Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc (CBRL) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning and welcome to the Cracker Barrel Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note this event is being recorded.

早上好，歡迎參加 Cracker Barrel 2023 年第三季度收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意此事件正在被記錄。

I would now like to turn the conference over to Kaleb Johannes, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

我現在想將會議交給投資者關係副總裁 Kaleb Johannes。請繼續。

Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to Cracker Barrel's Third Quarter Fiscal 2023 Conference Call and Webcast. This morning, we issued a press release announcing our third quarter results. In the press release and on the call, we'll refer to non-GAAP financial measures for the third quarter ended April 28, 2023. The non-GAAP financial measures are adjusted to exclude impairment charges, store closure costs and other noncash amortization, the asset recognized from the gains from our sale and leaseback transaction and related tax implications.

謝謝。早上好，歡迎參加 Cracker Barrel 的 2023 財年第三季度電話會議和網絡廣播。今天早上，我們發布了新聞稿，宣布了第三季度的業績。在新聞稿和電話會議中，我們將參考截至 2023 年 4 月 28 日的第三季度的非 GAAP 財務指標。非 GAAP 財務指標經過調整，不包括減值費用、商店關閉成本和其他非現金攤銷，該資產是根據我們的售後回租交易收益和相關稅務影響確認的。

The company believes that excluding these items from its financial results provides investors with an enhanced understanding of the company's financial performance. This information is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the net income or earnings per share information prepared in accordance with GAAP. The last page of the press release includes reconciliations from the non-GAAP information to the GAAP financials.

該公司認為，將這些項目從其財務業績中排除可以使投資者更好地了解公司的財務業績。該信息不應單獨考慮，也不能替代根據 GAAP 編制的淨收入或每股收益信息。新聞稿的最後一頁包括非公認會計原則信息與公認會計原則財務數據的調節。

On the call this morning, we have Cracker Barrel's President and CEO, Sandy Cochran; Senior Vice President and CFO, Craig Pommells; and Senior Vice President and CMO, Jen Tate. Sandy and Craig will provide a review of the business, financials and outlook. We will then open up the call for questions for Sandy, Craig and Jen.

今天早上的電話會議上，Cracker Barrel 總裁兼首席執行官桑迪·科克倫 (Sandy Cochran) 出席了電話會議。高級副總裁兼首席財務官 Craig Pommells；高級副總裁兼首席營銷官 Jen Tate。桑迪和克雷格將對業務、財務和前景進行審查。然後我們將開始向桑迪、克雷格和珍提問。

On this call, statements may be made by management of their beliefs and expectations regarding the company's future operating results or expected future events. These are known as forward-looking statements, which involve risks and uncertainties that, in many cases, are beyond management's control and may cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. We caution our listeners and readers in considering forward-looking statements and information.

在這次電話會議上，管理層可能會發表關於他們對公司未來經營業績或預期未來事件的信念和期望的聲明。這些被稱為前瞻性陳述，其中涉及風險和不確定性，在許多情況下，這些風險和不確定性超出了管理層的控制範圍，並可能導致實際結果與預期存在重大差異。我們提醒聽眾和讀者考慮前瞻性陳述和信息。

Many of the factors that could affect results are summarized in the cautionary description of risks and uncertainties found at the end of the press release and are described in detail in our reports that we file with or furnish to the SEC. Finally, the information shared on this call is valid as of today's date, and the company undertakes no obligation to update it, except as may be required under applicable law.

新聞稿末尾對風險和不確定性的警告性描述中總結了許多可能影響結果的因素，並在我們向 SEC 提交或提供的報告中詳細描述了這些因素。最後，本次電話會議中共享的信息自今日起有效，公司不承擔更新信息的義務，除非適用法律有要求。

I'll now turn the call over to Cracker Barrel's President and CEO, Sandy Cochran. Sandy?

我現在將把電話轉給 Cracker Barrel 的總裁兼首席執行官桑迪·科克倫 (Sandy Cochran)。沙？

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. This morning, we reported total sales growth of 5.4% and an adjusted operating income margin rate of 4.1%. The quarter started out largely as we had anticipated, continuing our momentum from Q2 through February and most of March. We then experienced a meaningful traffic decline, particularly in April, which negatively impacted our sales and profits, both of which came in a bit below our expectations.

謝謝大家，大家早上好。今天上午，我們報告總銷售額增長 5.4%，調整後營業利潤率為 4.1%。本季度的開局基本符合我們的預期，從第二季度到 2 月以及 3 月的大部分時間都延續了我們的勢頭。然後，我們經歷了流量大幅下降，特別是在四月份，這對我們的銷售額和利潤產生了負面影響，兩者都略低於我們的預期。

This softer trend has continued fourth quarter to date, both for restaurant and retail sales. In our view, this reflects weaker consumer sentiment and economic pressures. Although we are cautiously optimistic that as the summer travel season unfolds, we will see some improvement to trends in June and July.

第四季度至今，餐廳和零售銷售均持續疲軟的趨勢。我們認為，這反映了消費者信心和經濟壓力的疲軟。儘管我們謹慎樂觀地認為，隨著夏季旅遊旺季的展開，我們將看到 6 月和 7 月的趨勢有所改善。

Our experience in April and May largely mirrors what we've seen across the full-service casual dining industry. And despite the unanticipated headwinds, our sales and traffic growth outpaced the Black Box casual dining index for the fourth consecutive quarter. Our teams remain focused on operational excellence, staffing and retention and the guest experience.

我們四月和五月的經歷很大程度上反映了我們在全方位服務休閒餐飲行業所看到的情況。儘管存在意想不到的阻力，我們的銷售額和客流量增長連續第四個季度超過了 Black Box 休閒餐飲指數。我們的團隊仍然專注於卓越運營、人員配備和保留以及賓客體驗。

Our everyday value and menu innovation is resonating with guests. And we're making great progress on other key initiatives, including catering, our loyalty program and our cost savings efforts. Although we expect continued pressures and choppiness in the short term, we feel good about our positioning over the medium and longer term.

我們的日常價值和菜單創新引起了客人的共鳴。我們在其他關鍵舉措上也取得了巨大進展，包括餐飲、忠誠度計劃和成本節約工作。儘管我們預計短期內將面臨持續的壓力和波動，但我們對中長期的定位感到滿意。

I'd now like to speak to some highlights from the third quarter. Our menu promotion and advertising campaign showcased our everyday value and variety. Our TV messaging reminded guests that we have 20 meals for under $12, including several hearty signature entrees, and we highlighted newer items such as our Cheesy Bacon Homestyle Chicken and Homestyle Chicken and French Toast.

現在我想談談第三季度的一些亮點。我們的菜單促銷和廣告活動展示了我們的日常價值和多樣性。我們的電視消息提醒客人，我們有 20 種餐點，價格不到 12 美元，包括幾道豐盛的招牌主菜，我們還重點介紹了新菜品，例如芝士培根家常雞和家常雞法式吐司。

We also introduced our $5 Take Home Meals, which have been popular and are an additional example of how we're leaning into everyday value. For off-premise, we saw high demand for our Easter Heat n' Serve bundled offerings and strong growth in our catering business, which increased over 35% compared to the prior year and remains on track to exceed $100 million this fiscal year.

我們還推出了 5 美元的帶回家餐，這種餐食很受歡迎，也是我們如何注重日常價值的另一個例子。在場外業務方面，我們發現對 Easter Heat n' Serve 捆綁產品的需求很高，並且我們的餐飲業務增長強勁，與上一年相比增長了 35% 以上，並且本財年有望超過 1 億美元。

From an operations perspective, we're pleased with the improvements we're seeing in our turnover and retention results. Our new labor system is now in place at over 460 stores, and the rollout will be substantially completed in the coming weeks. We're pleased with the functionality that the system provides and our enhanced ability to optimize labor allocation, and we will continue to fine-tune our labor model based on our learnings.

從運營角度來看，我們對營業額和保留率方面的改善感到滿意。我們的新勞動力系統現已在 460 多家門店實施，部署工作將在未來幾週內基本完成。我們對該系統提供的功能以及優化勞動力分配的能力增強感到滿意，我們將根據我們的經驗繼續微調我們的勞動力模型。

Turning to Maple Street. We opened 3 locations during the quarter and have been pleased with the early performance of each unit, with each location seeing some of the strongest opening week sales in recent years. The team continues to work diligently to optimize the business model and prepare to successfully scale the brand.

轉向楓樹街。我們在本季度開設了 3 個分店，對每個分店的早期表現感到滿意，每個分店的開業周銷售額都創下了近年來最強勁的紀錄。該團隊將繼續努力優化業務模式，並為成功擴大品牌規模做好準備。

I'll now turn the call over to Craig for a more detailed look at the quarter from a financial perspective and to discuss our Q4 outlook, after which I'll comment on some of our areas of focus for the remainder of the year.

我現在將把電話轉給克雷格，從財務角度更詳細地了解本季度，並討論我們的第四季度前景，之後我將對今年剩餘時間的一些重點領域發表評論。

Thank you, Sandy, and good morning, everyone. For the third quarter, we reported total revenue of $832.7 million, an increase of 5.4% over the prior year quarter. As Sandy noted, the quarter started out in line with our expectations. But towards the end of March, there was a noticeable drop in traffic, which intensified and persisted through April and has negatively impacted our results. Restaurant revenue increased 7.8% to $681.3 million, and retail revenue decreased 4.2% to $151.4 million versus the prior year quarter.

