Grocery Outlet Holding Corp.

We are a growth-oriented extreme value retailer of quality, name-brand consumables and fresh products sold primarily through a network of independently operated stores. Our flexible buying model allows us to offer quality, name-brand opportunistic products at prices generally 40% to 70% below those of conventional retailers. Our Grocery Outlet stores are primarily run by entrepreneurial independent operators ("IOs") who create a neighborhood feel through personalized customer service and a localized product offering. As of April 4, 2026, we had 549 stores in California, Washington, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Nevada, Idaho, North Carolina, Maryland, Ohio, Georgia, Virginia, New Jersey, Alabama, Delaware and Kentucky.

Recent Trends and Developments

The extent of the continuing impact of the factors set forth below on our operational and financial performance will depend on many factors, including certain factors outside of our control.

Macroeconomic Conditions. Over the past several years, our business has been and continues to be impacted by macroeconomic conditions including supply chain and labor challenges, varying rates of inflation, tariffs, fuel price increases and changes in consumer behavior, and our IOs have been impacted by staffing challenges and increased labor costs and utility costs within their businesses. In recent periods, comparable store sales have been negatively impacted by decreased average transaction size. We are actively pursuing initiatives to increase average transaction size through our deployment of enhanced in-store merchandising and execution to further improve the shopping experience.

Tariffs, such as those recently implemented or proposed by the U.S. government on goods imported from other countries, may result in cost increases on some of the products we sell, such as fresh meat and general merchandise that we import from impacted countries, as well as the materials and supplies we use for store construction. Tariffs may also negatively affect consumer sentiment. The tariff environment remains highly dynamic and specific tariffs applicable to our business continue to evolve. While we are regularly re-evaluating the potential impact of implemented and proposed tariffs, the short-term impact of price increases due to tariffs is largely dependent on our ability to negotiate with suppliers, opportunities to change sources of supply, our assortment decisions and whether or not we pass the effects through to our customers, which will largely depend upon competitive market conditions. It is reasonably possible that new or additional tariffs will be periodically implemented or proposed given the current global trade environment. Sustained uncertainty about, or worsening of, current global economic conditions and further tariffs and escalations of tensions between the U.S. and its trading partners has and could continue to adversely impact the stability of global financial markets and result in a global economic slowdown and long-term changes to global trade, which could in turn have a material adverse impact on our business and financial condition.

In the first quarter of fiscal 2026, the Supreme Court of the U.S. issued a ruling striking down certain tariffs previously imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act ("IEEPA"). The ultimate availability, timing, and amount of any potential refunds of such tariffs remain uncertain and are subject to further legal, regulatory, and administrative developments. The U.S. presidential administration subsequently invoked additional tariffs under other laws resulting in a rapidly changing tariff environment. At this time we cannot reasonably estimate the total financial impact of this ruling, however it, and any additional tariffs, may materially affect our future results of operations and cash flows.

Pricing Competition. During the last few years we have observed an increase in promotional and pricing activities from key competitors, putting further pressure on our relative value proposition, which in turn, has resulted in our increased efforts to actively negotiate costs and adjust prices to sharpen our value proposition.

Opportunistic Product. We are working to increase opportunistic product levels to what we believe is necessary to improve the perception of our value leadership and drive sales. As part of these efforts we have invested and plan to continue to invest in additional promotional activity in the near term, which adversely impacted gross margin in the first quarter of fiscal 2026 and which we expect will continue to adversely impact gross margin for the remainder of fiscal 2026.

Optimization Plan. To strengthen long-term profitability and cash flow generation, improve operational execution, optimize our existing store footprint and align with our disciplined new store growth strategy, in the first quarter of fiscal 2026 we conducted a strategic, financial and operational analysis of our store fleet. Following that review, in the first quarter of fiscal 2026, our Board of Directors (the "Board") adopted a business optimization plan (the "Optimization Plan") that provides for the closure of 36 financially underperforming stores ("Closure Stores"), including the termination, sublease or assignment of the applicable store leases; the termination, sublease or assignment of a lease for a distribution center facility that we are no longer utilizing (together with the store leases, the "Lease Exits"); and the termination of operator agreements with IOs for the Closure Stores as well as certain other store locations (the "Operator Agreement Terminations").

Following the Board adoption of the Optimization Plan, during the first quarter of fiscal 2026, we closed 27 stores and initiated the closure process at the remaining 9 stores associated with the Lease Exits. In the second quarter of fiscal 2026, we completed the closure of the remaining 9 stores. During the first quarter of fiscal 2026, we also completed or initiated the Operator Agreement Terminations for the Closure Stores as well as certain other store locations, which resulted in an increase of $15.5 million to the provision for IO notes and IO receivables reserves in the first quarter of fiscal 2026.

