Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc (CBRL) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day and welcome to the Cracker Barrel Fiscal 2024 first quarter conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over toKaleb Johannes, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

美好的一天，歡迎參加 Cracker Barrel 2024 年第一季財年電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意此事件正在被記錄。我現在想將會議交給投資者關係副總裁卡萊布·約翰內斯 (Kaleb Johannes)。請繼續。

Thank you. Good morning and welcome to Cracker Barrel's first Quarter Fiscal 2024 Conference Call and Webcast. This morning, we issued a press release announcing our first quarter results in this press release and on the call, we will refer to non-GAAP financial measures for the first quarter ended October 27th, 2023. The non-GAAP financial measures are adjusted to exclude the non-cash amortization of the asset recognized from the gains on the sale and leaseback transactions, expenses related to the Company's CEO transition expenses associated with the strategic transformation initiative and a corporate restructuring charge and the related tax impact. The Company believes that excluding these items from the 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 net income or earnings per share. Information prepared in accordance with GAAP for the last pages of the press release include reconciliations from the non-GAAP information to the GAAP financials on the call this morning are Cracker Barrel's President and CEO, Julie miss CNO and Senior Vice President and CFO, Craig mills. Julie and Craig will provide a review of the business financials and outlook. We will then open up the call for questions on this call, statements may be made by management of their beliefs and expectations regarding the Company's future operating results and expected future events. These are known as forward looking statements, which involve risks and uncertainties that in many cases our beyond Management's control may cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. We caution our listeners and readers considering forward looking statements and information. 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 furnished to the SEC.

謝謝。早安，歡迎來到 Cracker Barrel 的 2024 財年第一季電話會議和網路廣播。今天早上，我們發布了一份新聞稿，宣布了我們的第一季業績，在本新聞稿中，我們將在電話會議中參考截至2023 年10 月27 日的第一季的非GAAP 財務指標。非GAAP 財務指標調整為不包括從售後回租交易收益中確認的資產的非現金攤銷、與策略轉型措施相關的公司執行長過渡費用、公司重組費用以及相關稅務影響相關的費用。公司相信，將這些項目從財務表現中剔除可以讓投資人更了解公司的財務表現。此資訊不應單獨考慮或作為淨收入或每股收益的替代品。根據 GAAP 為新聞稿最後幾頁準備的資訊包括從非 GAAP 資訊到 GAAP 財務數據的調節，今天早上參加電話會議的有 Cracker Barrel 總裁兼首席執行官 Julie Miss CNO 和高級副總裁兼首席財務官 Craig mills 。朱莉和克雷格將對企業財務狀況和前景進行審查。然後，我們將在本次電話會議上進行提問，管理層可能會就他們對公司未來經營業績和預期未來事件的信念和期望發表聲明。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，我們管理層無法控制這些風險和不確定性，這可能導致實際結果與預期有重大差異。我們提醒聽眾和讀者考慮前瞻性陳述和資訊。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。

Finally, and the information shared on this call is valid. As of today's date, the Company undertakes no obligation to update it, except as may be required under applicable law.

最後，本次通話中分享的資訊是有效的。截至今日，本公司不承擔更新義務，除非適用法律要求。

I'll now turn the call over to Cracker Barrel's President and CEO, Julie Messina.

現在我將把電話轉交給 Cracker Barrel 的總裁兼執行長 Julie Messina。

Julie?

茱麗葉？

Thank you and good morning, everyone this morning, we reported total Q1 revenue of $823.8 million and adjusted operating income margin of 2.3%. Our sales results were in line with our expectations. And our operating margin was at the low end of our internal expectations, reflecting certain investments we made to shore up our top line. Although we continue to face challenges. I've been impressed with the team's work to diagnose the key drivers of our traffic headwinds, and I'm encouraged by our results as we've delivered sequential monthly improvements in our comparable store traffic performance during the quarter, which I am pleased to say has continued into our important second quarter. We have taken numerous actions to drive traffic and deliver the sequential improvements.

謝謝大家，大家早安，今天早上，我們報告第一季總收入為 8.238 億美元，調整後營業利潤率為 2.3%。我們的銷售業績符合我們的預期。我們的營業利潤率處於內部預期的低端，反映出我們為支撐營收而進行的某些投資。儘管我們繼續面臨挑戰。我對團隊在診斷客流量逆風的關鍵驅動因素方面所做的工作印象深刻，我們的結果也讓我深受鼓舞，因為我們在本季度的可比商店客流量績效方面實現了逐月的連續改善，對此我感到很高興這種說法一直持續到我們重要的第二季。我們採取了許多行動來增加流量並實現連續的改進。

I'll go through them now. First, as we discussed last call, we took several actions to improve the effectiveness of our marketing. In the first quarter, we increased our media spend by approximately 20% and refine our messaging to focus more on our core guests. This included increased advertising in linear TV, including premium flooring at US like college football. We also highlighted our compelling value proposition by featuring an $8.99 price point in our breakfast focused messaging. And we continued highlighting our over 20 under $12 in our lunch and dinner focused messaging.

我現在將詳細介紹它們。首先，正如我們在上次電話會議中所討論的那樣，我們採取了多項行動來提高行銷效率。第一季度，我們的媒體支出增加了約 20%，並完善了我們的訊息傳遞，以更專注於我們的核心客戶。這包括增加線性電視廣告，包括美國大學橄欖球等的優質地板。我們也透過在以早餐為主的訊息中強調 8.99 美元的價格點來強調我們引人注目的價值主張。我們繼續在午餐和晚餐的重點訊息中強調 20 多個低於 12 美元的產品。

Second, from an operational perspective, we remain focused on the guest experience. We invested in the labor hours to deliver great hospitality, and we continue to emphasize staffing retention training and development. We're encouraged by the improvements we've seen in certain key guest experience metrics. We are happy with our staffing and turnover levels, and we are optimistic we can sustain our sales momentum and gain further traction in the coming quarters.

其次，從營運角度來看，我們仍然關注賓客體驗。我們投入了大量的工作時間來提供優質的接待服務，我們繼續強調員工保留培訓和發展。我們對某些關鍵賓客體驗指標的改進感到鼓舞。我們對我們的人員配置和營業額水準感到滿意，我們樂觀地認為我們能夠維持我們的銷售動能並在未來幾季獲得進一步的吸引力。

Finally, we successfully launched Cracker Barrel rewards, our new loyalty program. The launch was supported by a multichannel media campaign to drive awareness and enrollments. Our operations teams have done a terrific job as ambassadors and champions of the program and guests have embraced it. We're very pleased with the guest response and the number of enrollments, which have exceeded our expectations thus far, and we've been thrilled with the exposure we've received through our partnership with the iconic Dolly Parton. We continue to believe Cracker Barrel rewards will be one of the best and most engaging loyalty programs in full-service dining and are confident it will be a meaningful brand differentiator, a traffic driver over the long term.

最後，我們成功推出了新的忠誠度計劃 Cracker Barrel 獎勵。此次發布得到了多通路媒體宣傳活動的支持，以提高認知度和註冊人數。我們的營運團隊做得非常出色，該計劃的大使和擁護者以及嘉賓都接受了它。我們對客人的反應和報名人數感到非常滿意，到目前為止，這超出了我們的預期，而且我們對透過與標誌性人物多莉·帕頓的合作而獲得的曝光感到非常興奮。我們仍然相信Cracker Barrel 獎勵將成為全方位服務餐飲中最好、最具吸引力的忠誠度計劃之一，並相信它將成為一個有意義的品牌差異化因素，從長遠來看，它將成為流量驅動因素。

Turning to retail, the retail environment remains challenging. Although there were some bright spots during the quarter, such as our harvest assortment, we experienced sales declines across most of our categories. Some of this was due to lower restaurant traffic, but we also believe some price-conscious guests may have reduced their retail purchases as a way to manage their overall spend with us. However, the team has done a good job managing inventories and is focused on emphasizing value and optimizing displays to drive sales improvements during this important holiday season.

談到零售業，零售環境仍充滿挑戰。儘管本季度有一些亮點，例如我們的收穫品種，但我們大多數類別的銷售額都出現了下降。部分原因是餐廳客流量減少，但我們也相信一些對價格敏感的客人可能會減少零售購買，以管理他們在我們這裡的整體支出。然而，該團隊在庫存管理方面做得很好，並專注於強調價值和優化展示，以推動這個重要節日期間的銷售改善。

Looking ahead to Q2. Our second quarter is an especially important quarter for us due to the seasonally higher volumes over Thanksgiving. Our teams around the country worked tirelessly to deliver a great holiday experience for millions of guests and did so with extraordinary results, we hit on all cylinders in every aspect of our business, dining, human serve to-go and catering, and our planning and support systems, including IT, supply chain and guest relations and our retail teams all performed very well. In fact, we set a company record for total sales in a single week during Thanksgiving week with over $110 million in sales, and we served approximately 6 million guests. Our top five stores and serve more than 80,000 guests over Thanksgiving week. To put that into perspective, those five stores serve more people than attend most NFL games. I want to give a huge shout out to our field teams and leadership for their efforts in these results.

展望第二季。由於感恩節期間銷售季節性增加，第二季對我們來說尤其重要。我們遍布全國的團隊孜孜不倦地努力為數百萬客人提供美好的假期體驗，並取得了非凡的成果，我們在業務、餐飲、外帶服務和餐飲以及我們的規劃和服務的各個方面都全力以赴。支援系統，包括 IT、供應鏈和客戶關係以及我們的零售團隊都表現出色。事實上，我們在感恩節期間創下了單週總銷售額超過 1.1 億美元的公司記錄，並為大約 600 萬客人提供了服務。我們排名前五的商店在感恩節期間為超過 80,000 名客人提供服務。從這個角度來看，這五家商店服務的人數比觀看大多數 NFL 比賽的人數還要多。我要對我們的現場團隊和領導階層為取得這些成果所做的努力表示大力讚揚。

As we begin December, we will look to continue our Thanksgiving momentum over the holidays with our off-premise offerings and catering. We are leaning into seasonal guest favorites such as our country fried turkey and cinnamon roll pie, which continue to resonate with guests.

