BJ's Restaurants Inc (BJRI) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Hello, and welcome to the BJ's Restaurants Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Release and Conference Call. (Operator Instructions)

您好，歡迎來到北京餐廳 2023 年第三季財報發布和電話會議。 （操作員說明）

Please note, this event is being recorded.

請注意，此事件正在被記錄。

I would now like to turn the conference over to Rana Schirmer, Director of SEC Reporting. Please go ahead.

我現在想將會議轉交給 SEC 報告總監 Rana Schirmer。請繼續。

Thank you, Operator. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to our Fiscal 2023 third quarter investor conference call and webcast.

謝謝你，接線生。大家下午好，歡迎參加我們的 2023 財年第三季投資人電話會議和網路廣播。

After the market closed today, we released our financial results for our Fiscal 2023 third quarter. You can view the full text of our earnings release on our website, at www.bjsrestaurants.com.

今天收盤後，我們發布了 2023 財年第三季的財務表現。您可以在我們的網站 www.bjsrestaurants.com 上查看我們財報的全文。

I will begin by reminding you that our comments on the conference call today will contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and that undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. These statements are based on management's current business and market expectations, and our actual results could differ materially from those projections in the forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements or to make any other forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required to do so by the securities laws. Investors are referred to the full discussion of risks and uncertainties associated with forward-looking statements contained in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

首先，我要提醒您，我們今天在電話會議上的評論將包含1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》含義內的前瞻性陳述。請投資者註意，前瞻性陳述並不是對未來業績的保證，並且不應視為對未來業績的保證。不應依賴此類聲明。這些陳述是基於管理階層目前的業務和市場預期，我們的實際結果可能與前瞻性陳述中的預測有重大差異。我們沒有義務公開更新或修改任何前瞻性聲明或做出任何其他前瞻性陳述，無論是由於新資訊、未來事件或其他原因，除非證券法要求這樣做。投資者應參考該公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中包含的與前瞻性陳述相關的風險和不確定性的全面討論。

We will start today's call with prepared remarks from Greg Levin, our Chief Executive Officer and President; and Tom Houdek, our Chief Financial Officer, after which we will take your questions.

我們將以我們的執行長兼總裁 Greg Levin 準備好的講話開始今天的電話會議；以及我們的財務長 Tom Houdek，之後我們將回答您的問題。

And with that, I will turn the call over to Greg Levin. Greg?

接下來，我會將電話轉給格雷格·萊文 (Greg Levin)。格雷格？

Thank you, Rana. BJ's delivered another quarter of positive comparable restaurant sales and year-over-year margin expansion. Our total revenues increased a little over 2%, led by a 1.5% increase in our average weekly sales, driven by continued positive comparable restaurant sales and the strong performance of our new restaurants. For the 10th consecutive quarter, our (inaudible) results beat the industry as measured by Black Box.

謝謝你，拉娜。 BJ's 又一個季度實現了可比餐廳銷售額和同比利潤率的成長。我們的總收入成長了略高於 2%，其中平均每週銷售額成長了 1.5%，這主要得益於可比餐廳銷售額的持續成長以及新餐廳的強勁表現。根據 Black Box 的衡量，我們的（聽不清楚）業績連續第十個季度超過了業界。

We expanded our restaurant margins to 11.9%, representing an increase of 160 basis points from the prior year, and generated adjusted EBITDA of approximately $20 million in the quarter, marking a 29% increase over the prior year. In fact, in the first 3 quarters of Fiscal 2023, we have generated over $76 million of adjusted EBITDA, which is roughly equivalent to all of last year, with of course 1 quarter to go.

我們將餐廳利潤率擴大至 11.9%，較上年增長 160 個基點，本季調整後 EBITDA 約為 2,000 萬美元，較上年增長 29%。事實上，在 2023 財年的前 3 個季度，我們已經產生了超過 7,600 萬美元的調整後 EBITDA，大致相當於去年全年，當然還有 1 個季度。

Compared to 2022, industry-wide sales trends normalized in the 2023 third quarter. Historically, weekly sales volumes peak in May and June and then come down in July before taking further steps down in August and September. Last year, with consumers free of COVID restrictions, weekly sales average actually increased in August compared to July, with a smaller step down in September.

與 2022 年相比，2023 年第三季全產業銷售趨勢趨於正常化。從歷史上看，每週銷量在五月和六月達到峰值，然後在七月下降，然後在八月和九月進一步下降。去年，由於消費者不受新冠疫情限制，8 月的周平均銷售額實際上比 7 月增加，而 9 月的降幅較小。

This year, third quarter sales trends reverted to pre-COVID patterns, resulting in a return to an August and September sales slowdown. Tom will provide more details on the quarter, but since regular seasonality returned in the fourth quarter of last year, we have seen our comparable restaurant sales rebound to positive low-single digits starting in October.

今年，第三季銷售趨勢恢復到新冠疫情爆發前的模式，導致八月和九月銷售再次放緩。湯姆將提供有關該季度的更多詳細信息，但由於去年第四季度恢復了正常季節性，我們已經看到我們的可比餐廳銷售額從 10 月份開始反彈至正低個位數。

As we mentioned previously, our sales and margin growth strategies are rooted in our in-depth consumer research and focus on building the BJ's brand over the long term quarter-by-quarter and year-by-year. We know that our guests escape to BJ's for a dining experience featuring familiar food items made Brewhouse fabulous with gold-standard service and gracious hospitality delivered by our restaurant teams and packaged in an ambiance that is of higher quality, differentiated and full of energy compared to mass market casual dining concepts.

正如我們之前提到的，我們的銷售和利潤成長策略植根於我們深入的消費者研究，並專注於長期逐季度和逐年打造 BJ 品牌。我們知道，我們的客人來到BJ's 是為了享受以熟悉的食物為特色的用餐體驗，這使得Brewhouse 的餐廳團隊提供黃金標準的服務和親切的款待，並營造出比其他餐廳更高品質、與眾不同且充滿活力的氛圍。大眾市場休閒餐飲概念。

Therefore, in the third quarter, to enhance our already high service and hospitality standards, we rolled out new server scripts as well as an updated mystery shopper program focused on consistently delivering gracious hospitality to our guests. As a result of these recent programs, we have increased hospitality stores year-over-year on our guest surveys.

因此，在第三季度，為了提高我們已經很高的服務和接待標準，我們推出了新的伺服器腳本以及更新的神秘顧客計劃，重點是始終如一地為客人提供親切的接待。由於最近的這些計劃，我們的客人調查顯示，酒店商店的數量逐年增加。

Additionally, our hourly and management staffing levels continue to improve year-over-year as we narrow the gap to pre-COVID levels. In fact, our hourly team member retention rate in September matched our pre-COVID level, illustrating our improving operating environment, which has enabled us to execute at even higher levels of service and efficiency.

此外，隨著我們縮小與新冠疫情爆發前水準的差距，我們的小時工和管理人員配置水準繼續逐年提高。事實上，我們 9 月的每小時團隊成員保留率與新冠疫情爆發前的水平相當，這說明我們的營運環境不斷改善，這使我們能夠以更高水準的服務和效率執行任務。

We also rolled out a new menu that has 15% fewer items and is focused on familiar items made Brewhouse fabulous based on our guest research and careful testing in our restaurants. Having fewer items, but the right items, for our guests resulted in improved (inaudible) scores year-over-year.

我們還推出了新菜單，菜單中的菜餚減少了 15%，並專注於熟悉的菜餚，根據我們的顧客研究和餐廳的仔細測試，Brewhouse 的菜餚變得非常棒。為我們的客人提供更少的物品，但提供正確的物品，導致得分逐年提高（聽不清楚）。

Our innovation team continues to create new menu items and drinks that provide the familiar yet made Brewhouse fabulous. In the third quarter, we rolled out our Big Twist Pretzel, paired with BJ's Brewhouse Blonde Beer Cheese, and the Hickory Brisket Nachos for a limited time, accompanied with a line of Wow margaritas, including our new White Peach Boba-Rita.

我們的創新團隊不斷創造新的菜單項目和飲料，為啤酒廠帶來熟悉而美妙的體驗。在第三季度，我們推出了Big Twist Pretzel，搭配BJ's Brewhouse Blonde 啤酒奶酪，以及限時山核桃胸肉玉米片，並搭配一系列令人驚嘆的瑪格麗塔酒，包括我們新推出的白桃波巴麗塔(White Peach Boba-Rita)。

Importantly, our culinary and beverage innovation is working to grow sales, adding both incidents and dollar sales to the appetizer and cocktail categories. In fact, the new innovative cocktails are now our top sellers in that category.

重要的是，我們的烹飪和飲料創新正在努力增加銷售額，為開胃菜和雞尾酒類別增加事件和美元銷售額。事實上，新的創新雞尾酒現在是我們該類別中最暢銷的產品。

We also just rolled out our limited-time-only Spooky Pizookie, with orange-colored vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup that guests pour over their dessert which hardens to make a delicious chocolate shell over our world-famous Pizookie dessert. Our Spooky Pizookie has exceeded our expectations, becoming our #1 selling Pizookie this October and selling out sooner than anticipated. Given the extraordinary guest excitement and demand for this product, expect to see Spooky Pizookie back next year.

我們也剛推出了限時供應的 Spooky Pizookie，其中包含橙色香草冰淇淋和巧克力糖漿，客人將其倒在甜點上，糖漿變硬後在我們舉世聞名的 Pizookie 甜點上形成美味的巧克力殼。我們的 Spooky Pizookie 超出了我們的預期，成為今年 10 月銷售第一的 Pizookie，並且比預期更快售罄。鑑於賓客對這款產品的興奮和需求，預計 Spooky Pizookie 將於明年回歸。

We are now looking forward to this holiday season, as we plan to feature a new limited-time-only Brewhouse Blonde garlic shrimp appetizer, a special filet surf-and-turf entree and our new Tipsy Snowman and Winter Paradise Pomegranate Margarita seasonal cocktails. All of these items fit squarely in our menu strategy of familiar items, again, made Brewhouse fabulous.

我們現在期待著這個假期，因為我們計劃推出新的限時啤酒廠金髮大蒜蝦開胃菜、特殊的菲力牛排主菜以及我們新的醉雪人和冬季天堂石榴瑪格麗塔季節性雞尾酒。所有這些項目都完全符合我們熟悉項目的菜單策略，再次使啤酒廠變得美妙。

Furthermore, we know that guests come to BJs for a better dining experience, rooted in what we call Brewhouse Theater. Each of these new items provide the guests with more theater and quality than what you find at other mass casual restaurant chains. For example, our Tipsy Snowman cocktail includes a holiday marshmallow shaped like a snowman in a Belgian beer glass, and the Spooky Pizookie allows our guests to pour over the chocolate sauce and watch in anticipation as it hardens.

