GYG's first earnings give investors food for thought

Momentum has been strong since then too.

For the first seven weeks of the new financial year, same store sales growth has been above expectations at 7.4 per cent.

Founder and co-CEO Steven Marks was typically ambitious in his earnings call.

"Our vision is to reinvent fast food and change the way the masses eat," he said.

Ambition has been central to GYG's pitch to investors.

The company was operating 194 restaurants in Australia, 17 in Singapore, five in Japan and four in Chicago on June 30, with more opening since.

It has lofty aspirations to grow its footprint to 1000 stores globally in the next two decades, including 31 in financial year 2025, and plans to increase its presence in the US market, where rival Mexican fast food chains like Taco Bell and Chipotle are already established.

But the sales beat was not enough to placate the market, which expects robust results to back up GYG's bold claims.

Its share price was down one per cent to $35.48 on the ASX, still well above its $22 issue price.

Underlying earnings were a loss of $6.5 million across its US stores, a 52.3 per cent increase from the prior year.

The company said it "remained focused on demonstrating proof of concept in the US".

Mr Marks said sales growth has been underpinned by the strong pick-up in its breakfast offering, up 18 per cent, with breakfast burritos proving a hit among consumers.

"I'm not sure if everybody in the call has tried our breakfast, but it's the best thing that GYG sells," Mr Marks told analysts. 

"Besides obviously the excellent quality, the value is just tremendous."

The company is also shifting its restaurant mix to higher yielding drive-through stores and opening more 24/7 restaurants, with strong growth also reported in sales after 9pm.

GYG elected not to issue a dividend, instead focusing on increasing investment in its growth strategy.