Caseys General Stores Inc (CASY) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Casey's General Stores Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2024 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

美好的一天，感謝您的支持。歡迎參加 Casey's General Stores 2024 財年第三季財報電話會議。 （操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。

I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Brian Johnson, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Business Development. Please go ahead, sir.

現在，我想將會議交給今天的第一位發言人，投資者關係和業務開發高級副總裁布萊恩·約翰遜 (Brian Johnson)。請繼續，先生。

Good morning, and thank you for joining us to discuss the results for our third quarter ended January 31, 2024, I'm Brian Johnson, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Business Development. With me today are Darren Rebelez, Board Chair, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Steve Bramlage, Chief Financial Officer.

早安，感謝您與我們一起討論截至 2024 年 1 月 31 日的第三季業績，我是布萊恩·約翰遜，投資者關係和業務開發高級副總裁。今天與我在一起的有董事會主席、總裁兼執行長 Darren Rebelez；和財務長史蒂夫·布拉姆拉奇(Steve Bramlage)。

Before we begin, I'll remind you that certain statements made by us during this investor call may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include any statements relating to expectations for future periods, possible or assumed future results of operations, financial conditions, liquidity and related sources or needs, the company's supply chain, business and integration strategies, plans and synergies, growth opportunities and performance at our stores.

在我們開始之前，我要提醒您，我們在本次投資者電話會議中所做的某些陳述可能構成1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》含義內的前瞻性陳述。這些前瞻性陳述包括與以下任何預期相關的陳述：未來期間、可能或假定的未來經營業績、財務狀況、流動性和相關來源或需求、公司的供應鏈、業務和整合策略、計劃和協同效應、成長機會和我們商店的業績。

There are a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from any future results expressed or implied by those forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the integration of the recent acquisitions, our ability to execute on our strategic plan or to realize benefits from the strategic plan, the impact and duration of the conflict in Ukraine and related governmental actions as well as other risks, uncertainties and factors, which are described in our most annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q as filed with the SEC and available on our website.

有許多已知和未知的風險、不確定性和其他因素可能導致我們的實際結果與這些前瞻性陳述明示或暗示的任何未來結果存在重大差異，包括但不限於最近收購的整合、我們執行戰略計劃或從戰略計劃中實現收益的能力、烏克蘭衝突的影響和持續時間以及相關政府行動以及其他風險、不確定性和因素，這些都在我們最近的年度報告中進行了描述。向SEC 提交並可在我們的網站上取得的10-K 表和10-Q 表的季度報告。

Any forward-looking statements made during this call reflect our current views as of today with respect to future events, and Casey's disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. A reconciliation of non-GAAP to GAAP financial measures referenced in this call as well as a detailed breakdown of the operating expense increase for the third quarter can be found on our website at www.caseys.com under the Investor Relations link.

本次電話會議期間所做的任何前瞻性陳述均反映了我們截至今天對未來事件的當前看法，凱西不承擔任何更新或修改前瞻性陳述的意圖或義務，無論是由於新資訊、未來事件還是其他原因。本次電話會議中引用的非公認會計原則與公認會計原則財務指標的調節表以及第三季度營運費用增長的詳細細目可在我們網站 www.caseys.com 的投資者關係鏈接下找到。

With that said, I would now like to turn the call over to Darren to discuss our third quarter results. Darren?

話雖如此，我現在想將電話轉給達倫，討論我們第三季的業績。達倫？

Thanks, Brian, and good morning, everyone. We're thrilled to discuss third quarter once again demonstrated the strength of the Casey's team and the resilience of our business model.

謝謝布萊恩，大家早安。我們很高興討論第三季再次證明了凱西團隊的實力和我們業務模式的彈性。

Now let's review the results. Diluted EPS finished at $2.33 per share, 13% decrease from the prior year. The company generated $87 million in net income, a decrease of 13% and $218 million in EBITDA, a decrease of 2% from the prior year. As we mentioned in last quarter's call and the press release, all of these metrics were comparing against to prior year included a onetime operating expense reduction due to the resolution of a legal matter.

現在讓我們回顧一下結果。稀釋後每股收益最終為每股 2.33 美元，比上年下降 13%。該公司淨利潤為 8,700 萬美元，較上年下降 13%；EBITDA 為 2.18 億美元，較上年下降 2%。正如我們在上個季度的電話會議和新聞稿中提到的，所有這些指標均與前一年相比，包括由於法律問題的解決而導致的一次性營運費用減少。

This resolution benefited the prior year by approximately $15 million or $0.31 per share. I'm proud of our team members for producing solid third quarter results. As the team navigated a less favorable fuel cost environment than in the past year as well as challenging weather most of our footprint in January.

該決議使上一年受益約 1500 萬美元，即每股 0.31 美元。我為我們的團隊成員取得了堅實的第三季業績感到自豪。由於該團隊在燃料成本環境不如去年的情況下，以及一月份的大部分足跡都面臨著充滿挑戰的天氣。

I'd now like to go over our results and share some of the details in each of the categories. Inside same-store sales were up 4.1% for the third quarter or 9.9% on a 2-year stack basis with an average margin of 41.3%. Same-store Prepared Food and Dispensed Beverage was particularly strong as sales were up 7.5% or 12.9% on a 2-year stack basis with an average margin of 59.6%, up approximately 230 basis points from the prior year. Whole pies performed well in the quarter, and we also saw a strong performance with Hot Sandwiches and Dispensed Beverages.

現在我想回顧一下我們的結果並分享每個類別的一些細節。第三季同店內部銷售額成長 4.1%，以兩年計算成長 9.9%，平均利潤率為 41.3%。同店預製食品和配製飲料表現尤其強勁，銷售額以兩年計算增長 7.5% 或 12.9%，平均利潤率為 59.6%，比上年增長約 230 個基點。整個餡餅在本季度表現良好，我們也看到熱三明治和配製飲料的強勁表現。

Margin was favorably impacted by softening commodity costs, notably cheese as well as modest menu pricing adjustments during the quarter. Prepared Food continues to be a key differentiator for Casey's and I'm very pleased with the sales growth and margins. Same-store Grocery and General Merchandise sales were up 2.8% or 8.8% on a 2-year stack basis with an average margin of 33.9%, a decrease of approximately 10 basis points from the prior year.

利潤率受到大宗商品成本（尤其是起司）疲軟以及本季菜單價格適度調整的有利影響。預製食品仍然是 Casey's 的關鍵差異化因素，我對銷售成長和利潤率感到非常滿意。同店雜貨和日用百貨銷售額以兩年計算成長 2.8% 或 8.8%，平均利潤率為 33.9%，比上年下降約 10 個基點。

We saw positive momentum in the category, notably in both alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages and our private label program continues to be a great value option for our guests with Casey's chips and bottled water performing well in the quarter. For fuel, same-store gallons sold were nearly flat with a fuel margin of $0.373 per gallon. This marked the 11th consecutive quarter with fuel margins above $0.345 per gallon.

我們看到了該類別的積極勢頭，特別是在酒精和非酒精飲料方面，我們的自有品牌計劃對於我們的客人來說仍然是一個很有價值的選擇，凱西薯片和瓶裝水在本季度表現良好。對於燃料，同店銷售的加侖數幾乎持平，燃料利潤為每加侖 0.373 美元。這標誌著燃料利潤連續第 11 個季度高於每加侖 0.345 美元。

Our volume continues to outperform our geographic market as well as OPIS fuel gallons sold data shows the Mid-Continent region down approximately 5% in the quarter. Our fuel team is doing an exceptional job balancing volume growth and margin and the results continue to show it. Operating expenses were up 10.3% versus the prior year, grew 2.5% on a same-store, excluding credit card fee basis.

我們的銷售量持續跑贏我們的地理市場，OPIS 燃油加侖銷售數據顯示，中大陸地區本季下降了約 5%。我們的燃料團隊在平衡銷售成長和利潤方面做得非常出色，結果繼續證明了這一點。營運費用較上年增加 10.3%，同店成長 2.5%（不含信用卡費用）。

Our team continues to get more and more efficient operating stores, while at the same time, integrating multiple acquisitions. This is a testament to the outstanding work and maturity of our integration team.

我們的團隊不斷獲得越來越多高效的營運門市，同時整合多項收購。這證明了我們整合團隊的出色工作和成熟度。

I'd now like to turn the call over to Steve to discuss the financial results for the third quarter. Steve?

我現在想把電話轉給史蒂夫，討論第三季的財務表現。史蒂夫？

Thank you, Darren, and good morning. I'd also like to thank the team for their great work during the quarter. Our results were solid, especially inside the store where we continue to grow sales and expand margin. This was accomplished during a quarter of heavy integration of acquired stores across our footprint. Overall, this was another quarter of effective operational execution and what is shaping up to be a great fiscal 2024.

謝謝你，達倫，早安。我還要感謝團隊在本季所做的出色工作。我們的業績非常穩健，尤其是在店內，我們的銷售額持續成長，利潤率不斷擴大。這是在我們的業務範圍內對收購的商店進行大規模整合的一個季度中實現的。總體而言，這是另一個有效營運執行的季度，2024 財年將是一個偉大的財年。

Total revenue for the quarter was $3.3 billion, a decrease of $3 million or 0.1% from the prior year due primarily to the lower retail price of fuel. Total inside sales for the quarter were $1.2 billion, an increase of $106 million or 9.5% from the prior year. For the quarter, Prepared Food and Dispensed Beverage sales rose by $36 million to $349 million, an increase of 11.4%. Grocery and General Merchandise sales increased by $70 million to $866 million, an increase of 8.8%. Results were also favorably impacted by operating approximately 7% more stores on a year-over-year basis.

該季度總收入為 33 億美元，比去年同期減少 300 萬美元，即 0.1%，主要是由於燃料零售價格下降。該季度內部銷售總額為 12 億美元，比上年增加 1.06 億美元，成長 9.5%。本季預製食品和配製飲料銷售額成長了 3,600 萬美元，達到 3.49 億美元，增幅為 11.4%。雜貨和日用百貨銷售額增加了 7,000 萬美元，達到 8.66 億美元，增幅為 8.8%。門市營運量年增約 7%，也對業績產生了正面影響。

Retail fuel sales were down $106 million in the third quarter as an 11% decline in the average retail price of fuel was partially offset by a 6.9% increase in fuel gallons sold. The average retail price of fuel during this period was $2.98 a gallon compared to $3.34 a gallon 1 year ago. We define gross profit as revenue less cost of goods sold, but excluding depreciation and amortization. Casey's had gross profit of $787 million in third quarter, an increase of $49 million or 6.7% from the prior year. This is primarily driven by higher inside gross profit of $50.9 million or 11.3%, offset by lower fuel gross profit of $5.3 million or 2%.

