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Income Taxes
12 Months Ended
Dec. 30, 2025
Income Taxes  
Income Taxes

17.   Income Taxes

In fiscal 2025, we adopted ASU 2023-09, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Improvements to Income Tax Disclosures, on a prospective basis. Certain disclosures for fiscal 2025 reflect the new requirements. Prior year disclosures are presented under previous guidance.

The components of income before income taxes and provision for income taxes pursuant to the disclosure requirements of ASU 2023-09 for year ended December 30, 2025 consisted of the following (in thousands):

  ​ ​ ​

2025

United States

$

141,641

Foreign

 

21,254

Income before income taxes

$

162,895

Income tax provision/(benefit):

 

  ​

Current:

 

  ​

Federal

$

10,083

State

 

8,955

Foreign

 

2,135

Total current

 

21,173

Deferred:

 

  ​

Federal

 

(6,917)

State

 

212

Total deferred

 

(6,705)

Total provision:

Federal

3,166

State

9,167

Foreign

2,135

Total provision

$

14,468

The provision for income taxes for fiscal 2024 and 2023 consisted of the following (in thousands):

  ​ ​ ​

2024

  ​ ​ ​

2023

Income before income taxes

$

171,047

$

100,014

Income tax provision/(benefit):

Current:

Federal

$

10,638

$

7,183

State

 

9,688

 

7,195

Total current

 

20,326

 

14,378

Deferred:

Federal

 

(7,542)

 

(15,329)

State

 

1,480

 

(386)

Total deferred

 

(6,062)

 

(15,715)

Total provision/(benefit)

$

14,264

$

(1,337)

The following reconciles the U.S. federal statutory rate to the effective tax rate for fiscal 2025 pursuant to the disclosure requirement of ASU 2023-09 for year ended December 30, 2025 (in thousands, except percentages):

  ​ ​ ​

Amount

  ​ ​ ​

Percent

 

U.S. federal statutory rate

$

34,207

 

21.0

%

Domestic federal

 

  ​

 

  ​

Tax Credits

 

  ​

 

  ​

Credit for FICA taxes paid on tips

 

(35,550)

 

(21.8)

Foreign tax credit

 

(1,835)

 

(1.1)

Other

 

(1,809)

 

(1.1)

Nontaxable or nondeductible items

 

  ​

 

  ​

FICA taxes paid on tips subject to tax credit

 

7,466

 

4.6

Non-deductible executive compensation

 

3,214

 

2.0

Gain on investments used to fund deferred compensation

 

(2,957)

 

(1.8)

Loss on debt extinguishment

 

2,681

 

1.7

Other

 

718

 

0.4

Other

 

  ​

 

  ​

Equity compensation

 

(1,759)

 

(1.1)

Other

 

(964)

 

(0.6)

Domestic state and local income taxes, net of federal benefit (1)

 

7,242

 

4.4

Foreign tax effects

 

2,135

 

1.3

Changes in unrecognized tax benefits

 

1,679

 

1.0

Effective tax rate

$

14,468

 

8.9

%

(1)State taxes in California, Arizona and New Jersey made up the majority (greater than 50%) of the tax effect in this category.

The following reconciles the U.S. federal statutory rate to the effective tax rate for fiscal 2024 and 2023:

  ​ ​ ​

Fiscal Year

 

  ​ ​ ​

2024

  ​ ​ ​

2023

 

U.S. federal statutory rate

 

21.0

%  

21.0

%

State and district income taxes, net of federal benefit

 

5.0

5.4

Credit for FICA taxes paid on tips

 

(16.3)

(24.9)

Other credits and incentives

 

(1.0)

(2.2)

Deferred compensation

 

(1.6)

(2.4)

Equity compensation

1.2

1.5

Uncertain tax positions

(0.9)

(0.7)

Non-deductible executive compensation

1.0

0.8

Other

 

(0.1)

0.2

Effective tax rate

 

