Dave & Buster’s has long occupied a unique lane. It’s an occasion-based business, but one with lofty awareness for its relative size (184 units but 90 percent plus) and the fact customers, on average, visit less than twice a year. For CEO Darin Harper, who stepped in last month following the retirement of Tarun Lal after less than a year at the post, elevating from CFO, it’s a point with a few realities.
One is Dave & Buster’s doesn’t have as much margin for getting it right with guests as some. And in recent years, it’s not “consistently been the obvious answer,” he said, when customers plan an excursion only an eatertainment concept can fill. Also, value and experience have not been dependable enough when they do show up to get them back.
Dave & Buster’s customers, Harper explained, plan in advance. The brand is not a spot you generally walk by on your way somewhere else and decide to spend a couple of hours.
“When we’re the obvious answer,” he said Monday during his first earnings call as CEO, “we win decisively.”
So, the task ahead for Dave & Buster’s, as the company tries to reignite sales after years of tepid performance, fall to three areas around this larger premise.
Before unpacking, the brand saw its stock tumble double-digits after reporting a Q2 top- and bottom-line miss. Adjusted EBITDA was 18 percent short of consensus estimates at $98.9 million and same-store sales declined 2.9 percent (negative 5.9 percent two-year stack). That marked an improvement from Q1’s drop of 5.4 percent.
However, revenue came in roughly 2 percent short of Wall Street projections as the company lapped $10 million in deferred revenue from a year ago (total figure of $544.1 million, down 2.4 percent, year-over-year).
Dave & Buster’s said trends progressed in July, with same-store sales of negative 1.6 percent versus –5 percent in June. And Q3 was gaining still.
F&B comps ran positive for the fifth consecutive quarter as well, up 7.6 percent. Special events hiked for the seventh straight period. Dave & Buster’s entertainment business continued to struggle, down an imputed high-single-digit comp. It was low-double-digit red the prior two quarters.
Harper believes the path forward resides well within Dave & Buster’s control. No. 1, regarding occasions, he said the brand will focus on capturing existing demand within personal, seasonal, and cultural calendars (more on this shortly).
Next, it’s going to stress “relevance,” meaning ensuring Dave & Buster’s entertainment and F&B offerings are “unmistakably appealing for that occasion.”
And lastly, Dave & Buster’s has to promote consistent value and execution with a singular and stable message that customers can recall when they’re making their choice of where to go.
In other terms, when they think of heading to Dave & Buster’s (or elsewhere), they know what value awaits. It’s been too cluttered in the past, Harper said.
Marketing, in particular, is where the clearest evidence of improvement surfaced in Q2 and where Harper feels the largest opportunity lies.
Jeremy Tucker in Q2 joined as CMO. He came over from the same position at AutoNation, leading marketing across north of 300 locations. Tucker previously served as CMO of Planet Fitness and has directed platforms at brands from Doritos to The Walt Disney Company to Spin Master.
Before Tucker’s appointment, Harper said, Dave & Buster’s went more than a year without a CMO and “several years without consistent marketing leadership.”
The result: a frequently changing promotional calendar, “significant” media shifts and measurement challenges, and disconnected messaging.
Harper reiterated Dave & Buster’s is going to course-correct by tapping into personal, seasonal, and “cultural needs moments.” And the brand will share more in the months ahead on how it expects to optimize media to effectively capture guest demand through better targeting, discoverability, media, flighting, and messaging.
“Combined with relevant in-store entertainment and watch experiences that align with existing seasonal and cultural demand, we believe we are well positioned to drive meaningful traffic growth,” Harper said.
This will join an effort to simply Dave & Buster’s message to market. The chain lacked a consistent, evergreen value banner customers could count on. Unraveling that confusion, Harper said, allows Dave & Buster’s to cut through clutter in a category that historically competes for a rather small visitation pie.
If a customer picks a competitor over Dave & Buster’s one night, you could be splitting a yearly take. The reverse lure is true in evolving two visits per calendar to, say, four. Half of Dave & Buster’s occasions include kids and half of those are driven by an adult finding appeal.
Leveraging demand at the right time in the right channel with the right message is something Dave & Buster’s will accomplish through understanding motivations, Harper continued.
When the brand hit this correctly in the past, through personal and seasonal calendars, it’s generated growth. “And so, what you’re going to see,” he said, “is less big, disconnected tent-pole campaigns and a greater focus on tapping into these seasonal cultural moments, likely through middle- to lower-funnel focused.”
Building on the note of games and entertainment, Harper said Dave & Buster’s customers value new options, platforms they can play together, targeted experiences, unique fandom, and, more presently, “in-culture collectibles.” Dave & Buster’s awareness gives it access to IP partnerships and other relevance plays leading to more exclusive and culturally relevant experiences in-store.
Recent research showed more than 70 percent of guests said learning about fresh games or activities would incentivize them to show up more often. So far this year, Dave & Buster’s has launched 10 games and attractions, from Mandalorian and Grogu to John Wick, Stranger Things, Hot Wheels, ICEE Slush Rush, Perfect Pump, and Odin’s Hammer.
More are coming, Harper said, including bespoke options devised in-house. He said Dave & Buster’s underinvested in its midway over the last few years and is playing catch-up.
