Zoe's Kitchen, Inc. (ZOES) has reported 98.64 percent plunge in profit for the quarter ended Apr. 17, 2017. The company has earned $0.02 million in the quarter, compared with $1.40 million for the same period last year. On the other hand, adjusted net income for the quarter stood at $0.23 million, or $0.01 a share compared with $1.08 million or $0.06 a share, a year ago.

Revenue during the quarter grew 12.62 percent to $90.56 million from $80.41 million in the previous year period. Gross margin for the quarter contracted 21 basis points over the previous year period to 40.98 percent. Total expenses were 98.11 percent of quarterly revenues, up from 96.47 percent for the same period last year. That has resulted in a contraction of 164 basis points in operating margin to 1.89 percent.

Operating income for the quarter was $1.71 million, compared with $2.84 million in the previous year period.

However, the adjusted EBITDA for the quarter stood at $8.11 million compared with $8.33 million in the prior year period. At the same time, adjusted EBITDA margin contracted 141 basis points in the quarter to 8.95 percent from 10.36 percent in the last year period.

Kevin Miles, president and chief executive officer of Zoës Kitchen, commented, "Our first quarter was largely in line with our expectations, reflecting the challenging traffic trends that prevailed across the industry, as well as the cycling of our 8.1% comp from 2016. With similar traffic trends continuing into the second quarter, we have revised our full year outlook. While we are dissatisfied with our comp result in the first quarter, we continued to grow share in our largest markets and are confident in the overall health of our brand."

For financial year 2017, Zoes Kitchen Inc expects revenue to be in the range of $314 million to $322 million.