Indicate by checkmark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a filer, smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule of the Exchange Act.

The aggregate market value of common stock held by based on the closing price of the last day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter as reported on the NASDAQ Global Select Market was $580 million.

Portions of the definitive Proxy Statement for the registrant’s 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders have been incorporated by reference into Part III of this Annual Report on

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the novel strain of coronavirus outbreak to be a global pandemic and on March 13, 2020, the United States declared a National Public Health Emergency. As a result, several state and local mandates were implemented that encouraged the practice of social distancing, placed restrictions from individuals gathering in groups and, in many areas, placed complete restrictions on movement outside of the home. Shortly after the national emergency declaration, state and local officials began placing restrictions on businesses, some of which allowed or curbside service only while others limited capacity in the dining room or midway. By March 20, 2020, all of our 137 operating stores were temporarily closed (including our one new store that opened on March 16, 2020). Beginning April 30, 2020 and continuing through the end of our fiscal year, the Company progressively 107 of our 140 stores with limited operations, including five new stores that opened in the last half of the year. Many of these stores that were in limited capacity were required to temporarily close again in areas more severely impacted by the pandemic, particularly during the fourth quarter holiday season. As of March 28, 2021, fifteen stores continue to remain closed to customers as a result of state and local restrictions, and we anticipate the majority of these stores will in some capacity by the end of the our first quarter of fiscal 2021.

These developments have had a material adverse impact on the Company’s revenues, results of operations and cash flows for fiscal 2020. The situation is continually changing and additional impacts to the business may arise that we are not aware of currently. We cannot predict whether, when or the manner in which the conditions surrounding will change including the timing of lifting any restrictions, when our remaining closed stores will staffing levels for stores, customer with our brand, or possible of our currently open stores.

Our fiscal year consists of 52 or 53 weeks ending on the Sunday after the Saturday closest to January 31. Each quarterly period has 13 weeks, except in a year when the fourth quarter has 14 weeks. Fiscal 2020, 2019, 2018 and 2016 each contained 52 weeks. Fiscal 2017 contained 53 weeks. We refer to our fiscal years as 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017 and 2016 throughout this report.

We strive to differentiate our food with quality, flavorful offerings guided by an “Inspired American Kitchen” identity. This identity is rooted in enhanced flavors and quality ingredients across a condensed number of menu items that enables our customers to explore new flavors while offering a balanced selection of familiar dishes. Our menu also simplifies execution, and along with recent kitchen enhancements allows us to deliver dishes to customers hotter and faster to drive an improved customer experience. While our menu appeals to a broad spectrum of customers, we continue to evolve it to reflect the changing tastes of our customers, with options for full meals as well as grabbing an appetizer to share with friends. We deliver high-quality offerings, including a wide variety of starters, burgers and handhelds, choice-grade steaks, pasta, and low calorie, vegetarian, and gluten friendly options. We believe our broad menu offers something for everyone and is appropriate for many different occasions. To ensure that we stay we update our menus regularly with new food items or limited time offers. Our food revenues, which include beverages, accounted for approximately 66% of our food and beverage revenues and approximately 24.1% of our total revenues during fiscal 2020.

offer a wide array of amusement and entertainment options, some of which are exclusive to Dave & Buster’s on a permanent or temporary basis. Each of our stores typically has approximately 150 redemption and simulation games as well as our proprietary virtual reality platform. Most of our games are activated by game play credits on cards or other RFID devices (collectively, “Power Cards”). A customer purchases a Power Card with game play credits or “chips” at an automated kiosk, through our mobile application, or from one of our team members. Our amusement and other revenues accounted for approximately 63.5% of our total revenues during fiscal 2020. Redemption games, which represented approximately 71% of our amusement and other revenues in fiscal 2020, offer our customers the opportunity to win tickets that are redeemable at a retail-style space in our stores that we have branded WIN!, with prizes ranging from branded novelty items to electronics. We believe this “opportunity to win” creates a fun and highly energized social experience that is an important aspect of the Dave & Buster’s experience and cannot be easily replicated at home. Many of our games, which include our virtual reality, video, and simulation offerings, can be played by multiple customers simultaneously and include some of the latest high-tech games that are commercially available. These games represented approximately 27% of our amusement and other revenues in fiscal 2020. Other amusements, such as billiards and bowling, represented the remainder of our amusement revenues in fiscal 2020.

The entertainment market is highly competitive. We compete for customers’ discretionary entertainment dollars with providers of entertainment, including localized attraction facilities such as movie theaters, sporting events, bowling alleys, sports activity centers, arcades and entertainment centers, night clubs and restaurants as well as theme parks. We also face competition from local, regional, and national establishments that offer similar entertainment experiences and restaurants that are highly competitive with respect to price, quality of service, location, ambience and type and quality of food. Some of these establishments may exist in multiple locations, and we may also face competition on a national basis in the future from other concepts that are similar to our concept. We also face competition from increasingly sophisticated home-based forms of entertainment, such as internet and video gaming and home movie streaming and delivery.

. We believe that the multi-faceted customer experience of “Eat Drink Play and Watch” at Dave & Buster’s, supported by our extensive marketing reach has helped us create a widely recognized brand. We have a high degree of awareness of our brand as a dining and entertainment venue, and a broad customer appeal with an attractive target demographic. Our primary target is adults but we are also attractive to families, which make up approximately 40% of our mix.