謝謝你，桑迪，大家早上好。第三季度，我們報告總收入為 8.327 億美元，比去年同期增長 5.4%。正如桑迪指出的那樣，本季度的開局符合我們的預期。但到 3 月底，流量明顯下降，這種情況在整個 4 月份加劇並持續，對我們的業績產生了負面影響。與去年同期相比，餐廳收入增長 7.8% 至 6.813 億美元，零售收入下降 4.2% 至 1.514 億美元。

Comparable store total sales, including both restaurant and retail, grew by 5%. Our retail sales were impacted by the restaurant traffic deceleration as well as shifts in consumer discretionary spending. Additionally, we believe some of our more price-conscious guests may be reducing their retail purchases as a way to manage their overall spend when dining with us.

包括餐廳和零售在內的可比商店總銷售額增長了 5%。我們的零售銷售受到餐廳客流量減速以及消費者可自由支配支出變化的影響。此外，我們相信一些對價格更加敏感的客人可能會減少零售購買，以此來管理與我們就餐時的總體支出。

Comparable store restaurant sales grew by 7.4% over the prior year, driven by approximately 8.8% total pricing, approximately 1/4 of which is a carryforward from fiscal 2022 and 3/4 of which is new from fiscal 2023. We continue to closely monitor the impact our pricing is having on traffic and the check, and do believe our pricing strategy is effectively balancing margin protection and maintaining our strong value.

在總定價約 8.8% 的推動下，可比商店餐廳銷售額比上年增長 7.4%，其中約 1/4 是 2022 財年的結轉，其中 3/4 是 2023 財年的新定價。我們將繼續密切關注我們的定價對流量和支票的影響，並且相信我們的定價策略有效地平衡了利潤保護和維持我們的強大價值。

We believe that the softer restaurant traffic trend and reductions in retail purchases are primarily driven by macroeconomic factors as opposed to our restaurant pricing increases. Our average check also included a favorable menu mix of approximately 1.8%.

我們認為，餐廳客流量趨勢的疲軟和零售採購的減少主要是由宏觀經濟因素驅動的，而不是我們餐廳定價的上漲。我們的平均檢查還包括大約 1.8% 的有利菜單組合。

We've been pleased with the strong mix favorability we've seen in recent quarters, which is a direct result of our culinary strategy to provide guests with upgrade and add-on options such as our shareable Barrel Bites Premium Sides and, most recently, our $5 Take Homes as well as our beverage program. Off-premise sales were approximately 19.1% of restaurant sales. We were pleased with our off-premise performance as we drove strong growth in our catering business, and sales of our Easter bundled offerings were in line with expectations.

我們對最近幾個季度看到的強烈的混合偏好感到高興，這是我們為客人提供升級和附加選項的烹飪策略的直接結果，例如我們的可共享的 Barrel Bites Premium Sides 以及最近的，我們的 5 美元帶回家以及我們的飲料計劃。店外銷售額約佔餐廳銷售額的 19.1%。我們對場外業績感到滿意，因為我們推動了餐飲業務的強勁增長，並且複活節捆綁產品的銷售符合預期。

Comparable store retail sales decreased 4.6% compared to the third quarter of the prior year. We saw declines across most of our categories, with our largest decreases in toys and decor, which are among our most discretionary categories. Although sales were softer than we anticipated, we continue to feel good about our inventory levels.

與去年第三季度相比，可比商店零售額下降了 4.6%。我們的大多數類別都出現了下降，其中玩具和裝飾品下降幅度最大，這是我們最自由裁量的類別之一。儘管銷售低於我們的預期，但我們對庫存水平仍然感到滿意。

Moving on to our third quarter expenses. Total cost of goods sold in the quarter was 31.5% of total revenue versus 31.6% in the prior year quarter. Restaurant cost of goods sold in the third quarter was 27.3% of restaurant sales versus 27.8% in the prior year quarter. This 50 basis point decrease was primarily driven by menu pricing of 8.8%, partially offset by commodity inflation of 4.3%. The primary drivers of Q3 commodity inflation were produce, dairy and eggs.

繼續我們的第三季度支出。本季度銷售商品總成本佔總收入的 31.5%，而去年同期為 31.6%。第三季度餐廳銷售成本佔餐廳銷售額的 27.3%，而去年同期為 27.8%。下降 50 個基點主要是由於 8.8% 的菜單定價造成的，部分被 4.3% 的商品通脹所抵消。第三季度商品通脹的主要驅動因素是農產品、乳製品和雞蛋。

Third quarter retail cost of goods sold was 50.2% of retail sales versus 46.9% in the prior year quarter, which, as a reminder, was an atypically low COGS rate. This 330 basis point increase was driven by more normalized promotional activity and higher inventory shrink. Increased shrink has been a growing problem for the broader retail industry. And although our teams are working diligently to mitigate this issue, we expect it to remain somewhat elevated for the near term. Our inventories at quarter end were $185 million compared to $192 million in the prior year.

第三季度零售商品銷售成本佔零售額的 50.2%，而去年同期為 46.9%，提醒您的是，這是一個非典型的低銷貨成本率。這一 330 個基點的增長是由更加規範的促銷活動和更高的庫存縮減推動的。對於更廣泛的零售行業來說，日益嚴重的損耗已成為一個日益嚴重的問題。儘管我們的團隊正在努力緩解這一問題，但我們預計該問題在短期內仍將保持在一定水平。季度末我們的庫存為 1.85 億美元，而去年同期為 1.92 億美元。

With regard to labor costs, our third quarter labor and related expenses were 35.8% of revenue versus 35.9% in the prior year. This 10 basis point decrease was primarily driven by sales leverage, partially offset by hourly restaurant wage inflation of approximately 5.5%. Adjusted other operating expenses were 23.3% of revenue versus 23.1% in the prior year quarter. This 20 basis point increase was primarily driven by higher advertising and maintenance expenses.

在勞動力成本方面，我們第三季度的勞動力及相關費用佔收入的 35.8%，而去年同期為 35.9%。這一 10 個基點的下降主要是由銷售槓桿推動的，但部分被約 5.5% 的餐廳每小時工資通脹所抵消。調整後的其他運營費用佔收入的 23.3%，而去年同期為 23.1%。 20 個基點的增長主要是由廣告和維護費用增加推動的。

Our general and administrative expenses in the third quarter were 5.4% of revenue versus 5.0% in the prior year quarter. This 40 basis point increase primarily resulted from investments to support our growth initiatives and more normalized incentive compensation.

第三季度的一般和管理費用佔收入的 5.4%，而去年同期為 5.0%。這 40 個基點的增長主要是由於支持我們的增長計劃的投資和更規範的激勵薪酬。

Additionally, our GAAP results include impairment charges of $11.7 million as well as $2.2 million in costs associated with store closures. All of this culminated in GAAP operating income of $16.8 million. Adjusted for impairment charges, store closure expenses and the noncash amortization of the asset recognized from the gains on the sale and leaseback transactions, operating income for the quarter was $33.9 million or 4.1% of revenue.

此外，我們的 GAAP 業績還包括 1,170 萬美元的減值費用以及 220 萬美元與關閉商店相關的成本。所有這一切最終導致 GAAP 營業收入達到 1,680 萬美元。調整減值費用、門店關閉費用以及從售後回租交易收益中確認的資產非現金攤銷後，本季度營業收入為 3390 萬美元，佔收入的 4.1%。

Net interest expense for the quarter was $4.5 million compared to net interest expense of $2.2 million in the prior year quarter. The increase is a result of higher interest rates and a higher level of borrowing.

本季度的淨利息支出為 450 萬美元，而去年同期的淨利息支出為 220 萬美元。這一增長是利率上升和借貸水平提高的結果。

Our GAAP effective tax rate for the quarter was negative 14%, reflecting a true-up based on our year-to-date GAAP earnings before taxes, which includes the impact of the impairment charges and store closure costs. On an adjusted basis, our effective tax rate was 7.8%. Third quarter GAAP earnings per diluted share were $0.63 and adjusted earnings per diluted share were $1.21. In the third quarter, adjusted EBITDA was $60.3 million or 7.2% of total revenue.

我們本季度的 GAAP 有效稅率為負 14%，反映了根據我們年初至今的 GAAP 稅前收益（包括減值費用和門店關閉成本的影響）進行的調整。調整後的實際稅率為 7.8%。第三季度 GAAP 每股攤薄收益為 0.63 美元，調整後每股攤薄收益為 1.21 美元。第三季度，調整後 EBITDA 為 6030 萬美元，佔總收入的 7.2%。

Now turning to capital allocation and our balance sheet. We remain committed to a balanced approach to capital allocation. Our first priority remains investing in the growth of Cracker Barrel and Maple Street. Beyond that, we plan to return capital to our shareholders while maintaining appropriate flexibility and a strong balance sheet.

現在轉向資本配置和我們的資產負債表。我們仍然致力於採取平衡的資本配置方法。我們的首要任務仍然是投資 Cracker Barrel 和 Maple Street 的發展。除此之外，我們計劃向股東返還資本，同時保持適當的靈活性和強大的資產負債表。

In the third quarter, we invested $38 million in capital expenditures, and we returned $29 million to shareholders in dividends. Lastly, we ended the quarter with $445 million in total debt.

第三季度，我們投資了 3800 萬美元的資本支出，並以股息的形式向股東返還了 2900 萬美元。最後，本季度末我們的總債務為 4.45 億美元。

With respect to our fiscal 2023 outlook, I would like to provide some additional color on the guidance in this morning's release and an update on recent trends. Quarter-to-date, our top line trend has generally been in line with April. Looking ahead, the environment remains uncertain.

