Chefs' Warehouse Inc (CHEF) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to the Chefs' Warehouse second quarter 2024 earnings conference Call. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

您好，歡迎參加 Chefs' Warehouse 2024 年第二季財報電話會議。提醒一下，本次會議正在錄製中。

I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Alex Aldous, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary and Chief Government Relations Officer. Please go ahead sir.

現在我想將會議交給東道主 Alex Aldous，他是總法律顧問、公司秘書兼首席政府關係官。請先生繼續。

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone. With me on today's call are Chris Pappas, Founder, Chairman and CEO and Jim Leddy, our CFO. By now, you should have access to our second quarter 2024 earnings press release. It can also be found at www.chefswarehouse.com under the Investor Relations section.

謝謝你，接線生。大家早安。與我一起參加今天電話會議的有創始人、董事長兼首席執行官 Chris Pappas 和我們的財務長 Jim Leddy。現在，您應該可以訪問我們的 2024 年第二季收益新聞稿。您也可以在 www.chefswarehouse.com 的「投資者關係」部分找到該資訊。

Throughout this conference call, we will be presenting non-GAAP financial measures, including, among others, historical and estimated EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA as well as both historical and estimated adjusted net income and adjusted earnings per share.

在整個電話會議中，我們將介紹非公認會計準則財務指標，其中包括歷史和估計的 EBITDA 和調整後的 EBITDA，以及歷史和估計的調整後淨利潤和調整後每股收益。

These measurements are not calculated in accordance with GAAP and may be calculated differently in similarly titled non-GAAP financial measures used by other companies. Quantitative reconciliations of our non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures appear in today's press release.

這些衡量標準並非根據公認會計準則計算，並且可能會按照其他公司使用的類似標題的非公認會計準則財務衡量標準進行不同的計算。我們的非公認會計原則財務指標與其最直接可比較的公認會計原則財務指標的定量調節出現在今天的新聞稿中。

Before we begin our formal remarks, I need to remind everyone that part of our discussion today will include forward-looking statements, including statements regarding our estimated financial performance. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and therefore, you should not put undue reliance on them.

在我們開始正式發言之前，我需要提醒大家，我們今天討論的一部分將包括前瞻性陳述，包括有關我們估計財務業績的陳述。此類前瞻性陳述並不能保證未來業績，因此，您不應過度依賴它們。

These statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from what we expect. Some of these risks are mentioned in today's release. Others are discussed in our annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, which are available on the SEC website.

這些陳述面臨許多風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與我們的預期有重大差異。今天的新聞稿中提到了其中一些風險。其他問題在我們的 10-K 表格年度報告和 10-Q 表格季度報告中進行了討論，這些報告可在 SEC 網站上取得。

Today, we are going to provide a business update and go over our second quarter results in detail. Then we will open up the call for questions.

今天，我們將提供業務更新並詳細回顧第二季的業績。然後我們將開放提問。

With that, I will turn the call over to Chris Pappas. Chris?

這樣，我會將電話轉給克里斯·帕帕斯。克里斯？

Thank you, Alex, and thank you all for joining our second quarter 2024 earnings call. Second quarter customer demand and pricing displayed typical seasonality as revenue and profitability continued to build as expected, moving from a solid first quarter into seasonally stronger second quarter months.

謝謝 Alex，也謝謝大家參加我們 2024 年第二季的財報電話會議。第二季的客戶需求和定價顯示出典型的季節性，營收和獲利能力繼續按預期成長，從穩健的第一季進入季節性強勁的第二季。

Our operating divisions across domestic and international markets delivered strong unique customer and item placement growth and manage pricing effectively, while providing our customers with high-quality product and high-value service.

我們遍布國內和國際市場的營運部門實現了強勁的獨特客戶和商品投放成長，並有效管理定價，同時為客戶提供高品質的產品和高價值的服務。

We are extremely proud of all our teams from sales, sourcing, pricing, operations and support functions coming together to deliver value to our customers, leveraging our diverse and broad supply chain, value-add processing and culinary expertise to assist our customers with managing menu development as well as product and labor-related costs.

我們非常自豪我們的銷售、採購、定價、營運和支援部門的所有團隊齊心協力，利用我們多樣化和廣泛的供應鏈、增值加工和烹飪專業知識來幫助我們的客戶管理菜單，為我們的客戶提供價值。

A few highlights from the second quarter include, 7.2% organic growth in net sales. Specialty sales were up 7.5% organically over the prior year, which was driven by unique customer growth of approximately 8.2%, placement growth of 11.3%, and specialty case growth of 4.7%.

第二季的一些亮點包括淨銷售額有機成長 7.2%。特殊產品銷售額較上一年有機成長 7.5%，這主要得益於約 8.2% 的獨特客戶成長、11.3% 的安置成長以及 4.7% 的特殊案例成長。

Excluding prior year low-margin customer attrition in Hardies total specialty cases grew approximately 5.5% year-over-year in the second quarter. Organic pounds in center-of-the-plate were approximately 2.9% higher than the prior year second quarter.

不包括去年哈迪的低利潤客戶流失，第二季特種案例總數較去年同期成長約 5.5%。板塊中心的有機磅數比去年第二季高出約 2.9%。

Gross profit margins increased approximately 35 basis points. Gross margin in the specialty category increased approximately 50 basis points as compared to the second quarter of 2023, while gross margin in the center-of-the-plate category were essentially flat year-over-year. Jim will provide more detail on gross profit and margins in a few moments.

毛利率增加約35個基點。與 2023 年第二季相比，特種類別的毛利率成長約 50 個基點，而盤中類別的毛利率則是年比基本持平。吉姆稍後將提供有關毛利和利潤率的更多詳細資訊。

We remain focused on making progress towards our five-year goals, which include 2028 revenue of approximately $4.6 billion to $5 billion and adjusted EBITDA of $300 million to $350 million. It is important to highlight the key investments we have put in place to provide our teams with the market footprint, product categories, infrastructure and investment and sales force necessary to grow towards achieving these targets.

我們仍專注於在實現五年目標方面取得進展，其中包括 2028 年營收約為 46 億至 50 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 為 3 億至 3.5 億美元。重要的是要強調我們已經實施的關鍵投資，以便為我們的團隊提供實現這些目標所需的市場足跡、產品類別、基礎設施以及投資和銷售團隊。

Regarding infrastructure, since 2019, we have added approximately 1 million square feet of distribution capacity, excluding acquisitions or approximately a 60% increase to the 2019 baseline.

在基礎設施方面，自 2019 年以來，我們增加了約 100 萬平方英尺的配送能力（不包括收購），較 2019 年基準增加了約 60%。

These include investments in future growth in high-value markets such as the expansion of our distribution centers in Dubai, Seattle, Southern California and Florida. This also includes facility expansion to create future operating synergies, such as our recently completed protein processing facility in Northern California.

其中包括對高價值市場未來成長的投資，例如擴大我們在杜拜、西雅圖、南加州和佛羅裡達州的配送中心。這也包括設施擴建，以創造未來的營運協同效應，例如我們最近在北加州竣工的蛋白質加工設施。

During the second quarter we initiated processing operations and completed the first phase of a multiple facility consolidation with the move of our Brisbane processing and distribution operation. We expect to complete the next move during the third quarter with a focus on completing the full consolidation during the first quarter of 2025.

