BROS Dutch Bros Inc.

NYSE
$52.02

Dutch Bros Inc. Q2 F2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Wednesday, August 5, 2026

AI Conference Call Analysis

Sign in or subscribe to read.
Christine Barone
Chief Executive Officer
Equipment optimization and operational processes that help our baristas serve customers with speed while maintaining the quality and service our customers expect. In closing, our confidence in the opportunity ahead has never been greater, and it's clear that our strategy is working. Our people-led culture continues to scale alongside the business and remains the defining differentiator of the Dutch Bros brand. Backed by our deep leadership pipeline and consistent execution, we believe what sets us apart today will continue to be a key reason why customers choose Dutch Bros and keep coming back. Our strong performance in new markets and continued momentum across our development pipeline reinforces our confidence in the path to 2,029 shops in 2029. Our sales driving initiatives are delivering exceptional results. Exceeding our expectations and delighting customers. Beverage innovation, food, merch drops, and digital advancements. This is our playbook in action, all working together. And eight consecutive quarters of transaction growth is the clearest proof it's paying off. Looking ahead, we remain confident in our ability to execute against the significant opportunity ahead of us. We continue to see significant runway for growth. supported by the strength of our brand, the passion of our people, and our ability to continue creating more occasions for customers. Together, these advantages position Dutch Bros to continue taking share and further solidify our position in the beverage category. With that, I'll pass it to Josh.
Josh
Chief Financial Officer
Thanks, Christine. I'll start with a recap of our second quarter performance and then share our outlook for the remainder of 2026. Our second quarter results were above our expectations, with upside driven by outstanding execution of our marketing initiatives and the continued traction in our idiosyncratic sales drivers. The dedication of our people and the strong conviction we have in our brand solidify my confidence in the balance of the year and our ability to drive long-term growth. For the second quarter, total revenues were $551 million, growing 32% over the second quarter of last year, Company-operated same-shop sales growth in Q2 was an impressive 8.3%, with transaction growth of 3.4%. System same-shop sales growth in Q2 was 5.8%, with transaction growth of 1.7%. The strength of our two-year transaction stack highlights the effectiveness of the layers of sales driving initiatives we have executed over recent years and their ability to generate strong customer demand, even in an environment of lower consumer sentiment. Performance during the quarter benefited from the continued rollout of our new food program, the continued maturation of newer shop vintages, strength in brand marketing initiatives, and the momentum in customer segmentation with in-depth rewards. And with our system same shop sales performance in Q2 and performance quarter to date in Q3, we are updating our guidance for the full year to 5% to 6%. Now, let me be clear. Given our performance to date and our expectations for the full year, We are trending towards the midpoint of that 5% to 6% range. This guidance reflects transaction comparisons continuing to step up through the remainder of the year and the lap of the food rollout we began in Q3 of last year, which primarily impacts net ticket. Our updated full year comp guidance contemplates system same shop sales growth of approximately 4% to 5% in Q3, reflecting stronger transaction comparisons and the impact of effective pricing stepping down sequentially. As a reminder, we rolled off another point of price in early July, and with pricing taken during the year, our ticket will include less than a point of effective pricing in the back half of the year. This reflects our disciplined approach to pricing while preserving our strong value proposition. I am very proud of the momentum we've generated across our business as the number of new shops we open quarter after quarter continue to reach record volumes. The strength of our brand, the effectiveness of our sales drivers, and the tactical execution of our playbook continue to drive system-wide AUVs higher. New shop productivity remains strong in Q2, keeping pace with this continued upward trajectory in system-wide AUVs. And we continue to build momentum across our real estate development pipeline. During the second quarter, we opened 48 new shops, continuing our strong pace of development growth. We now have approximately 90% of our pipeline needed to achieve 2029 shops in 2029. The depth of this pipeline, coupled with the outstanding execution of our development team, reinforces our confidence in our ability to continue capturing the significant amount of white space ahead of us. Last week, we completed the acquisition of the franchise rights and assets of 31 locations in the Phoenix market, including one location currently under development. Total