關於我們的 2023 財年展望，我想對今天上午發布的指引以及近期趨勢的更新提供一些額外的信息。本季度迄今為止，我們的營收趨勢總體上與 4 月份一致。展望未來，環境仍充滿不確定性。

June and July are 2 of our highest-volume months and are heavily influenced by summer travel patterns. Our base case scenario is that these months experience a modest travel trend improvement compared to April and May, largely due to increased travel and easier comparisons from the prior year. Assuming this improvement in our traffic trend, we currently expect total revenue growth in the fourth quarter of 1% to 3%, which includes pricing of approximately 8.5%.

六月和七月是我們客流量最高的兩個月份，並且深受夏季旅行模式的影響。我們的基本情景是，與 4 月和 5 月相比，這幾個月的旅行趨勢略有改善，這主要是由於旅行增加以及與上一年相比更容易進行比較。假設我們的流量趨勢有所改善，我們目前預計第四季度的總收入增長 1% 至 3%，其中定價約為 8.5%。

We anticipate to open up 1 new Cracker Barrel location and 5 to 7 new Maple Street locations during the quarter. Several Maple Streets are slated to open towards the end of the fiscal year, and our updated expectation reflects the possibility that a couple may slip into early fiscal 2024 due to permitting or equipment delays.

我們預計本季度將開設 1 個新的 Cracker Barrel 門店和 5 至 7 個新的 Maple Street 門店。幾家 Maple Street 預計在本財年末開放，我們最新的預期反映出，由於許可或設備延誤，其中一些可能會推遲到 2024 財年年初。

In Q4, we anticipate commodity inflation will be approximately flat and hourly wage inflation will be approximately 5%. In addition to the above assumptions for revenue growth, commodity and wage inflation and cost savings, our operating income margin expectation contemplates the following.

第四季度，我們預計大宗商品通脹率將大致持平，小時工資通脹率將約為 5%。除了上述收入增長、商品和工資通脹以及成本節約的假設外，我們的營業利潤率預期還考慮了以下因素。

First, investment in additional labor hours to ensure we are delivering exceptional service and hospitality during the high-traffic summer months. Second, within G&A, we have investments to support our strategic initiatives, such as our loyalty program and other digital initiatives, as well as an increase in incentive compensation relative to prior year. Third, we have increased our cost savings estimate and now expect to deliver approximately $13 million in cost savings during the fiscal year, with additional gains in fiscal 2024.

首先，投資額外的工作時間，以確保我們在夏季人流量大的月份提供卓越的服務和接待。其次，在一般行政管理方面，我們進行了投資來支持我們的戰略舉措，例如我們的忠誠度計劃和其他數字舉措，以及相對於上一年增加的激勵薪酬。第三，我們提高了成本節約預估，目前預計在本財年實現約 1300 萬美元的成本節約，並在 2024 財年實現額外收益。

Taking all of this into account and assuming industry traffic and summer travel patterns play out as we expect, we now expect adjusted operating income margin in the range of 4.5% to 5.5% in Q4. We expect a Q4 GAAP effective tax rate of approximately 0% and an adjusted effective tax rate of approximately 4%. Finally, we anticipate capital expenditures of $30 million to $35 million during the quarter.

考慮到所有這些因素，並假設行業流量和夏季旅行模式如我們預期的那樣，我們現在預計第四季度調整後的營業利潤率在 4.5% 至 5.5% 之間。我們預計第四季度 GAAP 有效稅率約為 0%，調整後有效稅率約為 4%。最後，我們預計本季度的資本支出為 3000 萬至 3500 萬美元。

I'll now turn the call back over to Sandy so she may share additional details around our business plans and outlook.

我現在將把電話轉回給桑迪，以便她可以分享有關我們的業務計劃和前景的更多詳細信息。

Although we're currently operating under more uncertainty, we remain confident that we have the right strategy in place to navigate these short-term challenges and win market share. In the current environment, our primary focus is driving sales growth, but we will simultaneously continue enhancing our business model. I'd now like to discuss our strategic priorities.

儘管我們目前的運營面臨更多不確定性，但我們仍然相信我們擁有正確的戰略來應對這些短期挑戰並贏得市場份額。在當前環境下，我們的首要重點是推動銷售增長，但我們同時將繼續增強我們的業務模式。我現在想討論一下我們的戰略重點。

First, we're focused on the guest experience. Our teams are highly focused on strong execution and delivering an exceptional guest experience. We've placed a priority on ensuring stores are properly staffed for the high-volume summer months. We continue to believe that hospitality is a key differentiator for us, and we will continue to make investments to support this. We're also focused on the training and development of our store employees and believe enhancing these areas will drive further improvements to retention as well as guest satisfaction.

首先，我們關注賓客體驗。我們的團隊高度專注於強大的執行力和提供卓越的賓客體驗。我們的首要任務是確保商店在夏季高峰期配備適當的人員。我們仍然相信，酒店業是我們的一個關鍵差異化因素，我們將繼續進行投資來支持這一點。我們還專注於商店員工的培訓和發展，並相信加強這些領域將進一步提高保留率和顧客滿意度。

Second, we're continuing to emphasize and protect our strong value proposition. Everyday value has always been, and will continue to be, a key pillar of our strategy, and we're continuing to leverage this core equity through our 20 Under $12 advertising campaign. We believe our investments to preserve the value sections of our menu, and our attractive price points have been, and will continue to, appeal to our guests and will maintain our value strength even in a more promotional competitive landscape.

其次，我們繼續強調和保護我們強大的價值主張。日常價值一直並將繼續是我們戰略的關鍵支柱，我們將繼續通過 20 Under $12 廣告活動來利用這一核心資產。我們相信，我們為保留菜單中的價值部分而進行的投資以及具有吸引力的價格點已經並將繼續吸引我們的客人，並且即使在促銷競爭更加激烈的情況下也將保持我們的價值優勢。

The sustained strength and growth of our off-premise channels, in particular, catering, for both everyday and holiday occasions, demonstrates our value proposition extends beyond dine-in. We are especially excited about the catering business and continue to enhance the menu and service model.

我們的場外渠道（特別是日常和假日場合的餐飲）的持續實力和增長表明我們的價值主張超出了就餐的範疇。我們對餐飲業務尤其興奮，並不斷提升菜單和服務模式。

Third, we're looking to accelerate frequency among our growth segments. To achieve this, we remain focused on menu innovation and introducing offerings that feature bolder and more complex flavor profiles, which especially appeal to this group. For example, we recently introduced our Steak n' Egg Hashbrown Casserole and Biscuit Benny, our version of eggs benedict, and we've been encouraged by the response.

第三，我們希望加快增長領域的頻率。為了實現這一目標，我們仍然專注於菜單創新，並推出具有更大膽、更複雜風味特徵的產品，這對這一群體特別有吸引力。例如，我們最近推出了牛排雞蛋哈希布朗砂鍋菜和本尼餅乾，以及我們版本的班尼迪克蛋，我們對反響感到鼓舞。

Our loyalty program is a key initiative, and it's another way that we're extending our care and hospitality to our guests as part of our larger digital transformation initiative. While we believe the loyalty program will appeal to all guests, we think it will especially resonate with our growth segments.

我們的忠誠度計劃是一項關鍵舉措，也是我們向客人提供關懷和款待的另一種方式，作為我們更大的數字化轉型計劃的一部分。雖然我們相信忠誠度計劃將吸引所有客人，但我們認為它尤其會與我們的增長細分市場產生共鳴。

We've made significant progress in the development of the program. And to support the successful implementation of this large-scale complex initiative, we're planning for a beta launch in July. I'm excited about the program, which incorporates all of our channels, including retail, and features fun gaming elements. We believe the loyalty program will drive higher frequency, increase brand loyalty and customer lifetime value and provide robust actionable guest data.

我們在該計劃的開發方面取得了重大進展。為了支持這一大規模複雜計劃的成功實施，我們計劃在 7 月推出測試版。我對該計劃感到很興奮，它整合了我們所有的渠道，包括零售，並具有有趣的遊戲元素。我們相信忠誠度計劃將提高頻率，提高品牌忠誠度和客戶終身價值，並提供可靠的可操作的客戶數據。

Finally, we're continuing to improve our business model. Our cost savings program has delivered significant savings this year, and we expect to also deliver meaningful savings to fiscal 2024. We're pleased with our investments in technology, including our food and labor systems, and we will continue to leverage these systems and optimize our processes to drive further efficiencies. And although our top focus is protecting the top line and delivering an exceptional guest experience across all channels, our operators are tightly managing the business to control cost in this more challenged environment.

最後，我們正在繼續改進我們的商業模式。我們的成本節約計劃今年已實現顯著節約，我們預計到 2024 財年也能實現有意義的節約。我們對技術投資（包括食品和勞動力系統）感到滿意，我們將繼續利用這些系統並優化我們的流程可進一步提高效率。儘管我們的首要重點是保護收入並在所有渠道提供卓越的賓客體驗，但我們的運營商正在嚴格管理業務，以在這個更具挑戰性的環境中控製成本。

In closing, I believe our focus on the guest experience, value, accelerating frequency with our growth segments and enhancing our business model has us well positioned to navigate the short-term challenges we're currently facing and sets us up for capturing market share and driving long-term value creation.

最後，我相信，我們對客戶體驗、價值、加速增長細分市場的頻率以及增強我們的業務模式的關注，使我們能夠很好地應對當前面臨的短期挑戰，並為我們贏得市場份額和推動長期價值創造。

And with that, I'll turn the call over to the operator for your questions.