從 12 月開始，我們將透過場外服務和餐飲來延續感恩節假期的勢頭。我們傾向於季節性客人喜愛的菜餚，例如我們的鄉村炸火雞和肉桂捲派，這些菜餚繼續引起客人的共鳴。

With regard to catering, we're leveraging our catering sales managers to drive growth, especially with large accounts all of this is being supported by a marketing campaign that is emphasizing our strong all-day value, which we believe is a competitive advantage for us, particularly in the current environment and is something that we will continue to underscore. We are also continuing to optimize our media mix to improve our share of voice, particularly with core guests. For example, we recently tested local TV and sign meaningful traffic lift with solid returns on this investment, and we plan to expand this to other key markets.

在餐飲方面，我們正在利用我們的餐飲銷售經理來推動成長，特別是對於大客戶，所有這一切都得到了強調我們強大的全天價值的營銷活動的支持，我們相信這對我們來說是一個競爭優勢，特別是在當前環境下，我們將繼續強調這一點。我們也正在繼續優化我們的媒體組合，以提高我們的聲音份額，特別是在核心客人中。例如，我們最近測試了本地電視，並簽署了有意義的流量提升，並獲得了可觀的投資回報，我們計劃將其擴展到其他主要市場。

Our marketing is also focused on promoting Cracker Barrel rewards to continue driving awareness and enrollments. As I mentioned, we have partnered with Dolly Parton to highlight Cracker Barrel rewards and promote our collaborative album Rockstar. We've been very pleased with this partnership with Dali, which has helped deliver a large number of impressions and high engagement rates and has incrementally contributed to the strong levels of enrollment we have seen to date I'll now turn the call over to Craig for a more detailed look at the first quarter from a financial perspective and to discuss our financial outlook for the rest of the year after he finishes.

我們的行銷也致力於推廣 Cracker Barrel 獎勵，以繼續提高認知度和註冊人數。正如我所提到的，我們與 Dolly Parton 合作，突出 Cracker Barrel 獎勵並宣傳我們的合作專輯 Rockstar。我們對與 Dali 的合作感到非常滿意，它幫助我們帶來了大量的印象和高參與率，並逐步為我們迄今為止所看到的強勁入學水平做出了貢獻，我現在將電話轉給 Craig從財務角度更詳細地了解第一季度，並在他結束後討論我們今年剩餘時間的財務前景。

I will then comment on our priorities and upcoming initiatives, including a strategic transformation initiative we have undertaken to help us invigorate the brand for long-term success. Craig.

然後，我將評論我們的優先事項和即將採取的舉措，包括我們為幫助我們振興品牌以獲得長期成功而採取的策略轉型舉措。克雷格.

Thank you, Julie, and good morning, everyone. As Julie noted, for the first quarter, we reported total revenue of $823.8 million. Restaurant revenue decreased 0.2% to $660.8 million. Retail revenue decreased 8% to $163 million versus the prior year quarter. Comparable store sales declined 0.5% over the prior year. Pricing was approximately 6.8%.

謝謝朱莉，大家早安。正如朱莉所指出的，我們第一季的總收入為 8.238 億美元。餐廳營收下降 0.2% 至 6.608 億美元。零售收入較去年同期下降 8%，至 1.63 億美元。可比商店銷售額比上年下降 0.5%。定價約6.8%。

As we previously shared, we're taking more moderate net new pricing given the current environment. Our quarterly pricing consisted of approximately 5.5% carry forward pricing from fiscal 2023 and 1.3% new pricing from fiscal 2024. We continue to closely monitor the impact of our pricing actions, and we have not seen a negative impact to traffic. However, given the current environment in which promotional activity is elevated and consumers are generally pressured, we will continue to take a more cautious approach with our pricing for the remainder of the fiscal year.

正如我們之前分享的，鑑於當前環境，我們將採取更溫和的淨新定價。我們的季度定價包括 2023 財年約 5.5% 的結轉定價和 2024 財年 1.3% 的新定價。我們將繼續密切關注定價行為的影響，尚未發現對流量產生負面影響。然而，考慮到當前促銷活動增多且消費者普遍面臨壓力的環境，我們將在本財年剩餘時間內繼續對定價採取更謹慎的態度。

Off-premise sales were approximately 17.5% of restaurant sales we continued to be particularly pleased with our occasional business, which grew over 50% versus the prior year. Comparable store retail sales decreased. Comparable store retail comparable store retail sales decreased 8.1% compared to the first quarter of the prior year. Although retail sales remained soft, we were pleased with how the team has effectively managed inventory levels.

場外銷售額約佔餐廳銷售額的 17.5%，我們對偶爾的業務仍然特別滿意，與前一年相比增長了 50% 以上。可比商店零售額下降。可比商店零售額可比商店零售額與去年第一季相比下降了8.1%。儘管零售銷售仍然疲軟，但我們對團隊有效管理庫存水準的方式感到滿意。

Moving on to our first quarter expenses. Total cost of goods sold in the quarter was 31% of total revenue versus 33.5% in the prior quarter. Restaurant cost of goods sold in the fourth quarter was 26.2% of restaurant sales versus 29.1% in the prior year quarter. This 290 basis point decrease was primarily driven by menu pricing. Commodity deflation was approximately 2.3%, driven principally by lower poultry and pork prices. First quarter retail cost of goods sold was 50.4% of retail sales versus 50.2% in the prior-year quarter. Our inventories at quarter end were $207.3 million compared to $231 million in the prior year.

繼續我們第一季的支出。本季銷售商品總成本佔總收入的 31%，而上一季為 33.5%。第四季餐廳銷售成本佔餐廳銷售額的 26.2%，去年同期為 29.1%。下降 290 個基點主要是由菜單定價推動的。商品通貨緊縮約 2.3%，主要是因為家禽和豬肉價格下跌所致。第一季零售商品成本佔零售額的 50.4%，去年同期為 50.2%。季度末我們的庫存為 2.073 億美元，而去年同期為 2.31 億美元。

With regard to labor costs, our first quarter labor and related expenses were 37% of revenue versus 34.8% in the prior quarter. This 220 basis point increase was primarily driven by our investments in additional labor hours to support the guest experience. Our only restaurant wage inflation was approximately 5%. Adjusted other expenses were 24.3% of revenue versus 23.1% in the prior year quarter. This 120 basis point increase was primarily driven by our investments in advertising as well as higher appreciation.

就勞動成本而言，我們第一季的勞動力及相關費用佔收入的 37%，而上一季為 34.8%。這一 220 個基點的成長主要是因為我們為支持賓客體驗而投資額外工時所致。我們唯一的餐廳薪資漲幅約為 5%。調整後的其他費用佔收入的 24.3%，而去年同期為 23.1%。這 120 個基點的成長主要是由於我們對廣告的投資以及更高的升值所推動的。

Adjusted general and administrative expenses in the first quarter were 5.4% of revenue and exclude the following items. First, approximately $1.6 million related to our CEO transition. Second, approximately $1.1 million in professional fees related to our strategy transformation initiative, which Julie mentioned and about which she will speak more momentarily. And third, an approximately 1.6 million corporate restructuring charge compared to the prior year. Adjusted general and administrative expenses increased 30 basis points, primarily due to sales deleverage. All of this culminated in GAAP operating income of $11.4 million. Adjusted operating income for the quarter was $19 million or 2.3% of revenue. Net interest expense for the quarter was $4.9 million compared to net interest expense of $3.5 million in the prior year quarter. This increase was primarily the result of higher weighted average interest rates.

第一季調整後的一般和管理費用佔收入的 5.4%，不包括以下項目。首先，大約 160 萬美元與我們的執行長換屆有關。其次，與我們的策略轉型計劃相關的約 110 萬美元的專業費用，朱莉提到了這一點，她稍後將詳細討論這一點。第三，與前一年相比，企業重組費用約 160 萬美元。調整後的一般和管理費用增加了 30 個基點，主要是因為銷售去槓桿化。所有這一切最終導致 GAAP 營業收入達到 1,140 萬美元。該季度調整後營業收入為 1,900 萬美元，佔營收的 2.3%。本季的淨利息支出為 490 萬美元，而去年同期的淨利息支出為 350 萬美元。這一增長主要是加權平均利率上升的結果。

Our GAAP effective tax rate for the first quarter was 15.7% on an adjusted basis, our effective tax rate for the quarter was 19.9%. Fourth quarter GAAP earnings per diluted share were $0.25 and adjusted earnings per diluted share were $0.51 in the first quarter. Adjusted EBITDA was $45.7 million or 5.5% of total revenue.

我們第一季的 GAAP 有效稅率調整後為 15.7%，本季的有效稅率為 19.9%。第四季 GAAP 每股攤薄收益為 0.25 美元，第一季調整後每股攤薄收益為 0.51 美元。調整後 EBITDA 為 4,570 萬美元，佔總營收的 5.5%。

Now turning to capital allocation and our balance sheets, 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 conservative 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，同時保持適當的彈性和保守的資產負債表。

In the fourth quarter, we invested $24.6 million in capital expenditures, and we returned $29.3 million to shareholders in dividends. We ended the quarter with $475 million in total debt.

第四季度，我們投資了 2,460 萬美元的資本支出，並以股息的形式向股東返還了 2,930 萬美元。本季結束時，我們的總債務為 4.75 億美元。

Lastly, as we announced in our press release, the Board declared a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share payable on February 13, 2024, to shareholders of record on January 19, 2024.