此外，我們知道客人來到 BJ 是為了獲得更好的用餐體驗，這源自於我們所說的啤酒廠劇院 (Brewhouse Theater)。這些新項目中的每一項都為客人提供了比其他大眾休閒連鎖餐廳更多的戲劇性和品質。例如，我們的 Tipsy Snowman 雞尾酒包括比利時啤酒杯中形狀像雪人的節日棉花糖，而 Spooky Pizookie 讓我們的客人可以倒在巧克力醬上，並期待它變硬的過程。

All of these items allow guests to trade up and indulge at BJ's while creating a fun, polished, casual experience.

所有這些項目都允許客人在 BJ's 進行升級和享受，同時創造有趣、精緻、休閒的體驗。

Most importantly, for us to do this we needed to optimize the menu and simplify execution in certain areas so that we can provide our guests an even better culinary experience. All of this has been made possible by our menu optimization process that we began last year and the continuing passion and dedication from our team members.

最重要的是，為了做到這一點，我們需要優化菜單並簡化某些區域的執行，以便為客人提供更好的烹飪體驗。所有這一切都是我們去年開始的菜單優化過程以及我們團隊成員持續的熱情和奉獻精神實現的。

Through our research, we know that a key differentiator in full-service restaurants is ambiance. Guests don't want to visit old, worn-out restaurants with wobbly tables, dirty floors and broken chairs. Guests want a contemporary, relevant atmosphere that complements team members' gracious hospitality and BJ's delicious food.

透過我們的研究，我們知道全方位服務餐廳的一個關鍵區別在於氛圍。客人不想去那些桌子搖搖晃晃、地板骯髒、椅子破損的老舊破舊餐廳。客人想要一個現代、相關的氛圍，與團隊成員的殷勤款待和 BJ 的美味佳餚相得益彰。

Our remodel program focuses on that relevant ambiance by providing enhanced seating capacity, an updated bar statement, new lighting, artwork, booths and tables. As we've mentioned before, the new bar statement is amazing and includes a much lighter, more contemporary bar feature, featuring a new 130-inch television that screens Brewhouse Theater. We are still targeting between 35 and 40 remodels this year, and we expect to have remodeled at least 20% of our restaurants by year-end.

我們的改造計劃透過提供增強的座位容量、更新的酒吧聲明、新的照明、藝術品、攤位和桌子來關注相關的氛圍。正如我們之前提到的，新的酒吧聲明令人驚嘆，包括更輕鬆、更現代的酒吧功能，配備一台可播放 Brewhouse Theater 節目的新型 130 英寸電視。今年我們的目標仍然是改造 35 至 40 家餐廳，預計到年底改造至少 20% 的餐廳。

While the best way for us to continue our margin growth is by driving top line sales since every additional dollar of sales leverages the fixed elements of our cost structure, we also laid out a plan last year to identify at least $25 million of 4-wall cost savings opportunities that will benefit our restaurant operating margins while maintaining our high-quality standards.

雖然我們繼續利潤成長的最佳方式是推動營收成長，因為每增加一美元的銷售額都會利用我們成本結構的固定要素，但我們去年還制定了一項計劃，以確定至少2500 萬美元的4牆節省成本的機會將有利於我們餐廳的營業利潤，同時保持我們的高品質標準。

We have now unlocked over $30 million of cost savings on an annualized basis as we reduce food, labor and operating and occupancy costs. Additionally, the team has identified further savings opportunities which we expect to roll out late in the fourth quarter, which will continue to improve our margins and our EBITDA year-over-year.

透過減少食品、勞動力以及營運和佔用成本，我們現在每年可節省超過 3,000 萬美元的成本。此外，該團隊還確定了進一步的節省機會，我們預計將在第四季度末推出，這將繼續提高我們的利潤率和 EBITDA。

We also continue to open new restaurants in a balanced manner. In 2023, we opened 5 new restaurants, including the relocation of our Chandler, Arizona, restaurant. Our 2022 and 2023 classes of restaurants are doing exceptionally well, with weekly sales average of more than $130,000, or approximately 10% higher than our system average, and overall margins in the mid- to upper teens.

我們也繼續以平衡的方式開設新餐廳。 2023 年，我們新開了 5 家餐廳，包括亞利桑那州錢德勒餐廳的搬遷。我們 2022 年和 2023 年類別的餐廳表現非常出色，每周平均銷售額超過 130,000 美元，比我們的系統平均水平高出約 10%，總體利潤率在十幾歲左右。

As we discussed last quarter, we submitted new plans for the majority of our 2024 openings so that we can roll out our new prototype that will save us approximately $1 million per build versus our current prototype. Additionally, due to a more efficient layout, this prototype should provide an opportunity for labor optimization.

正如我們上季度討論的那樣，我們為 2024 年的大部分空缺職位提交了新計劃，以便我們可以推出新原型，與當前原型相比，每次構建將節省約 100 萬美元。此外，由於佈局更有效，該原型應該為勞動力優化提供機會。

Overall, we believe this new prototype will provide even better returns on invested capital by delivering better margins and built at a lower cost.

總的來說，我們相信這個新原型將透過提供更高的利潤和更低的成本來提供更好的投資回報。

Therefore, I expect 2024 new restaurant openings to be similar in number to this year, before we plan for an increase in the rate of new restaurant openings in 2025. As we've said many times, our goal is to reaccelerate our new restaurant expansion and grow restaurant weeks by 5% or more annually. However, we are going to do so with the right quality and at the right investment cost to continue to drive strong new restaurant investment returns.

因此，我預計 2024 年新餐廳開業數量與今年相似，然後我們計劃在 2025 年增加新餐廳開業率。正如我們多次說過的，我們的目標是重新加速新餐廳擴張餐廳週數每年增加5%或更多。然而，我們將以適當的品質和適當的投資成本來繼續推動新餐廳的強勁投資回報。

With 5%-plus new restaurant growth, consistent comp sales in the low- to mid-single-digit range and expanding restaurant margins, we should achieve very strong EBITDA and earnings growth for our shareholders.

隨著新餐廳成長 5% 以上、公司銷售額持續保持在中低個位數範圍以及餐廳利潤率不斷擴大，我們應該為股東實現非常強勁的 EBITDA 和獲利成長。

With the continued positive reaction from our guests to all that we are doing, coupled with our increasing margins and EBITDA, we reinstated our share repurchase program this past quarter. We are increasingly confident in our strategy to grow sales, expand margins, open new restaurants and return capital to our shareholders in both the near and midterm.

隨著客人對我們所做的一切的持續積極反應，加上我們的利潤率和 EBITDA 不斷增加，我們在上個季度恢復了股票回購計劃。我們對近期和中期增加銷售額、擴大利潤、開設新餐廳以及向股東返還資本的策略越來越有信心。

Finally, I am looking forward to seeing many of you at our Analyst and Investor Day on Tuesday, November 14, and the welcome dinner the night before. We'll host a special beer dinner featuring some of our most iconic beers as well as some of our new menu items and cocktails. At the November 14 event, in Boston, we will share greater detail around our near-term opportunities and our longer-term strategy. So I hope you can all join us for that event.

最後，我期待在 11 月 14 日星期二的分析師和投資者日以及前一天晚上的歡迎晚宴上見到你們中的許多人。我們將舉辦特別的啤酒晚宴，提供一些最具代表性的啤酒以及一些新菜單和雞尾酒。在 11 月 14 日於波士頓舉行的活動中，我們將分享有關我們的近期機會和長期策略的更多細節。所以我希望你們都能參加我們的活動。

Now let me turn it over to Tom to provide a more detailed update from the quarter and current trends. Tom?

現在讓我將其交給 Tom，以提供有關本季和當前趨勢的更詳細的更新。湯姆？

Thanks, Greg, and good afternoon, everyone. I will provide details of the quarter and some forward-looking views. Please remember, this commentary is subject to the risks and uncertainties associated with forward-looking statements, as discussed in our filings with the SEC.

謝謝格雷格，大家下午好。我將提供本季的詳細資訊和一些前瞻性觀點。請記住，本評論受到與前瞻性陳述相關的風險和不確定性的影響，正如我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中所討論的那樣。

In the third quarter, total sales grew 2.3% to $319 million. On a comparable restaurant basis, sales increased by 0.4% over the prior year. From a weekly sales perspective, we averaged more than 113,000 per restaurant.

第三季總銷售額成長 2.3%，達到 3.19 億美元。以可比餐廳計算，銷售額比上年增長 0.4%。從每週銷售額來看，我們每家餐廳的平均銷售額超過 113,000 份。

In a typical prepandemic year, the third quarter is our lowest sales quarter seasonally, with the sales deceleration starting after Father's Day in June and continuing to step down into August and September, as Greg mentioned. This year, our sales followed this normal seasonal pattern, consistent with industry trends in our markets.

正如格雷格所提到的，在典型的大流行前年份，第三季度是我們季節性銷售最低的季度，銷售減速從六月父親節後開始，並繼續下降到八月和九月。今年，我們的銷售遵循正常的季節性模式，與我們市場的行業趨勢一致。

However, in 2022, the seasonal decline was much less pronounced, as consumers enjoyed their first summer without any COVID restraints. As such, last year's weekly sales averages actually increased into August before coming down slightly in September.

然而，到 2022 年，季節性下降的幅度要小得多，因為消費者在沒有任何新冠疫情限制的情況下度過了第一個夏天。因此，去年的周平均銷售量實際上在 8 月有所增加，然後在 9 月略有下降。

This year's return to a more normal seasonal pattern resulted in comparable restaurant sales softening later in the third quarter from the mid-4% positive in July, to about flat in August, to negative low-single digits in September.

今年回歸更正常的季節性模式導致第三季晚些時候可比餐廳銷售額疲軟，從 7 月的 4% 正值，到 8 月的持平，再到 9 月的低個位數負值。

Moving to more recent trends, comparable restaurant sales in the first 3 weeks of October are trending in the positive low-single digits, an improvement of more than 500 basis points from September levels, as last year's seasonality normalized in the fourth quarter. Our comp sales improvement in October is being driven by improving traffic trends compared to both August and September and, to a lesser extent, our late-September pricing round in the upper 1%.

轉向最近的趨勢，隨著去年第四季度的季節性正常化，10 月前 3 週的可比餐廳銷售額呈低個位數正增長趨勢，比 9 月的水平提高了 500 個基點以上。與 8 月和 9 月相比，我們 10 月的比較銷售改善是由於流量趨勢的改善，以及在較小程度上，我們 9 月下旬的定價輪次達到了 1% 以上。

Looking at the sales trends from a different perspective, our comparable restaurant sales compared to 2019 were much more consistent throughout Q3 and into early Q4, providing us further confidence that 2022 seasonality was the main driver of the 1-year comparable sales volatility in the third quarter.