第三季零售燃料銷售額下降了 1.06 億美元，燃料平均零售價格下降 11%，但燃料加侖銷售增加 6.9% 部分抵消了下降。在此期間，燃油平均零售價為每加侖 2.98 美元，而一年前為每加侖 3.34 美元。我們將毛利定義為收入減去銷售成本，但不包括折舊和攤提。 Casey's第三季毛利為7.87億美元，較上年同期增加4,900萬美元，成長6.7%。這主要是由於內部毛利增加至 5,090 萬美元（即 11.3%），但被燃料毛利潤下降（530 萬美元或 2%）所抵銷。

Inside gross profit margin was 41.3%, and that's up 70 basis points from 1 year ago. Prepared Food and Dispensed Beverage margin was 59.6%, up 230 basis points from prior year. The category margin benefited from lower commodity costs, specifically cheese which was $2.06 per pound for the quarter compared to $2.30 per pound last year, a decrease of 10% or approximately 80 basis points.

內部毛利率為41.3%，較一年前成長70個基點。預製食品和配製飲料利潤率為 59.6%，比上年增長 230 個基點。品類利潤受益於商品成本下降，特別是乳酪，本季為每磅 2.06 美元，而去年為每磅 2.30 美元，下降了 10% 或約 80 個基點。

Margin also benefited from a lower LIFO charge than in the prior year as our broader input costs softened, benefiting margin by over 40 basis points. Modest menu pricing adjustments also helps. The Grocery and General Merchandise margin was 33.9%, a decrease of 10 basis points from the prior year. The change was primarily due to lapping favorable vendor funded promotions in the prior year partially offset by a lower LIFO charge and private label continuing to increase its share of our mix.

隨著我們更廣泛的投入成本的疲軟，利潤率也受益於比上一年更低的後進先出費用，使利潤率提高了 40 個基點以上。適度的菜單定價調整也有幫助。雜貨和百貨商品利潤率為 33.9%，比上年下降 10 個基點。這項變更主要是由於上一年供應商資助的優惠促銷活動被較低的後進先出費用和自有品牌繼續增加其在我們產品組合中的份額所部分抵消。

Fuel margin for the quarter was $0.373 per gallon that's down $0.034 per gallon from the prior year. Fuel gross profit benefited by $3.4 million from the sale of RINs, and that's up $0.5 million from the same quarter in the prior year. Total operating expenses were up 10.3% or $53.2 million in the third quarter.

本季的燃油利潤為每加侖 0.373 美元，比去年同期每加侖下降 0.034 美元。 RIN 銷售使燃料毛利潤增加了 340 萬美元，比去年同期增加了 50 萬美元。第三季總營運支出成長 10.3%，即 5,320 萬美元。

Approximately 3% of the increase is due to lapping a onetime benefit to operating expense last year from the resolution of a $15 million legal matter. Approximately 6% of the total operating expense increased is due to unit growth and integration spending as we operated 167 more stores than the prior year. Same-store employee expense accounted for approximately 1% of the increase as modest increases in wage rates were partially offset by the reduction in same-store hours. Depreciation in the quarter was $89 million. That's up $10.9 million versus the prior year, and that's primarily due to operating more stores.

大約 3% 的成長是由於去年解決了 1500 萬美元的法律問題而獲得的一次性收益計入營運費用。總營業費用增加的約 6% 歸因於單位成長和整合支出，因為我們比前一年多經營了 167 家門市。同店員工費用約佔成長的 1%，因為薪資的小幅成長被同店工作時間的減少部分抵消。本季折舊額為 8,900 萬美元。與前一年相比增加了 1,090 萬美元，這主要是由於經營了更多商店。

Net interest expense was $14.1 million in the quarter. That's up $2.4 million versus the prior year, primarily due to less interest income as we funded several acquisitions in the quarter out of cash on hand. The effective tax rate for the quarter was 24.1%, consistent with the prior year. Net income was down versus the prior year to $86.9 million, a decrease of 13.2%. EBITDA for the quarter was $217.6 million compared to $221.7 million 1 year ago, that's a decrease of 1.9%.

本季淨利息支出為 1,410 萬美元。與前一年相比增加了 240 萬美元，主要是由於我們用手頭現金為本季度的幾項收購提供了資金，因此利息收入減少。該季度的有效稅率為 24.1%，與去年同期一致。淨利潤較上年下降 8,690 萬美元，下降 13.2%。該季度的 EBITDA 為 2.176 億美元，與一年前的 2.217 億美元相比，下降了 1.9%。

Our balance sheet remains in excellent condition and we have significant financial flexibility. On January 31, we had total available liquidity of $1.1 billion. Furthermore, we have no significant maturities coming due until our fiscal 2026. Our leverage ratio, calculated in accordance with our senior notes is 1.6x. The third quarter tends to be our seasonal trough for cash flow generation. For that quarter, net cash generated by operating activities of $123 million less purchases of property, plant and equipment of $150 million resulted in the company using $27 million in free cash flows, and that compares to a generation of $27 million in the prior year.

我們的資產負債表保持良好狀況，並且具有顯著的財務彈性。截至 1 月 31 日，我們可用的流動資金總額為 11 億美元。此外，在 2026 財年之前，我們沒有重大到期債務。根據我們的優先票據計算，我們的槓桿率為 1.6 倍。第三季往往是我們現金流產生的季節性低潮。該季度，經營活動產生的淨現金為 1.23 億美元，減去購買不動產、廠房和設備的 1.5 億美元，導致公司使用了 2,700 萬美元的自由現金流，而上一年為 2,700 萬美元。

At the March meeting, the Board of Directors voted to maintain the quarterly dividend of $0.43 per share. During the quarter, we repurchased approximately $30 million of stock, and we have $310 million remaining on our existing share repurchase authorization.

在 3 月的會議上，董事會投票決定維持每股 0.43 美元的季度股息。本季度，我們回購了約 3,000 萬美元的股票，現有的股票回購授權還剩 3.1 億美元。

Investing in EBITDA and ROIC accretive growth investments remains our primary capital allocation priority -- but currently, given our low leverage levels and strong cash flow, we are repurchasing more shares than in the past. We have had an excellent unit growth year so far, especially with M&A.

投資 EBITDA 和 ROIC 增值型成長投資仍然是我們的主要資本配置優先事項，但目前，鑑於我們的槓桿水平較低且現金流強勁，我們正在比過去回購更多股票。到目前為止，我們的單位成長非常出色，尤其是在併購方面。

During the third quarter, we closed on a transaction to enter our 17th state in Texas. And through the end of the quarter, we have built or acquired over 125 stores. As we prepare to finish fiscal year '24, we are reaffirming all of our fiscal year guidance, as outlined in the third quarter press release. And before we get into our fourth quarter experience to date, just a reminder that February had an extra day due to the leap year, and that will equate to an approximate 100 basis point increase to both same-store results and total OpEx for the fourth quarter.

第三季度，我們完成了進入德州第 17 個州的交易。截至本季末，我們已建立或收購了超過 125 家商店。在我們準備結束 24 財年之際，我們重申了第三季新聞稿中概述的所有財年指引。 And before we get into our fourth quarter experience to date, just a reminder that February had an extra day due to the leap year, and that will equate to an approximate 100 basis point increase to both same-store results and total OpEx for the fourth四分之一.

Our results for February, excluding the impact of the Leap Day were as follows: inside same-store sales are near the top end of our annual outlook range. Fuel gallons were near the low end of the annual outlook range. CPG was a touch below the mid-30s. Please note that February tends to be seasonally low in terms of fuel profitability and that this February's result is a couple of cents per gallon higher than the same period last year.

我們 2 月份的業績（排除閏日的影響）如下：同店內部銷售額接近我們年度展望範圍的上限。燃油加侖數接近年度展望範圍的低端。 CPG 的價格略低於 30 多歲。請注意，二月份的燃料獲利能力往往處於季節性低位，今年二月份的結果比去年同期每加侖高出幾美分。

Current cheese costs are modestly favorable versus the prior year. And one last comment on total operating expenses. We expect to finish the year at the high end of our annual outlook range, and that will be driven by some discretionary fourth quarter year-end charitable contributions as well as incremental incentive compensation expense due to the company's strong performance.

目前的起司成本與去年相比略有優惠。最後評論一下總營運費用。我們預計今年將達到年度展望範圍的高端，這將受到第四季度年終慈善捐款以及公司強勁業績帶來的增量激勵補償費用的推動。

I'd now like to turn the call back over to Darren.

我現在想把電話轉回達倫。

Thanks, Steve. I'd like to thank the entire Casey's team for another strong quarter. You may have seen we recently added a new team member, our new Chief Pizza and Beer Officer, Nebraska native, Joe Cruz. Joe was selected from over 500 applicants and we're thrilled to have him.

謝謝，史蒂夫。我要感謝整個凱西團隊的另一個強勁季度。您可能已經看到我們最近增加了一位新的團隊成員，我們的新首席披薩和啤酒官喬·克魯茲是內布拉斯加州人。 Joe 從 500 多名申請者中脫穎而出，我們很高興能擁有他。

Now the hard work begins as he's busy tasting our handmade delicious pizza and our refreshing ice cold beer pairings, which you can follow along with on our social media channels. Our team members across the organization continue to execute our strategic plan extremely well and the results are proving that the hard work is paying off.

現在，艱苦的工作開始了，他正忙著品嚐我們手工製作的美味披薩和清爽的冰鎮啤酒搭配，您可以在我們的社交媒體頻道上關注。我們整個組織的團隊成員繼續出色地執行我們的策略計劃，結果證明辛勤的工作正在得到回報。

We continue to roll out programs and make the stores run more efficiently including the launch of our digital production planner. This tool allows us to use our robust data and analytics capabilities to give team members the technology to manage food production more effectively in order to reduce waste and save team members' time.

我們繼續推出計劃，提高商店的營運效率，包括推出數位生產計劃程序。該工具使我們能夠利用強大的數據和分析功能，為團隊成員提供更有效管理糧食生產的技術，以減少浪費並節省團隊成員的時間。

Casey's brand, both with private label and our prepared food offering continues to prove to be our strength in the industry as evidenced by our robust inside same-store sales, both in the quarter and on a 2-year stack basis. This allows for strong guest support for food innovation. And in January, we rolled out a refreshed chicken sandwich and Cheeseburger that guests are already gravitating towards. Just another example of guests trusting that Casey's will deliver.

Casey 的品牌（包括自有品牌）和我們的預製食品產品繼續證明是我們在行業中的優勢，我們強勁的同店內部銷售（無論是在季度還是在兩年的基礎上）都證明了這一點。這為食品創新提供了強有力的賓客支持。一月份，我們推出了新鮮的雞肉三明治和起司漢堡，深受客人青睞。這只是客人相信 Casey's 會提供服務的另一個例子。

Our Prepared Food program continues to drive strong results and gives us a unique competitive advantage in the industry. The commitment of our team members in stores to serve guests with high-quality products at a great value has translated to results. Our private label program continues to shine as we saw positive growth in units and gross profit versus the prior year. More and more guests continue to join Casey's Rewards as we have over 7.7 million members today, as growth in the third quarter was accelerated by our 24 days of Casey's campaign.

