BJ's Restaurants Inc (BJRI) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, and welcome to the BJ's Restaurants first-quarter 2024 earnings release conference call. (Operator Instructions)

下午好，歡迎參加 BJ's Restaurant 2024 年第一季財報發布電話會議。 （操作員說明）

Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Rana Schirmer, Director of SEC Reporting. Please go ahead.

請注意此事件正在被記錄。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 2024 first-quarter investor conference call and Webcast. After the market closed today, we released our financial results for our fiscal 2024 first quarter. You can view the full text of our earnings release on our website at www.bjsrestaurants.com.

謝謝你，接線生。大家下午好，歡迎參加我們的 2024 財年第一季投資者電話會議和網路廣播。今天收盤後，我們發布了 2024 財年第一季的財務表現。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 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 the projections in the forward-looking statements.

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。對未來業績的不適當依賴。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。

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.

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 by Greg Levin, our Chief Executive Officer and President; and Tom Houdek, our Chief Financial Officer. After which we will take your questions. And with that, I will turn the call over to Greg. Greg?

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。然後，我會將電話轉給格雷格。格雷格？

Thank you, Rana. BJ's delivered another quarter of improving restaurant-level margins and overall EBITDA growth, overcoming the challenging January weather which impacted guest traffic industry-wide. Our improving results reflect the benefits of the strategies we shared at our Investor Day in November. These strategies focused on driving sales through our familiar-made brewhouse fabulous culinary initiative, building our awareness over time, our people initiative around hospitality, and gold standard level of operational excellence and a welcoming contemporary ambiance to our remodel initiatives.

謝謝你，拉娜。 BJ's 克服了影響全行業客流量的 1 月份惡劣天氣，餐廳利潤率和整體 EBITDA 增長又一個季度有所改善。我們業績的改善反映了我們在 11 月投資者日分享的策略的好處。這些策略的重點是透過我們熟悉的釀酒廠精美的烹飪計劃來推動銷售，隨著時間的推移建立我們的意識，我們圍繞熱情好客的員工計劃，以及卓越運營的黃金標準水平和我們的改造計劃營造出溫馨的現代氛圍。

Our holistic approach also addresses margin expansion through productivity and cost-savings initiatives. Taken together, these strategies have established a foundation for future financial and restaurant growth and the enhancement of shareholder value.

我們的整體方法也透過生產力和成本節約計畫來解決利潤擴張問題。總而言之，這些策略為未來的財務和餐廳成長以及股東價值的提升奠定了基礎。

As we mentioned on our 2023 Q4 call in mid-February, comparable restaurant sales were down approximately 5% six weeks into the first quarter due to impacts from the winter storms. However, as weather largely normalized throughout the rest of the quarter, our comparable restaurant sales improved, resulting in comp sales being down only 1.7% for the quarter. The improvement in comp sales throughout the quarter came primarily from improved guest traffic.

正如我們在 2 月中旬的 2023 年第四季電話會議中所提到的，由於冬季風暴的影響，第一季六週後可比餐廳銷售額下降了約 5%。然而，隨著本季剩餘時間天氣基本恢復正常，我們的可比餐廳銷售額有所改善，導致本季可比銷售額僅下降 1.7%。整個季度的同品銷售的改善主要來自於客流量的增加。

Q1 '24 also marked our 12th consecutive quarter of beating the industry as measured by Black Box. Furthermore, our restaurant margins continued to expand and rose to 15%, representing an increase of 240 basis points from the prior year despite the January weather impact.

根據 Black Box 的衡量，24 年第一季也標誌著我們連續 12 個季度跑贏行業。此外，儘管受到 1 月天氣影響，我們的餐廳利潤率持續擴大，升至 15%，較上年增長 240 個基點。

On a reported basis, adjusted EBITDA in the quarter rose to $29.4 million, inclusive of some one-time G&A costs, which Tom will discuss shortly. Excluding these one-time expenses, adjusted EBITDA would have been approximately $31 million, or approximately 25% higher than the prior year, and 9.2% of sales.

根據報告，本季調整後的 EBITDA 升至 2,940 萬美元，其中包括一些一次性的一般管理費用，湯姆將很快討論這一點。排除這些一次性費用，調整後的 EBITDA 約為 3,100 萬美元，比前一年高出約 25%，佔銷售額的 9.2%。

Tom will discuss our margin growth initiatives that generated strong Q1 results in more detail in a moment. However, as we've stated before, we continue to expect restaurant-level margins to expand again this year based on the foundation we have established. Therefore, despite ongoing sales choppiness that we expect through the first half of 2024 as we lap the final aspects of COVID revenge dining and begin lapping the more normalized pre-COVID seasonal trends that we experienced in the second half of last year, the foundation that we are building will position BJ's to further close the gap to our pre-pandemic restaurant-level margins.

湯姆稍後將更詳細地討論我們的利潤成長計劃，這些計劃產生了強勁的第一季業績。然而，正如我們之前所說，我們仍然預計今年餐廳層面的利潤率將在我們已經建立的基礎上再次擴大。因此，儘管我們預計 2024 年上半年銷售將持續波動，因為我們已經完成了新冠病毒報復性餐飲的最後階段，並開始經歷去年下半年經歷的更加正常化的新冠疫情前季節性趨勢，但我們正在建構BJ's 定位，以進一步縮小與大流行前餐廳水準的利潤率差距。

Our solid results are a testament to our team members who continue to execute against our strategic initiatives to improve the overall dining experience for our guests, while driving impressive margin growth through our productivity and savings initiatives. To this point, both our hourly and management turnover is lower than it was in 2019 and lower than last year.

我們堅實的業績證明了我們的團隊成員繼續執行我們的策略舉措，以改善客人的整體用餐體驗，同時透過我們的生產力和節省舉措推動令人印象深刻的利潤成長。到目前為止，我們的小時流動率和管理階層流動率都低於 2019 年，也低於去年。

Our more tenured team, coupled with our culinary strategy focused on familiar made brewhouse fabulous and our initiatives underway, has resulted in both guests and operating benefits measured by faster service times and improved social sentiment scores compared to a year ago.

我們的長期團隊，加上我們專注於熟悉的啤酒廠美妙的烹飪策略以及我們正在進行的舉措，與一年前相比，通過更快的服務時間和更高的社會情緒得分來衡量客人和運營效益。

As we bolstered our team last year, we implemented our gracious hospitality initiative to enhance our already high hospitality standards and scores. The first part of this initiative focused on new server scripting. With this new server scripting driving improved hospitality scores, this month, we began rolling out our enhanced service model, which balances the number of tables per server, food runners, and quality, fast expediter positions in our restaurant.

去年，在加強團隊建設的同時，我們實施了熱情好客計劃，以提高我們本已很高的酒店標準和分數。該計劃的第一部分重點關注新的伺服器腳本。借助這種新的服務器腳本提高了接待評分，本月，我們開始推出增強的服務模型，該模型平衡了餐廳中每台服務器的餐桌數量、送餐員以及優質、快速的催交員職位。

These changes allow servers to get to our guests sooner so we can get the food into the kitchen faster. It also frees up our managers so that they have more time to be in the dining room to make sure we are delivering the gold standard level of operational excellence for our guests. Overall, we expect this initiative to help improve throughput in our restaurants so that we can handle even more demand. We expect the rollout of this initiative to take the better part of Q2 and Q3 of this year and will have a slight impact on training labor for these quarters.

這些變化使服務員能夠更快地為客人服務，這樣我們就可以更快地將食物送入廚房。它還解放了我們的經理，使他們有更多的時間在餐廳，以確保我們為客人提供黃金標準的卓越運營水平。總的來說，我們希望這項措施有助於提高餐廳的吞吐量，以便我們能夠滿足更多的需求。我們預計該措施的推出將在今年第二季和第三季的大部分時間進行，並對這些季度的培訓勞動力產生輕微影響。

We also continue to execute against our remodel initiative that is similarly driving improved sales and traffic. We have completed 13 remodels year to date and expect to do approximately 10 more this year. By the end of 2024, approximately half of our restaurants will either be recently remodeled or one of our newer prototypes.

我們也繼續執行我們的改造計劃，該計劃同樣推動了銷售和交通的改善。今年迄今為止，我們已經完成了 13 項改造，預計今年將再完成約 10 項。到 2024 年底，我們大約一半的餐廳將最近進行改建或採用較新的原型之一。

We also continue to open new restaurants in a balanced manner. And in Q1, we opened one new restaurant in Brookfield, Wisconsin. This is our first restaurant in Wisconsin, and it's off to a very strong start, demonstrating the broad appeal of the BJ's concept in so many different regions of the US, which again, reinforces our conviction that there is a white space for further expansion to 425 or more restaurants, which is approximately double our restaurant count today.

