wide restaurants at 2025-12-28: 560 company-owned and 73 franchise-owned across 32 states.
Source-backedS1 official primary (opens in new tab)
Operational scale
$1.4B
FY2025 system-wide sales USD1.375045B across 633 system-wide restaurants; restaurant sales recognized as company revenue were USD1.212173B and franchise revenues were USD10.328M.
Source-backedS1 official primary (opens in new tab)
Revenue
$1.2B
USD 1.22B revenue (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
Source-backedS1 official primary (opens in new tab)
Company-operated
see brand drilldown
Franchised
see brand drilldown

Brand drilldown

non-additive

Per-brand detail — NOT additive (brands may use different bases / periods) and NOT counted in rankings. Listed for transparency only.

First Watch
Operating margin
20.1%
FY2024
Source-backedS1 official primary (opens in new tab)
Food cost %
22.2%
FY2024
Source-backedS1 official primary (opens in new tab)
Labor cost %
33.4%
FY2024
Source-backedS1 official primary (opens in new tab)
Rent cost %
8.2%
FY2024
Source-backedS1 official primary (opens in new tab)

Single-store model

1/8 source-backed

Unit economics are a separate axis from company-level scale — never read as the same number. Each field keeps its source, period, and quality; derived/estimated rows and gaps are marked.

AUV / unit sales
Derived; not disclosed AUV.
Derived: gmv_or_system_sales_usd 1,375,045,000/633=~USD2,172,267/store.
FY2024_or_latest_L1
EstimatedNeeds source
Single-store profit
GAP — not fabricated.
—
GapSource (opens in new tab)
Initial investment
GAP — not fabricated.
—
GapSource (opens in new tab)
Franchise fee / royalty
GAP — not fabricated.
—
GapSource (opens in new tab)
Payback period
GAP — not fabricated.
—
GapSource (opens in new tab)
Same-store sales
GAP — not fabricated.
—
GapSource (opens in new tab)
Store open / close
GAP — not fabricated.
—
GapSource (opens in new tab)
Company-operated share
GAP — not fabricated.
—
GapSource (opens in new tab)

Cost structure

4/6 source-backed

Where each revenue dollar goes, latest disclosed year. Slices use each operator's reported base — % of revenue unless the row notes otherwise (% of GMV, restaurant-level, franchise goods-supply COGS). Grey = not separately disclosed. This is a separate axis from company scale and single-store economics.

Food / COGS22.2%
FY2024S1 official primary (opens in new tab)Source-backed
Base restaurant sales $1,004.4M. Food&bev 22.2/labor 33.4/other 15.1/occupancy 8.2/pre-opening 1.0 -> rest margin 20.1%. Group op margin ~3.9%.
Labor33.4%
FY2024S1 official primary (opens in new tab)Source-backed
Base restaurant sales $1,004.4M. Food&bev 22.2/labor 33.4/other 15.1/occupancy 8.2/pre-opening 1.0 -> rest margin 20.1%. Group op margin ~3.9%.
Rent / occupancy8.2%
FY2024S1 official primary (opens in new tab)Source-backed
Base restaurant sales $1,004.4M. Food&bev 22.2/labor 33.4/other 15.1/occupancy 8.2/pre-opening 1.0 -> rest margin 20.1%. Group op margin ~3.9%.
Delivery commission—
FY2024Gap
Base restaurant sales $1,004.4M. Food&bev 22.2/labor 33.4/other 15.1/occupancy 8.2/pre-opening 1.0 -> rest margin 20.1%. Group op margin ~3.9%.
Marketing—
FY2024Gap
Base restaurant sales $1,004.4M. Food&bev 22.2/labor 33.4/other 15.1/occupancy 8.2/pre-opening 1.0 -> rest margin 20.1%. Group op margin ~3.9%.
Operating margin20.1%
FY2024· restaurant_levelS1 official primary (opens in new tab)Source-backed
Base restaurant sales $1,004.4M. Food&bev 22.2/labor 33.4/other 15.1/occupancy 8.2/pre-opening 1.0 -> rest margin 20.1%. Group op margin ~3.9%.
Not separately disclosed16.1%

Supply chain

4 suppliers · 0 with S1 filing

Who supplies this brand — reverse-extracted from each supplier's own filing (top-customer / related-party disclosure). The % is the supplier's revenue share from this brand (supplier-side, not procurement spend), unless a note says otherwise. Each edge keeps its period, source tier, and audit link; named relationships without a disclosed % are shown as such.

NCR Voyix (NCR Aloha POS)VYX
Tech / SaaS
discloses as: First Watch
—named (no % disclosed)S3 newssource (opens in new tab)
Olo Inc.OLO
Tech / SaaS
discloses as: First Watch
—named (no % disclosed)S3 newssource (opens in new tab)
—named (no % disclosed)S3 newssource (opens in new tab)
Sparkfly
Tech / SaaS
discloses as: First Watch
—named (no % disclosed)S3 newssource (opens in new tab)
Up 'n go (Senpex/Up n go pay-at-the-table)
Tech / SaaS
discloses as: First Watch
—named (no % disclosed)S3 newssource (opens in new tab)