We believe that our combination of interactive games, attractive television viewing areas, high-quality dining and full-service beverage offerings,

delivered in a highly-energized atmosphere, provides a multi-faceted customer experience that cannot be easily replicated at home or elsewhere without having to visit multiple destinations. We aim to offer our customers a value proposition comparable or superior to many of the separately available dining and entertainment options. We are continuously working with game manufacturers and others to create new games and attractions that include content that is exclusively available at Dave & Buster’s on a permanent or temporary basis. Our new games in combination with new food and beverage offerings and focused attention to the customer experience help us to retain and generate customer traffic. Our value proposition is enhanced by marketing initiatives, including free game play that often features the introduction of our new games, Supercharge Power Card offerings (when purchasing or adding value to a Power Card, the customer is given the opportunity to add more chips to the Power Card at a lower price per chip), and Half-Price Game Play (every Wednesday, from open to close, we reduce the price of games in the Midway by We believe these initiatives encourage customers to participate more fully across our broad range of food, beverage and entertainment offerings.

We continue to enhance the Dave & Buster’s brand through our store design, including our D&B Sports concept. Our core store design provides a contemporary, engaging atmosphere for our customers with clearly differentiated spaces designed to convey the components of our customer value proposition: “Eat Drink Play and Watch.” The oversized graphics and images throughout the store are intended to communicate our brand personality by being fun, contemporary, and larger-than-life. The dining room décor includes booth and table seating and colorful artwork, often featuring local landmarks. Our WIN! area provides a retail-like environment where customers can redeem their tickets for prizes. We believe our D&B Sports area provides an attractive opportunity to market our broader platform to new and existing customers through a year-round calendar of programming and promotions tied to popular sporting events and sport-related activities. The large television screens, comfortable seating, a full menu of food and beverages and artwork often featuring images of local sports teams and sports icons help create what we believe to be an exciting environment for watching sports and other programming.

We have a proven track record of improving operating results and expanding the footprint of our brand. While fiscal 2020 was a very unusual year with the impact of from fiscal 2015 to 2019, net income increased by $92.6 million, EBITDA margins increased by approximately 130 basis points and our Adjusted EBITDA Margins (both defined in Item 7. “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Financial Measures”) increased by approximately 120 basis points. During times of normal operations, we expect our continued focus on operating performance and leveraging of expenses will positively impact operating margins and will partially offset pressure from wage inflation and occupancy costs, although there is no guarantee that our efforts will be successful.

We believe our store model offering entertainment, food, and beverage provides certain benefits in comparison to traditional restaurant concepts, which is reflected in our historically higher revenue per store, higher comparable store operating income margins, and higher comparable Store Operating Income Before Depreciation and Amortization Margins (defined in Item 7. “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Financial Measures”).

Our entertainment offerings have low variable costs and produced gross margins of 89.3% for fiscal 2020. With approximately 63.5% of our revenues from entertainment, we have less exposure than traditional restaurant concepts to food costs, which represented approximately 7.0% of our total revenues in fiscal 2020. Our business model generates strong cash flow that we can use to execute our growth strategy. We believe the combination of our operating income margins, our Store Operating Income Before Depreciation and Amortization Margins, our refined new store formats and the fact that our stores typically open with high volumes that drive margins in year one will help us achieve our targeted average year one returns of approximately 35% and five-year average returns in excess of 25%. Historical returns through fiscal 2019 were well above target, although a decline was realized in fiscal 2020 due to impacts from We define and calculate returns for an individual store as (a) Store Operating Income Before Depreciation and

Amortization, excluding expenses, national marketing expense allocation, charges related to asset disposals, currency transactions and changes in deferred amusement revenue, divided by (b) our net development costs. Net development costs include equipment, building, leaseholds and site costs, net of tenant improvement allowances and other landlord payments, excluding costs and capitalized interest.

We aim to enhance our combination of food, beverage, and entertainment offerings through our service philosophy of providing a high quality and consistent customer experience through dedicated training and development of our team members and a corporate culture that encourages employee engagement. Due to the impacts of on our business during fiscal 2020, we temporarily paused the use of a national customer survey platform. In 2019, 86.0% of respondents to our Guest Satisfaction Survey rated us “Top Box” (score of 5 out of a possible 5) in “Overall Experience” and 87.2% of respondents rated us “Top Box” in “Intent to Recommend.” Through our loyalty program, we email offers and coupons to members and notify them of new games, food, drinks, and local events. In addition, members can earn game play credits based on the dollar amount of qualifying purchases at our stores. We expect that as our loyalty program grows it will be an important method of maintaining customers’ connection with our brand and further drive customer satisfaction.

During fiscal 2020, we focused on the of our stores after mandated shutdowns related to but also refreshed our strategy to set us up for the next phase of growth. As part of this initiative, we commissioned external consultants to provide insight and review opportunities to assist in refreshing our strategy built on the following key components:

We intend to differentiate our brand from other food and entertainment alternatives and drive our comparable sales, in a competitive landscape, through the following strategies:

We believe that the Dave & Buster’s brand has significant growth opportunities, as internal studies and third-party research suggests a total store potential in the United States and Canada in excess of 230 stores (including our 140 stores as of the end of fiscal 2020). We opened six stores and closed two stores in fiscal 2020. We will maintain a moderate pace of new store openings in fiscal 2021 as our business recovers from the impact of and as we focus on the of our remaining closed stores. Longer term, the number of openings will depend on many factors, including our ability to locate appropriate sites, negotiate acceptable purchase or lease terms, generate sufficient operating cash flows or utilize available cash to finance construction of leasehold improvements and costs, obtain necessary local governmental permits, and recruit and train management and hourly personnel.

