Ark Restaurants Corp. Price & Performance (ARKR)

The implementation of casino licenses at Yonkers Ark Aqueduct will will force Jersey to make a decision that they have to do something in the North Atlantic City has been dying for years and I think this would really be a death knell and Jersey will wake up and issue a license in the North. We suspect that New York State will issue licenses sometime later this year. So we also expect that that will generate a referendum to allow that is a referendum voted on by the public. To allow for casino gaming in the So that's The Netherlands. Brian Park Ark, follow the headlines the Prime Ark Corporation has said they want to go forward with somebody other than us That deal has not been signed yet. It requires a positive okay from the Parks Department Ark the New York Public Library. We've hired a whole team of experts and we feel that we have a decent chance of retaining the operation of that facility. It will take months to know. But we really believe we're still in the game. We think the whole request for proposal process was flawed. And the thing that we don't understand is that the light is that the new license to operate will be issued to a company that has limited hospitality experience, We've been hugely successful and their minimum rent proposal is $1,000,000 less than us.

So it just doesn't sound like it's a logical business arrangement and we're looking into it. And hopefully we will see something starts to move us back into our direction. So with that, any questions I'm happy to answer.

Thank you. We will now be conducting a question and answer session. Thank you. Our first question comes from the line of Jeffrey Kaminski with JJK Consulting. Please proceed with your question.

Good morning, everyone. Mike, Hi, Anthony. With respect to Brian Park and the process, I guess you folks found out about the lease and the other through if I'm reading the two leads properly through some sort of public hearing or a public meeting So my question is, are there more of these scheduled And can the public actually attend? And as a shareholder, I have invested interest in what happens to Frank Park as do other shareholders of our What's preventing us as a member of the public and a New York resident from attending such a year. There's nothing preventing you to go to public sessions. The Community Board session is a public session. [indiscernible] announcement of his of the Brian Park Corporation's selection was made at a subcommittee of the community board [indiscernible] committee of the community board And it was a public [indiscernible] [indiscernible] There was a lot of robust conversation about it. Regarding the process Ark regarding the affordability of the selection of the new restaurant tour, we're reasonably priced. We don't think this the selection of Seaport Entertainment Group and their licensing agreement proposed licensing agreement with John George speaks well of affordability for the public.

So there was a large discussion about that. But community board advisory position in this the sign offs they need to get the deal done with any operator has to come from the City Ark department, and from the public library. And they have not even proposed a change in operators to either one of those two organizations. Go ahead. Our comments Our comments from the public welcome at these jokes. To shareholders for some of your employees. I'm sorry.

I'd say We had 25 employees at the community board meeting. We have two fifty employees that Brian Ark Ark Literally 40% of those employees have been with us for twenty five years or more. So that can Right. And were any of them able to speak at the meeting? And if I attended the next meeting as a shareholder? Would I have an opportunity to make a You would have a minute to two minutes to speak.

Okay. Thank you. Welcome.

Our next question comes from the line of Ravi Desai of Hey, Michael. How are you?

Good, Ravi. Thank you. I had a question. Moving forward as you guys think down the road six months, twelve months, dividends or buybacks or if you guys have any other ideas outside of the strategic acquisitions that you're looking for down south?

So That's a complicated question. Because it really depends upon the outcome of Brian Park. Certainly with regard to dividends. Right now, without the cash flow that would be attendant to an operation at Bryant Park Ark, We would not be a payer of dividends. That also is A question regarding buybacks, I think that that same is applicable I don't think we're going to be aggressively buying stock unless we know what's going on with Brian Park, number one, As a company, There may be people we're aligned with who may want to take an interest in the stock. But without Brian Ark, it's very hard to make these decisions. In terms of expanding the business, we're have some nice opportunities we think that don't require a tremendous amount of capital. Or where we would have partnerships with other organizations that CS is an important part of a process to establish some new operations So we're looking at that. It's sort of paralyzing in one respect for our balance sheet and income statement to have this issue with Brian Ark. But on the other hand, we're actively engaged in trying to find areas where we can expand sensibly. Hope that answers your question.

Yes, that does. That's helpful there. So we'll see how the Bryant Park shakes out and good luck with that. I think I hope it falls in your guys' favor.

Thank you. [indiscernible] Mr. Weinstein, it appears we have no further questions at this time. I'd like to turn the floor back over to you for closing comments.

All right. Thank you all for your interest and we'll see you next quarter.

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's teleconference.