Ark Restaurants Corp (ARKR) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to the Ark Restaurants third quarter 2024 results call. (Operator Instructions). As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

您好，歡迎參加方舟餐廳 2024 年第三季業績電話會議。（操作員說明）。提醒一下，本次會議正在錄製中。

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

現在我想將會議交給東道主方舟餐廳秘書長克里斯托弗·洛夫先生。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 third quarter ended June 29, 2024. My name is Christopher Love, and I am the Secretary of Ark Restaurants. With me on the call today is Michael Weinstein, our Chairman and CEO; Anthony Sirica, our CFO; and Sam Weinstein and Jennifer Jordan, our joint co-COOs.

謝謝你，接線生。早安，感謝您參加我們截至 2024 年 6 月 29 日的第三季的電話會議。我叫克里斯多福‧洛夫，是方舟餐廳的秘書。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；安東尼·西里卡，我們的財務長；以及我們的聯合營運長薩姆韋恩斯坦 (Sam Weinstein) 和珍妮佛喬丹 (Jennifer Jordan)。

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.

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 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，我們今天早上的討論將包括前瞻性陳述，這些陳述並不能保證未來的業績，因此，不應過度依賴它們。我們建議大家參閱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 Anthony, our CFO.

現在我將把電話轉給我們的財務長安東尼。

Good morning, everyone. A couple of things I wanted to touch on before Michael provides his commentary. We ended the quarter with $11.5 million of cash and $5.7 million of debt. All of our debt is current now. We have three more quarterly payments of $435,000 due in September, December and February. And then on June 1, we have balloon payments of $4.4 million. We'll be meeting with the bank to discuss a new credit agreement over the next month or two.

大家早安。在邁克爾發表評論之前我想談談一些事情。本季結束時，我們有 1,150 萬美元的現金和 570 萬美元的債務。我們所有的債務現在都是流動的。我們還有另外三個季度付款，金額分別為 9 月、12 月和 2 月，金額為 435,000 美元。然後在 6 月 1 日，我們收到了 440 萬美元的大額付款。我們將在接下來的一兩個月內與銀行會面討論新的信貸協議。

The other item of note is the impairment charge that we took on the Sequoia restaurant. We continue to look at the performance of the restaurant and it was lower than expected. So with that, was considered a triggering event. We then engaged an independent third party to do a market rent study. And based on that and a discounted cash flow analysis, we had an impairment charge of $2.5 million, which was broken up between long-lived assets, I think, $939,000 and the right-of-use asset of $1.5 million.

另一件值得注意的事情是我們對紅杉餐廳承擔的減損費用。我們持續關注餐廳的業績，結果低於預期。因此，這被認為是一個觸發事件。然後我們聘請了獨立第三方進行市場租金研究。根據這一點和折現現金流量分析，我們的減損費用為 250 萬美元，其中我認為是 939,000 美元的長期資產和 150 萬美元的使用權資產。

We will continue to monitor that as we go forward based on revised projections, we hope things get better. And I think other than that, the rest of the balance sheet was relatively stable compared to the prior quarter and year-end.

我們將繼續根據修訂後的預測進行監控，希望情況會變得更好。我認為除此之外，資產負債表的其餘部分與上一季和年底相比相對穩定。

So, Michael?

那麼，麥可？

Hi, everybody. So obviously, we're struggling with sales here. I think, if you remove the Gallagher's close down from last year and the amount of business we did in Gallagher's this year, just try to compare apples-to-apples, we're down just slightly 3% in comp sales. The problem isn't just comp sales, obviously. The problem is payrolls, which -- while they're not going up any more in terms of trying to find qualified people for jobs, it's still hard for us to find people that fulfill the responsibilities we need them to fill it at the management level.

大家好。顯然，我們在銷售上遇到了困難。我認為，如果你除去去年加拉格爾公司的關閉和今年我們在加拉格爾公司所做的業務量，只要嘗試進行同類比較，我們的銷售額僅略微下降了 3%。顯然，問題不僅僅是銷售。問題是工資，雖然在尋找合格的工作人員方面不再增加，但我們仍然很難找到能夠履行我們需要他們在管理層填補的職責的人。

Legislation in various venues where we operate has increased minimum wage. Insurance costs are substantially higher and other things that -- other than food and beverage, pricing, other things are also going up. So the combination of lackluster sales and expenses responding to inflationary pressures squeeze gross margins.

我們經營所在的各個場所的立法都提高了最低工資。保險成本大幅上漲，除了食品和飲料、定價之外，其他因素也在上漲。因此，銷售低迷和應對通膨壓力的支出共同擠壓了毛利率。

I'm not unpleased with the $3.3 million result giving that scenario. Again, we haven't raised prices as aggressively as other companies. I think that has stood us well. I think it will continue to put in a better position as we come out of this lackluster period for restaurant sales.

對於這種情況下 330 萬美元的結果，我並沒有感到不滿意。同樣，我們沒有像其他公司那樣積極提高價格。我認為這對我們很有幫助。我認為，隨著我們走出餐廳銷售的低迷時期，它將繼續處於更好的位置。

The -- if I go by venue, the thing that hurt us most are the full-service restaurants in Florida. They were down substantially in headcounts. Vegas was all right, Alabama has been just great for us. New York has been good, driven by a lot of events in Bryant Park and Robert. Washington Sequoia has been a little difficult. We can point to the whole Washington D.C. area seems to be suffering from just a lot of bad influences in the city.

如果我按地點劃分，對我們傷害最大的是佛羅裡達州的全方位服務餐廳。他們的人數大幅減少。維加斯還不錯，阿拉巴馬州對我們來說很棒。在布萊恩特公園和羅伯特舉辦的許多活動的推動下，紐約的表現一直很好。華盛頓紅杉有點困難。我們可以指出，整個華盛頓特區似乎正遭受城市中許多不良影響。

We have competition there, obviously, from other waterfront sites. We're spending a lot of time, now trying to figure out what have been a menu might be for Sequoia more affordable. And we're doing that with all our restaurants. But basically, Sequoia is probably the one restaurant in the company that needs a refresh and menu and maybe even in branding.

顯然，我們在那裡面臨來自其他海濱地點的競爭。我們花了很多時間，現在試圖弄清楚什麼菜單可能對紅杉來說更實惠。我們所有的餐廳都這樣做。但基本上，紅杉可能是該公司中唯一需要更新菜單、甚至是品牌推廣的餐廳。

We have lots of opportunities in terms of acquisitions that have been put in front of us in the last three months. We're following up on those. We also have lots of responsibilities in terms of refurbishing costs in Las Vegas, contractual when we signed a new lease.

在過去的三個月裡，我們面臨著許多收購方面的機會。我們正在跟進這些情況。我們在拉斯維加斯的翻新成本方面也有很多責任，這是我們簽署新租約時簽訂的合約。

So given the sort of the lackluster sales that seem to be continuing right now and the cash flow that's required to progress our company with new development and refurbishing in Vegas, we decided to eliminate the dividend for the moment just to preserve cash. That also sort of segue ways into the conversation about Bryant Park.

因此，考慮到目前似乎仍在持續的低迷銷售狀況以及推動公司在維加斯進行新開發和翻新所需的現金流，我們決定暫時取消股息，以保留現金。這也讓我們開始談論布萊恩特公園。

We had still not -- or the park has still not issued any judgment on whether or not we will continue with the new lease or if they're going to award it to somebody else, it's just been radio silence. There are always rumors, but we're not paying attention to those. So we just think with the uncertainty of Bryant Park and what our responsibilities are, that eliminating dividend for this quarter is a wise move.

我們仍然沒有——或者公園仍然沒有對我們是否繼續新的租約或他們是否會將其授予其他人做出任何判斷，這只是無線電靜默。謠言總是有，但我們不去注意。因此，我們認為，鑑於布萊恩特公園的不確定性以及我們的責任，取消本季的股息是明智之舉。

In relation to the Meadowlands, again, New York State has not moved on their casino applications. As we stated before, New Jersey is reluctant to do anything unless they see activity in downstate casinos in New York -- some New York City casinos. So, that's been kind of quiet, even though we'd really believe we're going to be a licensee at some point.

