Ark Restaurants Corp (ARKR) 2023 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to Ark Restaurants Second Quarter 2023 Results Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Christopher Love, Secretary. Thank you. You may begin.

您好，歡迎來到方舟餐廳 2023 年第二季度業績電話會議。 （操作員說明）提醒一下，正在錄製此會議。現在我很高興向您介紹主持人，秘書克里斯托弗·洛夫。謝謝。你可以開始了。

Thank you, operator. Good morning, and thank you for joining us on our conference call for the second quarter ended April 1, 2023. My name is Christopher Love, and I am the Secretary of Ark Restaurants.

謝謝你，運營商。早上好，感謝您參加我們截至 2023 年 4 月 1 日的第二季度電話會議。我叫克里斯托弗·洛夫，是方舟餐廳的秘書。

With me on the call today is Michael Weinstein, our Chairman and CEO; and Anthony Sirica, our President and Chief Financial Officer. For those of you who have not yet obtained a copy of our press release, it was issued over the newswires yesterday and is available on our website. To review the full text of that press release, along with the associated financial tables, please go to our homepage at www.arkrestaurants.com.

今天與我通話的是我們的董事長兼首席執行官 Michael Weinstein；以及我們的總裁兼首席財務官 Anthony Sirica。對於那些尚未獲得我們新聞稿副本的人，它已於昨天通過新聞專線發布，並可在我們的網站上獲取。要查看該新聞稿的全文以及相關的財務表格，請訪問我們的主頁 www.arkrestaurants.com。

Before we begin, however, I'd like to read the safe harbor statement. I need to remind everyone that part of our discussion this morning will include forward-looking statements and that these statements are not guarantees of future performance, and therefore, undue reliance should not be placed on them. We refer everyone to our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a more detailed discussion of the risks that may have a direct bearing on our operating results, performance and financial condition.

然而，在我們開始之前，我想閱讀安全港聲明。我需要提醒大家，我們今天上午的部分討論將包含前瞻性陳述，這些陳述並不是對未來業績的保證，因此，不應過分依賴它們。我們建議大家參考我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件，以更詳細地討論可能對我們的經營業績、業績和財務狀況產生直接影響的風險。

I'll now turn the call over to Michael.

我現在將電話轉給邁克爾。

Hi, everybody. Before I get into this, Anthony, I would like to discuss our situation with cash and where we stand, especially in relation to the fact that we increased the dividend from $0.50 annualized to $0.75 annualized. So please give...

大家好。在開始討論之前，安東尼，我想討論一下我們的現金情況和我們的立場，特別是關於我們將股息從每年 0.50 美元增加到每年 0.75 美元這一事實。所以請給...

Yes. Our balance sheet remains strong. The significant items that took place this quarter was on March 30, right before quarter end. We amended our banking arrangements with our lender. The primary purpose was to move from LIBOR to SOFR. But in connection with that, we paid down a $6.7 million loan, and we implemented a $10 million credit facility -- revolving credit facility. Subsequent to the quarter end, we paid down additional 2 loans for a total amount of $6.1 million. So in total, we paid down $12.8 million of debt between March 30 and April 5, say. We made the decision because we had a very strong cash position. The rates were over 8%. So this will generate at least $1 million of cash savings over the next year.

是的。我們的資產負債表依然強勁。本季度發生的重大事件發生在 3 月 30 日，就在季度末之前。我們修改了與貸方的銀行安排。主要目的是從 LIBOR 轉向 SOFR。但與此相關的是，我們還清了 670 萬美元的貸款，並實施了 1000 萬美元的信貸安排——循環信貸安排。本季度末，我們還清了另外 2 筆貸款，總金額為 610 萬美元。因此，總的來說，我們在 3 月 30 日至 4 月 5 日期間還清了 1280 萬美元的債務。我們做出這個決定是因為我們的現金狀況非常強勁。利率超過8%。因此，這將在明年產生至少 100 萬美元的現金節省。

Also, subsequent to quarter end, you probably saw in the press release, we raised the dividend from $0.125 to $0.1875 per quarter. And our latest cash balance as of today is about $15 million in the bank, and our current debt position is $7.3 million. So I think that's pretty much.

此外，在季度結束後，您可能在新聞稿中看到，我們將每季度的股息從 0.125 美元提高到 0.1875 美元。截至今天，我們最新的銀行現金餘額約為 1500 萬美元，我們目前的債務頭寸為 730 萬美元。所以我認為這差不多。

Yes. Thank you, Anthony. So I'd like to go over venue by venue what we saw happening in the last quarter, but more importantly, what we see going forward, we're just halfway through the June quarter. So the -- as the press release indicated, we had very strong sales generated by our events department and catering departments, especially in New York and Washington, D.C. that lifted the overall comp sales for the company by about 8%. That, of course, is -- was calculated eliminating Gallagher's in Las Vegas, where the comps were inappropriate because we had closed Gallagher's sometime in early February, and it remained closed to the end of April, while we did a renovation that was required by our new lease with MGM. Those missing sales were substantial and certainly had a big impact on our EBITDA and net income. But in general, New York was very strong. Alabama and New York remain strong.

