REVENUE FROM CONTRACTS WITH CUSTOMERS

Revenue Recognition

Nature of products and services

The Company has two revenue streams, company-operated restaurant revenue and franchise related revenue.

Company-operated restaurant revenue

Revenues from the operation of company-operated restaurants are recognized as food and beverage products are delivered to customers and payment is tendered at the time of sale. The Company presents sales, net of sales-related taxes and promotional allowances.

The Company offers a loyalty rewards program, which awards a customer one point for every $1 spent. When 100 points are accumulated a $10 reward to be used on future purchases is earned. If a customer does not earn or use points within a one-year period, their account is deactivated and all points expire. Additionally, if a $10 reward is not used within six months it expires. When a customer is part of the rewards program, the obligation to provide future discounts related to points earned is considered a separate performance obligation, to which a portion of the transaction price is allocated. The performance obligation related to loyalty points is deemed to have been satisfied, and the amount deferred in the balance sheet is recognized as revenue, when the points are transferred to a $10 reward and redeemed, the reward or points have expired, or the likelihood of redemption is remote. A portion of the transaction price is allocated to loyalty points, if necessary, on a pro-rata basis, based on stand-alone selling price, as determined by menu pricing and loyalty point's terms. As of March 25, 2020 and December 25, 2019, the revenue allocated to loyalty points that have not been redeemed are $1.0 million and $1.1 million, respectively, which are reflected in the Company’s accompanying condensed consolidated balance sheets within other accrued expenses and current liabilities. The Company expects the loyalty points to be redeemed and recognized over a one-year period.

The Company sells gift cards to its customers in the restaurants and through selected third parties. The gift cards sold to customers have no stated expiration dates and are subject to actual and/or potential escheatment rights in several of the jurisdictions in which the Company operates. Furthermore, due to these escheatment rights, the Company does not recognize breakage related to the sale of gift cards due to the immateriality of the amount remaining after escheatment. The Company recognizes income from gift cards when redeemed by the customer. Unredeemed gift card balances are deferred and recorded as other accrued expenses on the accompanying condensed consolidated balance sheets.

Franchise and franchise advertising revenue

Franchise revenue consists of franchise royalties, initial franchise fees, license fees due from franchisees, IT support services, and rental income for subleases to franchisees. Franchise advertising revenue consists of advertising contributions received from franchisees. These revenue streams are made up of the following performance obligations:


•	Franchise license - inclusive of advertising services, development agreements, training, access to plans and help desk services.


•	Discounted renewal option.


•	Hardware services.

The Company satisfies the performance obligation related to the franchise license over the term of the franchise agreement, which is typically 20 years. Payment for the franchise license consists of three components, a fixed-fee related to the franchise/development agreement, a sales-based royalty fee and a sales-based advertising fee. The fixed fee, as determined by the signed development and/or franchise agreement, is due at the time the development agreement is entered into, and/or when the franchise agreement is signed, and does not include a finance component.

The sales-based royalty fee and sales-based advertising fee are considered variable consideration and will continue to be recognized as revenue as such sales are earned by the franchisees. Both sales-based fees qualify under the royalty constraint exception, and do not require an estimate of future transaction price. Additionally, the Company is utilizing the practical expedient available under Topic 606 regarding disclosure of the aggregate amount of the transaction price allocated to the performance obligations that are unsatisfied for sales-based royalties.

In certain franchise agreements, the Company offers a discounted renewal to incentivize future renewals after the end of the initial franchise term. As this is considered a separate performance obligation, the Company allocates a portion of the initial franchise fee to this discounted renewal, on a pro-rata basis, assuming a 20-year renewal. This performance obligation is satisfied over the renewal term, typically 10 or 20 years, while payment is fixed and due at the time the renewal is signed.

The Company purchases hardware, such as scanners, printers, cash registers and tablets, from third party vendors, which it then sells to franchisees. As the Company is considered the principal in this relationship, payment for the hardware is considered revenue, and is received upon transfer of the goods from the Company to the franchisee. As of March 25, 2020, there were no performance obligations related to hardware services that were unsatisfied or partially satisfied.

Disaggregated revenue

The following table presents our revenues disaggregated by revenue source and market (in thousands):



	Thirteen Weeks Ended
	March 25, 2020		March 27, 2019
Core Market⁽¹⁾:
Company-operated restaurant revenue	$	85,915	$	85,306
Franchise revenue	3,508		3,499
Franchise advertising fee revenue	2,642		2,717
Total core market	$	92,065	$	91,522
Non-Core Market⁽²⁾:
Company-operated restaurant revenue	$	6,719	$	11,844
Franchise revenue	3,554		2,945
Franchise advertising fee revenue	2,825		2,666
Total non-core market	$	13,098	$	17,455
Total revenue	$	105,163	$	108,977

⁽¹⁾Core Market includes markets with existing company-operated restaurants at the time of the Company's Initial Public Offering ("IPO") on July 28, 2014.

⁽²⁾Non-Core Market includes markets entered into by the Company subsequent to the IPO date.

The following table presents our revenues disaggregated by geographic market:



	Thirteen Weeks Ended
	March 25, 2020		March 27, 2019
Greater Los Angeles area market	72.4	%	69.2	%
Other markets	27.6	%	30.8	%
Total	100	%	100	%

Contract balances

The following table provides information about the change in the franchise contract liability balances during the thirteen weeks ended March 25, 2020 and March 27, 2019 (in thousands):



December 25, 2019	$	6,317
Revenue recognized - beginning balance	(318		)
March 25, 2020	$	5,999



December 26, 2018	$	5,593
Revenue recognized - beginning balance	(104		)
Additional contract liability	140
Revenue recognized - additional contract liability	(6		)
March 27, 2019	$	5,623

The Company’s franchise contract liability includes development fees, initial franchise and license fees, franchise renewal fees, lease subsidies and royalty discounts and is included within other accrued expenses and current liabilities and other noncurrent liabilities within the accompanying condensed consolidated balance sheets. The Company receives area development fees from franchisees when they execute multi-unit area development agreements. Initial franchise and license fees, or franchise renewal fees, are received from franchisees upon the execution of, or renewal of, a franchise agreement. Revenue is recognized from these agreements as the underlying performance obligation is satisfied, which is over the term of the agreement.

The following table illustrates the estimated revenue to be recognized in future periods related to performance obligations under the applicable contracts that are unsatisfied as of March 25, 2020 (in thousands):



Franchise revenues:
2020	$	524
2021	491
2022	410
2023	391
2024	357
Thereafter	3,826
Total	$	5,999

Contract Costs

The Company does not currently incur costs to obtain or fulfill a contract that would be considered contract assets under Topic 606.