就梅多蘭茲而言，紐約州尚未就其賭場申請採取行動。正如我們之前所說，新澤西州不願意採取任何行動，除非他們看到紐約州下州的賭​​場（紐約市的一些賭場）有活動。所以，儘管我們真的相信我們會在某個時候成為被授權人，但情況一直很安靜。

With that, like to entertain any questions.

就這樣，喜歡回答任何問題。

(Operator Instructions).

（操作員說明）。

[Jeffrey Kaminsky, JJK Consultants].

[傑弗裡·卡明斯基，JJK 顧問]。

Good morning, guys. Once again, on the call, Michael, you're highlighting specifically weakness in Florida, which -- asked. And although the industry has played with same challenges, payroll and insurance costs, et cetera, et cetera. In Florida, in particular, it's a pretty robust market there as discussed, their restaurants or changes being made.

早安，夥計們。邁克爾，在電話會議上，你再次強調了佛羅裡達州的具體弱點，這是——問的。儘管該行業面臨同樣的挑戰，但薪資和保險成本等等。特別是在佛羅裡達州，正如所討論的那樣，那裡的市場相當強勁，他們的餐廳或正在做出改變。

And I have a question that I really would like an answer to because in the past, you discussed what is our strategy going forward. The answer is always and consistently been, we're always on the lookout to buy, acquire properties and fold it into the portfolio. Okay. That maintains -- you are still maintaining that, but you have a weakness in a big market and a market that's generally flourishing.

我有一個問題，我真的很想得到答案，因為在過去，您討論了我們未來的策略是什麼。答案始終是，我們一直在尋找購買、收購房產並將其納入投資組合的機會。好的。這仍然存在——你仍然保持這一點，但你在一個大市場和一個普遍繁榮的市場中存在著弱點。

And I would like to hear something about the strategy in Florida, how you're going to change things around? Because there's never any discussion on these calls about what Ark is going to do with the current existing properties, and how we're going to move revenues forward?

我想聽聽有關佛羅裡達州策略的一些信息，您將如何改變現狀？因為這些電話從來沒有討論過方舟將如何處理現有的資產，以及我們將如何提高收入？

And so I'd like to put that out there because this has been a very frustrating investment today and the news is being worse not better. And I'd like to hear what the vision is for the company in the immediate future?

所以我想把這一點說出來，因為今天這是一項非常令人沮喪的投資，而且消息變得更糟而不是更好。我想聽聽公司近期的願景是什麼？

So, Jeff, you broke up a few times during that question, but I think I get the gist of it, and I hope I'm answering it correctly. So, first of all, when -- we've been looking at several businesses over the last 12-months in Florida, well-established either companies or one-offs. And we're looking at numbers and every deal has fallen in part because numbers are deteriorating in those restaurants.

所以，傑夫，在這個問題中你分手了幾次，但我想我明白了它的要點，我希望我回答正確。因此，首先，在過去 12 個月裡，我們一直在關注佛羅裡達州的幾家企業，其中要么是成熟的企業，要么是一次性的企業。我們正在研究數字，每筆交易都下降了，部分原因是這些餐廳的數字正在惡化。

When we talk to brokers in Florida, they will tell you, everybody is down 15% to 20%. If you look at a city like Delaware, which was very, very hot for a while, probably still is hot. The vacancies in restaurant spaces are coming up every day because they were getting top rents when things are hot and now business has slowed down and restaurants cash flow have been squeezed, and they can't afford the rent.

當我們與佛羅裡達州的經紀人交談時，他們會告訴你，每個人的股價都下跌了 15% 到 20%。如果你看看特拉華州這樣的城市，它曾經非常非常熱，但可能仍然很熱。餐廳的空位每天都在增加，因為在生意火爆的時候，他們的租金很高，但現在生意放緩，餐廳現金流受到擠壓，他們付不起租金。

Our strategy is to try to buy institutions with good management. In every case, we -- in Florida, we think we've accomplished that. And if maybe this doesn't satisfy what you're looking for. But in my world, the way I look at things is there are years in which you make more money than you deserve to and there are years in which you just -- for circumstances outside of your performance, you don't make the money that you would like to make.

我們的策略是嘗試購買管理良好的機構。在每種情況下，我們——在佛羅裡達州，我們認為我們已經做到了這一點。如果這不能滿足您的需求。但在我的世界裡，我看待事物的方式是，有些年你賺的錢比你應得的多，有些年你只是——由於你的表現之外的情況，你賺不到的錢你想做。

Right now, the latter is true. We think that we have great locations in Florida. One of the disadvantages of those locations, by the way, is that they're all on the water and wind insurance and property insurance have gone through the roof in those properties, and that's squeezing our margins.

目前來看，後者是正確的。我們認為我們在佛羅裡達州擁有絕佳的地理位置。順便說一句，這些地點的缺點之一是，它們都在水和風保險上，而財產保險在這些房產中已經達到頂峰，這擠壓了我們的利潤。

But from a performance level, if you look at the reviews of the restaurants, for the most part, they're excellent. Every once in a while, we see that our revenues are creeping up above last year, but that doesn't mean that the headcounts are because there have been some price increases. But in general, Florida has not been as good for us this past 18 months as it had been in the past. It doesn’t mean

但從績效水準來看，如果你看一下餐廳的評論，大多數情況下，它們都很棒。每隔一段時間，我們就會看到我們的收入比去年有所成長，但這並不意味著員工數量是因為價格上漲而增加的。但總的來說，佛羅裡達州過去 18 個月的表現並不像過去那麼好。這並不意味著

Michael, let me interrupt for a second. I apologize. Perhaps that's where I broke up before. I recognize that your strategy continues to be acquiring property where you think you could buy it at the right price and make some money. Let's put that aside for now, that’s not happened recently, it may happen, hopefully it may not happen at all. What is the strategy of the current properties and turning them around, menu changes, happy hours, entertainment, things that drives new people.

邁克爾，讓我打斷。我道歉。也許這就是我之前分手的地方。我認識到您的策略仍然是收購您認為可以以合適的價格購買並賺到錢的房產。讓我們暫時把這件事放在一邊，這不是最近發生的，它可能會發生，希望它根本不會發生。目前飯店的策略是什麼，以及扭轉局面、菜單變化、歡樂時光、娛樂、吸引新人的因素是什麼。

Jeff, you're making the assumption that these things aren't doing well. They're performing well. They're all making money. They're just not making as much money as they used to make. And that's a function of three things. Number one, traffic is not as strong as it used to be, in general, for all full-service restaurants down there.

傑夫，你假設這些事情做得不好。他們表現得很好。他們都在賺錢。他們只是賺的錢沒有以前那麼多了。這是三件事的函數。第一，整體而言，對於所有全方位服務的餐廳來說，客流量並不像以前那麼強大。

Now you can point to the three or four hot restaurants in every market where you can't get a reservation after [5:00] or before [11:00], that will always exist. Our restaurants are not that, all right? They're not doing bottle service. There are no DJs -- we're not that. So these restaurants are performing well at the level of sales that presently exist.

現在你可以指出，每個市場上有三、四家在[5:00]之後或[11:00]之前無法預訂的熱門餐廳，這種情況將永遠存在。我們的餐廳不是那樣的，好嗎？他們不提供瓶裝服務。沒有 DJ——我們不是這樣的。因此，這些餐廳在目前的銷售水準上表現良好。

So it's a question of three things. Number one, are they profitable? Yes. They had strong reputations and strong brand identity in the past, and now do they? Yes, all right? The problem is traffic and the problem is increased expenses. And the problem is my reluctance. My reluctance as I read my customers to raise prices to make up for the squeeze on gross margins.