是的。謝謝你，安東尼。因此，我想逐個地點介紹我們在上個季度看到的情況，但更重要的是，我們看到的未來，我們只是六月季度的一半。因此——正如新聞稿所示，我們的活動部門和餐飲部門產生了非常強勁的銷售額，尤其是在紐約和華盛頓特區，這使公司的整體銷售額提高了約 8%。當然，那是 - 計算出取消拉斯維加斯的 Gallagher's，那裡的補償是不合適的，因為我們在 2 月初的某個時候關閉了 Gallagher's，並且它一直關閉到 4 月底，而我們進行了所需的翻新我們與米高梅的新租約。這些缺失的銷售額是巨大的，當然對我們的 EBITDA 和淨收入產生了重大影響。但總的來說，紐約非常強大。阿拉巴馬州和紐約州依然強勁。

Alabama was in line with our projections and through the early part of this June quarter, again, remains in line with our projections. Washington, D.C. is the same, it's doing well. Florida had a good quarter. But in the last few weeks, we've started to see a declination in customer counts in the Florida restaurants, in the full-service restaurants.

阿拉巴馬州符合我們的預測，並且在這個 6 月季度的早期部分，再次符合我們的預測。華盛頓特區也是一樣，它做得很好。佛羅里達州有一個很好的季度。但在過去的幾周里，我們開始看到佛羅里達餐廳和提供全方位服務的餐廳的顧客數量有所下降。

We've also seen a seasonal adjustment in Las Vegas. It's hard for us to tell whether or not we're comping favorably to last year because Gallagher's has just reopened and that's a big driver of sales for us in -- at New York, New York. But I would say to you that it feels a little bit softer than it has been. So if you take a look at our customer counts, in New York, we're doing well in comparison. We have 2 indicators of how we're doing. Number one, customer count is the most important. And obviously, revenues are an equation of customer accounts x increased prices on menus, which should drive revenues in Florida. Customer counts are down and revenues are starting to comp down slightly in the last couple of weeks. It's very, very hard for us to make a calculation as to whether this is a trend or just uplift. But my belief is that we're losing the low-end income customers from our full-service restaurants.

我們還看到了拉斯維加斯的季節性調整。我們很難判斷我們是否比去年表現更好，因為 Gallagher's 剛剛重新開業，這對我們在紐約紐約的銷售來說是一個很大的推動力。但我會告訴你，它感覺比以前更柔和了。因此，如果您看一下我們在紐約的客戶數量，相比之下我們做得很好。我們有 2 個指標來衡量我們的表現。第一，客戶數量是最重要的。顯然，收入是客戶賬戶 x 菜單價格上漲的等式，這應該會推動佛羅里達州的收入。在過去的幾周里，客戶數量下降，收入開始略有下降。我們很難計算這是一種趨勢還是只是上升。但我認為，我們正在從提供全方位服務的餐廳中流失低端收入客戶。

Our food courts in both Tampa and Hollywood and in Vegas remain very, very strong. But the implications are we've got to see where Gallagher's winds up. We've raised prices there, and we have a new menu. We raised prices in line with what we think we can ask customers based upon the renovation, based upon the new menu and best -- and more importantly, extremely good quality. If you read the reviews coming, early reviews on Yelp, they're all 5-star reviews. I think the team out there has done an extraordinary job. We have additional renovations to do one on the food court at New York, New York, but that will not have any impact on sales because there are 9 units there, and we're going to do one at a time. And basically, we feel that as we close the unit, the sales that would belong to that unit will be spread over the other units.

我們在坦帕和好萊塢以及拉斯維加斯的美食廣場仍然非常非常強大。但這意味著我們必須看看 Gallagher's 的結局。我們在那裡提高了價格，而且我們有一個新菜單。我們根據翻新、新菜單和最好的——更重要的是，極好的質量——根據我們認為可以向客戶提出的要求提高了價格。如果您閱讀即將到來的評論，Yelp 上的早期評論，它們都是 5 星評論。我認為那裡的團隊做得非常出色。我們在紐約紐約的美食廣場進行了額外的裝修，但這不會對銷售產生任何影響，因為那裡有 9 個單元，我們將一次進行一個。基本上，我們覺得當我們關閉該部門時，屬於該部門的銷售額將分攤到其他部門。

So business quality of our product, service of our product, the look of our restaurants remain in extremely good condition. We're very happy with what we're doing in the restaurants. We're a little bit concerned about the bottom rung of our customers, whether or not they can afford to eat as frequently as they did or whether there's going to be a change in habit here during what is apparently a slowdown. I speak to other restaurateurs. They're basically all seeing the same thing, especially outside of New York. So that's the restaurant side of it.