我們也繼續以平衡的方式開設新餐廳。第一季度，我們在威斯康辛州布魯克菲爾德開設了一家新餐廳。這是我們在威斯康辛州的第一家餐廳，它有了一個非常強勁的開端，展示了BJ 概念在美國許多不同地區的廣泛吸引力，這再次增強了我們的信念，即進一步擴張的空間還存在。

Our next two openings this year will be in the second half of 2024 and will be our newest prototype that will cost approximately $1 million less to build, bringing the investment cost down to around $6 million on average, and that's net of landlord allowances. The new prototype will also provide greater operating efficiencies while incorporating our learnings from our remodel initiative, including lighter colors and a more contemporary bar featuring 130-inch television as the focal point.

我們今年的下兩個開業項目將在2024 年下半年開業，這將是我們最新的原型，建造成本將減少約100 萬美元，使平均投資成本降至600 萬美元左右，這還不包括房東津貼。新原型還將提供更高的營運效率，同時結合我們從改造計劃中學到的經驗，包括更淺的顏色和以 130 吋電視為焦點的更現代的酒吧。

Our long-term cadence in the business is to drive top-line sales in the 8% to 10% range through a combination of 5%-plus unit growth in comparable restaurant sales in the low- to mid-single digits. However, as we've always said, we are going to do so with the right quality and at the right investment costs to continue to drive strong new restaurant investment returns that deliver shareholder value.

我們的長期業務節奏是將可比餐廳銷售額中低至中個位數的 5% 以上單位增長相結合，將頂線銷售額推高 8% 至 10%。然而，正如我們一直所說的那樣，我們將以正確的品質和正確的投資成本來繼續推動新餐廳的強勁投資回報，從而帶來股東價值。

At the same time, we continue to expand margins through sales leverage and productivity and savings initiatives. Our continuous focus on optimizing the business and our solid financial cadence results in significant free cash flow, which will translate into enhanced shareholder value over the medium and long term.

同時，我們繼續透過銷售槓桿、生產力和節約措施來擴大利潤。我們對優化業務的持續關注和穩健的財務節奏帶來了大量的自由現金流，這將轉化為中長期股東價值的提高。

Now before I turn the call over to Tom, I would like to recognize three outstanding Board members that are retiring from BJ's Board upon the June 18 Annual Meeting. They are Jerry Deitchle, our former Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board; Pete Bassi, our Lead Independent Director; and Larry Bouts, who has served as our Chairman of the Audit Committee. All three of them joined BJ's in 2004 when we had less than 30 restaurants.

現在，在我將電話轉交給 Tom 之前，我想向三名傑出的董事會成員表示認可，他們將在 6 月 18 日的年會上從 BJ 董事會退休。他們是我們前執行長兼董事會主席 Jerry Deitchle； Pete Bassi，我們的首席獨立董事；拉里·布茨（Larry Bouts）曾擔任我們的審計委員會主席。他們三人於 2004 年加入 BJ's，當時我們的餐廳不到 30 家。

These insightful board leaders helped shape our company over the last two decades and have paved the way strategically for BJ's to develop into one of the finest casual dining concepts. We are grateful for their tremendous legacy they'll leave and really want to thank them for their leadership and their years of service to BJ's.

這些富有洞察力的董事會領導人在過去二十年幫助塑造了我們的公司，並為 BJ's 發展成為最好的休閒餐飲概念之一策略性地鋪平了道路。我們感謝他們留下的巨大遺產，並衷心感謝他們的領導和多年來為 BJ's 的服務。

Now let me turn it over to Tom to provide more detailed updates 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，本評論受到與我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中討論的前瞻性陳述相關的風險和不確定性的影響。

For the first quarter, we generated sales of $337 million, which was 1.2% less than last year. On a comparable restaurant basis, Q1 sales decreased by 1.7%, including the impact from heavier-than-usual winter weather in January. From a weekly sales perspective, we averaged approximately $120,000 per restaurant.

第一季度，我們的銷售額為 3.37 億美元，比去年下降 1.2%。在可比餐廳基礎上，第一季銷售額下降了 1.7%，其中包括 1 月冬季天氣比平常更嚴重的影響。從每週銷售額的角度來看，我們每家餐廳的平均銷售額約為 12 萬美元。

Our strong and efficient restaurant execution, as Greg just outlined, in conjunction with cost savings from our margin improvement initiatives, helped BJ's again improve margins in the quarter. Our restaurant-level cash flow margin was 15% in Q1, which was 240 basis points better than a year ago, demonstrating again the benefits of our ongoing initiatives to drive efficiencies and the solid foundation we are building for continued growth.

正如格雷格剛才概述的那樣，我們強大而高效的餐廳執行力，再加上我們的利潤改善計劃所節省的成本，幫助 BJ's 在本季度再次提高了利潤。第一季度，我們餐廳層面的現金流利潤率為 15%，比一年前提高了 240 個基點，再次證明了我們持續採取的提高效率措施的好處，以及我們為持續成長奠定的堅實基礎。

The winter weather in January also weighed on margins, which improved through the quarter as our sales returned to more normal and predictable levels. Adjusted EBITDA was $29.4 million and 8.7% of sales in the first quarter. Q1 EBITDA beat the prior year by more than $4 million, with a margin that was 140 basis points higher despite both more extreme winter weather and certain extraordinary cost in G&A that we'll outline later in my remarks. We reported net income of $7.7 million and diluted net income per share of $0.32 on a GAAP basis for the quarter, which were both more than double levels from a year ago.

一月份的冬季天氣也影響了利潤率，隨著我們的銷售恢復到更正常和可預測的水平，利潤率在整個季度有所改善。調整後 EBITDA 為 2,940 萬美元，佔第一季銷售額的 8.7%。第一季EBITDA 比前一年高出400 萬美元以上，利潤率高出140 個基點，儘管冬季天氣更加極端，並且一般管理費用(G&A) 成本較高（我們將在稍後的發言中概述） 。我們公佈的本季淨利潤為 770 萬美元，按照 GAAP 計算，攤薄後每股淨利潤為 0.32 美元，均較去年同期增長了一倍多。

Now I'll provide more details on sales trends in the first quarter. Heavier-than-usual winter storms impacted industry-wide sales through lower traffic in January. Our comparable restaurant traffic declined approximately 9% in January before recovering to negative mid-single digits in February and March.

現在我將提供有關第一季銷售趨勢的更多詳細資訊。比平常更嚴重的冬季風暴導致 1 月客流量下降，影響了全行業的銷售。我們的可比餐廳客流量在 1 月下降了約 9%，然後在 2 月和 3 月恢復到負中個位數。

Also, during the quarter, we began scaling back the degree of menu pricing compared to last year. In January, we took a pricing round in the mid-1%, which was lower than our January 2023 pricing round by more than 200 basis points, creating a comp headwind in the quarter as we lap over last year's elevated pricing round.

此外，在本季度，與去年相比，我們開始縮減菜單定價的程度。 1 月份，我們進行了 1% 中間的一輪定價，這比 2023 年 1 月的一輪定價低了 200 多個基點，在本季度造成了競爭阻力，因為我們超越了去年的高定價輪次。

As Greg mentioned, the foundation we are building allows us to take a more balanced pricing approach to maintain our traffic-driving value while adding appropriate menu pricing to deliver profit dollar and margin growth. Our check growth moderated to the mid-single digits in Q1 compared with mid-7% check growth in Q4 of 2023.

正如格雷格所提到的，我們正在建立的基礎使我們能夠採取更平衡的定價方法來維持我們的流量驅動價值，同時添加適當的菜單定價以實現利潤和利潤成長。與 2023 年第四季 7% 的支票成長相比，第一季我們的支票成長放緩至中個位數。

We carried pricing in the upper 5% area in the first quarter. Our late-night business continues to outperform other dayparts was as a modest check headwind as guest checks tend to be lower than other dayparts. We also continue to see some check management in our off-premise channel and alcohol sales returning to pre-pandemic incidence levels.

第一季我們的定價處於 5% 以上的區域。我們的深夜業務繼續優於其他白天時段，這是一個溫和的支票逆風，因為客人支票往往低於其他白天時段。我們也繼續看到我們的場外管道進行了一些檢查管理，酒類銷售也恢復到了大流行前的發病水平。

Putting the traffic and check pieces together, our comparable restaurant sales improved from approximately negative 5% in January to negative 1% in February to flat in March. The improving comp sales levels were driven primarily from improving traffic trends through the quarter. Our comp sales performance also represents BJ's 12th consecutive quarter of beating the industry as our comp sales were 220 basis points better than the Black Box casual dining index in Q1.

將客流量和檢查數據放在一起，我們的可比餐廳銷售額從 1 月份的負 5% 左右改善到 2 月份的負 1%，再到 3 月份持平。比較銷售水準的提高主要是由於本季流量趨勢的改善。我們的同業銷售表現也代表 BJ 連續第 12 季跑贏產業，因為我們的同業銷售在第一季比 Black Box 休閒餐飲指數高 220 個基點。

Our on-premise business remains our strongest, most profitable, and most differentiated channel, with comp sales slightly negative for the quarter but modestly positive if removing winter storm impacted results in January.