Looking at the sales trends from a different perspective, our comparable restaurant sales compared to 2019 were much more consistent throughout Q3 and into early Q4, providing us further confidence that 2022 seasonality was the main driver of the 1-year comparable sales volatility in the third四分之一.

To date, we continue to see acceptance of our menu pricing rounds with no value-oriented shifts in our menu mix or less items ordered per check, which would indicate check management, or changes in traffic patterns.

到目前為止，我們繼續看到我們的菜單定價輪次被接受，菜單組合沒有以價值為導向的轉變，或者每張支票訂購的菜餚更少，這表明支票管理或流量模式的變化。

Regarding dayparts, our late-night sales continue to outperform and grow faster than other dayparts. As our late-night check is lower than other dayparts, this channel mix shift is adding a modest headwind to average check.

就日間時段而言，我們的深夜銷售額持續優於其他日間時段，且成長速度更快。由於我們的深夜支票低於其他白天時段，這種渠道組合的轉變給平均支票帶來了適度的阻力。

Our restaurant-level cash flow margin was 11.9% in the third quarter, an improvement of 160 basis points compared to the prior year. Comparable sales growth in conjunction with improving operating efficiencies and further progress on our cost-savings initiatives contributed to our margin improvement.

第三季我們餐廳層級的現金流利潤率為11.9%，比去年同期提高了160個基點。銷售額的可比增長、營運效率的提高以及成本節約計劃的進一步進展促進了我們的利潤率提高。

Further illustrating our progress, our third quarter restaurant-level cash flow margin was within 160 basis points of the same quarter in 2019, marking a 90-basis point improvement from the 250-basis point differential in the second quarter.

進一步說明我們的進展的是，我們第三季度餐廳級現金流利潤率與 2019 年同季度相比在 160 個基點以內，比第二季度 250 個基點的差異提高了 90 個基點。

Also, Q3 was the first quarter in the post-COVID era where our restaurant-level cash flow dollars were higher than the corresponding quarter in 2019.

此外，第三季度是後新冠時代的第一個季度，我們餐廳層級的現金流量高於 2019 年同期。

We are encouraged by the progress made to date and continue to advance initiatives to further grow our restaurant margins.

我們對迄今為止所取得的進展感到鼓舞，並將繼續推進進一步提高餐廳利潤的舉措。

Adjusted EBITDA was $19.6 million and 6.1% of sales in the third quarter, which beat the prior year by $4.4 million, with a margin that was 120 basis points higher.

調整後 EBITDA 為 1,960 萬美元，佔第三季銷售額的 6.1%，比去年同期高出 440 萬美元，利潤率高出 120 個基點。

We reported a net loss of $3.8 million and diluted net loss per share of $0.16 on a GAAP basis for the quarter, both of which would have been an improvement from last year when excluding the $4.1 million tax benefit from the year ago period.

我們公佈的本季淨虧損為 380 萬美元，以 GAAP 計算，每股攤薄淨虧損為 0.16 美元，如果不包括去年同期 410 萬美元的稅收優惠，這兩項指標均較去年有所改善。

Moving to expenses. Our cost of sales was 25.9% in the quarter, which was 140 basis points favorable compared to a year ago and consistent with the prior quarter. Food costs were about flat quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year, which was moderately favorable to our expectations. The inflation figure would have been higher if not for the accumulating benefits from the changes we've implemented to date across our food basket as part of the cost-savings initiatives.

轉向開支。本季我們的銷售成本為 25.9%，比去年同期有利 140 個基點，與上一季持平。食品成本環比和同比基本持平，對我們的預期較為有利。如果不是我們迄今為止在食品籃子中實施的變革（作為成本節約措施的一部分）所帶來的累積效益，通貨膨脹率可能會更高。

Labor and benefits expenses were 37.1% of sales in the quarter, which was 60 basis points favorable compared to the third quarter of last year. We made further strides improving our labor efficiency, which was driven in part by our reduced menu that requires less kitchen prep hours. A number of the labor efficiency metrics we track, including items per labor hour, were better this quarter than prepandemic levels, illustrating the high level our restaurant teams are operating at as well as the effectiveness of our cost-savings initiatives to date with respect to refining and optimizing our labor model.

勞動力和福利費用佔本季銷售額的 37.1%，比去年第三季有利 60 個基點。我們在提高勞動效率方面取得了進一步的進步，部分原因是我們減少了菜單，需要更少的廚房準備時間。我們追蹤的許多勞動效率指標，包括每工時的項目，本季度都優於大流行前的水平，這說明了我們餐廳團隊的高營運水平以及我們迄今為止在以下方面的成本節約舉措的有效性：完善和優化勞動模式。

Occupancy and operating expenses were 25.1% of sales in the quarter, which was 40 basis points unfavorable compared to the third quarter of last year. Approximately half of the increase was due to an investment in promotional and awareness-building activity to drive off-premise sales, including catering, which have a high level of incrementality and return on investment. Our catering business continues to grow and delivered approximately 50% higher sales than the same quarter last year.

該季度入住率和營運費用佔銷售額的25.1%，與去年第三季相比下降了40個基點。大約一半的成長是由於對促銷和意識建設活動的投資，以推動場外銷售，包括具有高增量和投資回報率的餐飲業。我們的餐飲業務持續成長，銷售額比去年同期成長約 50%。

G&A was $19.5 million in the third quarter. Included in G&A was a $100,000 deferred compensation benefit linked to fund performance in our deferred compensation plan, compared to a $600,000 expense in Q2. As a reminder, this is a noncash item that has an offsetting entry in the Other Income and Expense line in our P&L. For the full year, we now expect G&A to be in the $80 million to $81 million range, which is on the lower end of our prior guidance.

第三季一般管理費用為 1,950 萬美元。 G&A 中包括 100,000 美元的遞延薪資福利，與我們遞延薪酬計劃中的基金績效相關，而第二季度的費用為 600,000 美元。提醒一下，這是一個非現金項目，在損益表的其他收入和支出行中有一個抵銷條目。我們現在預計全年的一般管理費用將在 8,000 萬至 8,100 萬美元範圍內，這是我們先前指導的下限。

Turning to the balance sheet. We ended the quarter with a debt balance of $60 million, which was $7 million higher than the end of Q2 and equal to where we started the year. We ended the quarter with net debt of about $48 million.

轉向資產負債表。本季結束時，我們的債務餘額為 6,000 萬美元，比第二季末增加了 700 萬美元，與年初持平。本季結束時，我們的淨債務約為 4,800 萬美元。

Also during the quarter, we reactivated our share repurchase program to resume returning capital to shareholders. The resumption of our share repurchases reflects management's belief that BJ shares are currently undervalued and our confidence in BJ's longer-term prospects. During the third quarter, we repurchased and retired approximately 164,000 shares of common stock, at a cost of $4.3 million. At the end of Q3, we had $17.8 million remaining on our authorized share repurchase program.

同樣在本季度，我們重新啟動了股票回購計劃，以恢復向股東返還資本。我們恢復股票回購反映了管理層認為 BJ 股票目前被低估以及我們對 BJ 長期前景的信心。第三季度，我們回購並退役了約 164,000 股普通股，成本為 430 萬美元。截至第三季末，我們的授權股票回購計畫剩餘 1,780 萬美元。

Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, we are encouraged by recent sales and traffic trends, as comparable restaurant sales have returned to positive low-single digits. Shifts in prior year seasonality have passed, and we expect to continue delivering comparable sales in the low-single digits for the quarter.

展望第四季度，我們對最近的銷售和客流量趨勢感到鼓舞，因為可比餐廳銷售額已恢復到正的低個位數。去年的季節性變化已經過去，我們預計本季的可比銷售額將繼續保持在低個位數水準。

Factoring in our sales expectations and recent cost trends, we expect restaurant-level cash flow margins to be in the low 14% area in Q4, significantly above last year's Q4 margins. As a reminder, Q4 2022 margins had the benefit from a 53rd week and a onetime gift card breakage benefit, which benefited last year's Q4 margins by approximately 130 basis points in aggregate.

考慮到我們的銷售預期和最近的成本趨勢，我們預計第四季度餐廳層面的現金流利潤率將處於 14% 的低水平，顯著高於去年第四季的利潤率。提醒一下，2022 年第四季的利潤率受益於第 53 週和一次性禮品卡破損福利，這使去年第四季的利潤率總計提高了約 130 個基點。

Regarding CapEx, our 5 2023 new restaurants are now opened, and most of our 2023 restaurant remodels are completed. Included in our Q3 openings was the relocation of our Chandler, Arizona, restaurant, which is off to a fantastic start, with sales approximately 50% higher than our previous location.

關於資本支出，我們的 5 家 2023 年新餐廳現已開業，大部分 2023 年餐廳改造已完成。我們第三季的新開幕項目包括亞利桑那州錢德勒餐廳的搬遷，這是一個良好的開端，銷售額比我們之前的位置高出約 50%。

Also in the quarter, we closed an underperforming restaurant, which required a noncash write-off in the Loss on Disposal and Impairment of Asset line in the P&L.

同樣在本季度，我們關閉了一家業績不佳的餐廳，這需要在損益表中的處置損失和資產減損項目中進行非現金沖銷。

Also related to CapEx, we invested an incremental $2 million to purchase upgraded server handheld tablets for approximately half of our system, which enabled additional functionality such as payment at the table and will lead to a meaningful operating cost savings with purchasing the tablets instead of the leasing arrangement with our prior-generation devices.

同樣與資本支出相關的是，我們追加投資了200 萬美元，為我們大約一半的系統購買了升級的伺服器手持平板電腦，這啟用了額外的功能，例如桌面支付，並且通過購買平板電腦而不是平板電腦，將帶來有意義的營運成本節省。我們的上一代設備的租賃安排。

Due to this incremental investment as well as increasing the number of our restaurant remodels last quarter, we are now targeting the high end of our prior $90 million to $95 million CapEx range for this year.

由於這種增量投資以及上季餐廳改造數量的增加，我們今年的目標是先前 9,000 萬至 9,500 萬美元資本支出範圍的高端。

Looking ahead to 2024. As usual for this time of year, we are in the middle of our planning process, but I can share some early thoughts.

展望 2024 年。與往常一樣，我們正處於規劃過程中，但我可以分享一些早期的想法。

We expect food cost inflation to remain in the low-single digits. We will lock in most of our contracted items for 2024 over the next couple of months, and we'll have a better idea of any variances when we report Q4 results in February.