然後，我會將電話轉給接線員詢問您的問題。

(Operator Instructions) And our first question will come from Katherine Griffin of Bank of America.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題將來自美國銀行的凱瑟琳·格里芬。

Craig, I wanted to just get a point of clarification on your comments regarding May trends. I believe you said they're sort of consistent with April. But I just want to understand, does that mean that traffic is sort of running in the negative low single digits if we contemplate the positive mix that you noted? Or is it that you're seeing that decelerating traffic trend kind of pick up in April? Just sort of -- yes, I just wanted to kind of parse those comments.

克雷格，我想澄清一下您對五月趨勢的評論。我相信你說過它們與四月是一致的。但我只是想了解，如果我們考慮您提到的積極組合，這是否意味著流量處於負低個位數？或者您是否看到流量減速趨勢在四月份有所回升？只是——是的，我只是想解析一下這些評論。

For me -- so I think what we've -- I think what we're comfortable saying is that, as we went through the quarter, we had a meaningful reduction in our traffic for us, and candidly, across the entire industry as we progressed through the quarter. And May is consistent with April. So no change -- so no significant change one way or another. So not a deceleration, not an acceleration, just a consistent trend.

對我來說 - 所以我認為我們已經 - 我認為我們可以放心地說的是，在我們度過這個季度的過程中，坦率地說，整個行業的流量都大幅減少了我們整個季度都取得了進展。並且五月與四月是一致的。所以沒有改變——所以沒有以某種方式發生重大改變。所以不是減速，不是加速，只是一個一致的趨勢。

I mean, I think, clearly, the backdrop is more challenging. It's more dynamic. And I think the good news is we're not seeing things get worse, and we're not seeing things get materially better. Now having said that, I'll kind of just go ahead and give a little bit more texture on this.

我的意思是，我認為，顯然，背景更具挑戰性。它更有活力。我認為好消息是我們沒有看到事情變得更糟，也沒有看到事情有實質性的好轉。話雖如此，我將繼續對此進行更多說明。

As our expectation is that as we continue into the summer, then our expectation is that we will see a modest improvement in our trends. And again, April and May were consistent, and we would expect to see a modest improvement as we get into the summer as a part of the summer travel season. That's what's included in our base case assumptions.

由於我們的預期是，隨著進入夏季，我們的預期是我們的趨勢將略有改善。再說一遍，四月和五月的情況是一致的，隨著夏季旅行季節的一部分進入夏季，我們預計會出現適度的改善。這就是我們的基本案例假設中包含的內容。

Okay. Great. And then I just had a question on CapEx. There's a bit of a step-up in the third quarter. So I wanted to know what the drivers of that were. And then just given the lowered outlook for restaurant development, sort of why maintain the full year CapEx guidance?

好的。偉大的。然後我有一個關於資本支出的問題。第三季度有一些進步。所以我想知道其驅動因素是什麼。然後，鑑於餐廳發展前景下調，為什麼要維持全年資本支出指導呢？

Actually, I think this is a good story here. We -- for many, many months now, many quarters, there has been a backlog in getting equipment for repairs. And now, finally, we're on the backside of that issue, and we're basically getting caught up on some deferred equipment replacement.

事實上，我認為這是一個很好的故事。我們——許多個月、許多個季度以來，維修設備的積壓一直存在。現在，最後，我們正處於這個問題的背面，我們基本上陷入了一些推遲的設備更換之中。

The next question comes from Jeff Farmer of Gordon Haskett.

下一個問題來自戈登哈斯克特的傑夫法默。

A couple of questions. So I'm just curious what the implied same-store sales and traffic growth expectation is that comes with that 1% to 3% F 4Q revenue growth guidance. If you can just sort of give us a little bit of a guidepost there, that would be helpful.

有幾個問題。因此，我只是好奇 4 季度 1% 至 3% 的收入增長指引所暗示的同店銷售和流量增長預期是多少。如果您能給我們提供一點指導，那將會很有幫助。

Jeff, it's Craig. Yes, on the restaurant side, our expectation in that 1% to 3% is that restaurant comp sales will be in the kind of low to mid-single-digit range for comp sales. And retail, we would expect to be a higher single-digit negative sales comp.

傑夫，我是克雷格。是的，在餐廳方面，我們預計 1% 到 3% 的餐廳同業銷售額將處於低至中個位數的範圍內。對於零售業，我們預計銷售額將出現更高的個位數負數。

Okay. That's helpful. And then as it relates to Cracker Barrel, specifically, and what you're seeing at the concept level, is there a customer demographic or daypart that is seeing greater headwinds in terms of some of the pressures that you alluded to sort of strengthening or getting a little bit more challenging as you got into May? So again, demo or daypart that's being hit more -- being hit with greater challenges.

好的。這很有幫助。然後，由於它與 Cracker Barrel 相關，特別是您在概念層面上看到的情況，是否存在客戶群體或時段在您提到的一些壓力方面遇到更大的阻力，這些壓力是您提到的某種加強或獲得進入五月後，您是否面臨更大的挑戰？再次強調，演示或時段受到的打擊更大——受到更大的挑戰。

Yes. Jen, why don't you take that one?

是的。珍，你為什麼不拿那個呢？

Jeff, it's Jen. Yes, I think the situation that we're seeing this quarter is a pretty different one from what was happening a year ago. Last third quarter, it was really our older guests that were pulling back with concerns about issues like the Ukraine war and the big spike in gas prices, which were really leading them to cut back on spending.

傑夫，我是珍。是的，我認為本季度我們看到的情況與一年前發生的情況有很大不同。去年第三季度，我們的老客人確實因為烏克蘭戰爭和天然氣價格大幅上漲等問題而退縮，這確實導致他們削減了支出。

This year, it's a different story. We've actually seen a nice rebound in visitation from those older guests. And in fact, now what we're experiencing is some reduced visit frequency from the younger cohorts, which coincides with a sharp downturn in consumer sentiment among those younger cohorts. So it's a bit of a different story with this third quarter.

今年，情況有所不同。事實上，我們已經看到那些年長客人的訪問量出現了良好的反彈。事實上，現在我們所經歷的是年輕群體的訪問頻率有所減少，這與這些年輕群體的消費者信心急劇下滑同時發生。所以第三季度的情況有點不同。

It -- obviously, it's bumpy when you're looking at 1 quarter at a time. So we, of course, like to look at things on a little bit of a longer horizon since most of our initiatives are longer-term strategic initiatives with those younger groups. So if we pull back and look at this more on like a 2-year stack, we still have seen some positive momentum with those younger groups. But third quarter, certainly, was a trickier one with the younger cohorts.

顯然，當你一次查看一個季度時，情況會很不穩定。因此，我們當然喜歡從更長遠的角度看待事情，因為我們的大多數舉措都是針對年輕群體的長期戰略舉措。因此，如果我們退後一步，更多地從兩年的角度來看待這個問題，我們仍然看到了這些年輕群體的一些積極勢頭。但對於年輕一代來說，第三季度無疑是一個更棘手的季度。

Okay. And just last one is bookkeeping. You guys shared the pricing in the Q3, but traffic and mix in the quarter. I apologize if I missed it, but did you guys share traffic and mix in the quarter, the Q3 quarter?

好的。最後一項是簿記。你們分享了第三季度的定價，但分享了該季度的流量和組合。如果我錯過了，我很抱歉，但是你們在第三季度分享流量和組合嗎？

We did not in the prepared remarks, but I'll go ahead and share those now. Traffic for the quarter was negative 3.2%. And in addition to the price, we also had positive menu mix of 1.8%.

我們在準備好的發言中沒有提到，但我現在將繼續分享這些內容。該季度的流量為負 3.2%。除了價格之外，我們還提供了 1.8% 的優惠菜單組合。

Our next question comes from Dennis Geiger of UBS.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的丹尼斯·蓋格。

Could you talk more -- a little more about your expectations for the brand's resiliency, maybe over the coming quarters or over the coming year, against the more difficult backdrop that you mentioned? I know you called out the compelling value offers. But is there any other kind of latest thoughts on sort of brand resiliency here, levers that you can pull against this backdrop that you mentioned would be helpful?

在您提到的更困難的背景下，您能否多談談您對品牌彈性的期望，也許是在未來幾個季度或未來一年？我知道您提出了令人信服的價值優惠。但是，對於品牌彈性，還有其他任何其他最新的想法嗎？在您提到的這種背景下，您可以使用槓桿嗎？

Yes. Dennis, it's Sandy. I really will kind of focus on the prepared remarks. And my last part, which is that we continue to believe that the brand is highly differentiated, it appeals across a broad spectrum of age, demographics, income. And our focus, first and foremost, is on ensuring that we're delivering the guest experience.

是的。丹尼斯，我是桑迪。我真的會重點關注準備好的發言。我的最後一部分是，我們仍然相信該品牌具有高度差異化，它對各種年齡、人口結構和收入的人都有吸引力。我們的首要重點是確保提供賓客體驗。

We believe our hospitality is one of our key differentiators. And in this environment, it's particularly important if you're a guest that's managing their frequency. You want to be sure you're going to brands that you can trust to deliver both the experience and the value.

我們相信我們的熱情好客是我們的主要優勢之一。在這種環境下，如果您是客人，那麼管理他們的頻率就顯得尤為重要。您需要確保您選擇的是值得信賴的品牌，能夠提供體驗和價值。

And so that really leads to my second priority, which is leaning in and emphasizing and protecting our everyday value. We've been known for that. We're not as focused on promotions and deals but ensuring that we can -- a guest can come in any daypart and find on the menu a good value, which is why we're focused on highlighting with our 20 Under $12 initiative or promotion right now. It's not a promotion, it's every day.

