Despite increased marketing, food and development costs, the chain is seeing an uptick in sales, revenue and opportunities to reach new customers.

For the past few years, First Watch has been on a growth tear. Not only is the breakfast chain opening restaurants at a rapid pace, but it also has posted same-store sales gains over the past six consecutive quarters.

A key ingredient to this momentum is the chain’s willingness to spend and experiment in areas that lead to profitable growth.

Since joining First Watch in 2023, Ashlee Weisser quickly learned how this balance plays into the chain’s overall success. After her promotion to CFO in June, this has become even more of a focus, especially as the chain ramps up its marketing spending to build brand awareness.

Weisser is also juggling the brand’s development and menu innovation costs, which can grow sales and traffic.

During the second quarter, First Watch increased its same-store sales by 3.4% and revenue grew 12.2%, according to the earnings release. Traffic fell by 0.4% during the quarter, but sequentially improved. In June, it increased year over year, First Watch CEO and President Chris Tomasso said during an earnings call last week.

“We want to provide value to the customer, but we also have to provide value to the shareholders and the teams,” Weisser said in an interview. “That balance between how much you charge for something or how much you spend to get something is a fine line.”

Collaboration between teams has helped First Watch walk this tightrope.

“There isn’t just one voice at the table,” Weisser said. “So finance isn’t coming in and saying ‘no, you absolutely cannot spend that money.’ It truly is a partnership in understanding what’s important and what’s going to drive the business forward.”

Increased marketing costs
Marketing has been a huge conversation at the chain, and has been a growing expense in 2025 and 2026, compared to prior years, Weisser said. But the additional expense has already led to improvements.

“Since implementing an expanded marketing strategy early last year, brand awareness has been building, and we believe contributing to our improved same restaurant traffic trend and overall same restaurant sales growth,” Tomasso said. “Our marketing objectives are focused on driving at least one more visit from existing customers, while also positioning First Watch squarely in the consideration set for new customers.”

Seventeen percent of new customers returned for their second visit this year, which is tracking to be higher than average, Tomasso added.

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First Watch is using targeted, data-informed marketing tactics “to reach consumers where they are, speak to them with greater relevance, and evaluate the return on that spend with more precision than traditional broad-based marketing alone,” he said.

The chain is measuring the success of its marketing efforts, ensuring that spend not only drives traffic and return-on-investment, but also improves brand awareness, creates buzz and leads to positive feedback, Weisser said.

The chain is also building up its branding through use of video platforms like YouTube and connected TV, which allow it to reach specific demographics within markets and tailor messaging at a local level. The chain is also enhancing its influencer and social media tactics.

“Utilizing this test, learn and act model, we have a richness of data to analyze, allowing us to evaluate the performance of each tactic. With this knowledge, we’re able to shift dollars toward the channels, markets, and messages that are demonstrating the highest levels of performance,” Tomasso said.

First Watch already ranks among the top tier of customer favorites, and has a high intent for future purchases compared to national and regional breakfast competitors, Tomasso said.

“These results demonstrate that our marketing investments are not only increasing awareness of the First Watch brand, but also strengthening occasion consideration and supporting conversion of potential customers into regular customers,” Tomasso said. “We’re encouraged by the performance, as indicated by unaided brand awareness increasing more than 50% and aided brand awareness increasing 15% since early last year.”

The company is testing another marketing initiative, but neither executive shared details.

Source https://www.restaurantdive.com/news/first-watch-balancing-costs-sales-customer-growth/826985/