我們預計食品成本通膨將維持在低個位數。我們將在接下來的幾個月內鎖定 2024 年的大部分合約項目，當我們在 2 月份報告第四季度業績時，我們將更好地了解任何差異。

Labor inflation could tick up to the mid- to upper-single digits, given the added impact of California's AB 1228 bill, which is the bill that replaced the FAST Act. To note, many of our California-based hourly team members earn near or above the new $20-an-hour minimum wage to be paid at fast-food type restaurants in the state starting in April 2024, but we do expect some impact. We expect higher menu prices in restaurants throughout the state as operators look to mitigate the added costs. We are still finalizing our menu pricing plan for next year, but expect to be able to offset inflationary pressures.

鑑於加州 AB 1228 法案（該法案取代了 FAST 法案）的額外影響，勞動力通膨可能會升至中個位數或上個位數。需要注意的是，我們位於加州的許多小時團隊成員的收入接近或高於自2024 年4 月開始在該州快餐店支付的新的每小時20 美元的最低工資，但我們確實預計會受到一些影響。我們預計全州餐廳的菜單價格將會上漲，因為經營者希望減少增加的成本。我們仍在敲定明年的菜單定價計劃，但預計能夠抵消通膨壓力。

We plan to open 4 to 6 restaurants next year, similar to this year, and continue our remodel initiative given the attractive financial return profile.

我們計劃明年開設 4 到 6 家餐廳，與今年類似，並鑑於有吸引力的財務回報狀況繼續我們的改造計劃。

We also intend to continue repurchasing shares.

我們也打算繼續回購股票。

In conclusion, we know the best way to grow margins and profit is to grow sales. Recent sales trends have been encouraging, with demand for BJ's higher-quality experiential dining remaining strong, and we expect to continue making progress with our sales-building initiatives. At the same time, we remain committed to productivity and cost savings through our margin-improvement initiatives, with momentum continuing to build.

總之，我們知道增加利潤和利潤的最佳方法是增加銷售。最近的銷售趨勢令人鼓舞，對 BJ 高品質體驗式餐飲的需求依然強勁，我們預計我們的銷售建設計劃將繼續取得進展。同時，我們仍然致力於透過提高利潤率的措施來提高生產力和節省成本，並不斷增強勢頭。

We have a clear path to sales and margins growth ahead, and our long-term strategy and strong consumer appeal for the BJ's concept position us well to continue building on our successes and enhancing shareholder value.

我們有一條清晰的未來銷售和利潤成長之路，我們的長期策略和 BJ 概念對消費者的強烈吸引力使我們能夠繼續取得成功並提高股東價值。

Thank you for your time today, and we'll now open up the call to your questions. Operator?

感謝您今天抽出寶貴的時間，我們現在將開始回答您的問題。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) Today's first question comes from Brian Bittner, with Oppenheimer & Co.

（操作員說明）今天的第一個問題來自 Oppenheimer & Co. 的 Brian Bittner。

It's Mike Tamas on for Brian. I think you've talked historically about the fourth quarter margin being a pretty good read on what the next year's full year margin might look like. So I'm wondering, does that still hold with the guidance for, like, the low 14% range this year? And what do you think the big variances might be, if any, against that?

邁克·塔馬斯 (Mike Tamas) 替補布萊恩 (Brian)。我認為您歷史上曾談到第四季度的利潤率可以很好地解讀明年全年的利潤率。所以我想知道，這是否仍然適用於今年 14% 的低區間指引？如果有的話，您認為最大的差異可能是什麼？

Mike, thanks for the question. That's right. If you look back to 2019, our Q4 margins were very consistent or the same as the full year margins. I would say for this quarter, we do still have cost-savings initiatives rolling out through Q4. So the average for the quarter at the low 14%s, I think the exit rate should be something higher than that.

麥克，謝謝你的提問。這是正確的。如果你回顧 2019 年，我們第四季的利潤率與全年利潤率非常一致或相同。我想說，在本季度，我們仍然在第四季度推出成本節約計畫。因此，本季的平均值為 14%，我認為退出率應該高於這個值。

We're still in the process of -- there's a couple of things on the supply chain side that are meaningful. There's some changes that we're making for efficiencies on our operating and occupancy line which we're starting to implement mid-quarter. So there's still some bigger savings that we should be seeing through the quarter.

我們仍在進行中——供應鏈方面有一些有意義的事情。我們正在對營運和入住線的效率進行一些改變，我們將在季度中期開始實施。因此，本季我們應該會看到一些更大的節省。

So it's a little different than a typical year, but you're right, this is -- Q4 is about an average sales quarter for us where it comes out, and we see the margins about where we think they should be for the year, but with that added piece that the exit rate should be stronger given some of the margin-improvement initiatives that we're continuing to execute on.

所以這與典型的一年有點不同，但你是對的，第四季度大約是我們的平均銷售季度，我們看到了我們認為今年應該達到的利潤率，但考慮到我們正在繼續執行的一些利潤改善舉措，退出率應該會更高。

Got you. And then I know you haven't decided anything yet for 2024 on pricing, but if you didn't take anything, and I know, obviously, California is going to force your hand on that, but if you didn't take anything, can you just give us a sense for where 2024 pricing would be just with what you're carrying for this year?

明白你了。然後我知道你們還沒有就 2024 年的定價做出任何決定，但如果你們沒有採取任何行動，而且我知道，很明顯，加州會強迫你們這樣做，但如果你們沒有採取任何行動，你們能否告訴我們2024 年的定價與您今年的價格相符？

And then, if you could, can you just give the breakdown of pricing and traffic mix for the third quarter?

然後，如果可以的話，您能否提供第三季的定價和流量組合的詳細資訊？

Sure. So I think for a base case, there will be some pricing next year. So as we think about it, we will get some extra carryover because we did take a pricing round in January that was on the heavier side and another one in April. So again, we're still finalizing the plan, but let's say it is something closer to a 3% round taken in-year. We'll have extra pricing flowing through in the year because of the carryover from 2023.

當然。因此，我認為對於基本情況，明年將會有一些定價。因此，當我們考慮這一點時，我們將獲得一些額外的結轉，因為我們確實在一月份進行了一輪價格較重的定價，並在四月份進行了另一輪定價。再說一次，我們仍在敲定該計劃，但我們可以說這接近年內進行的 3% 輪融資。由於 2023 年的結轉，我們今年將有額外的定價。

And I'm sorry, remind me the second part of the question?

抱歉，請提醒我問題的第二部分？

I was just hoping you can give the breakdown from the third quarter (inaudible).

我只是希望你能給出第三季的細分（聽不清楚）。

Sure. So we mentioned this in the prepared remarks, but through the third quarter, no extra pricing taken. So pricing in the quarter was closer to in the high 6% or 7% area. And then we had another pricing round come in, in late September. So that put us in that 7% to 8% range.

當然。因此，我們在準備好的評論中提到了這一點，但在第三季度，沒有採取額外的定價。因此，本季的定價更接近 6% 或 7% 的高位區域。然後我們在九月底進行了另一輪定價。因此，我們處於 7% 到 8% 的範圍內。

So in the quarter, 2% dropped off from last year. We replaced it with kind of upper-1%s. So it brought it down a little bit. And kind of our exit rate going into next year would probably be somewhere in the 6% to 7% range, frankly, with about 2% falling off in January of '24. So we'll probably end up replacing that 2% with something around there or a little bit less, which means we'll probably start the year somewhere in the 5% to 6% range. Actually, 3.7% falls off. We'll replace 3.7% with something less than that.

因此，本季比去年下降了 2%。我們將其替換為 upper-1%s。所以它讓它下降了一點。坦白說，我們明年的退出率可能會在 6% 到 7% 的範圍內，24 年 1 月下降了約 2%。因此，我們最終可能會用附近或稍微少一點的東西取代這 2%，這意味著我們可能會在今年開始時在 5% 到 6% 的範圍內。事實上，下降了3.7%。我們將用低於該值的值替換 3.7%。

That gets you down to the 5% to 6% range.

這會讓你的比例下降到 5% 到 6% 的範圍。

The next question comes from Alex Slagle, with Jefferies.

下一個問題來自 Alex Slagle 和 Jefferies。

Just following up on the question on pricing. What was the -- did the check component, how did that look relative to the pricing just in terms of thinking about the mix piece of check?

只是跟進定價問題。支票組件是什麼？就支票的混合部分而言，相對於定價而言，它看起來如何？

I'll give you a high level, and Tom can add some details there. But in general, Alex, what we've seen in our business is no change in regards to how consumers are ordering and what they're ordering from a check standpoint. But as Tom mentioned on the prepared remarks, we've seen an increase in late-night business. So the late-night business has a lower overall average check. So when we start to think about our business, we're seeing about a 200-basis points kind of drag, negative drag, from a mix standpoint, which is just not because consumers are shifting to lower items; it's just the fact that the late-night business is accelerating as part of our comp.

我會給你一個高水平，湯姆可以在那裡添加一些細節。但總的來說，亞歷克斯，我們在我們的業務中看到，消費者的訂購方式以及從檢查的角度來看他們訂購的商品沒有變化。但正如湯姆在準備好的發言中提到的那樣，我們看到深夜業務有所增加。因此，深夜業務的整體平均支票較低。因此，當我們開始考慮我們的業務時，從混合的角度來看，我們看到了200 個基點的拖累，即負面拖累，這並不是因為消費者轉向較低的商品；而是因為消費者轉向了低價產品。事實上，作為我們競爭的一部分，深夜業務正在加速發展。

I don't know, Tom, you can...

我不知道，湯姆，你可以...

Late-night is certainly playing a role. And even some of our off-premise traffic is either growing or some of the takeout check is declining as well. So there's a couple of things that are just out -- like, if we look at purely our on-premise check, that's where we'll look to see if there's any movements in terms of shifts toward more value-oriented items. And no change there. But we are seeing some areas of off-premise where check is going down a little and then the late-night piece as well. Which is great that we're seeing that traffic pickup, it's just shifting some more checks a little bit lower of a check-in. So all in, as Greg said, in kind of that 1% to 2% band is kind of that delta from the pricing to where our check growth is.

深夜肯定發揮了作用。甚至我們的一些場外流量要么在增長，要么一些外賣支票也在下降。因此，有幾件事剛剛公佈——例如，如果我們純粹關注我們的內部部署檢查，我們就會看看是否有任何轉向價值導向專案的趨勢。那裡沒有變化。但我們看到一些場外區域的檢查有所下降，然後是深夜的情況也有所下降。我們看到流量回升，這真是太棒了，它只是將更多的檢查轉移到了簽到的位置。因此，正如格雷格所說，1% 到 2% 的區間是從定價到我們支票成長的增量。

Got it. And as you step back and look across your system of restaurants and see what the top tier of restaurants are doing, those that are driving the strongest traffic growth, I mean, is it largely the remodels that drive that? Or are there other sort of differences, like service levels or retention or something else, that you'd point to that drives the strongest outperformance?