因此，這確實導致了我的第二要務，即傾斜、強調和保護我們的日常價值。我們因此而聞名。我們並不專注於促銷和優惠，而是確保我們能夠——客人可以在任何時段進來並在菜單上找到物超所值的產品，這就是為什麼我們專注於強調 20 美元以下 12 美元計劃或促銷活動現在。這不是促銷，而是每天都有。

I think I'll let Jen speak to the $5 Take Home, which we think is another great way to deliver value to our guests, and we've been encouraged by the reaction to that. Third, though, we're also really focused on innovating to appeal to the growth channels. And I will let Jen speak to that as a way to drive growth in the next few months.

我想我會讓 Jen 談談 5 美元帶回家，我們認為這是為客人提供價值的另一種好方法，我們對此的反應感到鼓舞。第三，我們也非常注重創新以吸引增長渠道。我將讓 Jen 來談談這一點，以此作為未來幾個月推動增長的一種方式。

Yes. I think, Sandy, starting with value, that's absolutely a critical part of the puzzle for us. In addition to the fact that we've been messaging to consumers that we do have 20 entrees on our menu that are all under $12, and that's across all dayparts, we're also featuring new news in that category, which we think will appeal to our growth segments. So more flavorful, more complex flavors that we've tested with those growth segments, so we feel good about that.

是的。我認為，桑迪，從價值開始，這對我們來說絕對是難題的關鍵部分。除了我們一直向消費者傳達的信息外，我們的菜單上確實有 20 種主菜，且全天價格均低於 12 美元，我們還重點介紹了該類別的新新聞，我們認為這會有吸引力到我們的增長領域。我們在這些增長部分測試了更美味、更複雜的口味，所以我們對此感覺良好。

$5 Take Homes has been a nice addition that helps us grow check, but also we see is improving our value scores on checks that have that on it. I think the other thing that we're very excited about is that we are about a month away -- sometime in July, we're going to be beta testing our new loyalty rewards program, which, in all of the research we have done, is a very, very appealing proposition across all of our segments, sustaining segments, growth segments.

5 美元帶回家是一個很好的補充，可以幫助我們增加支票，但我們也看到，帶有此內容的支票的價值分數也得到了提高。我認為我們非常興奮的另一件事是，我們還有大約一個月的時間 - 7 月的某個時候，我們將對我們新的忠誠度獎勵計劃進行 Beta 測試，在我們所做的所有研究中，該計劃，對於我們所有的細分市場、維持細分市場、增長細分市場來說，這是一個非常非常有吸引力的主張。

Everybody is really interested in this new rewards program that will be very differentiated for us because it encompasses all of our channels, including retail, which is a real differentiator for us. Our guests are going to be able to earn points, whether they're in the restaurant or shopping in our retail and, of course, be able to redeem points across both sides of our business, which, I think, makes it very unique in the restaurant space. So we're very excited about the launch of loyalty and how that will progress our whole digital road map forward. So a lot of things coming in the future that we think will maintain that momentum.

每個人都對這個新的獎勵計劃非常感興趣，這對我們來說非常獨特，因為它涵蓋了我們所有的渠道，包括零售，這對我們來說是一個真正的差異化因素。我們的客人將能夠賺取積分，無論他們是在餐廳還是在我們的零售店購物，當然，也能夠在我們的業務雙方兌換積分，我認為這使得它在餐廳空間。因此，我們對忠誠度的推出以及它將如何推動我們整個數字路線圖的發展感到非常興奮。因此，我們認為未來將會發生的很多事情將保持這種勢頭。

And I'll just add, thank you, Jen, to the -- to that list, although I didn't have this in my list in the prepared remarks. To Jen's point, I do think retail, although it's challenged right now, it is a key differentiator. And it does allow our guests to find fun, unique, nostalgic items that are a great value. And I think that will continue to be the case over the next -- both not just the next quarter, but the next year -- few years.

我只是將謝謝你，珍，添加到該列表中，儘管我在準備好的發言中沒有將其列入我的列表中。就 Jen 的觀點而言，我確實認為零售業雖然目前面臨挑戰，但它是一個關鍵的差異化因素。它確實讓我們的客人找到了有趣、獨特、懷舊、物超所值的物品。我認為在接下來的幾年裡，情況將繼續如此——不僅是下個季度，而且是明年——幾年。

That's great color. Just one more, if I may. Craig, you spoke to capital allocation priorities. So I just want to ask, in thinking about the attractive dividend and in thinking about some of the near-term macro pressure that you've spoken about, is there any thoughts to add with respect to the dividend and maybe balance sheet usage, if it comes to it, just thinking about different scenarios looking ahead?

那顏色真棒。如果可以的話，就再來一張。克雷格，您談到了資本配置的優先事項。所以我只是想問，在考慮有吸引力的股息和考慮您提到的一些近期宏觀壓力時，對於股息以及資產負債表的使用是否有任何想法可以補充，如果說到這裡，只是想一下未來的不同場景？

From a capital allocation perspective, yes, I think our Board is incredibly thoughtful. And our priorities are investing in Cracker Barrel and Maple Street. And then our returning cash to shareholders and our dividend is a primary way that we're currently doing and that we have been doing that. And our current cash flows support our dividend. Our leverage ratio supports our dividend. So I don't certainly don't see anything in the future that would change that at this point.

從資本配置的角度來看，是的，我認為我們的董事會考慮得非常周到。我們的首要任務是投資 Cracker Barrel 和 Maple Street。然後，我們向股東返還現金和股息是我們目前正在做的主要方式，並且我們一直在這樣做。我們當前的現金流支持我們的股息。我們的槓桿率支持我們的股息。因此，我目前認為未來不會有任何事情會改變這一點。

The next question comes from Andrew Wolf of CL King.

下一個問題來自 CL King 的 Andrew Wolf。

Wanted to ask a follow-up on the traffic in April and May. Do you think any of that might have been related to the spring being kind of relatively cool and wet, particularly in the southern part of -- well, all over the country, but in the south where, sometimes in April and May, it's already hot, and people are out in those highways and so on? Do you think that had any impact? Or do you think weather, in any other way, had any impact? I know some folks don't like to blame the weather, but weather is what it is, and that's why I'm asking.

想問一下4月和5月的交通情況。你認為這可能與春天相對涼爽和潮濕有關嗎，特別是在南部地區——嗯，全國各地，但在南部，有時在四月和五月，天氣已經很冷了。天氣很熱，人們都在高速公路上等等？您認為這有什麼影響嗎？或者您認為天氣是否以其他方式產生了影響？我知道有些人不喜歡責怪天氣，但天氣就是這樣，這就是我問的原因。

Well, I guess, I'll start. And you're right, we don't like to use weather as an excuse to not to have delivered the results that we were expecting. But there are certainly some -- you could have some discussion about whether, in fact, it was a cool spring, and we've heard that from a number of companies and how it impacted the business, and whether that made people more reluctant to maybe do a trip that they were going to do.

好吧，我想，我要開始了。你是對的，我們不喜歡以天氣為藉口而沒有達到我們預期的結果。但肯定有一些——你可以討論一下這實際上是否是一個涼爽的春天，我們從許多公司那裡聽到了這一點，以及它如何影響業務，以及這是否讓人們更不願意也許進行一次他們打算進行的旅行。

Certainly, our merchants would say that they felt it impacted the timing of our purchases of our summer clothing. So if it was still cold out, you probably weren't as interested in sundresses and sandals, as we later saw. So we don't believe it was -- there was a material weather impact for the quarter, but we think it could have had, on the margin, some impact on the timing with our consumers.

當然，我們的商家會說，他們認為這影響了我們購買夏季服裝的時間。因此，如果外面仍然很冷，您可能對背心裙和涼鞋不那麼感興趣，正如我們後來看到的那樣。因此，我們不認為本季度受到了重大天氣影響，但我們認為它可能會對我們消費者的時間安排產生一定程度的影響。

Okay. Also, in the retail stores, I mean, your inventories look pretty clean, right? So it doesn't look like there's a lot of -- even with the weather, a lot of markdown risk. Am I -- I'm just sort of imputing that from the inventory has been down year-over-year and, generally, the restaurant inventory has been pretty stable.

好的。另外，我的意思是，在零售店裡，你們的庫存看起來很乾淨，對吧？因此，即使考慮到天氣因素，降價風險似乎也不大。我是嗎——我只是從庫存中推斷，庫存逐年下降，而且總的來說，餐廳庫存相當穩定。

It seems to be the retail store inventory did swing a lot. And if they're down, I would think it -- to me, it indicates either you got pretty clean inventories, you don't have a lot of markdown risk or you're already kind of changing the mix to lower-price items. Could you just tell us a little bit about what's going on there?

看來零售店的庫存確實波動很大。如果它們下降了，我會認為 - 對我來說，這表明要么你有相當乾淨的庫存，你沒有太多的降價風險，要么你已經將產品組合改為價格較低的商品。您能告訴我們一些那裡發生的事情嗎？

Sure. well, our retail teams, they've done a magnificent job over the past few quarters in delivering really very impressive retail sales. But in Q3, we did see the guests pull back. And we saw it broadly across the store base. We saw it broadly across categories, particularly in the more discretionary ones. And it kind of was reflected in conversion and UPT.