purchase consideration was $63.5 million. For the remainder of 2026, we expect this to drive net incremental total revenue of approximately $25 million, inclusive of an approximately $5 million reduction in franchise and other revenue. We also expect incremental adjusted EBITDA of approximately $5 million for the balance of the year, which is net of transition related costs. Earlier this week, we entered into an agreement to acquire the real estate and related site assets of up to 65 solid and go locations in Arizona, Nevada, Oklahoma, and Texas, an opportunity that we believe enhances our development pipeline and deepens our scale in these markets. We anticipate closing this acquisition this quarter subject to applicable approvals and other customary closing conditions with conversions expected in 2027. We are excited to expand our company-operated presence in these important growth markets where we continue to see significant white space opportunity. Shifting to our company-operated shops, Performance in Q2 was exceptional, with revenue totaling $510 million, an increase of 34% or $130 million compared to the second quarter of last year. Company-operated shop contribution was $156 million, representing a year-over-year increase of 32%. Company-operated shop contribution margin was incredibly strong at approximately 31%. Beverage, food, and packaging costs were 26.1% of company operated shop revenue, which is 80 basis points higher year over year, primarily driven by higher coffee costs and costs associated with the continued rollout of our new food program. We continue to expect an impact from higher coffee costs in the back half of the year. The updated full year 2026 guidance contemplates approximately 60 basis points of total COGS pressure, which includes the impact from costs associated with the new food program. Labor costs were 25.4% of company-operated shop revenue, which is 120 basis points favorable year-over-year, primarily due to sales leverage. Occupancy and other costs were 16.3% of company-operated shop revenue, which is 50 basis points higher year-over-year, primarily due to higher rent on new shops, as we shift more of our portfolio to build to suit leases. We continue to expect the shift towards build-to-suit leases will drive higher occupancy costs as a percentage of revenue in 2026. We expect this impact to be approximately 50 basis points for 2026, consistent with what we saw in Q2. Pre-opening expenses were 1.6% of company-operated shop revenue, which is 40 basis points higher year-over-year, primarily driven by increased number of shop openings. Moving down the P&L, Adjusted SG&A in Q2 was $72 million, or 13.2% of total revenue. While continuing to make investments in our people and infrastructure, we were able to drive 90 basis points of leverage on adjusted SG&A. Our updated 2026 guidance now contemplates approximately 90 basis points of leverage on adjusted SG&A for the full year. Our full year guidance contemplates Q3 adjusted SG&A of $73 million to $74 million. In the quarter, adjusted EBITDA was $114 million, an increase of 28% over Q2 of last year. And we delivered 33 cents of adjusted EPS, up from 26 cents in the second quarter of last year. Let me now provide an update on our liquidity in CapEx. As of June 30th, we had approximately $699 million in total liquidity, including $269 million in cash and cash equivalents, and the balance in our undrawn revolver. In Q2, our average capex per shop was approximately $1.4 million, consistent with Q2 of last year. We remain on track toward our long-term goal of 60% build-to-suit lease mix, and we continue to increase the number of high-quality sites we are adding to our pipeline. As other concepts continue to right-size their drive-through fleet, they're creating even more opportunities for us to expand into high-quality locations with exceptional long-term economics. Turning to our guidance, we are approaching the back half of the year from a position of strength. We have a highly focused plan, long-term visibility into our key growth initiatives, and a very clear objective, to continue converting the significant white space ahead of us into durable growth. Given the performance we have seen thus far and the impact of the Phoenix franchise acquisition, we are raising our 2026 guidance in the following areas. Total revenues are now projected to be between $2.1 billion and $2.13 billion, representing 28% to 30% growth year over year. System same-shop sales growth is now estimated to be in the range of 5% to 6%, with us trending towards the midpoint of that range. Adjusted EBITDA is now estimated to be in the range of $385 million to $390 million. The midpoint of this range contemplates approximately 20 basis points of year-over-year net adjusted EBITDA margin pressure, reflecting the impact of higher coffee costs and increased occupancy costs partially offset by leverage on adjusted SG&A. Capital expenditures are now expected to be in the range of $350 million to $370 million. We remain very confident in opening at least 185 system shops in 2026.
Unknown
Dutch Bros Management
I am very proud of the results our team delivered in Q2.