最後，正如我們在新聞稿中宣布的那樣，董事會宣佈於 2024 年 2 月 13 日向 2024 年 1 月 19 日登記在冊的股東派發每股 1.30 美元的季度股息。

With respect to our fiscal 2024 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, we have sustained our momentum recovering traffic. We were particularly pleased with our performance in November, which continued our trend of sequential monthly improvements in comparable store traffic that began in August and as Julie mentioned, we delivered strong sales during the Thanksgiving week. However, looking ahead, we continue to operate in an uncertain environment. Although consumers have been resilient, sentiment remains relatively weak by historical standards with many consumers feeling economically pressured and more pessimistic, which could pressure discretionary spending. With this in mind, we currently expect fiscal 2024 revenue of $3.4 billion to $3.5 billion.

關於我們的 2024 財年展望。我想在今天早上發布的指南中提供一些額外的資訊以及最新趨勢的更新。本季度迄今為止，我們保持了恢復流量的勢頭。我們對 11 月的表現特別滿意，這延續了我們從 8 月開始的可比商店客流量逐月環比改善的趨勢，正如朱莉提到的，我們在感恩節期間實現了強勁的銷售。然而，展望未來，我們繼續在不確定的環境中運作。儘管消費者一直保持彈性，但按照歷史標準，情緒仍然相對疲軟，許多消費者感到經濟壓力並且更加悲觀，這可能會給可自由支配支出帶來壓力。考慮到這一點，我們目前預計 2024 財年營收為 34 億美元至 35 億美元。

We anticipate pricing of approximately 4.5% to 5.0% for the full year, which includes approximately 2.8% of forward pricing from fiscal 2023. As a reminder, we expect our pricing to moderate sequentially each quarter. During the year, we anticipate opening two new Cracker Barrel stores and 9 to 11 new Maple Street stores during the year, we expect commodity inflation in the low single digits and hourly restaurant wage inflation in the mid-single digits. As noted in the reconciliation table in our press release, our full year outlook also contemplates certain excluded expenses in addition to the non-cash amortization of gains from our sale leaseback.

我們預計全年定價約為 4.5% 至 5.0%，其中包括 2023 財年遠期定價的約 2.8%。提醒一下，我們預計每季的定價都會依次放緩。年內，我們預計將開設兩家新的Cracker Barrel 商店和9 至11 家新的Maple Street 商店，我們預計商品通膨率將保持在低個位數水平，餐廳每小時工資通膨率將保持在中個位數水平。正如我們新聞稿中的調節表所述，除了售後回租收益的非現金攤銷外，我們的全年展望還考慮了某些排除費用。

These include approximately $10 million in consulting fees related to our strategy transformation initiative that Julie will cover in a moment, approximately 10 million in onetime CEO transition costs and approximately $2 million in corporate restructuring charges. Our full year outlook also includes the benefits of a 53rd week this fiscal year. Taking all of this into account, we anticipate full year adjusted operating income of $130 million to $150 million. We also expect a full year GAAP effective tax rate of 2% to 5% and an adjusted effective tax rate of 7% to 10% and capital expenditures of $120 million to $135 million.

其中包括約 1000 萬美元的與我們的戰略轉型計劃相關的諮詢費（朱莉稍後將支付）、約 1000 萬美元的一次性首席執行官過渡成本以及約 200 萬美元的公司重組費用。我們的全年展望還包括本財年第 53 週的福利。考慮到所有這些，我們預計全年調整後營業收入為 1.3 億至 1.5 億美元。我們也預期全年 GAAP 有效稅率為 2% 至 5%，調整後有效稅率為 7% 至 10%，資本支出為 1.2 億美元至 1.35 億美元。

I'll now turn the call back over to Julie. So she may share additional details on her perspective and our business plans and areas of focus.

我現在將把電話轉回給朱莉。因此，她可能會分享有關她的觀點以及我們的業務計劃和重點領域的更多詳細資訊。

Thanks, Gregg. I'd now like to provide some perspective on my initial impressions. My pillars for achieving long-term success and where we will focus in the coming months.

謝謝，格雷格。我現在想就我的初步印象提供一些看法。我實現長期成功的支柱以及我們未來幾個月的重點。

Since joining the Company in August, I've been busy meeting with the field and home office teams, understanding our challenges and opportunities, particularly as it relates to the near term and doing deep dives into our initiatives and financial plan. These past few months have reinforced my conviction that Cracker Barrel is an iconic and highly differentiated brand with a large and loyal guest base who love us and talented and dedicated teams who are passionate about our mission of pleasing people over the past 90 days, I've traveled the country with our field leadership teams and by myself observing and interacting with guests and with team members at all levels, retail and restaurant front of house and back of house over and over again, I've been struck by the enthusiasm and genuine affinity. So many of our guests have for Cracker Barrel and the love they express for our brands multiple times. I've had guests and employees approach me unsolicited to share stories and express admiration about our food, our hospitality and our culture. These interactions were powerful reminders to me that this brand really is special and the foundation with which we have to work, including our traffic, would be the envy of most in casual and family dining. Despite traffic declines on a relative basis, we still serve approximately 200 million guests a year, which offers us an equal number of opportunities to improve and grow.

自從八月加入公司以來，我一直忙於與現場和總部團隊會面，了解我們的挑戰和機遇，特別是與近期相關的挑戰和機遇，並深入研究我們的舉措和財務計劃。在過去的幾個月裡，我更加堅信Cracker Barrel 是一個標誌性的、高度差異化的品牌，擁有大量熱愛我們的忠實客戶群，以及才華橫溢、敬業的團隊，他們對我們在過去90 天裡取悅人們的使命充滿熱情，我'我和我們的現場領導團隊一起走遍了全國，我自己也一次又一次地觀察客人和各級團隊成員、零售店和餐廳前台和後台並與他們互動，他們的熱情和真誠給我留下了深刻的印象親和力。我們的許多客人都對 Cracker Barrel 非常喜愛，並多次表達了對我們品牌的熱愛。有些客人和員工主動來找我分享故事並表達對我們的食物、熱情好客和文化的欽佩。這些互動有力地提醒我，這個品牌確實很特別，我們必須努力的基礎，包括我們的流量，將是休閒和家庭餐飲中大多數人羨慕的對象。儘管客流量相對下降，但我們每年仍為約 2 億客人提供服務，這為我們提供了同等數量的改進和發展機會。

I'd now like to speak to the cornerstones that we will refer back to as we take advantage of these strengths.

我現在想談談我們在利用這些優勢時將回顧的基石。

First, we need to be a brand that our guests absolutely love for as many guests as we serve each day, many of them only visit us once or twice a year. The best way to drive growth is by making sure that their visits are truly wonderful so that they will dine with us more often. And we can only do that, that we are executing with excellence and doing the small things. Well, every shift day in and day out. This means providing friendly and efficient service and making sure guest orders are correct and come out quickly. Retail product is on the floor and easy to access and the store is immaculate weekly. While it may sound easy, it takes relentless focus across the organization to do this consistently. Our field teams are extraordinary and they have been focused on these very things with a renewed sense of purpose and commitment and their efforts are paying off. I believe with the focus, energy and support of the rest of the Company. They can continue this trajectory and build on our momentum.

首先，我們需要成為一個讓我們的客人絕對喜愛的品牌，因為我們每天服務的客人數量與我們服務的客人數量一樣多，他們中的許多人每年只來我們一兩次。推動成長的最佳方式是確保他們的來訪確實精彩，這樣他們就會更頻繁地與我們一起用餐。我們只能做到這一點，即我們卓越地執行並做好小事。好吧，日復一日地輪班。這意味著提供友善、有效率的服務，並確保客人的訂單正確且快速出爐。零售產品就在地板上，方便取用，商店每週都保持整潔。雖然這聽起來很容易，但需要整個組織不懈地努力才能一致地做到這一點。我們的現場團隊非常出色，他們以新的使命感和承諾專注於這些事情，他們的努力正在得到回報。我相信，憑藉公司其他部門的關注、精力和支持。他們可以繼續這一軌跡並在我們的勢頭基礎上再接再厲。

Second, we need to improve our relevance while we need to be our authentic selves and lean into our competitive advantages. Of hospitality, value and comfort. We must actively work to evolve both the brand and our business model in a brand-appropriate manner to meet an ever-changing consumer needs. Among other things, this means improving our speed of service, ensuring our menu features craveable food at all three dayparts, making our physical stores more appealing to guests and employees and reducing friction for our guests and employees through a combination of operational and technological improvements. Our Cracker Barrel rewards program is an example of this sort of technological investment and offers us a unique platform to maintain and grow our relevance across all guest cohorts. We believe the program will help us speak to guests in a more individualized fashion and offer compelling value tailored to their particular behaviors. And needs. And that will be a key part of a virtuous cycle of actionable guest data and company response that should drive visitations and grow brand affinity.

其次，我們需要提高我們的相關性，同時我們需要做真實的自己並發揮我們的競爭優勢。熱情好客、價值與舒適。我們必須積極努力以適合品牌的方式發展品牌和我們的商業模式，以滿足不斷變化的消費者需求。除此之外，這意味著提高我們的服務速度，確保我們的菜單在所有三個工作天提供令人垂涎的食物，使我們的實體店對客人和員工更具吸引力，並透過營運和技術改進相結合減少客人和員工的摩擦。我們的 Cracker Barrel 獎勵計劃就是此類技術投資的一個例子，它為我們提供了一個獨特的平台，以維持和提高我們在所有賓客群體中的相關性。我們相信該計劃將幫助我們以更個性化的方式與客人交談，並根據他們的特定行為提供引人注目的價值。和需要。這將成為可操作的賓客數據和公司響應良性循環的關鍵部分，從而推動訪問量並提高品牌親和力。

As I said, the response to this program has exceeded our expectations thus far, and we will continue investing in the program to accelerate the benefits we believe are out there.