我們的預製食品計劃繼續取得強勁成果，並為我們在行業中提供了獨特的競爭優勢。我們店裡的團隊成員致力於為客人提供高品質、超值的產品，這項承諾已轉化為成果。我們的自有品牌計劃繼續大放異彩，我們看到銷量和毛利與前一年相比呈正增長。越來越多的客人繼續加入 Casey's Rewards，我們目前擁有超過 770 萬名會員，而第三季的成長因我們 24 天的 Casey's 活動而加速。

With help from the continuous improvement team, our store operations team continues to operate the stores more effectively and efficiently. With their efforts, we had another quarter reducing same-store labor hours, marking the seventh consecutive quarter of same-store labor hour reduction while increasing both guest satisfaction and team member engagement scores. There's more to come, as we're excited about what's in the pipeline for the next 12 to 18 months regarding store simplification. We look forward to giving our team members even more tools to make a great guest experience.

在持續改善團隊的幫助下，我們的店鋪營運團隊持續更有效、有效率地經營店鋪。在他們的努力下，我們又一個季度減少了同店工時，這是連續第七個季度減少同店工時，同時提高了顧客滿意度和團隊成員敬業度得分。未來還會有更多的事情發生，因為我們對未來 12 到 18 個月內有關商店簡化的計劃感到興奮。我們期待為我們的團隊成員提供更多工具，以創造出色的賓客體驗。

On the fuel side of the business, we performed well despite lapping a highly profitable quarter last year. Wholesale price movement was less favorable, but we still posted a $0.373 per gallon margin while outpacing our geography on fuel gallons sold. We're positioned to thrive in this environment with our team and the capabilities that we've stood up.

在燃料業務方面，儘管去年季度利潤很高，但我們表現良好。批發價格走勢不太有利，但我們仍公佈每加侖 0.373 美元的利潤，同時在銷售燃料加侖方面超過了我們的地區。我們有能力憑藉我們的團隊和我們所具備的能力在這種環境中蓬勃發展。

Regarding store growth, we're off to a great start on our commitment to add 350 stores by the end of fiscal 2026. Our 2-pronged approach of new store construction as well as M&A allows the company to ratably grow without reaching for acquisitions. As we approach the end of fiscal 2024, I'm proud of how we started our 3-year strategic plan. I'm extremely excited about the outlook of the business.

在門市成長方面，我們在 2026 財年末新增 350 家門市的承諾上有了一個良好的開端。我們新店建設和併購雙管齊下的方法使公司能夠在不進行收購的情況下實現快速成長。隨著 2024 財年即將結束，我對我們如何啟動 3 年策略計畫感到自豪。我對公司的前景感到非常興奮。

Now that the world and our industry has evolved to a more normalized post-pandemic environment, our unique business model is proving to be both highly differentiated and resilient. We have abundant growth opportunities on the horizon and the team and balance sheet to capitalize on them. This gives me great confidence in our team and our ability to execute the strategic plan. We'll now take your questions.

現在世界和我們的產業已經發展到一個更正常化的疫情後環境，事實證明我們獨特的商業模式既具有高度差異化又具有彈性。我們擁有大量的成長機會，以及可以利用這些機會的團隊和資產負債表。這讓我對我們的團隊和執行策略計畫的能力充滿信心。我們現在將回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question will come from the line of Ben Bienvenu with Stephens.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題將來自 Ben Bienvenu 和 Stephens 的線路。

I want to ask first about the results in the Prepared Food business. Very strong same-store sales results, very strong margins. I'd love to hear a little bit about the composition of the same-store sales growth that you saw during the quarter, how much is ticket versus traffic.

我想先詢問預製食品業務的績效。同店銷售業績非常強勁，利潤率非常高。我很想了解您在本季看到的同店銷售成長的組成，即門票與流量的比例。

And as you look forward to some of the new product innovations that you have in store and the store simplification, what impact you think that might have on the Prepared Foods business versus the rest of the business more broadly?

當您期待商店中的一些新產品創新和商店簡化時，您認為這可能會對預製食品業務與更廣泛的其他業務產生什麼影響？

Yes, Ben, this is Darren. Sales were driven by a few things. We had real strength and old ties, old ties were up about 11% in the quarter. Our bakery products as well were up about 11%, and then we saw apps and side items up around 9%. Sounds pretty good.

是的，本，這是達倫。銷售是由一些因素推動的。我們擁有真正的實力和舊關係，老關係在本季上漲了約 11%。我們的烘焙產品也上漲了約 11%，然後我們看到應用程式和副產品上漲了約 9%。聽起來不錯。

Overall, when you look at the inside sales mix. I was really happy with how inside work out this quarter, it struck a really nice balance. We're up about 2.2% in transactions and about 1.9% in check. So really, you see some -- a little bit of modest inflation, but you also see the strength coming from driving traffic to the stores. And that's really a good spot to be in from that perspective.

總體而言，當您查看內部銷售組合時。我對本季內部的運作感到非常滿意，它達到了非常好的平衡。我們的交易量增加了約 2.2%，支票增加了約 1.9%。所以，實際上，你會看到一些——一點點溫和的通貨膨脹，但你也看到了來自商店客流量增加的力量。從這個角度來看，這裡確實是一個好地方。

With respect to innovation, I'll tell you, I think we're really starting to hit our stride and this quarter had some impact of that with our chicken sandwich and our burger platforms. The culinary team did a fantastic job of basically rebuilding those products and up-leveling the quality of all the ingredients, changing the builds, making those more compelling and adding a new crispy, spicy chicken sandwich, which really resonated well. And in doing that, up leveling that quality and also negotiating better cost of goods, we were able to raise price by about $0.50 a unit and the velocity has accelerated, almost triple digits. And so we're really seeing some nice results there. And so that innovation can really not only have an impact on the velocity but also have an impact on the margin at the same time.

關於創新，我會告訴你，我認為我們確實開始大步前進，本季我們的雞肉三明治和漢堡平台對此產生了一些影響。烹飪團隊做得非常出色，基本上重建了這些產品，提高了所有原料的質量，改變了結構，使它們更加引人注目，並添加了新的脆皮辣雞肉三明治，這確實引起了很好的共鳴。透過這樣做，提高品質水準並協商更好的商品成本，我們能夠將每件產品的價格提高約 0.50 美元，並且速度加快了，幾乎達到了三位數。所以我們確實看到了一些不錯的結果。因此，創新不僅可以影響速度，還可以同時影響利潤。

That's great. My second question is also on the Prepared Foods segment, but more as it relates to the margins and in particular, the cost of cheese. Steve, I think the last update that we got is that you were 80% locked for the balance of the year, so that would be the fourth quarter. Spot cheese costs are down considerably. Is there anything that you can share with respect to how you're thinking about forward buying your cheese needs for fiscal '25 and what potential benefit that might afford for Casey's?

那太棒了。我的第二個問題也是關於預製食品領域，但更多的是因為它與利潤有關，特別是與起司的成本有關。史蒂夫，我認為我們收到的最新更新是，今年剩餘時間 80% 被鎖定，所以那將是第四季度。現貨起司成本大幅下降。關於您如何考慮提前購買 25 財年的起司需求以及凱西可能帶來的潛在好處，您有什麼可以分享的嗎？

Sure. Ben, as it relates to the fourth quarter first, we're now about 90% locked for our fourth quarter buy. And so I think we got a lot of visibility into that. I would expect us to be something like 5% or 6% to the good on a year-over-year basis for the all-in cost of cheese, that would compare to about a 10% or so benefit that we had in the third quarter, so favorable, but modestly less favorable as we enter into FY '26 we will continue to be opportunistic as we think about how we can forward buy cheese on a favorable basis.

當然。 Ben，因為這首先與第四季度有關，我們現在大約 90% 鎖定了第四季度的購買。所以我認為我們對此有很多了解。我預計我們的起司總成本將年減 5% 或 6% 左右，而我們在第三季度獲得的收益約為 10% 左右季度，如此有利，但隨著我們進入26 財年，我們將繼續機會主義，因為我們考慮如何在有利的基礎上遠期購買起司。

If we get an opportunity to forward buy it so that we'll have -- we can lock in deflation. On a year-over-year basis, we take advantage of that, and that's what our sourcing team is focused on. And so we certainly are not locked into the level that we are for FY '24, but we will continue to take advantage of that opportunity going forward. When we get to the end of the fiscal year this year, we'll give some more forward visibility as to exactly what those positions are entering FY '25.

如果我們有機會遠期購買，那麼我們就可以鎖定通貨緊縮。我們逐年利用這一點，這就是我們的採購團隊所關注的重點。因此，我們當然不會鎖定 24 財年的水平，但我們將繼續利用這個機會向前邁進。當我們今年財年結束時，我們將提供更多關於這些職位進入 25 財年的前瞻性資訊。

Our next question comes from the line of Anthony Bonadio with Wells Fargo.

我們的下一個問題來自富國銀行的安東尼·博納迪奧。

So it looks like OpEx growth in Q3 came in quite a bit below what you guys had guided to last quarter. Can you just talk a little bit more about what drove that upside versus what you guys were planning? And then maybe more broadly, what you're doing on the cost side that's looking for now?

因此，看起來第三季的營運支出成長遠低於你們上季的指引。您能多談談是什麼推動了這一上升趨勢以及你們的計劃嗎？也許更廣泛地說，您現在正在尋找的成本方面正在做什麼？

Yes, Anthony, I'd say we had another really strong quarter on OpEx, and that was -- the favorability was really driven in the stores with labor management and the stores continue to perform exceptionally well in taking unproductive labor hours out. And that's -- it's somewhat of a virtuous cycle as we make the job in the stores more simple for people to execute.

是的，安東尼，我想說我們在營運支出上又經歷了一個非常強勁的季度，那就是——商店裡的勞動力管理確實推動了人們的好感，而且商店在消除非生產性勞動時間方面繼續表現得異常出色。這在某種程度上是一個良性循環，因為我們讓商店裡的工作更容易讓人們執行。

It takes less hours to do the jobs but it also reduces turnover. When you reduce turnover, you reduce over time, you reduce training hours and people get more productive in their jobs because they stay in them longer. And so we're seeing all of those things happen and then the great side benefit of all that is team member engagement scores go up. Overall satisfaction scores go up, both of which are the highest we've ever seen in our company. So everything is working pretty well on that. But the primary driver was labor hour reduction.