我們的本地業務仍然是我們最強大、最賺錢、最差異化的管道，本季的銷售業績略有下降，但如果消除一月份冬季風暴對業績的影響，則略有積極。

Moving to expenses, our cost of sales were 25.2% in the quarter, which was 140 basis points favorable compared to a year ago and 30 basis points favorable compared to the prior quarter. Food costs were about flat quarter over quarter, with inflation of key items such as wings, salmon, and chicken breast, offset by savings from our cost-savings initiatives, including the full-quarter benefits from our new meat-sourcing program and certain reformulated sauces.

說到費用，本季我們的銷售成本為 25.2%，比去年同期下降 140 個基點，比上一季下降 30 個基點。食品成本環比持平，雞翅、鮭魚和雞胸肉等關鍵食品價格上漲，但被我們的成本節約舉措所節省的成本所抵消，其中包括我們新的肉類採購計劃和某些重新制定的配方帶來的全季收益醬汁。

Labor and benefits expenses were 37.1% of sales in the quarter, which was 50 basis points favorable compared to the first quarter of last year. These gains were despite the extreme winter weather in January that impacted sales and deleveraged our labor line in the month. We continue to drive efficiencies with our simplified menu and AI-based sales forecasting tool used by our restaurant operators. A number of the labor efficiency metrics we track, including items per labor hour, were better this quarter than pre-COVID levels, illustrating the high level of restaurant -- how high level our restaurant teams are operating at, as well as the effectiveness of our cost savings initiative 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%，比去年第一季有利50個基點。儘管一月份的極端冬季天氣影響了銷售並降低了我們當月勞動力的槓桿率，但這些收益還是實現了。我們繼續透過餐廳經營者使用的簡化菜單和基於人工智慧的銷售預測工具來提高效率。我們追蹤的許多勞動效率指標，包括每工時的項目，本季度都比新冠疫情之前的水平要好，這說明了餐廳的高水平——我們的餐廳團隊的運營水平有多高，以及迄今為止，我們在改進和優化勞動力模式方面採取了成本節約措施。

Occupancy and operating expenses were 22.8% of sales in the quarter, which was 40 basis points favorable compared to the first quarter of last year. We increased our marketing spend by 30 basis points from last year to build additional awareness and drive traffic to our restaurants. So the underlying benefit was 70 basis points in O&O, excluding marketing.

入住率和營運費用佔本季銷售額的 22.8%，比去年第一季有利 40 個基點。我們的行銷支出比去年增加了 30 個基點，以提高知名度並增加餐廳的客流量。因此，不包括行銷在內，O&O 的基本收益為 70 個基點。

We continue to find additional ways to save and operate more efficiently. For example, in Q1, we drove savings in our repair and maintenance expenses with a new approach to facilities planning and spending.

我們繼續尋找其他方法來更有效地節省和營運。例如，在第一季度，我們透過新的設施規劃和支出方法節省了維修和維護費用。

G&A was $23 million in the first quarter, inclusive of several one-time and extraordinary charges, including more than $800,000 of legal expenses related to our shareholder cooperation agreements and $300,000 of severance from personnel changes. We also had more than $800,000 of deferred compensation expense in the quarter linked to fund performance in our deferred compensation plan, which was approximately $500,000 higher than an average quarter in 2023. As a reminder, this is a non-cash item that has an offsetting entry in the other income and expense line in our P&L.

第一季的一般管理費用為2,300 萬美元，包括多項一次性費用和非常規費用，其中包括與股東合作協議相關的超過80 萬美元的法律費用以及因人事變動而產生的30 萬美元的遣散費。本季我們還有超過 80 萬美元的遞延薪資費用與我們的遞延薪資計畫中的基金績效相關，比 2023 年平均季度高出約 50 萬美元。計入損益表中的其他收入和支出行。

G&A was in line with our plan and guidance when removing the extraordinary expenses in the quarter.

在消除本季度的非常費用時，一般管理費用符合我們的計劃和指導。

Turning to the balance sheet, we ended the first quarter with net debt of about $39 million. We repaid $10 million of debt and ended Q1 with $58 million drawn on our revolver. CapEx was $22 million in Q1, about $5 million less than a year ago.

轉向資產負債表，第一季末我們的淨債務約為 3,900 萬美元。我們償還了 1000 萬美元的債務，第一季結束時，我們的左輪手槍提取了 5800 萬美元。第一季資本支出為 2,200 萬美元，比一年前減少約 500 萬美元。

Moving to more recent trends, comparable restaurant sales in the first four weeks of Q2 have been down modestly similar to Q1 levels. At the beginning of Q2, we rolled over another larger pricing round from last year, reducing our year-over-year check growth by nearly 300 basis points. At the same time, our guest traffic decline has been improving each month, with April being the strongest month yet, helping mitigate some of the comp sales impact from the lower carry pricing.

轉向最近的趨勢，第二季度前四個星期的可比餐廳銷售額略有下降，與第一季的水平相似。在第二季初，我們延續了去年另一輪更大的定價，使我們的同比支票成長減少了近 300 個基點。同時，我們的客流量下降情況每個月都在改善，其中 4 月是迄今為止最強勁的月份，這有助於減輕因套利定價較低而對公司銷售造成的影響。

While there is still an element of choppiness in sales, as Greg outlined, we are encouraged by the improving traffic trends. And because of our cost savings and productivity initiatives, we expect to continue growing margins this year.

正如格雷格所概述的那樣，儘管銷售仍然存在波動的因素，但我們對交通趨勢的改善感到鼓舞。由於我們的成本節約和生產力舉措，我們預計今年的利潤率將繼續成長。

Additionally, our guest value scores, which we view as a key indicator of brand health, have improved as we've taken less pricing this year. In fact, our Q1 value scores are up 300 basis points from Q4 levels, and our April value scores were even higher.

此外，我們的賓客價值評分（我們將其視為品牌健康度的關鍵指標）也有所改善，因為我們今年採取了較低的定價。事實上，我們第一季的價值得分比第四季度的水平上升了 300 個基點，四月份的價值得分甚至更高。

Looking ahead and assuming recent trends continue, we expect slightly negative comp sales in Q2, taking into account the check headwind due to less pricing and improving traffic trends. As a reminder, our second quarter tends to be our busiest quarter, especially in May and June with Mother's Day, Father's Day, and graduation celebrations. Our ability to drive sales and traffic in those peak weeks are critical to driving a very successful quarter.

展望未來，假設最近的趨勢持續下去，考慮到定價減少和流量趨勢改善而帶來的支票逆風，我們預計第二季的可比銷售額將略有下降。提醒一下，第二季度往往是我們最繁忙的季度，尤其是五月和六月，有母親節、父親節和畢業慶祝活動。我們在高峰週推動銷售和流量的能力對於推動季度成功至關重要。

We are confident that we have the right leaders, team members, menu, and initiatives targeting gracious hospitality and speed of service in place to deliver record-setting sales in our busiest weeks of the year later this quarter.

我們相信，我們擁有合適的領導者、團隊成員、菜單和旨在提供熱情好客和服務速度的舉措，以便在本季度晚些時候在一年中最繁忙的幾週內實現創紀錄的銷售。

Factoring in recent trends and expectations for comps sales to be slightly negative, we expect restaurant-level cash flow margin to be in the mid-15% area in Q2. This guidance incorporates some additional food cost inflation we've experienced in recent weeks and changes we are making to our labor model in certain markets to increase hospitality and pace, which requires extra investment in training and will lead to inefficiencies during the rollout period.

考慮到最近的趨勢和對可比銷售額略為負數的預期，我們預計第二季餐廳層級的現金流利潤率將在 15% 左右。該指導方針納入了我們最近幾週經歷的一些額外的食品成本通膨，以及我們正在某些市場對勞動力模式進行的改變，以提高接待能力和節奏，這需要額外的培訓投資，並將導致推出期間的效率低。

We then expect to continue expanding year-over-year margins in the second half as we grow sales through strategic initiatives and make additional progress on our margin improvement initiatives. Our goal is to close the gap to 2019 margins and finish the year with an exit rate in Q4 approaching 16% restaurant level cash flow margins.

然後，隨著我們透過策略性舉措增加銷售額並在利潤改善舉措方面取得更多進展，我們預計下半年利潤率將繼續擴大。我們的目標是縮小與 2019 年利潤率的差距，並在第四季度的退出率接近餐廳水平現金流利潤率的 16%。

Specific to California, we are not directly affected by AB 1228 that increased minimum hourly wages for fast food and fast casual workers on April 1. We continue to pay competitively and have not experienced increases in team member turnover or wage inflation in the state recently. In fact, our hourly team member turnover in California remained better than pre-COVID levels in April. To date, we have not taken any extra menu pricing in the state as a result of this law, but we will continue to monitor the market and will act if necessary to protect margins and profitability.