正如我所說，到目前為止，對該計劃的反應超出了我們的預期，我們將繼續對該計劃進行投資，以加速我們相信會帶來的好處。

Finally, we need to deliver compelling shareholder returns Cracker Barrel as a mature brands that have faced many challenges in recent years and like all companies in full-service dining will continue to face pressure going forward.

最後，我們需要提供引人注目的股東回報 Cracker Barrel 作為一個成熟的品牌，近年來面臨著許多挑戰，並且像所有全方位服務的餐飲公司一樣，未來將繼續面臨壓力。

While we need to and will control costs and maintain operational discipline to drive bottom line results. I firmly believe that the only way we can sustainably grow is through the top line for this reason, we will continue investing in marketing our everyday value to guests who love us and to do so in the places we know they are and investing in labor particularly on weekends and at dinner so that our guests have an brands that will make them want to return.

雖然我們需要並且將會控製成本並維持營運紀律以推動最終結果。我堅信，我們可持續發展的唯一途徑是透過營收，因此，我們將繼續投資向喜愛我們的客人行銷我們的日常價值，並在我們知道他們所在的地方這樣做，特別是在勞動力方面進行投資週末和晚餐時，讓我們的客人擁有一個讓他們想再次光顧的品牌。

As Greg referenced, we kicked off a strategic transformation initiative in late September. This initiative is data-driven and multi-phased and includes a comprehensive review of our business and a wide-ranging assessment of the near term and long term opportunities as well as identification and execution of these strategies and tactics to go after them. We've engaged a top-tier consulting firm to give us an impartial external and expert perspective to identify and appropriately challenge our institutional assumptions and to bolster our internal capabilities. Our Board and our teams are actively engaged and leaning into this important initiative. We recently completed the initial diagnostic phase of this project and the findings have given us confidence that the actions we've already taken to address near term traffic challenges more and more effective marketing that highlights our everyday value in more relevant channels like college football, investing in front-of-house labor, particularly during those days and dayparts where we are either busiest or most challenged and leveraging a robust loyalty program are the right ones. Initial findings are also helping us evolve and refine our thinking about key parts of our business, including a need to focus on our dinner daypart and deploy additional technology to improve the employee and guest experience. Our strategic transformation project is intended to ensure we continue to evolve the business and play to our strengths and differentiators to drive long-term value creation, improve profitability and to win market share. This involves refining our brand strategies and positioning, identifying and prioritizing the most impactful growth drivers defining required capabilities and enablers. And last but not least, executing with excellence. We are in the early stages of this project, and I anticipate sharing more details with you over the next several months as we develop and begin to implement a longer-term plan that delivers on the three pillars I outlined earlier, being a brand that our guests love, maintaining and improving our relevance and delivering compelling shareholder returns.

正如格雷格所提到的，我們在九月下旬啟動了戰略轉型計劃。該計劃是數據驅動的、多階段的，包括對我們的業務進行全面審查，對近期和長期機會進行廣泛評估，以及確定和執行這些策略和戰術來追求這些機會。我們聘請了一家頂級顧問公司，為我們提供公正的外部和專家視角，以確定並適當挑戰我們的製度假設，並增強我們的內部能力。我們的董事會和團隊積極參與並致力於這項重要措施。我們最近完成了該專案的初始診斷階段，研究結果讓我們相信，我們為解決近期流量挑戰而採取的行動越來越有效，行銷突顯了我們在大學橄欖球、投資等更相關管道中的日常價值在在前台工作中，特別是在我們最忙碌或最具挑戰性的日子和時段，利用強大的忠誠度計劃是正確的選擇。初步發現也幫助我們發展和完善對業務關鍵部分的思考，包括需要專注於晚餐時段並部署額外的技術來改善員工和客人的體驗。我們的策略轉型專案旨在確保我們繼續發展業務並發揮我們的優勢和差異化優勢，以推動長期價值創造、提高獲利能力並贏得市場份額。這包括完善我們的品牌策略和定位，識別和優先考慮最有影響力的成長動力，定義所需的能力和推動因素。最後但並非最不重要的一點是，卓越執行。我們正處於該專案的早期階段，我預計在接下來的幾個月內與您分享更多細節，因為我們將製定並開始實施長期計劃，該計劃將實現我之前概述的三個支柱，成為我們的品牌客人喜愛我們，維護並提高我們的相關性，並提供引人注目的股東回報。

More to follow on subsequent calls. I'll now turn it over to the operator for questions.

更多內容將在後續電話中跟進。我現在將其轉交給接線員詢問。

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question. You may press star then one on your touchtone phone. If you're using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. To draw your question, please press star then two. At this time we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster.

謝謝。我們現在開始問答環節。問一個問題。您可以按按鍵式電話上的星號，然後按一個。如果您使用免持電話，請在按鍵前拿起聽筒。若要提出您的問題，請按星號然後按兩個。此時我們將暫停片刻以集合我們的名單。

Our first question comes from Dennis Geiger with UBS. Please go ahead.

我們的第一個問題來自瑞銀集團的丹尼斯蓋革。請繼續。

Thank you. A couple of questions.

謝謝。有幾個問題。

I guess the first one could you talk a little bit more about what you're seeing from your customers, what you saw in the quarter, perhaps even into the month of November from a customer standpoint, anything as it relates to key customer cohorts, are there behaviors worth calling out any notable changes, et cetera?

我想第一個問題你能多談談你從客戶那裡看到的情況，你在本季度看到的情況，甚至從客戶的角度來看可能到 11 月份，任何與關鍵客戶群相關的事情，是否存在值得指出的顯著變化等行為？

Hi, Dennis.

嗨，丹尼斯。

Hi, this is Julie. I'll take that one and thanks so much for the question, I would say that the environment out there really continues to be uncertain and mixed, but there have been some positives. It seems that a recession is potentially less likely inflation continues to moderate and the consumer and labor market have been resilient. And those are the positives. However, there's been some reason for caution as well. You know, the consumer sentiment has been declining in recent months and remains a relatively low level. Labor market is cooling and savings accumulated during the pandemic are evaporating and get some burdens from higher interest rates. So with all that behind us and sort of the landscape out there, we are encouraged by the monthly sequential improvements in our traffic. We believe that the investments that we've made up to focus on the guest experience to emphasize our strong value proposition across our dayparts. That was an important pivot in Q1 and have been accelerating the frequency and enhancing our business model and will continue to help us drive performance and win share in this very, very mixed environment.

嗨，這是朱莉。我會接受這個問題，非常感謝你提出這個問題，我想說的是，那裡的環境確實仍然充滿不確定性和複雜性，但也有一些積極的一面。看來，經濟衰退的可能性較小，通膨持續溫和，消費者和勞動市場一直保持彈性。這些都是正面的一面。然而，也有一些需要謹慎的理由。要知道，近幾個月來消費者信心一直在下降，仍然處於相對較低的水平。勞動市場正在降溫，疫情期間累積的儲蓄正在蒸發，並因利率上升而承受一些負擔。因此，儘管這一切都在我們身後，外面的風景也已經過去了，但我們對每月交通量的連續改善感到鼓舞。我們相信，我們所做的投資專注於客戶體驗，以強調我們在整個時段的強大價值主張。這是第一季的一個重要支點，一直在加快頻率並增強我們的業務模式，並將繼續幫助我們在這個非常非常複雜的環境中提高業績並贏得份額。

Appreciate that color, Julia, and very helpful. I guess the second one just following up on that, as you talk about sort of some of the resiliency out there, a little resistance to the pricing to date, but then you and Craig kind of talking about the top environment and maybe gets gets worse from here from a macro perspective. Just wondering if there's any more context you could put around your expectations over the balance of the year. As we think about that macroenvironment, you expect the consumer deteriorates from here.

朱莉婭，很欣賞這種顏色，而且非常有幫助。我想第二個只是跟進這一點，當你談論那裡的一些彈性，迄今為止對定價的一點阻力，但你和克雷格談論頂級環境時，可能會變得更糟從這裡從宏觀的角度來看。只是想知道是否還有更多背景可以說明您對今年剩餘時間的期望。當我們考慮宏觀環境時，您預期消費者會從這裡開始惡化。

Very helpful that you gave the color around pricing for the year, but just anything more on kind of what's embedded in that in that sales algorithm. You've got a bunch of initiatives that what you're thinking about your consumer from here and maybe related to that is there any context you can give thinking about last year's trends in recent months relative to this year? And is it sort of our underlying traffic trends improving over these last several months. Is there any kind of year-over-year dynamic to be thinking about?

您對今年的定價給出了顏色，這非常有幫助，但只是關於銷售演算法中嵌入的內容。你有很多關於你的消費者的想法，也許與此相關，你可以提供一些背景來思考去年近幾個月相對於今年的趨勢嗎？在過去的幾個月裡，我們的潛在流量趨勢是否有所改善？有沒有同比動態值得考慮？

Thank you very much.

非常感謝。

Hi, Dennis. This break.

嗨，丹尼斯。這個休息。

I'll dig into I'll dig into that one. The as we finished up our quarter four last year, we talked about an unexpected decline in our traffic. And then we talked about the things that we were going to be doing to bolster that and I think we're on a really good path with the actions that we've taken. So at a time we talked about, we believe the environment was more promotional. We believe the consumer was a bit more pressured. And at the time, we also didn't have a whole lot of messaging. And now we have adjusted, we think, to the current environment appropriately and that seems to be working for us. The environment is more promotional. That's what we're seeing in our results. The consumer is pressured, but they have a shutdown. They're still dining out there is making choices. And what was important to us was that we are top of mind and in order to be top of mind, you have to communicate to folks and we've ramped up our communication, and we've also focused our communication around what we're calling kind of this core plus group, but a lot of our traditional core plus elements of our growth segments that are closer to that core. You reach those folks in college football, mascot, things like that, and that is working for us. We're pleased with and that outcome. So while the consumer environment may get a little bit better, may get a little bit worse, we don't know. But we do think we're well positioned given the environment and that we're in now towards the end of the year, we're going to be comping over Q4. That was particularly soft for us. I don't think we're prepared to say anything else more about that specifically at this time, but we think we learn from that and we adjust adapted and adjusted for it.

