Executive Summary
            
                Mama's Creations reported a solid second quarter of fiscal 2026, highlighted by 24% year-over-year revenue growth to $35.2 million and a gross profit of $8.8 million (gross margin 24.9%). The quarter benefits from a broader top-line expansion across core deli offerings and the incremental scale provided by the Crown I acquisition, including access to premium customers and near-term capacity relief. Management stressed a focus on high-ROI trade investments, targeted pricing actions, and throughput improvements in chicken operations, which helped offset ongoing commodity headwinds. The Crown I acquisition is positioned as a key accelerant to reaching a balanced, higher-margin growth trajectory, with the company targeting a path toward mid- to high-20% gross margins over the next 12β18 months as integration benefits materialize and procurement/throughput efficiencies scale across the network.
The company maintains a disciplined approach to trade spend, noting that Q2 trade as a percentage of sales was 2.2% (up from prior year) and that year-to-date there has been a multi-fold increase in trade investment to drive velocity and retailer partnerships. On the balance sheet, Mama's exited the quarter with a net cash position and a robust liquidity runway, supported by a $27.4 million credit facility with M&T Bank, and a reduction in total debt to $2.7 million. However, free cash flow remained negative in the quarter as working-capital optimization and integration costs take precedence in the near term. Management remains confident in sustaining profitable growth and leveraging Crown's capacity to approach a near-term run-rate of $200 million and ultimately near a $1 billion revenue target through the integration and expansion of cross-sell opportunities across existing and new customers (e.g., Costco, Walmart, Sam's Club, Publix).            
         
        
        
            Key Performance Indicators
            
         
        
        
        
        
            Key Insights
            
                
                                    Revenue: $35.20 million, up 24.0% YoY; QoQ decline of ~0.15%. Gross profit: $8.77 million; gross margin 24.92%, up 27.5% YoY, down ~4.5% QoQ. Operating income: $1.70 million; margin 4.83% (YoY +5.46%, QoQ +7.73%). Net income: $1.28 million; margin 3.63% (YoY +11.24%, QoQ +3.23%). EBITDA: $2.99 million; adjusted EBITDA: $3.30 million (YoY +18%). EPS (diluted): $0.0321; GAAP EPS: $0.0339. Weighted AVG diluted shares: ~39.74 million. Free cash flow: -$2.19 million; Operating cash flow: -$1.67 milli...
                
             
         
    
    
    
        
        
            Financial Highlights
            
                Revenue: $35.20 million, up 24.0% YoY; QoQ decline of ~0.15%. Gross profit: $8.77 million; gross margin 24.92%, up 27.5% YoY, down ~4.5% QoQ. Operating income: $1.70 million; margin 4.83% (YoY +5.46%, QoQ +7.73%). Net income: $1.28 million; margin 3.63% (YoY +11.24%, QoQ +3.23%). EBITDA: $2.99 million; adjusted EBITDA: $3.30 million (YoY +18%). EPS (diluted): $0.0321; GAAP EPS: $0.0339. Weighted AVG diluted shares: ~39.74 million. Free cash flow: -$2.19 million; Operating cash flow: -$1.67 million; capital expenditures: -$0.514 million. Cash and cash equivalents: $9.38 million at 2025-07-31. Total debt: $2.71 million; net debt: -$1.14 million (net cash). Total assets: $51.24 million; Total liabilities: $21.65 million; Total stockholdersβ equity: $29.59 million. Key liquidity/financing: $27.4 million credit facility with M&T Bank; Crown acquisition funded with all-cash consideration of $17.5 million and integrated with existing facilities.            
            
            Income Statement
            
                
                    
                    
                        | Metric | 
                        Value | 
                        YoY Change | 
                        QoQ Change | 
                    
                    
                    
                                                
                                | Revenue | 
                                35.20M | 
                                24.03% | 
                                -0.15% | 
                            
                                                    
                                | Gross Profit | 
                                8.77M | 
                                27.50% | 
                                -4.50% | 
                            
                                                    
                                | Operating Income | 
                                1.70M | 
                                5.46% | 
                                7.73% | 
                            
                                                    
                                | Net Income | 
                                1.28M | 
                                11.24% | 
                                3.23% | 
                            
                                                    
                                | EPS | 
                                0.03 | 
                                10.42% | 
                                3.04% | 
                            
                                            
                
             
         
        
        
        
        
    
    
    
        
            Management Commentary
            
                Key management insights and quotes from the Q2 FY2026 earnings call:
- Strategy and integration: Adam Michaels stated, We bought the business for our customers. So we're going to have conversations and see how we could help them more; One plant, now three locations. These comments underscore Mama's disciplined M&A playbook and the near-term integration plan to scale Crown Iβs capacity while protecting margins.
- Operational momentum and margin trajectory: Adam Michaels noted, Chicken prices are down about $1 per pound versus the prior discussion, which supports throughput and margin recovery as the team drives efficiency. He also highlighted dramatic capacity expansion (from 2 to 6 grills at Farmingdale) and ongoing cost control measures to improve throughput and reduce waste.            
            
            
                
                    One plant, now three locations.
                    β Adam Michaels
                 
                
                    Chicken is literally a full $1 a pound cheaper than it was when I last spoke with you guys.
                    β Adam Michaels
                 
             
         
        
        
            Forward Guidance
            
                Management guidance reflects a constructive medium-term outlook centered on Crown I integration delivering meaningful capacity, cross-selling opportunities, and procurement synergies. The company expects the normalized gross margin profile to hover in the low-20s initially, aided by Crown's mid-teens gross margins, with a targeted trajectory to mid- to high-20s over the next 12β18 months as operating discipline, procurement scale, and throughput improvements take hold. The revenue run rate post-Crown integration is approximately $200 million, with the potential to grow closer to $1 billion over time through SKU penetration, geographic expansion, and additional cross-selling across Crown's customer base. Trade investments (currently at ~2.2% of sales in Q2, rising to ~3x prior-year in the first half) are viewed as a lever to accelerate top-line growth while balancing margin pressures; any step-down or reallocation will be guided by margin dynamics and ROI. Investors should monitor: (1) Crown integration milestones and synergies realized (throughput, procurement, logistics), (2) trajectory of chicken/beef input costs and related hedges, (3) progression of Costco MVM and potential everyday-item status, (4) the pace of new product introductions in club, mass, and convenience channels, and (5) capital allocation and working capital efficiency as the business scales.