具體到加州，我們沒有受到4 月1 日提高快餐和快餐臨時工最低小時工資的AB 1228 法案的直接影響。上漲的情況。事實上，我們在加州的每小時團隊成員流動率在 4 月仍高於新冠疫情爆發前的水平。到目前為止，我們尚未因該法律而在該州採取任何額外的菜單定價，但我們將繼續監控市場，並在必要時採取行動以保護利潤和盈利能力。

We expect G&A to return to a more normal level of approximately $21 million in Q2, and excluding the extraordinary expenses in Q1, G&A is still on track toward the $82 million to $84 million range for the full year.

我們預計 G&A 將在第二季度恢復到約 2,100 萬美元的更正常水平，並且排除第一季的非常規費用，全年 G&A 仍有望達到 8,200 萬至 8,400 萬美元的範圍。

In conclusion, with significant cash flow from operations expanding (technical difficulty) healthy balance sheet, we have the financial flexibility to execute multiple initiatives to enhance shareholder value. We are focused on delivering value to shareholders through sales and productivity initiatives and through our disciplined approach to capital allocation, including for new restaurant openings and restaurant remodels, which both continue to generate strong economic returns.

總之，隨著營運產生的大量現金流擴大（技術難度）健康的資產負債表，我們擁有財務彈性來執行多項措施來提高股東價值。我們專注於透過銷售和生產力計劃以及嚴格的資本配置方法（包括新餐廳開業和餐廳改造）為股東創造價值，這兩者都將繼續產生強勁的經濟回報。

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

我們有一條明確的未來銷售和利潤成長之路。我們的長期策略和消費者對 BJ 概念的強烈吸引力使我們能夠繼續鞏固我們的成功並提高股東價值。

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

感謝您今天抽出時間，我們現在將開始電話討論您的問題。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) Alex Slagle, Jefferies.

（操作員說明）Alex Slagle，Jefferies。

Thanks. Hey, guys. Congrats. Good momentum here. The margin performance really stood out. And especially relative to the expectations we had in the low-13% range for restaurant level margins, I mean it's up and down the restaurant expense categories.

謝謝。大家好。恭喜。這裡勢頭良好。利潤率表現確實很突出。特別是相對於我們對餐廳水平利潤率低至 13% 的預期，我的意思是餐廳費用類別的上下浮動。

So I just wonder if you could size up the contributing factors a little bit more. I realized it's not just one thing. I mean, there's sales leverage and cost efficiency measures in a lot of places, but just trying to get a better feel for what changed and how sustainable some of these dynamics are.

所以我只是想知道你是否可以稍微考慮一下影響因素。我意識到這不僅僅是一件事。我的意思是，很多地方都有銷售槓桿和成本效率措施，但只是想更好地了解發生了什麼變化以及其中一些動態的可持續性。

Sure. Thanks for the question, Alex. And it really was strong performance across the lines, as you mentioned. Sales did recover nicely. So we saw a pickup in sales, which was consistent. But with that, we also had a good quarter in terms of where commodities sat. They came in a little under where we were expecting. So that did help some of the initiatives that we rolled out, certainly offset and some of the inflationary pressures.

當然。謝謝你的提問，亞歷克斯。正如您所提到的，這確實是跨界表現強勁。銷售確實恢復得很好。因此，我們看到銷售額有所回升，這是一致的。但同時，我們在大宗商品方面也度過了一個不錯的季度。他們的表現有點低於我們的預期。因此，這確實有助於我們推出的一些舉措，當然抵消了一些通膨壓力。

Where we really saw some nice leverage as well is across labor. We operated really well in our restaurants. Once we got through the winter weather, we had some really strong restaurant operations that were very efficient in terms of the labor scheduling. So when we saw the sales became predictable, we really had a nice flow through in terms of labor.

我們確實在勞動力方面也看到了一些不錯的槓桿作用。我們的餐廳經營得非常好。一旦我們度過了冬季，我們就有了一些非常強大的餐廳運營，在勞動力安排方面非常有效率。因此，當我們看到銷售變得可預測時，我們在勞動力方面確實取得了良好的進展。

And then finally down to O&O, seeing the repair and maintenance expenses come down, we have been more conservative in terms of what we've been spending in terms of third-party delivery promotions there. So we've really refined what we spend on and where we're going to cut and find some efficiencies. So more to come, but I appreciate the question. It really was outperforming what even our expectations were in terms of what we're able -- our restaurants were able to operate at.

最後到 O&O，看到維修和維護費用下降，我們在第三方送貨促銷方面的支出變得更加保守。因此，我們確實改進了我們的支出以及我們要削減的地方並提高了效率。還有更多，但我很欣賞這個問題。就我們的能力而言，它確實超出了我們的預期——我們的餐廳能夠在其中運作。

Yeah, that's great. And so some of the labor scheduling, I mean, is there more to do there, like tech-enabled labor scheduling pieces that maybe you haven't rolled out? I just wasn't sure where you were in those things, but good job working through all the volatility through the weather.

是的，那太好了。因此，我的意思是，在一些勞動力調度方面，是否還有更多工作要做，例如可能尚未推出的技術支援的勞動力調度部分？我只是不確定你在這些事情上處於什麼位置，但是在天氣變化無常的情況下，你做得很好。

Yeah, thanks. Last year, we had rolled out to our restaurants an AI-based sales forecasting tool, which helps both prepare their labor schedules but also how much food to prep. So those continue to be refined, and we're seeing better outcomes from those tools and getting our sales forecast even tighter at the restaurant level. So that is a continual process of refining and making that better and better. So yeah, some of that was included, if you think of Q4 and Q1, the benefits of that tool are just getting better.

是的，謝謝。去年，我們向餐廳推出了基於人工智慧的銷售預測工具，不僅可以幫助他們準備勞動力時間表，還可以幫助他們準備多少食物。因此，這些工具不斷得到完善，我們看到這些工具帶來了更好的結果，我們在餐廳層級的銷售預測變得更加嚴格。所以這是一個不斷改進、變得越來越好的過程。所以，是的，其中一些內容已經包括在內，如果您想到第四季度和第一季度，您會發現該工具的好處正在變得越來越好。

So, Alex, a big part of that, and Tom mentioned it, really is kneeling down your weekly forecast. We've said this before and you and others understand that, if you have the right forecast in place, the ability to manage against that both on cost of sales because you're prepping correctly, works for you and gives you a huge benefit in food costs against your theoretical. And then the same thing for labor.

所以，亞歷克斯，其中很重要的一部分，湯姆也提到過，實際上就是放棄你的每週預測。我們之前已經說過這​​一點，您和其他人都明白，如果您有正確的預測，那麼由於您做好了正確的準備，因此能夠在銷售成本方面進行管理，這對您有用，並為您帶來巨大的好處食品成本與你的理論值不符。勞動力也是如此。

As we continue to work labor, we -- right now, I want to continue to work the -- our AI tool in regards to the in and out times and getting better around the shoulder. I think there's still opportunity in our restaurants to be more efficient.

當我們繼續工作時，我們——現在，我想繼續使用——我們的人工智慧工具來處理進出時間，並在肩膀上變得更好。我認為我們的餐廳仍然有機會提高效率。

Really around that shoulder period, as we mentioned on the call today, we are doing some changes which are going to allow our service to take care of our guests even better. But one of the big benefits on that is really getting more of our managers into the dining room area. And by being in the dining room area, we can see the shoulders of the shift and how they're transpiring through the day.

事實上，正如我們今天在電話中提到的那樣，我們正在做一些改變，這將使我們的服務能夠更好地照顧我們的客人。但這樣做的一大好處是讓更多的經理進入餐廳區域。透過在餐廳區域，我們可以看到輪班的肩膀以及他們一天中的情況。

And that's a huge unlock for us. That's going to allow us, I think, some additional benefits over time. But it is a shift in our business, and it's going to take a little bit of Q2 and Q3 for us to work through that. But I do believe over time, there's additional labor benefit in regards to efficiency, and that should also allow us to drive top-line sales by being more efficient and more effective.

這對我們來說是一個巨大的釋放。我認為，隨著時間的推移，這將使我們獲得一些額外的好處。但這是我們業務的轉變，我們需要第二季和第三季的一些時間來解決這個問題。但我確實相信，隨著時間的推移，效率方面會帶來額外的勞動力效益，這也將使我們能夠透過提高效率和效果來推動營收成長。

Thanks. Good luck.

謝謝。祝你好運。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thanks, Alex.

謝謝，亞歷克斯。

Andrew Wolf, Loop Capital Markets.