我會深入研究我會深入研究那個。去年第四季結束時，我們談到了流量的意外下降。然後我們討論了我們將要採取的措施來支持這一點，我認為我們已經採取的行動走在一條非常好的道路上。因此，在我們談論的時候，我們認為環境更具促銷性。我們認為消費者面臨的壓力更大一些。當時，我們也沒有太多的消息傳遞。我們認為，現在我們已經適當地調整了當前的環境，這似乎對我們有用。環境比較促銷。這就是我們在結果中看到的。消費者受到壓力，但他們卻停工了。他們仍然在外面吃飯並做出選擇。對我們來說重要的是，我們是最重要的，為了成為最重要的，你必須與人們溝通，我們加強了我們的溝通，我們也將我們的溝通集中在我們正在做的事情上。我們稱之為「核心+」群體，但我們成長領域的許多傳統「核心+」元素更接近該核心。你可以透過大學橄欖球、吉祥物等方式接觸到那些人，這對我們來說很有效。我們對這個結果感到滿意。因此，雖然消費環境可能會變得更好一點，也可能會變得更糟一點，但我們不知道。但我們確實認為，考慮到環境，我們已經處於有利位置，而且我們現在正處於今年年底，我們將在第四季度進行比較。這對我們來說特別柔軟。我認為我們目前不准備就此具體多說任何其他內容，但我們認為我們從中吸取了教訓，並為此進行調整和調整。

The other point with that is Cracker Barrel is a particularly experiential brand. We we serve a lot of guests, 200 million of three dayparts breakfast, lunch, dinner. And um, we know for a lot of things, but one of them is hospitality and because of that, we have been investing more in labor to ensure that one, we can deliver that hospitality and we are and two that we can really serve that kind of peak peak demand. So that's an investment that we're making in the short term for sure.

另一點是 Cracker Barrel 是一個特別注重體驗的品牌。我們為許多客人提供服務，每天的早餐、午餐、晚餐共 2 億人次。嗯，我們知道很多事情，但其中之一是熱情好客，正因為如此，我們一直在勞動力上投入更多資金，以確保第一，我們可以提供熱情好客的服務，第二，我們可以真正為他們提供服務一種高峰需求。因此，這肯定是我們在短期內進行的一項投資。

Now one of the other benefits that you get from that is that's also a better experience for the employees, and we're seeing turnover comes down. So as we think about how will all of these investments play out over time, one of the ways that it plays out is your turnover comes down and you actually get more efficient over overtime.

現在，您從中獲得的其他好處之一是，這也為員工提供了更好的體驗，而且我們看到人員流動率下降。因此，當我們思考所有這些投資隨著時間的推移將如何發揮作用時，其發揮作用的方式之一是您的營業額下降，並且隨著時間的推移，您實際上會變得更有效率。

So we're investing for the future.

所以我們正在為未來投資。

We are investing to grow our traffic in the short term we think our investments are well timed for the environment. And we think over over a period of time, that will also help our profitability.

我們正在投資以在短期內增加流量，我們認為我們的投資對環境來說是恰逢其時。我們經過一段時間的思考，這也將有助於我們的獲利能力。

Great thinking about.

很棒的思考。

Yes, our next question comes from Katherine Griffin with Bank of America. Please go ahead.

是的，我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的凱瑟琳·格里芬。請繼續。

Hi, thanks so much for the questions.

你好，非常感謝你的提問。

First, I wanted to dive a little deeper into the promotional intensity that you mentioned, is there any kind of differences in geographies or in specific subsegments on your you? Can you can speak to that you're seeing?

首先，我想更深入地了解您提到的促銷強度，您的地理位置或特定細分市場是否有任何差異？你能談談你所看到的嗎？

Catherine, it's Julie. I'll take that one.

凱瑟琳，是朱莉。我會接受那個。

Yes, as we discussed in September on our last call, it's been really promotional out there from the competitors that really cost us one to take a look at what they were doing and what we were doing, as Craig just talked about, we really adjusted our messaging to ensure we were playing to our strengths and our differentiators at Cracker Barrel because we are at all three daypart brand. And so we wanted to make sure that our messaging really resonated with that core and core plus guests across those three dayparts value messaging of our of our daypart messaging value messaging around breakfast, starting at eight 99. All of those things are really resonating well with our guests.

是的，正如我們在9 月的最後一次電話會議中所討論的那樣，競爭對手的促銷活動確實讓我們付出了很大的代價來看看他們在做什麼以及我們在做什麼，正如克雷格剛剛談到的那樣，我們確實進行了調整我們的訊息是為了確保我們在 Cracker Barrel 發揮我們的優勢和差異化優勢，因為我們都是三個時段的品牌。因此，我們希望確保我們的訊息真正與核心和核心以及客人產生共鳴，在早餐周圍的三個時段的價值信息中​​，從八點九十九開始。所有這些事情都確實與客人產生了很好的共鳴。我們的客人。

The other thing that I spoke about in my prepared remarks that we're very heartened by is that we made additional investments in testing some different marketing strategies throughout the quarter, one of which was college football. Craig talked about Nascar. Those additional investments have returned quite well for us and both from a traffic and investment perspective. Additionally, we've invested in some local television advertising in some key markets that has also provided a really strong return on investment and return on traffic that we've been pleased with, and we'll be constantly evaluating our marketing mix. The team's done a great job of digging in and looking at that, you really drive efficiency as well as effectiveness with that core and core plus segment. So we remain optimistic about our ability to continue to evaluate and ramp effectiveness in that space as we move through the year.

我在準備好的發言中談到的另一件事讓我們感到非常振奮，那就是我們在整個季度測試了一些不同的行銷策略，其中之一是大學橄欖球。克雷格談到了納斯卡。從流量和投資的角度來看，這些額外的投資為我們帶來了很好的回報。此外，我們還在一些關鍵市場投資了一些本地電視廣告，這些廣告也提供了非常強勁的投資回報和流量回報，我們對此感到滿意，我們將持續評估我們的行銷組合。團隊在深入研究和研究方面做得非常出色，您確實可以提高核心和核心附加細分市場的效率和有效性。因此，我們對今年繼續評估和提高該領域有效性的能力保持樂觀。

Okay, thank you.

好的謝謝。

And then just following up on an earlier question on, can you just help us frame sort of what the comps were by month in your fiscal second quarter of last year as a philosophy?

然後，繼續回答先前的問題，您能否幫助我們將去年第二財季的按月比較作為一種理念？

I don't have it.

我沒有。

We will follow up with you on that one.

我們將就此問題與您聯繫。

I will provide whatever detail. We probably got any details we can as it relates to what the comp is for last year.

我會提供任何細節。我們可能會得到任何與去年的比賽相關的細節。

Okay.

好的。

Understood.

明白了。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Final question comes from Elton Ben with Loop Capital. Please go ahead.

最後一個問題來自 Loop Capital 的 Elton Ben。請繼續。

I'd ask first off on the commodity inflation guidance.

我首先要問的是商品通膨指導。

Some U.S.

一些美國

Craig, you mentioned that you're down 2.3% in the first quarter. We are looking for a low single-digit increase for the full year. You know, I guess one, what are the key drivers behind that increase as far as inputs? And that's any sort of color on kind of what the pace may be over the next three quarters of the year.

克雷格，您提到第一季業績下降了 2.3%。我們預計全年將出現低個位數成長。我想，就投入而言，成長背後的關鍵驅動因素是什麼？這是與今年未來三個季度的節奏有關的任何顏色。

And also on the subcu one, we had deflation. We're kind of confident of peak inflation from the prior year.

在次級方面，我們也遇到了通貨緊縮。我們對去年的通膨高峰充滿信心。

So that was one.

這就是其中之一。

So that was good news. We do expect the commodity environment to be pretty good for the rest of the year. We don't expect it to be deflationary, though. I believe we've got some expectations out there for bacon as an example, to start to start to move back up.

所以這是個好消息。我們確實預計今年剩餘時間的大宗商品環境將相當好。不過，我們預計不會出現通貨緊縮。我相信我們對培根有一些期望，例如開始回升。

So we expect much more modest commodity inflation for the rest of the year alone will be the peak has been. It has been highly aware of the repeat spin, our relatively high or mix or not towards up towards the top. So as a result of that, we do expect mild commodity inflation for the rest of the year, but not the inflation in part because of the changes to our bacon.

因此，我們預計僅在今年剩餘時間內，大宗商品通膨將達到高峰。它已經高度意識到重複旋轉，我們相對較高或混合或不朝頂部。因此，我們確實預期今年剩餘時間的商品通膨將溫和，但通膨的部分原因並非是我們培根的變化。

Thanks for that color. And then I guess one quick additional question just on the retail side of the business out disappointing performance, I'm sure for you here in the first quarter you were heading now into, of course, what the time of the year for that. But I guess, you know, how are you feeling kind of the holiday retail side of things, it's Greg again, we feel a little bit of background on if we think about retail or retail business over the longer term since 2019, the retail businesses were pretty consistently both in terms of sales and comp and profit.

