奇波雷墨西哥燒烤 (CMG) 2021 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to the Chipotle Mexican Grill Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2021 Results Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note, this event is being recorded.

美好的一天，歡迎參加 Chipotle Mexican Grill 第四季度和 2021 年全年業績電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，此事件正在記錄中。

I would now like to turn the conference over to Ashish Kohli, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

我現在想將會議轉交給投資者關係主管 Ashish Kohli。請繼續。

Hello, everyone, and welcome to our fourth quarter and fiscal year-end 2021 earnings call. By now, you should have access to our earnings press release. If not, it may be found on our Investor Relations website at ir.chipotle.com.

大家好，歡迎來到我們的第四季度和 2021 財年末財報電話會議。到目前為止，您應該可以訪問我們的收益新聞稿。如果沒有，可以在我們的投資者關係網站 ir.chipotle.com 上找到。

I'll begin by reminding you that certain statements and projections made in this presentation about our future business and financial results constitute forward-looking statements. These statements are based on management's current business and market expectations, and our actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Please see the risk factors contained in our annual report on Form 10-K and in our Form 10-Qs for a discussion of risk that may cause our actual results to vary from these forward-looking statements.

我將首先提醒您，本演示文稿中關於我們未來業務和財務業績的某些陳述和預測構成前瞻性陳述。這些陳述基於管理層當前的業務和市場預期，我們的實際結果可能與前瞻性陳述中的預測存在重大差異。請參閱我們的 10-K 表格年度報告和我們的 10-Q 表格中包含的風險因素，以討論可能導致我們的實際結果與這些前瞻性陳述不同的風險。

Our discussion today will include non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation to GAAP measures can be found via the link included on the presentation page within the Investor Relations section of our website.

我們今天的討論將包括非公認會計準則財務指標。可以通過我們網站“投資者關係”部分的演示頁面中包含的鏈接找到與 GAAP 措施的對賬。

We will start today's call with prepared remarks from Brian Niccol, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; and Jack Hartung, Chief Financial Officer. After which, we will take your questions. Our entire executive leadership team is available during the Q&A session.

今天的電話會議將以主席兼首席執行官布萊恩·尼科爾（Brian Niccol）的準備講話開始；和首席財務官 Jack Hartung。之後，我們將回答您的問題。我們的整個行政領導團隊都可以在問答環節進行。

And with that, I'd like to turn the call over to Brian.

有了這個，我想把電話轉給布賴恩。

Thanks, Ashish, and good afternoon, everyone. 2021 was an outstanding year for Chipotle, highlighting the organizational strength and resiliency of our brand. Despite an unprecedented environment, our employees remain passionate about their work, dedicated to delivering excellent guest experiences and aligned with our purpose and values. Our business is as much about people as it is about food, and I strongly believe that we have the best in the industry. I'm very grateful for our team members' monumental efforts. And together, we accomplished many incredible things and accelerated business momentum, all of which was fueled by our multipronged growth strategy.

謝謝，Ashish，大家下午好。 2021 年對 Chipotle 來說是傑出的一年，凸顯了我們品牌的組織實力和彈性。儘管環境前所未有，但我們的員工仍然對工作充滿熱情，致力於提供卓越的賓客體驗，並與我們的宗旨和價值觀保持一致。我們的業務既關乎人，也關乎食品，我堅信我們擁有業內最好的。我非常感謝我們團隊成員的巨大努力。我們一起完成了許多令人難以置信的事情並加速了業務發展勢頭，所有這些都得益於我們多管齊下的增長戰略。

For the fiscal year, this resulted in sales growing 26% to reach $7.5 billion driven by a 19.3% comp; digital sales of $3.4 billion, which grew 25% versus the prior year; restaurant-level margin expanding 520 basis points year-over-year to reach 22.6%; adjusted diluted EPS of $25.42, representing 137% growth over last year; and we opened 215 new restaurants.

在本財年，這導致銷售額增長 26%，達到 75 億美元，增幅為 19.3%；數字銷售額 34 億美元，同比增長 25%；餐廳級利潤率同比增長 520 個基點，達到 22.6%；調整後的攤薄每股收益為 25.42 美元，比去年增長 137%；我們開了 215 家新餐廳。

I'm also delighted with our fourth quarter performance even with the surge in Omicron cases that began in December. For the quarter, we reported sales of $2 billion, representing 22% year-over-year growth, which was fueled by a 15.2% increase in comparable restaurant sales, restaurant-level margin of 20.2%, was 70 basis points higher than the 19.5% we reported last year; earnings per share adjusted for unusual items of $5.58, representing an increase of 60% year-over-year; digital sales growth of nearly 4% year-over-year, representing 42% of sales; and we opened 78 new restaurants, including 67 with the Chipotlane. We're encouraged by the recent performance but really excites us with the longer-term opportunity as we believe our powerful economic model will deliver best-in-class returns while achieving AUVs well beyond $3 million and significantly expanding the number of Chipotle restaurants in North America, which I'll elaborate on shortly.

