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Chefs' Warehouse, Inc. key statistics and ratios

In fiscal 2025, Chefs' Warehouse, Inc. had return on equity of 12.7%, an operating margin of 3.5%, debt equal to 123.9% of equity and a current ratio of 2.05. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.

Financial ratios

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal years, plus the last twelve months (LTM) when newer.

Fiscal year2009Dec 20092010Dec 20102011Dec 20112012Dec 20122013Dec 20132014Dec 20142015Dec 20152016Dec 20162017Dec 20172018Dec 20182019Dec 20192020Dec 20202021Dec 20212022Dec 20222023Dec 20232024Dec 20242025Dec 2025LTMSept 2026
Gross margin26.3%26.0%26.4%26.0%25.6%24.6%25.7%25.3%25.3%24.2%24.3%22.3%22.4%23.7%23.7%24.1%24.2%24.7%
Operating margin4.9%6.5%6.9%6.0%5.4%4.0%3.9%4.0%3.2%3.4%3.2%−9.2%0.6%3.3%2.9%3.4%3.5%4.1%
Net margin3.3%4.8%1.9%3.0%2.5%1.7%1.5%0.3%1.1%1.4%1.5%−7.5%−0.3%1.1%1.0%1.5%1.7%2.3%
Free-cash-flow margin4.0%3.8%3.7%1.1%−0.2%−1.7%1.5%1.9%1.5%1.7%1.8%3.2%−3.4%−0.9%0.1%2.7%2.1%4.0%
Return on equity———46.2%19.8%10.2%9.7%1.6%6.5%7.3%7.5%−24.4%−1.4%7.4%8.1%11.2%12.7%15.9%
Return on assets—19.2%8.1%9.1%6.0%3.9%3.4%0.5%2.2%2.9%2.8%−8.3%−0.5%2.1%2.2%3.1%3.7%5.0%
Asset turnover—3.994.213.022.382.282.191.971.972.031.821.121.702.022.142.132.142.19
Current ratio—1.261.682.212.882.452.222.462.742.623.023.432.392.541.892.042.052.21
Debt to equity——193.9%317.0%111.8%97.8%149.5%183.9%132.6%90.1%116.7%117.3%114.0%168.0%157.9%131.5%123.9%106.2%
Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest)4.7x5.3x1.9x7.8x4.7x4.0x3.1x1.1x1.8x2.3x2.8xn/m0.6x2.0x2.2x2.6x3.5x4.8x
Effective tax rate19.8%13.9%42.1%42.1%41.0%42.8%41.5%46.7%22.0%26.7%25.3%——33.8%37.6%30.2%30.1%30.6%
SG&A as % of revenue—————————20.6%20.7%30.3%21.7%19.8%20.5%20.7%20.5%20.3%
Capital spending as % of revenue0.4%0.3%0.5%0.7%1.7%2.9%2.1%1.4%0.9%1.4%1.0%0.6%2.2%1.8%1.7%1.3%1.0%0.7%
Free cash flow ÷ net income120.8%78.1%190.2%35.9%−6.3%−101.4%99.1%737.4%133.6%123.8%119.6%——−81.9%12.2%186.7%121.3%177.2%
Dividends ÷ net income1.6%10.1%————————————————
Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow1.3%12.9%————————————0.0%16.8%17.1%5.5%

Returns use average equity or assets over the year. Return on equity is left blank when equity is negative or so small that the ratio says nothing (above ±200%); interest cover is left blank above 200 times. Price-based ratios such as P/E are on the valuation page.

Financial health

4 of 7 checks passed · September 25, 2026
What it owns · $2.1bn
Short-term assets $1.0bnLonger-term assets $1.0bn
What it owes, and who funded it · $2.1bn
Short-term liabilities $471mLonger-term liabilities $926mShareholders' equity $687m
  • Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $1.0bn of assets due within a year against $471m of liabilities due within a year.
  • Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities $1.0bn short-term assets against $926m of longer-dated liabilities.
  • More cash than debt $165m of cash against $729m of debt.
  • Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 106% of equity.
  • Debt burden no higher than five years ago Debt to equity moved from 111% to 106% over five years.
  • A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $215m of operating cash flow against $729m of debt.
  • Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Operating income of $186m against $39m of interest.

From Chefs' Warehouse, Inc.'s latest balance sheet as filed. Checks are fixed, documented rules (methodology), counted only where the company reports the figures — a dot means the filing doesn't break the item out. Descriptions of reported data, not advice.

Moat

27 /100

Weak moat

How hard Chefs' Warehouse's competitive advantage looks for rivals to wear away, judged from 10 years of its own filings: returns on capital, pricing power, profit durability, cash conversion and discipline.

  • Returns on capital 0 / 20

    Cash operating profit has been a median 2.1% of total assets over 7 years.

  • Pricing power 9 / 20

    Gross margin has been a median 24.1%, moving by 1.0 percentage points (standard deviation) across 10 years.

  • Durability 0 / 20

    Operating margin has been a median 3.2%; its worst year was -3.6%.

  • Cash conversion 8 / 20

    Free cash flow was positive in 7 of 10 years, at a median 1.8% of revenue.

  • Discipline 10 / 20

    The diluted share count rose 25.6% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 0.5% of revenue.

AI disruption exposure: Low. In this industry, the business rests on physical assets, regulated networks or products AI itself depends on.

A rules-based reading of reported figures, not a forecast and not investment advice. How the score is built: methodology.

Compare with peers

Head to head: CHEF vs DITCHEF vs HFFGCHEF vs UNFI

More: Food Distributors stocks compared, Consumer Staples sector, rankings of US companies

Figures from Chefs' Warehouse, Inc.'s SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q), retrieved October 29, 2026. How we read and check them: methodology and data sources. Not investment advice. Back to Chefs' Warehouse, Inc.