安德魯沃爾夫，Loop 資本市場。

Great, thanks. I wanted to ask about your goal of getting to the 16% restaurant-level cash flow, which was 2019. And I just wanted to point out the obvious, like the five-year period before that, that margin was really more like 17% to 19%. So I just kind of want to ask, is there any structural reason post-COVID for 17% to 19% to be or not be in play?

萬分感謝。我想問一下你們的目標是在 2019 年達到 16% 的餐廳水平現金流。所以我只是想問，在新冠疫情之後，是否有任何結構性原因導致 17% 至 19% 的人繼續發揮作用？

I mean, I particularly think about indoor dining, in restaurant dining versus off-prem is maybe a structural reason. The old margins may not be attainable. If everything else wasn't equal, obviously you're doing a lot on the cost side. So I guess maybe you could just help us think about a longer-term goal on the margin side from the restaurant level.

我的意思是，我特別考慮室內用餐，在餐廳用餐與在場外用餐可能是結構性原因。舊的利潤率可能無法達到。如果其他一切都不一樣，顯然你在成本方面做了很多工作。所以我想也許你可以幫助我們考慮餐廳層面的利潤方面的長期目標。

Yeah. Andrew, great question. Where I would say we are today, and I think businesses in general, restaurant space, maybe limited service in California might have a little bit different model right now. But where we are today is the additional dollar of sales is going to flow through somewhere in that 50% range or so. We used to always talk about that on the call.

是的。安德魯，好問題。我想說的是，我們今天所處的位置，我認為加州的一般企業、餐廳空間、也許有限的服務現在可能有一些不同的模式。但我們今天的情況是，額外的銷售額將流經 50% 左右的範圍。我們過去總是在電話中談論這個問題。

So we think about driving, and the reason for that today is we've gotten through all the inflationary pressures that came through coming out of COVID from '21 into '22. So we've kind of reset that basis there, and now we're dealing with, for the most part, more normalized inflation. So with more normalized inflation, as we can drive that incremental sales, we should be able to get that incremental dollar. And that incremental dollar should continue to move the margins up.

所以我們考慮駕駛，今天的原因是我們已經度過了從 21 世紀到 22 世紀因新冠疫情而帶來的所有通膨壓力。因此，我們已經在那裡重置了這個基礎，現在我們正在應對的大部分情況是更正常的通貨膨脹。因此，隨著通貨膨脹更加正常化，當我們可以推動增量銷售時，我們應該能夠獲得增量美元。增量美元應該會繼續提高利潤率。

And our first step is getting back to where we were in '19. And then from there, it's continuing to drive sales and getting our margins above that. The one area that is different today, it's about 130 bps or so, maybe give or take a little bit more in our P&L, is third-party delivery charges. So when you look at our numbers in general, they're going to be 130 different basis points than maybe where they were in '17 and '18 and '19.

我們的第一步是回到 19 年的狀態。然後從那裡開始，它繼續推動銷售並使我們的利潤率高於此。今天有一個不同的領域，大約是 130 個基點左右，在我們的損益表中可能會增加或減少一點，那就是第三方交付費用。因此，當你看一下我們的整體數據時，你會發現它們可能比 17 年、18 年和 19 年有 130 個不同的基點。

But other than that, we should be able to drive higher sales from that and ultimately end up with greater dollars per restaurant week. That's one of the things that we've got our eye on, is how do we get to our dollars per restaurant week being the same as where they were in 2018 or 2019. And that's what we take to the bank, but obviously we want both of them.

但除此之外，我們應該能夠由此推動更高的銷售額，並最終使每個餐廳每週獲得更多的收入。這是我們關注的事情之一，就是我們如何才能使每個餐廳每週的收入與 2018 年或 2019 年相同。

And where we are because of the initiatives that we put in place and the things we've done, it's allowed us to get back to a very leverageable business, which is I think what we saw in the first quarter. And even Tom mentioned it, it would have been interesting, frankly, to see how good our margins would have been with a normal Q1 or with a normal January and even into the first week of February because January is a big month for us. It's a really big month for us. Same with February in regards to President’s Weekend and Valentine's Day.

由於我們採取的舉措和所做的事情，我們能夠回到一個非常有槓桿作用的業務，我認為這就是我們在第一季看到的情況。甚至湯姆也提到了這一點，坦白說，看看我們的利潤率在正常的第一季或正常的一月甚至二月的第一周會有多好，因為一月對我們來說是一個重要的月份。這對我們來說真是一個重要的月份。總統週末和情人節與二月相同。

So the 15% margin that we're happy with, we're not satisfied, I think we left them on the table because of weather related. And I think as we go into Q2, I think there's opportunities to continue to expand that.

因此，我們對 15% 的利潤率感到滿意，但我們並不滿意，我認為我們因為天氣而將其留在桌面上。我認為，當我們進入第二季時，我認為有機會繼續擴大這一範圍。

Got it. Thank you. I think I'll get back in the queue. Appreciate it.

知道了。謝謝。我想我會回到隊列中。欣賞它。

Thank you, Andrew.

謝謝你，安德魯。

Jeffrey Bernstein, Barclays.

傑弗裡·伯恩斯坦，巴克萊銀行。

Hi, this is [Pradesh] on for Jeff. Appreciate you taking the question. Just a bigger-picture question on consumer behavior, we've heard a lot of companies report over the past week noting caution on spending and there's a lot of check management going on, particularly with lower income consumers.

大家好，我是傑夫的 [Pradesh]。感謝您提出問題。只是關於消費者行為的更大問題，我們在過去一周聽到很多公司報告稱，他們對支出持謹慎態度，並且正在進行大量檢查管理，特別是針對低收入消費者。

Just wanted to see how you would respond in this environment. Obviously, you're seeing the promotional environment ticking up. A notable competitor of yours just added a premium burger to their value platform. So just how do you maintain your brand equity while also acknowledging that maybe the consumers are getting a little bit more cautious? And how do you maintain your value proposition? Thanks.

只是想看看你在這種環境下會如何反應。顯然，您會看到促銷環境正在改善。您的一位著名競爭對手剛剛在他們的價值平台上添加了優質漢堡。那麼，您該如何維持品牌資產，同時也承認消費者可能變得更加謹慎了呢？您如何維持您的價值主張？謝謝。

Yeah. So just when we look through our segmentation of our guests and look at our data, it does tend to be that the lower-income consumer seems to be doing a little bit more check management maybe than the other consumers. And when you look at that, around consumers around $50,000 of spend or less seems to be, again, a little bit different in their average check and how it's acting versus some other consumers.

是的。因此，當我們查看我們的客人細分並查看我們的數據時，確實往往是低收入消費者似乎比其他消費者做了更多的檢查管理。當你看到這一點時，大約花費 50,000 美元或更少的消費者似乎再次與其他一些消費者的平均支票及其表現略有不同。

So there's a couple ways that we're going about it. And I think you're seeing all different companies do it differently. One is, as Tom mentioned, we are not adding as much menu pricing as we've done before. We think we are in a position today that we can improve traffic and drive margins. And I think the health of traffic is a greater importance today versus getting back to where margins were even in '17, '18 or '19. And I think because of that, we can drive people in and leverage that part of our business.

所以我們有幾種方法可以解決這個問題。我認為你會看到所有不同的公司都採取不同的做法。一是，正如湯姆所提到的，我們不會像以前那樣增加菜單定價。我們認為今天我們可以改善流量並提高利潤。我認為，與回到 17 年、18 年或 19 年的利潤率相比，今天的流量健康更為重要。我認為正因為如此，我們可以吸引人們加入並利用我們業務的這一部分。

At the same time, in regards to our marketing and driving awareness, we do have our, what I would call good price point out there, which is the affordability side of things, whether it's yesterday. Wednesday is our loaded burger day. So loaded burgers are $11 or $12, depending on where you are in the US, with unlimited fries. So it's a great deal that comes in.

同時，就我們的行銷和推動意識而言，我們確實有我所說的良好價格點，這是負擔能力的一面，無論是昨天還是現在。星期三是我們的漢堡日。漢堡包的價格是 11 美元或 12 美元，具體取決於你在美國的哪個地方，而且薯條無限量供應。所以這是一個很大的事情。

We have half off large pizza Mondays. We also have our lunch specials that start at $12. So we have areas of our menu that continue to have great price affordability, which we call our Daily Brewhouse Special. And then we'll lean into at times different promotional areas. We haven't leaned into it too heavily, but they might be things such as a $10 off $40. We've done that before. We're not looking to get hugely on the deep discount to reach out to them.

週一我們有大披薩半價優惠。我們還有特價午餐，起價 12 美元。因此，我們的菜單中有些區域仍然具有很高的價格承受能力，我們稱之為「每日釀酒廠特價」。然後我們有時會進入不同的促銷領域。我們還沒有太投入，但可能會是 40 美元減 10 美元之類的東西。我們以前就這麼做過。我們不希望透過大幅折扣來接觸他們。

The other side of this as we continue to work with the lower-value guests as well is we drove a lot of incremental guests into our loyalty program in Q1. And that loyalty program, that database, I think it increased by over 10% or so in the corridor, 10% increase. That allows us to reach out to them with special offers.

