Can Dutch Bros Unlock Higher Transactions Through Order Ahead?

Dutch Bros Inc. BROS has been leaning deeper into digital convenience and the evolution of its Order Ahead platform has become a central pillar of the transaction-focused strategy. The company is enhancing accessibility, improving the user experience and strengthening its connection with Dutch Rewards, turning Order Ahead into a meaningful driver of engagement rather than just an added feature.

In the third quarter of 2025, Dutch Bros delivered strong results supported by these initiatives. Third quarter revenues reached $424 million, up 25% year over year, while system same-shop sales grew 5.7%, fueled by an exceptional 4.7% transaction growth. The third quarter also marked the fifth consecutive quarter of transaction growth, making Dutch Bros a clear outlier in the current environment and placing the brand in a category of its own. This consistent performance highlights the strength of Dutch Bros’ focused, idiosyncratic transaction drivers and reinforces the durability of its approach.

Order Ahead played a significant role in driving this momentum. In the third quarter of 2025, the platform reached a 13% mix, with some new markets performing at nearly double that level. The company recently upgraded the app with more precise pickup-time features, improving order readiness and contributing to an increase in scheduled orders. These enhancements support smoother throughput during peak periods and help capture incremental transactions.

A key advantage of Order Ahead is its ability to feed customers into Dutch Rewards, which accounted for approximately 72% of system transactions in the third quarter of 2025. With this growing digital mix strengthening the loyalty ecosystem, the company is expanding segmentation capabilities to engage customers more effectively and lift frequency. Together, Order Ahead and Dutch Rewards form a powerful digital engine that continues to propel transaction growth and reinforce Dutch Bros’ same-shop sales momentum heading into the coming quarters.

BROS Stock’s Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates

Shares of Dutch Bros have gained 12.5% so far this year against the industry’s fall of 8.6%. In the same time frame, other industry players like Starbucks Corporation SBUX, Sweetgreen, Inc. SG and Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. CMG have declined 6.6%, 79.3% and 43.4%, respectively.

BROS YTD Price Performance

From a valuation standpoint, BROS trades at a forward price-to-sales (P/S) multiple of 4.9, above the industry’s average of 3.44. Conversely, industry players, such as Starbucks, Sweetgreen and Chipotle, have P/S multiples of 2.49, 1.02 and 3.47, respectively.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for BROS’ 2026 earnings per share has declined to 86 cents from 88 cents in the past 30 days.

The company is likely to report strong earnings, with projections indicating a 27.6% rise in 2026. Conversely, industry players like Sweetgreen and Chipotle are likely to witness an increase of 15.5% and 4.9%, respectively, year over year, in 2026 earnings. Meanwhile, Starbucks' 2026 earnings are likely to witness a rise of 13.6%, year over year.

BROS currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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