當然。好吧，我們的零售團隊，在過去幾個季度中，他們在交付非常令人印象深刻的零售銷售方面做得非常出色。但在第三季度，我們確實看到客人退縮了。我們在整個商店基地都看到了這種情況。我們在各個類別中都廣泛看到了這一點，尤其是在更自由裁量的類別中。這在轉化率和 UPT 上有所體現。

The good news is that our merchants were preparing for this possibility in terms of managing our inventories. And I think they have done a good job of working in this environment to keep the inventories clean. They've been working with the field to be sure we were moving through the most vulnerable categories. They've been working with our vendors on margins. And I think they have, to the point you make, done a good job of managing that risk.

好消息是，我們的商家正在為庫存管理方面的這種可能性做好準備。我認為他們在這種環境下在保持庫存清潔方面做得很好。他們一直在與該領域合作，以確保我們能夠應對最脆弱的類別。他們一直在與我們的供應商合作賺取利潤。我認為，就您所說的而言，他們在管理風險方面做得很好。

Yes. And Andrew, I'll build on that a little bit, just to say that, as we shared before, the -- we expect the retail business -- part of the business to go -- to return to a more normal promotional cadence. So if you think about fiscal '22, we had a lower level of promotional activity. And we shared before that in fiscal '23, we expect it to return closer to, for lack of a better term, pre-COVID level of promotional activity. So that continues to be the expectation.

是的。安德魯，我將在此基礎上再說一點，正如我們之前分享的那樣，我們預計零售業務（部分業務）將恢復到更正常的促銷節奏。因此，如果您考慮一下 22 財年，我們的促銷活動水平較低。我們之前曾分享過，在 23 財年，由於缺乏更好的術語，我們預計促銷活動將恢復到接近新冠疫情前的水平。所以這仍然是人們的期望。

Okay. And if I can just ask one last question about pricing at the restaurants. What's baked into the Q4 comp guidance for price? And could you give us a flavor for the price cadence into -- just price into next fiscal year? For example, if you didn't take any more price, when would it -- when would price become neutral?

好的。我能問最後一個關於餐廳定價的問題嗎？第四季度的比較價格指南包含哪些內容？您能否給我們介紹一下價格節奏——只是下一財年的價格？例如，如果您不再採取任何價格，那麼什麼時候價格會變得中性？

Yes. We have 8.5% in the current guidance for Q4. The approach that we've been using -- so a couple of things on price. We've been incredibly thoughtful about this. We continue an approach with this for a long time with holdout groups. And we continue to monitor sentiment and value scores and competitor prices and so on. So we feel good about the impact that our price is having on traffic.

是的。我們目前的第四季度指導值為 8.5%。我們一直在使用的方法——所以有一些關於價格的事情。我們對此深思熟慮。我們長期以來一直與堅持不懈的團體繼續採取這種做法。我們繼續監控情緒和價值得分以及競爭對手的價格等。因此，我們對我們的價格對流量的影響感到滿意。

The approach that we've used is we've been taken more frequent but smaller price increases. And what that means is as we get into fiscal '24, some of the price will carry over, certainly, into the first half. We're not prepared to share exactly how much at this time, but I think it's a fair assumption that we'll have a fair bit of carryforward, certainly, into the first half of fiscal '24.

我們採用的方法是更頻繁地但幅度較小的價格上漲。這意味著，當我們進入 24 財年時，部分價格肯定會延續到上半年。我們目前不准備透露具體數額，但我認為這是一個合理的假設，即我們肯定會結轉相當多的金額到 24 財年上半年。

And as we go into fiscal '24, the inflation environment is expected to be much more normal, I would expect, certainly, still early. And as a result of that, we would expect our pricing strategy to adjust accordingly, and we'll talk more about that in the next call.

隨著我們進入 24 財年，通脹環境預計將更加正常，我預計，這當然還為時過早。因此，我們預計我們的定價策略會相應調整，我們將在下次電話會議中詳細討論這一點。

The next question comes from Jake Bartlett of Truist Securities.

下一個問題來自 Truist 證券公司的傑克·巴特利特。

My first was just on your performance versus the industry. You mentioned that you outperformed again for the fourth quarter versus Black Box, and I want to maybe make sure I understand which part of Black Box you're comparing yourself to. But I'm wondering whether the cadence within April and May, whether that outperformance continued.

我的第一個想法是關於你們與行業相比的表現。您提到您在第四季度再次優於 Black Box，我想確保我了解您將自己與 Black Box 的哪一部分進行比較。但我想知道四月和五月的節奏是否良好，這種優異表現是否會持續下去。

And if it didn't, I'm wondering what you think might be some of the drivers of that. I think some of us are curious whether there's pushback on the menu price, but maybe it's your markets, in particular, the competition with grocery. Any other kind of -- if it is in fact that you're your market share gains have reversed, any color on what you think might be driving that?

如果沒有，我想知道您認為其中的一些驅動因素是什麼。我想我們中的一些人很好奇菜單價格是否會被推遲，但也許這是你的市場，特別是與雜貨店的競爭。任何其他類型的——如果事實上你的市場份額增長已經逆轉，你認為可能是什麼推動了這一趨勢？

I think there's a lot of detail behind that. So I think we're comfortable with saying that for 4 quarters in a row, we've been ahead of Black Box full-service, and we have provided the additional texture that May is in line with April.

我認為這背後有很多細節。因此，我認為我們可以放心地說，我們連續 4 個季度領先於 Black Box 的全方位服務，並且我們提供了 5 月與 4 月一致的額外紋理。

Black Box casual.

黑盒休閒。

Black Box casual, sorry. And we've talked about our price and kind of how we've gone through that and kind of measured it twice and cut once, so to speak. So I think there's a lot there. Certainly appreciate the desire to have -- to get more, but I think it's still early in the quarter. And we look forward to sharing more about that on the next call.

黑盒休閒，抱歉。我們已經討論了我們的價格以及我們如何經歷這個過程，可以這麼說，測量了兩次並削減了一次。所以我認為那裡有很多東西。當然，我們很欣賞想要獲得更多的願望，但我認為現在還為時過早。我們期待在下次電話會議上分享更多相關信息。

Got it. And I'm not even ask you about kind of current trends, really, I'm just -- maybe even in April, it seems, without knowing those exact numbers, that your outperformance might have gone to underperformance. And so what I'm really trying to figure out, it feels like the message from competitors in the first quarter earnings season has been that there wasn't really material shifts in trade-down or trade-up, and consumer was holding in.

知道了。我什至沒有問你當前的趨勢，真的，我只是——也許甚至在四月份，在不知道這些確切數字的情況下，你的表現可能已經變得表現不佳。所以我真正想弄清楚的是，第一季度財報季競爭對手發出的信息是，降價或升價並沒有真正發生重大變化，消費者仍在堅持。

What I'm hearing from your results seems very different than that. So I'm kind of trying to gauge whether there's something specific about your marketplaces, your customers that might be making you more exposed to some of these macro pressures that are out there, where we haven't seen it on a large scale at competitors so far.

我從你的結果中聽到的似乎與此截然不同。因此，我試圖衡量您的市場、您的客戶是否存在某些特定的因素，這些因素可能會讓您更容易受到一些宏觀壓力的影響，而我們在競爭對手中還沒有大規模地看到這種壓力迄今為止。

Yes. Yes, it's a good question. I think the areas where we might be different from the competitors would be, for example, in the summer travel season, as an example. That would be an area where we could perform differently, either to the good or to the bad. But outside of that, I guess I would just reiterate that we're pleased with the market share gains. And we -- obviously, we report out on a slightly different cadence from others. And I don't know that it would be super helpful to get into each individual months beyond that.

是的。是的，這是一個好問題。我認為我們可能與競爭對手不同的領域是，例如，在夏季旅遊季節。這將是我們可以表現不同的領域，無論是好的還是壞的。但除此之外，我想我只想重申我們對市場份額的增長感到滿意。顯然，我們報告的節奏與其他人略有不同。我不知道接下來的每個月是否會非常有幫助。

Okay. And then a question on COGS. And Craig, this is another quarter where the math for your restaurant COGS, there's another -- there's a continued kind of bad guy in there. If you look at 8.8% of menu price and 4.3% of commodity inflation, there's another portion that's, I think, impacted by mix. I was thinking you maybe getting a year-over-year benefit from freight and things like that, which I think are in that line.

好的。然後是關於銷貨成本的問題。克雷格，這是另一個季度，你的餐廳 COGS 的數學計算，還有另一個 - 那裡有一個持續的壞人。如果你看看 8.8% 的菜單價格和 4.3% 的商品通脹，我認為還有另一部分受到混合的影響。我在想你可能會從貨運和類似的事情中獲得逐年的好處，我認為這屬於這一類。

But the question is that kind of bad guy has now been -- this is the fifth quarter, so it's lapping a drag in the third quarter of last year. So in the fourth quarter, if you could help us out, we kind of know flat COGS or flat commodity inflation, 8.5% pricing, what should restaurant-level COGS be? If you can maybe be more specific there. Is there another bad guy coming? Or is the math much more simple in the fourth quarter?

但問題是，現在已經是第五季度了，所以它在去年第三季度表現不佳。因此，在第四季度，如果您能幫助我們，我們知道 COGS 持平或商品通脹持平，定價為 8.5%，餐廳層面的 COGS 應該是多少？如果你可以說得更具體的話。是不是又一個壞人來了？或者第四季度的數學更加簡單？

Yes. I think the mix component -- not I think, the mix component that's impacting Q3 COGS and prior quarters as well really relates to the work that we've been doing to give guests more options to make their experience a more holistic experience, including things like our Barrel Bites, which are -- shareables and flavored drinks and so on. So the example there might be -- this is a real example. You have iced tea, which has a very low COGS percent and you -- someone trades out of unflavored iced tea to flavored iced tea. And you have a mid-teens level COGS percent, but it's still higher. So that drives that PMIX that you're seeing.