知道了。當你退後一步，審視你的餐廳系統，看看頂級餐廳在做什麼，那些推動客流量增長最強勁的餐廳，我的意思是，這很大程度上是改造推動的嗎？或者是否存在其他類型的差異，例如服務等級或保留率或其他因素，您認為這些差異可以推動最強的表現？

It's an interesting question, Alex. And there's no doubt about it that service levels and restaurants that are well staffed with tenured team members tend to have higher comp sales. And we saw that coming out of COVID, and I know it's sometimes weird still to talk back to COVID, but we saw that and those restaurants have continued.

這是一個有趣的問題，亞歷克斯。毫無疑問，服務水準和配備終身團隊成員的餐廳往往具有更高的可比銷售額。我們看到了新冠病毒帶來的這種情況，我知道有時與新冠病毒頂嘴還是很奇怪，但我們看到了這一點，而且那些餐廳還在繼續。

I think the other side of it is when we look across our system, California, and I know you're up there in the Bay Area, California is probably the last state to kind of feel free of COVID, so to speak. So they're still -- as we think about the third quarter, there was kind of that pent-up demand last year in the third quarter, and that's where we saw maybe a little bit of the biggest shakeout in the third quarter when sales softened, even though it softened across all geographies. And as we've gotten into October, all those geographies have come back, including California is probably coming back a little bit stronger.

我認為事情的另一面是，當我們縱觀我們的系統時，加州，我知道你在灣區，加州可能是最後一個沒有感染新冠病毒的州，可以這麼說。因此，當我們考慮第三季度時，去年第三季度存在某種被壓抑的需求，這就是我們在第三季度看到的可能是銷售量最大的震蕩的地方。軟化，儘管它在所有地區都軟化了。隨著進入十月，所有這些地區都已經回歸，包括加州，其回歸可能會更加強勁。

So a tad on geography. But at the end of the day, it's really service levels, I think, that have played a bigger portion in our business.

所以有點地理知識。但歸根結底，我認為服務水準在我們的業務中發揮了更大的作用。

The next question comes from Josh Long, with Stephens Inc.

下一個問題來自 Stephens Inc. 的 Josh Long。

This is Tyler Prause on for Josh. I would love to hear more about just the general pricing philosophy at BJ's and where do you stand on third-party pricing. Like, I think in the past you've talked about pricing tiers. So any update on that would be great.

這是泰勒普拉斯 (Tyler Prause) 為喬許 (Josh) 發言。我很想了解更多有關 BJ's 的一般定價理念以及您對第三方定價的立場。就像，我想您過去曾談論過定價等級。所以任何關於這方面的更新都會很棒。

And then the second one, if the industry were to shift to more of a value sentiment, how would you approach that situation?

然後是第二個問題，如果產業要轉向更多的價值觀念，你會如何處理這種情況？

I'll give you some more philosophical. I think Tom might be able to add some mechanics in there as well.

我會給你一些更有哲理的。我認為湯姆也可以在其中添加一些機制。

Look, our pricing strategy is always to be around a "good, better, best" pricing strategy. The good is our value items or items that we call KVIs, known-value items. We want to make sure our burger or our chicken alfredo and other items that you might see across different casual dining concepts is very competitive.

看，我們的定價策略始終圍繞著「好、更好、最好」的原則。定價策略。商品是我們的有價值的物品或我們稱之為 KVI 的物品，即已知價值物品。我們希望確保我們的漢堡或阿爾弗雷多雞肉以及您可能在不同休閒餐飲概念中看到的其他產品非常有競爭力。

Then we want to have the ability for guests that want to indulge and know that they're coming to a higher-quality casual dining concept that might want the double bone-in pork chop. They might want the filet or the rib-eye. Those all allow guests to kind of price up a little bit, including things that are on our Slo Roast menu.

然後，我們希望能夠讓想要盡情享受的客人知道他們正在享受更高品質的休閒餐飲概念，可能需要雙骨豬排。他們可能想要菲力牛排或肋眼牛排。這些都允許客人稍微提高價格，包括我們的 Slo Roast 菜單上的東西。

The same thing actually goes for the bar and the beer side of it. We've been really working on what I would consider a best-in-class bar statement, and it's allowed us to have some higher-end bar drinks or cocktails that guests want to spend up. They can, but they're getting a higher quality for it. They're getting uniqueness and differentiating what we call the Brewhouse Theater.

實際上，酒吧和啤酒方面也是如此。我們一直在努力打造我認為一流的酒吧宣言，它使我們能夠擁有一些客人願意消費的高端酒吧飲料或雞尾酒。他們可以，但他們為此獲得了更高的品質。他們正在變得獨特並讓我們所說的釀酒廠劇院與眾不同。

At the same time, as part of our menu strategy as well or our pricing strategy, we have our daily Brewhouse Specials. So those allow for guests to come in on specific days and get something at a really good value from a price point, whether it's our Slo Roast Thursdays, where around $19 you can get a rack of ribs, 2 sides, starter salad and a full Pizookie dessert. That drives obviously a lot of guests into our restaurants because it's something that we can do and it's differentiated from a quality standpoint.

同時，作為我們的菜單策略或定價策略的一部分，我們提供每日啤酒廠特價。因此，客人可以在特定日期光顧，並獲得物超所值的東西，無論是我們的周四烤肉，大約 19 美元就可以買到一排排骨、兩道配菜、開胃沙拉和一份全套菜餚。披薩甜點。這顯然吸引了很多客人來到我們的餐廳，因為這是我們可以做的事情，而且從品質的角度來看它是有區別的。

So we're going to continue to balance across that. We also have our lunch specials as well.

因此，我們將繼續在這方面保持平衡。我們也有特價午餐。

So depending on how the economy is or how we want to target guests in certain markets, sometimes we'll target them with a value statement around our lunch specials or our daily Brewhouse Specials. Other times, we'll target them around some of the indulgent items or some of the limited-time-only items that kind of drive a fear of missing out. Our Spooky Pizookie pertfectly played into that. That drove a FOMO from our guest standpoint. "We need to come in the restaurant and get this Pizookie before it disappears."

因此，根據經濟狀況或我們希望如何瞄準某些市場的客人，有時我們會針對我們的午餐特價或每日啤酒廠特價提供價值聲明來瞄準他們。其他時候，我們會將他們的目標放在一些放縱的物品或一些限時物品上，這些物品會讓人害怕錯過。我們的 Spooky Pizookie 完美地體現了這一點。從我們客人的角度來看，這引發了一種「害怕錯過」的情緒。 “我們需要在 Pizookie 消失之前進入餐廳並得到它。”

So it's a combination of different areas that we want to target based on those individual restaurants as well as the macro environment.

因此，我們希望根據各個餐廳以及宏觀環境來瞄準不同領域的組合。

And then I don't know, Tom, if you want to add anything specific towards our pricing.

湯姆，我不知道您是否想為我們的定價添加任何具體內容。

Sure. In terms of the third-party pricing, we did implement an extra 10% approximately across our third-party platform. So that's in place.

當然。在第三方定價方面，我們確實在第三方平台上實施了約 10% 的額外定價。這樣就完成了。

And in terms of tiers, we are going through a retiering process right now, and some of that due to California needing to be separated out for some other restaurants because of now a new minimum wage as well as there were some changes on the rules around pork products here as well which increased some costs. We're also just looking to see which restaurants should be paired together in terms of sensitivities that we can measure. So that process is ongoing and should be something that we roll out next year.

就等級而言，我們現在正在經歷重新分級過程，其中一些是由於加州需要為其他一些餐廳分開，因為現在有新的最低工資以及周圍的規則發生了一些變化這裡還有豬肉產品，這增加了一些成本。我們也只是想看看哪些餐廳應該根據我們可以衡量的敏感度進行配對。因此，這個過程正在進行中，我們應該在明年推出。

And I think I'll just echo, too, what Greg said about the promotions. We've never backed down from our promotions. So if there's other promotions ramping up, we still have some great daily Brewhouse Specials promotions out there, great happy hour promotions, great lunch value as well. So when we market, it is about brand building, but it's also -- there's a mix in there, too, about getting the awareness out to drive traffic in for these promotions. And we're even looking at the promotions if these are the right ones, if there's ones that can drive even more traffic.

我想我也會重複格雷格關於促銷的話。我們從未在促銷活動上退縮過。因此，如果還有其他促銷活動，我們仍然有一些很棒的每日釀酒廠特價促銷、很棒的歡樂時光促銷以及超值午餐。因此，當我們進行行銷時，它是關於品牌建立的，但也有一個混合因素，那就是提高知名度以增加這些促銷活動的流量。我們甚至會考慮促銷活動是否合適，是否可以帶來更多流量。

So I think the -- I don't -- as we look at the landscape, there are certain brands out there that are using more promotions now or more value, and I think we've got a good mix already and a really attractive one that will drive people in, in any of these forward-looking type of environments.

所以我認為——我不認為——當我們觀察形勢時，有些品牌現在正在使用更多的促銷活動或更多的價值，而且我認為我們已經有了很好的組合，並且非常有吸引力一個能夠驅使人們進入任何這些前瞻性環境的環境。

Great. I appreciate all the color there. Super helpful. And just one follow-up. So the G&A kind of coming in at the low end of the range for '23 is encouraging. And just kind of think how you're thinking about G&A going into full year '24.

偉大的。我欣賞那裡的所有顏色。超有幫助。只有一個後續行動。因此，23 年的一般行政費用處於範圍的低端是令人鼓舞的。想想您如何看待 24 年全年的一般行政費用。

So right now we're in the middle of our budget season. But our goal always on G&A is to grow it at a rate less than top line sales so we can leverage it, going forward. So as we continue to put together our plan and look at what our revenues might be for next year, we'll make sure that we're looking at G&A and going it's got to be below that so we can get leverage, going forward.

所以現在我們正處於預算季節的中期。但我們在一般行政費用上的目標始終是使其成長速度低於頂線銷售額，以便我們能夠充分利用它，繼續前進。因此，當我們繼續制定計劃並考慮明年的收入時，我們將確保我們正在考慮一般管理費用，並且它必須低於該水平，以便我們能夠獲得槓桿作用，繼續前進。

The next question comes from Andrew Wolf, with CL King.

下一個問題來自 Andrew Wolf 和 CL King。

I want to switch to your lower cost to build the new restaurants and just kind of a basic question. Is that necessary, I mean, to get to the IRR hurdles you have talked about before, which I think is 20%? Or was the better-than-expected sales that the restaurants have been achieving already getting you there?

我想改用較低的成本來建造新餐廳，這只是一個基本問題。我的意思是，為了達到您之前談到的 IRR 障礙（我認為是 20%），有必要這樣做嗎？還是餐廳取得的好於預期的銷售額已經讓您到達那裡了？

And I also wanted to just ask you a math question. I'm getting to about a 2% to 3% higher return on investment by bringing the cost down $1 million. Just wanted to run that by you as a reality check.