Josh
Chief Financial Officer
Strong operational execution, a continued focus on establishing the everyday routine for our customers, and incredibly strong four-wall economics give me even greater conviction that we are set up for long-term success. Thank you, everyone. We'll now take your questions. Operator, please open the lines.
Operator
Conference Operator
Thank you. We will now be conducting a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. Please limit yourself to one question. You may press star two if you would like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. And our first question will come from Dennis Geiger with UBS.
Dennis Geiger
Analyst, UBS
Great. Thanks, guys. Josh, you gave some really helpful color on the rest of the year guidance, including as it relates to the same store sales. Target. Wanted to know if you could get into that a little bit more, you know, as far as how you're thinking about the back half comp outlook. Any other puts and takes as it relates to some of the key initiatives that you've got in place and how you're thinking about contribution as we move through the back half of the year, as well as just kind of anything on broader macro backdrop competition, anything else that might impact the back half of the year comps. Thank you.
Unknown
Dutch Bros Management
Yeah, Dennis, thanks for the question. So as we think about our guide for the full year of the midpoint of the five to six range, that really does reflect the continued step up in transaction comparison. So we see that step up in Q3 and Q4. We also are rolling off net pricing as we head into Q3. So we'll see that impact our ticket. And then we begin to roll over actually the start of the rollout of our food program that we started in Q3 of last year. and more meaningfully in Q4. So all those factors lead us to that five to six range for the full year and four to five points of comp for Q3.
Christine Barone
Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, and if we look at the broader macro environment, we're feeling really good about how we're positioned. We think that we are continued to be positioned to really out-compete the rest of the industry and outperform with mobile order, with Judge Rewards with the food program and all of the different initiatives that we've added together are just really performing. Our customers are loving them and our broistas are serving them with exceptional service.
Operator
Conference Operator
And our next question will come from Andrew Charles with TD Cowen.
Andrew Charles
Analyst, TD Cowen
Great, thank you. Just another one on the guidance for 3Q of 4% to 5%. You know, it implies the deceleration from the strong 2Q results on both a two-year basis as well as a seasonal basis. And, you know, I know you caught up rolling off some price, but are there other dynamics to think about considering, you know, perhaps the implied deceleration? You know, in particular, are you seeing any headwinds from the surges of gas prices? Obviously, Starbucks had a big launch this month with blended energy as well. Just other dynamics that we should be thinking about as well here.
Unknown
Dutch Bros Management
Andrew, thanks for the question. I'd really point you towards the primary driver being that transaction lapse starting to step up here and then what we're rolling off both in terms of pricing and the rollover of the start of our food program. So we do feel very good about the position that we're in as we head into Q3 and for the balance of the year and how things are shaping up for us.
Operator
Conference Operator
We'll go next to Jeff Farmer with Gordon Haskett.
Jeff Farmer
Analyst, Gordon Haskett
Thanks. Over the last couple of quarters, you guys pointed out some pretty big increases in your LTO unit velocity. So just looking for a little bit more color there. And then more importantly, what's the relationship between increased LTO velocity and your traffic and same-shore sales numbers? Thank you.
Christine Barone
Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, thanks for the question. So we continue to be really pleased with how our LTOs are performing. When you look at Q2, I would highlight the launch of MIST, This is an incredibly important platform for us. We are the leader, the category creator in customized energy. And having that full platform, including this, really just adds to what our customers can choose across that. We actually saw an incremental increase in energy as a total percent of our sales as we looked over that quarter. So really excited to see how that's performing. We did launch that as an LTO and with that strong performance have decided to keep that on the menu. You know, as we've talked over the last couple of quarters and look at our innovation, we really look at innovation as platform innovation and then some of those LTOs and those new flavors that just drive excitement across our business. And this quarter we were really focused on that platform innovation with launching Myst. You know, the other thing we saw too is as we look at our LTOs We look each year at what's performing really well and saw continued really great performance out of Strawberry Colada. So to see both misperforming and our Strawberry Colada along with very strong performance out of Dulce de Leche for that second year as well.
Operator
Conference Operator
Moving on to Sarah Senatore with Bank of America.