8.3

%

(1.3)

%

Following are the temporary differences that created our deferred tax assets and liabilities (in thousands):

  ​ ​ ​

December 30, 2025

  ​ ​ ​

December 31, 2024

Deferred tax assets:

Staff member benefits

$

44,656

$

40,500

Insurance reserves

 

15,949

 

15,244

Operating lease liability

344,123

335,034

Deferred income

 

36,874

 

39,248

Tax credit carryforwards

 

92,195

 

79,933

Goodwill

 

23,074

 

21,393

Stock-based compensation

9,304

10,788

State and foreign net operating loss carryforwards

1,215

1,331

Other

922

867

Subtotal

 

568,312

 

544,338

Less: Valuation allowance

 

(477)

 

(601)

Total

$

567,835

$

543,737

Deferred tax liabilities:

Property and equipment

$

(139,097)

$

(129,504)

Prepaid expenses

 

(8,499)

 

(8,435)

Inventory

 

(10,055)

 

(9,194)

Accrued rent

(5,865)

(5,867)

Operating lease asset

(298,662)

(291,991)

Other

(1,058)

(896)

Total

$

(463,236)

$

(445,887)

Net deferred tax asset

$

104,599

$

97,850

Following is a summary of income taxes paid, net of refunds by jurisdiction pursuant to the disclosure requirements of ASU 2023-09 for the year ended December 30, 2025 (in thousands):

  ​ ​ ​

Fiscal Year 2025

U.S. federal

$

10,333

U.S. state and local

 

  ​

California

3,138

Other

 

7,068

Total U.S. state and local

 

10,206

Foreign

 

2,240

Total income tax paid, net of refunds

$

22,779

At December 30, 2025 and December 31, 2024, we had $92.1 million and $79.8 million, respectively of U.S. federal credit carryforwards which begin to expire in 2043 and $0.1 million and $0.2 million, respectively, of state hiring and investment credits which begin to expire in 2028. At December 30, 2025 and December 31, 2024, we had $1.5 million and $1.9 million, respectively of foreign net operating loss carryforwards which begin to expire in 2037 and $23.9 million and $23.7 million, respectively, of state net operating loss carryforwards with statutory carryforward periods ranging from 5 years to no expiration period. The earliest year that a material state net operating loss will expire is 2032.

We assess the available evidence to estimate if these carryforwards and our other deferred tax assets will be realized. We concluded that a substantial portion of our deferred tax assets are more likely than not to be realized by reversals of existing taxable temporary differences and that forecasted future taxable income, exclusive of reversing temporary differences, will result in realization of a substantial portion of the remainder. We did not need to consider tax planning strategies in this analysis. Based on this evaluation, at December 30, 2025 and December 31, 2024 we carried a valuation allowance of $0.5 million and $0.6 million, respectively, to reflect the amount that we will likely not realize. This assessment could change if estimates of future taxable income during the carryforward period are revised. The earliest tax year still subject to examination by a significant taxing jurisdiction is 2015.

At December 30, 2025, we had a reserve of $5.0 million for uncertain tax positions, all of which would favorably impact our effective income tax rate if resolved in our favor. A reconciliation of the beginning and ending amount of our uncertain tax positions is as follows (in thousands):

  ​ ​ ​

Fiscal Year

  ​ ​ ​

2025

  ​ ​ ​

2024

  ​ ​ ​

2023

Balance at beginning of year

$

3,396

$

3,847

$

3,787

Additions/(reductions) related to prior year tax positions

1,497

(419)

181

Additions/(reductions) related to current period tax positions

 

68

 

(32)

 

(121)

Additions/(reductions) related to settlements with taxing authorities

 

 

 

Balance at end of year

$

4,961

$

3,396

$

3,847

At December 30, 2025 and December 31, 2024, we had $0.3 million and $0.1 million, respectively, of accrued interest and penalties related to uncertain tax positions.