在第二季度，我們啟動了加工業務，並透過搬遷布里斯班加工和分銷業務完成了多個設施整合的第一階段。我們預計將在第三季完成下一步行動，重點是在 2025 年第一季完成全面整合。

We expect to provide route, labor and technology-driven efficiencies with room for future growth in the region. Regarding our investments in sales and our unique go-to-market strategy since year-end 2021, we have increased our sales force excluding acquisitions by approximately 10% per year.

我們期望提供路線、勞動力和技術驅動的效率，為該地區的未來成長提供空間。關於我們自 2021 年底以來的銷售投資和獨特的上市策略，我們每年以約 10% 的速度增加銷售人員（不包括收購）。

Over the same timeframe and certain of our high-growth investment markets such as Florida the Middle East and California, we have grown our sales force by approximately 20% to 25% per year on average.

在同一時間段內，在佛羅裡達州、中東和加利福尼亞州等某些高成長投資市場，我們的銷售團隊平均每年增長約 20% 至 25%。

In addition, we continue to invest in category expertise and digital and pricing tools across our markets to support our sales and operating teams' execution, and growing market share via unique item penetration new customer acquisition and improved gross profit dollars per delivery.

此外，我們繼續投資於整個市場的品類專業知識以及數位和定價工具，以支持我們的銷售和營運團隊的執行力，並透過獨特的產品滲透新客戶獲取和提高每次交付的毛利來增加市場份額。

Our investments in acquisitions categories infrastructure and sales teams, have given us the marketing and distribution footprint required for growth towards our 2028 goals. We feel we have a balanced portfolio of high-growth markets supported by ample capacity, maturing sales teams with our unique go-to-market strategy complemented by more mature markets focused on category expansion and continued above-average industry growth.

我們對收購類別基礎設施和銷售團隊的投資為我們提供了實現 2028 年目標成長所需的行銷和分銷足跡。我們認為，我們擁有一個均衡的高成長市場組合，由充足的產能、成熟的銷售團隊和我們獨特的進入市場策略所支持，並輔以專注於類別擴張和持續高於行業平均水平的更成熟的市場。

For the past 40 years, we have developed a moat in our niche of the food service industry by investing in and developing the talent and expertise to sell the world's finest chefs, to be logistically nimble and best-in-class to manage just-in-time service and to manage price and margins in a volatile world. We have built a culture and strategy, designed to be the unique Foodservice Solution Company, focused on serving quality culinary-driven operators.

在過去的 40 年裡，我們透過投資和培養人才和專業知識來銷售世界上最優秀的廚師，實現靈活的物流和一流的准入管理，從而在食品服務行業的利基市場中建立了一條護城河- 準時服務並在動盪的世界中管理價格和利潤。我們建立了一種文化和策略，旨在成為獨特的餐飲服務解決方案公司，專注於為優質烹飪驅動的營運商提供服務。

With that, I'll turn it over to Jim, to discuss more detailed financial information for the quarter and an update on our liquidity.

接下來，我會將其交給吉姆，討論本季更詳細的財務資訊以及我們流動性的最新情況。

Thank you, Chris and good morning everyone. I'll now provide a comparison of our current quarter operating results versus the prior year quarter and provide an update on our balance sheet and liquidity.

謝謝你，克里斯，大家早安。現在，我將提供當前季度營運業績與去年同期的比較，並提供資產負債表和流動性的最新資訊。

Our net sales for the quarter ended June 28 2024, increased approximately 8.3% to $954.7 million from $881.8 million in the second quarter of 2023. The growth in net sales was a result of an increase in organic sales of approximately 7.2% as well as the contribution of sales from acquisitions, which added approximately 1.1% to sales growth for the quarter.

截至 2024 年 6 月 28 日的季度，我們的淨銷售額從 2023 年第二季的 8.818 億美元成長約 8.3% 至 9.547 億美元。淨銷售額的成長得益於有機銷售額約 7.2% 的成長以及收購銷售額的貢獻，後者為本季銷售額成長貢獻了約 1.1%。

Net inflation was 3.3% in the second quarter, consisting of 2.7% inflation in our specialty category and inflation of 4.3% in our center-of-the-plate category versus the prior year quarter. Gross profit increased 9.9% to $229 million, for the second quarter of 2024 versus $208.4 million for the second quarter of 2023.

第二季的淨通貨膨脹率為 3.3%，其中與去年同期相比，我們的專業類別通貨膨脹率為 2.7%，而我們的中心類別通貨膨脹率為 4.3%。2024 年第二季的毛利成長 9.9%，達到 2.29 億美元，而 2023 年第二季的毛利為 2.084 億美元。

Gross profit margins increased approximately 35 basis points to 24%, and our procurement sales pricing and operating teams delivered strong gross profit dollar growth across categories during the quarter.

毛利率成長約 35 個基點，達到 24%，我們的採購銷售定價和營運團隊在本季實現了各類別毛利的強勁成長。

Selling, general and administrative expenses increased approximately 8.8% to $194.8 million for the second quarter of 2024, from $179 million for the second quarter of 2023. The increase was primarily due to higher depreciation and amortization, driven by acquisitions and facility investments and costs associated with compensation, facility costs and distribution costs to support sales growth in the current quarter.

2024 年第二季的銷售、一般和管理費用增加約 8.8%，從 2023 年第二季的 1.79 億美元增至 1.948 億美元。這一增長主要是由於折舊和攤銷增加，這是由收購和設施投資以及與補償、設施成本和分銷成本相關的成本推動的，以支持本季的銷售成長。

Adjusted operating expenses increased 9.8% versus the prior year's second quarter. And as a percentage of net sales, adjusted operating expenses were 18.1% for the second quarter of 2024. Operating income for the second quarter of 2024 was $33.9 million, compared to $25.3 million for the second quarter of 2023. The increase in operating income was driven primarily by higher gross profit, partially offset by higher selling, general and administrative expenses versus the prior year quarter. Income tax expense was $6.7 million for the second quarter of 2024, compared to $3.5 million expense for the second quarter of 2023.

調整後營運費用較去年第二季成長 9.8%。2024 年第二季調整後營運費用佔淨銷售額的百分比為 18.1%。2024 年第二季的營業收入為 3,390 萬美元，而 2023 年第二季的營業收入為 2,530 萬美元。營業收入的成長主要是由於毛利的增加，但與去年同期相比，銷售、一般和管理費用的增加部分抵消了營業收入的成長。2024 年第二季的所得稅費用為 670 萬美元，而 2023 年第二季的所得稅費用為 350 萬美元。

Our GAAP net income was $15.5 million or $0.37 per diluted share for the second quarter of 2024, compared to net income of $9.9 million or $0.25 per diluted share for the second quarter of 2023. On a non-GAAP basis, we had adjusted EBITDA of $56.2 million for the second quarter of 2024, compared to $51.1 million for the prior year second quarter. Adjusted net income was $17 million, or $0.40 per diluted share for the second quarter of 2024, compared to $14.4 million or $0.35 per diluted share for the prior year second quarter.