Sarah Senatore
Analyst, Bank of America
Oh, thank you. I wanted to ask about the franchisee comps, perhaps. You know, it looks like the gap is widening, although certainly I think the two year gap maybe is more stable. I guess the reason I ask is twofold. One, trying to distinguish kind of how much of your strength in the company system was kind of the wind at your back from a strong company. A segment versus I think you tend to do more pre-opening. You tend to do like more local marketing. So just as I think about your underlying drivers, it sort of feels like maybe franchise is a control group. And then the other piece is I know you bought in a franchise system. I guess, is there an opportunity to maybe increase or accelerate comps from that business as well? Thank you.
Unknown
Dutch Bros Management
Yes, I'll just talk about the broader spread to start with. You know, as we shared in the past, one of the biggest drivers of the spread between company and franchise is really that we see strong comp tailwinds coming from the newer vintages of shops. And our growth is more heavily weighted towards the company operated side. So that just disproportionately benefits our company operated system more. I'd say adding to that, as we've rolled out food, we completed the rollout of food into our company operated system during the quarter. will start rolling that out into the franchise system starting next quarter. So certainly that helped create some more of the spread, especially on the ticket side as we look at Q2.
Christine Barone
Chief Executive Officer
And then just as a reminder, about 300 of our shops won't be able to have the hot food program. And that really is disproportionately in the franchise shops. The franchise shops that we have been testing with and have started to roll out food and those that have all of the new bakery are seeing great results with it.
Operator
Conference Operator
We'll go next to Drew Norris with Baird.
Drew Norris
Analyst, Robert W. Baird
Great. I had a follow-up on the food platform, so you teed it up well. I was hoping you could expand a bit on your opportunity to raise awareness of the offering. I think, as you mentioned, I mean, food has rolled out to the majority of the company-operated locations now to date. I was wondering if you were seeing sales mix continue to build as awareness has naturally grown and maybe how you're thinking about putting marketing dollars if that's a consideration behind food to drive year two of growth in that platform. Thanks.
Christine Barone
Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, so if we look at the food platform, our teams are really excited about the platform. So we actually see really from the very beginning of launch of food that we see that pop up in food attach very, very quickly within our shops. And as we look at what we're trying to do with food, Really the first thing that we're trying to do is we heard from our customers loud and clear that, hey, I love Dutch Bros the most, but some days I go to another place because I want a breakfast sandwich or something like that in the morning. And so it's really important for us to add this for our customers. And we are seeing that attach right away as we roll out the program. So we're very focused right now on executing the program really well. We're really pleased with the list that we're seeing. You know, as we look at the long term opportunity, I think, you know, not only do we have an opportunity to grow awareness of the program, but we also now have a very important food capability as part of our toolkit. And so as we look ahead, I think there are other platforms we can look at that might still be missing within our offering. We only have nine SKUs right now within our shops. I think food can also play a nice role in seasonal offerings to help drive that awareness and that traffic. and you know as we roll out into new markets I think another thing that's neat to see is is customers really expect us to have that broader food offering and so I think are very pleased when they come to our shops so some of those new shops that we spoke about are seeing really great success with food as well.
Operator
Conference Operator
Our next question will come from Raul Crow with JP Morgan.
Raul Crow
Analyst, J.P. Morgan
Good evening, guys. Can you help us understand how the new store productivity has been steadily taking higher? I mean, look, what is being done differently, especially as many stores are not necessarily been opening in the newer markets? And I have a follow up.
Christine Barone
Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, so if we look at our new shop performance, we continue to be incredibly pleased. As you know, we've been on a journey and really developing our real estate capabilities. So starting with market planning, understanding how each store that we open is going to perform not only when it opens, but also as we fill out that whole market. Then looking at how we do our marketing sequence within a new market, how we think about what really works, what helps to drive customers in. We've been on a march to build brand awareness as we go into new markets. And I think as you look across all of those things, it's clearly working and we are opening great new shops as we continue to roll out in the country. I think one of the big highlights that we had in this quarter was opening in Chicago, our second shop there. And I think to set an opening day record when we're at 1200 plus shops in a new market just really speaks to the incredible strength of the brand. and all of the awesome work that our teams are doing.
Operator
Conference Operator
We'll go next to Nick Setien with Mizuho Securities.