所以這是一個三件事的問題。第一，他們盈利嗎？是的。他們過去擁有良好的聲譽和強大的品牌形象，現在又如何呢？是的，好嗎？問題是流量，問題是費用增加。而問題是我的不情願。當我讀到我的客戶提高價格以彌補毛利率的擠壓時，我不願意。

And honestly, you can look at analogies that not necessarily appropriate, but McDonald's is struggling because they raised prices beyond where the customer can absorb. Starbucks is having problems. There are a lot of people that are having problems, trying to figure out pricing in relation to the current economic circumstances.

老實說，你可以看一些不一定合適的類比，但麥當勞正在苦苦掙扎，因為他們提高的價格超出了顧客的承受能力。星巴克遇到了問題。很多人都遇到了問題，試圖找出與當前經濟環境相關的定價。

So given that these restaurants -- hold on, given that these restaurants are profitable, and that we think they're performing well with their menu execution and service execution and the fact that they’re all in great locations, we're prepared to stand there and accept less in terms of cash flow, because we don't think they need change it. Did they all look at menus and try to be more efficient and bring on new product to entice customers. Yes. But are we going to rip them apart and start rollover again? No.

因此，考慮到這些餐廳——等等，考慮到這些餐廳是有利可圖的，而且我們認為他們在菜單執行和服務執行方面表現良好，事實上它們都位於絕佳的位置，我們已經做好了準備站在那裡並接受更少的現金流，因為我們認為他們不需要改變它。他們是否都查看菜單並嘗試提高效率並推出新產品來吸引顧客。是的。但我們要把它們撕碎並再次開始翻轉嗎？不。

And if you look at -- we have one good laboratory that is very, very telling, Las Vegas. We're in a building in Las Vegas. We're in a building in Hollywood, all right, that are major casinos, and they all have full service restaurants and they have our fast food cost, all right? Our food costs are going through the roof in terms of sales. I mean I think we're up 10%, 12%, 13%. Anthony, is that?

如果你看一下——我們有一個非常非常有說服力的優秀實驗室，那就是拉斯維加斯。我們在拉斯維加斯的一棟大樓裡。我們在好萊塢的一棟大樓裡，好吧，那是主要的賭場，他們都有全方位服務的餐廳，而且有我們的快餐費用，好嗎？就銷售額而言，我們的食品成本正在飆升。我的意思是，我認為我們上漲了 10%、12%、13%。安東尼，是嗎？

Hollywood, yes.

好萊塢，是的。

And Hollywood every single week, maybe even more, all right? And the restaurants according to Hard Rock are suffering, the full service restaurants. Why they suffering? Because people can't afford them right now. All right. So they're switching to fast food, so our benefit to switch into fast food. I would tell you, our product is so good there that they closed their coffee shop. Because the coffee shop wasn’t getting any traffic because our breakfast place all days. There is a line every morning to get there. There was no line at the coffee shop, because it got a little bit too expensive.

每週還有好萊塢，甚至更多，好嗎？根據硬石的說法，提供全方位服務的餐廳正在遭受苦難。他們為何受苦？因為現在人們買不起。好的。所以他們正在轉向快餐，所以我們轉向快餐是有好處的。我想告訴你，我們的產品在那裡非常好，以至於他們關閉了咖啡店。因為咖啡店整天都是我們吃早餐的地方，所以客流量很少。每天早上都有人排隊到達那裡。咖啡店裡沒有人排隊，因為它有點太貴了。

In Vegas, the Village Streets is doing extremely well, but we can be down in every single restaurant but the Village Streets is doing great. It's telling where the customers pocket book is right now. They're sort of being stingy. And so that period of time in which they will continue to be stingy, we will not see the sales that we were used to prior to that, all right. But it doesn't mean we rip apart everything.

在維加斯，鄉村街道做得非常好，但我們可以在每家餐廳都做下去，但鄉村街道做得很好。它告訴我們客戶的錢包現在在哪裡。他們有點小氣。因此，在他們繼續吝嗇的那段時間裡，我們不會看到我們之前習慣的銷售，好吧。但這並不意味著我們要拆散一切。

Okay. Well, just to respond to what you said. I was not referring to restaurants in Florida that you need to have a reservation, you can't get a reservation between 5:00 and 9:00 talking about the restaurants that discussed in the past. The El Camino is part top-down. I know you know the group that that owns Ke'e Grill and Henry's in Lauderdale, Boca and West Palm.

好的。嗯，只是回應你所說的。我不是指佛羅裡達州的餐廳需要預訂，過去討論過的餐廳在 5:00 到 9:00 之間是無法預訂的。El Camino 是部分自上而下的。我知道你知道在勞德代爾堡、博卡和西棕櫚擁有 Ke'e Grill 和 Henry's 的集團。

These are all places that they're happy hour is blooming 4:00 or 5:00 in the afternoon. They're capitalizing on the work-from-home crowd. So that they get out, they leave home and they go to the bar at 4:00, 5:00 o'clock, they stay for dinner. That's what I'm referring to. And since this is a shareholder earnings call, just to remind you, the stock is going to trade near pandemic or COVID lows, it's [11:00] as we speak. And you've continued the dividend that has already been cut in half. You referenced McDonald's Starbucks. The hospitality group has been under pressure, but most are way above pandemic growths. And we are now going to test that role and eliminate the dividend. So I'm talking to you as a shareholder not as a patron of your restaurant.

這些地方的歡樂時光都在下午 4:00 或 5:00 開放。他們正在利用在家工作的人群。這樣他們就出去了，他們離開家，他們在 4:00、5:00 點去酒吧，然後留下來吃晚餐。這就是我指的。由於這是股東財報電話會議，只是提醒您，該股的交易價格將接近大流行或新冠疫情低點，此時此刻是 [11:00]。你們還繼續支付已經減少一半的股息。您提到了麥當勞星巴克。酒店集團一直面臨壓力，但大多數都遠高於大流行的成長。我們現在要測試這個角色並消除紅利。所以我是作為股東而不是你們餐廳的贊助人與你們交談的。

I sympathize with it. I'm certainly aware of it. It represents a significant part of my net worth. And certainly, I don't like seeing the stock at 11% or 12%, down from 20% a year ago. It doesn't make me happy. I feel like the company is maybe a little too conservative in the deals we looked at and passed on.

我對此表示同情。我當然知道這一點。它占我淨資產的很大一部分。當然，我不喜歡看到該股股價從一年前的 20% 降至 11% 或 12%。這並不讓我高興。我覺得該公司在我們研究和傳遞的交易中可能有點過於保守。

But that is always in the past, held us in good stead. And one of reasons I'm happy that Jennifer and Sam are on board as they see things from a different point of view. And that's been helpful in sort of the way we're looking at things going forward.

但這總是過去的事，對我們有好處。我很高興珍妮佛和山姆加入其中，這也是我很高興的原因之一，因為他們從不同的角度看待事物。這對於我們看待未來事情的方式很有幫助。

But that's where we are. It's not a lack of effort on the restaurants to perform. Nobody is falling down on the job. We just haven't found new things to do that meet with our former criteria. One of the things we're beginning -- so, when I said to you before, the deals we look like, like -- look at seem to fall apart in part, because the numbers of the restaurants we're looking at are also falling apart and so -- and go ahead.

但這就是我們現在的情況。餐廳的表現並非缺乏努力。沒有人在工作上失敗。我們只是還沒有找到符合我們以前標準的新事物。我們正在開始的一件事——所以，當我之前對你們說過，我們看起來像——看起來的交易似乎部分失敗了，因為我們正在尋找的餐廳數量也分崩離析等等——然後繼續吧。

So what's happened on almost every deal we've looked at in the last year, they're pricing the numbers off of 2023. And then we look at the 2024 year-to-date comps to last year and they're down 20% on sales and EBITDA. So they're trying to price it off of 2023 income, saying we want three or four times $1 million. They want $4 million, then we look at the numbers for the six months ended, and they're down 20%, 25%. And they don't want to take 20%, 25% less. So we're not going to overpay either.

