Ark Restaurants Corp (ARKR) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Greetings and welcome to the Ark Restaurants' second-quarter 2024 Results Conference Call. (Operator instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

歡迎參加方舟餐廳 2024 年第二季業績電話會議。（操作員說明） 請注意，本次會議正在錄製中。

I'll now turn the conference over to your host, Christopher Love, Secretary for Ark Restaurants. Thank you. You may begin.

現在我將把會議交給東道主、Ark 餐廳秘書長克里斯托弗·洛夫 (Christopher Love)。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 March 30, 2024. My name is Christopher Love, and I am the Secretary of Ark Restaurants.

謝謝你，接線生。早安，感謝您參加我們截至 2024 年 3 月 30 日的第二季的電話會議。我叫克里斯多福‧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 CFO. For those -- as well as the Sam Weinstein, our Co-COO.

今天與我一起參加電話會議的是我們的董事長兼執行長 Michael Weinstein；和我們的財務長安東尼·西里卡（Anthony Sirica）。對於這些人，以及我們的聯合營運長薩姆·韋恩斯坦 (Sam Weinstein)。

For those of you who have not yet obtained a copy of our press release, it was issued over the newswire 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.

對於尚未獲得我們新聞稿副本的人來說，該新聞稿已於昨天透過新聞專線發布，並可在我們的網站上取得。要查看該新聞稿的全文以及相關的財務表格，請造訪我們的主頁 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 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，我們今天早上討論的一部分將包括前瞻性陳述，這些陳述並不能保證未來的業績，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.

我現在將把電話轉給邁克爾。

Hi, everybody. This is a pretty bland quarter in terms of comparisons. It's really easy to outline the differences between this year and last year. Primarily, we did not do well in Florida for the quarter. Some of it affected by weather changes, so that's always a bad excuse. Just headcounts were not where we would like them to be. Vegas did all right but again, we're fighting higher rents with the new lease. New York was pretty good, Alabama was really good, and Washington DC had a bad winter in general.

大家好。相比之下，這是一個相當平淡的季度。很容易概述今年和去年之間的差異。主要是，我們本季在佛羅裡達州的表現不佳。其中一些受到天氣變化的影響，所以這總是一個糟糕的藉口。只是員工人數並未達到我們所希望的水平。維加斯做得不錯，但我們又要透過新租約來對抗更高的租金。紐約相當不錯，阿拉巴馬州非常好，華盛頓特區的冬天總體來說很糟糕。

What we're fighting is obviously higher payrolls, which has been case for a while now, extremely high premiums on liability insurance and property insurance. And that's really it. The results are marred by the fact that we refused to raise prices to levels which we think are attainable. In the long run, we're interested in keeping customer counts, so our prices have to be friendly and those price increases, which were modest that we did put through in restaurants, given the number of headcounts coming through that revenue is not sufficient to make up for the higher cost of labor and to some extent food costs and to a great extent, rents and insurance premiums that have gone up. That's really it.

我們所反對的顯然是更高的工資，這種情況已經有一段時間了，責任保險和財產保險的保費極高。確實如此。結果因我們拒絕將價格提高到我們認為可以達到的水平而受到損害。從長遠來看，我們有興趣保持顧客數量，因此我們的價格必須友好，而且考慮到收入不足以滿足我們在餐廳的需求，這些價格上漲是適度的。上彌補了食品成本，並在很大程度上彌補了租金和保險費的上漲。確實如此。

What we're seeing now is a little bit more favorable the last month or so, the results in Florida are starting to comp better compared to last year. Vegas is steadily over $1 million a week. The goal for us to make up the difference in rent is probably $1.1 million, $1.150 million. We've seen some of those weeks not consistently, but the product carriers really good. The efficiency has improved dramatically on the payroll costs. We have a new food purchasing department that seems to be doing a better job of food cost. So we expect that we'll achieve close to the same cash flow that we had prior to the rent increases during the course of this year. We'll get there.