謝謝那個顏色。然後我想還有一個關於零售業務令人失望的業績的附加問題，我確信對於第一季的您來說，您現在正進入，當然，一年中的什麼時候。但我想，你知道，你對假日零售方面的感覺怎麼樣，又是格雷格，如果我們考慮自 2019 年以來的長期零售或零售業務，我們有一些背景知識，零售業務在銷售額、比較和利潤方面都相當一致。

So we're really proud about that part of the work that the team has done more recently. It's been softer And keep in mind that there's we have it completely discretionary and we are not selling essentials. And the retail environment has shifted some from the things that are more aggregate essentials. And that's not really an area that does cause offsite. Think, considering the environment, the retail business is holding up well. And so the team has made adjustments in terms of inventory that we've made to the business early, and we've continued to make continue to make them to ensure that we have an appropriate level of profitability in the retail business as we have some people imagine what we can manage there, given that consumers are shifting a bit more to what appears to be essentials. And largely what we have are things that people want to have, but you don't necessarily need them today basis for sure.

因此，我們對團隊最近所做的部分工作感到非常自豪。它變得更加柔和，請記住，我們完全可以自行決定，我們不出售必需品。零售環境已經從更聚合的必需品轉變為某些東西。這實際上並不是一個會導致異地的區域。想想看，考慮到環境，零售業務表現良好。因此，團隊對我們早期對業務所做的庫存進行了調整，並且我們將繼續進行調整，以確保我們在零售業務中擁有適當的盈利水平，因為我們有一些鑑於消費者更多地轉向看似必需品，人們想像我們可以在那裡管理什麼。我們擁有的東西很大程度上是人們想要擁有的東西，但你今天不一定需要它們。

Thanks.

謝謝。

That color, because I will hop back in the queue.

那個顏色，因為我會跳回隊列。

Our next question from Sanjay bhai that led to certain products.

Sanjay bhai 提出的下一個問題引出了某些產品。

Great.

偉大的。

Thank you so much for taking the question on my first one is also on the clinical and regulatory trends. And I think John and Greg both mentioned improving traffic throughout the quarter and into November. Can you share what the traffic was on in the first quarter and you're looking at that with the Q, but if you could provide traffic and mix and so we can see what the trajectory is there. After that, we'll take I'll take the I'll take the numbers and then go from there overall traffic for human one was restaurant traffic negative 7.1%, Shack overall plus 6.6%, including price up 6.8% and the mix of negative 0.2%.

非常感謝您提出我的第一個問題，也是關於臨床和監管趨勢的問題。我認為約翰和格雷格都提到了整個季度和 11 月的流量改善。您能否分享一下第一季的流量情況，您正在使用 Q 來查看流量，但如果您可以提供流量和組合，那麼我們就可以看到那裡的軌跡。之後，我們將採取我將採取我將採取的數字，然後從那裡開始，人類的總體流量是餐廳流量負 7.1％，棚屋整體增加 6.6％，包括價格上漲 6.8％ 和混合負0.2%。

Okay, got it. And just reading the commentary and improving the topline by month and into November on a split, you are pretty safe to say that the same-store sales have moved sufficiently positive quarter to date. And if this goes back to ask it one more time about double last year's trends that I see, all of that should be based on preliminary second quarter revenue growth guidance of 6%, and we reported eight point. In fact, I believe that that implies that January was much stronger than expected. So very difficult compare this year. So I'm just trying to kind of judge on how much correlation with the current trends, which seem to be pretty visible positive on same-store sales for the restaurants for the whole quarter. So any help there would be helpful.

好，知道了。只要閱讀評論並按月和 11 月的拆分來改善營收，您就可以非常有把握地說，迄今為止，同店銷售額在本季度已經取得了足夠的積極進展。如果這再一次詢問我所看到的去年趨勢的兩倍，所有這些都應該基於第二季度 6% 的初步收入增長指導，我們報告了八個點。事實上，我認為這意味著一月份的情況比預期要強得多。今年很難比較。因此，我只是想判斷與當前趨勢的相關性有多大，這似乎對整個季度餐廳的同店銷售有明顯的正面影響。所以任何幫助都會有幫助。

And then I had a longer-term question. If the spreads are going to be reflected on Q2 for the last year or two parts to that. If I remember correctly, December close belt a little bit softer than what was the level at the end of December and then January side, but to kind of benefit components. One was our robust kind of wrap on Akron. So some of the January, the guidance was Omnicom related. It was all celebrity was warmer than normal January. So there was some weather or weather tailwind. It follows basically the trade-up forecast up forecasted weather. But I think to the degree that weather was a tailwind last year in January, I do recall that the December towards the second part of December was a bit challenged by the weather as well.

然後我有一個更長期的問題。如果利差將反映在去年第二季或其中的兩部分。如果我沒記錯的話，12 月收盤價比 12 月底和 1 月的水平要軟一些，但對某些有利成分而言。其中之一是我們在阿克倫的堅固包裹。因此，一月份的一些指導意見與 Omnicom 相關。一切都是名人的一月比平常溫暖。所以有一些天氣或天氣順風。它基本上遵循天氣預報的升級預測。但我認為去年 1 月的天氣是順風，我確實記得 12 月下旬也受到了天氣的挑戰。

Okay.

好的。

Okay. And then my other question is on margins in the quarter itself, you mentioned on the sales were in line with expectations and driven by, but you're at the lower end of guidance for margins. And my question is what drove that what surprised you to the downside there on the margins, if I look forward, you explicitly give restaurant level margins or GRG. day on guidance, but can you help us in terms of what is driving the expected kind of margin compression that providing guidance on '24? Is it is at the margin side or is it G&A to average that you think is going to drive that. But this quarter saw the as we were we had some hypothesis. This is data driven as we get into as we went into the quarter, but we weren't in a more certain. So we were started out with some additional advertising, largely committed to that, and we added some labor as as well. We were seeing really good results from the advertising.

好的。然後我的另一個問題是關於本季度本身的利潤率，您提到銷售符合預期並受其推動，但您處於利潤率指導的下限。我的問題是，是什麼推動了利潤率的下降，如果我展望未來，你會明確給出餐廳層級的利潤率或GRG。日的指導，但您能否幫助我們了解是什麼推動了預期的利潤率壓縮，並為 24 日提供了指導？您認為是在利潤方面還是平均管理費用方面會推動這一點。但本季我們看到了一些假設。當我們進入本季度時，這是數據驅動的，但我們並沒有更加確定。因此，我們開始做一些額外的廣告，主要致力於此，我們也增加了一些勞動力。我們從廣告中看到了非常好的效果。

We're seeing good results from the labor, and it also gave us more confidence in gave us more confidence in November. So as a result of the investment a bit more in labor than we had originally expected. We knew we had that there was an option, but we went ahead and we put some more and that we think bodes well now things that were unexpected or kind of came in on the unfavorable side of our internal expectations through a couple of them. Wage rates came in a little bit higher. Our maintenance expenses came in a little bit higher. Public liability. General liability came in a little bit higher. So we had a couple of things that could have been some that were in the high end of the cost range. While the primary driver was we were making a bet it was working and we just continue down that path because we were seeing a lot of impacts from that.

我們看到了勞動的良好成果，也讓我們對11月更有信心。因此，勞動力投資比我們最初預期的要多一些。我們知道我們有一個選擇，但我們繼續前進，我們投入了更多，我們認為現在預示著好兆頭，一些意想不到的事情或透過其中一些事情出現在我們內在期望的不利方面。工資率稍高一些。我們的維護費用有點高。公眾責任。一般責任稍微高一些。因此，我們有一些可能處於成本範圍高端的東西。雖然主要驅動力是我們打賭它正在發揮作用，但我們只是繼續沿著這條路走，因為我們看到了它帶來的許多影響。

So what does that mean then for the rest of the year?

那麼這對於今年剩餘時間意味著什麼呢？

I won't go into a whole lot of detail there.

我不會在那裡詳細討論。

And I will say directionally, we the things that we've been we've been doing that are working probably to continue to do those.

我會定向地說，我們一直在做的事情可能正在努力繼續做這些事情。

So we're advertising has been working to a greater degree. So I would expect that we're going to continue to do more advertising. Now we are trying to measure all of that best. We can we do some test and learn and as long as the ROI in that remains compelling. And I would expect that we're going to continue to do that.

所以我們的廣告工作一直在更大程度上進行。所以我預計我們將繼續做更多的廣告。現在我們正試著最好地衡量這一切。我們可以做一些測試和學習，只要投資回報率仍然引人注目。我希望我們能夠繼續這樣做。

The labor investments is also has also been working out well, not only in terms of the short term on traffic and our ability to really execute at peak periods, you see a benefit to the guest satisfaction is the benefits of turnover, which pays a dividend in the future. So we'll continue to invest in those things as we go as we go throughout the year.

勞動力投資也取得了良好的效果，不僅體現在短期客流量方面，而且體現在我們在高峰時段真正執行的能力方面，您會發現，營業額帶來的好處是提高客人滿意度，從而帶來紅利將來。因此，我們將在全年中繼續對這些事情進行投資。

Okay.

好的。

Thank you very much.

非常感謝。

Appreciate it.

欣賞它。

Our next question comes from Andrew will with us CL King. Please go ahead.

我們的下一個問題來自安德魯威爾和我們的 CL King。請繼續。

Good morning.

早安.

My question is also a guidance related actually two, first on earnings. What the implication of your guidance is better margins going forward for the extra quarters. So you called out that the advertising increase is going to continue as long as well as labor because it's driving traffic, but I might have missed this, but could you go through the if you're still expecting a 30 million cost net cost saving a gross cost savings this year to help defray some of that cost and if that's the case, what the cadence of those cost savings would be against in the increased spend that's helping with the traffic?

我的問題實際上也是與兩個相關的指導，首先是關於收益。您的指導意味著未來幾季的利潤率會更高。因此，您指出，廣告和勞動力的增加將持續下去，因為它會增加流量，但我可能錯過了這一點，但如果您仍然期望節省 3000 萬成本淨成本，您能否詳細說明一下？今年的總成本節省有助於支付部分成本，如果是這樣的話，這些成本節省的節奏會對幫助改善交通的支出增加產生什麼影響？

Hi, Andrew.