因此，我們去年看到的幾乎每筆交易都發生了什麼事，他們的定價都是基於 2023 年的數字。然後我們看看 2024 年年初至今與去年相比，銷售額和 EBITDA 下降了 20%。所以他們試著根據 2023 年的收入來定價，說我們想要 100 萬美元的三到四倍。他們想要 400 萬美元，然後我們看看截至六個月的數字，他們下降了 20%、25%。他們不想少拿20%、25%。所以我們也不會多付錢。

The other thing we are doing at a couple of properties in Florida, we're working on initiative to expand our event business down there, the way we have a substantial event business in New York and D.C. and we have people in corporate working on expanding the even business at -- particular at the Blue Moon and JB’s right now because that's a very profitable end of the business.

我們在佛羅裡達州的幾家酒店正在做的另一件事是，我們正在努力擴大我們在那裡的活動業務，就像我們在紐約和華盛頓特區擁有大量的活動業務一樣，我們的公司裡也有人員致力於擴大我們的活動業務。

One of the other things we've seen, Jeff, just to hopefully argue for my premise that people are squeezed right now with the disposal income. We're doing the same sales or a little bit less or a little bit more right now, the last four or five or eight weeks -- maybe eight weeks at Rustic, all right? We were down 10%, 12% consistently at Rustic.

傑夫，我們看到的另一件事只是希望能夠證明我的前提，即人們現在的可支配收入受到擠壓。過去四、五、八週，我們現在的銷售量是一樣的，或者少一點或多一點——也許是 Rustic 的八週，好嗎？Rustic 的股價持續下跌 10%、12%。

I would say the product at Rustic for what we wanted to be is always a five-star product. It's just great. And -- but what they're seeing is their headcounts in the weeks before the last few weeks, their headcounts were the same, but people were sharing dishes. [King carb legs] at Rustic [1.8 pounds, 2 pounds] serving, it's $135. People used to get that for themselves, but now people are sharing.

我想說 Rustic 的產品始終是我們想要的五星級產品。太棒了。而且 - 但他們看到的是過去幾週前幾週的人數，他們的人數是相同的，但人們正在分享菜餚。 Rustic 的 [King carb Leg] 份量為 [1.8 磅、2 磅]，售價 135 美元。過去人們會自己獲得，但現在人們正在分享。

So we just think the customer is having a difficult time at our price points. It -- this may not resonate with everybody. I don't know how many people on the call are familiar with NELLO’s in New York. I go there once in a while because it's convenient to my house, and it's a great restaurant. It used to be -- you couldn't get in there. I can walk in any day now in their empty tables. And that's a price point where the argument used to be that if you're paying $125 a person fee, those people could afford it and they're not going to cut back.

所以我們只是認為客戶在我們的價格點上遇到了困難。這可能不會引起所有人的共鳴。我不知道電話裡有多少人熟悉紐約的 NELLO’s。我偶爾會去那裡一次，因為那裡離我家很方便，而且是一家很棒的餐廳。過去是－－你無法進入那裡。我現在任何一天都可以走進他們的空桌。在這個價格點上，過去的爭論是，如果你支付每人 125 美元的費用，那些人就能負擔得起，而且他們不會削減費用。

Well, guess what, they're cutting back. So it's the environment you're living in right now. Will it come back? Yes. I can't predict when, but it will come back and sales will increase and margins will expand, and we'll be in good shape with the restaurants we have.

好吧，你猜怎麼著，他們正在削減開支。所以這就是你現在生活的環境。它會回來嗎？是的。我無法預測什麼時候，但它會回來，銷售額會增加，利潤會擴大，我們的餐廳將處於良好狀態。

The restaurants we would like to have future acquisitions. People are starting finally to be more reasonable on pricing. It's no longer [indiscernible] it's a little blip, and we still want 2023 pricing. People or sellers are beginning to realize that they've got to sell it on current numbers, not on pre-current numbers. So hopefully, that will help us.

我們希望未來收購的餐廳。人們終於開始在定價上變得更合理。它不再是[音訊不清晰]，而是一個小曇花一現，我們仍然想要 2023 年的定價。人們或賣家開始意識到他們必須根據當前的數字而不是之前的數字來出售它。希望這對我們有幫助。

Thank you. Mr. Weinstein, I'm showing no other questions at this time. I'll turn the floor back to you -- I'm sorry, we do have one other question. We have a question coming from the line of [Bruce Geller with Geller Ventures]. Please proceed with your question.

謝謝。韋恩斯坦先生，我目前沒有提出其他問題。我將把發言權轉回給您——抱歉，我們還有另一個問題。我們有一個問題來自[布魯斯蓋勒與蓋勒創投公司]。請繼續你的問題。

Hey, good morning, Gentlemen,

嘿，早安，先生們，

Hey, how are you?

嘿，你怎麼樣？

Good. Thanks. You discussed the pressures on both sales and costs. Based on the macro environment, it's hard to see much relief on either side of those at the moment. So I'm curious kind of adding on to the previous line of questioning, what additional self-help measures can you put into place to address this environment? Because it's just waiting for the environment to get better isn't going to be enough.

好的。謝謝。您討論了銷售和成本方面的壓力。從宏觀環境來看，目前雙方都很難看到太大的緩解。因此，我很好奇在前面的問題上補充一點，您可以採取哪些額外的自助措施來應對這種環境？因為光是等待環境好轉是不夠的。

Yes. So Bruce, with -- one thing we're doing is we're – stand what, six weeks away from opening up lucky pay. We've never done brands. We're looking to do brands, any brand lucky pay. The -- that would be new for us, but it's something we're very excited about. And when we look in the marketplace, there's nothing like what we're doing. And we think that's expandable, and we have some further interest beyond New York, New York, if it's successful to expand in the Las Vegas area, almost immediately.

是的。因此，布魯斯，我們正在做的一件事是，我們正在忍受什麼，距離開放幸運工資還有六週。我們從來沒有做過品牌。我們要做品牌，任何品牌幸運付錢。這對我們來說是新鮮事，但我們對此感到非常興奮。當我們觀察市場時，我們正在做的事情是獨一無二的。我們認為這是可以擴展的，如果它能成功地在拉斯維加斯地區擴展，那麼我們對紐約以外的地區有進一步的興趣，幾乎立即。

So there's interest in what we're doing. We're also looking -- one of the things we're looking at right now is a small brand in the south that's for sale. They have some issues with some of their leases. They're trying to correct that, speaking to the landlords. We can buy that at a very reasonable price, and we think we could do a better job than the current owners, the current owners think we could we could do a better job than them. And we could buy it at a fair price. And again, it's another brand that may be expandable. So those are the two things we're looking at. There are other things we're looking at. But those are the two that are in the forefront.

所以人們對我們正在做的事情很感興趣。我們也在尋找——我們現在正在尋找的東西之一是南方正在出售的一個小品牌。他們的一些租約存在一些問題。他們正在與房東交談，試圖糾正這個問題。我們可以以非常合理的價格購買它，我們認為我們可以比當前所有者做得更好，當前所有者認為我們可以比他們做得更好。我們可以以合理的價格購買它。再說一遍，這是另一個可以擴展的品牌。這就是我們正在關注的兩件事。我們正在研究其他事情。但排在前列的卻是這兩個人。

We've been looking at automation. We will probably have a test within the next four months of a burger-making machine that will save us some labor. We've looked at robotic janitors and dishwashers. And we're very active in trying to find ways to save on labor.

我們一直在研究自動化。我們可能會在接下來的四個月內對漢堡製作機進行測試，這將節省我們一些勞動力。我們研究了機器人看門人和洗碗機。我們非常積極地尋找節省勞力的方法。

The problem with that is that the robotic janitors -- no, excuse me, the dishwashing robot that we looked at, which was sensational -- I mean, it was really sensational, but the company didn’t have enough orders and enough capital to sustain their business plan. So they closed. Even the burger maker that we’ve been looking at -- I mean, they’ve sold 15 units in Korea, I think. They’re coming here; they have established support here, but it’s a young company.