我們現在看到的情況比上個月左右要好一些，佛羅裡達州的結果開始比去年更好。維加斯每週的收入穩定在 100 萬美元以上。我們彌補租金差額的目標大概是110萬美元、115萬美元。我們看到其中一些星期的表現並不一致，但產品載體確實很好。工資成本的效率顯著提高。我們有一個新的食品採購部門，似乎在食品成本方面做得更好。因此，我們預計今年我們將實現與租金上漲之前幾乎相同的現金流。我們會到達那裡。

New York is benefiting from events. The a la carte business is okay, but the event business is really strong, Alabama remains strong. The food costs in Florida are very strong. We just think we're seeing the pickup in demand, and we'll see if that continues. From my point of view, everything seems to be in line in terms of service and quality of the product.

紐約正從這些事件中受益。點菜業務還可以，但活動業務確實很強勁，阿拉巴馬州仍然強勁。佛羅裡達州的食品成本非常高。我們只是認為需求正在回升，我們將看看這種情況是否會持續下去。從我的角度來看，一切似乎都符合產品的服務和品質。

So if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer.

因此，如果您有任何疑問，我很樂意回答。

(Operator instructions)

（操作員說明）

Peter Katz, Herold & Lantern Investments.

彼得‧卡茨 (Peter Katz)，Herold & Lantern 投資公司。

Any updates on Bryant Park?

布萊恩特公園有最新消息嗎？

So the process has been drawn out and somewhat disappointing in terms of in response to the needs of those people who have made bids. We were all promised and we're finalists in the process. We don't know how many finalists there are. We suspect two or three others beside us. We were promised in October that leases would be forthcoming for everybody to view the lease that will need to be signed. That finally came two weeks ago.

因此，這個過程很漫長，而且在滿足投標者的需求方面有些令人失望。我們都得到了承諾，並且我們是這個過程中的決賽入圍者。我們不知道有多少名決賽入圍者。我們懷疑我們旁邊還有兩三個人。我們在 10 月得到承諾，將提供租約供每個人查看需要簽署的租約。這終於在兩週前到來了。

And when I came, it said that the respondents must reply by this Friday. So everybody had waited five months to see what they were going to have to deal with in terms of lease terms and given seven days to respond or eight days to respond. So we responded to that. I don't know what their timetable is on making decisions. We have -- they have not said to anybody that they're going to make a decision by the end of May, the end of June. So we just don't know where the process stands other than we've replied to the lease, and we made some comments. I wish I could tell you more definitively what their process was but I can't. I've been mystified by the process from [day one].

當我來的時候，它說受訪者必須在這個星期五之前回覆。因此，每個人都等了五個月，看看他們必須處理租賃條款方面的問題，並給了 7 天或 8 天的時間來回應。所以我們對此做出了回應。我不知道他們做出決定的時間表是什麼。我們──他們沒有對任何人說過他們將在五月底、六月底之前做出決定。因此，除了我們對租約的答覆之外，我們只是不知道流程進展如何，並且我們提出了一些評論。我希望我能更明確地告訴你他們的流程是什麼，但我不能。我對這個過程感到困惑[第一天]。

Does that affect your ability to plan events prospectively?

這會影響您前瞻性地規劃活動的能力嗎？

We've already stopped taking events for 2025 after May 1 of 2025 that's when our lease ends, so if people call -- we will encourage conversations to keep going. But we're not signing any contracts. And we have to inform them that we don't know that we're going to be in possession of the property. I don't think there's too much of that now, but certainly weddings are planned well in advance of 12 months, so that's probably what will first be affected.

2025 年 5 月 1 日（即我們的租約到期）之後，我們已經停止舉辦 2025 年的活動，因此，如果人們打電話來，我們將鼓勵繼續進行對話。但我們不會簽署任何合約。我們必須告訴他們我們不知道我們將擁有該財產。我認為現在影響不大，但婚禮肯定是提前 12 個月就計劃好的，所以這可能是首先受到影響的。

Okay. Different question. Based on your debt and amortization schedules, do you have an expectation what your year-end debt balance might be?