另一方面，隨著我們繼續與低價值客人合作，我們在第一季將大量增量客人納入了我們的忠誠度計劃。那個忠誠度計劃，那個資料庫，我認為它在走廊增加了 10% 左右，增加了 10%。這使我們能夠向他們提供特別優惠。

And then one of the things that we talked about at our Investor Day was our three-year culinary strategy. And as part of that three-year culinary strategy, knowing that we wanted to have the WOW upgrades, which are things like our surf and turf, but we also want to lean into a value portion of it, which I believe is around 20% to 30%, and that includes right now certain appetizers that we put on that are under $10, as well as looking at a couple other newer menu items that are in the value category.

然後我們在投資者日討論的一件事是我們的三年烹飪策略。作為三年烹飪策略的一部分，我們知道我們想要進行令人驚嘆的升級，例如我們的衝浪和草坪，但我們也想傾斜其中的價值部分，我認為大約是 20%到30%，其中包括我們現在提供的某些低於10 美元的開胃菜，以及其他一些屬於超值類別的較新菜單項目。

So we're going to play into that, but we're going to play into it that works for BJ's and differentiates BJ's and what we're known for. We're not looking to do a buy one, get one or anything else from that perspective, but again, tell people about the great price points we have at BJ's.

因此，我們將發揮這一作用，但我們將發揮對 BJ's 有效的作用，並使 BJ's 和我們所熟知的東西區分開來。從這個角度來看，我們並不打算買一件、買一件或其他任何東西，但再次告訴人們我們在 BJ's 的價格非常優惠。

And then I'll also talk about the fact that we are experiential dining. And when guests are looking for a, what we would call maybe a better dining experience where they've got that hour of time, we want to give them a higher-quality dining experience for the right price point that is affordable for everyone.

然後我還要談談我們是體驗式餐飲這件事。當客人在有時間的情況下尋求一種我們稱之為更好的用餐體驗時，我們希望以每個人都能負擔得起的合適價格為他們提供更高品質的用餐體驗。

Very useful color. Thank you so much.

非常有用的顏色。太感謝了。

My pleasure.

我的榮幸。

Aisling Grueninger, Piper Sandler.

艾斯林·格魯寧格，派珀·桑德勒。

Hey, guys. Congrats on the results. My question is on the late-night daypart. I know in the last earnings call, you've mentioned that the late night daypart was your best performing with comp sales around mid-single digits for the quarter. I was just wondering if you could update us on this daypart, and also wondering if you expect with the remodels in the new bar area, if there's room for this daypart to continue to grow. Thanks.

大家好。祝賀結果。我的問題是在深夜時段。我知道在上次財報電話會議中，您提到深夜時段是您表現最好的時段，本季的公司銷售額約為中位數。我只是想知道您是否可以在這一時段向我們通報最新情況，也想知道您是否期望新酒吧區的改造，這一時段是否有繼續增長的空間。謝謝。

Sure. Thanks, Aisling, for the question. Yeah, this is -- if we look across the board, both on-premise especially, but even off-premise, just a great performing daypart for us. We did expand hours in the middle of last year, and it's continuing to pick up steam. So, yeah, positive comp sales for the quarter, even positive traffic for the quarter in Q1, even with the weather in January.

當然。謝謝艾斯林的提問。是的，如果我們全面考慮，尤其是在內部，但即使在外部，這對我們來說也是一個表現出色的時段。我們在去年年中確實延長了工作時間，而且還在增加。所以，是的，即使一月份的天氣不好，該季度的銷售量仍然是積極的，甚至第一季的流量也是積極的。

So, yeah, if you think of what's core to BJ's, it really is the bar business and having the great bar statement as we're touching in all these remodels. And as we go through our new version of the prototype, it will have the 130-inch TV. So this is a core attribute of BJ's, and great to see both even on and off-premise, it's a business that is really healthy for us right now.

所以，是的，如果你想到 BJ’s 的核心是什麼，它確實是酒吧業務，並且在我們涉及所有這些改造時擁有出色的酒吧聲明。當我們檢查新版本的原型時，它將配備 130 吋的電視。所以這是 BJ's 的核心屬性，很高興看到無論是在內部還是外部，這對我們來說都是一個非常健康的業務。

To add, I think this is really important, is you have to lean into areas that you have authority in your business. And that late night and that bar business, that's something that's very unique and differentiated to BJ's that a lot of other concepts can't necessarily talk about, especially in the casual dining space. So as we continue to think about our awareness amplification and what we do differently, those are areas that we're going to continue to lean into to drive that part of our business, because again, it's a differentiating factor. It's one of the reasons that guests come and use us.

補充一點，我認為這非常重要，你必須專注於你在業務中擁有權威的領域。那個深夜和酒吧生意，這是非常獨特的，與北京的有區別，很多其他概念不一定能談論，特別是在休閒餐飲空間。因此，當我們繼續思考我們的意識放大以及我們採取的不同做法時，我們將繼續致力於推動我們這部分業務的領域，因為這又是一個差異化因素。這是客人來使用我們的原因之一。

Great, thank you. My other question is just where marketing came in as a percent of sales in the quarter.

太好了謝謝。我的另一個問題是行銷在本季銷售額中所佔的百分比。

I think it's 19, 18 --

我想是19、18——

1.7%, actually.

實際上是 1.7%。

Great. Thank you. I'll pass it back.

偉大的。謝謝。我會把它傳回來。

Nick Setyan, Wedbush Securities.

Nick Setyan，韋德布希證券公司。

Thanks, and congrats on the margin trajectory here. First question is really on the other OpEx. That had been an expense line item that had been pretty sticky. And it seems like even with the [ops] marketing expense, I think you guys saw like 60 bps or 70 bps of improvement year over year, ex-marketing on that line. So what exactly are you guys focused on in that line? And is there more that can be done on that line to get to see even more leverage going forward. Because your Q2 guidance, even if you assume less leverage on labor, you would have to assume a lot less leverage on other OpEx to get that mid-15%-ish type of restaurant-level cash flow.

謝謝，並祝賀利潤軌跡。第一個問題其實是關於其他營運支出的。那是一個非常黏性的支出項目。看起來，即使考慮到 [ops] 行銷費用，我認為你們也看到了同比 60 個基點或 70 個基點的改進，除此之外的行銷。那你們在這方面到底關注什麼？在這方面是否可以做更多的事情來獲得更多的槓桿作用。因為你的第二季指引，即使你假設勞動力槓桿較小，你也必須假設其他營運支出的槓桿要少得多，才能獲得 15% 左右的餐廳水平現金流。

Sure. Yeah, the O&O line, you're right, in terms of our -- especially our productivity initiative, this is one where we've identified ways to save, but they've taken some more time to implement. So we're starting to see some of those come through in Q1. We called out the changes that we had in our R&M planning for the year, and that's both on OpEx as well as CapEx.

當然。是的，O&O 系列，你是對的，就我們的——尤其是我們的生產力計劃而言，我們已經確定了節省方法，但他們花了更多時間來實施。因此，我們開始看到其中一些在第一季實現。我們指出了今年 R&M 計劃中的變化，包括營運支出和資本支出。

We've also made some changes that some outside services that we're now completing internally that we can do it for cheaper and it's a higher quality. But even coming into later in the year, we've got a new disposable distributor that is going to give us product at a lower cost that will be a nice savings than in the second half.

我們還對一些外部服務進行了一些更改，我們現在正在內部完成這些服務，我們可以以更便宜的價格實現更高的品質。但即使在今年晚些時候，我們也有了一個新的一次性經銷商，它將以更低的成本為我們提供產品，這將比下半年節省很多。

So we're continuing to find ways to just be more efficient in the core O&O line. And some of this has been stickier that has been sitting higher. But yeah, this is -- when I think of where we're going to find some good cost savings this year, I want to find even more savings on this line.

因此，我們正在繼續尋找提高核心 O&O 系列效率的方法。其中一些黏性較高，但地位較高。但是，是的，當我想到今年我們將在哪些方面找到一些很好的成本節省時，我希望在這方面找到更多的節省。

Going into Q2, we do have some extra marketing spend happening then. So our 1.7% that we just mentioned is going to be closer to 2%. So we will see a little uptick in the total O&O line because of a little extra marketing spend. We are seeing a little extra inflation as well on commodities for some cost of sales. So there's a few things that are also baked into the forecast for where margins are going to be, but yeah, there's some nice tailwinds as well.

進入第二季度，我們確實會發生一些額外的行銷支出。所以我們剛才提到的 1.7% 會接近 2%。因此，由於一些額外的行銷支出，我們將看到 O&O 產品線總量略有上升。我們看到商品的一些銷售成本也出現了一些額外的通貨膨脹。因此，對於利潤率的預測也考慮了一些因素，但是，是的，也有一些不錯的有利因素。

Fair enough. The other question I want to ask is, not so much the value equation, because it does seem like you guys are still a relative value to your peer set because of where your average check is. But what can you do to highlight that sort of favorable value gap a little bit more?