Value surfaces here, too. Dave & Buster’s took actions to defend perception relative to peers through its rate card and game pricing changes.
Plainly, it got too far ahead on price and the wider equation blurred.
A key focus was to simplify the rate card and design it so it’s more legible and clear to guests in terms of what they get when they buy. Often in studies, customers said benefits were convoluted and they didn’t know where to begin.
Moreover, Dave & Buster’s adjusted pricing to enable customers to play longer and dwell in the midway. It’s seen 16–20 percent-plus increases in both. Longer time in the midway often means a better chance of F&B attachment as well.
And Dave & Buster’s managed the response through redemption payouts and pricing in its WIN! stores (where customers cash in for prizes). Here, too, is where some of the collectibles and potential IPs can show up (think claw machines, etc.).
Harper said Dave & Buster’s was able to make strides while maintaining basket and margins. A lot of progress flowed from the introduction of its Eat & Play Combo on the kiosk and converting more gamers into diners. Dave & Buster’s also has half-price games on Wednesday and Sunday. Each, to an earlier point, embed value into Dave & Buster’s proposition.
“Where we lost value over the last couple of years by taking too much price, we’ve gained that back and are in a really great position relative to our peers,” Harper said.
“We want to move smartly, but we’re going to move quickly,” he added. “I’d say promptness is a capstone here in making sure we make smart decisions; make sure that we can measure those, quick test and learn, and then pivot and execute well.”
With collectibles, Dave & Buster’s is positioned to deliver through multiple areas of its midway. Harper said it’s an “obvious and ongoing” section of demand among the chain’s demographics. “Our stores and our inherent gaming experience are perfectly suited to better capitalize on this significant opportunity,” he said.
More than half of Dave & Buster’s customers, Harper noted, identify football, basketball, or baseball as sports they typically watch. And when customers do so at a food or bar venue, over 90 percent order food and 80-plus percent get alcohol.
Dave & Buster’s attempting to solidify inroads here is nothing new. It invested years ago in 40-foot screens, a broad menu, and gameday F&B to differentiate from competitors.
But can it, like with other topics, grab consideration share?
Harper said there’s low-hanging fruit for Dave & Buster’s to become more dependable in showcasing popular and, increasingly, localized sports to “natural customers who still don’t often think of us as their go-to destination to watch sports out of the house.”
It’s seen success, though, when it creates activations around popular watch moments, including double-digit sales growth for World Cup matches.
Dave & Buster’s leaned into a full four-wall activation with themed food, reskinned games, a soccer option, prize integrations, and some ticketed events. “We’re a perfect occasion for that type of experience,” Harper said. “And there was a lot that we learned, in fact, with tapping into that cultural moment. Overall, we were well placed to capture it.”
The fourth pillar for Harper concerns operations. “Brand fundamentals,” he said, “are only as strong as the experience delivered in each location.”
COO Amanda Busby was a Q2 leadership hire as well. She led ops at SSP America and its 450 locations representing 400 brands across nearly 60 North America airports. Busby also clocked 19 years with Red Robin, ultimately guiding 230 stores as VP of operations.
While early, Harper said Busby is raising standards through field leadership, training, and accountability. “The guest experience cannot exceed the team member experience, and we are building the culture and tools to make the standard real,” he said.
Atop Busby’s slate is speed of service, whether it’s in the dining room or a midway issue the brand wants to resolve quickly. Harper said the chain spotlighted proper staffing and ensuring roles are defined. Again, when frequency isn’t, well, frequent, there’s a window to get it right, and it shuts quickly. “You can’t screw that up for the guest,” Harper said of defined occasions, “and that really impacts our ability to get them to come back another visit. So, we’ve made good progress.”
Dave & Buster’s is also in the process of remodeling stores. It’s completed six thus far in fiscal 2026, including Cincinnati, Jacksonville, San Antonio, Nashville, San Diego, and Miami. Harper said the current fleet continues to outperform legacy units. Two more are planned for the remainder of the year—in Frisco, Texas, and Westbury, New York.
Additionally, it’s a materially more cost-effective blueprint than Dave & Buster’s prior one. “And early results show we can preserve the highest impact guests and productivity elements while eliminating ineffective spend,” Harper said.
Without delving too deep into details, he noted remodels augment traffic initiatives by making the experience modern, easier to navigate, and more productive.
The brand overall invested $127.6 million of net CapEx year-to-date and is pacing toward a shade under $200 million for the year. This comprises remodels, new games, and technology. It should hover around $150 million in 2027.
As mentioned in previous quarters, Dave & Buster’s hired a dedicated resource to find cost savings and pulled aside $15 million already, which should be realized over the next 12 months. The goal being, eventually, to at least double, interim CFO Cory Hatton said.
The company opened six domestic stores in Q2 for a total of seven in the calendar’s opening half (five Dave & Buster’s and two Main Events). There are 250 company-owned restaurants across the portfolio (66 Main Events), as well as six international franchises. It expects to open four more domestic boxes for the remainder and five across fiscal 2027.
The company near-term plans to deploy more capital toward core business initiatives versus outbound growth.
“We will stay close to the data, listen to our guests and keep improving product and execution,” Harper said.