因此，我們產品的商業質量、我們產品的服務、我們餐廳的外觀都保持著極好的狀態。我們對我們在餐廳所做的事情感到非常滿意。我們有點擔心我們客戶的底層，他們是否有能力像以前那樣頻繁地進餐，或者在明顯放緩的情況下這裡的習慣是否會發生變化。我和其他餐館老闆談過。他們基本上都看到了同樣的事情，尤其是在紐約以外的地方。這就是它的餐廳方面。

We should start to discuss Meadowlands more frequently in these conference calls. New York state is about to announce the 3 downstate casino licenses who gets them. We assume Yonkers racetrack, which is just north of Manhattan and the Bronx and Riverdale. And Aqueduct Racetrack in Queensville will get 2 of the licenses. Where the third license goes is sort of a mystery to everybody. I speak to lawyers who are representing different groups who are vying for the license. One in the Steve Cohen and out of Shea Stadium in partnership with Mets. There are a couple of Hudson Yards in New York, SL Green. Nobody seems to know where that license is going. But the fact that Aqueduct and Yonkers are the likely recipients of 2 of the licenses will have a huge impact on gaming in Atlantic City. And we believe as these licenses are announced, Jersey legislation will have to sort of redeem itself with lost tax revenues out of Atlantic City and make a deal for a casino in the northern part of the state, and we still believe Meadowlands is the most attractive site. Meadowlands, by the way, does more sports betting than all the casinos in Atlantic City combined. I think it's the largest sports betting site in the country. So we think that's a logical choice.

我們應該開始在這些電話會議中更頻繁地討論 Meadowlands。紐約州即將公佈 3 個獲得賭場牌照的下州賭場牌照。我們假設 Yonkers 賽道位於曼哈頓、布朗克斯和里弗代爾以北。昆斯維爾的 Aqueduct Racetrack 將獲得其中 2 個許可證。第三個許可證的去向對每個人來說都是一個謎。我與代表不同群體的律師交談，他們正在爭奪執照。一個在史蒂夫科恩和謝伊體育場與大都會隊合作。紐約有幾個 Hudson Yards，SL Green。似乎沒有人知道該許可證的去向。但事實上 Aqueduct 和 Yonkers 很可能獲得其中 2 個牌照，這將對大西洋城的博彩業產生巨大影響。我們相信，隨著這些許可證的公佈，澤西島的立法將不得不用大西洋城的稅收損失來彌補自己，並與該州北部的一家賭場達成交易，我們仍然認為梅多蘭茲是最具吸引力的地點。順便說一句，Meadowlands 進行的體育博彩比大西洋城所有賭場的總和還多。我認為它是該國最大的體育博彩網站。所以我們認為這是一個合乎邏輯的選擇。

There are no environmental permits that need to be explored. We have everything in place. If a casino license was issued to the Meadowlands, we could literally be in business in 6 weeks. And that's not true with any other venue. So we think that we have a high degree of confidence that the legislators are going to move forward -- and it's required to be a public vote. And hopefully, by November of next year, we'll -- there'll be a vote on a referendum to allow for a casino in northern part of the state. We own a -- we're the third largest holder of the Meadowlands Racetrack LLC, which is a site we think will be granted a license. That being said, being the third largest, we only have, on a fully diluted basis, a little under 8%. But we do have an exclusive for all the restaurants in the Meadowlands with the exception of the carve-out for a Hard Rock Cafe.

沒有需要探索的環境許可。我們一切就緒。如果向 Meadowlands 頒發賭場牌照，我們實際上可以在 6 週內開展業務。任何其他場所都不是這樣。因此，我們認為我們對立法者將繼續前進充滿信心——這需要進行公眾投票。希望到明年 11 月，我們將對允許在該州北部開設賭場的全民投票進行投票。我們擁有 - 我們是 Meadowlands Racetrack LLC 的第三大持有人，我們認為該網站將獲得許可。話雖這麼說，作為第三大，我們只有在完全稀釋的基礎上略低於 8%。但我們確實為 Meadowlands 的所有餐廳提供獨家優惠，但 Hard Rock Cafe 除外。

Hard Rock owns 20% of the deal, a New York developer Jeffrey Gural owns some 30%. And again, we're slightly under 8%, and then there are a series of other investors and one is a hedge fund out of Canada that specializes in casino operations and investments.

Hard Rock 擁有該交易的 20%，紐約開發商 Jeffrey Gural 擁有約 30%。再一次，我們略低於 8%，然後還有一系列其他投資者，其中一個是來自加拿大的專門從事賭場運營和投資的對沖基金。

So with that, if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them.

因此，如果您有任何問題，我很樂意回答。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of James [Stevens,] a Private Investor.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自私人投資者詹姆斯 [史蒂文斯]。

So just talking about the balance sheet for a second. If I understand correctly, as of today, cash is roughly $15 million and debt is roughly $7 million. So we have net cash of roughly $8 million. Is that correct?

所以只談一下資產負債表。如果我理解正確，截至今天，現金大約為 1500 萬美元，債務大約為 700 萬美元。所以我們有大約 800 萬美元的淨現金。那是對的嗎？

Correct. That's before float, but yes.

正確的。那是在浮動之前，但是是的。

Yes. Okay. So obviously, cash is way down from the end of last year, almost down $10 million, but in a good way. So as the debt -- the debt is actually a lot -- down almost $14 million. So it's a much better position.

是的。好的。很明顯，現金比去年年底下降了將近 1000 萬美元，但降幅不錯。因此，作為債務——債務實際上很多——下降了近 1400 萬美元。所以這是一個更好的位置。

Right. exactly.

正確的。確切地。

And what is the interest on that $7 million of debt?

那 700 萬美元的債務的利息是多少？

Yes, it's about 8%, 8 and change, 8.1%, 8.2%. The SOFR is -- approximates LIBOR. They just -- it's a slightly different spread. I think the LIBOR spread was 3.5% and SOFR is 3.65%.