很公平。我想問的另一個問題是，與其說是價值方程式，不如說是因為你們的平均支票水平看起來確實相對於你們的同行來說仍然具有相對價值。但你能做些什麼來進一步強調這種有利的價值差距呢？

Yeah. Nick, that's something that we continue to work on, and that gets down to really driving the awareness around that price point affordability. So as we lean into that, we've lean more into our Daily Brewhouse Specials. As I mentioned earlier, talking about whether it's the loaded burger Wednesdays, it's the slow roast Thursdays that come about, the half off pizza, those have been big areas for us.

是的。尼克，這是我們繼續努力的事情，歸根結底是要真正提高人們對價格點可負擔的認識。因此，當我們傾向於這一點時，我們會更傾向於我們的每日釀酒廠特價。正如我之前提到的，無論是星期三的漢堡、週四的慢烤、半價披薩，這些對我們來說都是重要的領域。

We continue to also -- as we can work through our new menu and create new menu items that have a little bit better price points, let's call it starting price points, but allow our guests to trade up if they want, that comes in and it's going -- it's a part of really the media side of it.

我們也繼續 - 因為我們可以研究我們的新菜單並創建價格點更好一點的新菜單項，讓我們稱之為起始價格點，但允許我們的客人根據需要進行交易，這是進來的它正在發生——它確實是媒體方面的一部分。

The other is as we rolled out our newer menu, we, this year, went back to what we used to do pre-COVID, but have that spiral menu. It allows us to actually change our pages. So we are a little bit more flexible and able to push some of the value there. And in a couple markets, while they're in tests, I won't go into specifics, we do have a more value menu in certain specific markets that we continue to analyze the test. And depending on how it comes through for us, we may see us expand that.

另一個是，當我們推出新菜單時，今年我們又回到了新冠疫情前的做法，但有螺旋菜單。它允許我們實際更改我們的頁面。因此，我們更加靈活，能夠在那裡推動一些價值。在幾個市場中，雖然它們正在進行測試，但我不會透露具體細節，我們確實在某些特定市場中提供了更有價值的菜單，我們將繼續分析測試。根據我們的情況，我們可能會擴大這一範圍。

Okay. And then just a modeling question in Q2, what is pricing going to be -- menu pricing in Q2 all-in?

好的。然後是第二季的一個建模問題，定價將是多少——第二季的菜單定價？

Pricing will be in the 3% area.

定價將在 3% 範圍內。

Got it. Thank you.

知道了。謝謝。

Sharon Zackfia, William Blair.

莎朗·扎克菲亞，威廉·布萊爾。

Hi, good afternoon. I was hoping you could quantify more where traffic has improved to in the month of April.

嗨，下午好。我希望您能更多地量化 4 月份流量改善的情況。

Negative low single digits, right?

負低個位數，對嗎？

That's right. Yeah, so far -- yeah, so we're through April now. So it's in the down about 3% area.

這是正確的。是的，到目前為止——是的，我們現在已經過了四月了。所以它處於下降約3%的區域。

Perfect. And then, Greg, I apologize if I missed this, my cell phone cut out, but it sounds like you're making some incremental investments in hospitality. It sounded like maybe those are in specific regions. Can you talk about what you're seeing that's causing you to make those investments? And has there been any kind of waffling, I guess, and guest satisfaction that's leading you to think about investing more there?

完美的。然後，格雷格，如果我錯過了這一點，我很抱歉，我的手機沒電了，但聽起來你正在酒店業進行一些增量投資。聽起來也許那些是在特定地區。您能談談您所看到的促使您進行這些投資的原因嗎？我想，是否有任何胡言亂語和客人滿意度讓您考慮在那裡進行更多投資？

Yeah. By the way, I just want to think about your first part of the question. Our dine-in traffic is actually less than the negative 3%. It's kind of in the 2%, just from a negative standpoint. So we're getting a little bit of drag from the off-premise.

是的。順便說一句，我只想考慮一下你問題的第一部分。我們的堂食客流量其實還不到負3%。僅從消極的角度來看，這相當於 2% 的人。因此，我們受到了來自外部的一些阻力。

And we did talk about we're spending money wisely in off-premise and looking at other ways to drive off-premise overall. But when we look at the health of the business overall, we want to drive that dining room traffic. That dining room traffic delivers an affinity for the brand and that then drives off-premise. So just wanted to get back to that aspect of it.

我們確實談到了我們在場外明智地花錢，並尋找其他方法來推動場外整體發展。但當我們審視整體業務的健康狀況時，我們希望推動餐廳客流量。餐廳的客流量為品牌帶來了親和力，進而帶動了餐廳外的客流量。所以只是想回到這方面。

In regards to your other question from a labor standpoint, one of the things that we've been really looking at in our business is pace and the throughput in our restaurants and how we can be faster. BJ's has never been a fast restaurant. People like to come and spend their time there and enjoy their time at BJ's. That's why we're more experiential from a dining perspective.

關於你從勞工角度提出的另一個問題，我們在業務中真正關注的事情之一是我們餐廳的速度和吞吐量以及我們如何更快。 BJ's 從來就不是一家速食店。人們喜歡來這裡度過他們的時光，並在 BJ's 享受他們的時光。這就是為什麼我們從餐飲的角度來看更具體驗性。

We're not necessarily something that's complimentary to something else, meaning we go to BJ's and a movie. We are the event of the evening. But at the same time, we're looking at areas that we control, whether it's how quickly we get somebody seated, how quickly we get an order into the guest, how quickly we cook, how quickly it gets run out, and so forth.

我們不一定是與其他事物互補的事物，這意味著我們去 BJ 和看電影。我們是當晚的活動。但與此同時，我們正在考慮我們控制的領域，無論是我們多快讓某人就座、我們多快給客人點菜、我們做飯多快、食物用完多快等等。

And as we looked at that, Chris Pinsak, our Chief Restaurant Operations Officer, and his team really started looking at some of the pinch points in regards to how quickly do we get to a table to get that order into the kitchen. Because if it's into the kitchen quicker, it cooks quicker. And we started looking at that ratio at times between servers and food runners, as well as how do we want to think about an expediter in regards to what we call a quality fast position.

當我們看到這一點時，我們的首席餐廳營運長克里斯·平薩克（Chris Pinsak）和他的團隊真正開始研究一些關鍵點，即我們需要多快才能到達餐桌並將訂單送入廚房。因為如果更快進入廚房，它就會煮得更快。我們開始有時會考慮服務員和送餐員之間的比例，以及我們如何看待催交員關於我們所謂的高品質快速職位的問題。

And we're making some tweaks to that. The net-net of that is it should not add any real labor dollars to our business. It's more of a shift from servers, from food runners, and then to more of an expediter type role that we didn't have that we used to have maybe 15 years ago. And we're doing that in more of the high-volume restaurants first to see how that works for us and how that drives improved pace and throughput. And then as we work through that, we'll look at that and determine the right cadence for the rest of the restaurants.

我們正在對此進行一些調整。最重要的是，它不應該為我們的業務增加任何實際的勞動成本。這更多是從服務員、送餐員，然後更多地轉變為我們 15 年前所沒有的加快者類型的角色。我們首先在更多的大客流量餐廳中這樣做，看看這對我們有何作用，以及如何提高速度和吞吐量。然後，當我們解決這個問題時，我們將研究這一點並為其他餐廳確定正確的節奏。

Thanks for that. And just one last question. It sounds like you're seeing a little bit of commodity inflation kick up. Do you still expect flat to low single digit for the full year or has there been a change to that?

感謝那。還有最後一個問題。聽起來大宗商品通膨上升。您仍預計全年持平至低個位數，或者情況有變化嗎？

No, that's still in line with our expectations. It's looking like the low single digits, but yeah, still a lot of year in front of us. But we had a really good Q1 in terms of where we were expecting commodities to come in. But some of the produce recently is higher, some of the meat. So it's more or less in line with the plan as it started. We had a little bit better Q1. Now we're seeing some of it pick back up a little bit. So yeah, we're still right in line with the original guidance.

不，這仍然符合我們的預期。看起來只是個位數的低數字，但是，我們還有很多年的時間。但就我們預期的商品進入而言，我們第一季的表現非常好。所以這或多或少符合一開始的計畫。我們第一季的表現稍好。現在我們看到其中一些有所回升。所以，是的，我們仍然符合最初的指導方針。

Okay, thank you.

好的謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Todd Brooks, The Benchmark Company.

