Ark Restaurants Corp 2025年度报告

2025 ANNUAL REPORT Shareholders, Employees, and Friends of our Company, Headwinds continued to pressure cash flow and Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation andAmortization this past year.The precipitous slide from the excess demand the Companyexperienced in the post-covid reopening of our restaurants has over the past three years beenreplaced by continued deteriorating demand and increased cost of operating our restaurants.However, the major factors affecting our performance in the current year can be attributed to ourlease situation in Bryant Park and our Sequoia operation in Washington D.C. I will get to these ina moment as well as discuss our opportunity at The Meadowlands Raceway in northern NewJersey, but first, a venue-by-venue discussion should provide some insight. Our businesses away from Sequoia are generally profitable, Bryant Park included, although lessso than in the prior year. Las Vegas experienced fewer visitors in 2025. Calculations by the VegasVisitor Bureau estimate that number to be 9% less than 2024. In 2022 we signed extensions of ourleases at New York New York Hotel and Casino (“NYNY”) resulting in a minimum rent increaseof approximately $2 million annually. Also required as a condition of the extension was asubstantial investment in refurbishing the restaurants and food court areas that we control. Wewere fortunate that in late 2024 we hired a new Vice President of Operations for Las Vegas whohas significantly improved the efficiency and quality of our services, and we are now seeing theseimprovements bolster cash flow. We are also excited about the refurbishment of our Americarestaurant which is expected tobe completed by May 2026.To some extent, the work oftransforming America has been interruptive to its revenue. At completion, we believe that revenuewill benefit greatly from the visual content created and that this should make this a destinationvenue beyond just servicing NYNY hotel guests. Our two restaurants in Alabama continue to perform well with consistent revenue levels. Cashflow is somewhat constrained by the increased costs we are experiencing. While in general wehave been slow to increase prices in all our restaurants, fearing to do so in the face of lesseningdemand, the steady demand for these two restaurants has provided an opportunity to offset someof these costs. In Florida we operate the fast-food court at The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood andfour full-service restaurants elsewhere. The fast-food court continues to be a stellar performer.Demand remains strong thanks in no small measure to the attraction of the Hotel. The margins atthe four restaurants have been squeezed by lessening demand and higher costs. Increased pricing,which has been modest compared to other restaurants on the southeast coast, has not overcome thedemand/expense squeeze. It is no consolation that we hear this to be a problem in general forrestaurants in the areas where we operate. I keep reminding myself that a bad economicenvironment can defeat good management. We have good management and we are not defeated.These four restaurants all turn a profit. Their locations are first class, and it is my belief that wewill be rewarded for our quality of product. Washington D.C. has been difficult for us. Sequoia was for many years a good performer but hasbeen abused by our mistakes in management. We are working on this and as we did in Las Vegaswe need to find the right mix of stronger management, a new look for the menu, and bettercommunication in marketing our product. Robert in New York City had a very good year. We see no reason that this will be interrupted. Regarding our operations in Bryant Park, we are litigating with Bryant Park Corporation, themanager of the park, under a management agreement with the Parks Department of the City ofNew York. After 30 years of operations our lease expired in April 2025. Bryant Park Corporationattempted, through a Request for Proposal process, to replace us with another tenant. We claim inthe litigation that the RFP process was tainted and unfairly influenced. The litigation is our effortto retain this operation and secure the continued employment of some 250 employees, many ofwhom have been in their positions for 20 years or more. We continue to operate the restaurants,but the uncertainty of our lease situation has greatly impacted our event business, onceconsiderable, and created confusion in the marketplace as many visitors and residents were led tobelieve that the restaurants were closed. That as well as the costs associated with the litigation hashad an outsized negative impact on our cash flow. The underlying lawsuit filed by the Companyto protect its rights continues, and we will pursue all available options to protect the Company'sinterests. While the outcome of any litigation is always in doubt, we believe in our position. In December 2025 the State of New York made its choice for the issuance of three casino licensesto three