完成這些工作所需的時間更少，但也減少了人員流動。當你減少人員流動時，你會隨著時間的推移而減少，你會減少訓練時間，人們的工作效率也會提高，因為他們在工作中停留的時間更長。因此，我們看到所有這些事情都發生了，然後所有這些事情的巨大附帶好處是團隊成員敬業度得分上升。整體滿意度分數上升，這兩項得分都是我們公司有史以來最高的。所以一切都進展順利。但主要驅動因素是勞動時間的減少。

Got it. That's helpful. And then I just wanted to dig in on fuel margins a little bit. I realize there's sort of a price element to the softness we're seeing of late. But I also know you guys have a uniquely good read on the health of the marginal operator, given you're looking at a lot of these chains as potential tuck-in deals. Can you just maybe talk a little bit more about what you're seeing there as we sort of look to assess the impact on fuel margin breakeven for those players.

知道了。這很有幫助。然後我只是想深入研究燃料利潤。我意識到我們最近看到的疲軟有一定的價格因素。但我也知道你們對邊際業者的健康狀況有獨特的了解，因為你們將許多這樣的連鎖店視為潛在的交易。您能否多談談您所看到的情況，因為我們正在評估對這些參與者的燃油利潤率盈虧平衡的影響。

Yes, with respect to fuel margin, and other operators. I mean we are seeing other operators as we look at stores that we're acquiring, we'll see operators that are taking more fuel margin. The fuel margin will be higher than it was prior year. But in many cases, their EBITDA is lower than it was in the prior year. And so what they're having to do is raise price on fuel, take more margin.

是的，關於燃料利潤和其他運營商。我的意思是，當我們審視我們正在收購的商店時，我們會看到其他營運商，我們會看到營運商正在獲取更多的燃油利潤。燃油利潤率將高於去年。但在許多情況下，他們的 EBITDA 低於去年。因此他們要做的就是提高燃料價格，獲取更多利潤。

They're chasing off gallons in the short term, and that math works in the short term, it doesn't work over a sustained period of time, and that's still not enough to cover the losses that they're experiencing in the cigarette category or the inflation that they're experiencing in OpEx because typically, these smaller operators are over-indexed to tobacco and they don't have any scale to negotiate better services agreements with service providers that ultimately impacts our OpEx. So that's kind of what we're seeing on that front.

他們在短期內追逐加侖，數學在短期內有效，但在持續一段時間內不起作用，這仍然不足以彌補他們在捲菸類別中經歷的損失或他們在營運支出中經歷的通貨膨脹，因為通常情況下，這些較小的業者對菸草的指數過高，而且他們沒有任何規模與服務提供者談判更好的服務協議，最終影響我們的營運支出。這就是我們在這方面看到的情況。

Our next question comes from the line of Bonnie Herzog with Goldman Sachs.

我們的下一個問題來自高盛的邦妮·赫爾佐格。

I had a question about your inside sales were really quite strong, which is great, and you're executing very well. But I guess I was wondering if you're changing your strategy a bit in terms of what you earn at the pump versus maybe driving traffic in the store.

我有一個問題，關於你們的內部銷售確實非常強勁，這很好，而且你們執行得很好。但我想我想知道你是否正在稍微改變你的策略，即你在加油站賺到的錢與可能增加商店客流量的策略。

I guess I'm asking because your fuel margins were strong, but they have decelerated sequentially this year. So -- is this more a function of a shift in strategy on your end or maybe just some industry pressures? And then if it's the latter, can you give us a sense maybe of why industry margins have been declining over the last few months?

我想我這麼問是因為你們的燃油利潤率很高，但今年它們已經連續減速。那麼，這更多的是你們策略轉變的結果還是只是一些產業壓力？如果是後者，您能否讓我們了解為什麼過去幾個月行業利潤率一直在下降？

Yes, Bonnie, I would say, first, there is no change in strategy for us on fuel. And we've been very consistent in that, we always strive to maintain a balance between volume and margin and try to optimize gross profit dollars in that equation.

是的，邦妮，我想說，首先，我們的燃料策略沒有改變。我們在這一點上一直非常一致，我們始終努力保持銷量和利潤之間的平衡，並嘗試優化該等式中的毛利。

And if you look over this past fiscal year, we've -- every quarter has been either favorable or positive by 30, 40 basis points or negative about 30, 40 basis points, it really toggles within a pretty tight range around flat. And we've had good margin. This quarter, obviously, the margin was lower than prior year. The prior year margin was over $0.40 a gallon. We've never really had a goal to achieve any sort of margin, frankly, it's really to maximize those gross profit dollars. So no change in strategy.

如果你回顧過去的財年，我們每個季度都會有 30、40 個基點的有利或正值，或者大約 30、40 個基點的負值，它確實在持平的相當窄的範圍內切換。我們的利潤率很高。顯然，本季的利潤率低於去年同期。上一年的利潤超過每加侖 0.40 美元。我們從來沒有真正的目標來實現任何形式的利潤，坦白說，這實際上是為了最大化這些毛利。所以策略沒有改變。

We were actually really pleased with the fact that when we look at the Mid-Continent data from OPIS that we're about 500 basis points better than the industry from a volume standpoint, we're still north of $0.35 a gallon on fuel margins. So we like that math especially when it maintains traffic into the store, we have positive traffic in the store, which is where all the real margin is, and that's our true strength and differentiator. So the model is working exactly as we would ascribe it to work.

實際上，我們非常高興的是，當我們查看 OPIS 的中大陸數據時，從銷量的角度來看，我們比行業高出約 500 個基點，但我們的燃油利潤仍然高於每加侖 0.35 美元。所以我們喜歡這個數學，特別是當它維持商店的客流量時，我們在商店中有正的客流量，這是所有真正的利潤所在，也是我們真正的優勢和差異化因素。因此，該模型的工作原理與我們所認為的完全一樣。

Okay. It definitely makes sense. And then just maybe a quick follow-up on that because Darren, I think you mentioned that you've made some modest retail price adjustments. So would love to just hear a little bit more color around this. And what I'm talking about is about the pump and then your ability to maybe take even more pricing in the future in the context of sort of what you just said.

好的。這絕對是有道理的。然後可能會快速跟進，因為達倫，我想你提到你已經做了一些適度的零售價格調整。所以很想聽到更多關於這個的顏色。我所說的是關於泵，然後是你在未來可能採取更高定價的能力，就像你剛才所說的那樣。

Yes. We took some modest pricing in Grocery and General Merchandise. The tobacco pricing, I'd set aside and you know how that works, Bonnie, it's a quarterly cadence. We pass on those cost increases to the guest.

是的。我們對雜貨和日用百貨採取了一些適度的定價。菸草定價，我先放在一邊，你知道它是如何運作的，邦妮，這是一個季度的節奏。我們將這些增加的成本轉嫁給客人。

Outside of that, as we turn the page on the calendar year, we had some cost of goods increases primarily in some of the non-alc beverage categories, we were able to pass those on. But by and large, this was not a real inflationary year compared to the last several that we've experienced. And like I mentioned before, we had a really good balance in the quarter of driving traffic to the stores and storing that check just a little bit vis-a-vis inflation or mix to get to a pretty good outcome at a little over 4%.

除此之外，當我們翻過日曆年的這一頁時，我們的商品成本有所增加，主要是在一些非酒精飲料類別中，我們能夠將這些增加。但總的來說，與我們經歷的過去幾年相比，今年並不是真正的通膨年。正如我之前提到的，我們在推動商店客流量和儲存方面取得了非常好的平衡，僅對通貨膨脹或混合進行一點檢查，以達到略高於 4% 的相當不錯的結果。

Our next question comes from the line of Bobby Griffin with Raymond James.

我們的下一個問題來自鮑比·格里芬和雷蒙德·詹姆斯的對話。

Congrats on a good quarter in a tough wholesale environment. I guess, first up for me, I want to maybe switch gears and talk a little bit about the recent M&A. I think you guys have acquired about 145 stores over the last 12 months, more of the tuck-in side versus the bigger, larger acquisitions like you did with Bucky's a couple of years ago. Can you maybe just talk a little bit about how the integration is going on with some of those? Any interesting learnings from these recent ones versus kind of times in the past? And then maybe -- I know it's early, but just touch on how the expansion in Texas is going.

恭喜在嚴峻的批發環境中取得了良好的季度業績。我想，首先我想換個話題，談談最近的併購。我想你們在過去 12 個月裡已經收購了大約 145 家商店，更多的是藏在裡面的商店，而不是像幾年前你們對 Bucky’s 那樣進行的規模更大的收購。您能否簡單談談其中一些整合的進展？與過去相比，最近的這些事件有什麼有趣的教訓嗎？然後也許——我知道現在還為時過早，但請談談德克薩斯州的擴張進展如何。

Yes, Bobby. Yes, it's been a real active M&A environment recently, and our M&A team is doing a fantastic job with a lot of these tuck-in acquisitions. That being said, we're also having discussions on larger potential deals, but we just haven't gotten anything over the finish line yet. So more to come on that.

是的，鮑比。是的，最近的併購環境非常活躍，我們的併購團隊在許多此類收購中做得非常出色。話雖這麼說，我們也在討論更大的潛在交易，但我們還沒有完成任何事情。所以還有更多的事情要做。

But yes, I'd say -- we've done so many of these now, these, I'll call them, under 100 store size acquisitions. Our integration team has really got a good process down, and they're really efficient and effective at doing that. And I think we learned how to get our Prepared Foods into these acquisitions more quickly. Historically, this has taken us a long time to do.

但是，是的，我想說 - 我們現在已經做了很多這樣的事情，我稱之為，不到 100 家商店規模的收購。我們的整合團隊確實制定了良好的流程，並且他們在這方面確實有效率且有效。我認為我們學會瞭如何更快地將我們的預製食品納入這些收購中。從歷史上看，我們花了很長時間才做到這一點。

And to the extent that some of these stores that we acquire have some level of kitchen space available. We've -- our team has gotten really effective at getting equipment in early and getting the food into the stores quicker, which obviously accelerates the same-store sales capture and the synergy capture in those acquisitions. So yes, I think we get a little bit smarter, a little bit better on every one that we do.

在某種程度上，我們收購的一些商店擁有一定程度的可用廚房空間。我們的團隊在儘早獲得設備並更快地將食品送入商店方面非常有效，這顯然加速了同店銷售的獲取和這些收購中的協同效應。所以，是的，我認為我們在所做的每件事上都變得更聰明了一點，並且做得更好了一點。

And then, Darren, just on the whole pie growth, I mean, 11%. Just curious can you unpack a little? Or do you have any details on what is driving that? Is that the carryover from just obviously adding Thin Crust as part of like we haven't fully lapped that yet, I believe? Or is Casey's pricing versus peers in the core markets just becoming more compelling on a whole pie basis, given your size is getting bigger or anything else there to maybe talk about what's driving that growth?