嗨，安德魯。

It's Greg, the I'll start with the cost saves. We talked about 30 million of the cost saves last fiscal, and we delivered on that and describe that at 25. And that we increased that to 30 over the course of the year. We actually have an internal target for cost savings in fiscal 24. That's consistent, if not higher, higher than that however, we also realize that we're making a lot of investments. So it felt a little odd for us to be talking about a cost save at the same time, we're spending a lot of money in labor spent a lot of money in marketing. So the way that we are thinking about it internally is we are saving costs of a significant more than we did last year. We are reinvesting. We are reinvesting those cost saves as a way to support these guest driving initiatives and overall long-term business strengthen in business, strengthening initiatives Okay, that's good.

我是格雷格，我將從節省成本開始。我們談到了上一財年節省了 3000 萬美元的成本，我們兌現了這一目標，並在 25 月進行了描述。我們在這一年中將這一數字增加到了 30 美元。實際上，我們在 24 財年有一個節省成本的內部目標。這個目標是一致的，如果不是更高的話，也高於這個目標，但是，我們也意識到我們正在進行大量投資。因此，我們在談論節省成本的同時感覺有點奇怪，我們在勞動力上花了很多錢，在行銷上花了很多錢。因此，我們內部考慮的方式是，我們節省的成本比去年多得多。我們正在進行再投資。我們正在將節省的成本進行再投資，以支持這些賓客驅動計劃和整體長期業務強化，加強計劃，好吧，這很好。

Can you speak to the cadence? I mean, have you realized in Q1 like a pro rata amount? Or is it or is it going to build more proportionately later in the year.

能談談節奏嗎？我的意思是，您是否在第一季意識到按比例的金額？還是會在今年稍後按比例增加。

The amount of costs, the cost savings.

成本的多少，成本的節省。

I don't have the exact quarterly breakdown in front of me, but because we have a program that is this sustained program, a number of the cost savings that we started in fiscal 23. We didn't get 12 months of those cost savings in 23. So up quite a bit that has carried through into fiscal 24, and then we have additional cost savings queued up in 24 as well.

我面前沒有確切的季度細目，但因為我們有一個持續計劃，所以我們在 23 財年開始節省了一些成本。我們沒有獲得 12 個月的這些成本節省23 財年。因此，24 財年的增長相當大，然後我們在24 財年也有額外的成本節省。

Okay.

好的。

And on the sales guidance, I just wanted to test the way my numbers sort of back into what I think your scenarios could be, it's a pretty broad sales guidance for the year from here. So I think you're anywhere from you know, things could continue to get better as you as I assume. Is your hopefully your one of your plans, at least, but then there's a scenario where it looks like things would actually get worse and perhaps even worse than the quarter you just I've just announced, is that because you have to bake in that even though, you know, I think Julie mentioned, the recessionary odds are lower that given consumer behavior and we're not out of the woods in the economy that you just have to put in a pessimistic scenario and you decided to also include that in your sales guidance range?

在銷售指導上，我只是想測試我的數字是否能回到我認為的場景中，從這裡開始，這是今年相當廣泛的銷售指導。所以我認為你知道，事情可能會像我想像的那樣繼續變得更好。至少，你希望這是你的計劃之一，但是有一種情況看起來情況實際上會變得更糟，甚至可能比我剛剛宣布的季度更糟，因為你必須在其中烘烤儘管，你知道，我想朱莉提到過，經濟衰退的可能性比考慮到消費者行為的要低，而且我們的經濟還沒有走出困境，你只需將其置於悲觀的情景中，你決定也將其納入其中你的銷售指導範圍是？

I think that's a reasonable reasonable point of view.

我認為這是一個合理合理的觀點。

The economy is uncertain.

經濟存在不確定性。

So who knows what that was going to happen. And I think to the extent that things continue to play out, the way that we're seeing them, we would be towards the high end of the range. But to the degree that they are they don't either from an external perspective or something happens internally would be on the low end or low end of the range. They the macro environment is still volatile and the overall economy has been doing well. But if you can dig below that, there are some concern and elements there. So we'll just need to kind of see how it goes. And as a result, we're still pretty early in the year as a result of that. We think that leads to that type of that type of range.

所以誰知道會發生什麼事。我認為，如果事情繼續發展下去，按照我們看待它們的方式，我們將走向該範圍的高端。但就其程度而言，無論是從外部角度來看還是內部發生的事情都不會處於該範圍的低端或低端。宏觀環境仍不穩定，整體經濟運作良好。但如果你能深入挖掘，就會發現其中存在一些擔憂和因素。所以我們只需要看看事情進展如何。因此，我們現在還處於今年的早期階段。我們認為這會導致那種類型的範圍。

Thank you and maybe just more for Julie on the loyalty program, you know, it's good to see the launch as well going well, and I think you've got it tied into Dolly Parton through early December with the rocking chair giveaway. But is there any way to continue to or is that sort of when the relation with Dolly kind of peter ends and do you have more things to keep the or you're going to keep going with her like to keep these getting the the the sign-ups at a pretty good clip above your plan. And I guess longer term, based on your experience and what you're hearing from your people to help them with the program, when do you really expect to really see you know, increased traffic and through promotion release targeted promotions, and there are other things that can come out of loyalty program.

謝謝你，也許還要感謝朱莉的忠誠度計劃，你知道，很高興看到發布進展順利，而且我認為你已經將它與多莉·帕頓聯繫到了 12 月初，並提供了搖椅贈品。但是有沒有辦法繼續下去，或者是當與多莉那種彼得的關係結束時，你還有更多的東西要保留嗎？或者你要繼續和她在一起，就像保留這些得到標誌一樣比你的計劃高出一個相當好的剪輯。我想從長遠來看，根據您的經驗以及您從員工那裡聽到的幫助他們完成該計劃的內容，您什麼時候真正希望真正看到您知道，增加流量並通過促銷發布有針對性的促銷，還有其他可以透過忠誠度計劃獲得的東西。

Hi, Andrew. It's Julie. And as I mentioned in my prepared remarks, we are really pleased with the launch of the program. We launched the program actually without dollar rate. And so even when we launched it just embrace the program signed up really told us that this is something they are excited about seeing from Cracker Barrel. So then when we added on Dolly that, as I said in my comments, it's been incremental and of course, we're very pleased with the partnership there. She's she's an icon and it's great to have an icon here with an icon of Cracker Barrel. So the program is off to a great start, and it's exceeding our expectations that we've been modeling in the benefit of that program into this year and into the future. And we can the team continues to do a great job to actually bring benefits of the program forward, given the fact that we are ahead of our plan. So we continue to be excited about it it's the early days of it, but we know it's going to be a differentiator for us going forward and an exciting part of the brand as we move forward.

嗨，安德魯。是朱莉。正如我在準備好的發言中提到的，我們對該計劃的啟動感到非常高興。我們推出的計劃實際上沒有美元匯率。因此，即使當我們推出它時，也只是擁抱註冊的計劃，這確實告訴我們，這是他們很高興從 Cracker Barrel 看到的東西。因此，當我們在多莉身上添加時，正如我在評論中所說，這是漸進的，當然，我們對那裡的合作夥伴關係非常滿意。她是一個偶像，很高興這裡有一個帶有餅乾桶圖示的偶像。因此，該計劃有了一個良好的開端，而且我們一直在為今年和未來的該計劃的效益進行建模，這超出了我們的預期。鑑於我們提前完成了計劃，我們的團隊可以繼續出色地工作，切實推進該計劃的效益。因此，我們仍然對它感到興奮，因為它還處於早期階段，但我們知道它將成為我們前進的差異化因素，也是我們前進過程中品牌令人興奮的一部分。

Yes.

是的。

Got it.

知道了。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Our next question comes from Todd Brooks with The Benchmark Company. Please go ahead.

我們的下一個問題來自 The Benchmark Company 的 Todd Brooks。請繼續。

Hey, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions on first question, if I may, you were talking in regards to the retail retail segment, well-managed inventories and really trying to operate as much for protection of gross profit dollars than you are to drive top line. Can you spend a minute talking about the inventory positioning and how we should think about if that's a potential constraint on retail same-store sales as we're going into the holiday quarter here and just trying to get some color around how the how to model the retail same-store sales performance, given where the inventory is low.

嗨，早安。感謝您就第一個問題回答我的問題，如果可以的話，您談論的是零售業、管理良好的庫存以及真正努力保護毛利而不是推動營收。您能否花一點時間談談庫存定位，以及我們應該如何考慮這是否對零售同店銷售構成潛在限制，因為我們即將進入假日季，只是試圖了解如何建模鑑於庫存較低，零售同店銷售表現。

Hi, Todd, it's Greg. I think we're really well positioned there. We have we carry a very wide assortment to the degree that demand is higher than we projected. That would impact our kind of discount cadence and we'd be able to, I think, make more more margin come through through that approach. And to the degree that demand stays a bit softer, we would also be managing margins as well. And keep in mind, we also have a lot of different a lot of different offer as we go through quite a few themes throughout the year. So if one of them is selling at a higher rate than we projected. We can bring in another one or two different things that we can do to fill in just given the breadth of the breadth of the assortment that we have. I think the macro picture on this part of retail that really gives us confidence that we're making the right decision to manage the inventory and not end up. I'm very long in and having to do a significant amount of a significant amount of markdowns. But that would be a problem, candidly, that we would we would love to have that problem because to the degree that we have the demand, I think we can redirect folks to other items.