We believe that the smaller store format allows us to reduce capital investment risk per store. For the smaller format, we have reduced the space and optimized the customer facing area dedicated to video and redemption games. We believe that the smaller format maintains the dynamic customer experience that is the foundation of our brand and allows us flexibility in our site selection process.

Our team members are the heart of our Company, and they help us run the fun in our stores every day. We depend on our team members to provide great service and maintain consistently strong operations. Our ability to attract and retain an engaged and experienced team is critical to successful execution of our business strategies. While we continue to operate in a competitive labor environment, we believe our culture, policies, and labor practices contribute to strong relations with our team members. (See Item 1A. Risk Factors, “.”)

In addition to our focus on improving diversity, equity, and inclusion, fiscal 2020 also demanded additional focus on the health and safety for our team members and our customers. Health and safety have always been a top priority for our Company, but in response to the pandemic, we implemented several changes for the protection of our team members and our customers. Our cross-functional response team met frequently throughout the pandemic to review the latest guidance from health agencies, update our safety protocols and ensure team members across our Company had the opportunity to collaborate and share in our collective commitment to health and safety. Among other actions, we:

Historically, our typical store team consisted of a General Manager supported by an average of eight additional management positions. During the recovery period, we significantly changed our management model, reducing the average additional management positions to approximately four, which was largely due to much lower store volumes upon Management team members handle various departments within the store including responsibility for hourly team members. Historically, a typical store employed approximately 110 hourly team members, most of whom worked part-time. During the recovery period, the Company changed the hourly labor model, reducing the average to approximately 65 hourly team members. In the future, post-recovery, we intend to deploy a new labor model and leverage our technology investments, potentially requiring fewer management and/or hourly positions than historical levels.

The General Manager and the management team are responsible for the operation of the store, including the hiring, training, and development of team members, as well as financial and operational performance. There is a defined structure of development and progression of job responsibilities within the supporting management positions to ensure that an adequate succession plan exists within each store. Each store is overseen by a Regional Operations Manager, Regional Operations Director or Vice President of Operations (collectively, “Regional Management”) who directly or indirectly report to our Chief Operating Officer. We are proud of the experience of our store leadership teams and carefully monitor store management team retention rates, which for us has consistently tracked in the top quartile of the upscale casual dining industry.

Prior to the pandemic, our stores were generally open seven days a week, from 11:30 a.m. to midnight on Sunday through Thursday and 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. During the recovery, to comply with various federal, state and local guidelines and in response to changing guest levels, our stores have reduced the hours of operation and in some cases, the number of days operating in a week.

addition to salaries, these programs (which vary by employee level) include, among other items, bonuses, stock awards, and various employee assistance programs. In addition, our salaried and hourly team members are also eligible to participate in a 401(k) plan, medical/dental/vision insurance plans and receive vacation/paid time off based on tenure. While certain of our team members were on furlough due to the impacts of the pandemic, we offered continued benefit coverage.

We strive to maintain quality and consistency in each of our stores through the careful training and supervision of our team members and the establishment of, and adherence to, high standards relating to personnel performance, food and beverage preparation, safety protocols, game playability and maintenance of our stores. We provide all new team members with comprehensive orientation and training for their positions to help ensure they meet our high standards. All new team members are trained by partnering with a trainer to assure that the training and information they receive is complete and accurate. Team members are certified for their positions by passing a series of tests, including alcohol awareness and responsibility training for service team members.

We require our new store managers to complete an eight-week training program that includes service, kitchen, amusements, and management responsibilities. Newly trained managers are then assigned to their home store, where they receive additional training with their General Manager. Their last two weeks of training include a comprehensive validation of new skills. We place a high priority on our continuing management development programs to ensure that qualified managers are available for our future openings. We conduct regular evaluations with each manager to discuss prior performance and future performance goals. We hold an annual General Manager conference in which our General Managers share best practices and receive an update on our business strategies.

In addition, we strongly encourage team members to give back to the communities we serve. Although our Company invests time and resources in many charitable causes, we have two main causes we focus our efforts to support. The first is our long-standing partnership with We have proudly supported

since 2012. To date, we have given over $12.0 million to this worthy cause, and we participate in several events throughout the year both in our stores and at our corporate headquarters to raise money for We also volunteer our time and talents to help.

In addition, we invest in helping our own team members during their times of greatest need. The D&B H.E.A.R.T. (Helping Employees at Rough Times) Fund is an independent established to create an employee assistance fund for the benefit of team members who suffer catastrophic events resulting in severe economic hardship. The D&B H.E.A.R.T. Fund is financed by contributions from our employees, customers, and business partners. During the pandemic, many of our team members were furloughed and experienced financial and personal hardships, and the D&B H.E.A.R.T. Fund provided financial assistance to several team members facing exceptionally tough challenges.

