Max & Erma's profits fall

Nation's Restaurant News, Jan 13, 1992

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Despite a 20-percent jump in revenues, to $36.4 million, Max & Erma's net income fell 48 percent, to $429,000, for the year ended Oct. 27.

Before taxes and a onetime charge of $175,000 stemming from the settlement of a server liability lawsuit, pretax income fell 30 percent, to $771,000.

Todd Barnum, president, chairman and chief executive of the dinner-house operation, which consists of 19 casual-theme restaurants, noted that the company ended the year with the lowest cost of sales in its 19-year history. For the three months of the fourth quarter, net income was up 31 percent, to $165,000, on an 11-percent increase in revenues, to $8.2 million.