然後，Darren，我的意思是，就整個蛋糕的增長而言，11%。只是好奇你能拆開一點嗎？或者您有任何關於驅動因素的詳細資訊？我相信，這是明顯添加薄殼作為我們還沒有完全完成的一部分的遺留物嗎？或者考慮到您的規模越來越大，或者還有其他什麼可以談論推動成長的因素，凱西的定價與核心市場的同行相比是否在整個餅圖基礎上變得更具吸引力？

Yes. Bobby, I think it's a combination of things. Certainly, the Thin Crust has helped. It's about hanging in there at about 12% of the mix now and a good portion of that was incremental. And we won't lap that until June. So we definitely have some favorability there. We've also seen really strong growth in single topping pizzas and that tends to be more of a value play.

是的。鮑比，我認為這是多種因素的結合。當然，薄殼有幫助。現在大約保持在混合比例的 12% 左右，其中很大一部分是增量的。直到六月我們才會完成這項任務。所以我們在那裡肯定有一些好感。我們也看到單一配料披薩的強勁成長，這往往更具價值。

And one of the interesting things we're seeing as we dig into our guest insights, we're finding that although we're not really overly exposed to the lower income consumer, about 3/4 of our just make over $50,000 a year. That other cohort that makes less than $50,000, they are spending more money on Prepared Foods. And they're finding that value proposition really compelling. And so it's been an interesting dynamic.

當我們深入了解客人的見解時，我們看到的一個有趣的事情是，儘管我們並沒有真正過度接觸低收入消費者，但大約 3/4 的人每年的收入超過 50,000 美元。另一群收入低於 5 萬美元的人則在預製食品上花費更多的錢。他們發現這個價值主張非常引人注目。這是一個有趣的動態。

I mean, the other income cohorts are also going to Prepared Foods, but the fastest growth is coming from the lower income demographic as I think they try to find that right value and quality equation. And frankly, when you look at a lot of the other pizza players, a lot of them are franchised and a lot of those franchisees have taken a lot of price. And when we compare our numbers to any of the other publicly traded pizza competitors, but we stack up really well in relation to them.

我的意思是，其他收入群體也會購買預製食品，但成長最快的是低收入人群，因為我認為他們試圖找到正確的價值和品質方程式。坦白說，當你看看其他很多披薩店時，你會發現他們中的許多人都是特許經營商，而且很多特許經營商都花了很多錢。當我們將我們的數字與任何其他公開交易的披薩競爭對手進行比較時，我們與他們相比確實表現出色。

I think that's because of our ability to maintain that right value equation in that space, and we're seeing the growth as a result of it.

我認為這是因為我們有能力在該領域維持正確的價值方程式，而我們看到了由此帶來的成長。

And our next question comes from the line of Michael Montani with Evercore ISI.

我們的下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 Michael Montani。

Just wanted to ask, if I could, to discuss a little bit the inside margin outlook into the fourth quarter. So if we went to the midpoint of the full year guide, it suggests that there could be some pressure coming up there, in terms of less expansion for sure. So I just wanted to kind of get a sense how to think about that.

只是想問一下，如果可以的話，討論一下第四季的內部利潤前景。因此，如果我們到達全年指南的中點，這表明那裡可能會面臨一些壓力，肯定會減少擴張。所以我只是想了解如何思考這個問題。

And then secondly, I guess, to the extent you have visibility on input costs and pricing, do you think we're seeing kind of a bottoming of this inflation at this point? And potentially, there could be some uptick there? Or how should we think about that?

其次，我想，就您對投入成本和定價的了解而言，您認為我們目前是否看到通膨觸底？那裡可能會有一些上升嗎？或者說我們該如何思考這個問題？

Yes, this is Steve. I'll try to start with that. I think as we sit here today, halfway through the fourth quarter, I don't think there's a radical change and the experience we've had around input costs broadly vis-a-vis what's happened here in the last couple of quarters, as we mentioned on an earlier question.

是的，這是史蒂夫。我會嘗試從這個開始。我認為，當我們今天坐在這裡，第四季度已過半時，我認為與過去幾個季度發生的情況相比，我們在投入成本方面所獲得的經驗並沒有發生根本性的變化，因為我們在之前的一個問題中提到過。

Cheese may be a touch less favorable for us in the fourth quarter on the prepared food side of the business than it was, but it will still be favorable year-over-year, broadly speaking in Prepared Food -- we continue to have year-over-year deflation usually disinflation at worst on most of the commodity categories with the exception of beef. And so I do think we continue to have a tailwind that's likely to stick with us here for a little while on those categories. And then on the grocery side, that's a contractual business for us.

第四季度，在預製食品業務方面，起司對我們來說可能不太有利，但從廣義上講，在預製食品方面，同比仍然有利——我們繼續有-大多數商品類別（牛肉除外）的同比通貨緊縮在最壞的情況下通常會出現通貨緊縮。因此，我確實認為，在這些類別上，我們可能會繼續保持一段時間的順風。然後在雜貨方面，這對我們來說是一項合約業務。

And so as Darren had mentioned earlier, most of those prices reset for -- most of those input costs reset for us at the beginning of the calendar year, and we were able to make retail price adjustments accordingly. And so I would expect us to be in a position to preserve the grocery category margins pretty consistent with what we've seen here for most of the year as we finish out this year.

正如達倫之前提到的，大部分價格都會在年初重置，大部分投入成本都會在年初重置，我們能夠相應地進行零售價格調整。因此，我預計我們能夠維持雜貨類別的利潤率，與今年結束時我們在今年大部分時間看到的情況相當一致。

Got it. And then if I could sneak one more in just on the LIFO front. How should we think about that into the fourth quarter?

知道了。然後我是否可以在 LIFO 前面再偷一個。我們該如何思考第四季的情況？

LIFO is -- it's just reflective of what our input costs ultimately are and the way the accounting rules have us make adjustments to inventory balances. And so generally, the direction of LIFO charges will follow what's happening with input costs. And so with the exception of tobacco, where we consistently are going to be taking LIFO charges because we're consistently getting price increases.

後進先出法——它只是反映了我們最終的投入成本以及會計規則要求我們調整庫存餘額的方式。因此，一般來說，後進先出費用的方向將遵循投入成本的變動。因此，除了菸草之外，我們將始終採用後進先出法收費，因為我們的價格一直在上漲。

Generally speaking, LIFO will be less of a headwind on a year-over-year basis for us as we continue to see deflation on the Prepared Food side. And so I would expect LIFO as we sit here today, probably to consistently be modestly favorable on a year-over-year basis for us as we finish out the fourth quarter.

一般來說，隨著我們繼續看到預製食品的通貨緊縮，後進先出法對我們的不利影響將會較小。因此，我預計，當我們今天坐在這裡時，後進先出法可能會在第四季結束時持續對我們逐年有利。

Our next question comes from the line of Kelly Bania with BMO Capital Markets.

我們的下一個問題來自 BMO 資本市場的 Kelly Bania。

I was wondering if we could just talk about gallons. You're tracking flattish, which sounds like some pretty significant market share gains in your region. Just wondering if you could talk about maybe what's driving the broader decline in gallons. It seems several quarters in a row now. And do you anticipate that, that's kind of the new normal where gallons are kind of weaker across the industry? And is your strategy to maintain flattish gallons there going forward?

我想知道我們是否可以只討論加侖。您所追蹤的數據持平，這聽起來像是您所在地區的市場份額獲得了相當大的成長。只是想知道您是否可以談談是什麼推動了加侖的廣泛下降。現在看來已經連續幾季了。您是否預期這將是整個產業加侖價格走弱的新常態？你們的策略是繼續維持加侖數不變嗎？

Yes, Kelly, I think this goes back to what I was saying before. If you look at some of the smaller operators, you got to look at the composition of their business. So if you said gasoline side for a second in the inside of the business, they're heavily leveraged to tobacco. Typically 30% or more of their inside mix is tobacco, ours is about 18%.

是的，凱利，我想這又回到了我之前所說的。如果你觀察一些較小的運營商，你必須看看他們的業務組成。因此，如果您在行業內部提到汽油方面，那麼他們對煙草的槓桿作用很大。通常，他們的內部混合物中 30% 或更多是煙草，我們的約為 18%。

And that category is declining, call it, 8% to 10% a year. They don't typically have prepared foods. They don't have rewards. They don't have a lot of scale to leverage. So they don't have a lot of levers to pull to try to offset the inflationary pressures and the decline in the tobacco category and inside overall. So they're raising price on fuel to try to offset that.

該類別正在以每年 8% 到 10% 的速度下降。他們通常不提供預製食品。他們沒有獎勵。他們沒有太大的規模可以利用。因此，他們沒有太多的槓桿來試圖抵消通貨膨脹壓力以及菸草類別和整體內部的下降。因此他們正在提高燃油價格以試圖抵消這一影響。

But the consequence of raising that price on fuel is chasing away some of those gallons. And we're able to have a more balanced approach to that because we have such a strong inside offering and we do have scale, and we do have rewards and we do have prepared foods, and we have a lot of those other things that they simply don't. So we can make money another way.

但提高燃油價格的後果是消耗了其中一些加侖。我們能夠採取更平衡的方法，因為我們擁有如此強大的內部產品，我們確實有規模，我們確實有獎勵，我們確實有預製食品，而且我們還有很多他們想要的其他東西。根本不。所以我們可以透過其他方式賺錢。

And remember, for us, about 70% of our transactions are nonfuel anyway. So we've got a lot of business coming to the stores that helps us offset some of those other areas of softness in some of the other categories. So we're able to afford to have a better balance of fuel volume and margin.

請記住，對我們來說，大約 70% 的交易都是非燃料交易。因此，我們的商店有很多業務，這有助於我們抵消其他一些類別中的一些疲軟領域。因此，我們能夠更好地平衡燃油量和利潤。

At the same time, there are some structural things that are going on with fuel that would put some pressure on gallons overall. If you just think about fuel efficiency in vehicles overall, with an average car age of about 12 years, every year you drop off the oldest, least-efficient vehicles in the fleet and replace them with the newest and most efficient vehicles that have been made. And so there's always going to be some pressure on gallons consumed in the industry.

同時，燃料方面正在發生一些結構性問題，這會對加侖的整體壓力造成一些壓力。如果您只考慮車輛的整體燃油效率，平均車齡約為 12 年，每年您都會丟棄車隊中最舊、效率最低的車輛，並用最新、最高效的車輛替換它們。因此，該行業消耗的加侖總是會面臨一些壓力。

And so we kind of feel that in that type of environment, if we're flat to slightly up on gallons, and we have strong margin, that's a really good balance for us, and we convert that fuel traffic into store traffic, which is where we have the strongest margins and the most profitability.

因此，我們覺得在這種環境下，如果我們的加侖數持平或略有上升，並且我們有很強的利潤，這對我們來說是一個非常好的平衡，我們將燃料流量轉化為商店流量，這就是我們的利潤率和獲利能力最強。

Thank you. Also just wanted to ask with store simplification. I think you mentioned 7 quarters in a row in same-store hours declining. Just curious if you can talk about how much more opportunity is there? It sounds like there's more to come, but maybe you can just give us some color where the opportunity is.