We use advertising and marketing to build awareness and strengthen our brand relevance. We spent approximately $21.1 million in marketing efforts in fiscal 2020, $44.8 million in fiscal 2019, and $40.8 million in fiscal 2018. During fiscal 2020, as a result of the closures, capacity restrictions and other operating limitations imposed as a result of the pandemic, we substantially curtailed    national cable television media, which continues to be the largest portion of our advertising and marketing spend. In the future, we plan to shift some funding to other forms of media, including investments in social and digital video, and test new types of programmatic display and digital audio. To enhance our marketing efforts, we also conduct digital initiatives including search engine marketing and optimization, mobile campaigns, and website improvements. We also execute periodic promotions, create materials and execute local marketing plans to address specific objectives in individual stores or markets. We work with external advertising, digital, media and design agencies in the development and execution of these programs.

During fiscal 2019, we invested in developing and implementing new technology platforms that will allow us to digitally engage with our customers and team members and strengthen our marketing and analytics capabilities in an increasingly connected society. Our investment efforts were significantly curtailed during fiscal 2020 as a result of the pandemic, but we plan to continue to invest in fiscal 2021. Central to this effort is continued investment in our mobile application platform, which is used to enhance existing customer satisfaction and attract new customers by providing periodic exclusive offers and discounts and providing a convenient way to purchase Power Cards. We also intend to launch a new loyalty program in fiscal 2021, which will be integrated into the mobile application to provide further functionality and accessibility for our customers.

Our managers have daily routines focused on driving consistent execution in food, beverage, and amusements. While fiscal 2020 was a very unusual year with the impact of we historically utilized a customized food and beverage analysis program that determines the theoretical food and beverage costs for each store and provides additional tools and reports to help us identify opportunities, including waste management. In addition to our own routines, we leverage a third-party vendor to help ensure quality beverage operations, responsible alcohol service and loss prevention. Our workforce management platform also allows management to quickly add or reduce labor based on real-time business needs and historically assisted our managers in optimizing hourly labor based on anticipated sales volumes. Our amusement team uses a proprietary system that is supported by a mobile application that identifies amusement issues and needed repairs to help ensure our games are operational and meeting our ideal playing standard. Complementing this program is our routine preventative maintenance program, designed to prevent game failure and extend the functionality of our midway games. Consolidated reporting tools for the key drivers of our business are provided to our Regional Management to identify and troubleshoot any systemic issues.

During 2019, we invested in connectivity and data infrastructure to modernize and upgrade the capacity of our store systems, continued work on new, customer facing digital experiences, such as the launch of our new mobile application that supports and amusement entertainment, and deployed hand-held devices to a limited group of stores. Our investment efforts were significantly curtailed during fiscal 2020 due to the impacts of the pandemic, but we plan to continue to invest in fiscal 2021.

Our revenues are influenced by seasonal shifts in consumer spending. Typically, we have higher revenues associated with the spring and holidays, which will continue to be susceptible to the impact of severe or unseasonably mild weather on customer traffic and sales during that period. Our third quarter, which encompasses the fall season, has historically had lower revenues as compared to other quarters. During fiscal 2020, results also fluctuated due to the timing and frequency of temporary closures and operating restrictions as a result of state and local guidelines imposed due to the pandemic.

Our annual reports on Form quarterly reports on Form current reports on Form and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act are available free of charge through our internet website, at www.daveandbusters.com, as soon as reasonably practicable after they are electronically filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Such reports may also be obtained on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Information on our corporate governance principles and practices can also be found on our website.

The recent outbreak of has had a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, liquidity and financial condition and the same could continue for an extended period of time. In fiscal 2020, the pandemic significantly impacted the economy in general, and our business specifically, and continues to negatively affect our business in a number of ways. These effects include, but are not limited to:

The success of our stores depends in large part on leased locations. Our locations are primarily located near high density retail areas such as regional malls, lifestyle centers, big box shopping centers and entertainment centers. We depend on a high volume of visitors at these centers to attract customers to our locations. As demographic and economic patterns change, current locations may or may not continue to be attractive or profitable. or online shopping continues to increase and negatively impact consumer traffic at traditional “brick and mortar” retail sites located in regional malls, lifestyle centers, big box shopping centers and entertainment centers. Vacancies have also increased due to the pandemic. A decline in development or closures of businesses in these settings or a decline in visitors to retail areas near our locations could negatively affect our sales. In addition, desirable locations for the relocation of existing locations may not be available at an acceptable cost, due in part to the inability to easily terminate a long-term lease.    

Consumers have continually changing health or dietary preferences. As a result, we are challenged to evolve our food and beverage menu offerings to appeal to these changing customer preferences, while maintaining our brand character and retaining popular menu items. New information or changes in dietary, nutritional, allergen or health guidelines or environmental or sustainability concerns, whether issued by governmental agencies, academic studies, advocacy organizations or similar groups, may cause some groups of consumers to select foods other than those that are offered by our store. Additionally, it is unclear currently if the pandemic may have a lasting impact on consumer demand. If we fail to anticipate changing trends or other consumer preferences, our business, financial condition and results of operations would be adversely affected.

