Frisch’s Restaurants Inc., reported record sales for the fiscal first quarter that ended Sept. 18, the Cincinnati Business Courier reported today.

The company reported $86.5 million in revenues, which is a 2.9 percent increase from $84 million in the same period last year, the newspaper said. Net earnings for the quarter declined 13 percent to $2.5 million, compared to $2.9 in 2004. Diluted earnings per share decreased to 49 cents per share, from 56 per share last year.

“Like many other restaurant operators in the family dining segment of the foodservice industry, we have experienced softness in the same store sales as our customers continue to be impacted by higher energy costs,” Craig Maier, Frisch’s president and chief executive officer, told the Courier.

“Our Golden Corral restaurants posted a same-store sales decline of 11.2 percent during our fiscal first quarter,” he said. “We have experienced same store sales declines for our Golden Corral restaurants for eight straight quarters now. We are continuing to research the various causes and will develop appropriate responses.”

Frisch’s (AMEX:FRS) opened one new Big Boy restaurant in Cincinnati during the first ;quarter. It opened two Golden Corrals in Pittsburgh and one in Finday, Ohio. Another will open in West Virginia in November. At that time, the company will have 34 Golden Corral and 89 company-owned Big Boy restaurants in operation, as well as 28 franchised Big Boy restaurants in the area.

Same store sales declines and higher operating expenses are bring blamed for the lower earnings.

Net earnings per share were favorably affected by credits to earnings for reductions of insurance claims reserves in the 2006 and 2005 first quarter. For fiscal 2006, the credit was 5 cents per share. Last year, it was 8 cents per share.