是的，大約是 8%，8 和變化，8.1%，8.2%。 SOFR 是——近似於 LIBOR。他們只是 - 這是一個略有不同的傳播。我認為 LIBOR 利差為 3.5%，SOFR 為 3.65%。

So it's still pretty expensive debt. Is there a hope to pay that down further?

所以它仍然是相當昂貴的債務。有希望進一步支付嗎？

Depending how this year shapes up, we would consider that, but we're also looking at a couple of deals out there. So we have to manage that. That's why we didn't pay down the more.

根據今年的情況，我們會考慮這一點，但我們也在考慮一些交易。所以我們必須管理它。這就是為什麼我們沒有付更多的錢。

Got it. And then in terms of renovations, you talked about Gallagher's. It looks like in the release that there's another $4 million that has to be spent on America and I think another $3.5 million on Broadway Burger. So it's like $7.5 million between the 2 of them. Is that right?

知道了。然後在裝修方面，你談到了 Gallagher's。發行版中似乎還有 400 萬美元必須花在美國，我想還有 350 萬美元用於百老匯漢堡。因此，他們兩人之間的收入約為 750 萬美元。是對的嗎？

So let me interject. Broadway Burger is part of -- even though it's not under the same percentage lease as the fast casual food within the Village Streets, which is our fast food court essentially. We don't think the renovation of that is going to be more than $2 million. Sam is here. Is that right? .

所以讓我插話。 Broadway Burger 是其中的一部分——儘管它的租賃百分比與 Village Streets 內的休閒快餐不同，後者本質上是我們的快餐店。我們認為翻新工程的費用不會超過 200 萬美元。山姆在這裡。是對的嗎？ .

Yes.

是的。

We think it's $2 million.

我們認為是 200 萬美元。

We have specific language in the lease extension that says once the plans are approved by the landlord, the concept, whatever we're doing, if it comes in below what the lease extension said, then that's going to be the number. So...

我們在租約延期中有特定的語言，說一旦計劃得到房東的批准，這個概念，無論我們在做什麼，如果它低於租約延期所說的，那麼這就是數字。所以...

When we negotiated this lease, we didn't know to what extent they wanted these concepts to either change. We knew they didn't want Gallagher's change. We knew they did not want the fast food court to change. They may want America to change in terms of concept, and we would still be running it, obviously. The present management has been very flexible with us. I mean Gallagher's was a breeze. We showed them the plans. Sam is here, who oversaw that. Basically, they were very flexible with us. They weren't demanding. They made some suggestions. We tried to accommodate those suggestions. But the suggestions they made were not heavily priced. The -- so we spent a little under $2 million in Gallagher's. I can't imagine the food court being more than $2 million. The -- based upon what they want us to do in America, which will be a decision next year or the year after, they're not in a hurry to change it. And one of the reasons not in a hurry keeps doing better every single year. I think we were up 11% in sales last year in America from the year before. So it's even questionable whether they want to change the concept of just or want to spruce up. So it's sort of not something we have to worry about in terms of spending a lot of cash today, if that's the question.

當我們談判這份租約時，我們不知道他們希望這些概念改變到什麼程度。我們知道他們不想要加拉格爾的零錢。我們知道他們不希望快餐店發生變化。他們可能希望美國在概念上有所改變，而我們顯然仍會繼續運作。目前的管理層對我們非常靈活。我的意思是加拉格爾的是輕而易舉的。我們向他們展示了計劃。山姆在這裡，他負責監督。基本上，他們對我們非常靈活。他們沒有要求。他們提出了一些建議。我們試圖採納這些建議。但他們提出的建議並沒有被高估。 - 所以我們在 Gallagher's 花費了不到 200 萬美元。我無法想像美食廣場會超過 200 萬美元。基於他們希望我們在美國做什麼，這將在明年或後年做出決定，他們並不急於改變它。不著急的原因之一就是每年都做得更好。我認為我們去年在美國的銷售額比前一年增長了 11%。因此，他們是想改變正義的概念，還是想打扮一番，甚至值得懷疑。因此，如果這是一個問題，就今天花費大量現金而言，這不是我們必須擔心的事情。

Got it. And you mentioned that there's a little concern out there for going into a recession, a little concern about the bottom line customer. What's interesting is Tilman Fertitta was on the other day, and obviously, they have restaurants all over and spanning the range from inexpensive to luxury. And his point was that it was the higher-end customer that seems to be impacted. I wonder if that's what you're seeing?

知道了。你提到人們有點擔心經濟衰退，有點擔心客戶的底線。有趣的是，蒂爾曼·費爾蒂塔 (Tilman Fertitta) 前幾天也在，顯然，他們到處都有餐廳，從便宜的到豪華的應有盡有。他的觀點是，高端客戶似乎受到了影響。我想知道你看到的是不是這樣？

So I speak to his cousins or people who are very heavily involved in Red Rock. They're starting to see the higher-end customers spend a little bit less. That's what I'm told. But basically, our check averages are holding up, maybe with one exception, which is Rustic Inn. But I don't see any problem with our higher-end customers in what they're spending. Again, he has a broad range of concepts. But in general, with the exception of the higher-end crab and shellfish items at Rustic, the menu is not that expensive below those expensive items.