The entertainment market is highly competitive. We compete for customers’ discretionary entertainment dollars with providers of entertainment, including localized attraction facilities such as movie theatres, sporting events, bowling alleys, sports activity centers, arcades and entertainment centers, nightclubs, and restaurants as well as theme parks. Many of the entities operating these businesses are larger and

have significantly greater financial resources, a greater number of stores, have been in business longer, have greater name recognition and are better established in the markets where our stores are located or are planned to be located. As a result, they may be able to invest greater resources than we can in attracting customers and succeed in attracting customers who would otherwise come to our stores. The legalization of casino gambling in geographic areas near any current or future store and the expanded availability of online sports betting could also have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition. We also face competition from local, regional, and national establishments that offer similar entertainment experiences to ours and restaurants that are highly competitive with respect to price, quality of service, location, ambience and type and quality of food. We also face competition from increasingly sophisticated home-based forms of entertainment, such as internet and video gaming and home movie streaming and delivery. Our failure to compete favorably in the competitive and home-based entertainment and restaurant markets could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our brand and our reputation are among our most important assets. Our ability to attract and retain customers depends, in part, upon the external perception of our Company, the quality of our food service and facilities and our integrity. Multi-store businesses, such as ours, can be adversely affected by unfavorable publicity resulting from poor food quality, food safety concerns, flu or other virus outbreaks and other public health concerns stemming from one or a limited number of our stores. While we dedicate substantial resources and provide training to ensure the safety and quality of the food we serve, these risks cannot be eliminated. Additionally, we rely on our network of suppliers to properly handle, store, and transport our ingredients for delivery to our stores. Any failure by our suppliers, or their suppliers, could cause our ingredients to be contaminated, which could be difficult to detect and put the safety of our food in jeopardy. The risk of food-borne illness also may increase whenever our menu items are served outside of our control, such as by third-party food delivery services or customer

We typically do not own real property for long periods. Payments under our long-term operating leases account for a significant portion of our operating expenses and we expect the new stores we open in the future will also be leased. The leases typically provide for a base rent plus additional rent based on a percentage of the revenue generated by the stores on the leased premises once certain thresholds are met. We generally cannot cancel these leases without substantial economic penalty. If an existing or future store is not profitable, and we decide to close it, we may nonetheless be committed to perform our obligation under the applicable lease, including, among other things, paying the base rent for the remainder of the lease term. We depend on cash flow from operations to pay our lease obligations. If our business does not generate adequate cash flow from operating activities and sufficient funds are not otherwise available to us from borrowings under our existing credit facility, we may not be able to service our operating lease obligations, grow our business, respond to competitive challenges or fund other liquidity and capital needs, all of which could have a material adverse effect on us.

Events beyond our control, including the impact of may affect our ability to comply with our covenants, even after the cessation of the second amendment suspension period. If we default under the credit facility or the indenture governing the senior secured notes, because of a covenant breach or otherwise, all outstanding amounts thereunder could become immediately due and payable. We cannot assure you that we will be able to comply with our covenants under the credit facility, or the indenture governing the senior secured notes or that any covenant violations will be waived in the future. Any violation that is not waived could result in an event of default, permitting our lenders to declare outstanding indebtedness and interest thereon due and payable, and permitting the lenders under the revolving credit loans provided under the credit facility to suspend commitments to make any advance, or require any outstanding letters of credit to be collateralized by an interest bearing cash account, any or all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, if we fail to comply with our financial or other covenants under

Our ability to timely and efficiently open new stores and to operate these stores on a profitable basis is dependent on numerous factors including quality locations, acceptable lease or purchase agreements, zoning, use and other regulations, our liquidity, staffing needs and training, permitting, customer acceptance, impact on existing stores and financial performance targets. The timing of new store openings may result in significant fluctuations in our quarterly performance. We typically incur significant costs prior to opening for and construction and increased labor and operating costs for a newly opened store. Due to these substantial upfront financial requirements to open new stores, the investment risk related to any single store is much larger than that associated with many other restaurant or entertainment venues.

We rely heavily on various information technology systems, including kiosk and amusement operations systems in our stores, data centers that process transactions, communication systems and various other software applications used throughout our operations. Some of these systems have been internally developed or we rely on third party providers and platforms for some of these information technology systems and support. Although we have operational safeguards in place, those technology systems and solutions could become vulnerable to damage, disability, or failures due to theft, fire, power outages, telecommunications failure or other catastrophic events. Any failure of these systems could significantly impact our operations. We rely on third-party service providers for certain key elements of our operations including credit card processing, telecommunications, and utilities. Our reliance on systems operated by third parties also present the risk faced by the third party’s business, including the operational, cyber security, and credit risks of those parties. If those systems were to fail or otherwise be unavailable, and we were unable to timely recover, we could experience an interruption in our operations.    

Many of our information technology systems (and those of our third-party business partners, whether cloud-based or hosted in proprietary servers), including those used for web and mobile platforms, mobile payment systems and administrative functions, contain personal, financial or other information that is entrusted to us by our customers and team members. Many of our information technology systems also contain proprietary and other confidential information related to our business, such as business plans and initiatives. A cyber incident (generally any intentional or unintentional attack that results in unauthorized access resulting in disruption of systems, corruption of data, theft or exposure of confidential information or intellectual property) that compromises the information of our customers or employees could result in widespread negative publicity, damage to our reputation, a loss of customers, and disruption of our business.

Certain of the regions in which our stores are located have been, and may in the future be, subject to natural disasters, such as earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes. Depending upon its magnitude, a natural disaster could severely damage our stores, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition. Our corporate headquarters, company-owned distribution center, game repair facility and our data center, as well as our backup data facility, are all located in Dallas, Texas. A natural or disaster could significantly impact our ability to provide services and systems to our stores and negatively impact store operations throughout our operations. We currently maintain property and business interruption insurance through the aggregate property policy for each of our stores.