好的。不同的問題。根據您的債務和攤銷計劃，您對年終債務餘額有什麼預期嗎？

Well, right. Anthony can answer that question. Right now, that's $6 million.

嗯，對。安東尼可以回答這個問題。現在，這是 600 萬美元。

Yeah, year-end balance will be $5.3 million.

是的，年終餘額將為 530 萬美元。

Okay, and (multiple speakers)--

好的，還有（多位發言者）——

And as a reminder -- just as a reminder, all of the loans have a June 1, '25, balloon payments. So next quarter, everything moves to current.

提醒一下——提醒一下，所有貸款都有 25 年 6 月 1 日的大額還款。所以下個季度，一切都會轉向當前。

And current -- so long-term debt moves from six -- long term to six current, correct?

而目前的長期債務從六項長期債務變為六項當前債務，對嗎？

Correct. Yeah, it will be (multiple speakers)--

正確的。是的，將會是（多位發言者）——

-- (multiple speakers) June.

——（多名發言者）六月。

Yeah, as of June 1, everything is due by June 1, '25.

是的，從 6 月 1 日起，一切都將在 2025 年 6 月 1 日之前到期。

Got it. And you would most likely look to -- would you refinance that? Is that what your plan is?

知道了。你很可能會考慮——你會再融資嗎？這就是你的計劃嗎？

Yeah. I mean, we'll start the process of entering into a new credit agreement, probably sometime after the calendar year and rolled into a new deal.

是的。我的意思是，我們將開始簽訂新的信貸協議，可能是在日曆年之後的某個時候，並達成新的協議。

If I can interrupt, Anthony, for a second, we have about $14 million in the banks right now. Some of that represents deposits on future parties. Some is just float of -- but we're going into -- our season, the June quarter and second quarter are our best seasons. We should cash flow substantially for during those periods (multiple speakers)--

安東尼，請允許我打斷一下，我們銀行現在大約有 1400 萬美元。其中一些是未來各方的存款。有些只是浮動的——但我們即將進入——我們的季節，六月季度和第二季度是我們最好的季節。在此期間我們應該會有大量現金流（多位發言者）——

Usually build cash (multiple speakers)--

通常累積現金（多位發言者）——

Usually build cash. We have some expenditures to make in Vegas on refurbishing the food court. There are no current projects or purchases that require any capital, so our decisions will be made based upon where the cash stands as well as what future commitments we have. But we're in very strong shape from a cash point of view, going into in our best seasons.

通常累積現金。我們在維加斯需要花費一些費用來翻新美食廣場。目前沒有需要任何資本的項目或採購，因此我們的決定將根據現金狀況以及我們未來的承諾做出。但從現金角度來看，我們的狀態非常強勁，正在進入我們最好的賽季。

Great. And again, as you said, your cash cycle is such that you are -- you expect to harvest cash in the second and third quarter as opposed to the (multiple speakers) [first] and fourth quarter where you are paying out bonuses and whatever other adjustments have to be done.

偉大的。再說一遍，正如您所說，您的現金週期是這樣的 - 您期望在第二和第三季度收穫現金，而不是（多個發言者）[第一]和第四季度，您支付獎金等還必須進行其他調整。

Right, right.

是的是的。

Okay. Is there anything else to report in terms of new businesses development or --

好的。在新業務發展方面還有什麼要報告的嗎？--

We look at things -- Sam, you want to talk about [lucky] pay?

我們看事情－山姆，你想談談[幸運]薪水嗎？

So we're on in the process of building out a new concept in Las Vegas. It's Asian fast-food concept, a lot of rice bowls and bao buns. We've been putting the brands together for about eight months now. We think that it has potential to roll out a few concepts. So its piloting in New York, New York Hotel in Las Vegas. So that's the only real new concept we have on that, but we're excited about it. And it's set up to be rolled out more as a brand rather than one off. So we should be opening that in the next month or so and we'll see how it goes. And if that's successful, we are definitely looking for new locations to place that in.