所以我和他的表親或與紅岩有很大關係的人交談。他們開始看到高端客戶的消費有所減少。這就是我被告知的。但基本上，我們的檢查平均值保持不變，也許有一個例外，那就是 Rustic Inn。但我認為我們的高端客戶在消費方面沒有任何問題。同樣，他有廣泛的概念。但總的來說，除了Rustic的高端螃蟹和貝類食品外，菜單並不比那些昂貴的食品貴。

Gallagher's is certainly expensive, but it's cheaper than any of the steakhouse in Las Vegas, but we're also on a venue that doesn't attract high rollers and the room rates are substantially less than Bellagio or Wynn, et cetera. The rest of our restaurants are $40 check averages a dinner or $50 check average is at dinner. And you can eat at price points below that. What Rustic has seen is because we not only count customers counts, but we look at -- the number of entrées sold. They're seeing their customers start to share entrées. So people come and have 2 appetizers and an entrée instead of 2 appeitizers and 2 entrées. But the rest of it, I think our high-end customer is okay. I think it's the customer that's renting an apartment in Florida and has to pay more for groceries and is just sort of behind the curve here with what's going on with the necessities that they have to pay for and what disposable income they have at the end of the week to go out and eat. I think that's -- for us, that's the customer that we're seeing disappear.

Gallagher's 肯定很貴，但它比拉斯維加斯的任何一家牛排館都便宜，但我們所在的場所也不會吸引豪賭客，而且房價遠低於 Bellagio 或 Wynn 等。我們其他餐廳的晚餐均價為 40 美元，晚餐時均價為 50 美元。而且您可以以低於該價格的價格進餐。 Rustic 所看到的是因為我們不僅計算客戶數量，而且我們查看 - 售出的主菜數量。他們看到他們的顧客開始分享主菜。所以人們來吃 2 道開胃菜和一道主菜，而不是 2 道開胃菜和 2 道主菜。但其餘的，我認為我們的高端客戶還可以。我認為是客戶在佛羅里達州租了一套公寓，不得不為雜貨支付更多的費用，他們只是落後於他們必須支付的必需品以及他們在年底的可支配收入方面的情況。一周出去吃飯。我認為那是——對我們來說，這就是我們看到的客戶正在消失。

I think our high end is different than his high end.

我認為我們的高端與他的高端不同。

Yes.

是的。

He's got (inaudible). I mean, he's got these places with astronomical per person checks. So I think his high end, maybe that section of it is probably suffering.

他有（聽不清）。我的意思是，他用天文數字的人均支票得到了這些地方。所以我認為他的高端，也許那部分可能正在遭受痛苦。

A very good color. And -- I mean this is not necessarily pertinent to a conference call, but I was out in Vegas a couple of weeks ago to sit in Gallagher's for a little while. And we have a Tommy Hawk steak there that's 40 ounces served with bone marrow at $129.

非常好的顏色。而且 - 我的意思是這不一定與電話會議有關，但幾週前我在拉斯維加斯外出，在 Gallagher's 坐了一會兒。我們還有 40 盎司的湯米霍克牛排配骨髓，售價 129 美元。

$140.

140 美元。

$140, I apologize. And then I said, who's going to pay this because I'm old, and I still remember a hamburger $4.95. And Sam took me around to Aria to a restaurant, and they were $350 or $325 for the same thing. And we're lower than anybody else on the strip. It's still expensive, but we're lower -- and I would think most of our menus come off that way. We've certainly gone through price increases. We're not hammering our customers. We've frozen price increases for the last 6 months or 7 months. We're worried that at some point, customers are going to revolt and say, hey, why am I paying -- if you walk around New York City, the $28 hamburger is not unusual. We're at $17, $18 at Bryant Park for a hamburger.

140 美元，我很抱歉。然後我說，誰來付這個錢，因為我老了，我還記得一個漢堡包 4.95 美元。 Sam 帶我去了 Aria 的一家餐館，同樣的東西要 350 美元或 325 美元。而且我們比地帶上的任何人都低。它仍然很貴，但我們的價格更低——我想我們的大部分菜單都是這樣的。我們當然經歷過價格上漲。我們不是在打擊我們的客戶。我們已經凍結了過去 6 個月或 7 個月的價格上漲。我們擔心在某些時候，顧客會反抗並說，嘿，我為什麼要付錢——如果你在紐約市走來走去，28 美元的漢堡包並不罕見。我們在布萊恩特公園的漢堡包價格為 17 美元、18 美元。

Yes. No, that's all really helpful. And I just have one more question and then I'll let someone else jump in there. So just in terms of the operating income or EBITDA because I know you prefer to look at that, it's a little disappointing to see an 8% rise in sales and actually would have been better with Gallagher's and really see on the bottom line or with EBITDA that it's down, and I know there are some factors in there. But are we ever going to get back to these years of $14 million, $15 million worth of EBITDA? Or is that -- obviously, in a worsening economy, it's going to be difficult to achieve that, but all things being equal, especially with the interest savings on paying off some of that debt, are we going to be able to get back there? Are you still there?