Our operating results may fluctuate significantly due to seasonal factors. Typically, our third quarter, which encompasses the fall season, has historically had lower revenues compared to other quarters. Revenues associated with the spring and holidays are typically higher. As a result, factors affecting peak seasons could have a disproportionate effect on our results. For example, the number of days between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day and the days of the week on which Christmas and New Year’s Eve fall affect the volume of business generated during the December holiday season and can affect our results for the full fiscal year. In addition, unfavorable weather conditions during the winter and spring seasons could have a significant impact on our results. During fiscal 2020, results also fluctuated due to the timing and frequency of temporary closures and operating restrictions due to state and local guidelines imposed due to the pandemic.

Many of our stores are unable to operate or have limited operations due to guidelines and restrictions put in place by federal, state and local governments in response to the pandemic.

Interest rates on future borrowings, credit facilities and debt offerings could be higher than current levels, causing our financing costs to increase accordingly. In addition, LIBOR and other “benchmark” rates are subject to ongoing national and international regulatory scrutiny and reform. On July 27, 2017, the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority announced that it will no longer persuade or compel banks to submit rates for the calculation of the LIBOR rates after 2021 (the “FCA Announcement”). On March 5, 2021, the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority confirmed that the and U.S. Dollar LIBOR will either cease to be provided by any administrator or no longer be representative after June 30, 2023. The Alternative Reference Rate Committee, a committee convened by the Federal Reserve that includes major market participants, has proposed an alternative rate to replace U.S. Dollar LIBOR: Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”). We are unable to predict the effect of the FCA Announcement or other reforms, whether currently enacted or enacted in the future. The outcome of reforms may result in increased interest expense to us. Changes in interest rates, either positive or negative, may affect the yield requirements of investors who invest in our shares, and a rising interest rate environment could have an adverse impact on the price of our shares, our ability to issue equity or incur debt for acquisitions or other purposes.

As of January 31, 2021, we lease the building or site of all but two of our 140 operating stores, and we own land related to two future sites. An additional building lease will expire in fiscal 2021 for a store which permanently closed during fiscal 2020. Our leases typically have initial terms ranging from ten to twenty years and most include options to extend the leases for one or more periods.

As a result of the impacts to our business arising from the pandemic, share purchases and dividend payments were indefinitely suspended during the first quarter of fiscal 2020.

The Company’s fiscal year consists of 52 or 53 weeks ending on the Sunday after the Saturday closest to January 31. Each quarterly period has 13 weeks, except in a year when the fourth quarter has 14 weeks. All fiscal years presented herein consist of 52 weeks, except fiscal 2017 (ended February 4, 2018), which consists of 53 weeks. All dollar amounts are presented in thousands, unless otherwise noted, except share and per share amounts.

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak to be a global pandemic and on March 13, 2020, the United States declared a National Public Health Emergency. As a result, several state and local mandates were implemented that encouraged the practice of social distancing, placed restrictions from individuals gathering in groups and, in many areas, placed complete restrictions on movement outside of the home. Shortly after the national emergency declaration, state and local officials began placing restrictions on businesses, some of which allowed or curbside service only while others limited capacity in the dining room or midway. By March 20, 2020, all of our 137 operating stores were temporarily closed (including our one new store that opened on March 16, 2020).

As a result of these developments, the Company experienced a significant decrease in traffic which has impacted the Company’s operating results during fiscal 2020. We expect our operating results to continue to be severely impacted until such time that state and local restrictions are lifted, and our dining rooms and midways can at full capacity. We cannot predict how long the pandemic will last or when the state and local restrictions will be lifted or potentially In addition, we cannot predict with certainty how quickly our customers will return to our stores once such restrictions have been lifted or the impact this will have on consumer spending habits.

The process has been a gradual one with the safety of our team members and customers as our top priority. All of our stores are operating with some combination of streamlined menus, reduced games, new seating and game configurations, reduced operating hours, and reduced staff levels. As dining room and midway restrictions continue to ease and sales begin to improve, some labor inefficiencies and increased cleaning and supply costs are anticipated as stores adjust to improved sales volumes and enhanced health and safety protocols. On an ongoing basis, we will also continue to pursue long-term operating efficiencies and fixed cost restructuring opportunities.

We are a leading owner and operator of high-volume venues in North America that combine dining and entertainment for both adults and families under the name “Dave & Buster’s”. Founded in 1982, the core of our concept is to offer our customers the opportunity to “Eat Drink Play and Watch” all in one location. Eat and Drink are offered through a full menu of entrées and appetizers and a full selection of and alcoholic beverages. Our Play and Watch offerings provide an extensive assortment of entertainment attractions centered around playing games and watching live sports and other televised events. Our brand appeals to a relatively balanced mix of male and female adults, as well as families and teenagers. We believe we appeal to a diverse customer base by providing a highly customizable experience in a dynamic and fun setting.

Our stores average 40,000 square feet, range in size between 16,000 and 70,000 square feet. Prior to the pandemic, our stores were generally open seven days a week, with normal hours of operation typically from 11:30 a.m. to midnight on Sunday through Thursday and 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.

During fiscal 2020, we focused on the of our stores after mandated shutdowns related to but also refreshed our strategy to set us up for the next phase of growth. Our refreshed strategy is built on four key components, including offering the latest entertainment to enjoy together, novel food & drink to bring people together, creating an aligned team and integrated experience, and driving customer engagement. For further information about our strategy, refer to “Item 1. Strategy”.