Nick Setien
Analyst, Mizuho Securities
Hi, thank you. Just in terms of the guidance for second half, any way to kind of break out company on versus franchise, given the expanding gap here, that would be very helpful. And then aside from the food rollout, being delayed at the franchise stores. Are any of the other initiatives that are taking place in the company on stores not taking place within the franchise stores?
Unknown
Dutch Bros Management
Yeah, Nick, so we don't provide guidance on the components of company versus franchise. You know, certainly as we think about some of the drivers for that spread there, you'd expect there to remain a spread as we continue to our shop growth cadence on the company side is certainly outpacing the franchise side. but that's about as much details we'd give on guidance as it relates to the spread between the two.
Christine Barone
Chief Executive Officer
And then our food rollout really is ahead of schedule. I think as we've continued to see how our teams have embraced the food rollout, we always expected to actually roll out the company-operated shops first and for our franchisees to get to see that great performance and then adopt that program.
Operator
Conference Operator
We'll go next to Sharon Zaxia with William Blair.
Christine Barone
Chief Executive Officer
Hi, thanks for taking the question. Sorry, losing my voice. Can you talk about what you're seeing with MIST in terms of the demographic and the day parts that might differ from what you see with REBEL? Yeah, so as we look at MIST, we really are seeing that afternoon day part strength continue, but we also do see MIST occasions in the morning as well. and I do think that it is a lighter customizable caffeine that is in the Mist product. It's plant powered and it provides that really refreshing platform that our customers love. You know, as far as demographics go, again, it looks fairly similar, I think, to what we're seeing from Rebel as well, but it is incredibly early days still for Mist. We think this platform just has a long way to go and I think that as this energy market continues to evolve, we would expect that you would actually continue to see more of those occasions come into the morning as well. And I think that it's becoming something that our customers are really drinking throughout the day.
Operator
Conference Operator
Moving on to Gregory Frankfurt with Guggenheim Partners.
Gregory Frankfurt
Analyst, Guggenheim Partners
Hey, thanks for the question. I just wanted to ask about the Thought Behind the Salad and Go, a lease acquisition.
Unknown
Dutch Bros Management
I mean, I think these are a thousand square feet, so it's pretty comparable to the size of a Dutch Bros.
Gregory Frankfurt
Analyst, Guggenheim Partners
But I think Arizona and Nevada might be two of your three or four most penetrated states, and you kind of grow in mid-single-digit unit growth in those markets. Is this to kind of turbocharge? Is there a lot of overlap with your stores? Just anything on the thought process there. Thanks.
Unknown
Dutch Bros Management
Yeah, Greg, so, you know, we really look at this as we shared in the past, even with something like Clutch, we look at this as a great opportunity for us to get a hold of some fantastic real estate in markets where we see a lot of potential to continue growing. So while you're right, we have several shops here in Arizona and Nevada, we still see a significant amount of white space ahead and availability for us to be able to go after creating more of that daily routine and that daily occasion with customers. So we see this as a nice addition to the overall portfolio. To your point, the sites themselves are right around our size shop, so it should lead to easier conversion to a Dutch Bros. Moving next to John Tower with Citigroup.
John Tower
Analyst, Citigroup
Great. Thanks for taking the question. Maybe quick clarification on the question. On the clarification front, just want to make sure that the bump in CapEx that you guys had for the year guidance, that includes the acquisition of the franchise market in Arizona, one. And then the question is on the rewards program. You know, I think, Christine, you had mentioned that It delivered its strongest contribution to comp since the start of the customer segmentation journey. So can you just speak to what exactly contributed to that? Is it something that you're doing explicitly in the program that drew customers back? Was it products in the period? Was it exclusive merch that maybe they had access to? Just curious what moved the needle there.
Unknown
Dutch Bros Management
Yeah, I'll start with the CapEx question quickly. The increase does reflect the franchisee acquisition, does not include the announcement around South and Go.
