CHEFThe Chefs' Warehouse, Inc.
Is the business good?
A genuinely good business: 9 of 9 health tests passed, earnings fully cash-backed (1.4×), and margins widening.
High fundamental quality. Nine pass/fail tests of year-over-year health from the filings.
Operating profit is fully backed by cash. Conversion is worsening vs a year ago.
Positive operating leverage, operating profit is growing faster than sales, so margins widen as the business scales.
Efficiency-driven, thin margins turned over fast (the retail model). ROE 13% = margin × turnover × leverage.
Unless marked, from derived.
Against the whole market›
Percentile against every name Ryufin tracks. Higher is better; the tick marks the middle of the market. Context, not one of the checks above.
Where this answer is blind. The F-score rewards improvement, so an already-elite company can score mid-pack.
How good a business is CHEF?
The Chefs' Warehouse, Inc. earns 11% on the capital it employs against a 9.0% cost of capital, so the business is worth more the bigger it gets.
Return on invested capital · cost of capital 9.0% · 2.1 points above what the capital costs: growth creates value
- Operating margin
- 4.0%
Operating margin · Food Distribution median 2.5% · 12 months to Q2 2026
- Cash conversion
- 1.35×
Cash conversion · 1.54× a year ago · operating cash flow covers the operating profit after tax
- Share count, year on year
- +0.04%
Share count, year on year · flat: no meaningful dilution
| Year | Operating margin |
|---|---|
| FY2020 | −9.2% |
| FY2021 | 0.62% |
| FY2022 | 3.3% |
| FY2023 | 2.9% |
| FY2024 | 3.4% |
| FY2025 | 3.5% |
Details›
- Gross margin12 months to Q2 2026
- 24%
- Operating margin12 months to Q2 2026
- 4.0%
- Net margin12 months to Q2 2026
- 2.1%
- Free cash flow margin
- 2.9%
- Revenue, trailing twelve months
- $4.39B
- Free cash flow, trailing twelve months
- $126M
- Net income, trailing twelve months
- $92M
- Return on invested capitaloperating profit after tax ÷ debt + equity − cash
- 11%
Margins, capital and share counts from the statements as filed with the SEC; cash conversion is operating cash flow over operating profit after tax.