即使在 12 月開始的 Omicron 案例激增，我也對我們第四季度的表現感到高興。本季度，我們報告銷售額為 20 億美元，同比增長 22%，這得益於可比餐廳銷售額增長 15.2%，餐廳級利潤率為 20.2%，比 19.5 高 70 個基點我們去年報告的百分比；不尋常項目調整後的每股收益為 5.58 美元，同比增長 60%；數字銷售額同比增長近 4%，佔銷售額的 42%；我們開設了 78 家新餐廳，其中 67 家與 Chipotlane 合作。我們對最近的表現感到鼓舞，但確實讓我們對長期機會感到興奮，因為我們相信我們強大的經濟模式將提供一流的回報，同時實現遠遠超過 300 萬美元的 AUV，並顯著擴大北部 Chipotle 餐廳的數量美國，我稍後會詳細說明。

There's no doubt in my mind that our 5 key strategies still have a long runway and are positioning us to win today while we create the future. We've revamped them slightly to reflect this transitioning from our turnaround phase to a sustainable growth phase. These now include: Number one, running successful restaurants with people, accountable culture that provides great food with integrity while delivering exceptional in-restaurant and digital experiences. Number two, sustaining world-class people leadership by developing and retaining diverse talent at every level. Number three, making the brand visible, relevant and love to improve overall guest engagement. Number four, amplifying technology and innovation to drive digital growth and productivity at our restaurants and support centers. And number five, expanding access and convenience by accelerating new restaurant openings.

在我看來，毫無疑問，我們的 5 項關鍵戰略還有很長的路要走，並讓我們在創造未來的同時贏得今天。我們對它們進行了輕微修改，以反映從我們的周轉階段到可持續增長階段的轉變。這些現在包括：第一，與人一起經營成功的餐廳，負責任的文化，提供誠信的美食，同時提供卓越的餐廳和數字體驗。第二，通過在各個層面培養和留住多元化人才來維持世界一流的人才領導力。第三，使品牌可見、相關並喜歡提高整體客戶參與度。第四，擴大技術和創新，以推動我們餐廳和支持中心的數字化增長和生產力。第五，通過加快新餐廳的開業來擴大訪問量和便利性。

Let me provide a brief update on each of these, starting with restaurant operations. The key to happy customers is a wonderful guest experience that provides consistently great-tasting food prepared and served quickly. This hasn't been easy, especially if the number of COVID cases spiked and, at times, impacted our staffing capabilities. But we're fortunate to have amazing employees at our restaurants who have stayed focused on safety, reliability and excellent culinary while adapting seamlessly to the dynamic environment. Their execution, whether it be on new menu introductions or managing the balance between digital and in-restaurant orders, has been exemplary.

讓我簡要介紹一下其中的每一個，從餐廳運營開始。讓客戶滿意的關鍵是出色的客戶體驗，提供始終如一的美味佳餚，快速烹製和供應。這並不容易，特別是如果 COVID 病例數量激增，並且有時會影響我們的人員配備能力。但我們很幸運，我們的餐廳擁有出色的員工，他們始終專注於安全、可靠和出色的烹飪，同時無縫適應動態環境。他們的執行，無論是新菜單介紹還是管理數字和餐廳訂單之間的平衡，都堪稱典範。

As always, throughput remains a key focal area and something that we're determined to improve, especially as more guests come back to the front line. The critical success factor is ensuring we have proper staffing, which is currently a challenge for many companies. However, ongoing investments in our people, including competitive starting rates, enhanced benefits, debt-free degrees, development programs and transparent career progression opportunities, are resulting in better employee recruitment and retention as well as allowing us to make progress on labor challenges.

與往常一樣，吞吐量仍然是一個關鍵領域，也是我們決心改進的地方，尤其是隨著越來越多的客人回到前線。成功的關鍵因素是確保我們擁有適當的人員配置，這目前對許多公司來說都是一個挑戰。然而，對我們員工的持續投資，包括有競爭力的起始率、更高的福利、無債務學位、發展計劃和透明的職業發展機會，正在導致更好的員工招聘和保留，並使我們能夠在勞動力挑戰方面取得進展。

But we know there's more work to do, especially to support our future growth. As a result, we are focused on increasing our staffing stability through investing in human capital technology that will enhance our hourly team member experience. Specifically, we are in the process of implementing a new digital scheduling program as well as upgrading our learning management portal. Also, I know we've mentioned this before, but it's worth highlighting again the importance of the GM role. Their leadership is crucial in executing the fundamentals of our business and setting the standard for how we run great restaurants every day. Additionally, our GMs help grow the brand and the careers of countless team members, many of whom end up being top-performing leaders in our organization. In fact, during 2021, 90% of our restaurant management roles were internal promotions. Overall, we've promoted almost 19,000 team members in 2021. Our goal is to develop and retain diverse talent at every level of the organization and be the employer of choice, a message we will emphasize at our all-manager conference in March.