Christine Barone
Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, and then on the rewards program, we've really been on a journey. And so a lot of this is actually us taking our data and being able to segment it in new ways and then be able to provide very unique offers to different customer segments that really match with what we're seeing from their behavior patterns. So when we see a behavior pattern trying to get someone into that next layer of frequency, trying to get them into that Next Drink, trying to make them aware of other products that we have, things like that. So it actually really is an increase in our sophistication in data and the way that we're using it within our rewards program. So it's a new capability that we've developed over time. We are also adding different ways that we can encourage our customers to try new things. So things like streaks in the program. So we are actually building out new technological capabilities as well, along with all of that data segmentation that we're working through.
Operator
Conference Operator
And moving next to Jacob Aiken Phillips with Malleus Research.
Jacob Aiken Phillips
Analyst, Malleus Research
Good afternoon, guys. Thanks so much for taking our question. So between the 185 plan openings this year, acquired franchise shops, the salad and goat conversions, I was just curious how you're planning on sequencing these projects to ensure that the operator and MOV pipeline is not stretched. Is people capacity permitting or construction now the primary constraint? Thanks.
Christine Barone
Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, so as we look at our openings, so one, the franchise shops, we actually continuously operate at those. So that acquisition is complete. They You know, closed one night as a franchisee shop, opened the next morning, and our teams did just such an incredible job with that seamless operation. I think, you know, given the proximity to our headquarters, we've had the teams in here getting them ready for that, and they've done just a fantastic job with that. You know, on things like Salad & Go, and like Clutch, that really is just adding real estate to our pipeline. So that's part of our normal process that we go through. It's really just building on that pipeline as we are on that March to 2029 shops in 2029. We have an incredible pipeline of leaders. So as I mentioned on the call, we have 525 operator candidates in our pipeline. Our operators sit just above shops, so they manage multiple shops. And so we have a very, very strong group of leaders. And as we look in particular at adding shops in our pipeline, in some of our markets that have been with us for the longest, like our Arizona market, we have an incredible bench of really, really strong leaders in the Arizona market, in the Vegas market. And so as we look to add more sites, we've got great people ready to operate those shops.
Operator
Conference Operator
Moving on to Jim Solera with Stevens.
Jim Solera
Analyst, Stevens
Hey, guys. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking our question. If you could provide us any detail on geographic distribution in terms of same restaurant sales drivers. I know in one queue you guys highlighted very strong results out of Texas, and that helped support the kind of system-wide results. I'm wondering if there's any other call-outs this quarter, and if you see any particular strength across any geographies.
Christine Barone
Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, so we don't typically share strength across geographies. We had shared that last quarter really just to highlight one of our most competitive markets and to show how well Dutch Bros is showing up and competing in those markets. You know, but as we look across our comp and our very strong comp, you know, both from a system perspective and then from a company operated perspective, you know, we are seeing strength across all day parts with positive comp on all day parts. We are seeing particular strength in the morning and that is something, you know, as we roll out these different initiatives, we've been very focused on growing that morning day part. So what we have been expecting to see is really showing up in the numbers and just super pleased by how that's going.
Operator
Conference Operator
Our next question comes from Margaret Mae Binchtock with Wolf Research.
Margaret Mae Binchtock
Analyst, Wolfe Research
Hey guys, thanks for taking my question. I just wanted to ask on the VibeCheck scorecard that you guys just launched, I guess, can you talk a little bit about what it actually measures and like what the intent is? Is it behind like catching issues early or just identifying best practices so you can replicate them to other shops? Thank you.
Christine Barone
Chief Executive Officer
Great. So as we look at the VibeCheck scorecard, it's really measuring those things that are important to our business. So like everything at Dutch Broad, it starts with our people. So really understanding turnover. We're working on a metric to really understand how are our crews doing and to make sure that our teams have great visibility across the board to the shops. We also have customer metrics. So what do our customers think of how we're doing? What do they think of our speed, quality, and service? And what differences do we see across shops? And then finally, business metrics. So how are we staffing our shops? Are we staffing against the demand really well? And then how are we growing our customers? Are we inviting more customers into Dutch Bros? So it's really all of those things that are a good, important check. And as we roll this out, I think the most important thing at the beginning of the rollout is really the learning that our teams can see from each other. So we might have a shop that's doing particularly well in in motivating their teams. And they have really great turnover metrics. And then the whole rest of that region will get to learn from that great operator and understand what they're doing. And so we will use it to understand where things are, where we can improve. But I think the greatest use of a tool like this is really the learning that our operators can provide for each other.