因此，我們正在拉斯維加斯建立一個新概念。這是亞洲快餐概念，有很多米飯碗和包子。我們已經將這些品牌整合在一起大約八個月了。我們認為它有潛力推出一些概念。所以它在紐約試行，在拉斯維加斯的紐約酒店。這是我們對此唯一真正的新概念，但我們對此感到興奮。而且它更多的是作為一個品牌推出，而不是一次性推出。所以我們應該在下個月左右開放它，我們會看看進展如何。如果成功的話，我們肯定會尋找新的地點來放置它。

Great. And finally (multiple speakers) go ahead. I'm sorry.

偉大的。最後（多位發言者）繼續。對不起。

No, we have a letter of intent out on the purchase of restaurant, but I think this is something -- with all of these things with the one-off, we're trying to buy the land or we're trying by cash flow, we got very lucky in the first five or six of these that we did. Management stage, sales remained strong. In most cases, profitability increased. And rightly, the last three or four of these deals that we've tried to do and (technical difficulty) pretty much in Florida. One was in Wisconsin that was looked at.

不，我們有一份關於購買餐廳的意向書，但我認為這是一次性的，所有這些事情都是一次性的，我們正在嘗試購買土地，或者我們正在嘗試通過現金流，我們在前五六次中非常幸運。管理階段，銷售依然強勁。在大多數情況下，盈利能力有所提高。正確的是，我們試圖做的最後三、四筆交易（技術難度）幾乎都是在佛羅裡達州進行的。其中一個是在威斯康辛州進行的。

They're trying to sell us something, let's say, at four times cash flow and they have -- in Florida, they have the same problem we've had. Their cash flows disappearing a little bit compared to last year's numbers. So when we go back to renegotiate that becomes a problem for the seller because they are hoping the cash flow will build again, and they'll come back to us at a later date or whatever.

他們試圖以四倍的現金流向我們出售一些東西，他們在佛羅裡達州也遇到了我們遇到的同樣的問題。與去年的數字相比，他們的現金流略有消失。因此，當我們回去重新談判時，這對賣方來說就成了一個問題，因為他們希望現金流能夠再次增加，並且他們會在稍後的日期或其他什麼時候回到我們身邊。

So we're looking at stuff. We just don't -- there always seems to be a fly in the ointment, either with the sellers cash flow performance or in some cases, landlords are often about changing clauses and lease that we need as a public company.

所以我們正在尋找東西。我們只是不這樣做——似乎總是存在美中不足，無論是賣方的現金流表現，還是在某些情況下，房東經常改變我們作為上市公司所需的條款和租賃。

So it's not a lack of effort to try to find things to expand but we're not in control of the landlords or the cash flows of the restaurants that we're looking at. I would tell you that we're more interested -- or I shouldn't say more interested. We are as interested now in trying to build the brand that we can control to have a vehicle to expand the company's cash flow that is as interesting to us as buying cash flow, so.

因此，這並不是缺乏努力尋找擴張的機會，而是我們無法控制房東或我們正在尋找的餐廳的現金流。我會告訴你，我們更感興趣——或者我不應該說更感興趣。我們現在有興趣嘗試建立一個我們可以控制的品牌，以擁有一種工具來擴大公司的現金流，這對我們來說與購買現金流一樣有趣，所以。

And good luck on that endeavor as well.

也祝你在這項努力中好運。

Thank you.

謝謝。

I think -- I was just curious, you mentioned having spent a lot of money in the Gallagher's renovation. Has that brought a more upscale traffic? Has there been any conversations with the landlord about that process?

我想——我只是好奇，你提到在加拉格爾的翻修上花了很多錢。這是否帶來了更高檔的流量？是否與房東就流程進行過任何對話？

I would tell you that we're now comping against last year's results when Gallagher's was completely open. It's too early to tell whether that business has increased enough to warrant having spent that money. But the answer is we didn't have a choice (multiple speakers) in order to get the lease, we had to commit the spending a little under $2 million.