是的。我認為混合因素——不是我認為的，影響第三季度銷貨成本和前幾個季度的混合因素確實與我們一直在做的工作有關，為客人提供更多選擇，使他們的體驗成為更全面的體驗，包括就像我們的 Barrel Bites，它們是可共享的和調味飲料等等。所以可能有這樣的例子——這是一個真實的例子。你有冰茶，它的銷貨成本百分比非常低，而你——有人用無味的冰茶換成調味的冰茶。銷貨成本百分比處於十幾歲左右，但仍然更高。這就是您所看到的 PMIX 的驅動力。

And the reason I give the elaborate answer is because the mix component is going to depend on the attachment of those add-ons. So to the degree that those add-ons continue to drive the positive mix that we've seen in check, which was 1.8% in this quarter, to the degree that we outperform there, we'll see a higher impact to restaurant COGS. And to the degree that there is some softness there, then we won't see that level of mix impact. So it's really going to depend on the restaurant mix.

我給出詳細答案的原因是因為混合組件將取決於這些附加組件的附件。因此，這些附加服務繼續推動我們在檢查中看到的積極組合（本季度為 1.8％），達到我們在該領域表現優異的程度，我們將看到對餐廳 COGS 產生更大的影響。如果那裡有一些柔軟度，那麼我們就不會看到這種程度的混合影響。所以這實際上取決於餐廳的組合。

We've been happy with that. That is a way for us to drive some top line, deliver cash, increase cash profits, and it's completely up to the guest to kind of opt in or not. And it also helps us as it relates to some of our growth segments and the things that they find appealing. So it's -- I get the PMIX impact that you're referring to, and I think it's strategic in the way that we're utilizing it.

我們對此很滿意。這是我們提高收入、交付現金、增加現金利潤的一種方式，客人是否選擇完全取決於客人。它還對我們有幫助，因為它涉及我們的一些增長領域以及他們認為有吸引力的事物。所以，我得到了您所指的 PMIX 影響，我認為我們利用它的方式具有戰略意義。

Great. And then last question. On stores, there's been a number of closures. So I think 6 Cracker Barrels, I think there was 1 in May. So maybe we're expecting kind of no net openings in the fourth quarter for Cracker Barrel. But then also, I think there's 3 closures of Maple Street in the third quarter. So you opened 3, and there was net flat. So if you can give us some color on whether we should expect more, whether we should model in continued closures on either brand, that would be helpful.

偉大的。然後是最後一個問題。在商店裡，有很多商店都關門了。所以我想 6 個餅乾桶，我想 5 月份有 1 個。因此，也許我們預計 Cracker Barrel 在第四季度不會出現淨空缺。但我認為第三季度楓樹街有 3 家關閉。所以你開3，淨值持平。因此，如果您能給我們一些建議，告訴我們是否應該期待更多，是否應該繼續關閉任一品牌，這將會有所幫助。

Yes. Our approach to restaurant closures is largely that we're in a business of operating restaurants, not closing restaurants. So in that the portfolio of 600-plus of anything, you're going to have high performers, medium performers and low performers. And with the low performers, you work to make them be better.

是的。我們關閉餐廳的方法主要是我們從事經營餐廳的業務，而不是關閉餐廳。因此，在包含 600 多項內容的投資組合中，將有高績效者、中等績效者和低績效者。對於表現不佳的員工，你要努力讓他們變得更好。

And in this case, as we came out of COVID, we had a handful of low performers that we have been working on and working on their recovery. And then at some point throughout the year, we came to the conclusion that we would not be able to operate those stores profitably and made the decision to exit some of those stores in some of those markets.

在這種情況下，當我們走出新冠疫情后，我們有一些表現不佳的員工，我們一直在努力幫助他們康復。然後在一年中的某個時候，我們得出的結論是，我們將無法以盈利方式經營這些商店，並決定退出其中一些市場的部分商店。

So that's what's led to dispositions. So we -- as you noted, we had 1 in -- Cracker Barrel in Q1, we had 4 in Q3, and then we had 1 in early Q4. So it's not a strategic shift. It's more a function of timing coming out of COVID and working to improve these stores and then coming to the conclusion that we are not going to be able to operate them profitably.

這就是導致處置的原因。因此，正如您所指出的，我們在第一季度有 1 個餅乾桶，在第三季度有 4 個，然後在第四季度初有 1 個。所以這不是一個戰略轉變。這更多是因為從新冠疫情中恢復過來並努力改善這些商店，然後得出的結論是我們將無法盈利地經營它們。

As it relates to Maple Street, as we've continued to refine that business model, we had a handful of stores that were on or a type of franchise agreement that was not a part of the near-term business model. It may be a part of the long-term business model, but we would do it differently. So we decided to purchase those stores, all of them. And then some of them were particularly challenged, and we decided to exit in that case.

就楓樹街而言，隨著我們繼續完善該業務模式，我們有一些商店正在簽訂或某種特許經營協議，該協議不屬於近期業務模式的一部分。這可能是長期商業模式的一部分，但我們會採取不同的做法。所以我們決定收購所有這些商店。然後其中一些特別受到挑戰，我們決定在這種情況下退出。

So it's a part of getting that business set up to ultimately scale. So 2 of those 3 were a part of that, and then 1 of them was a bit of a one-off location. That was a test location that didn't -- that we didn't see a path forward with. So not a strategic shift, more of a -- for lack of a better term, we're just coming to a decision to kind of move forward on some restores that we've been working on for a period of time.

因此，這是讓業務最終擴大規模的一部分。所以這 3 個中的 2 個是其中的一部分，然後其中 1 個是一次性位置。那是一個測試地點，但我們沒有看到前進的道路。因此，這不是戰略轉變，更多的是——由於缺乏更好的術語，我們只是決定推進一些我們已經工作了一段時間的恢復工作。

The next question comes from Todd Brooks of The Benchmark Company.

下一個問題來自基準公司的托德·布魯克斯。

One is just a follow-up on kind of that concept of unit growth going forward. Can you talk about the difficult construction environment, but also the cost to build units and how that may play into how we should think about the unit growth rate, especially for Maple Street, as we go into '24 when we were maybe looking to accelerate growth of the brand as far as cost to build? And what type of retrenchment in construction costs you'd like to see to really accelerate brand growth going forward?

其中一個只是未來單位增長概念的後續。您能否談談困難的施工環境，以及建造單位的成本，以及這可能如何影響我們如何考慮單位增長率，特別是對於楓樹街，因為我們進入 24 年，當時我們可能希望加速就建立成本而言，品牌的增長如何？您希望看到哪種類型的建築成本削減才能真正加速品牌未來的增長？

I think you hit on all of the major points there, Todd. The -- so our long-term view on unit growth really has not shifted. In the midterm, I think as we're all aware, construction costs have escalated. And construction costs have escalated when the economy is slowing down and there -- and interest rates are higher. So there's a bit of a disconnect, in some ways, between the cost to build and what's happening in the macro environment. So the long-term strategy is still the same.

我認為你抓住了所有要點，托德。因此，我們對單位增長的長期看法確實沒有改變。從中期來看，我認為眾所周知，建築成本已經上升。當經濟放緩時，建築成本就會上升，利率也會上升。因此，在某些方面，建設成本與宏觀環境中發生的情況之間存在一些脫節。所以長期策略還是一樣的。

We are working to ensure that we're delivering an adequate return to our shareholders with each of the new units. And that means that in this -- in the near term, we are passing on more opportunities that we might have even a year ago. Now we do anticipate that as the environment normalizes and the real estate world comes into -- adjusts for the current environment that we'll be able to resume.

我們正在努力確保每個新單位都能為股東帶來足夠的回報。這意味著在短期內，我們將放棄比一年前更多的機會。現在我們確實預計，隨著環境的正常化和房地產行業的進入，我們將能夠恢復當前的環境。

In addition to that, we're also -- as every business is, you're also always working to optimize your real estate model in the form of cost, and we're going through that. That's going to take some more work. And there have been a lot of shifts over the last few years in a whole host of ways. So we're actually going through an update in our site opportunity model where we think we can have sites and how has that shifted. So our long-term view is the same, and we're really updating our approach to that. And we're also monitoring for some cooling in the environment as well.

除此之外，我們還——就像每個企業一樣，您也一直在努力以成本的形式優化您的房地產模型，我們正在經歷這一點。這將需要更多的工作。過去幾年在很多方面都發生了很多變化。因此，我們實際上正在對網站機會模型進行更新，我們認為我們可以擁有網站，以及這種情況發生了怎樣的變化。因此，我們的長期觀點是相同的，我們確實正在更新我們的方法。我們還在監測環境中的一些冷卻情況。

That's great, Craig. Second follow-up, just talking about the April pullback that was cited. You gave us mix data for the full quarter. I was just curious, if you start to look at April and where the consumer may be settling out, can you share how either the mix changed or maybe attach rates, if you're seeing any check management on the part of the consumer?

太好了，克雷格。第二個後續行動，只是談論四月份的回調。您向我們提供了整個季度的混合數據。我只是很好奇，如果您開始關註四月份以及消費者可能會在哪裡定居，如果您看到消費者方面有任何支票管理，您能否分享一下組合如何變化或可能附加費率？

And then, Jen, I know you do detailed testing around future pricing actions. Has there been a change in how the consumer is responding to the thought of future price increases from the current levels?