托德·布魯克斯，基準公司。

Hey, thanks for squeezing me in. Just wondering, Tom, within the guidance for slightly negative same-store sales in the second quarter, what are the assumptions that you guys are building in for the strength of celebration season here, Mother's Day, graduation, Father's Day? Thoughts on how those should perform year over year given the macro background?

嘿，謝謝你擠我進來。 ？在宏觀背景下，這些年該如何表現？

Yeah. Everything -- when we look back to the recent celebrations, the Valentine's days, when we were expecting people to come out, they have come out. So I am expecting -- and the focus internally is how do we make sure, yes, gracious hospitality is is a focus, but also pace so we can get these tables set and people fed and when they want to leave, they can leave. And so we were ready to see the next group.

是的。一切——當我們回顧最近的慶祝活動，情人節，當我們期待人們出來時，他們已經出來了。所以我期待著 - 內部的重點是我們如何確保，是的，親切的款待是一個重點，但也是節奏，以便我們可以擺好桌子，讓人們吃飽，當他們想離開時，他們可以離開。所以我們準備好要見到下一組了。

So yeah, we're expecting these to be big weekends for us. And we're putting all of the operational pieces in place to make sure everything we can control is being controlled and driving as much sales as possible.

所以，是的，我們預計這對我們來說將是一個重要的周末。我們正在將所有營運環節落實到位，以確保我們能控制的一切都得到控制，並盡可能推動銷售。

Are those weekends that you can actually grow year over year or it's more hold the hill because they were such high-volume weekends last year?

這些週末是你實際上可以逐年增長的周末，還是因為去年的周末數量如此之多而更能保持穩定？

Our goal is always to grow and have more consumers come into our restaurants. As I mentioned earlier, Chris Pinsak, our Chief Restaurant Operations Officer, got through with the rest of his ops team and looked at ways to make sure we have the most flexible floor plans in place, how we increase reservations for those big weekends and reach out not only for Mother's Day and Father's Day, but also all the graduations that happened at that time during that season there.

我們的目標始終是發展並吸引更多消費者來到我們的餐廳。正如我之前提到的，我們的首席餐廳營運長 Chris Pinsak 與他的營運團隊的其他成員進行了溝通，並研究瞭如何確保我們擁有最靈活的平面圖、如何增加大型週末的預訂並達到目標不僅是母親節和父親節，還有那個季節期間發生的所有畢業典禮。

And we believe that by adjusting our floor plan and some of the changes we're making in the labor staffing that we're going to do in some of our bigger restaurants, that we have the ability to get them into our restaurants, sat faster, food into their tables faster, and that provides additional capacity.

我們相信，透過調整我們的平面圖以及我們將在一些較大的餐廳中進行的勞動力配置方面的一些改變，我們有能力讓他們更快地進入我們的餐廳，食物更快地進入餐桌，這提供了額外的容量。

One of the things that we've seen in this business coming really out of COVID is just restaurants seem to be busier at the front desk. And then as you look in the restaurants, they're just not operating as fast as they are. So I wouldn't necessarily call it entirely false weight per se, it's more about how are we more efficient when people come into the front doors of our restaurants and we get them sat sooner. And that's one of our big initiatives this year. And that initiative will really prove itself out, come Father's Day, Mother's Day, and these graduation timeframes.

我們在這個行業看到的事情之一是，餐廳的前台似乎更加忙碌。然後當你看看餐廳時，你會發現它們的營業速度沒有那麼快。因此，我不一定將其稱為完全錯誤的體重本身，更多的是當人們進入我們餐廳的前門時我們如何提高效率並讓他們更快入座。這是我們今年的重大舉措之一。這項倡議將在父親節、母親節和畢業時間到來時真正證明自己。

That's great. And then, Greg, you talked about without the impact of January, we probably really would have been even more surprised by the restaurant-level margins than where we are now. And I know if we have a normal celebration season, typically, that's a big sequential lift that we tend to see in restaurant-level margins Q2 versus Q1.

那太棒了。然後，格雷格，你談到如果沒有一月份的影響，我們可能真的會對餐廳層面的利潤率比現在更感到驚訝。我知道，如果我們有一個正常的慶祝季節，通常情況下，我們往往會看到第二季度餐廳利潤率與第一季相比會大幅連續提升。

So, Tom, I think you talked about less pricing, a little bit more commodity inflation, but just trying to get a sense of is there a how high is up type of way that we should think beyond the [15.5%] guidance if things do fall as expected in Q2.

所以，湯姆，我認為你談到了降低定價，增加一點大宗商品通膨，但只是想了解一下，如果事情發生，我們應該考慮超越 [15.5%] 指導的上漲方式有多高。 。

Todd, it's interesting. Being in this business as long as I have been, people used to talk about this business around Q2 and Q4. If you go back historically and look at this business, it's switched to a Q1 and Q2 business. It just that first part of January, longer spring school breaks. You go into spring break in March, which is still in Q1. As I mentioned, Valentine's Day, President's Day, other long weekends.

托德，這很有趣。從我從事這個行業的時間來看，人們過去常常在第二季和第四季談論這個業務。如果你回顧歷史並查看這項業務，它會切換到第一季和第二季的業務。這只是一月的上半月，春季學校假期更長。三月進入春假，目前仍處於第一季。正如我所提到的，情人節、總統日和其他長週末。

And when you go back and you can look at BJ's margins over the time, the difference between Q1 margins and Q2 margins, they do bump up from time to time, but they're not like a 100 or 200 basis points or 300 basis points more. You'll see anywheres from 30 to 100 play in there.

當你回頭看 BJ 的利潤率隨時間變化時，第一季利潤率和第二季度利潤率之間的差異，它們確實會不時上升，但它們不像 100 或 200 個基點或 300 個基點更多的。您會看到 30 到 100 人在那裡玩。

So I think as we think about where we've looked at our business, where we're trending, I think the mid-15s is a solid improvement in where we are today and continues to move us forward. If sales come in significantly better, as I said earlier, the ability to leverage in this business, I think, is very strong.

因此，我認為，當我們思考我們的業務的哪些方面以及我們的趨勢時，我認為 15 年代中期是我們今天的狀況的堅實進步，並將繼續推動我們前進。正如我之前所說，如果銷售明顯好轉，我認為該業務的槓桿能力非常強。

Okay. And if I could squeeze one more in, exciting to hear that you got the build cost down to $6 million in the new prototype. Just wondering, what changed to get the build cost down that much? Is it front-of-house changes, back-of-house changes? I know it was a little bit more maybe, quote-unquote, simple construction, 90-degree angles versus curves and angles and things like that. But that's a big drop from where you guys were running with the recent set of builds. I'm just wondering how you got there. Thanks.

好的。如果我能再擠進去一個，很高興聽到您將新原型的建造成本降至 600 萬美元。只是想知道，是什麼改變了建造成本降低了這麼多？是前台的改變，還是後台的改變？我知道它可能有點多，引用不引用，簡單的結構，90 度角與曲線和角度之類的東西。但這與你們最近運行的一組構建相比有很大下降。我只是想知道你是怎麼到那裡的。謝謝。

Yeah. A big portion of that, Todd -- you were with us at our Investor Day and you saw our Framingham restaurant and some of our newer restaurants. They have that island bar. That island bar takes up more square footage versus our more traditional restaurants that have, what we call the classic bar statement against the wall, where we could put that 130-inch TV in. And that helped achieve a big amount of savings there.

是的。其中很大一部分，托德 - 你和我們一起參加了我們的投資者日，你看到了我們的弗雷明漢餐廳和一些新餐廳。他們有那個島上酒吧。與我們更傳統的餐廳相比，這家島上酒吧佔據了更多的面積，我們稱之為經典的靠牆酒吧聲明，我們可以在那裡放置130 英寸的電視。資金。

It then allows us to run that much more efficiently because you got the kitchen right behind the bar. So it's easier for key members to serve the people in the bar area. They're not driving as many steps. And then losing that island bar, you don't have to staff it with two to three bartenders at different times because you have people on different sides of the bar.

這樣我們就可以更有效率地運行，因為廚房就在吧台後面。這樣關鍵成員就可以更輕鬆地為酒吧區的人服務。他們開車的步數沒有那麼多。然後失去那個島嶼酒吧，您不必在不同時間配備兩到三個調酒師，因為酒吧的不同兩側都有人。

So that's where you get some of that operating efficiency. So that's a significant portion of it. There's also other things that we looked at within how we set up the kitchen, the different, as you just saw, undulations or right angles versus curved angles.

這就是您獲得部分營運效率的地方。所以這是其中很重要的一環。我們在如何設置廚房的過程中也考慮了其他一些事情，正如您剛才看到的那樣，起伏或直角與彎曲的角度不同。

Okay, great. Thanks, Greg.

好的，太好了。謝謝，格雷格。

My pleasure. Thank you.

我的榮幸。謝謝。

This concludes our question-and-answer session, and the conference has also now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

我們的問答環節到此結束，會議也結束了。感謝您參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開連線。