謝謝。也只是想問一下商店的簡化。我想您提到了同店營業時間連續 7 個季度下降。只是好奇您能否談談還有多少機會？聽起來好像還會有更多的事情發生，但也許你可以在機會所在的地方給我們一些顏色。

Yes, we do think there is some more to come. Frankly, whenever you start off on an issue like this, you go after the low-hanging fruit first. So I think some of the big chunks that were available to us, we've taken.

是的，我們確實認為還會有更多的事情發生。坦白說，每當你開始解決這樣的問題時，你都會先追求容易實現的目標。所以我認為我們已經採取了一些可用的大塊。

So it gets a little more challenging, and we have to get a little more sophisticated. But we've got some good initiatives in the pipeline from workforce management tools to some process changes that really we think will make a difference. But I think overall, where we'll see the real benefit is just simplifying the work in the store, giving the store back some slack hours is what we call it, where we don't necessarily take hours out, but we've eliminated work, which makes the job of the team members in the stores easier.

所以它變得更具挑戰性，我們必須變得更加複雜。但我們正在醞釀一些好的舉措，從勞動力管理工具到一些流程變革，我們認為這些舉措確實會產生影響。但我認為總的來說，我們會看到真正的好處只是簡化了商店的工作，給商店一些空閒時間，這就是我們所說的，我們不一定需要休息幾個小時，但我們已經消除了工作，這使得商店團隊成員的工作更加輕鬆。

That has a positive impact on turnover with less turnover, you spend less in training, you spend less on over time, you get more productive in your job. All of that helps to reduce labor. So we haven't given any guidance on what that's going to look like over the next couple of years, we'll probably get a little sharper on that in our next quarter when we give guidance for fiscal '25. But suffice it to say, we still think we have more opportunity there, and we'll continue to go after that.

這會對人員流動產生正面影響，人員流動減少，您在培訓上的支出就會減少，隨著時間的推移，您的支出也會減少，您的工作效率就會提高。所有這些都有助於減少勞動力。因此，我們還沒有就未來幾年的情況給出任何指導，當我們為 25 財年提供指導時，我們可能會在下個季度對此進行更清晰的闡述。但可以說，我們仍然認為那裡有更多機會，我們將繼續追求這一目標。

And our next question will come from the line of Irene Nattel with RBC Capital Markets.

我們的下一個問題將來自加拿大皇家銀行資本市場的艾琳·納特爾 (Irene Nattel)。

Just coming back to the recent fuel margins, I think that sort of investors are just struggling a little bit to understand why we've seen this sort of more recent compression in recent weeks relative to prior weeks. So I guess my question for you is, are you seeing anything fundamentally different in the competitive set and in the way they're asking that would play into those -- that sort of slightly lower trend to our fuel margins? Or do you think it's just more a seasonal issue?

回到最近的燃料利潤率，我認為這類投資者只是有點難以理解為什麼最近幾週相對於前幾週我們看到了這種最近的壓縮。所以我想我想問你的問題是，你是否在競爭環境中看到了任何根本不同的東西，以及他們提出的要求，這會影響到我們的燃料利潤率略有下降的趨勢？或者您認為這只是一個季節性問題？

Yes, Irene, we're not seeing anything dramatic. I mean competitors ebb and flow in their behavior and we always react to that and they do the same with us. So -- but I'm not seeing any wholesale changes in anybody of any scale that would make a difference.

是的，艾琳，我們沒有看到任何戲劇性的事情。我的意思是，競爭對手的行為有起有落，我們總是對此做出反應，他們也會對我們做同樣的事情。所以——但我沒有看到任何規模的任何人發生任何能夠產生影響的大規模變化。

And I would just remind everybody that -- yes, our margins were a little bit thinner than they have, and we're talking off of $0.40 a gallon though. Nobody at least I know of is really banking on $0.40 fuel margins being the new normal. And so the fact that we ended up at $0.37, I think, is a pretty good outcome -- no, it's not $0.40, but it's definitely a pretty good outcome.

我只想提醒大家，是的，我們的利潤比他們要薄一些，但我們談論的價格是每加侖 0.40 美元。至少據我所知，沒有人真正指望 0.40 美元的燃油利潤成為新常態。因此，我認為，我們最終獲得 0.37 美元，這是一個非常好的結果——不，這不是 0.40 美元，但這絕對是一個非常好的結果。

And I think this time of the year, in general, as we start to go into a refinery turnaround, that supply starts to get a little bit tighter, the cost curve goes up, I mean, since the beginning of the calendar year, wholesale costs have risen $0.50 a gallon. Now what we do know is that at some point, that curve is going to inflect and the cost curve will come down as the refineries come back online.

我認為每年的這個時候，一般來說，當我們開始進入煉油廠週轉時，供應開始變得有點緊張，成本曲線上升，我的意思是，自年初以來，批發成本上漲了每加侖 0.50 美元。現在我們所知道的是，在某個時刻，這條曲線將會彎曲，隨著煉油廠重新上線，成本曲線將會下降。

And as that cost curve comes down, margins tend to widen out. What we don't know is when that curve is going to inflect. It could inflect next week, and we'll have a nice 6-week run before the end of the quarter of widening fuel margins. It can inflect in 4 weeks from now, and we'll only have 2 weeks in the quarter. At the end of the day, it's not going to matter because the curve will run its course and we'll make the margin that we're supposed to make.

隨著成本曲線下降，利潤率往往會擴大。我們不知道這條曲線何時會發生拐點。它可能會在下週發生變化，在本季末燃料利潤率擴大之前，我們將有一個不錯的六週運行。它可能會在 4 週後發生變化，而本季只有 2 週。歸根究底，這並不重要，因為曲線會順其自然，我們會賺到我們應該賺到的利潤。

The timing of it and when it lands neatly into a quarter or not is really anybody's guess at this point. But to get back to your original point, we're not seeing anything structurally different with fuel margins at this point.

它的時機以及它何時巧妙地進入四分之一或不進入這一點實際上是任何人的猜測。但回到你原來的觀點，我們目前沒有看到燃料利潤有任何結構上的差異。

That's really helpful. And then just coming back to sort of the consumer behavior. You called out that sort of your lowest 25%, it is sort of -- you're seeing better results on Prepared Food. But just wondering sort of more broadly speaking, what you're seeing around consumer behavior? And any sort of heightened sensitivity around promotional or spending or anything like that?

這真的很有幫助。然後回到消費者行為。您指出了最低的 25%，您在預製食品上看到了更好的結果。但只是想知道更廣泛地說，您在消費者行為上看到了什麼？以及對促銷或支出或類似事物的任何形式的高度敏感性？

Yes, Irene, really, overall, I think I'd have to say that the consumer has proven to be pretty resilient. We're not seeing a lot of real changes. We tend to see changes in fuel when times get tied, they'll switch to more heavier ethanol blends, they'll buy less premium. We're not seeing any of that right now.

是的，艾琳，真的，總的來說，我想我不得不說消費者已經被證明是相當有彈性的。我們沒有看到很多真正的改變。當時間緊迫時，我們傾向於看到燃料發生變化，他們會轉向更重的乙醇混合物，他們會購買更少的溢價。我們現在還沒有看到這些。

We've seen good growth in our private brands. That was up 5.5% same-store in the quarter, but not a huge shift. Like I mentioned, the lower income cohorts are doing what you would expect lower income cohorts to do, which is gravitate a little more towards value or Prepared Foods and our private label satisfy that need. But with the other income cohorts, they're continuing to spend like they have been. And so we're not really seeing anything different at this point.

我們的自有品牌取得了良好的成長。該季度同店銷售額成長了 5.5%，但變化並不大。就像我提到的，低收入群體正在做你期望低收入群體做的事情，即更傾向於價值或預製食品，而我們的自有品牌滿足了這種需求。但對於其他收入群體來說，他們繼續像以前一樣消費。所以目前我們並沒有看到任何不同。

Our next question comes from the line of Krisztina Katai with Deutsche Bank.

我們的下一個問題來自德意志銀行的 Krisztina Katai。

My congratulations on a good quarter. So I had a follow-up question on Prepared Foods and some of the recent launches, thinking about Thin Crust, the 4 new sandwiches. So if you could just talk about the value that you see Casey's providing relative to just your broader competition looking also at QSR competition, if you could make any comments about what they're doing from a pricing perspective that could give you an opportunity to gain further market share. And if you could also contextualize for us where you see Casey's market share today in the various dayparts compared to maybe 1 year or 2 ago?

我祝賀季度表現良好。因此，我有一個關於預製食品和最近推出的一些產品的後續問題，其中包括 4 種新三明治 Thin Crust。因此，如果您能談談您認為凱西提供的價值相對於您更廣泛的競爭對手（也包括QSR 競爭），如果您能從定價角度對他們正在做的事情發表任何評論，這可能會給您帶來機會進一步的市佔率。您是否也可以為我們介紹一下凱西今天在各個時段的市場份額與一年或兩年前相比的情況？

Yes, Krisztina, I think with some of the recent innovation, like I mentioned, in the sandwich category, in particular, we were able to take some price. But our price points are still significantly below what you would find in the QSR for a comparable quality standard, I mean, a couple of dollars cheaper.

是的，克里斯蒂娜，我認為透過最近的一些創新，就像我提到的，特別是在三明治類別中，我們能夠接受一些價格。但我們的價格點仍然大大低於 QSR 中同等品質標準的價格，我的意思是，便宜了幾美元。

So we think it poses a unique value and look, the guest is going to buy on quality first and then hopefully try to maximize on price. And I think our culinary team, like I mentioned before, did a really nice job of taking some products we already had and tearing them down to the studs, improving the quality of every ingredient in those builds and making them a better product and then layer in some innovation along with that with a new build.

因此，我們認為它具有獨特的價值和外觀，客人首先會購買質量，然後希望盡量提高價格。我認為我們的烹飪團隊，就像我之前提到的，做得非常好，將我們已經擁有的一些產品拆解成螺柱，提高了這些構建中每種成分的質量，使它們成為更好的產品，然後分層在一些創新以及新的構建中。

And it's a good recipe and very much a value. I don't have good market share data in those subcategories right here as we speak today. But I know historically, when we do something like this, we tend to take some share from the largest players. So the last time when we did a similar exercise on breakfast, we saw the most share actually come from McDonald's, believe it or not. And that's primarily because they have the most presence and they're the biggest player. So I would imagine that once we get the data in on the sandwich platform, it may look something similar to that, but I just don't have the data at my fingertips right now.