2024 年第二季我們的 GAAP 淨利為 1,550 萬美元，即稀釋後每股 0.37 美元，而 2023 年第二季淨利為 990 萬美元，即稀釋後每股 0.25 美元。根據非公認會計原則，我們調整後的 2024 年第二季 EBITDA 為 5,620 萬美元，而去年第二季的 EBITDA 為 5,110 萬美元。2024 年第二季調整後淨利為 1,700 萬美元，即稀釋後每股收益 0.40 美元，而去年第二季調整後淨利為 1,440 萬美元，即稀釋後每股收益 0.35 美元。

Turning to the balance sheet and an update on our liquidity. At the end of the second quarter, we had total liquidity of $208.3 million comprised of $38.3 million in cash and $170 million of availability under our ABL facility.

轉向資產負債表和我們流動性的最新情況。截至第二季末，我們的流動資金總額為 2.083 億美元，其中包括 3,830 萬美元現金和 ABL 設施下的 1.7 億美元可用資金。

During the second quarter, we continued to make progress towards achieving our year-end 2025 capital allocation goals of 2.5 times to 3 times net debt leverage and repurchasing $25 million to $100 million of equivalent outstanding shares. As of June 28, 2024 year-to-date, we have repurchased $10 million of our outstanding common shares resulting in a reduction of approximately 264,000 shares outstanding and repaid $14.5 million of outstanding debt.

第二季度，我們繼續在實現 2025 年底資本配置目標（即淨債務槓桿 2.5 倍至 3 倍）以及回購 2,500 萬美元至 1 億美元等值已發行股票方面取得進展。截至 2024 年 6 月 28 日，年初至今，我們已回購了 1,000 萬美元的已發行普通股，減少了約 264,000 股已發行股票，並償還了 1,450 萬美元的未償債務。

June 28, 2024, total net debt was approximately $661 million inclusive of all cash and cash equivalents and net debt to adjusted EBITDA was approximately 3.2 times as compared to approximately 3.3 times as of the first quarter of 2024.

截至 2024 年 6 月 28 日，淨債務總額約為 6.61 億美元，包括所有現金和現金等價物，淨債務與調整後 EBITDA 比率約為 3.2 倍，而 2024 年第一季約為 3.3 倍。

Turning to our full year guidance for 2024. Based on the current trends in the business, we are providing our full year financial guidance as follows; we estimate that net sales for the full year of 2024 will be in the range of $3.665 billion to $3.785 billion gross profit to be between $874 million and $902 million and adjusted EBITDA to be between $208 million and $219 million.

轉向我們的 2024 年全年指引。根據當前的業務趨勢，我們提供全年財務指引如下：我們預計2024 年全年淨銷售額將在36.65 億美元至37.85 億美元之間，毛利將在8.74 億美元至9.02 億美元之間，調整後的EBITDA 將在2.08 億美元至2.19 億美元之間。

Please note for the third quarter of 2024, we expect both convertible notes maturing in December of this year and those maturing in 2028 to be dilutive for reporting purposes, and therefore, we expect the fully diluted share count to be approximately 45.9 million shares. For the fourth quarter and for the full year of 2024, we expect the remaining convertible notes maturing in 2028 to be dilutive, and therefore we expect the fully diluted share count to be approximately 45 million shares for the fourth quarter and full year reporting periods.

請注意，對於2024 年第三季度，我們預計今年12 月到期的可轉換票據和2028 年到期的可轉換票據在報告中都會被稀釋，因此，我們預計完全稀釋後的股份數量約為4590萬股。對於第四季和 2024 年全年，我們預計 2028 年到期的剩餘可轉換票據將具有攤薄性，因此我們預計第四季度和全年報告期的完全稀釋股數約為 4500 萬股。

Thank you. And at this point we'll open it up to questions. Operator?

謝謝。此時我們將開放提問。操作員？

Thank you. We will now be conducting a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] The first question we have is from Alex Slagle of Jefferies. Please go ahead.

謝謝。我們現在將進行問答環節。[操作員說明] 我們收到的第一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Alex Slagle。請繼續。

Good morning. Hi, guys. I wanted to ask on the case growth opportunity for the back half and maybe if you could just talk to some of the drivers and pipeline visibility you have that give you confidence being able to continue driving the organic case growth like you have recently. I know consumer demand in the restaurant industry more broadly seems to have gotten a bit choppier. So I just wanted to get your thoughts and things that give you confidence into the back half.

早安.嗨，大家好。我想詢問後半部分的案例增長機會，也許您可以與您擁有的一些驅動因素和管道可見性交談，這讓您有信心能夠像最近一樣繼續推動有機案例增長。我知道餐飲業的消費者需求似乎變得更不穩定。所以我只是想把你的想法和那些讓你充滿信心的事情帶入後半部分。

Sure. Yeah. So Andy, I mean again I think that our clientele had a pretty strong second quarter. And I think when you look at last year, as well as you came into the summertime, it was a little choppy last year. I think what we're -- it's too early to see but I think it's kind of becoming more of a typical summer where a lot of people from the US travel. And last year we saw it like come roaring back again in September.

當然。是的。安迪，我再說一遍，我認為我們的客戶第二季表現相當強勁。我認為當你回顧去年以及進入夏季時，去年有點波動。我認為我們現在的情況——現在看還為時過早，但我認為這已經變得更像是一個典型的夏天，很多來自美國的人都會去旅行。去年九月，我們看到它再次捲土重來。

So forecasting -- we're looking at bookings, we're looking at hotel bookings, we're looking at conferences, we're looking at corporate events, we're to our customers. We see a pretty normal type of third fourth quarter hopefully coming together. And we've invested so much in what we call the hybrid sale. We put lots of teams out there. We're cross-selling. We're putting more and more trained salespeople out in the street. We've added the capacity in the warehouses.

所以預測——我們關注預訂，我們關注酒店預訂，我們關注會議，我們關注企業活動，我們面向我們的客戶。我們希望第三季和第四季的表現非常正常。我們在所謂的混合銷售上投入了大量資金。我們派了很多團隊在那裡。我們是交叉銷售。我們正在將越來越多訓練有素的銷售人員送到街上。我們增加了倉庫的容量。

So I think it's what we're expecting. We've invested in it. And obviously it could be up or down a little bit, but we feel pretty good about where we've invested and boots on the ground and our product mix which I think is the most unique in the industry. And we continue to see new openings and I think that's where we're winning a lot. I always say restauranteurs open restaurants.

所以我認為這就是我們所期待的。我們已經投資了。顯然，它可能會有所上升或下降，但我們對我們的投資和實地啟動以及我認為是業內最獨特的產品組合感到非常滿意。我們繼續看到新的職位空缺，我認為這就是我們贏得很多勝利的地方。我總是說餐廳老闆開餐廳。

People that are in the hotel business want to build hotels. And I think what you're seeing more and more is -- I'm reading some of the reports where headcounts are down in restaurants 2%, 3% depending on your sector but we also have so many openings. So I think where Chef is winning is we're winning in the openings and that could be making up for any, sort of, headwinds in customer counts.

