Bob Evans Farms has turned to another central Ohio restaurateur for an approach aimed at boosting its restaurants' sagging sales.

Bob Evans Farms has turned to another central Ohio restaurateur for an approach aimed at boosting its restaurants' sagging sales.

CEO Saed Mohseni said Wednesday that a new hospitality initiative plus an overhauled menu for lunch and dinner should push sales higher in 2017.

The hospitality portion adds servers to breakfast shifts and gives staff a new directive, which will be familiar to anyone who has met Cameron Mitchell: "The answer is yes. What is the question?"

The phrase is Mitchell's hallmark, one used across his properties, which include Ocean Prime, Marcella's, M, Hudson 29 and more.

Mohseni dropped the line twice during a conference call with analysts to discuss the New Albany-based company's earnings. He said managers have been empowered to act as owners in order to please guests.

The new mentality and additional staff are meant to turn the trend of slumping same-store sales results. Bob Evans' numbers have trailed peers' in the casual-dining sector for 13 straight quarters, said Stephen Anderson, an analyst with Maxim Equity Research. Guest experience is more important than improving the menu, Mohseni said.

Bob Evans Farms believes sales at its restaurants will turn around next year, and early signs point to better days ahead, Anderson said. Though Bob Evans lags competitors, data show that the gap is narrowing, and the revamped breakfast has returned to positive same-store sales.

"We believe that an improved value perception from this new menu will be the primary catalyst for a return to positive (same-store sales)," Anderson wrote in a research note.

The new menus for lunch and dinner arrive in August and will feature value meals, such as the current offer of a $4.99 breakfast. The menus also follow last year's breakfast overhaul with better ingredients, simpler recipes and up-to-date tastes, such as a limited-time offer of bacon all across the menu.

While breakfast has seen a sales uptick, the company reported same-store sales of negative 3 percent in the fourth quarter, which ended in April. Mohseni believes sales will reach flat or positive numbers by the end of fiscal 2017, which began in May, but so far things look bleak. Anderson agrees that there will still be pain for Bob Evans in the coming months.

"May came in at negative 3 percent," said Chief Financial Officer Mark Hood during the call. "June is off to a slower start than May."

That message sent Bob Evans' shares rolling downhill. Shares ended Wednesday at $40.69, down $4.05, or 9.1 percent.

In a research note, Anderson said Bob Evans is waiting too long to roll out the new menu and value meal pricing, which was hinted at on earlier earnings calls and has been part of the strategy at Cracker Barrel and Denny's for some time. He also hopes Bob Evans cuts a deal to either sell or spin off its robust prepared-foods division.

"We argue that a potential for a spinoff of (Bob Evans Foods) makes Bob Evans shares more attractive," Anderson said.

Bob Evans Foods continued to lead the company as Hood reported that refrigerated side dishes command more than 51 percent of the nationwide market.

An ongoing expansion at the Xenia plant where the mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese are made will allow the company to enter new markets this year and release new products.

jmalone@dispatch.com

@j_d_malone