問題在於，機器人看門人——不，對不起，我們看到的洗碗機器人，這非常轟動——我的意思是，它確實很轟動，但公司沒有足夠的訂單和足夠的資本以維持他們的商業計劃。所以他們關門了。即使是我們一直在關注的漢堡製造商——我的意思是，我想他們在韓國已經售出了 15 台。他們正在來這裡；他們在這裡建立了支持，但這是一家年輕的公司。

And one of the things you’ve got to make sure of is you’re not changing your line, your cooking line, and winding up with a machine that has no maintenance support. So -- but we’re looking at this stuff. The biggest -- the biggest area that we have problems with, honestly, is dishwashing. Dishwashers are hard to find at the hourly cost that we’re prepared to pay. And so the turnover is great, and if we can find something that can alleviate labor, we would do it. As long as we know that the equipment is supported by the manufacturer.

您必須確保的一件事是，您不會改變您的生產線、烹飪生產線，並最終使用一台沒有維護支援的機器。所以——但我們正在研究這個東西。老實說，我們遇到最大的問題是洗碗。按照我們願意支付的每小時費用很難找到洗碗機。所以營業額很大，如果我們能找到可以減輕勞動力的東西，我們就會做。只要我們知道該設備是有廠商支援的。

So it’s not like we’re not looking at stuff to try and impact it. We have insurance -- we have conversations that are mammothly long with our insurance brokers. We just switched health insurance companies and created some savings in doing that. Property insurance and wind insurance in Florida that you’re lucky to get insured -- it’s crazy.

因此，我們並不是沒有尋找一些東西來嘗試影響它。我們有保險——我們與保險經紀人進行了非常長的對話。我們剛更換了健康保險公司，並因此節省了一些費用。佛羅裡達州的財產保險和風力保險，你很幸運能投保——這太瘋狂了。

The only reason we’re insured is because we stayed with one company forever, and they’re sort of acknowledging our relationship by writing the insurance. But I have restaurants calling me, honestly, asking how to get insurance. They can’t find insurance. So I can’t do anything about those premiums. It’s very, very frustrating.

我們投保的唯一原因是我們永遠留在一家公司，而他們透過寫保險來承認我們的關係。但老實說，有餐廳打電話給我，詢問如何獲得保險。他們找不到保險。所以我對這些保費無能為力。這非常非常令人沮喪。

We are looking at other costs or cutting other costs. We’ve worked on driving safety initiatives at the restaurants to keep workers' comp claims down, which has actually been pretty effective in the last two years.

我們正在考慮其他成本或削減其他成本。我們致力於在餐廳推行安全措施，以降低工人的賠償要求，這實際上在過去兩年中非常有效。

And our premiums have gone down. And we just received a big refund on workers' comp for the prior year based on their audit. I mean, we're doing -- we’re looking at every line item to see where we could save money.

我們的保費也下降了。根據他們的審計，我們剛剛收到了去年工人補償的大額退款。我的意思是，我們正在研究每一項，看看我們可以在哪些方面省錢。

What about other strategies to drive revenue in the existing restaurants?

增加現有餐廳收入的其他策略又如何呢？

So one of the things we've never been good at, and we're changing is our approach to social media. It will take a little while, but we're becoming more active in social media. But it's hard to delineate this cause and effect. We don't advertise. We've tried advertising in the past. It doesn't work for us, because we're advertising one-offs essentially. So you're spending a lot of money in the market to try to get people to drive to a single unit instead of many units the same brand.

因此，我們一直不擅長但正在改變的事情之一就是我們對待社群媒體的方式。這需要一段時間，但我們在社群媒體上變得更加活躍。但很難描述這個因果關係。我們不做廣告。我們過去嘗試過做廣告。這對我們不起作用，因為我們本質上是在做一次性廣告。因此，您在市場上花費了大量資金來嘗試讓人們駕駛單個單元而不是同一品牌的多個單元。

So advertising is it effective. Social media could be effective. This is not -- I don't want to -- I know this sounds defensive, but this is not a company that's fallen apart. I mean every unit we have is basically profitable. It's just making less money than it used to make -- go ahead.

那麼廣告是否有效。社交媒體可能會很有效。這不是——我不想——我知道這聽起來像是防禦性的，但這並不是一家已經分崩離析的公司。我的意思是我們擁有的每個單位基本上都是盈利的。它只是賺的錢比以前少了——繼續吧。

No, I was going to say on that. No, I'm really surprised and just don't understand the thought behind suspending the dividend here. I mean shareholders have gotten very little return from the company over the past few years, and that was one minor source of return and the company is sitting here with net cash and you're saying, you're confident in the future, and but suspending a dividend like that is a sign of really low confidence. So it's really a disconnect. And I'm pretty disappointed to hear about this. So, I'd love for you to elaborate more on it.

不，我正要說這一點。不，我真的很驚訝，只是不明白暫停股息背後的想法。我的意思是，在過去幾年裡，股東從公司獲得的回報很少，這是回報的一小部分，公司坐擁淨現金，你說，你對未來充滿信心，但是暫停發放股息是信心非常低的表現。所以這確實是一種脫節。聽到這個消息我非常失望。所以，我希望您能詳細說明一下。

So we have $4 million or $5 million of refurbishing costs that we are -- are responsible for in Las Vegas by -- when we signed the new lease that was part of the deal. So we've redone Gallagher's, we're in the process redoing the food court. I don't think what we're doing in the food court and the building of lucky pig in the food court, will inhibit revenues in the food court.

因此，當我們簽署作為交易一部分的新租約時，我們在拉斯維加斯承擔了 400 萬或 500 萬美元的翻新成本。所以我們重做了加拉格爾餐廳，我們正在重做美食廣場。我不認為我們在美食廣場所做的事情以及在美食廣場建造幸運豬會抑制美食廣場的收入。

I mean, as one unit closes in the food court, people will gravitate to other units. So I don't think that will have an impact. But it may have an impact when we do American next year. So we're not -- we're in the process of finalizing designs for Americas refurbishing and we may be close to a period of time there, and that will again impact cash flow from America why we're closed, and we'll be spending money there as well. So that's one issue.

我的意思是，當美食廣場的一個單位關閉時，人們就會轉向其他單位。所以我認為這不會產生影響。但明年我們做美國賽時可能會產生影響。所以我們不是——我們正在最終確定美洲翻新的設計，我們可能已經接近那裡的一段時間了，這將再次影響美國的現金流，為什麼我們要關閉，我們會也在那裡花錢。所以這是一個問題。

We're looking at two acquisitions right now that will not be inexpensive. So that's another reason to try to preserve cash. And then the question becomes what happens with Bryant Park? I mean, they can make a decision tomorrow or next week or it could drag another four months. But who knows where they are on this. And communication has not been great. The process has been not transparent.

我們現在正在考慮兩項收購，這兩項收購的成本並不便宜。所以這是嘗試保留現金的另一個原因。那麼問題變成布萊恩特公園會發生什麼事？我的意思是，他們可以明天或下週做出決定，否則可能會再拖四個月。但誰知道他們在這方面處於什麼位置。而且溝通也不是很好。這個過程並不透明。

So if tomorrow morning, we find out that we don't -- we're not awarded this thing. I don't want to be sitting paying out $3 million plus a year with that uncertainty. So that's the thinking behind it. The thinking behind it is to preserve cash for the company, so that it could expand, take care of its obligations in Las Vegas and pay for things that will expand our cash flow. And that's what we're trying to do.

因此，如果明天早上我們發現我們沒有——我們就沒有獲得這個東西。我不想在這種不確定性的情況下每年支付 300 萬美元。這就是背後的想法。背後的想法是為公司保留現金，以便公司能夠擴張，履行其在拉斯維加斯的義務，並支付能夠擴大我們現金流的費用。這就是我們正在努力做的事情。

Yes. But some of these are things that haven't happened yet. Like Bryant Park, we just don't know, an acquisition hasn't happened. We just don't know. You've been talking about potential acquisitions for quite some time. I could see maybe...