酒店業的人們想要建造酒店。我想你越來越多地看到的是——我正在閱讀一些報告，餐廳的員工人數減少了 2%、3%，具體取決於你所在的行業，但我們也有很多空缺職位。因此，我認為 Chef 獲勝的地方在於我們在空缺中獲勝，這可以彌補客戶數量的任何不利因素。

Yes, Alex, I'll just add that we're reporting first half of the year. New customer acquisition close to 10% just under 10%. Item placement growth double digits 11% to 12% and that's been making up for a little bit of the moderation that Chris mentioned that you're seeing in terms of demand or volume especially during the summer. And so some of the investments that we've made in those areas and category growth in sales force and some of the tools we're giving them are paying off.

是的，亞歷克斯，我只想補充一點，我們正在報告今年上半年的情況。新客戶獲取率接近 10%，略低於 10%。商品放置量增加了兩位數，從 11% 到 12%，這在一定程度上彌補了克里斯提到的需求或數量方面的放緩，尤其是在夏季。因此，我們在這些領域進行的一些投資和銷售團隊的類別成長以及我們為他們提供的一些工具正在獲得回報。

Got it. And Jim a follow-up if you could provide any color around potential cadence of the margin leverage we have in the back half. I know the 3Q lapse there were some unique headwinds and some timing dynamics at play as you roll off like the increase from some of the new facilities now.

知道了。吉姆是後續行動，如果您能提供有關我們後半部分保證金槓桿的潛在節奏的任何顏色。我知道第三季的衰退有一些獨特的逆風和一些時機動態在發揮作用，就像現在一些新設施的增加一樣。

Yes. The guidance implies obviously in the first half of the year our organic growth was closer to 8%, but the full year guidance implies kind of 6% to 7% organic revenue growth. So we had already built in a deceleration a moderate deceleration in the back half of the year in terms of organic revenue growth. But that's really driven by the comparisons because if you remember last summer we really had a margin issue driven by the protein markets. It wasn't a volume issue. We had really good year-over-year volume and revenue growth. And so we're comping to a little bit of a tougher comp in the back half of the year. But that's really just driven by last year's cadence versus this year.

是的。該指導顯然意味著上半年我們的有機成長接近 8%，但全年指引意味著 6% 至 7% 的有機收入成長。因此，我們已經在今年下半年的有機收入成長方面進行了適度的減速。但這其實是由比較驅動的，因為如果你還記得去年夏天我們確實遇到了由蛋白質市場驅動的利潤問題。這不是音量問題。我們的銷量和收入年增率非常好。因此，我們在今年下半年將面臨更艱難的競爭。但這其實只是由去年與今年的步調所推動的。

Okay. Thanks for the help.

好的。感謝您的協助。

The next question we have is from Mark Carden of UBS. Please go ahead.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的馬克卡登。請繼續。

Good morning. Thanks so much taking my questions. So I want to dig in a bit more on sales your customers are holding up pretty well overall. I know last quarter you talked about some pressure at some of your casual customers. Does it remain pretty constrained to this customer segment? Or are you seeing it creep into a broader swath of your customers' restaurants?

早安.非常感謝回答我的問題。因此，我想更多地了解您的客戶總體上保持良好的銷售情況。我知道上個季度您談到了一些臨時客戶面臨的壓力。它仍然受到這個客戶群的限制嗎？或者您看到它滲透到您顧客的餐廳？

Yes. I'm trying to recall really what you're referencing to. But again our customer base is extremely diverse. We purposely hire trained large teams to go after different types of business caterers, upscale fast casual, hotels, cruise ships all the way up to what I call super fine dining. So we purposely have the diverse clientele to kind of balance out any headwinds in certain sectors. And as you can see the second quarter was pretty good. We felt our customer base did pretty well in an environment that we see a lot of the numbers coming out of QSR and some of the lower-priced restaurant groups.

是的。我正在努力回憶你所指的內容。但我們的客戶群又極為多元。我們特意聘請訓練有素的大型團隊來服務不同類型的商務餐飲服務商、高檔休閒快餐、酒店、遊輪，一直到我所說的超級美食。因此，我們故意擁有多元化的客戶，以平衡某些領域的任何不利因素。正如你所看到的，第二季度非常好。我們認為我們的客戶群在這樣的環境中表現得很好，我們看到很多數字來自 QSR 和一些價格較低的餐廳集團。

So we think our customers are pretty savvy. They understand how to -- where they have to promote, give a little bit more value. And on the higher end, I think it's bifurcated. You have certain sectors that have slowed down a little bit. You see a lot of the reports coming out of other distributors and the restaurant reports and other parts of our clientele have accelerated. So I think that balanced attack is helping us put up pretty good numbers.

所以我們認為我們的客戶非常精明。他們知道如何在必須推廣的地方提供更多的價值。從高端來看，我認為它是分裂的。有些產業的發展速度放緩。您將看到許多來自其他經銷商的報告、餐廳報告以及我們客戶的其他部分的報告都在加速。所以我認為平衡的進攻幫助我們取得了不錯的成績。

Great. And then inflation appears to be pretty healthy. Any unusual dynamics to call out on that front? And just how are you thinking about it now for the balance of the year?

偉大的。然後通膨似乎相當健康。在這方面有什麼不尋常的動態嗎？現在您如何看待今年剩下的時間？

Not really anything to call out. I mean if you look at the first quarter and second quarter together, roughly 3% type of average inflation. I would say, there's a couple of categories on the specialty side that are driving probably the difference between kind of 2% and 3%. I mean, I think everybody is aware of what's happened with olive oil and some categories like chocolate driven by weather in different parts of the world. So excluding those, you're kind of in that normal kind of 2% to 3% range. And we don't really expect anything materially different at this point going forward.

實在沒什麼好說的。我的意思是，如果你一起看第一季和第二季度，平均通膨率約為 3%。我想說，專業方面有幾個類別可能導致 2% 和 3% 之間的差異。我的意思是，我認為每個人都知道橄欖油和巧克力等受世界不同地區天氣影響的某些類別發生了什麼。因此，排除這些因素，您的比例就處於 2% 到 3% 的正常範圍內。我們並不真正期望未來會出現任何實質的差異。

Great. Thanks so much and good luck, guys.

偉大的。非常感謝，祝大家好運。

Thanks.

謝謝。

The next question we have is from Todd Brooks of The Benchmark Company. Please go ahead.

我們的下一個問題來自基準公司的托德布魯克斯。請繼續。

Hey, Todd.

嘿，托德。

Hey, guys. Congrats on the results in the quarter. A couple of quick questions for you. If you look across your customer base, just wondering what you're seeing as far as geographic disparities and performance. If you look at the California market, I don't know if some of that angst that we're hearing about broadly in the category has crept into the fine dining end of the sector there. And then we also hear that Florida remains a challenged market. So just wondering, if you look across the base, maybe strong versus weaker markets, and thoughts on that.

嘿，夥計們。恭喜本季的業績。有幾個簡單的問題想問你。如果您縱觀您的客戶群，只是想知道您所看到的地理差異和績效。如果你看看加州市場，我不知道我們在該類別中廣泛聽到的一些焦慮是否已經蔓延到那裡的高級餐飲領域。然後我們也聽說佛羅裡達州仍然是一個充滿挑戰的市場。所以只是想知道，如果你看看整個基礎，也許是強勁的市場與疲軟的市場，以及對此的想法。

We haven't really seen a huge disparity across regions. I think we mentioned on our first quarter call that, we saw some of the higher-end steakhouses are down year-over-year from a traffic perspective where there's a bit of a trade down, where we're selling more high-end burgers versus the maybe the prime steaks, but we're still making good margin on those.