是的。不，這真的很有幫助。我還有一個問題，然後我會讓其他人參與進來。所以就營業收入或 EBITDA 而言，因為我知道你更喜歡看它，看到銷售額增長 8% 有點令人失望，實際上加拉格爾的情況會更好，真正看到底線或 EBITDA它下降了，我知道其中有一些因素。但我們是否會回到這些年價值 1400 萬美元、1500 萬美元的 EBITDA？或者是 - 顯然，在經濟惡化的情況下，實現這一目標將很困難，但在所有條件相同的情況下，尤其是在償還部分債務時節省的利息，我們是否能夠回到那裡？你還在嗎？

Their line is still connected.

他們的線路仍然連接著。

Can you hear me?

你能聽到我嗎？

Gentlemen, are you there?

先生們，你們在嗎？

Yes, I'm here. Can you hear me?

對，我在這。你能聽到我嗎？

We can hear you, Mr. [Stevens,] I'm trying to see their line is connected, but they're not answering.

[Stevens] 先生，我們可以聽到您的聲音，我正在嘗試查看他們的線路是否已接通，但他們沒有接聽。

Okay. I'll stand by.

好的。我會待命的。

One moment. Okay. They are reconnected.

一瞬間。好的。他們重新連接。

Okay. Do you want me to repeat the question, Michael? Or...

好的。你想讓我重複這個問題嗎，邁克爾？或者...

Repeat the answer?

重複答案？

Yes. Yes. no, I think we were talking about pricing. And we don't think we're out of line with pricing. We think a lot of restaurants are out of line going into what might be a recession and where people are being more careful. But despite that, and we're still seeing a slight deterioration.

是的。是的。不，我認為我們在談論定價。而且我們不認為我們與定價不符。我們認為很多餐館在進入可能是經濟衰退並且人們更加謹慎的情況下已經不合時宜了。但儘管如此，我們仍然看到略有惡化。

Okay. And I had one more question. I'm not sure if you heard it when the line cut out. Did you...

好的。我還有一個問題。斷線時，我不確定你是否聽到了。你是否...

Yes. We didn't hear it.

是的。我們沒有聽到。

We didn't hear it.

我們沒有聽到。

Okay. Did or did not?

好的。有沒有？

Did not.

沒有。

Did not. Please repeat it.

沒有。請重複一遍。

Okay. So all I was saying was that, I mean, you guys are doing a great job in a tough market. It's a little discouraging to see an 8% rise in revenue and actually would have been better with Gallagher's. And so on the top line, it's good to see that, but it's tough to see on an operating income basis or EBITDA. I know you prefer to look at that -- the number is lower. And so I guess I'm just wondering, we can't control the economy and the consumer. But all things being equal, is it going to be possible, especially with the interest savings to get back to that $13 million, $14 million worth of annual EBITDA.

好的。所以我要說的是，我的意思是，你們在艱難的市場中做得很好。看到收入增長 8% 有點令人沮喪，實際上 Gallagher's 會更好。因此，在收入方面，很高興看到這一點，但很難在營業收入或 EBITDA 的基礎上看到。我知道你更喜歡看那個——數字更低。所以我想我只是想知道，我們無法控制經濟和消費者。但在所有條件都相同的情況下，這是否有可能，尤其是在節省利息的情況下，可以回到價值 1300 萬美元、價值 1400 萬美元的年度 EBITDA。

I see no reason not to. I see no reason that we shouldn't be better than that. I'm not talking about the results for the year ending -- or fiscal year ending September. I'm talking about the rate of EBITDA as we turn the corner on the economy. Look, we made a decision here. We're interested in 2 things. And it goes back to I guess, 2008, 2009 when everything was bad. And we made a decision at that point we weren't going to lay off anybody. And if people are going to spend money in restaurants, they wanted to see -- they wanted to get the experience that they're expecting for those dollars, which were difficult dollars for them to spend in 2008, 2009. They didn't want to walk into a restaurant, which had sort of attenuated its full-service approach to save payroll. We're not saving on payroll if anything. Our payrolls are building up a lot of it because of legislation with minimum wage. We're going through several bumps in payroll, legislative minimum wage payroll increases in Nevada, in New York, Florida. So our payrolls are going up, not down. And we're not letting go of anybody, even if sales get crimped a little bit. We're not raising menu prices. We are seeing stability in food prices. Crab prices are coming down a little bit. But for the most part, everything is remaining stable. We're not seeing things heading down in terms of the products we buy and the cost.