我想告訴你，我們現在正在與去年加拉格爾完全開放時的結果進行比較。現在判斷該業務是否成長到足以值得花這筆錢還為時過早。但答案是我們別無選擇（多個發言者）才能獲得租約，我們必須承諾支出略低於 200 萬美元。

The real cost was not the amount of money we spent in the restaurant, but having the restaurant closed for 12, 13 weeks (multiple speakers) a great deal of cash flow. The leases is a much steeper lease but what we always thought and to a certain extent, the relationship with MGM requires us to rely on their marketing people who were convinced that we were too far on the price points of other steakhouses and they wanted us to be -- to increase prices to be more like other steakhouses in Vegas.

真正的成本不是我們在餐廳花的錢，而是餐廳關門12、13週（多位講者）產生的大量現金流。租約是一個更陡峭的租約，但我們一直認為，在某種程度上，與米高梅的關係要求我們依賴他們的營銷人員，他們確信我們的價格與其他牛排館的價格相差太遠，他們希望我們是——提高價格，使其更像拉斯維加斯的其他牛排館。

I can tell you that the product is excellent and we're seeing that in the Yelp reviews now. I mean, most of those reviews have five-star reviews. We had some problems early on because the kitchen was refigured and we probably had the wrong chef when we reopened, but we have -- that's been corrected and the product is excellent.

我可以告訴您，該產品非常出色，我們現在在 Yelp 評論中看到了這一點。我的意思是，大多數評論都是五星級評論。我們很早就遇到了一些問題，因為廚房被重新裝修了，當我們重新開業時，我們可能用錯了廚師，但我們已經糾正了，而且產品非常好。

The real problem is that -- and MGM or New York, New York, put in a new Cirque du Soleil show, but they also putting competition in the park. It's very hard for us to figure out why sales aren't 20% up or some bigger number than we're seeing now. Whether it's competition, which is more expensive than us by the way, but there's no steakhouse attached to the New York, New York property, which was a surprise to us.

真正的問題是——米高梅或紐約，紐約，舉辦了一場新的太陽馬戲團表演，但他們也在公園裡進行了競爭。我們很難弄清楚為什麼銷售額沒有成長 20% 或比我們現在看到的更大的數字。無論是競爭，順便說一句，比我們貴，但紐約紐約酒店沒有附屬牛排館，這讓我們感到驚訝。

Or is the fact of the matter is -- and by the way, the T-Mobile Arena, which is in that same park, is more active than it's ever been and we would suspect that that would be a customer who come to Gallagher's. But the real problem is New York, New York in terms of a property is a middle-income customer and what you're seeing now in general throughout the company, I believe, is if you look at the fast-food courts that we run in Hollywood and Tampa and New York, New York; they're all doing well. They're up -- Tampa, a little less than Hollywood and New York, New York.

或者事實是——順便說一句，位於同一公園的 T-Mobile 體育場比以往任何時候都更加活躍，我們懷疑那將是來到加拉格爾店的顧客。但真正的問題是紐約，就房產而言，紐約是中等收入客戶，我相信，你現在在整個公司中看到的情況是，如果你看看我們經營的快餐店在好萊塢、坦帕和紐約州；他們都做得很好。他們上升了——坦帕，比好萊塢和紐約低一點，紐約。

But when I look at New York, New York's figures, last week, which the food court was up 12%, 13%, 14% from last year. Sales at the next restaurant that is modestly priced, which is our Burger Bar are down from last year. I think this is a big shift in these properties from high-priced restaurants to lower costs tickets to the customers that aggregate New York, New York. And I must tell you that if you go to Hollywood and I think this is true everywhere, but especially Hollywood. When we built Hollywood out and Tampa, both locations, the location in Hollywood's was moved about two or three years ago when they did the Qatar hotel, they moved us to a new section.