這是一個很好的食譜，而且非常有價值。正如我們今天所說，我沒有這些子類別的良好市佔率數據。但我知道，從歷史上看，當我們做這樣的事情時，我們往往會從最大的參與者那裡獲得一些份額。因此，上次我們對早餐進行類似的測試時，無論您相信與否，我們看到最多的份額實際上來自麥當勞。這主要是因為他們擁有最多的存在感並且是最大的參與者。所以我想，一旦我們在三明治平台上取得數據，它可能看起來與此類似，但我現在手邊還沒有這些數據。

Got it. That's helpful. And then just a quick follow-up. On private label, I think, Darren, you said that volumes were positive, but did you provide where penetration ended in the quarter? And then just broadly, how are you thinking about new product launches or the number of SKU launches that you're playing over the next 6 to 12 months?

知道了。這很有幫助。然後進行快速跟進。在自有品牌方面，達倫，您說過銷量是積極的，但是您是否提供了本季滲透率的結束情況？然後，從廣義上講，您如何看待未來 6 到 12 個月內的新產品發布或 SKU 發布數量？

Yes. The penetration in the quarter was about where it had been is right around 10% in units and gross profit dollars. Just to remind you that third quarter is seasonally the softest quarter for private label because it's softest quarter for beverages, and we have a big beverage presence with our private label products.

是的。以銷量和毛利計算，本季的滲透率約為 10% 左右。只是提醒您，第三季度是自有品牌季節性最疲軟的季度，因為它是飲料最疲軟的季度，而我們的自有品牌產品在飲料方面佔有很大份額。

So it's always going to be a little bit less penetrated this time of year than it would be here in the next few quarters. I'm sorry, Krisztina, what was the other part of your question -- oh, new products. We've got a pipeline of about 40 or 50 new products that we're planning to enter into the assortment, we're going to phased in over the next several months, some are being the biggest part of it, not prepared to really discuss the details of any of those, but we're pretty excited about what we got coming this summer.

因此，每年這個時候的滲透率總是會比接下來幾季的滲透率低一些。對不起，克里斯蒂娜，你問題的另一部分是什麼——哦，新產品。我們已經有大約40 或50 種新產品的管道，我們計劃將其納入該分類，我們將在接下來的幾個月內分階段投入，其中一些是其中最大的一部分，但尚未準備好真正投入使用。討論其中任何一個的細節，但我們對今年夏天即將發生的事情感到非常興奮。

Our next question comes from the line of Charles Cerankosky with Northcoast Research.

我們的下一個問題來自 Northcoast Research 的 Charles Cerankosky。

In looking at your Prepared Food margins, they've been trending upward. And would you care to comment, can you get back into the 60s. And I'm curious about what the role of redeeming private label rewards is on the Prepared Foods part of your business? And will that hold it back, the margin back.

從預製食品的利潤率來看，它們一直呈現上升趨勢。能評論一下嗎，你能回到60年代嗎？我很好奇兌換自有品牌獎勵在您的預製食品業務中扮演什麼角色？這會阻礙它的發展嗎？利潤率會回落嗎？

Chuck, this is Steve. I'll maybe start with that. We're -- I think, first of all, we're pleased with the progress of kind of margin recovery broadly in Prepared Foods. As you know, we consciously have taken a position of trying to improve margins in that category by kind of pricing through the commodity cycle. And so unlike the grocery business that which is contractual.

查克，這是史蒂夫。我也許會從那裡開始。我認為，首先，我們對預製食品領域利潤率普遍恢復的進展感到滿意。如您所知，我們有意識地採取了立場，試圖透過商品週期的定價來提高該類別的利潤率。與雜貨店業務不同的是，雜貨店業務是合約性的。

We've got a lot of commodities. And so when all the commodities went up at the same time, a couple of years ago, we chose not to chase dollar for dollar with price increases at that point. So we raised prices, but not as much as the input costs went up, and we expect, over time, commodities will inflect and ultimately, on the downside as we hold retail prices steady, we'll recapture that margin over the course of the cycle, and that's exactly what's happening right now and our experience, and I think we've got further to go in that direction.

我們有很多商品。因此，幾年前，當所有商品同時上漲時，我們選擇不隨著價格上漲而追逐美元。因此，我們提高了價格，但幅度沒有達到投入成本上升的幅度，而且我們預計，隨著時間的推移，大宗商品將會發生變化，最終，隨著我們保持零售價格穩定，我們將在整個過程中重新獲得利潤。週期，這正是現在正在發生的事情和我們的經驗，我認為我們在這個方向上還需要走得更遠。

So the 60% number for Prepared Foods, we're close to it now. The high watermark a couple of years ago was a little bit higher than 60%. I would remind you, a couple of things structurally have changed and you kind of hinted at that, right? We did not have a rewards program at that particular point in time and the cost of the rewards program in terms of points that are accrued is a reduction in margin.

所以預製食品的 60% 這個數字，我們現在已經很接近了。幾年前的高水位線略高於 60%。我想提醒你，一些結構性的事情已經發生了變化，你也暗示過這一點，對嗎？我們在那個特定時間點沒有獎勵計劃，而獎勵計劃的成本（就累積積分而言）是保證金的減少。

It's about a 50 basis point reduction in margin on Prepared Foods as we sit here today. We also did not have third-party aggregator delivery of any significance at the time. And so that previously was an operating expense where we delivered out of the stores. And now it's a cost of product in the fees. And so those things structurally have changed. And so the high watermark probably will -- has been reset accordingly.

當我們今天坐在這裡時，預製食品的利潤率減少了大約 50 個基點。當時我們也沒有任何重要的第三方聚合器交付。因此，以前這是我們從商店發貨的營運費用。現在它是費用中的產品成本。所以這些事情在結構上已經改變了。因此，高水位線可能會 - 已相應重設。

But I think we feel good about a glide path to 60. We're on it right now. Input cost remains favorable. And I think we feel good that the approach we've taken has allowed us to maximize gross profit dollars inside the store and then maintain the value proposition. And I would expect we'll continue to run the play in that regard.

但我認為我們對滑向 60 的道路感覺良好。我們現在就在路上。輸入成本仍然有利。我認為我們感覺很好，因為我們採取的方法使我們能夠最大限度地提高商店內的毛利，然後保持價值主張。我希望我們會繼續在這方面演出這部劇。

And our next question will come from the line of Corey Tarlowe with Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題將來自科里·塔洛與傑弗里斯的對話。

I wanted to ask about growing organically versus through acquisitions. It sounds as if the environment has become more conducive to grow through M&A, given it sounds like marginal player EBITDA has been a little bit pressured elicited by the cents per gallon and traffic headwinds that these peers are facing. I'm curious to get your view on that and how that informs what your outlook is going forward as you think about growing through those 2 levers organic versus M&A?

我想問的是有機成長與收購成長。聽起來環境似乎變得更有利於透過併購實現成長，因為邊緣參與者的 EBITDA 因每加侖的美分和這些同行面臨的交通逆風而受到了一些壓力。我很想知道您對此的看法，以及當您考慮透過有機與併購這兩個槓桿實現成長時，這將如何影響您的未來前景？

Yes, Corey, this is Darren. Yes, I first say that we like to strike the balance between organic growth and M&A. We don't ever want to put all our eggs in either one of those baskets because situations can change. And so what we're seeing right now is that the M&A environment is pretty attractive. The cost of construction has gone up.

是的，科里，這是達倫。是的，我首先要說的是，我們希望在有機成長和併購之間取得平衡。我們不想把所有的雞蛋都放在其中一個籃子裡，因為情況可能會改變。所以我們現在看到的是併購環境非常有吸引力。建設成本上升了。

And so -- and at the same time, the challenges for the smaller operators have gone up as well. And so what we're finding is we're able to buy some assets pretty good quality assets, invest close to $1 million in putting in kitchens and remodeling and fixing deferred maintenance and all those other things. And essentially have a brand-new store for less than replacement cost than it would cost us to build it brand new.

因此，同時，小型業者面臨的挑戰也隨之增加。因此，我們發現我們能夠購買一些品質相當好的資產，投資近 100 萬美元用於安裝廚房、改造和修復延期維護以及所有其他事情。基本上，擁有全新商店的成本低於我們建造全新商店的重置成本。

And so we like that math. I mean we look at a lot of things we're assessing valuation on M&A, but one of those checks is replacement cost. And can we build it cheaper than we can buy it and fix it up. And so we stay pretty disciplined on that. So right now, it's been very favorable. We've been able to buy a lot of stuff for below replacement cost all in.

所以我們喜歡數學。我的意思是，我們在評估併購估值時會考慮很多因素，但其中一項檢查就是重置成本。我們建造它的成本是否可以比購買和修復它的成本更便宜？所以我們在這方面保持相當嚴格的紀律。所以現在，這是非常有利的。我們已經能夠以低於重置成本的價格購買很多東西。

That being said, we're still going to build in the neighborhood of 50 new stores this year. And we have a pipeline of organic growth that continues to build. And if we have a lot of M&A. We always have the option to land bank our real estate and continue on M&A. And then when -- if the M&A market turns a little bit soft, we could just pivot back over to our land bank and continue to grow organically and maintain that steady ratable growth I think people are counting on from us.

儘管如此，今年我們仍計劃在附近開設 50 家新店。我們有一條持續建設的有機成長管道。如果我們有很多併購。我們始終可以選擇將我們的房地產進行土地儲備並繼續進行併購。然後，如果併購市場變得有點疲軟，我們可以重新轉向我們的土地儲備，繼續有機增長，並保持我認為人們指望我們的穩定的可評級增長。

And then just as a follow-up, how are you thinking about leveraging technology to not only improve those same-store hours that you pointed out, but I wanted to ask about AI and your intentions there and how you think that could benefit the business as well going forward?

然後，作為後續行動，您如何考慮利用技術來改善您指出的同店營業時間，但我想詢問人工智慧和您的意圖，以及您認為這將如何使業務受益以及前進？

Yes. So a couple of things there. I think the technology, we are using some technology to help on the labor side. More recently, we just launched our digital production planner, which enables us to take what was a manual paper-based process and make that fully automated. So that saves people -- store managers, in particular, time on having to manually do calculations and manually write things down to get to a production plan or for the kitchens to execute against.

是的。有幾件事。我認為技術方面，我們正在使用一些技術來幫助勞動力方面。最近，我們剛剛推出了數位生產計劃程序，這使我們能夠採用基於紙本的手動流程並將其完全自動化。因此，這可以節省人們（尤其是商店經理）必須手動進行計算並手動記錄下來的時間，以便制定生產計劃或供廚房執行。

So one example, we're also rolling out here before the summertime, a workforce management tool that will allow our store managers to get even more efficient and labor scheduling and deployment and give our team members flexibility from a scheduling standpoint. So that's on the labor side. With respect to AI, we're looking at a couple of different things. Probably the best example we have is what we just rolled out what we call our automated voice assistant or AVA, as we call her, which essentially answers the phones in the stores.