我還想問你一個數學問題。透過將成本降低 100 萬美元，我的投資回報率將提高約 2% 到 3%。只是想讓你運行一下作為現實檢查。

Andrew, it's a great question actually. And we always continue to look at our prototypes over years to make sure we're basically building the right prototype for our business. And I think as we continue to look at it and evolve our menu and other things, we tend to make adjustments that seem fit to be -- that seem to make sense for us, going forward.

安德魯，這實際上是一個很好的問題。多年來，我們始終不斷地研究我們的原型，以確保我們基本上為我們的業務建立了正確的原型。我認為，當我們繼續研究它並改進我們的菜單和其他東西時，我們傾向於做出看起來合適的調整——這對我們來說似乎是有意義的，繼續前進。

So while the $1 million reduction in investment costs will help us drive our ROI, as you just said, you can just kind of put it in there and look at where our WSA is, and drive the margins, some of the changes in there will allow us to be more efficient around how we build our -- around how we run our restaurants. Reducing some of the square footage, the way we set up our bar statement allows us some efficiencies there, and then some of the changes in the kitchen with team members.

因此，雖然投資成本減少 100 萬美元將幫助我們提高投資回報率，但正如您剛才所說，您可以將其放在那裡，看看我們的 WSA 情況，並提高利潤率，其中的一些變化將讓我們能夠圍繞我們的餐廳建設方式和經營方式更加高效。減少一些面積，我們設置酒吧聲明的方式可以提高我們的效率，然後與團隊成員一起對廚房進行一些改變。

So we always want to optimize it that way.

所以我們總是想以這種方式優化它。

The other side of it as well is we want to continue to understand how the consumer preferences are changing. Some of it comes down to off-premise and where we're building our restaurants. So if we're building our restaurants in certain markets, maybe in California, we might use a little bit of a larger format because we know the California brand awareness of the BJ's concept. Going into some of the different markets that might be a little bit smaller, having that smaller prototype is going to give us better efficiencies in those restaurants.

另一方面，我們也希望繼續了解消費者偏好的變化。其中一些歸結為場外以及我們正在建造餐廳的地方。因此，如果我們要在某些市場（也許是在加州）開設餐廳，我們可能會使用更大的格式，因為我們知道加州對 BJ 概念的品牌認知度。進入一些可能較小的不同市場，擁有較小的原型將為我們提高這些餐廳的效率。

So it's a combination of both of those things. But even as we look to build this current prototype for next year, Greg Lynds, who's actually at a real estate conference this week, and his team is actually looking at what that next evolution is going to look like, with a couple of other changes that, again, continue to optimize not only the cost of it but optimize the way we can execute within the 4 walls of the restaurant.

所以它是這兩件事的結合。但即使我們希望為明年建立當前的原型，格雷格·林茲（Greg Lynds）實際上正在參加本週的房地產會議，他的團隊實際上正在研究下一次演變會是什麼樣子，以及其他一些變化再次強調，不僅要繼續優化成本，還要優化我們在餐廳的4 面牆內執行的方式。

Andrew, just to -- as you mentioned in your math, that's right. The $1 million coming out of the build cost improves the return by in that 3% area.

安德魯，正如你在數學中提到的那樣，這是對的。 100 萬美元的建造成本提高了 3% 區域的回報。

Great. I have a kind of analogous question, this is my last question, on the remodels. I'm just trying to sort of back into the sales lift. And I would assume it's a little less than a one-for-one, dollar-for-dollar because the incremental profit margin is better. I just want to sort of check that. Or are you able to talk to directly what the sales lift is?

偉大的。我有一個類似的問題，這是我的最後一個問題，關於改造。我只是想恢復銷售成長。我認為這比一對一、一美元對一美元的交易要少一些，因為增量利潤率更好。我只是想檢查一下。或者您能直接談談銷售提升是多少嗎？

Sure, Andrew. The way that we've been rolling out these remodels, there's a couple of different scopes. So the lower scope, where we've been adding a few extra booths and doing some of the touch-ups around the restaurants, that's about $250,000. And those ones are seeing in the neighborhood of about $1,000 or $1,500 extra on a weekly sales basis, which, to your point, it's incremental traffic, and the flow-through on that is nice. So we're seeing the returns in the 20% or higher.

當然，安德魯。我們推出這些改造的方式有幾個不同的範圍。因此，在較低的範圍內，我們增加了一些額外的攤位，並對餐廳周圍進行了一些修飾，大約需要 25 萬美元。這些人每週的銷售額大約增加 1,000 美元或 1,500 美元，就您而言，這是增量流量，而且流量非常好。所以我們看到的回報率是 20% 或更高。

The larger-scope remodels that Greg mentioned, and these are the ones that we actually like even more because it really is brand-building and traffic-driving and you redo the bars and do painting on the outside and put on new murals and brighten up the dining rooms and reconfigure some of the booths. Some of these remodels can be $600,000 or $700,000 or even a little higher. And we're still seeing the same type of return. So it is -- as we think of the sales lift, we're seeing a multiple of that type of sales lift in these restaurants.

格雷格提到的更大範圍的改造，這些是我們實際上更喜歡的，因為它確實是品牌建設和交通驅動，你重做酒吧並在外麵粉刷，並貼上新的壁畫並照亮餐廳並重新配置一些攤位。其中一些改造可能需要 60 萬或 70 萬美元，甚至更高一些。我們仍然看到相同類型的回報。所以，當我們考慮銷售提升時，我們看到這些餐廳的此類銷售提升是數倍的。

The next question comes from Nick Setyan, with Wedbush Securities.

下一個問題來自 Wedbush Securities 的 Nick Setyan。

Appreciate the monthly cadence as the quarter progressed and, obviously, the October pickup. Any way to kind of parse out this was sort of x percent was seasonality and the rest was some kind of a consumer slowdown? I know it's a very difficult question, but it would also help us have some confidence in terms of the go-forward trend as well. If it was seasonality, then low-single-digit comp for Q4 makes sense. But if there was something else that you saw, perhaps we should be a little bit more concerned.

隨著季度的進展，欣賞每月的節奏，顯然，十月的回升。有什麼方法可以解析出其中百分之x是季節性，其餘的是某種消費者放緩？我知道這是一個非常困難的問題，但這也有助於我們對未來的趨勢有信心。如果是季節性因素，那麼第四季的低個位數補償是有意義的。但如果你看到了其他東西，也許我們應該更擔心一些。

Nick, obviously, a great question. And we all are trying to decipher different things, as you just mentioned there. I think the biggest thing for us when we look at this number and look at what happened in the quarter and think about where we are today is -- and look, I've been doing this a long time. I don't think I've ever seen an August weekly sales average above July, whether it was my days back in California Pizza Kitchen as a public company to BJ's. You generally see a movement coming off of June into July, lower August and then a lower September. And as we were going through it, it was just -- I wouldn't say odd. It's just a trend we haven't seen, where August sales are higher than July sales.

尼克，顯然，這是一個很好的問題。正如您剛才提到的，我們都在嘗試破解不同的事物。我認為，當我們查看這個數字、查看本季發生的情況並思考我們今天所處的位置時，對我們來說最重要的是——看，我已經這樣做很長時間了。我認為我從未見過 8 月份的周銷售平均值高於 7 月份，無論是我在加州 Pizza Kitchen 作為一家上市公司還是 BJ's 的時候。您通常會看到從 6 月到 7 月的走勢，然後是 8 月的下跌，然後是 9 月的下跌。當我們經歷這一切時，我不會說這很奇怪。這只是我們還沒看到的趨勢，八月的銷售額高於七月的銷售額。

And then as we did the same thing, kind of to your question there, we started looking at how October, November and December played out and compared it to '19. And last year, in 2022, October, November and December played very traditional in regards to seasonality. So that's where we kind of looked at it.

然後，當我們做了同樣的事情時，類似於你的問題，我們開始研究 10 月、11 月和 12 月的情況，並將其與 19 年進行比較。去年，2022 年，10 月、11 月和 12 月在季節性方面表現非常傳統。這就是我們所關注的地方。

And then as soon as September was over and we went into October, our sales just bounced back by that more than 500 basis points that Tom talked about. And while we had some great promotion around Spooky Pizookie and some other things that we've done that are specific to BJ's, that type of turnaround really gave us much more of a view that this was kind of going -- this was really the consumer moving back to normal seasonality.

9 月一結束，進入 10 月，我們的銷售額就反彈了湯姆所說的 500 多個基點。雖然我們圍繞著Spooky Pizookie 以及我們針對BJ's 所做的其他一些事情進行了一些很棒的促銷活動，但這種轉變確實讓我們更意識到這是一種進展——這實際上是消費者的需求回到正常的季節性。

Additionally where we saw it, just getting a little bit more granular, per se, is we kind of thought in that secondish week, the third week of August, right when school started to come back into session -- I know both you and I grew up here in California, and I remember starting school after Labor Day. That no longer happens anymore. And as kids went back to school in August, that's when we started to see that slowdown come through.

另外，我們看到的，只是變得更具體一點，本身就是我們在第二週，即八月的第三週，就在學校開始恢復上課時的想法——我知道你和我我在加利福尼亞州長大，我記得勞動節後就開始上學了。這種情況不再發生了。當孩子們在八月重返學校時，我們開始看到經濟放緩的情況出現。

The other side of it is California, which with 60-plus restaurants in California, that's going to have a big delta on our business. And I would probably say you can see it in the Black Box data as well. California probably came down the most and then has come back the most. And California was one of those states that also came out of COVID the last, so to speak. I even remember myself personally in 2021 still facing COVID here in California and regulations and so forth. So I think California had much more of a, for lack of a better term, revenge dining last year in 2022. And as I said, as quickly as we saw it come in August, we've seen it reverse here in October.

另一邊是加州，加州有 60 多家餐廳，我們的業務將形成一個巨大的三角洲。我可能會說你也可以在黑盒子資料中看到它。加州可能跌幅最大，然後又恢復得最快。可以說，加州也是最後一個擺脫新冠疫情影響的州之一。我甚至記得我自己在 2021 年仍然面臨加州的新冠疫情和法規等等。因此，我認為加州在2022 年去年出現了更多（沒有更好的術語）復仇餐飲。正如我所說，我們在8 月看到這種情況很快出現，但在10 月我們就看到了這種情況的逆轉。

And we always say this on our calls as well, look, this is where our sales are right now. Just like when we reported in Q3, we were talking about where our sales were in July at that time frame.

我們在電話中也總是這樣說，看，這就是我們現在的銷售情況。就像我們在第三季報告時一樣，我們正在談論當時 7 月的銷售額。

I don't know, Tom, if you want to add anything to that?