但當我看紐約的數據時，上週紐約的美食廣場比去年上漲了12%、13%、14%。下一家價格適中的餐廳（我們的 Burger Bar）的銷售額比去年有所下降。我認為這是這些物業的重大轉變，從高價餐廳到聚集紐約州紐約市的顧客的低成本門票。我必須告訴你，如果你去好萊塢，我認為這在任何地方都是如此，尤其是好萊塢。當我們建造好萊塢和坦帕這兩個地點時，好萊塢的位置大約在兩三年前搬遷，當時他們建造了卡達酒店，他們把我們搬到了一個新的區域。

And we said, look, we're going to do fast-food, but we want the quality to be restaurant quality, not fast-food quality. And all of a sudden, you have really great food in terms of what customer expectations are and the price points in full-service restaurants in the Hollywood Casino are steep. And so I think there's a migration from full-service restaurants to our fast-food courts where we are in the properties we're in. It speaks well of the quality of product and the fast-food, but it doesn't speak well to the price points in the full-service restaurants.

我們說，看，我們要做快餐，但我們希望質量是餐廳的質量，而不是快餐的質量。突然之間，就顧客的期望而言，您可以享受到真正美味的食物，而且好萊塢賭場的全方位服務餐廳的價格也很高。因此，我認為，我們正在從提供全方位服務的餐廳遷移到我們所在物業的快餐店。它很好地說明了產品和快餐的質量，但它並不能很好地說明全方位服務餐廳的價格點。

And my question in my mind always is how much is that limiting Gallagher's ability to really comp much better from the prior and prior to the renovation to now. So we have competition on one hand, but we do have T-Mobile Arena doing more business or having more dates when something's going on. We also have a show which we didn't have right next to Gallagher's.

我心中的問題始終是，從翻修之前和翻修之前到現在，這對加拉格爾真正發揮更大作用的能力有多大限制。因此，一方面我們面臨競爭，但我們確實讓 T-Mobile Arena 做更多的生意，或者在有事情發生時有更多的約會。我們還有一場在加拉格爾的旁邊沒有的演出。

So I think those are positives but the negatives are the price point than the customer. We don't see well-heeled customer. So maybe confusing in terms of an answer, but it's confusing to us to see how we're doing. What we know we're doing well is the customers that are walking into the place are really enjoying it because the reviews are quite good.

所以我認為這些都是正面的，但負面的是比客戶的價格點。我們沒有看到富有的顧客。因此，也許答案令人困惑，但我們對自己的表現感到困惑。我們知道我們做得很好，走進這個地方的顧客真的很喜歡它，因為評論非常好。

Any other questions, please?

請問還有其他問題嗎？

Roger Lipton, Lipton Financial.

羅傑‧利普頓，利普頓金融公司。

Could you describe -- I didn't quite get that description of the new prototype of your building in New York, New York. Could Sam describe it a little further for us?

你能描述一下嗎——我不太明白你們在紐約州紐約市的建築新原型的描述。Sam 能為我們進一步描述一下嗎？

Sure. It's a quick service Chipotle style setup. It's an Asian concept. It's rice bowls. It's bao buns and we're starting small. It's just three different ingredients. We have a beef, a pork, and a chicken option and a vegetarian option. And it's essentially rice bowls, bao buns, and boba tea. Boba tea has been -- become very popular. We've been seeing a lot of success in other spots in Las Vegas and other areas that we've been looking at. So we're trying to build this little concept that puts both of them together and then we're also making our own freshly baked mochi donuts, so that's pretty much the gist of it.

當然。這是一種 Chipotle 風格的快速服務設定。這是一個亞洲概念。是飯碗。這是包子，我們從小事做起。它只是三種不同的成分。我們有牛肉、豬肉、雞肉和素食選項。本質上就是蓋飯、包子和珍珠奶茶。波巴茶已經變得非常受歡迎。我們在拉斯維加斯的其他地方和我們一直在關注的其他地區看到了很多成功。所以我們正在嘗試建立這個小概念，將兩者結合在一起，然後我們也製作自己的新鮮出爐的麻糬甜甜圈，所以這就是它的要點。

Okay. And what do you think it might have (multiple speakers)--

好的。你認為它可能有什麼（多位發言者）——

Sorry?

對不起？

Is it going to be a food court?

會變成美食廣場嗎？

Yes, it's going to be in the New York, New York hotel food court.

是的，就在紐約紐約飯店的美食廣場。

Okay. And when do you think you'll be getting that started?

好的。您認為什麼時候會開始這樣做？

End of June. It's looking like -- we're about to start construction now.