我們還沒有真正看到地區之間存在巨大差異。我想我們在第一季的電話會議上提到，從客流量的角度來看，我們看到一些高端牛排館的銷量同比下降，其中存在一些貿易下降，我們正在銷售更多的高端漢堡與也許是優質牛排相比，但我們仍然在這些牛排上獲得了不錯的利潤。

So we see different dynamics across our regions. Our international markets are doing really well. And there's a number of domestic markets that are showing strength. Some are showing a little bit more moderation. I don't think there's any specific markets that we would call out as being significantly different. So I would just say that there's pockets of moderation across regions.

因此，我們看到各個地區的動態有所不同。我們的國際市場表現非常好。許多國內市場也展現了強勁的實力。有些人表現得更溫和一些。我認為沒有任何特定市場是我們認為有顯著差異的。所以我只想說，各個地區都存在一些節制的地方。

Yeah. I mean I'll add a little more color to that. I think that where there is a little bit of softness, I think in everybody reporting in the same-store sales. I think we're seeing the same thing and we're adding so many customers in Southern California where we've added a state-of-the-art facility and more boots on the ground. And I think it's the same in Florida.

是的。我的意思是我會為此添加更多色彩。我認為，每個人報告的同店銷售額都存在一點疲軟的地方。我認為我們也看到了同樣的情況，我們在南加州增加了很多客戶，在那裡我們增加了最先進的設施和更多的地面靴子。我認為佛羅裡達州也是如此。

Florida had great numbers for us. They continue to grow. We started up pretty small. We just opened up our new facility. And I think any sort of softness in same-store sales, we're optimistic that we're making it up because we are winning, and we're adding -- continuing to add customers daily. And I think it's because of our size, too, we're relatively small, I think, to the major players that we're in Florida.

佛羅裡達州為我們提供了大量的數據。他們繼續成長。我們一開始規模很小。我們剛開設了新工廠。我認為同店銷售出現任何疲軟，我們都樂觀地認為我們正在彌補這一點，因為我們正在獲勝，而且我們正在增加——繼續每天增加客戶。我認為這也是因為我們的規模，我認為，對於佛羅裡達州的主要參與者來說，我們相對較小。

And I think that the Chef go-to-market strategy, who we are, what we're selling is making up for any of that softness. And I think we've seen this in our past so many years in business, it's really a pattern that we've done pretty well even when there's some headwinds and some softness in the consumer.

我認為 Chef 的市場策略、我們是誰、我們銷售的產品正在彌補這種弱點。我認為我們在過去這麼多年的業務中已經看到了這一點，這確實是一種模式，即使在消費者遇到一些阻力和一些疲軟的情況下，我們也做得很好。

That's great. And my second question and Jim, you pointed to the international markets doing very well. Can you just remind us on the distribution facility expansion timing for CME? And maybe a sense of what the old facility could handle capacity wise? And what it should be able to handle post the expansion being done? Thanks.

那太棒了。我的第二個問題，吉姆，你指出國際市場表現非常好。您能否提醒我們一下 CME 分銷設施擴建的時間？也許了解舊設施可以處理哪些容量？擴展完成後它應該能夠處理什麼？謝謝。

Yeah. Thanks for the question, Todd. Yeah. We're doubling the size of the facility. They were actually using a lot of kind of off-campus storage and freezer space which is fairly expensive. And so we'll be -- we'll finish that project probably at the end of the third quarter, early fourth quarter and then do a kind of a phased move through the fourth quarter. So we'll see most of the growth in benefits really coming into 2025 and into 2026. But yeah, we're going from about 100,000 square feet to 200,000 square feet with a lot of room for growth and that market is growing. It's very dynamic. So we're pretty excited about it. And even in their current space, they've been doing really well as they continue to grow in that market.

是的。謝謝你的提問，托德。是的。我們正在將設施的規模擴大一倍。他們實際上使用了很多校外儲存和冷凍空間，這是相當昂貴的。因此，我們可能會在第三季末、第四季初完成該項目，然後在第四季度採取分階段行動。因此，我們將看到大部分福利成長真正出現在 2025 年和 2026 年。但是，是的，我們的面積將從大約 100,000 平方英尺增加到 200,000 平方英尺，有很大的成長空間，而且這個市場正在成長。它非常有活力。所以我們對此感到非常興奮。即使在他們目前的領域，隨著他們在該市場的不斷增長，他們也做得非常好。

Okay, great. Thanks guys.

好的，太好了。謝謝你們。

Thanks.

謝謝。

The next question we have is from Peter Saleh of BTIG. Please go ahead.

我們的下一個問題來自 BTIG 的 Peter Saleh。請繼續。

Great. Thanks. Congrats on the quarter. I did want to ask, it sounds like you guys are continuing to win with new restaurant openings and new restaurant formation. I think you mentioned new customer acquisitions up about 10%. Is there any reason to believe that new restaurant formation will slow or that this trend will slow at all over the coming years? Is there anything that leads you to believe that this trend won't continue?

偉大的。謝謝。恭喜本季。我確實想問，聽起來你們正在繼續透過新餐廳的開幕和新餐廳的組成而獲勝。我想您提到新客戶獲取量成長了約 10%。有沒有理由相信新餐廳的形成將會放緩，或者這種趨勢在未來幾年將會放緩？有什麼因素讓您相信這種趨勢不會持續下去嗎？

Yeah. Great question. If I had the crystal ball, I feel a little bit better. But again, I could just go by our history and the world's changed since COVID. I think I remember even coming out of COVID, I said there's going to be an acceleration of openings because they were delayed, right, during COVID. And you see a lot of change in cities. You see the real estate dynamics of trying to reinvent buildings that were offices and trying to change those neighborhoods into more where they can add housing. We see a change in the suburbs where people are working more from home a few days a week.

是的。很好的問題。如果我有水晶球，我會感覺好一點。但我再說一次，我可以回顧我們的歷史，自從新冠疫情以來，世界已經改變了。我想我記得即使剛從新冠疫情中走出來，我也說過開業將會加速，因為在新冠疫情期間，它們被推遲了，對吧。你會看到城市發生了很多變化。你會看到房地產動態，試圖重新改造辦公大樓，並試圖將這些社區改造成更多可以增加住房的地方。我們看到郊區發生了變化，人們每週有幾天在家工作。

So I think restauranteurs continue to follow the money, and they continue to open restaurants where the traffic patterns seem to be especially with real estate developers a lot of them building restaurants to attract people to those areas, Peter. So I don't think I'm going to see much of a slowdown. I think a lot of the restaurant world is trying to reinvent itself to in a change. There's more takeout. There's more -- what we have seen as a proliferation of different types of restaurants and different types of food away from home. I mean, I continue to believe that people really are too busy to want to cook.