湯姆，我不知道你還想補充什麼？

I think Greg covered most of it. And just the one other aspect, and we mentioned this in the prepared remarks, was around the '19 comp. And when we looked at our sales through -- the same cadence through each of the periods, each of the months, it was very consistent. And we hit September where we had a pricing round rolling in from '19. We saw the comp dip a little bit on the 3-year basis. And then when we took our pricing round at the end of September, we saw it step back up. So it was following very closely to the patterns that we would have expected on a '19 basis if the seasonality was the same as it was pre-COVID. So all of the evidence that we're looking at is pointing to the 2022 seasonality was the difference in the quarter.

我認為格雷格涵蓋了大部分內容。而另一方面，我們在準備好的評論中提到了這一點，是關於 19 年的比賽。當我們觀察每個時期、每個月的相同節奏的銷售額時，情況非常一致。到了 9 月份，我們從 19 年開始進行一輪定價。我們看到三年來的比較略有下降。然後，當我們在九月底進行定價時，我們發現價格有所回升。因此，如果季節性與新冠疫情之前相同，那麼它非常接近我們在 19 年的預期模式。因此，我們正在研究的所有證據都表明 2022 年的季節性因素是該季度的差異。

So nothing in terms of less attach rates, trade-down, anything else you're seeing that would kind of imply consumers are becoming a little bit more cautious?

那麼，從附加費率降低、降價等方面看，您看到的任何其他東西都沒有暗示消費者變得更加謹慎嗎？

That's right. We poll it by week, looking at the incidence rates, things we want to be selling, the Pizookie and alcohol, any beverage, appetizers, the things that if there is some check management you would see it on. And also seeing the more value-oriented sides of our menu, our happy hour, our lunch value and daily Brewhouse Specials.

這是正確的。我們按週進行調查，查看發病率、我們想要銷售的東西、Pizookie 和酒精、任何飲料、開胃菜，以及如果有一些檢查管理你會看到的東西。還可以看到我們菜單中更注重價值的方面、我們的歡樂時光、我們的午餐價值和每日釀酒廠特價。

And looking by the week, and this is looking actually both to last year as well as '19, there's no -- it looks very consistent as we go through the weeks and through the period. So no shifts in those types of metrics that would signal some type of a check management or the consumer pulling back.

按週來看，這實際上是去年和 19 年的情況，沒有——當我們經歷幾周和整個時期時，它看起來非常一致。因此，這些類型的指標沒有發生任何變化，表明某種類型的檢查管理或消費者撤回。

Anything in terms of the holiday seasons and how that might impact or benefit Q4 this year versus last year to be aware of?

關於假期，有什麼需要注意的嗎？與去年相比，這可能會如何影響或有益於今年第四季？

Compared to last year, so Christmas will fall on a Monday versus a Sunday. So there's a modest benefit there, but that might be 20 basis points for all-in for the quarter. So a little help, but very -- there's not like New Year's Day falling in or out of a year, which can swing Q4 a little more dramatically. There's probably some promotions that we might be looking at differently around Veterans Day. So I think, all in, it's going to be a very similar quarter as the calendar lines up.

與去年相比，聖誕節將在周一而不是周日。因此，存在一定的收益，但本季的總收益可能為 20 個基點。所以有一點幫助，但非常——不像元旦在一年之內或之外，這可能會對第四季度產生更大的影響。在退伍軍人節前後，我們可能會以不同的方式看待一些促銷活動。所以我認為，總而言之，隨著日曆的排列，這將是一個非常相似的季度。

The next question comes from Todd Brooks, with the Benchmark Company.

下一個問題來自基準公司的托德布魯克斯。

I've got a few for you guys here. Tom, if I could start off with you, very encouraging news on the further cost saves. I know you talked about $30 million, and that's not an end point. If we take this out to kind of a longer-term opportunity as we're looking into what could be harvested maybe going into '25, what's the magnitude of this opportunity versus the $25 million that you guys thought was originally there to harvest?

我這裡有一些給你們。湯姆，首先請容許我向您介紹一下關於進一步節省成本的非常令人鼓舞的消息。我知道你談到了 3000 萬美元，但這不是終點。如果我們將其視為一個長期機會，因為我們正在研究 25 年可能會收穫什麼，那麼與你們最初認為可以收穫的 2500 萬美元相比，這個機會的規模有多大？

We're still vetting the new opportunities that are coming in. We're not saying yes to everything, but we are increasing the scope every time we're meeting as a team to find more and more opportunities. So as we said, it's $30 million now that have been accepted and are rolling in. There's still more that's either waiting to be rolled out or still in some term of some form of vetting. So we don't have that number to share in terms of what it could be in 2025, but that $30 million we're at now is going to be higher. So we're going to continue to keep rolling them out, and we'll keep everybody updated as we keep adding to it.

我們仍在審查即將到來的新機會。我們並不是對所有事情都說“是”，但每次我們作為一個團隊開會時，我們都會擴大範圍，以尋找越來越多的機會。正如我們所說，現在已經有 3000 萬美元被接受並正在滾滾而來。還有更多的資金要么等待推出，要么仍在某種形式的審查中。因此，我們無法分享 2025 年的具體數字，但我們現在的 3000 萬美元將會更高。因此，我們將繼續推出它們，並在不斷添加內容的同時向每個人通報最新情況。

But yes, we're encouraged by even some of the new ideas that keep coming in. It's great when you have a cross-functional team that are all focused on costs and growing margins and doing it the right way. And we're continuing to get some really good ideas coming out of this initiative that we'll continue executing against.

但是，是的，即使是一些不斷出現的新想法也讓我們感到鼓舞。當你擁有一個跨職能團隊，他們都專注於成本和不斷增長的利潤並以正確的方式做事時，那就太好了。我們將繼續從這項舉措中獲得一些非常好的想法，我們將繼續執行這些想法。

Todd, this is Greg, to add to that. We're even looking at how we continue to cook items in the kitchen. We've got, obviously, our peak (inaudible) and we run some great things through that. It's one of the reasons we have such consistency. Can we move more items to that versus using a different other area versus maybe a flat top or the grill. And just looking at other areas in that perspective that can continue to help us.

托德，我是格雷格，補充。我們甚至正在研究如何繼續在廚房裡烹飪食物。顯然，我們已經達到了巔峰（聽不清楚），並且我們在此期間做了一些偉大的事情。這是我們保持如此一致性的原因之一。我們可以將更多的物品移到那裡，而不是使用不同的其他區域，而不是平頂或烤架。從這個角度看待其他領域可以繼續幫助我們。

So I think as we go down this process, not only, as Tom talked about it, that we'll have more than the $30 million, but it's something that we've got to continue with. We've got to continue with that creativity in our business to continue to figure out ways to make us more efficient, more productive and, at the same time, reduce costs.

所以我認為，當我們繼續這個過程時，不僅像湯姆所說的那樣，我們將擁有超過 3000 萬美元，而且這是我們必須繼續下去的事情。我們必須繼續在我們的業務中發揮創造力，繼續尋找提高效率、生產力的方法，同時降低成本。

Okay. Great. And then, Greg, one for you. With the new streamlined menu, I think, going back to what you said, in tests you hadn't seen much of a same-store sales impact from constructing some of the items, taking them off the menu. Once the menu launched, did that experience hold? Or was there some sort of same-store sales headwind in actually moving across the full fleet to the new streamlined menu?

好的。偉大的。然後，格雷格，給你一份。回到你所說的，我認為有了新的簡化菜單，在測試中你並沒有看到構建某些項目並將其從菜單中刪除對同店銷售產生太大影響。菜單推出後，這種體驗還有效嗎？或者，在整個車隊實際上轉向新的簡化菜單時是否存在某種同店銷售阻力？

So it looked like it held. And we didn't do a holdout restaurant just to see how things played out because of how we did it in the test. But as we went into July, and forgetting some of the seasonality but looking at all of our restaurants, it didn't look like there was any significant changes from one area to the other.

所以看起來它確實成立了。我們開設一家堅持不懈的餐廳並不是為了看看事情如何發展，因為我們在測試中是這樣做的。但當我們進入七月時，忘記了一些季節性因素，而是看看我們所有的餐廳，看起來從一個區域到另一個區域沒有任何重大變化。

So what we tried to do seemed to work in regards to driving operational efficiencies, streamlining the fact that we didn't need 10 burgers or we didn't need 10 salads and so forth. As we moved down, we saw guests shift into what we'd expected them to shift into. At the same time, as we put things on like a filet or we put the pretzel on, we saw guests move into that within those different categories.

因此，我們嘗試做的事情似乎在提高營運效率、簡化我們不需要 10 個漢堡或不需要 10 個沙拉等方面發揮了作用。當我們向下移動時，我們看到客人變成了我們期望的樣子。同時，當我們放上菲力牛排或椒鹽捲餅之類的東西時，我們看到客人們進入了這些不同的類別。

But overall, it seems like things have held as we expected.

但總體而言，事情似乎正如我們預期的那樣。

That's great. And then just 2 quick follow-up additional questions. One, can you update us on where we are on returning the full fleet to late-night operations?

那太棒了。然後是 2 個快速跟進的附加問題。第一，您能否向我們介紹一下我們在使整個機隊恢復深夜運作方面的進展？

And then secondly, you touched on this with California exposure, and I know you guys won't use weather as an excuse, but I was wondering, is there a way to tease out the impact? I mean, you don't get a lot of tropical storms/hurricanes in the California market. And just wondering what impact that may have had on the business, with it hitting in August.

其次，你談到了加州的暴露，我知道你們不會用天氣作為藉口，但我想知道，有沒有辦法弄清楚影響？我的意思是，加州市場不會出現很多熱帶風暴/颶風。只是想知道這可能會對八月的業務產生什麼影響。

I'll let -- I'll give you some of my anecdotes, because I forget because it's been a while. It obviously did hit us. But us in California that aren't used to a tropical storm, I think we, like, literally went recluse for, like, the entire weekend. It was a tough weekend. I forget what our comps were down. I think people were just not going to get out of their house, even though, honestly, like, we've seen bigger storms in the middle of the winter time.

我會給你一些我的軼事，因為我忘記了，因為已經有一段時間了。顯然它確實打擊了我們。但我們加州不習慣熱帶風暴，我想我們整個週末都像隱士一樣。這是一個艱難的周末。我忘記了我們的比賽表現如何。我認為人們只是不想走出家門，儘管說實話，我們在隆冬時節已經看到了更大的風暴。

We'd have to come back to you because it's just been so far and it didn't seem like that, in and of itself, made that much difference. Obviously, we had that and then we had the Florida hurricane that came through, and both of those did impact the quarter.