我認為沒有理由不這樣做。我看不出我們不應該做得更好的理由。我不是在談論截至 9 月份的財年或財年的結果。我說的是我們在經濟轉折點時的 EBITDA 率。看，我們在這裡做出了決定。我們對兩件事感興趣。我想這可以追溯到 2008 年、2009 年，當時一切都很糟糕。那時我們做出了一個決定，我們不會解僱任何人。如果人們打算在餐館里花錢，他們希望看到——他們希望獲得他們所期望的那些美元的體驗，這些美元在 2008 年、2009 年對他們來說是很難花的。他們不想要走進一家餐廳，這在某種程度上削弱了其為節省工資而提供全方位服務的方法。如果有的話，我們不會節省工資。由於最低工資的立法，我們的工資單正在增加很多。我們正在經歷工資單的幾次顛簸，內華達州、紐約州、佛羅里達州的立法最低工資增加。所以我們的工資在上升，而不是下降。我們不會放過任何人，即使銷售受到一點影響。我們不會提高菜單價格。我們看到食品價格穩定。螃蟹價格略有下降。但在大多數情況下，一切都保持穩定。在我們購買的產品和成本方面，我們並沒有看到事情在下降。

Insurance premiums are going up. It's scary what the insurance companies are asking, and we're trying to figure out ways, especially in liability circumstances to get better rates. But utility prices are going up. I mean we're just seeing everything being increased. And yet, we're going to -- the mantra here is keep your customer and customers can't see on the plate that the gas prices are going up or electricity costs are going up or the insurance premium is going up. What they know is what they're paying for a piece of chicken in the supermarket and then they can relate to what they're seeing in a restaurant. So the mantra here is keep your customer, do everything to keep you customer. And if we do a little bit worse, but we have a loyal customer base going forward, our business will flourish as we come out of this. And as we see what happens to commodity prices, we're even prepared to lower prices to get those customers to think they're getting a quality product at a fair price. And that's where we've been.

保險費在上漲。保險公司的要求很可怕，我們正在努力尋找方法，尤其是在責任情況下獲得更好的費率。但公用事業價格正在上漲。我的意思是我們只是看到一切都在增加。然而，我們要 - 這裡的口頭禪是讓你的客戶和客戶無法在盤子上看到汽油價格上漲或電費上漲或保險費上漲。他們所知道的是他們在超市為一塊雞肉支付的價格，然後他們可以將他們與在餐館看到的東西聯繫起來。所以這裡的口頭禪是留住你的客戶，盡一切努力留住你的客戶。如果我們做得更差一點，但我們有一個忠實的客戶群，我們的業務就會隨著我們的發展而蓬勃發展。當我們看到商品價格發生變化時，我們甚至準備降低價格，讓這些客戶認為他們以合理的價格獲得了優質的產品。這就是我們去過的地方。

The whole history of the company has been take care of your employees, make sure your customers come back. That's the only song we want to sing. So we might have a little bit of an interruption in EBITDA here. But so what, in the end, we'll be right. That's the feeling.

公司的整個歷史一直在照顧您的員工，確保您的客戶回來。這是我們唯一想唱的歌。所以我們在這裡的 EBITDA 可能會有點中斷。但那又怎樣，最終，我們會是對的。就是這種感覺。

Our next question comes from the line of [Alan Goldberg,] a private investor.

我們的下一個問題來自私人投資者 [Alan Goldberg]。

Michael, you probably don't remember me, but we had dinner down in Florida, and we are both the same age. So I, too, remember, $4.95 and $3.95 hamburger. So we are the same age, and I don't know whether that's good or bad. As everybody is aware, Florida is growing unless something goes on politically down there. But Florida is growing substantially. They estimate 365,000 new residents a year, almost 4 million over the next 10 years. The areas that we are involved in are in the key areas. Have we given any thought to do things, I hate to use the word less popular, but no less populated parts of the state? People that are coming down from New York, Cleveland, Chicago, Pittsburgh, as you know, the places, they're shocked at our prices in the upscale areas, shocked. And so I'm wondering, have we looked into how we can take advantage of that with restaurants in areas that are not so well known. That's my first question. Have I lost you? Hello?

邁克爾，你可能不記得我了，但我們在佛羅里達吃過晚飯，而且我們年齡相仿。所以我也記得，4.95 美元和 3.95 美元的漢堡包。所以我們同齡，我不知道這是好事還是壞事。眾所周知，佛羅里達州正在發展，除非那裡發生政治上的變化。但佛羅里達州正在大幅增長。他們估計每年有 365,000 名新居民，未來 10 年將增加近 400 萬。我們涉及的領域都在重點領域。我們有沒有考慮過做一些事情，我討厭使用不那麼受歡迎但人口較少的州這個詞？從紐約、克利夫蘭、芝加哥、匹茲堡，如你所知，這些地方的人們對我們在高檔地區的價格感到震驚，震驚。所以我想知道，我們是否研究過如何在不太知名的地區的餐館中利用這一點。這是我的第一個問題。我失去你了嗎？你好？

One moment. It looks like we lost them again.

一瞬間。看來我們又失去他們了。

Oh, boy. Okay. I'll stay on the line if that's okay.

好傢伙。好的。如果可以的話，我會一直在線。

Yes, just one moment.

是的，就一瞬間。

So we're back on.

所以我們回來了。

Okay. They're reconnected now.

好的。他們現在重新連接了。

Okay. Thank you. So Alan?

好的。謝謝。那麼艾倫？

Yes, Michael.

是的，邁克爾。

Yes. So you were making the point of the increase in Florida residents.

是的。所以你是在強調佛羅里達州居民的增加。

Correct. And the -- we're finding -- I'm finding. I live down there full time, and I'm finding that people aren't going to be absolutely moving to the neighborhood where the house prices start at $9 million. They can't -- the people that are retiring from the north and the northwest are moving into less popular areas, nevertheless, the same weather. So what I'm asking is, are we looking -- have we looked to do anything in lesser affluent areas?