六月底。看起來——我們現在就要開始施工了。

Got it. Okay. Good. And Michael, is there anything at all new in terms of the casino -- downstate casino discussions? I mean, I see periodic reports in the press, but you're probably watching it more closely than we are? Any movement at all in terms of that?

知道了。好的。好的。邁克爾，關於賭場——州內賭場的討論有什麼新的嗎？我的意思是，我在媒體上看到定期報道，但您可能比我們更仔細地關注它？這方面有什麼動靜嗎？

Again, it's the opinion of my partners in the deal who are substantially -- have substantially more equity in the deal than we do that you can't move forward with a referendum in New Jersey until you have downstate casinos and that requires licenses, and the process in New York has been slow. There is a lot of activity that you read about the proposals of related and others. And now I guess (inaudible) is in there since they bought the [chunk] property in the Bronx.

再說一次，我在交易中的合作夥伴的觀點是，他們在交易中擁有比我們更多的股權，除非你擁有州下的賭場並且需要許可證，否則你不能在新澤西州推進公投，並且紐約的進程進展緩慢。您閱讀了很多有關相關和其他人的提案的活動。現在我猜（聽不清楚）就在那裡，因為他們在布朗克斯購買了[大塊]房產。

Certainly, Yonkers is in there and Aqueduct is in there and Venetian (inaudible) so there are a lot of proposals, I guess, could be analyzed. The sale is basically said we need more time. So until those licenses are issued and I'm pretty sure everybody pretty much agrees that Yonkers and Aqueduct will be two of the three recipients. The good thing about Aqueduct and Yonkers is they get a license; they could be in business in 60 days.

當然，揚克斯在那裡，渡槽在那裡，還有威尼斯人（聽不清楚），所以我想有很多建議可以分析。銷售基本上是說我們需要更多時間。因此，在這些許可證頒發之前，我很確定每個人都同意揚克斯和渡槽將成為三個接收者中的兩個。Aqueduct 和 Yonkers 的好處是他們獲得了許可證；他們可以在 60 天內開始營業。

And I think that pushes Jersey to start to draft a resolution for a referendum that needs to be -- needs a public vote. But if you look at the other side and the question's been asked all the time by investors and are what is Jersey waiting for? I mean, we basically -- the Meadowlands LLC -- New Meadowlands LLC, which is the holding company that runs the Meadowlands Racetrack now. We've committed a guarantee of $500 million a year to the state. What are they waiting for? But the reality is they're waiting.

我認為這促使澤西島開始起草一項公投決議，而公投需要公投。但如果你看看另一面，投資人一直在問這個問題，澤西島還在等什麼？我的意思是，我們基本上是 - Meadowlands LLC - New Meadowlands LLC，它是現在運營 Meadowlands 賽馬場的控股公司。我們承諾每年向州政府提供 5 億美元的擔保。他們在等什麼？但現實是他們在等待。

So in terms of -- waiting -- really waiting on -- as it's been waiting in New York. You don't have any new feedback that maybe New York is going to really come to grips with this thing in the short term.

因此，就等待而言，真正等待，就像在紐約等待一樣。你沒有任何新的回饋表明紐約可能會在短期內真正解決這個問題。

--(multiple speakers) We read the same thing -- we read the same articles in newspapers that you read.

——（多位發言者）我們讀到了同樣的事情——我們在報紙上讀到了你讀過的同樣的文章。

Okay. So you might be paying a little closer attention than I can, but whatever do the best you can, you can't control it. Obviously, it's just a question what you're observing.

好的。所以你可能比我更關注，但無論你盡你所能，你都無法控制它。顯然，這只是一個你在觀察什麼的問題。

All right. Thanks very much. Look forward to seeing you guys soon.

好的。非常感謝。期待很快見到你們。

Alan Goldberg, Private Investor.