舉個例子，我們也在夏季之前推出了一種勞動力管理工具，它將使我們的商店經理能夠更有效率地進行勞動力調度和部署，並從調度的角度為我們的團隊成員提供靈活性。這是在勞動力方面。關於人工智慧，我們正在研究幾個不同的事情。也許我們擁有的最好的例子就是我們剛推出的自動語音助理（AVA），我們這樣稱呼她，它本質上是在商店裡接聽電話。

And even though about 80% of our food orders that come into our kitchens are digital, that still leaves close to 10 million phone orders a year where people will call a store and talk to a person in the store to place an order. And as you can imagine, that becomes disruptive during peak periods when people are trying to get food out of the kitchen and they're having to stop and take orders and it's noisy and disruptive. So AVA takes care of all that.

儘管我們廚房中約 80% 的食品訂單都是數位化的，但每年仍有近 1000 萬份電話訂單，人們會打電話給商店並與店裡的工作人員交談來下訂單。正如你可以想像的那樣，在高峰時段，當人們試圖從廚房取出食物時，他們不得不停下來接受訂單，這會變得很吵鬧且具有破壞性。所以 AVA 會處理這一切。

It's AI-driven. We've trained it with natural language processing and machine learning. So when the call comes in, it could take the order, it can suggest to sell, it can help build that order and it goes right into the order management system in the kitchen. So the phone calls are drastically reduced in the kitchen, and makes it more efficient to get the food out. And we're right now at about 11% of the orders that come in are being handled by AVA at this point.

它是人工智慧驅動的。我們透過自然語言處理和機器學習對其進行了訓練。因此，當接到電話時，它可以接受訂單，可以建議銷售，可以幫助建立訂單，然後直接進入廚房的訂單管理系統。因此，廚房的電話數量大大減少，取出食物的效率也提高了。目前，我們收到的訂單中約有 11% 是由 AVA 處理的。

And the next question comes from the line of John Royall with JPMorgan.

下一個問題來自約翰·羅亞爾 (John Royall) 與摩根大通 (JPMorgan) 的對話。

I know we're short on time, so I'll just ask one. Can you discuss any impact you had from weather in January? I know the Midwest got kind of pummeled with some winter weather. You saw fuel comps off a little, but very strong inside the store comp. So I guess I was a little surprised to not see much of a material impact there. Can you just talk through any weather impacts in the third quarter?

我知道我們時間不多，所以我就問一個。您能談談一月份天氣對您造成的影響嗎？我知道中西部地區受到了一些冬季天氣的打擊。你看到燃料補償略有下降，但在商店補償中非常強大。所以我想我對沒有看到太多實質影響感到有點驚訝。能談談第三季天氣的影響嗎？

Yes. It was really a tale of 2 parts. The November, December were pretty favorable. And so we had good inside comps and we had positive fuel comps in November, December. And in January, that turned on us. I think we were on fuel. We were up 0.9% in November, 0.6% in December and down 2.6% in January. And so we ended up down a little bit on the inside, we never turned negative. We were positive 5-ish and 6-ish in November, December, positive, a little bit over 1% in January. Netted out to the 4.1% overall.

是的。這實際上是一個由兩個部分組成的故事。 11月、12月的情況相當有利。因此，我們在 11 月和 12 月擁有良好的內部比較和積極的燃油比較。一月份，我們遇到了這種情況。我想我們是在消耗燃料。 11 月上漲 0.9%，12 月上漲 0.6%，1 月下跌 2.6%。所以我們的內心最終有所下降，但我們從未變得消極。我們在 11 月、12 月為正值 5 左右和 6 左右，1 月份為正值，略高於 1%。整體淨收益為 4.1%。

So again, I think weather certainly has an impact in this part of the geography, we had about 10 days or so where temperatures didn't get above 0 and the news was telling everybody to stay home and don't go outdoors. So it's not great for business. But I think overall, I felt really good about how we came out of January, considering how tough it was. And ended up with a really strong quarter.

再說一遍，我認為天氣肯定會對這部分地區產生影響，大約有 10 天左右的時間，氣溫沒有超過 0 度，新聞告訴大家待在家裡，不要外出。所以這對商業來說不太好。但我認為總的來說，考慮到一月份的艱難程度，我對我們一月份的表現感覺非常好。最終獲得了一個非常強勁的季度。

Our final question come from the line of John Lawrence with The Benchmark Company.

我們的最後一個問題來自基準公司的約翰勞倫斯。

Yes. Great. Darren, when you talk about -- obviously, you're looking at some larger chains for acquisitions. We've watched you and witnessed all the leverage points in the years past. Can you talk a little bit about how this restructured gas margin in the 30s? How does that affect the math as you look at these larger chains? And just does that give you another leverage point on scale as you make -- as you look at making the chain a lot larger?

是的。偉大的。達倫，當你談論時，顯然，你正在考慮收購一些更大的連鎖店。在過去的幾年裡，我們一直在觀察你並見證了所有的槓桿點。可以談談 30 年代的天然氣利潤率是如何重組的嗎？當你觀察這些更大的鏈條時，這對數學有何影響？當你考慮讓連鎖店變得更大時，這是否會為你帶來另一個規模上的槓桿點？

Well, if I think I understand your question. I mean, when we're looking at these chains, those dynamics that I described earlier are still consistent that most other operators are heavily relying on fuel margin because the inside business isn't as resilient.

好吧，如果我認為我理解你的問題。我的意思是，當我們審視這些連鎖店時，我之前描述的那些動態仍然一致，即大多數其他運營商嚴重依賴燃料利潤，因為內部業務不那麼有彈性。

For us, when we look at these things, we try to model those based on our experience, not necessarily the experience of the previous owner because we're going to have an approach to how we price fuel, how we secure fuel. Typically, these assets are in our existing geographies or adjacent to it. So we're pretty familiar with the fuel supply and pricing dynamics in these markets and we understand how our stores perform there.

對我們來說，當我們考慮這些事情時，我們會嘗試根據我們的經驗（不一定是前任所有者的經驗）對這些進行建模，因為我們將有一種方法來確定燃料的定價方式以及如何確保燃料的安全。通常，這些資產位於我們現有的地理位置或鄰近地區。因此，我們非常熟悉這些市場的燃料供應和定價動態，也了解我們的商店在那裡的表現。

So we don't really put too much stock in how they do it today. We take much more -- put much more credence into how we're going to operate them moving forward and we model it accordingly.

所以我們並不太相信他們今天是如何做到的。我們採取了更多措施，更加相信我們將如何運作它們，並相應地進行建模。

Yes. I think, John, I would add, on the fuel over the last 2 years, we've been talking a lot about sustainability of higher fuel margins in the industry. I think broadly speaking in M&A as a potential buyer, there's a general recognition that higher fuel margins and LTM EBITDAs are more reasonable than they might have seemed 2 years ago just because of the dynamics in the industry and people adjust accordingly.

是的。約翰，我想補充一點，在過去兩年的燃料問題上，我們一直在談論該行業更高燃料利潤的可持續性。我認為，從廣義上講，作為潛在買家，在併購中，人們普遍認識到，由於行業的動態和人們的相應調整，更高的燃油利潤率和 LTM EBITDA 比兩年前看起來更合理。

And then again, fuel margin for the smaller players is often the only lever they have to drive EBITDA to wherever it's going to be. And so I would say it's a little bit more the tail on the dog and that the small operator remains under pressure for all the reasons we've talked about inside the store and with operating expense and they're pulling a lever on fuel that's really to try to help them rightsize what's happening inside and as opposed to having a strategic point of view on what they're doing with fuel within their own business.

話又說回來，對於規模較小的企業來說，燃油利潤率往往是他們推動 EBITDA 達到預期目標的唯一槓桿。因此，我想說，這有點像狗的尾巴，由於我們在商店內部討論過的所有原因以及運營費用，小型運營商仍然面臨壓力，他們正在拉動燃料槓桿，這確實是試圖幫助他們調整內部發生的事情，而不是從策略角度來看待他們在自己的業務中使用燃料所做的事情。

Great. And just one follow-up. You mentioned chips and water on the private label side, what can you say -- how does a brand name in those large categories, the brand name provider respond? And what have you seen as you've grow in those private label categories to the competitive response?

偉大的。只有一個後續行動。您提到了自有品牌方面的薯片和水，您能說什麼 - 品牌提供者如何應對這些大類別中的品牌名稱？隨著您在這些自有品牌類別中的發展，您對競爭反應有何看法？

Yes. It's a little bit of a mixed bag. In some cases, we have national brand manufacturers that are producing our private label products for us. And others, like you mentioned, with chips, that's not the case.

是的。這是一個魚龍混雜的情況。在某些情況下，我們有國家品牌製造商為我們生產自有品牌產品。而其他人，就像你提到的，使用晶片時，情況並非如此。

Look, I think we have pretty candid discussions with them. Our goal isn't to win with private label at the expense of national brands. Our goal is to grow the categories. And so what we do within those categories is we try to offer guests an alternative for something that, in some cases, more affordable or maybe as a flavor profile that the national brand doesn't offer or a pack size that they don't offer.

聽著，我認為我們與他們進行了非常坦誠的討論。我們的目標不是以犧牲國家品牌為代價，以自有品牌取勝。我們的目標是擴大品類。因此，我們在這些類別中所做的就是嘗試為客人提供另一種選擇，在某些情況下，這種選擇更實惠，或者可能是民族品牌不提供的風味特徵或他們不提供的包裝尺寸。

And so there's a few different things that we do with private label that makes it complementary to the national brand assortment. And I would say in the case of snack chips, in particular, we've had really good growth in our private label snack chips. Our national branded partner has also had really good growth in our stores with their chips. And so this doesn't have to be a win-lose. This is going to be a win-win when we approach it from a category perspective, and that's what we try to do. And so I think it's working pretty well so far.

因此，我們對自有品牌做了一些不同的事情，使其成為全國品牌產品的補充。我想說，特別是在零食片方面，我們的自有品牌零食片成長得非常好。我們的全國品牌合作夥伴也透過他們的薯片在我們的商店中取得了非常好的成長。因此，這不一定是一場勝利或失敗。當我們從品類的角度來看這個問題時，這將是雙贏的，而這正是我們試圖要做的。所以我認為到目前為止它運作得很好。

This completes our Q&A portion. I will now turn the call back over to Darren Rebelez, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, for closing remarks.

我們的問答部分就完成了。現在，我將把電話轉回給董事長、總裁兼執行長達倫·雷貝雷斯 (Darren Rebelez)，他將致閉幕詞。

All right. Thank you, and thanks again for taking the time today and joining us on the call. And before we sign off, I just want to again thank our team members for all the hard work this quarter and they did a fantastic job. So I hope everyone has a great week. Thank you.

好的。謝謝您，再次感謝您今天抽出時間參加我們的電話會議。在我們結束之前，我想再次感謝我們的團隊成員本季的辛勤工作，他們做得非常出色。所以我希望每個人都度過愉快的一周。謝謝。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect. Everyone, have a wonderful day.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。祝大家有美好的一天。