是的。但其中一些事情還沒有發生。就像布萊恩特公園一樣，我們只是不知道，收購還沒有發生。我們只是不知道。您談論潛在收購已經有一段時間了。我能看到也許...

Every one of them, and there have been four or five of them that we've been close to. And what's happening is the numbers have been falling apart. Just like everybody else's numbers have been 40 part, and the seller doesn't want to adjust price, and we're not going to overpay.

他們中的每一位，其中有四、五個我們都曾有過親密的接觸。而實際情況是，這些數字一直在崩潰。就像其他人的數字都是 40 份一樣，賣家不想調整價格，我們也不會多付錢。

No. I totally understand it totally understand and respect that. My point was...

不。我完全理解，完全理解並尊重這一點。我的觀點是...

For Bruce, right now, what we're finally seeing is sellers that are reasonable because they see their business falling apart. They don't want to operate in this environment for whatever reason, and/or they have other pressures on other deals that they may own and they're prepared to take three times or four times current cash flow projections, not past, and this is the first time we're really seeing that. So we think we may be able to secure some additional properties. So that's the reason for the dividend decision.

對於布魯斯來說，現在我們最終看到的是理性的賣家，因為他們看到自己的業務正在崩潰。無論出於何種原因，他們都不想在這種環境下運營，和/或他們對自己可能擁有的其他交易有其他壓力，並且他們準備接受當前現金流預測的三到四倍，而不是過去的現金流預測，而這是我們第一次真正看到這一點。因此，我們認為我們也許能夠獲得一些額外的財產。這就是股息決定的原因。

There was a board level decision. I mean, this was the quarter to side...

有一個董事會級別的決定。我的意思是，這是四分之一的時間...

Yes. I just feel like it was preemptive cut as opposed to cutting it at a point where some of these items you're discussing as possibilities are definitive. It's also a little discouraging to see the -- you have a lot of spending obligations, it sounds like, but it's like you're spending a lot of money to kind of stay in the same place. You make a lot of these investments, but...

是的。我只是覺得這是先發制人的削減，而不是在你正在討論的一些項目作為可能性是確定的時候削減它。這也有點令人沮喪——你有很多支出義務，聽起來像是，但就像你花了很多錢才能留在同一個地方。您進行了大量此類投資，但是...

I don't disagree with those optics. I don't disagree with the optics. You're right. But that's not what's going on here. Internally, we really are trying to progress the business. But the optics, you're absolutely right. It doesn't look like we're doing anything. In truth, working to try to capture more cash flow.

我不同意這些光學。我不反對光學。你說得對。但這不是這裡發生的事情。在內部，我們確實在努力推動業務發展。但從光學角度來看，你是完全正確的。看起來我們什麼都沒做。事實上，我們正​​在努力爭取更多的現金流。

Well, it's not that it doesn't look like you're not doing anything. It looks like you're spending on some of these obligations, but it's not bringing the company forward. Your results remain the same or even a little worse. And...

嗯，並不是說你看起來什麼都沒做。看起來你在履行其中一些義務，但這並沒有推動公司前進。您的結果保持不變甚至更糟。和...

No, it works. But Bruce...

不，它有效。但布魯斯...

And so the capital is being spent, but there's no visible return on those investments. I mean, Sequoia is a great example. You spent a ton of capital to completely redo that restaurant when you sign a new lease, and it hasn't gone well and now you've taken a write-down there.

因此，資本正在被花費，但這些投資沒有明顯的回報。我的意思是，紅杉就是一個很好的例子。當你簽署新的租約時，你花費了大量的資金來徹底重做那家餐廳，但進展並不順利，現在你已經在那裡進行了減記。

It has not worked out.

但它還沒有成功。

In the past, you've purchased other real estate in some of these deals. I'm just curious, I'm looking at the stock with the current enterprise value in 30s. What would be a ballpark estimate if you had to estimate what is the value of the underlying real estate you own? Some of these properties in great waterfront locations, I'm just curious what kind of underlying real estate value there is, is in a company that Enterprise value less than $40 million?

過去，您曾在其中一些交易中購買過其他房地產。我只是好奇，我正在看目前企業價值在 30 多歲的股票。如果您必須估計您擁有的基礎房地產的價值，那麼大概的估計是多少？其中一些房產位於絕佳的海濱位置，我只是好奇，對於一家 Enterprise 估值不到 4000 萬美元的公司來說，潛在的房地產價值是多少？

The value of owning the properties would be on a sale leaseback. That's the value. If you want to look at them as development site. We haven't included that there's any value to them because we've never investigated them as a development site.

擁有這些房產的價值將取決於售後回租。這就是價值。如果您想將它們視為開發網站。我們沒有考慮到它們有任何價值，因為我們從未將它們作為開發站點進行調查。

There are hotels all around Rustic. We own that property. It's a big piece of property. Maybe somebody would like to do a hotel, but we've never investigated. The only value to us would be in terms of the sales leaseback if we wanted to use that to finance additional expansion. So, I can't tell you what the value of those properties.

Rustic 周圍都有飯店。我們擁有該財產。這是一筆很大的財產。也許有人想做一家酒店，但我們從未調查過。如果我們想用售後回租為進一步擴張提供資金，對我們來說唯一的價值就是售後回租。所以，我無法告訴你這些屬性的價值。

[Walter Child, Private Investor].

[沃爾特·柴爾德，私人投資者]。

Thank you. I'm hoping you can elaborate more on the Bryant Park lease piece. If you can share some information on the impact either top line and/or bottom line if the lease is not renewed? And given the historical New York presence of Ark from an SG&A standpoint and the move south, including real estate acquisitions and future investments, which I'm supportive of, I think it's been smart given the challenge of operating in New York. Is there something transformational you would do if that's not picked up? What's the hit on the top and bottom-line? And would you relocate, move back office? You've got a lot of back office there from a business from 20 years ago that's clearly shifting south. I'd love to hear more about your plans.

謝謝。我希望你能詳細說明布萊恩特公園的租賃事宜。如果您不續租，您是否可以分享一些有關頂線和/或底線影響的資訊？從SG&A的角度來看，考慮到Ark在紐約的歷史存在以及向南的發展，包括房地產收購和未來投資，我支持這一點，考慮到在紐約運營的挑戰，我認為這是明智的。如果沒有採取的話，你會做一些變革性的事情嗎？對頂線和底線的影響是什麼？您會搬遷，搬到後台嗎？那裡有很多來自 20 年前的企業的後台辦公室，但現在明顯正在向南轉移。我很想聽聽更多關於你的計劃。

All right. That's a good question. So the cash flow from Bryant Park is substantial. We would -- first of all, at the restaurant level, there's something just shy of 300 people who work for us there when the business is going full out, meaning all the cafes are open and everything.

好的。這是個好問題。所以布萊恩特公園的現金流是可觀的。首先，在餐廳層面，當業務全面展開時，為我們工作的員工人數不到 300 人，這意味著所有咖啡館和一切都營業。

We did for ourselves study of the people who work there and is probably going on too much -- and I'm sorry, but of the 25 people who manage front of the house -- and who are general managers essentially for the back of the house or front in house operations, of those 25 people, 19 have been with us for over 25 years in Bryant Park and other operations in Ark.

我們自己對在那裡工作的人進行了研究，可能研究得太多了——我很抱歉，但研究的是管理前台的 25 名員工——他們本質上是後台的總經理。中，有19 人在布萊恩特公園和方舟的其他業務部門工作了25 年以上。

Four of them have been with us for 15 years or more, and the rest have all been with us over five years. The service people, tipped employees have an average working time with the company for over 11 years. So, that's extraordinarily painful if we would have to terminate those jobs.