嗨，托德，我是格雷格。我認為我們在那裡處於有利位置。我們的產品種類非常廣泛，需求量比我們預期的還要高。這將影響我們的折扣節奏，我認為，我們能夠透過這種方法獲得更多利潤。如果需求保持疲軟，我們也會管理利潤率。請記住，當我們全年經歷相當多的主題時，我們也有很多不同的優惠。因此，如果其中之一的售價高於我們的預期。鑑於我們現有的產品種類繁多，我們可以引入另外一兩個我們可以做的不同的事情來填補。我認為這部分零售業的宏觀情況確實讓我們有信心，我們正在做出正確的決定來管理庫存，而不是最終結束。我已經很長時間了，必須進行大量的降價。但這將是一個問題，坦白說，我們希望遇到這個問題，因為就我們的需求而言，我認為我們可以將人們重新導向到其他專案。

Okay, great.

好的，太好了。

Thanks, Craig. And then number two, others if I can on the occupancy and other costs, you pointed out on a year-over-year basis, the incremental advertising and some incremental D&A, and you pointed to the advertising working driving a return layering in some local TV. What's the right way to think about that line item going forward? Is the spend that we saw in the first quarter kind of that just above mid 24% of sales level. Is that the right way to model this line in what we could call an investment year or maybe some more often some spending around marketing.

謝謝，克雷格。第二，其他方面，如果我可以就入住率和其他成本而言，你指出了逐年增加的廣告和一些增量的 D&A，你還指出了廣告在一些地方推動了回報分層。電視。考慮該訂單項目的正確方法是什麼？我們在第一季看到的支出是否略高於銷售水準的 24%？這是在我們所謂的投資年或更常見的行銷支出中對這條線進行建模的正確方法嗎？

I think it's fair to say that the advertising line item is going to be a bit higher. That is not going to share an exact number, candidly, in part because we're going to continue to flex that based on our findings, but I would expect it to be higher. There was also a part of the loyalty program is not dramatic but there are the part of the loyalty and expense for the loyalty program that goes through market. And so that will cause that line item to be a bit higher and then we're going to continue to optimize our profitability of our normal normal media to the degree that that's working really well. And we're getting a compelling return. We'll do more to the degree that we are not seen as compelling of return, not as profitable, then we may do less. But in general, I would expect marketing to be higher than it's been traditionally for the coming quarters.

我認為可以公平地說，廣告訂單項目會更高一些。坦白說，這不會分享確切的數字，部分原因是我們將根據我們的發現繼續調整該數字，但我預計該數字會更高。還有一部分忠誠度計劃並不引人注目，但有一部分忠誠度和忠誠度計劃的費用是透過市場的。因此，這將導致該訂單項目的價格更高一些，然後我們將繼續優化普通媒體的獲利能力，使其發揮真正良好的作用。我們正在獲得令人信服的回報。我們會做更多的事情，如果我們不被認為有令人信服的回報，沒有利潤，那麼我們可能會做得更少。但總的來說，我預計未來幾季的行銷量將高於傳統水準。

So to just clarify on that, if we're looking year over year up 130 basis points, are you saying, Craig, that because of the success you've seen you expect marketing to actually be higher as we progress through the year as Laurel allows us.

因此，為了澄清這一點，如果我們預計將同比增長130 個基點，克雷格，您是否在說，由於您所看到的成功，隨著我們作為勞雷爾在這一年中取得進展，您預計行銷實際上會更高允許我們。

Okay.

好的。

Okay.

好的。

So of the 130 basis points in you won, I believe marketing was something like 80, 80 basis points, something like that of the Q one. And so I'm not suggesting that we're going to be investing incrementally more than that, maybe we do, but it will be modest. So it's could be a little bit more than that to be a little bit less. But I don't think our marketing spend will be as a percent of sales at the levels that were it was at in 2023 is going to be higher as a percent of sales moving into 20, we're moving into 2024 than it was in 2023.

因此，在你贏得的 130 個基點中，我相信行銷是 80、80 個基點，類似於 Q 的基點。因此，我並不是建議我們會增加更多的投資，也許我們會這樣做，但會是適度的。因此，可能會多一點，少一點。但我認為我們的行銷支出佔銷售額的百分比不會達到 2023 年的水平，隨著銷售額的百分比進入 20，我們將進入 2024 年。2023 年。

Okay, perfect. And then it looks like ex the one-time expenditures in the quarter, the G&A came in at a little bit more efficiently than I expected. Would you encourage us to budget that type of mid fives percentage of sales? And then what's the cadence of the CE. transition cost and the on the strategic initiative costs, how do those come in over the balance of the year?

好的，完美。然後，看起來除了本季的一次性支出外，一般行政費用的效率比我預期的要高一些。您是否會鼓勵我們對銷售額的五成百分比進行預算？那麼CE的節奏是怎麼樣的呢？轉型成本和策略性舉措成本在今年剩餘時間內如何體現？

I don't expect anything dramatic as it relates to G&A that probably wouldn't get into a lot of detail there in terms of the cadence of the one-time costs that you expect that there will be more of that done expense related to the CEO transition in Q2 because of the accounting for really Sandy, the prior CEO's earned retirement benefits. She officially retired as a CEO. early in Q2. And as a result of that. I think that will drive some more expense in Q2. I expect the consulting costs to be fairly flat going forward from Q2 through Q4. We didn't restart that at midpoint at about the midpoint in Q1. So I would expect two three to 3 and four to be relatively flat for that line item.

我預計不會有任何戲劇性的事情，因為它與一般行政費用相關，可能不會在一次性成本的節奏方面詳細介紹，您預計會有更多與日常費用相關的已完成費用第二季度首席執行官的過渡是因為考慮了前任執行長桑迪的退休福利。她正式以執行長的身份退休。第二季初。結果是。我認為這將在第二季帶來更多支出。我預計從第二季度到第四季度，諮詢成本將相當平穩。我們沒有在第一季的中點左右重新開始。因此，我預計該訂單項目的「二三」到「三四」相對持平。

Okay. Thanks, Chris.

好的。謝謝，克里斯。

Our next question comes from Ashwin to engineer with Piper Sandler O'Neill. Please go ahead.

我們的下一個問題來自 Ashwin 和 Piper Sandler O'Neill 的工程師。請繼續。

Hi, good morning. My question is on Maple Street. On the last earnings call, we mentioned that our Maple speed at Maple Street these days, we're still challenged. We're just wondering if you've seen any improvement in that and how you're thinking about the growth of Maple Street over the course of the year?

早安.我的問題是關於楓樹街的。在上次財報電話會議上，我們提到這些天我們在楓樹街的楓樹速度仍然面臨挑戰。我們只是想知道您是否看到了這方面的任何改進以及您如何看待楓樹街在這一年中的成長？

I actually this is Craig, the Maple Street.

我實際上那是楓樹街的克雷格。

Interestingly, over the course of the quarter, we have seen really solid traffic improvement at Maple Street. The weekdays do continue to be do continue to be softer from. But instead, we've actually doubled down on the weekends. We have extended our operating hours on the weekends because the demand is so high and we're seeing really good progress there, particularly for weekend lunch. As we think about the long term, we're really excited about the business. It's a differentiated business. We like the location strategy is complementary to Cracker Barrel and at the same time, and we're continuing to grow it. We were a bit behind that opening this quarter. That was more a function of construction delays than anything else. And we're continuing to grow the business at a moderate pace. But we also realize that there is more work to do on the business model, in particular on the weekdays. So we've seen some improvement on the weekdays, but we've actually seen more improvement on the weekend. So which is a positive, but we still need to do some more under the base.

有趣的是，在本季中，我們看到楓樹街的交通量確實得到了顯著改善。工作日確實繼續變得更加疲軟。但相反，我們實際上在周末加倍努力。我們延長了週末的營業時間，因為需求量很大，而且我們看到進展非常好，特別是週末午餐。當我們考慮長期目標時，我們對這項業務感到非常興奮。這是一項差異化的業務。我們喜歡位置策略與 Cracker Barrel 的互補，同時我們正在繼續發展它。本季我們的開盤有點落後。這比較是施工延誤的結果。我們將繼續以適度的速度發展業務。但我們也意​​識到，商業模式方面還有更多工作要做，尤其是在工作日。因此，我們在工作日看到了一些改善，但實際上我們在周末看到了更多改善。所以這是積極的，但我們仍然需要在基礎上做更多的事情。

That's pretty clear.

這很清楚。

Thanks.

謝謝。

I'll pass it back.

我會把它傳回來。

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

我們的問答環節到此結束。我想將會議轉回雅典娜的會議結束發言。

Thank you all for joining us today, and we're encouraged by our improved traffic trends and our start to Q2. And while we are mindful of the competitive and uncertain environment, in which we continue to operate. We are cautiously optimistic that we will sustain this momentum and drive improved performance over the balance of the year. We have a lot of work ahead of us to achieve our objectives. So we have a strong foundation in place, and I'm confident that our talented teams are up for the challenge before we sign off, I'd like to wish you all a happy holiday season and express my sincere appreciation to our more than 70,000 employees, not only for their hard work over Thanksgiving last week and for the warm welcome. They have extended to me since joining the Cracker Barrel family. And for all they do every day, every shift to delight our guests and to bring this great brand to life. Thank you all and happy holidays.

感謝大家今天加入我們，我們對流量趨勢的改善和第二季的開始感到鼓舞。同時我們也注意到我們繼續營運的競爭和不確定的環境。我們謹慎樂觀地認為，我們將維持這一勢頭並推動今年剩餘時間的業績改善。為了實現我們的目標，我們還有很多工作要做。因此，我們已經奠定了堅實的基礎，我相信我們才華橫溢的團隊在我們結束之前就已經做好了迎接挑戰的準備，我謹祝大家節日快樂，並向我們的 70,000 多名員工表示衷心的感謝員工們，不僅感謝他們上週感恩節的辛勤工作，還感謝他們的熱烈歡迎。自從加入 Cracker Barrel 大家庭以來，他們就一直向我伸出援手。他們每天所做的一切、每一次轉變都是為了讓我們的客人滿意，並將這個偉大的品牌帶入生活。謝謝大家，祝節日快樂。