Operator
Conference Operator
We'll hear next from Chris Carril with KeyBank Capital Markets.
Unknown
Dutch Bros Management
Hi, thanks for taking the question. Can you expand on throughput opportunities that you're seeing today, maybe how much potential upside you see from increasing throughput over the near to medium term? And if you could maybe speak to this in the context of your highest volume stores, maybe touch upon some of the learnings from the Melrose Park shop, that would be helpful. Thank you.
Christine Barone
Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, so we think we have a great path ahead of us to expand our throughput. And as we look at what is driving the most right now, it really is on labor deployment. And so what we are looking at is giving our shops very detailed and great information around how are they staffing versus the demand by day and by day part. And as you look at that, it really helps match the demand. And then we can go through those very long lines that we have in some of our shops much quicker. And as I look at that and learnings from some of those very high volume shops, you know, I think we're doing a really great job of that in our highest volume shops, but really labor deployment helps across our entire system. And so getting that correct. The other thing we're working on is longer term opportunities in really looking at the shop layout. So as we look at the demand, how much of the demand is coming out the drive through window. How much of the demand is coming out of our walk-up window, especially now with mobile order at 16% sales? How do we balance that demand and make sure that the stations are in the right place and the work is happening in the right place at the shop? So very early days on that, but excited by the work that the teams are starting to do on that.
Operator
Conference Operator
And we'll go next to Matt Curtis with DA Davidson.
Matt Curtis
Analyst, D.A. Davidson
Hi, thanks. I've got another question I missed with it being added to the permit menu. What metrics gave you confidence in making that decision to make it permanent so quickly? Is there any additional colors you can provide on repeat rates, perhaps how they're tracking relative to Rebel or prior successful product introductions? Thank you.
Christine Barone
Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, so as we look at adding MIST to the permanent menu, we've actually been working on MIST for quite some time. And so, you know, kind of starting from the beginning and how we develop a product. First, we do concept testing to understand how does the, as we describe this product to customers, how do we think they're going to react to it? We're actually asking them, how does this product sound? What about these benefits? Things like that. Then we take it through some taste testing to see, is this really the best product on the market? And how do customers react to the taste of the product? Then we go and we actually do a market test. So we're looking for a smaller market test at first to really test operations. And so can we make this? Does it fit within the cadence of what we're trying to do? And then we go to a broader market test. where we're actually looking at volumes, we're looking at repeat rates, things like that. So even before the launch of MIST, we had a lot of great data indicating that we were likely going to leave this on as a permanent menu item, given what we had seen and really given the reaction as we had to temporarily take it off the venue for a little bit and the customers really begging for it to come back. And then as we roll out, we look very carefully at what customers are new, where is it at occasions, What other platforms do we see the product drawing from? And what's interesting here is with Mist, not only do we see new occasions, we do see some of it drawing from Rebel, but we also see it drawing from things like Lemonade. And so I think there's this real need in the market for that type of energy that a product like Mist provides. and then as we look at it, we look at repeat rates and what happens as we launch a normal LTO and then what happens to that curve afterwards. And so we saw really great trial and then really strong repeat rates as miscontinued throughout the quarter.
Operator
Conference Operator
And this now concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the floor back over to Christine Barone for closing comments.
Christine Barone
Chief Executive Officer
Thank you for your questions. Before we wrap up, I'd like to recognize an achievement that reflects the very best of Dutch Bros. In Q2, Drink One for Dane Day raised more than $1.7 million for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. The event also marked an incredible milestone, helping us surpass $20 million in lifetime donations to the MDA, supporting critical ALS research, care, and services for families affected by the disease. Our partnership with the MDA continues to honor the legacy of our co-founder, Dane Boersma, and reflects our deep commitment to giving back to the communities we serve. As Dutch Bros continues to grow, so does the impact we're able to make together. Thank you to our Broistas, our customers, and our community partners for helping us honor Dane's legacy and make a massive difference one cup at a time.
Operator
Conference Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your participation. This does conclude today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines and have a wonderful day.