Can BROS' Breakfast Strategy Unlock the Next Phase of Revenue Growth?

Dutch Bros Inc. BROS is entering 2026 with a strategically meaningful shift centered on scaling its breakfast capabilities through a systemwide hot food rollout. Management has framed the initiative as a long-term productivity lever designed to strengthen morning-daypart relevance — an area where the brand has historically under-indexed. By the end of the third quarter, the company had introduced ovens to roughly 160 shops and reported solid performance concerning the same.

Operational design has been a focal point of the rollout. Ovens were calibrated to finish faster than the average drink-making time, ensuring throughput remains intact during peak windows. Broista learning curves and customer sentiment have improved with each expansion wave, supporting management’s view that the platform can be scaled without compromising the brand’s high-volume drive-thru model. 

The pacing of adoption, however, is shaped by physical constraints. Approximately 25% of the projected 2025 shop base cannot accommodate ovens due to legacy layouts, limiting near-term systemwide penetration. Dutch Bros expects this ratio to decline as new builds — all food-capable — become a larger share of openings, with full deployment targeted by year-end 2026. Management noted that the rollout will influence labor planning, pre-opening expenses and workflow optimization as the company navigates an expanded operational footprint.

If early-market performance holds as the platform scales, Dutch Bros expects the breakfast strategy to serve as a structural contributor to revenue growth rather than a short-term sales catalyst. With consistent results across both legacy and newer regions, management anticipates the initiative to be a supporting pillar of unit-level productivity as the company accelerates its multiyear shop expansion plan.

How Are Competitors Faring?

Among Dutch Bros’ competitors in the breakfast and morning-daypart arena are McDonald's Corporation MCD and The Wendy's Company WEN, both of which are actively repositioning their breakfast strategies to support traffic and unit-level performance.

McDonald’s is leaning heavily on its revamped Extra Value Meal (EVM) architecture to re-anchor value perception and stabilize morning routines. The company highlighted that EVMs now represent roughly 30% of U.S. transactions, supported by corporate co-investment of $15 million in September and an expected $75 million in the fourth quarter, aimed at strengthening franchisee alignment and smoothing the systemwide reset. McDonald’s stressed that this breakfast-value push is structural rather than promotional, designed to restore everyday affordability as lower-income guest traffic remains under pressure.

Wendy’s is focusing on operational upgrades and unit-level execution as part of its Project Fresh initiative. In the third quarter, company-operated restaurants delivered an approximate 400 basis-point improvement in comps, driven by better staffing, training enhancements and stronger kitchen productivity. Wendy’s also emphasized product-led innovation — including chicken tenders and improved core menu consistency — as a means to elevate average unit volumes and improve the morning guest experience. The company reiterated that these operational gains, alongside continued digital enhancements, are critical to sustaining breakfast relevance across its footprint.

BROS’ Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates

Shares of Dutch Bros have declined 5.5% in the past three months compared with the industry’s 2.4% fall.

BROS’ Stocks Three-Month Price Performance

From a valuation standpoint, Dutch Bros stock trades at a forward price-to-sales ratio of 5.04, above the industry’s average of 3.21.

BROS’ P/s Ratio (Forward 12-Month) vs. Industry

EPS Trend of BROS Stock

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for BROS’ fiscal 2025 and 2026 earnings per share (EPS) implies a year-over-year uptick of 36.7% and 27.6%, respectively. The EPS estimates for fiscal 2025 and 2026 have remained unchanged in the past 30 days.

Dutch Bros stock currently carries 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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