我們必須回到你身邊，因為到目前為止，它本身似乎並沒有帶來太大的不同。顯然，我們經歷過這種情況，然後發生了佛羅裡達颶風，這兩者都確實影響了本季。

Late-night, we are rolling out all of our restaurants. I don't know, Tom, if everybody is there yet or if we're still rolling through on that.

深夜，我們將推出所有餐廳。湯姆，我不知道大家是否都到齊了，或者我們是否還在繼續前進。

So in late-night, to take you back to where we were pre-COVID, the place we have not added the hours back are really on the Fridays and Saturdays, when we were open until 1:00 in the morning. We're still thinking if that makes sense and we're going to be able to drive the right type of sales and margin, make sure that's dollar margin accretive. So that's the one area we have not done yet.

因此，在深夜，帶您回到新冠疫情發生之前的情況，我們沒有添加營業時間的地方實際上是周五和周六，當時我們營業到凌晨 1:00。我們仍在思考這是否有意義，我們將能夠推動正確類型的銷售和利潤，確保美元利潤增值。這是我們尚未完成的一個領域。

But for the most part, getting the -- outside of that Friday and Saturday, the Sundays through the Thursdays, most of our restaurants are now back to midnight. And that's been a very great success, not just for the sales, but actually seeing dollars as well as percent margin from those extra sales. You do get it in that last hour, that 11:00 to midnight, but it also builds in that 9:00 to 10:00 and 10:00 to 11:00 hour. So we've seen some really nice return there.

但在大多數情況下，除了週五和週六、週日到週四，我們的大多數餐廳現在都回到午夜。這是一個非常巨大的成功，不僅在銷售方面，而且實際上從這些額外銷售中看到了美元和百分比利潤。您確實會在最後一小時（即 11:00 到午夜）獲得它，但它也會在 9:00 到 10:00 和 10:00 到 11:00 之間建立。所以我們在那裡看到了一些非常好的回報。

There's just a few restaurants that haven't added that back yet. But for the most part, that midweek we're back to midnight. And still exploring and analyzing if it makes sense, in at least some restaurants, to go back to that 1:00 on the Friday and Saturday. But that, we have not determined yet.

只有幾家餐廳還沒有加回來。但在大多數情況下，周中我們會回到午夜。並且仍在探索和分析是否有意義，至少在某些餐廳中，回到週五和週六的 1:00。但我們還沒有確定。

The next question comes from Sharon Zackfia, with William Blair.

下一個問題來自莎朗·扎克菲亞和威廉·布萊爾。

I guess I wanted to go back to the California fast food wage hike that's happening next year. And I know you're not directly impacted, but obviously, wages going up impacts everybody and you alluded to that. I guess I'm wondering, is there any way that you could paint this as a favorable scenario for full-service, where the order of magnitude price increase that you would have to take to cover labor inflation would be much less than your limited-service peers? I mean, is there any market where you've seen a test case of this where maybe the gap between full-service and limited-service narrows somewhat in terms of price points?

我想我想回到明年加州快餐工資上漲的情況。我知道你沒有直接受到影響，但顯然，薪資上漲會影響每個人，你也提到了這一點。我想我想知道，有沒有什麼方法可以將這種情況描繪成全方位服務的有利場景，在這種情況下，您為彌補勞動力通膨而必須採取的價格上漲幅度將遠小於您的有限-服務同行？我的意思是，是否有任何市場您見過這樣的測試案例，其中全方位服務和有限服務之間的差距在價格點上可能有所縮小？

Sharon, it's a great question. And obviously, with the dining room team members, or the front of the house, you've got tips coming in. So those tips put people significantly over the $20-an-hour range there. And then most of our kitchen is already close to that, if not over that, in California. And we've even said we can be driving down the street and see a fast food or another restaurant with a sign outside saying "Starting Wages at $22" and really not necessarily impact our restaurant in that general area. So I do think we've got an inherent benefit there.

莎倫，這是一個很好的問題。顯然，餐廳團隊成員或前台人員會給你小費。因此，這些小費使人們的工資大大超過了每小時 20 美元的範圍。然後，我們的大部分廚房已經接近（如果不是超過）加州的水平。我們甚至說過，我們可以在街上開車時看到一家快餐店或另一家餐館，外面有一個標牌，上面寫著「起薪 22 美元」。確實不一定會影響我們在該區域的餐廳。所以我確實認為我們在那裡有一個固有的好處。

I also think, to your point, that because of this, you're going to see fast food, which already is, and fast casual raising their prices and getting their prices closer to casual dining.

我還認為，就你的觀點而言，正因為如此，你將會看到快餐（已經是這樣）和快餐休閒食品提高價格，使其價格更接近休閒餐飲。

I still think that it's a different experience at times in that regard, and we're trying to drive guests into our restaurants that want that more experiential dining from that experience, I guess. We will always want to obviously make sure we can continue to drive off-premise and be close to them if off-premise is not with them, if not the same price, if not better, on off-premise. But ultimately, what we're trying to do is have a differentiated food profile, trying to make sure we're driving guests that are wanting Brewhouse Theater, want that differentiation of a sit-down experience. And it's still an $80 billion-plus industry that we're going after.

我仍然認為，在這方面，有時這是一種不同的體驗，我想，我們正在努力吸引那些希望從這種體驗中獲得更多體驗式用餐的客人進入我們的餐廳。我們總是希望明確確保我們可以繼續在場外行駛，並在場外不與他們在一起時接近他們，如果不是相同的價格，如果不是更好的話，在場外。但最終，我們想要做的是提供差異化的食物配置，努力確保我們吸引那些想要啤酒廠劇院、想要這種差異化的坐下體驗的客人。我們所追求的仍然是一個價值超過 800 億美元的產業。

Now that being said, I'm not sure there is a market that we can compare to where we are today. Even if I had to look at certain cities that already have minimum wages in the $18, $19 range and look at our business and how we're comping versus, again, trying to look at it versus fast food, I don't know if I've got that comparison.

話雖這麼說，我不確定是否有一個市場可以與我們今天的情況進行比較。即使我必須看看某些最低工資已經在 18 美元、19 美元範圍內的城市，看看我們的業務以及我們如何與快餐相比，我不知道是否我已經有這個對比了

All I know is minimum wage in general hasn't been as impactful to driving top line sales. I guess, sometimes people think it tends to give more dollars in people's pockets and they tend to want to go out and use it on discretionary items, and we get a benefit of that.

我所知道的是，整體而言，最低工資對推動營收的影響並不大。我想，有時人們認為它往往會給人們的口袋裡帶來更多的錢，他們往往想出去把它用在可自由支配的物品上，我們從中受益。

Okay. And then sorry if I missed this, I hopped on another call, I know the menu rationalization seemed to go pretty well that you did in July. Are there thoughts to doing further rationalization? Or are you pretty happy where you are at this point?

好的。然後很抱歉，如果我錯過了這個，我又打了一個電話，我知道菜單合理化似乎比你們七月做的順利。是否有進一步合理化的想法？或者你對目前的處境感到非常滿意嗎？

We've got to stay disciplined on it. And I would actually like to take it down, personally. That's a personal thing. But I've got to continue to watch where guests -- we at BJ's have to continue to watch where guests go on our menu and what they're ordering and making sure we've got the right variety of differentiation.

我們必須遵守紀律。我個人實際上想把它拿下來。這是個人的事情。但我必須繼續關注客人的位置——我們 BJ's 必須繼續關注客人在我們的菜單上的位置以及他們點的菜，並確保我們提供正確的差異化產品。

We do know from our consumer research that variety and breadth is important to our guests. And as a result, we want to continue with that breadth there. But at the same time, Putnam Shin, our Chief Growth and Innovation Officer, Scott Rodriguez, our Senior Vice President of Culinary, continue to create unbelievably new great items that we would love to get on our menu. And the only way we can do that is by being disciplined on items that need to come off.

我們從消費者研究中確實知道，多樣性和廣度對我們的客人來說很重要。因此，我們希望繼續保持這種廣度。但與此同時，我們的首席成長和創新長 Putnam Shin 以及我們的烹飪高級副總裁 Scott Rodriguez 繼續創造令人難以置信的新美食，我們希望將這些菜餚列入我們的菜單。我們能做到這一點的唯一方法就是嚴格遵守需要脫落的物品。

So I don't know if there's another big, big chunk down like we just did, but we'll stay disciplined and take certain items off going forward so that we can have really unique, I think, LTOs to drive that kind of consumer traffic into our restaurant and that fear of missing out.

所以我不知道是否還有像我們剛才那樣的另一大塊下降，但我們將保持紀律並繼續取消某些項目，以便我們可以擁有真正獨特的，我認為，LTO 來推動這類消費者進入我們餐廳的交通以及對錯過的恐懼。

The last question today comes from Teddy Farley, with Citi.

今天的最後一個問題來自花旗集團的泰迪法利。

Just one for me. As you think about return of capital and continuing the share repurchase program, what is your thinking around restarting the quarterly dividend that you had pre-COVID, if you're thinking about that at all?

只給我一個。當您考慮資本回報和繼續股票回購計劃時，如果您有考慮的話，您對重新啟動疫情前的季度股息有何想法？

Teddy, it's something we'd have to bring up with our board of directors. I think right now where the stock is trading, and look, I'm not the one that determines the valuation of the company, but I think management is very confident in its strategy and its ability to increase its EBITDA and feels that at least share repurchases right now are the right way to return capital back to shareholders.

泰迪，這是我們必須向董事會提出的。我認為現在股票的交易情況，看，我不是決定公司估值的人，但我認為管理層對其戰略及其增加 EBITDA 的能力非常有信心，並認為至少份額現在回購是向股東返還資本的正確方式。

As we continue to put together our 2024 and 2025 and beyond capital program, both CapEx and capital program, I think we're going to be in a position that continues to generate a significant amount of free cash flow at that 5% to 7% new restaurant build and continue to expand margins. I think as we look at that, it's something to look and figure out what's the right approach here in regards to returning capital to our shareholders.

隨著我們繼續整合 2024 年和 2025 年及以後的資本計劃，包括資本支出和資本計劃，我認為我們將能夠繼續以 5% 至 7% 的速度產生大量自由現金流新餐廳建設並繼續擴大利潤。我認為，當我們考慮這一點時，我們需要考慮並找出向股東返還資本的正確方法。

Dividends do allow a certain amount of discipline within the capital structure because you've got to meet that each quarter. And I think that discipline is actually a good thing. At the same time, I think where we are today, being more opportunistic buying back shares makes more sense.

股利確實允許資本結構內有一定程度的紀律，因為每季都必須滿足這項要求。我認為紀律其實是一件好事。同時，我認為我們今天所處的位置，更有機會主義地回購股票更有意義。

Thank you. The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation.

謝謝。會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演講。