所以我認為餐館老闆繼續追隨金錢，他們繼續在交通模式似乎特別是房地產開發商的地方開設餐館，他們中的許多人建造餐館以吸引人們來到這些地區，彼得。因此，我認為不會有太大的放緩。我認為許多餐飲界都在嘗試重塑自我以進行改變。還有更多外賣。還有更多——我們看到不同類型的餐廳和不同類型的外出食物的激增。我的意思是，我仍然相信人們真的太忙而沒有時間做飯。

Even when they go into the markets, they're buying a lot of prepared foods. And I think more and more of our great chefs, restauranteurs are getting more and more into that business. And I think that's making up for maybe where there is softness in the typical sit-down restaurants that people are used to. The other side of that business has accelerated and it's better food that you could take out or get delivered, or it's food that you could sit down and eat or you could take it home. So we're seeing a tremendous proliferation of new types of outlets for us to sell.

即使他們進入市場，他們也會購買大量預製食品。我認為越來越多的優秀廚師、餐廳老闆越來越多地涉足這一行業。我認為這可能彌補了人們習慣的典型坐下餐廳的柔軟之處。業務的另一面也在加速發展，你可以外帶或送貨上門，或者是你可以坐下來吃或帶回家的更好的食物。因此，我們看到可供我們銷售的新型通路大量湧現。

Great. And then just on the investment in the sales team, 10% annual sales growth or sales team growth over the past several years. Given your targets into 2028, are you anticipating to accelerate that or keep that kind of pace of investment in the sales team the same?

偉大的。然後就在銷售團隊的投資上，過去幾年每年10%的銷售成長或銷售團隊成長。鑑於您到 2028 年的目標，您是否預計會加快這一目標，或保持對銷售團隊的投資速度不變？

Yeah. I mean, I think the pace is what we budgeted and forecasted to spend. We're looking at the dynamics of our business. There's been so much talk about online will replace salespeople, which we think online is making salespeople more efficient and giving them more time to do what we really want them to do is be consultants. And I think I've been beating that drum for the last four or five years that the crystal ball says that online is going to get better and better. Younger people as they come into the industry are going to use a lot of those tools because they're so used to it being on an app and researching. So we are investing in better information, more information, online being a partner to our customer, assisting them in menu development, assisting them and chefs are curious, they're constantly wanting to learn and constantly wanting to invent.

是的。我的意思是，我認為速度是我們預算和預測的支出。我們正在關注我們業務的動態。關於線上將取代銷售人員的討論很多，我們認為在線使銷售人員變得更有效率，並讓他們有更多的時間去做我們真正希望他們做的事情，那就是成為顧問。我想，在過去的四五年裡，我一直在敲響水晶球說在線將會變得越來越好的鼓。年輕人進入這個行業時會使用很多這樣的工具，因為他們已經習慣了在應用程式上進行研究。因此，我們正在投資更好的信息，更多的信息，在線成為我們客戶的合作夥伴，協助他們開發菜單，幫助他們，廚師們很好奇，他們不斷地想要學習，不斷地想要發明。

So we're trying to be that partner, that's supplying that information. And again, we continue to add people because we see that for what we do, and it might not work for everybody's business, they want to see somebody who is talking to them and we have a tremendous amount of talent that mans the phone still. And obviously, we could chat, if you want to be just online. So we like to give our customers choices and we think that we found a winning balance for now it can always change that really works for our customers and it's driving more volume to all our Chef customers, all our chef OpCos.

因此，我們正在努力成為提供資訊的合作夥伴。再說一次，我們繼續增加人員，因為我們看到我們所做的事情，這可能不適合每個人的業務，他們希望看到有人與他們交談，而我們擁有大量的人才仍在接聽電話。顯然，如果您想在線聊天，我們可以聊天。因此，我們喜歡為客戶提供選擇，我們認為我們現在找到了一個制勝的平衡，它總是可以改變，這對我們的客戶來說真正有效，並且它為我們所有的廚師客戶、我們所有的廚師OpCo帶來了更多的銷量。

Thank you very much.

非常感謝。

The next question we have is from Kelly Bania of BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

我們的下一個問題來自 BMO 資本市場的 Kelly Bania。請繼續。

Hi. Good morning. This is Ben Wood on for Kelly. Thank you for taking our questions. So first we just wanted to dig in a little bit more on the unique customer growth and the placement growth and are there specific regions or markets that are driving that? Or is that fairly consistent throughout your markets? Just hoping you can help us frame how maybe high growth markets are comparing to your mature markets and if those high-growth areas you're investing in how they are tracking against your expectations?

你好。早安.這是凱利的班·伍德。感謝您接受我們的提問。因此，首先我們只是想進一步深入了解獨特的客戶成長和安置成長，是否有特定的地區或市場在推動這一成長？或者說，這在整個市場中相當一致嗎？只是希望您能幫助我們了解高成長市場與成熟市場的比較情況，以及您投資的那些高成長領域的表現是否符合您的預期？

Yes. Thanks for the question, Ben. Yes we always like Chris mentioned in his prepared remarks, we always have in our portfolio a mix of more mature markets like the Northeast and other areas that we've been operating for 40 years. And then our newer higher growth investment markets that we've talked about, as we're coming out of our heavy investment cycle like Florida and Southern California, Dubai, Seattle some of our smaller markets like Nashville and Michigan and that we're making investments in and we have higher growth.

是的。謝謝你的提問，本。是的，我們總是像克里斯在他準備好的演講中提到的那樣，我們的投資組合中始終包含更成熟的市場，例如東北部和我們已經經營了 40 年的其他地區。然後是我們談到的新的更高成長的投資市場，因為我們正在擺脫佛羅裡達州和南加州、杜拜、西雅圖等我們的重型投資週期，以及納許維爾和密西根州等一些較小的市場，我們正在做這些投資，我們有更高的成長。

So yes, I mean it's like any portfolio of businesses, where your high-growth markets are going to contribute more to unique customer acquisition, your mature markets, you're growing more through category expansion and growing more relevance with your customers through item penetration, selling more items, as well as growing in the outlying markets call it the higher income suburbs around the major cities and that's how you grow in your mature markets.

所以，是的，我的意思是，就像任何業務組合一樣，您的高成長市場將為獨特的客戶獲取做出更多貢獻，您的成熟市場將透過品類擴展實現更多成長，並透過產品滲透與客戶建立更多相關性，銷售更多的商品，以及在外圍市場的成長，稱為主要城市周圍收入較高的郊區，這就是您在成熟市場中成長的方式。

So we have 54 locations in 32 or 33 operating markets now. So there's always a good balance between your more mature markets and then your high-growth markets. And I think we expect that the big investments that we've made in capacity in infrastructure and sales force that we talked about are going to drive a lot of our growth going forward.

因此，我們現在在 32 或 33 個營運市場擁有 54 個辦事處。因此，較成熟的市場和高成長市場之間始終保持良好的平衡。我認為我們預計我們在基礎設施和銷售團隊方面進行的大規模投資將推動我們未來的成長。

Okay. That's helpful. And then just a follow-up on maybe some of the new restaurant openings you're seeing for your core end customers. Do you guys have an estimate on the pace that you're currently seeing in new restaurant openings? And how does that compare to maybe the current levels? It sounds like Chris has mentioned that it was faster than normal potentially but just wanted to make sure I understood that correctly.