艾倫‧戈德堡，私人投資者。

And I was calling to see if there was any update on the Meadowlands. But since that's already been asked, I wanted to tell you that I think you are maneuvering very well through this tough time. I know this is not what you want to hear, but in Chicago, I went to Maggiano's last night for dinner and they had 19 patrons while I was having my dinner and that shocked me. And I asked them how things were going. They say actually what you see tonight is as an anomaly. We have been so busy here and not even barring Mother's Day. They said their price points seems to be very, very good. And I think most of our price points are very, very competitive and everybody wants results yesterday and we -- you and I met, it's certainly more than five years ago, we were a little younger. And I'm very pleased with what you're doing. I think you're moving in the right direction.

我打電話是想看看梅多蘭茲是否有任何最新消息。但既然已經有人問過這個問題，我想告訴你，我認為你在這段艱難的時期表現得很好。我知道這不是你想聽到的，但在芝加哥，我昨晚去 Maggiano's 吃晚飯，當我吃晚飯時他們有 19 位顧客，這讓我感到震驚。我問他們進展如何。他們說實際上你今晚所看到的是異常現象。我們這裡太忙了，連母親節都沒有。他們說他們的價格似乎非常非常好。我認為我們的大多數價格點都非常非常有競爭力，每個人都想要昨天的結果，而我們——你和我認識，那肯定是五年多前的事了，我們還年輕一點。我對你所做的事情感到非常滿意。我認為你正在朝著正確的方向前進。

You may say under your breath or in silence My God, he's crazy, but I'm not crazy. People are eating out more and more and more. The problem that's hurting. Look, if McDonald's is telling you, they're slowing down because of people are concerned about money, I agree. I think it hurts all restaurants, but I also noticed nobody seems to care they give the credit card and they just don't care. Again, I'm not teaching you your business. I know absolutely nothing about it, except I enjoy your restaurants.

你可能會低聲或默默地說天啊，他瘋了，但我沒瘋。人們外出用餐的次數越來越多。令人痛苦的問題。聽著，如果麥當勞告訴你，他們正在放慢速度，因為人們擔心錢，我同意。我認為這傷害了所有餐館，但我也注意到似乎沒有人關心他們提供信用卡，他們只是不在乎。再說一次，我不是教你做生意。我對此一無所知，除了我喜歡你們的餐廳。

But I think we should continue doing what you've been doing. Look -- as you said, look for places that are reasonable to us. This whole industry is going to change. The world is changing. We've got a major election coming as we all -- I'm not teaching you economics. That's my field. But I think you're doing the right thing. And as you know, or you may not remember, I ran a hedge fund for a number of years and you look for things that are going to take place in the next three to five years. That's how a good investor should invest. And I'm very pleased with the way you're running it. And the people -- with you that I don't know but I just want to tell you, it's a pleasure hearing your voice. Thank you for taking my call. Thank you. If you ever have any questions of me, I'm always there for you, and thank you so much. Thank you for the meetings. Good luck to all of -- everybody, all of us and thank you.

但我認為我們應該繼續做你一直在做的事情。看看——正如你所說，尋找對我們來說合理的地方。整個產業將會發生變化。世界正在改變。我們即將迎來一場重大選舉——我並不是教你們經濟學。那是我的領域。但我認為你做的是正確的事。如你所知，或者你可能不記得，我經營一家對沖基金多年，你會尋找未來三到五年內將發生的事情。這就是一個好的投資人該如何投資。我對你們的運作方式非常滿意。還有那些我不認識的人，但我只想告訴你，很高興聽到你的聲音。感謝您接聽我的電話。謝謝。如果您對我有任何疑問，我隨時為您服務，非常感謝您。感謝您參加這些會議。祝大家好運，我們所有人，謝謝你們。

Thank you, Alan.

謝謝你，艾倫。

(Operator instructions)

（操作員說明）

I'm showing no other questions at this time. Mr. Weinstein, I'll turn the floor back to you for any final comments.

我目前沒有提出其他問題。韋恩斯坦先生，我將把最後的意見轉回給您。

Well, thank you all for joining us, and we'll speak to you at the end of the next quarter.

好的，感謝大家加入我們，我們將在下個季度末與您交談。

Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。此時您可以斷開線路。感謝您的參與。