We estimate that we will incur between $20 million and $27 million in net total restructuring charges in fiscal 2026 and fiscal 2027 related to the Optimization Plan, and we expect these actions to be substantially completed by the first quarter of fiscal 2027. Estimated restructuring charges expected to be incurred in connection with the Operator Agreement Terminations include bad debt expense of approximately $16 million and cash costs of approximately $3 million. We have negotiated, or intend to negotiate, a lease termination, sublease or assignment with the landlords of the Lease Exits. We expect to incur net restructuring charges for the Lease Exits of between $1 million and $8 million, which primarily include cash costs of between $49 million and $60 million for lease termination fees, costs to prepare the premises for surrender to the landlords, sublessee or assignee, and idle property costs, partially offset by the net non-cash write-off of the right-of-use assets and lease liabilities associated with these leases of between $(48) million and $(52) million.

See Note 12 to the condensed consolidated financial statements for additional information regarding the Optimization Plan, including the costs incurred and restructuring liability activity.

New Store Growth. Our new store growth efforts are focused on organic growth combined with complementary real estate opportunities that align with our long-term geographic expansion and store growth strategies. Complementary growth opportunities may include expanding strategic relationships with large property owners, evaluating acquisitions of opportunistic real estate that become available through consolidation in the retail sector, and exploring strategic regional acquisitions of operating businesses.

We plan to open 30 to 33 net new stores in fiscal 2026, excluding the Closure Stores related to the Optimization Plan. We plan to expand with a more clustered location model in new markets to improve supply chain efficiency and marketing leverage that reflects our more disciplined approach. We are also making adjustments to how we go to market, including piloting new approaches to store openings and underwriting to stricter standards. For example, we plan to operate certain of these new stores as Company-operated stores initially, which differs from our historical practice, before eventually transitioning the operations to an IO.

Key Factors and Measures We Use to Evaluate Our Business

We consider a variety of financial and operating measures in assessing the performance of our business. The key financial measures we use in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("GAAP") are net sales, gross profit and gross margin, selling, general and administrative expenses ("SG&A"), operating loss, net loss and comprehensive loss and net loss per share. The key operational metrics and non-GAAP financial measures we use are number of new stores, comparable store sales, EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income and adjusted earnings per share.

First Quarter of Fiscal 2026 Overview

Key financial and operating performance results for the first quarter of fiscal 2026 compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2025 were as follows:

•Netsales increased 3.6% to $1.17 billion from $1.13 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2025.

•Comparable store sales declined by 1.0%, driven by 3.1% decrease in average transaction size, partially offset by a 2.1% increase in the number of transactions.

•Gross margin was 29.6% in the first quarter of fiscal 2026 compared to 30.4% in the first quarter of fiscal 2025, a decline of 80 basis points, including a 50 basis point impact from inventory markdowns and write-offs associated with the Closure Stores under the Optimization Plan.

•We closed 28 stores, including 27 stores as a result of the Optimization Plan (see Note 12 to the condensed consolidated financial statements for additional information), and opened 7 new stores, ending the first quarter of fiscal 2026 with 549 stores in 16 states.

•Operating loss was $178.0 million, which included $158.0 million in non-cash charges related to the impairment of goodwill and $18.2 million in restructuring charges related to the Optimization Plan (see Note 3 and Note 12 to the condensed consolidated financial statements for additional information).

•Net loss was $180.3 million, or $(1.83) per diluted share in the first quarter of fiscal 2026, compared to net loss of $23.3 million, or $(0.24) per diluted share, in the first quarter of fiscal 2025.

•Adjusted net income(1) was $4.6 million, or $0.05 diluted adjusted earnings per share(1), compared to $13.0 million, or $0.13 diluted adjusted earnings per share, in the first quarter of fiscal 2025.

•Adjusted EBITDA(1) was $43.1 million, compared to $51.9 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2025.

(1)Adjusted net income, diluted adjusted earnings per share and adjusted EBITDA are non-GAAP financial measures, which exclude the impact of certain special items. Please note that our non-GAAP financial measures should be considered as a supplement to, and not as a substitute for, or superior to, financial measures calculated in accordance with GAAP. See the "Operating Metrics and Non-GAAP Financial Measures" section below for additional information about these items, including their definitions, how the non-GAAP financial measures provide useful information to investors and how management utilizes them, and reconciliations of the non-GAAP financial measures and the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures.