The chain, which expects to report Q4 earnings in February, says the one additional week in fiscal 2004 was helped by comparable store sales at the Bistro that increased 2% in 2004 versus the fourth quarter of 2003 as well as "a price increase of approximately 1%." Same-store sales for the months of October, November and December increased 2.8%, 1.7% and 1.2%, respectively.

Other year-to-year comparisons were difficult to make on an "apples to apples" basis because of the extra week this year, the company said in its Q3 earnings report conference call, but it will return this year to a standard 52-week year.

The higher sales in the fourth quarter follow a third quarter in which the company reported substantially higher earnings ($8.3 million for the third quarter ended September 26, compared with $5.5 million in the third quarter of 2003) and announced plans to continue its expansion by opening 16 to 18 new Bistro units and 26 to 28 new Pei Wei units this year.

As of the end of 2004, it operated 115 Bistros and 53 of the Pei Wei restaurants, which included seven new Bistro units and six new Pei Wei Diners that opened in the fourth quarter.

The Bistro restaurants have been operating since 1996, when the company was founded, and the Pei Wei locations since July of 2000. The Bistros typically range in size from 6,000 sf to 7,000 sf and require an average investment of approximately $3.7 million, while the Pei Wei locations range from about 3,000 sf to 3,200 sf and require an average investment of approximately $1.3 million per restaurant.

The Bistro restaurants features traditional Chinese cuisine and what Chang's calls "a high-energy, contemporary bistro setting," while the Pei Wei Asian Diners offer a lower-priced menu in a more informal setting with counter service and an emphasis on take-out.