Comparable store sales are a year-over-year comparison of sales at stores open at the end of the period that have been open for at least 18 months as of the beginning of each of the fiscal years. It is a key performance indicator used within the industry and is indicative of acceptance of our initiatives as well as local economic and consumer trends. Our comparable store base consisted of 114, 99 and 86 stores as of the end of fiscal 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

Our ability to expand our business and reach new customers is influenced by the opening of additional stores in both new and existing markets. The success of our new stores is indicative of our brand appeal and the efficacy of our site selection and operating models. During fiscal 2020, we opened six new stores. We currently plan to open four stores in fiscal 2021.

In addition to the results provided in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”), we provide measures which present operating results on an adjusted basis. These are supplemental measures of performance that are not required by or presented in accordance with GAAP and include Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA Margin, Store Operating Income Before Depreciation and Amortization and Store Operating Income Before Depreciation and Amortization Margin (defined below). These measures do not represent and should not be considered as an alternative to net income or cash flows from operations, as determined in accordance with GAAP, and our calculations thereof may not be comparable to similarly entitled measures reported by other companies and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. Although we use these measures to assess the operating performance of our business, they have significant limitations as an analytical tool because they exclude certain material costs. For example, Adjusted EBITDA does not take into account a number of significant items, including our interest expense and depreciation and amortization expense. In addition, Adjusted EBITDA excludes and other costs which may be important in analyzing our GAAP results. Because Adjusted EBITDA does not account for these expenses, its utility as a measure of our operating performance has material limitations. Our calculations of Adjusted EBITDA adjust for these amounts because they vary from period to period and do not directly relate to the ongoing operations of the currently underlying business of our stores and therefore complicate comparison of the underlying business between periods. Nevertheless, because of the limitations described above, management does not view Adjusted EBITDA or Store Operating Income Before Depreciation and Amortization in isolation and also uses other measures, such as revenues, gross margin, operating income and net income to measure operating performance.

. We define “Adjusted EBITDA” as net income (loss), plus interest expense, net, loss on debt refinancing, provision (benefit) for income taxes, depreciation and amortization expense, loss on asset disposal, impairment of long-lived assets, share-based compensation, costs, currency transaction (gains) losses and other costs. “Adjusted EBITDA Margin” is defined as Adjusted EBITDA divided by total revenues.

We define “Store Operating Income Before Depreciation and Amortization” as operating income (loss), plus depreciation and amortization expense, general and administrative

expenses and costs. “Store Operating Income Before Depreciation and Amortization Margin” is defined as Store Operating Income Before Depreciation and Amortization divided by total revenues. Store Operating Income Before Depreciation and Amortization Margin allows us to evaluate operating performance of each store across stores of varying size and volume.

We believe that Store Operating Income Before Depreciation and Amortization is another useful measure in evaluating our operating performance because it removes the impact of general and administrative expenses, which are not incurred at the store level, and the costs of opening new stores, which are at the store level, and thereby enables the comparability of the operating performance of our stores for the periods presented. We also believe that Store Operating Income Before Depreciation and Amortization is a useful measure in evaluating our operating performance within the entertainment and dining industry because it permits the evaluation of store-level productivity, efficiency and performance, and we use Store Operating Income Before Depreciation and Amortization as a means of evaluating store financial performance compared with our competitors. However, because this measure excludes significant items such as general and administrative expenses and costs, as well as our interest expense, net and depreciation and amortization expense, which are important in evaluating our consolidated financial performance from period to period, the value of this measure is limited as a measure of our consolidated financial performance.

The Company’s fiscal year consists of 52 or 53 weeks ending on the Sunday after the Saturday closest to January 31. Each quarterly period has 13 weeks, except in a year when the fourth quarter has 14 weeks. Fiscal 2020, 2019 and 2018, which ended on January 31, 2021, February 2, 2020, and February 3, 2019, respectively, each contained 52 weeks. All dollar amounts are presented in thousands, unless otherwise noted, except share and per share amounts.

We have historically operated stores varying in size and have experienced significant variability among stores in volumes, operating results and net investment costs. Our new stores typically open with sales volumes in excess of their expected long-term levels, which we refer to as a “honeymoon” effect. We traditionally expect our new store sales volumes in year two to be 10% to 20% lower than our year one targets, and to grow in line with the rest of our comparable store base thereafter. As a result of the substantial revenues associated with each new store, the number and timing of new store openings will result in significant fluctuations in quarterly results.

While fiscal 2020 was a very unusual year with the impact of historically in the first year of operation, new store operating margins (excluding expenses) typically benefit from honeymoon sales leverage on occupancy, management labor and other fixed costs. This benefit is partially offset by normal inefficiencies in hourly labor and other costs associated with establishing a new store. In year two, operating margins may decline due to the loss of honeymoon sales leverage on fixed costs which is partially offset by improvements in store operating efficiency. Furthermore, rents in our new stores are typically higher than our comparable store base.

Our operating results historically have fluctuated due to seasonal factors. Typically, we have higher revenues associated with the spring and holidays, which will continue to be susceptible to the impact of severe or unseasonably mild weather on customer traffic and sales during that period. Our third quarter, which encompasses the fall season, has historically had lower revenues as compared to other quarters. During fiscal 2020, results also fluctuated due to the timing and frequency of temporary closures and operating restrictions due to state and local guidelines imposed due to the pandemic.

cost of products and supplies. Although there is no assurance that our cost of products will remain stable or that federal, state or local minimum wage rates will not increase beyond amounts currently legislated, the effects of any supplier price increases or wage rate increases are expected to be partially offset by selected menu or game price increases where competitively appropriate. In addition, how quickly, and to what extent, normal economic and operating conditions can resume cannot be predicted, and the resumption of normal business operations may be delayed or constrained by lingering effects of the pandemic on us or our suppliers, third-party service providers, and/or customers.