好的。這很有幫助。然後，對您為核心最終客戶看到的一些新餐廳開業進行跟進。你們對目前新餐廳開幕的速度有估計嗎？與目前的水平相比如何？聽起來克里斯已經提到它可能比正常情況要快，但只是想確保我理解正確。

Yes, again, I think we're growing in new markets. So for us it's new accounts, right? So I don't think our systems differentiate between a new customer and a new opening. So I think the numbers are a little fuzzy there. So I think Jim said before, we had 10% increase in customer base overall. So part of that are brand new openings, and part of those are a lot of new customers for Chef.

是的，我再次認為我們正在新市場中成長。所以對我們來說這是新帳戶，對吧？因此，我認為我們的系統不會區分新客戶和新職缺。所以我認為那裡的數字有點模糊。所以我想吉姆之前說過，我們的客戶群整體增加了 10%。因此，其中一部分是全新的開業，一部分是 Chef 的大量新客戶。

But what I could tell you anecdotally what we've seen is a lot of development. When I look at Florida, we see tremendous development in new neighborhoods new buildings and they're all adding restaurants. And restaurants, I think, how developers use as a reason for someone to come look at their buildings. So I just continue to see as especially in the American market, Dubai, we have tremendous amounts of openings constantly. But in the U.S. market, you kind of see still a shifting of where people are choosing to live. I still don't think we're at the -- what anyone would call normal right? I don't know what normal is anymore.

但我可以透過軼事告訴你，我們已經看到了很多發展。當我觀察佛羅裡達州時，我們看到新社區、新建築的巨大發展，而且它們都在增加餐廳。我認為，餐廳也是開發商如何利用這個理由吸引人們來參觀他們的建築的。因此，我繼續看到，特別是在美國市場、杜拜，我們不斷有大量的職缺。但在美國市場，你會看到人們選擇居住的地方仍在改變。我仍然認為我們還沒有達到任何人所說的正常狀態，對嗎？我不知道什麼是正常了。

People are working hybrid, they all going to come back to the office five days a week? So I think restaurant tours and developers are kind of following the where people are migrating to live and they're building restaurants and they're building apartments and they're building homes. And I don't see that slowing down. I mean anything could happen but I think it's at a pretty healthy pace.

人們正在混合工作，他們每週都會回到辦公室五天嗎？因此，我認為餐廳旅遊和開發商正在追隨人們遷移居住的地方，他們正在建造餐廳，他們正在建造公寓，他們正在建造房屋。我不認為這種趨勢會放緩。我的意思是任何事情都有可能發生，但我認為這是一個相當健康的步伐。

Great. Thank you very much.

偉大的。非常感謝。

Thanks, Ben.

謝謝，本。

The next question we have is from Andrew Wolf of C.L. King. Please go ahead.

我們的下一個問題來自 C.L. 的 Andrew Wolf。國王。請繼續。

Hi. Good morning. thank you. I wanted to ask about margins. First the gross margin at Specialty expanded nicely. I think you said 50 bps and I think it was kind of flattish last quarter. Could you just give us a sense of what accounted for the nice increase in the margin? And is it sort of forward buying inflation back or mix or German or just kind of randomness in the inventory management? And sort of a feeling for sustainability?

你好。早安.謝謝。我想問一下利潤率。首先，Specialty 的毛利率成長良好。我想你說的是 50 個基點，我認為上季的情況比較平淡。您能否讓我們了解一下利潤率大幅成長的原因是什麼？這是一種提前購買通膨、混合或德國的方式，還是只是庫存管理中的某種隨機性？以及對永續發展的某種感覺？

Yes. Thanks for the question Andy. I think it just goes back to kind of the improvement we started to drive coming out of the summer last year into September in the fourth quarter. But it's also the fruition of a lot of work that our pricing and procurement teams and our sales management teams have been doing around margin management. We've invested in a lot of tools a lot of technology and a lot of focus on margins after we experienced some of that volatility last year.

是的。謝謝安迪的提問。我認為這可以追溯到我們從去年夏天到第四季九月開始推動的改進。但這也是我們的定價和採購團隊以及銷售管理團隊圍繞利潤管理所做的大量工作的成果。在經歷了去年的一些波動之後，我們投資了許多工具和技術，並且非常關注利潤率。

And that's just continued. And so it's everything from reducing errors in inventory management that lead to waste that impact your margins. It's everything from further integration of our acquisitions and driving the cross-sell. Texas is a good example, as we further integrated our sales teams and our inventory with our CW specialty business and Hardie's the produce business, we've been able to improve overall margins there as we're selling more expensive specialty boxes on their trucks, as we're growing relevance with our customers by having the produce category.

這一切還在繼續。因此，減少庫存管理中的錯誤會導致浪費，從而影響您的利潤。這一切都來自於我們收購的進一步整合和推動交叉銷售。德克薩斯州就是一個很好的例子，隨著我們進一步將我們的銷售團隊和庫存與我們的CW 特種業務和Hardie 的農產品業務整合，我們已經能夠提高那裡的整體利潤，因為我們在他們的卡車上銷售更昂貴的特種箱，因為我們透過農產品類別來增強與客戶的相關性。

And then, obviously it's not specialty related but we invested and built an Allen Brothers processing plant in Texas, and we're selling more expensive protein boxes on those trucks through our processing facility there. So it's really a combination of things and a lot of really good work by a lot of our teams coming together and we're just seeing that continue.

然後，顯然這與專業無關，但我們在德克薩斯州投資並建造了一家艾倫兄弟加工廠，我們透過我們在那裡的加工廠在這些卡車上銷售更昂貴的蛋白質盒。因此，這實際上是多種因素的結合，也是我們許多團隊共同努力的結果，我們看到這種情況仍在繼續。

Okay. Thanks. That's helpful. Same question, but looking at the kind of adjusted expense ratio it did expand again but by a little less than last quarter. And obviously, with all the new facilities there's a lot of over -- unabsorbed overhead and maybe even some of the variable costs are obviously maybe not optimized yet.

好的。謝謝。這很有幫助。同樣的問題，但看看調整後的費用比率，它確實再次擴大，但增幅略低於上季。顯然，所有新設施都有很多未吸收的開銷，甚至一些可變成本顯然尚未優化。

But what is the outlook there? I mean are you going to have slow progress? Is that sort of just a slow and steady as the centers fill up? Or are there other parts of the business where maybe labor inflation or other issues are still kind of impacting overall expense leverage?

但那裡的前景如何？我的意思是你會進展緩慢嗎？當中心填滿時，這是否只是緩慢而穩定的？或者，業務的其他部分是否存在勞動力通膨或其他問題仍然影響整體費用槓桿的情況？

No, we talked about it earlier when we did the guidance, Andy. If you recall, the operating leverage is weighted to the back half of the year, mainly the fourth quarter. So, we got a modicum this quarter. We expect a little bit more in Q3 but in Q4, is where we expect because we'll fully lap some of the big facility and the operating expenses that are associated with those big facility investments really in the back half of the year and then into 2025.

不，我們之前在做指導時就討論過這個問題，安迪。如果你還記得的話，營運槓桿會加權到今年下半年，主要是第四季。因此，本季我們取得了一些成果。我們預計第三季會多一點，但第四季是我們預期的，因為我們將在今年下半年完全消化一些大型設施以及與這些大型設施投資相關的營運費用，然後進入2025 年。

So, similar to our CapEx is more heavily weighted to the first half of the year because we're finishing those projects. Our operating leverage related to the expenses is weighted towards the back half of the year and the guidance implies that. It's really nothing more than that.