其中四人已經在我們這裡工作了 15 年或以上，其餘的都已經在我們這裡工作了五年以上。服務人員、小費員工在公司的平均工作時間超過11年。因此，如果我們不得不終止這些工作，那將是非常痛苦的。

And we had a discussion yesterday, I think, what are not legal responsibilities, but what are our ethical responsibilities if we don't get that and how do we take care of these people because we're not expanding in New York, and therefore, what can we offer them to sort of help them over the next few months while they're looking for other jobs.

我想我們昨天進行了討論，什麼不是法律責任，但如果我們不明白這一點，我們的道德責任是什麼，以及我們如何照顧這些人，因為我們沒有在紐約擴張，因此，在接下來的幾個月裡，當他們尋找其他工作時，我們能為他們提供什麼幫助？

The event planning department in New York would essentially be guided because we be left with the only event space that we would be left with will be Robert and that probably requires one person in the office instead of six.

紐約的活動策劃部門基本上會受到指導，因為我們剩下的唯一活動空間將是羅伯特，這可能需要辦公室裡有一個人而不是六個人。

So it would be very painful and the net result would be after you get rid of all of that overhead and probably other things unrelated to the direct operation of the restaurant that we would save on, you may have a $3.5 million, $4 million hit to EBITDA. Anthony is shaking his head like I gave the right number, which is unusual. He used to sit and said (technical difficulty) but it would be a $3.5 million to $4 million hit.

因此，這將是非常痛苦的，最終的結果是，當你擺脫所有這些管理費用以及可能與我們節省的餐廳直接運營無關的其他費用後，你可能會損失 350 萬美元、400 萬美元。折舊及攤銷前利潤。安東尼搖著頭，好像我給了正確的數字，這很不尋常。他過去常常坐下來說（技術難度），但這將是 350 萬至 400 萬美元的打擊。

So that also was part of our thinking by eliminating the dividend, how do we make up that $3.5 million, $4 million. And not that I'm saying that the dividend is -- the reason for the cut is that. We don't know that. We've heard nothing nor has anybody else, I believe. But the New York is a very hostile environment to work in. Construction costs are unreasonably high rents are reasonably high even in this environment.

因此，透過取消股息，這也是我們思考的一部分，我們如何彌補這 350 萬美元、400 萬美元。我並不是說股息是削減的原因。我們不知道這一點。我相信我們什麼也沒聽到，其他人也沒聽到。但紐約的工作環境非常惡劣。建築成本高得不合理，即使在這種環境下，租金也相當高。

And the legislature is every year with fighting we have our own lobbyists. I think we've been effective. But the next shoe to drop is going to be elimination of the tip credit and a higher minimum wage for tipped employees. And Bryant Park alone, that would cost us close to $1 million in additional payroll. So we don't have those problems in Florida. We have those problems in Las Vegas because they've legislated higher minimum wages.

立法機關每年都會與我們有自己的說客進行鬥爭。我認為我們已經取得了成效。但下一個要解決的問題是取消小費抵免，並提高小費員工的最低工資。光是布萊恩特公園一項，就將花費我們近 100 萬美元的額外工資。所以我們在佛羅裡達州沒有這些問題。我們在拉斯維加斯遇到這些問題是因為他們立法提高了最低工資。

But we -- in Florida and Alabama, we don't have those problems. We have those problems in Washington, D.C. with legislated higher minimum wages for tipped employees. Our complaint has always been, hey, we have waiters and waitresses at Bryant Park that make $3,000 to $4,000 a week in tips.

但在佛羅裡達州和阿拉巴馬州，我們沒有這些問題。我們在華盛頓特區就遇到了這些問題，因為立法規定了給小費員工更高的最低工資。我們一直抱怨，嘿，我們布萊恩特公園的男女服務員每週的小費是 3,000 到 4,000 美元。

Why am I -- why you eliminating the tip credit. So yes, you're right. New York is hostile. What -- we're aggressively trying to expand our business in the South. There will probably come a point where the overhead in New York does not make as much sense, not that we're all going to move to the south, but there's something to be said that we can be more efficient with general corporate overhead.

為什麼我——為什麼你取消小費抵免額。所以是的，你是對的。紐約充滿敵意。什麼——我們正在積極努力擴大我們在南方的業務。或許有一天，紐約的管理費用不再那麼有意義，並不是說我們都要搬到南方，而是可以說，我們可以在一般公司管理費用上提高效率。

Honestly, I think we're pretty efficient now for what we have. But one of the big unknowns for us and it's not a hail married by any means, but we've been dealing with the Meadowlands for five or six years now, thinking that we're going to get licensed, because New York is going to move forward.

老實說，我認為就我們現有的資源而言，我們現在的效率相當高。但對我們來說，最大的未知數之一，無論如何，這不是結婚的冰雹，但我們已經與梅多蘭茲打交道五六年了，認為我們將獲得許可，因為紐約將前進。

We have a state legislature in New Jersey, that's seems to be as amenable as they've ever been to give me a license to four casino in the north, and the Meadowlands is the, I would tell you, the only location where they give it, because all the environmental work has been done, we could be open literally in a month and a half with the first phase of the casino. I think everybody is aware of that.

我們在新澤西州有一個州立法機關，這似乎是他們有史以來最願意向我頒發北方四家賭場許可證的地方，而我告訴你，梅多蘭茲是他們唯一授予我許可證的地方。所有的環境工作都已經完成，我們賭場的第一階段實際上可以在一個半月內開業。我想每個人都知道這一點。

We just -- there seems to be a reluctance to do an amendment which needs to be voted on by the public for a casino license in the North. Unless they don't feel the boat would be successful unless New York State is moving down, casinos seeing those downstairs. So we still pursue that. That's where we are. Bryant Park would have a significant impact on our EBITDA, if we don't have it.

我們只是——似乎不願意進行一項需要公眾投票才能獲得北方賭場執照的修正案。除非他們覺得這艘船不會成功，除非紐約州正在向下移動，賭場看到了樓下的人。所以我們仍然追求這一點。這就是我們現在的情況。如果我們沒有布萊恩特公園，將會對我們的 EBITDA 產生重大影響。

Thank you for detail and that was helpful. And it was very helpful. And also while certainly Meadowlands would be attractive if New Jersey can move forward and not seem to protect be concerned about Atlantic City as much as competing with New York. I do hope that, that comes to fruition, but that maybe years away may never happen.

謝謝你的詳細信息，這很有幫助。這非常有幫助。當然，如果新澤西能夠向前發展，並且似乎不像紐約那樣擔心大西洋城，那麼梅多蘭茲肯定會很有吸引力。我確實希望這能實現，但也許幾年後可能永遠不會實現。

You could expand -- tip credits have been an issue for a long time. We've seen a huge tipped employee cost increasing greater than 50% in a lot of these markets. In Florida, there seems to be some movement there, not there seems to be there has been movement there as well. Have you looked at investing in other jurisdictions that are more favorable? And for those where you have a presence, is there something you can do with administrative fee, service charge, other elements to make up for some of the huge increase in front of house expense tied to minimum wage?

你可以擴展——小費積分長期以來一直是一個問題。我們發現，在許多這類市場中，巨額小費員工成本增加了 50% 以上。在佛羅裡達州，那裡似乎有一些運動，但那裡似乎也沒有運動。您是否考慮過在其他較有利的司法管轄區進行投資？對於那些你有業務的地方，你可以用行政費、服務費和其他元素來彌補與最低工資相關的房屋費用的大幅增加嗎？

And then finally, on the real estate piece, like the prior investor mentioned, that's a big part of the strategy I support, are the properties -- are you on leased land or do you own fee simple rights on all of the properties from a standpoint of enterprise value where it's not just a leasehold tenancy, but you have the land rights as well?