然後，Jen，我知道您會圍繞未來的定價行為進行詳細的測試。消費者對未來價格上漲的想法是否從當前水平發生了變化？

Yes. In terms of mix, it's been pretty consistent. We didn't see much change, if any, in April. So when we look at attachment on key things like...

是的。在混合方面，它非常一致。四月份我們沒有看到太大的變化（如果有的話）。因此，當我們審視對關鍵事物的依戀時，例如......

On the restaurant side.

在餐廳一側。

On the restaurant side, yes, to be specific. When we look at beverages or Barrel Bites or Premium Sides or $5 Take Homes, all the things that guests can opt into, we've really seen no material change. And certainly, with regards to pricing, Craig talked about all of the internal and external ways that we look at that because we tend to take small increases more frequently and just monitor very carefully versus our holdout group and, of course, look at all these different ways that we measure value.

具體來說，在餐廳方面。當我們查看飲料、Barrel Bites、Premium Sides 或 5 美元 Take Homes，以及客人可以選擇的所有東西時，我們確實沒有看到任何實質性變化。當然，關於定價，克雷格談到了我們看待這個問題的所有內部和外部方式，因為我們傾向於更頻繁地進行小幅上漲，並且非常仔細地監控我們的堅持小組，當然，也會考慮所有這些我們衡量價值的不同方式。

So we still have not seen any type of significant pushback from the guests on our pricing, which, of course, each time we take an increase, we carefully monitor all of that for any kind of any kind of impact there. So the one area where I think pricing throughout the industry may have impacted would be frequency, right? So with -- especially with guests that are particularly impacted by economic insecurity, we believe they're cutting back, not on check, but rather on the number of visits that they opt to spend on our category. So that seems to be where they're pulling back.

因此，我們仍然沒有看到客人對我們的定價有任何類型的重大阻力，當然，每次我們提高價格時，我們都會仔細監控所有這些因素是否有任何影響。因此，我認為整個行業的定價可能會受到影響的一個領域是頻率，對吧？因此，尤其是那些特別受經濟不安全影響的客人，我們相信他們正在削減，不是在檢查上，而是在他們選擇在我們的類別上花費的訪問次數。所以這似乎就是他們撤退的地方。

Okay. And then one final one for me. I know you upped the cost savings guidance to $30 million from $25 million prior. I guess, where did we find the incremental $5 million in cost saves? Where should we be flowing that through the income statement? You seem excited about further cost save opportunities into '24. I didn't know if you could preview anything that you've latched on to there.

好的。然後是我的最後一張。我知道您將成本節約指導從之前的 2500 萬美元提高到了 3000 萬美元。我想，我們從哪裡找到增量 500 萬美元的成本節省？我們應該把它流到損益表的什麼地方？您似乎對 24 世紀進一步節省成本的機會感到興奮。我不知道你是否可以預覽你已經鎖定的任何內容。

Todd, we are literally looking at every single line item. And as with every other company, we're constantly looking in the food area. And we've made quite a few changes where the cost goes down, and our guest satisfaction or guest research shows an improvement in their perceptions. So there are a lot of those, and that continues on. There are other indirects. It's really a long list of things, banking fees, supplies, different components of labor that are a little bit more indirect in nature.

托德，我們實際上正在關注每一個項目。與其他公司一樣，我們一直在食品領域進行探索。我們已經做出了相當多的改變，成本下降了，我們的客人滿意度或客人研究表明他們的看法有所改善。所以有很多這樣的事情，而且這種情況還在繼續。還有其他間接的。這實際上是一長串的事情，銀行費用、供應品、不同的勞動力組成部分，這些在本質上是更間接的。

But this is really an enterprise initiative, where every single function, we're looking at Internet costs for every single area. We're looking at the utilities in every single area of the company. We're looking for ways to improve our efficiency, where it's not a takeaway from our guests and, in cases where we do make a change, is an improvement from a guest perspective.

但這實際上是一項企業計劃，我們正在考慮每個功能的每個區域的互聯網成本。我們正在研究公司每個領域的公用事業。我們正在尋找提高效率的方法，這不是從客人那裡得到的，如果我們確實做出了改變，則是從客人的角度來看的改進。

So the point is, it's just not one big little thing, there are -- one big thing. There are a lot of little things that add up to that $30 million. And it gives us confidence in the FY '24 benefit that we'll continue to see from this initiative.

所以重點是，這不是一件大事，而是一件大事。這 3000 萬美元是由很多小事組成的。這讓我們對 24 財年的效益充滿信心，我們將繼續從這一舉措中看到這種效益。

The next question is a follow-up from Jeff Farmer of Gordon Haskett.

下一個問題是戈登·哈斯克特的傑夫·法默的後續問題。

You did touch on it, but how should we be thinking about G&A dollars in the Q4 and heading into fiscal '24?

您確實談到了這一點，但我們應該如何考慮第四季度和 24 財年的一般行政費用？

I think the best way to think about G&A dollars is to look at the Q2 and Q3 G&A dollar amount and forecast that forward. One of the challenges with G&A is the incentive comp is in there. And as things move up or down, that number, you end up with big true-ups. So it's much better to look at the more recent quarters than it is to look at a comparison to the prior year.

我認為考慮一般行政費用的最佳方法是查看第二季度和第三季度的一般行政費用金額並對其進行預測。 G&A 面臨的挑戰之一是其中的激勵補償。隨著事情的上升或下降，這個數字最終會得到巨大的回報。因此，查看最近幾個季度比查看與上一年的比較要好得多。

Okay. I can work with that. And then in terms of thinking about -- just, again, on that topic. In terms of incremental investments that might need to be made at the corporate or enterprise level as you get into '24, would you think that there's something significant there as you look out to the next 12 months?

好的。我可以處理這個問題。然後再一次思考這個話題。就進入 24 世紀時可能需要在企業或企業層面進行的增量投資而言，您認為在展望未來 12 個月時，會有什麼重要的事情發生嗎？

We'll talk more about '24 in the next quarter. I think we've been -- so I'll double down a bit on what we've said for this year, which is the investments in our digital capabilities to better appeal to our growth segments, in particular, the loyalty program. That's been a big investment.

我們將在下個季度更多地討論 '24。我認為我們已經 - 所以我會在今年所說的基礎上加倍努力，即對我們的數字能力進行投資，以更好地吸引我們的增長領域，特別是忠誠度計劃。這是一筆很大的投資。

And then Sandy talked about labor as well. And in an environment where consumers are cutting back on frequency and -- so the times that they do go out is really important that they get a wonderful experience, and that's what our business is all about. So we're making some additional investments there.

然後桑迪也談到了勞工問題。在消費者減少出行頻率的環境中，因此他們外出的時間對於獲得美妙的體驗非常重要，這就是我們業務的意義所在。因此，我們正在那裡進行一些額外的投資。

Okay. And final question for me. You guys did share some commentary that -- some of the recent Maple Street openings had shown some strength. But just looking at my model, which is not perfect in terms of operating weeks, I don't think you guys disclosed that for Maple Street.

好的。對我來說最後一個問題。你們確實分享了一些評論——楓樹街最近的一些開業已經顯示出了一些實力。但只要看看我的模型，就運營週數而言並不完美，我認為你們沒有透露楓樹街的情況。

It does appear that Maple Street's average weekly sales volumes are down in roughly the mid-single-digit range over the last several quarters. Assuming that math is in the ballpark and you are seeing declines in average weekly sales, what's driving that decline as you more aggressively pursue openings for Maple Street?

過去幾個季度，楓樹街的平均每週銷量確實下降了大約中個位數。假設數學是大致的，並且您看到平均每週銷售額下降，那麼當您更積極地尋求楓樹街的空缺時，是什麼導致了這種下降？

There are a couple of things there. Once we exited those franchise type arrangements that we spoke about earlier, those stores were -- had lower AUVs. So when we brought those into the system, that brought the AUV down. That's one.

那裡有一些事情。一旦我們退出我們之前談到的特許經營類型安排，這些商店的 AUV 就會降低。因此，當我們將它們帶入系統時，AUV 就會癱瘓。這是一個。

Additionally, Maple Street has also -- like Cracker Barrel has, certainly, in the last couple of months been impacted by traffic that's lower than expectations. Now I will say that, again, the new stores have opened very, very strongly. We are continuing to be pleased with, for example, the weekend business has held up better there, and we're continuing to make some refinements there to grow the weekday business to a greater degree.

此外，楓樹街也像 Cracker Barrel 一樣，在過去幾個月里當然也受到了交通量低於預期的影響。現在我要再說一遍，新店的開業勢頭非常非常強勁。例如，我們仍然感到滿意，週末業務在那裡表現得更好，並且我們正在繼續進行一些改進，以更大程度地發展工作日業務。

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Sandy Cochran for any closing remarks.

我們的問答環節到此結束。我想將會議轉回桑迪·科克倫（Sandy Cochran）發表閉幕詞。

All right. Well, thank you for joining us today. Although we're facing heightened uncertainty and these headwinds, I'm confident that our strategic priorities on the guest experience, everyday value on accelerating frequency with our growth segments and then improving our business model, that will help us successfully navigate these near-term challenges and that we are well positioned to drive long-term value creation. We appreciate your interest and support.

好的。好的，謝謝您今天加入我們。儘管我們面臨著更大的不確定性和這些阻力，但我相信，我們在客戶體驗上的戰略重點、加速增長細分市場的日常價值以及改進我們的業務模式，這將幫助我們成功應對這些近期的挑戰。挑戰，並且我們有能力推動長期價值創造。我們感謝您的關注和支持。

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation, and you may now disconnect.

會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演示，您現在可以斷開連接了。