因此，與我們的資本支出類似，上半年的權重更大，因為我們正在完成這些項目。我們與費用相關的營運槓桿是在今年下半年加權的，指導意見也表明了這一點。確實僅此而已。

Obviously, in the fourth quarter, we normally get the most operating leverage just driven by the top line power of the fourth quarter versus really the rest of the year.

顯然，在第四季度，與今年剩餘時間相比，我們通常會在第四季度的營收動力的推動下獲得最大的營運槓桿。

Okay, got it. Thank you. That’s it from me.

好的，明白了。謝謝。這就是我說的。

Thanks Andy.

謝謝安迪。

The next question we have is from Ben Klieve of Lake Street Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

我們的下一個問題來自 Lake Street Capital Markets 的 Ben Klieve。請繼續。

All right. Thanks for taking my questions and congrats on a nice quarter here. Jim I had a follow-up question for you. You noted that you are seeing some customers eating nice burgers instead of nice steaks. And I'm wondering if you can comment a bit on kind of the impact of the beef complex on your business, specifically has the kind of persistent increase in beef prices really flowed through your financials as you would expect?

好的。感謝您回答我的問題，並祝賀您度過了一個愉快的季度。吉姆，我有一個後續問題想問你。您注意到您看到一些顧客吃美味的漢堡而不是美味的牛排。我想知道您是否可以評論一下牛肉綜合體對您業務的影響，特別是牛肉價格的持續上漲是否真的如您所期望的那樣影響了您的財務狀況？

And then also looking forward as the price of beef versus other proteins really just continues to widen, is there anything to call out on a forward-looking outlook specifically related to beef?

然後，展望未來，隨著牛肉相對於其他蛋白質的價格確實繼續上漲，有什麼值得特別關注的與牛肉相關的前瞻性前景嗎？

Well, I mean I think the first thing I would add is that beef prices in general haven't gone up as much as everybody expected. And while the year-over-year price inflation we reported was about 4%, really it was flat versus the first quarter sequentially and fairly flat versus the back half of last year.

嗯，我的意思是，我想我要補充的第一件事是，牛肉價格總體上並沒有像大家預期的那樣上漲。雖然我們報告的同比價格通膨約為 4%，但實際上與第一季相比持平，與去年下半年相比也相當持平。

So, actually a lot of the middle meats and the middle cuts are actuall prices have been moderating. And even in the last couple of months, even the higher end has moderated a little bit.

因此，實際上很多中間肉類和中間切塊的價格實際上一直在放緩。即使在過去的幾個月裡，即使是高端市場也有所放緩。

So, the year-over-year is a little misleading versus what's happening in the market right now. You're not seeing incredible spikes. And I think a lot of that is driven by the fact that retail demand is lower and that really drives the price of beef.

因此，與目前市場上發生的情況相比，年比情況有點誤導。你沒有看到令人難以置信的峰值。我認為這很大程度上是由於零售需求下降而推動的，這確實推動了牛肉價格的上漲。

Yes. And I think to add a little bit more color to the customers substituting eating a hamburger versus a steak. Again I mean steakhouses are a small part of our total business. So, steakhouses are a little bit more unique of why customers go to a steakhouse.

是的。我認為可以為顧客添加更多的色彩，用吃漢堡代替吃牛排。我再說一遍，牛排館只占我們總業務的一小部分。因此，牛排館在顧客去牛排館的原因上有點獨特。

But we sell so much protein, so much beef to our thousands and thousands of other customers and again they're creative. That's why we have these state-of-the-art cut shops and all the talent that we have to create, whether it's going from a 14-ounce to a 12-ounce type of steak, different types of cuts, how they mix and match their menus. So, it can give maybe a little better value entry point to types of different types of customers. So, we still see a very healthy demand for our prime steaks, our Wagyu steaks, our Japanese steaks. So, the demand is still strong.

但我們向成千上萬的其他客戶出售瞭如此多的蛋白質、如此多的牛肉，而且他們也很有創意。這就是為什麼我們擁有這些最先進的切肉車間以及我們必須創造的所有人才，無論是從 14 盎司到 12 盎司的牛排、不同類型的切肉、它們的混合方式以及匹配他們的菜單。因此，它可以為不同類型的客戶提供更好的價值切入點。因此，我們仍然看到對我們的優質牛排、和牛牛排、日本牛排的需求非常健康。所以，需求依然強勁。

Is it as strong as it was coming out of COVID? We didn't expect it to be. We think that was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of like big rush everybody going out, and enjoying life again. So I think we're going back to more normalcy. And I've seen these cycles before and that's why, we have five six different types of premium choices for customers and say in our custom grinding operations. And we're also cutting all different types, and maybe smaller-sized portions for customers, who want to keep the quality and maybe lower their price, a few bucks per steak by offering -- you see it on a lot of the menu, a petite filet, or we saw a tremendous amount of obviously skirt steaks and different cuts that fit people's menus.

它是否像新冠病毒爆發時一樣強烈？我們沒想到會這樣。我們認為這是千載難逢的一次，就像每個人都出去享受生活一樣。所以我認為我們會回到正常狀態。我以前見過這些循環，這就是為什麼我們為客戶提供五到六種不同類型的優質選擇，並在我們的客製化磨削操作中說。我們也為那些想要保持品質並可能降低價格的顧客切割所有不同類型的牛排，也許還可以切小份，每塊牛排只賣幾美元——你在很多菜單上都能看到，一塊小菲力牛排，或者我們看到大量明顯的裙邊牛排和適合人們菜單的不同切法。

So again, our customer base, which is mainly the independents are extremely creative. And I think, they're going to continue to find ways to get customers in the door and stay profitable and meet a price point that the customer base the date, and time I think with all the media on saying things are changing or economy is slowing, has a kind of effect. But overall, our customer base is really more higher end, and I think it affects them less.

再說一遍，我們的客戶群（主要是獨立人士）非常有創意。我認為，他們將繼續尋找方法吸引客戶並保持盈利，並滿足客戶基於日期和時間的價格點，我認為所有媒體都在說事情正在發生變化或經濟正在發生變化。但總的來說，我們的客戶群確實更高端，我認為這對他們的影響較小。

Got it. Got it. Very helpful from both of you. Thanks for the color there. Thanks for taking my question. I'll get back in queue.

知道了。知道了。你們倆都非常有幫助。感謝那裡的顏色。感謝您提出我的問題。我會回到隊列中。

Thanks, Ben.

謝謝，本。

Thank you. At this time, there are no further questions. And I would like to hand the call back over to Chris Pappas for any closing comments.

謝謝。目前，沒有其他問題了。我想將電話轉回克里斯·帕帕斯（Chris Pappas）以徵求結束意見。

Sure. Well, we hope everybody is having a great summer and we thank everybody for joining us on our call, and we look forward for everyone joining on our next quarter. Thank you very much.

當然。好吧，我們希望每個人都度過了一個愉快的夏天，我們感謝每個人加入我們的電話會議，我們期待每個人都加入我們的下一個季度。非常感謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's conference. Thank you for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines.

女士們、先生們，今天的會議到此結束。感謝您加入我們。現在您可以斷開線路。