最後，在房地產方面，就像前面提到的投資者所提到的那樣，這是我支持的策略的一個重要部分，即財產——您是在租賃的土地上，還是您擁有對所有財產的簡單權利？

The only properties where we own the land are the two properties in Alabama, the Rustic Inn and Shuckers, on those. And the Shuckers property is a restaurant that used to be in a hotel that -- the hotel portion -- well, the restaurant portion sits in four commercial condos which we own. Then there are a 62 one-bedroom apartments with two exceptions that are two bedroom apartments.

我們擁有這片土地的唯一房產是阿拉巴馬州的兩處房產，即 Rustic Inn 和 Shuckers。舒克斯的財產是一家餐廳，以前是一家酒店——酒店部分——嗯，餐廳部分位於我們擁有的四套商業公寓中。還有 62 間一房公寓，其中兩套是兩房公寓。

And what used to be a Ramada Hotel that has been converted into these apartments. We own 13 of those apartments as well. We bought most of those apartments in the $200,000 to $250,000 -- well, $180,000 to $250,000 range. They're now trading at $400,000.

曾經的華美達酒店現已改建為這些公寓。我們還擁有其中 13 間公寓。我們購買的大部分公寓價格在 20 萬到 25 萬美元之間——嗯，是 18 萬到 25 萬美元。他們現在的交易價格為 40 萬美元。

We've tested the market with one just to see where we are, then we would drew it. But I think safely, you can get out of those 13 apartments probably in the $350,000 area. One of the problems with selling those departments now and why we withdrew the test to find out what they will work is Florida passed that lower after the building collapsed which required significant assessments in all condos to upgrade to the new building standards. So...

我們已經用一個測試了市場，只是為了看看我們處於什麼位置，然後我們會畫出來。但我認為，安全地說，你可以離開這 13 套公寓，價格可能在 35 萬美元左右。現在出售這些部門的問題之一以及我們為什麼撤回測試以了解它們將發揮作用的原因之一是佛羅裡達州在建築物倒塌後通過了較低的標準，這需要對所有公寓進行重大評估以升級到新的建築標準。所以...

It's on the beach.

它在海灘上。

Yes, we're on the beach. So, I think each one of those units now we're spending $40,000, $50,000, some number like that in assessments to upgrade to the new building codes so that that has temporarily closed down transactions for both apartments and buildings that are on the beach pretty much

是的，我們在海灘上。因此，我認為現在我們每個單元都花費了 40,000 美元、50,000 美元，在評估中花費了一些類似的數字來升級到新的建築規範，這樣就暫時關閉了海灘上的公寓和建築物的交易很多

And options for service charge or other fees, have you tested that in markets where you have a clientele, full-service clientele that may be more receptive to that model, where you've seen an inflation, say, from tipped credit wage a few years ago now to march towards $15.

以及服務費或其他費用的選擇，您是否在擁有客戶的市場中進行了測試，全方位服務的客戶可能更容易接受該模式，您已經看到通貨膨脹，例如，小費信用工資幾年前，現在正向15 美元邁進。

Yes. We really haven't. We don't get a lot of activity shown from other states. Maybe once or twice a year, we see something that we start to investigate, but we don't see a lot of activity.

是的。我們真的沒有。我們沒有從其他州獲得很多活動。也許每年一兩次，我們會看到一些我們開始調查的東西，但我們沒有看到很多活動。

Thank you for the clarity.

謝謝你的澄清。

My pleasure. Thank you.

我的榮幸。謝謝。

Jeffrey Kaminsky, JJK Consultants.

傑弗裡·卡明斯基，JJK 顧問。

Michael, just a follow-up to Bruce's comment earlier, you kind of asked the same question that I did, he used a different terminology. So I'll repeat this. He asked about self-help measures that can be undertaken to stem loss and drive traffic, et cetera, et cetera. There wasn't any real answer regarding changing the menu, adding craft cocktails or any of that. You did mention the (inaudible), so I'm just curious what are your projections in terms of revenue based on the footage, square footage and the property? And how quickly do you think it is successful that you'll be able to scale this to any meaningful enterprise that would actually contribute revenues to the company.

邁克爾，只是布魯斯之前評論的後續，你問了和我一樣​​的問題，他使用了不同的術語。所以我會重複這一點。他詢問了可以採取哪些自助措施來阻止損失並增加流量等等。關於更改菜單、添加手工雞尾酒或任何其他問題，沒有任何真正的答案。您確實提到了（聽不清楚），所以我只是好奇您根據面積、平方英尺和房產對收入的預測是多少？您認為多久才能成功將其擴展到任何有意義的企業，真正為公司貢獻收入。

So the question is coming a little muffled. Anthony, you can (technical difficulty) got me with.

所以這個問題有點含糊不清。安東尼，你可以（技術難度）幫助我。

(technical difficulty) projection and scalability of success.

（技術難度）成功的預測和可擴展性。

Yes. The scalability on Lucky Pig, we would move very quickly. I mean the outlet...

是的。Lucky Pig 的可擴充性，我們很快就會採取行動。我說的是插座...

In Vegas is small, right?

維加斯很小，對吧？

Yeah. Yeah.

是的。是的。

It's a counter basically. It's a test -- we're going to the concept there.

它基本上是一個計數器。這是一個測試——我們將討論那裡的概念。

But we think the menu is very attractive. We have another casino that we think we could go into immediately with the bigger space. And we would be very aggressive about testing it in different markets. So that's one of the reasons we want the capital.

但我們認為菜單非常有吸引力。我們還有另一家賭場，我們認為我們可以立即進入，空間更大。我們會非常積極地在不同的市場進行測試。這就是我們需要資金的原因之一。

Mike, a follow-up to the Meadowlands. Did the decision out of Nashville County the other day or I guess they're approving casino that was the Nashville Coliseum in Nashville County. There's something like that if it should proceed and they build out. I think…

麥克，《梅多蘭茲》的後續作品。是前幾天納許維爾縣做出的決定還是我猜他們正在批准納許維爾縣納許維爾體育館的賭場。如果事情繼續進行並且他們建立起來的話，就會有類似的事情。我認為…

Jeff, all of that helps. We just got to get Jersey to do a referendum at a time when they think it will pass. They're not trying to do a referendum, the public has to vote on this and has to be clear reasons why the public will vote positively for it. The clearest reason is people going outside of Bergen County and going across the bridge to gamble as opposed to staying in New Jersey. That's what we need. We need that evidence.

傑夫，所有這些都有幫助。我們只需讓澤西島在他們認為會通過的時候進行公投。他們並不是想進行公投，公眾必須對此進行投票，並且必須有明確的理由說明為什麼公眾會積極投票。最明顯的原因是人們離開卑爾根縣並過橋去賭博，而不是留在新澤西州。這就是我們所需要的。我們需要那個證據。

And the last time they tried to do a referendum, it was -- the referendum was messy. It did not specifically say what the state would use the money for. It even didn't make clear that the state wasn't investing any money in it that this would be an investment by a company without the help -- without any state aid.

上次他們試圖進行公投時，公投很混亂。它沒有具體說明國家將把這筆錢用於什麼用途。它甚至沒有明確表示國家不會在其中投資任何資金，這將是一家公司在沒有幫助的情況下進行的投資——沒有任何國家援助。

So they've got to get very specific about the referendum, and they have to be clear that this is going to benefit the state of New Jersey. And the easiest way when you speak to the legislatures or the governor, which I do not have conversations with, but my partners do is to demonstrate people leaving New Jersey to gamble in another state.

因此，他們必須非常具體地了解公投，並且必須明確地說明這將使新澤西州受益。當你與立法機關或州長交談時，最簡單的方法是向人們展示離開新澤西州到另一個州賭博的情況，我沒有與之交談，但我的合作夥伴卻這樣做。

Thank you.

謝謝。

You're welcome.

不客氣。

Mr. Weinstein, there are no other questions. I'll turn the floor back to you for final comments.

韋恩斯坦先生，沒有其他問題了。我將把最後的意見轉回給您。

Thank you. See you all next quarter.

謝謝。下季見。

Thank you, everyone.

謝謝大家。

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。