The following table sets forth selected data, in thousands of dollars and as a percentage of total revenues (unless otherwise noted) for the periods indicated. All information is derived from the accompanying consolidated statements of comprehensive income (loss).

In response to the outbreak, which was declared a global pandemic on March 11, 2020 and a National Public Health Emergency in the United States on March 13, 2020, the Company temporarily closed of all of our 137 stores by March 20, 2020 (including our one new store opening March 16, 2020). On April 30, 2020, our first store to the public, as state and local guidelines began to allow dining rooms and arcades to open at limited capacity and/or limited hours of operation. By the end of fiscal 2020, we had progressively an additional 101 stores with limited operations. Many of these stores that were in limited capacity were required to temporarily close again in areas more severely impacted by the pandemic, particularly during the fourth quarter holiday season. The Company also opened five new stores in the second half of the fiscal year, all of which commenced construction prior to the outbreak of the pandemic. As of January 31, 2021, 107 of our 140 stores were open and operating in limited capacity. Of these 107 open stores, 84 are comparable stores. These stores are operating with a combination of limited menus, reduced dining room seating, reduced games in the midway, reduced operating hours and other restrictions referred to as “limited operations”.

Total revenues decreased $918,179, or 67.8%, to $436,512 in fiscal 2020 compared to total revenues of $1,354,691 in fiscal 2019. The decline in revenue is attributable to fewer store operating weeks in fiscal 2020 as a result of temporary store closures, lower customer volumes due to limited food and beverage and amusement operations and the canceling or postponement of special events as a result of the pandemic. For the year ended January 31, 2021, we derived 24.1% of our total revenue from food sales, 12.4% from beverage sales, 63.1% from amusement sales and 0.4% from other sources. For the year ended February 2, 2020 we derived 28.3% of our total revenue from food sales, 13.3% from beverage sales, 57.5% from amusement sales and 0.9% from other sources.

Comparable store revenue decreased $842,588, or 70.2%, in fiscal 2020 compared to fiscal 2019, due primarily to a 46.7% reduction in comparable store operating weeks and lower customer volumes as stores with limited operations. As of March 20, 2020, all the Company’s 114 comparable stores were closed due to operating restrictions put in place by local jurisdictions in response to the pandemic. Beginning April 30, 2020, we began our stores based on changes in operating restrictions in the various jurisdictions. As of January 31, 2021, 84 of our comparable stores had under limited operating conditions. Our individual comparable stores generally experienced gradual increases in weekly sales performance as operating weeks increased. Individual store performance after was impacted by changes in local operating restrictions and consumer reactions to changes in local infection rates.

Comparable revenues, which accounted for 97.0% of comparable store revenue for fiscal 2020, decreased 67.8% compared to the similar period in fiscal 2019. Comparable store special events revenues, which accounted for 3.0% of comparable store revenue for fiscal 2020, decreased 91.1% compared to the similar period in fiscal 2019 as events were canceled or postponed due to local restrictions on group gathering size and operating restrictions on our business.

store revenue decreased $81,195 in fiscal 2020 compared to fiscal 2019. During the first four-week period of fiscal 2020, stores contributed an additional $9,668 of revenue and 54 additional operating weeks over the same period of fiscal 2019. During the remainder of the weeks ended January 31, 2021, store revenue decreased $90,863 for the same reasons noted above, including 130 fewer store operating weeks.

Total operating payroll and benefits decreased by $205,495, or 63.6%, to $117,475 in fiscal 2020 compared to $322,970 in fiscal 2019. Nearly all of our store workforce, with the exception of a small team of essential personnel, were furloughed in 2020. Hourly team members returned only as stores and at reduced staffing levels. The total cost of operating payroll and benefits, as a percentage of total revenues, increased 310 basis points to 26.9% in fiscal 2020 compared to 23.8% for fiscal 2019. Favorable results in hourly labor were offset by the deleveraging impact of management labor as a result of the temporary store closures and continued benefit coverage for furloughed team members. Additionally, late in the third quarter, we recalled a core group of store managers at unopened stores and then maintained this core group throughout the fourth quarter to ensure retention of key team members.    

Other store operating expenses decreased by $129,967, or 30.3%, to $299,464 in fiscal 2020 compared to $429,431 in fiscal 2019. Decreased spend on marketing, maintenance and restaurant services due to temporary store closures and $1,000 insurance proceeds related to the business disruptions were partially offset by a net loss on derivatives of $1,729 and special charges of $13,727 (consisting of a charge for impairment of long-lived assets of $12,248 and lease termination costs of $1,479). We have also incurred additional costs to address government regulations and the safety of our team members and customers. Other store operating

costs decreased by $7,695 to $11,276 in fiscal 2020 compared to $18,971 in fiscal 2019 due to a decrease in the number of new store openings in the current year, as construction was put on hold or delayed after the disruption of our business from the pandemic, with costs being primarily limited to rent expense, including three future sites for which the leases have commenced.

The following table sets forth selected data, in thousands of dollars and as a percentage of total revenues (unless otherwise noted) for the periods indicated. All information is derived from the accompanying consolidated statements of comprehensive income (loss).