正確的。而且——我們正在發現——我正在發現。我全職住在那裡，我發現人們不會絕對搬到房價起價為 900 萬美元的社區。他們不能——從北部和西北部退休的人們正在搬到不太受歡迎的地區，不過，天氣是一樣的。所以我要問的是，我們是否正在尋找——我們是否希望在不太富裕的地區做任何事情？

So what drives our decision to make acquisitions is the price we're paying for cash flow and whether we think that cash flow is sustainable. We don't care where we go as long as we know we can manage it. And the restaurants we have either bought or secured long-term leases are in conjunction with the purchase of the operation, are all institutions. They come with great management, all management stay with us, Blue Moon, JB's, Rustic, Shuckers, they've all stayed with us and those are the situations we're looking for. We've looked in different parts of Florida including as far north as Jacksonville.

因此，促使我們做出收購決定的是我們為現金流支付的價格以及我們是否認為現金流是可持續的。我們不在乎我們去哪裡，只要我們知道我們可以管理它。而我們買的餐廳，或者是長租的，都是連同購買一起經營的，都是機構。他們擁有出色的管理層，所有管理層都留在我們身邊，Blue Moon、JB's、Rustic、Shuckers，他們都留在我們身邊，而這些正是我們正在尋找的情況。我們考察了佛羅里達州的不同地區，包括北至傑克遜維爾。

And we look near Disney.

我們看看迪士尼附近。

And we look near Disney and we're -- we may be a little too conservative in what we want to pay, but we certainly want that margin of safety. There have been deals that -- where we've had an asset purchase agreement with a willing seller, and we're a willing buyer and the landlord got in the way, and we couldn't get the kind of lease that we wanted, but where we can get a good long-term lease like Blue Moon or JB's, we're ready to go. We've looked at a lot of deals in Florida. We're very, very picky, and we have the multiple that we're prepared to pay, and we're really strict on ourselves not to go beyond that multiple.

我們看看迪斯尼附近，我們 - 我們可能對我們想要支付的費用有點過於保守，但我們當然想要安全邊際。有過這樣的交易——我們與一個自願的賣方達成了資產購買協議，我們是一個自願的買方，但房東擋住了我們的路，我們無法獲得我們想要的那種租約，但如果我們能像 Blue Moon 或 JB 那樣獲得良好的長期租約，我們就準備好了。我們看過佛羅里達州的很多交易。我們非常非常挑剔，我們有準備支付的倍數，而且我們對自己非常嚴格，不要超過那個倍數。

Okay. And please continue to be picky, but the reason I even brought it up is I was driving from Sarasota across to where I live in the Palm Beaches. And as I got towards the middle of the state, which was farmland and it looked like nowhere, there was a great big sign tall homes breaking ground, 1st January 2024, starting at $950,000.

好的。請繼續挑剔，但我什至提出它的原因是我從薩拉索塔開車到我住在棕櫚灘的地方。當我到達該州中部，那裡是農田，看起來無處可去時，有一個巨大的標誌，高大的房屋破土動工，2024 年 1 月 1 日，起價為 950,000 美元。

Yes. But Alan, not to interrupt. We're looking -- we're not looking to circulate and build restaurants. We're looking to buy cash flow.

是的。但是艾倫，不要打擾。我們正在尋找 - 我們不打算流通和建造餐館。我們正在尋求購買現金流。

I understand.

我明白。

So the idea is if there's somebody in the middle of the Everglades doing $10 million and throwing around $2 million and prepared to sell the restaurants growth...

所以這個想法是，如果大沼澤地中間有人投入 1000 萬美元並投入大約 200 萬美元並準備出售餐館的增長......

You're ready to go there.

你準備好去那裡了。

We're ready to go there. But we're not leaning to build there.

我們準備去那裡。但我們不傾向於在那裡建造。

I understand. I understand that. So you are -- we are looking mostly to lease rather than own property underneath...

我明白。我明白那個。所以你是 - 我們主要希望租賃而不是擁有下面的財產......

No. our primary focus is to own the land under an operation that we can buy at a multiple so that we have predictable cash flow forever.

不，我們的主要重點是在我們可以按倍數購買的業務下擁有土地，以便我們永遠擁有可預測的現金流。

That's wonderful. I'm very pleased. I hope we get a little lucky in the Meadowlands. That would certainly be a little more icing on top of the cake, and that would be wonderful. But the main thing, as you say, is to stay alive and keep in business and do what you've been doing for years. So I'm very pleased.

那好極了。我很高興。我希望我們在 Meadowlands 能有一點幸運。那肯定會錦上添花，那太好了。但正如你所說，最重要的是活下去，繼續做生意，做你多年來一直在做的事情。所以我很高興。

Gentlemen, there are no further questions in the queue. I'd like to hand it back to management for closing remarks.

先生們，隊列中沒有其他問題了。我想將其交還給管理層以作結束語。

All right. Speak to you next quarter. Stay well, everybody. We'll see what happens. Thank you.

好的。下個季度跟你說。大家好好過日子我們將看看會發生什麼。謝謝。

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's teleconference. Thank you for your participation. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and have a wonderful day.

女士們，先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。此時您可以斷開線路，度過美好的一天。