但我們知道還有更多工作要做，尤其是在支持我們未來的增長方面。因此，我們專注於通過投資人力資本技術來提高我們的人員穩定性，這將增強我們每小時團隊成員的體驗。具體來說，我們正在實施新的數字調度計劃以及升級我們的學習管理門戶。另外，我知道我們之前已經提到過這一點，但值得再次強調 GM 角色的重要性。他們的領導力對於執行我們的業務基礎以及為我們每天如何經營一流餐廳設定標準至關重要。此外，我們的總經理幫助無數團隊成員發展品牌和職業生涯，其中許多人最終成為我們組織中表現最好的領導者。事實上，在 2021 年，我們 90% 的餐廳管理職位都是內部晉升的。總體而言，我們在 2021 年提升了近 19,000 名團隊成員。我們的目標是在組織的各個層面培養和留住多元化人才，並成為首選雇主，我們將在 3 月份的全經理會議上強調這一信息。

After all, our employees need to be ready to support the consistent demand our talented marketing team creates by making Chipotle more visible, more relevant and more loved. This is done using different advertising channels, including traditional media to enhance brand awareness and stay relevant. A wonderful example is our short animated film called A Future Begins, which is a sequel to our award-winning 2011 film Back To The Start, and shines a light on the modern-day challenges the next generation of farmers are facing. While many young farmers value sustainability and ethics and farming like we do, they're struggling with new problems like climate change, technology costs and access to farmland. Launching this film is one of the ways that we are raising awareness of our mission to influence the 2023 farm bill that would facilitate equitable access to up to 1 million acres of land for the next generation of farmers.

畢竟，我們的員工需要準備好支持我們才華橫溢的營銷團隊創造的持續需求，讓 Chipotle 更引人注目、更相關和更受歡迎。這是通過使用不同的廣告渠道來完成的，包括傳統媒體，以提高品牌知名度並保持相關性。一個很好的例子是我們的動畫短片 A Future Begins，它是我們 2011 年獲獎電影 Back To The Start 的續集，揭示了下一代農民面臨的現代挑戰。雖然許多年輕農民像我們一樣重視可持續性、道德和農業，但他們正在努力應對氣候變化、技術成本和獲得農田等新問題。推出這部電影是我們提高人們對影響 2023 年農業法案的使命的認識的方式之一，該法案將促進下一代農民公平獲得多達 100 萬英畝的土地。

We also utilized creative social media to successfully drive culture, drive difference and ultimately drive a purchase. We celebrated the 21-year anniversary of Boorito by providing $5 digital orders and serving up $1 million in free Booritos through a virtual Chipotle restaurant on roadblocks. We're the first restaurant brand to create a virtual experience on the interactive roadblocks platform, which resulted in Halloween 2021 having the most digital transactions of all time at Chipotle. This is a great illustration of us reaching consumers in a unique way to build sales today and the brand for tomorrow.

我們還利用創意社交媒體成功推動文化、推動差異並最終推動購買。我們通過提供 5 美元的數字訂單並通過路障上的虛擬 Chipotle 餐廳提供 100 萬美元的免費 Booritos 來慶祝 Boorito 成立 21 週年。我們是第一個在交互式路障平台上創建虛擬體驗的餐廳品牌，這導致 2021 年萬聖節在 Chipotle 擁有有史以來最多的數字交易。這很好地說明了我們以獨特的方式接觸消費者，以建立今天的銷售和明天的品牌。

Enhancing our marketing efforts is a consistent cadence of 2 to 3 new menu items per year, using a disciplined approach to innovation. Not only do these items help bring new guests in the Chipotle family, but they also drive frequency with existing users and give us another opportunity to highlight the brand.

加強我們的營銷工作是每年 2 到 3 個新菜單項的一致節奏，使用嚴格的創新方法。這些物品不僅有助於為 Chipotle 家族帶來新客人，而且還提高了現有用戶的頻率，並為我們提供了另一個突出品牌的機會。

In 2021, we launched cauliflower rice in January, followed that with quesadillas in March and, finally, debuted smoked brisket in September. All of these new items performed very well, driving an increase in both check size and transactions.

2021 年，我們在 1 月推出了花椰菜飯，隨後在 3 月推出了油炸玉米粉餅，最後在 9 月推出了煙熏牛腩。所有這些新項目的表現都非常好，推動了支票規模和交易量的增加。

In 2022, we have already launched plant-based chorizo for a limited time across our U.S. restaurants. This entree is made using all real fresh ingredients grown on a farm, not in the lab, and proves that you don't have to sacrifice flavor to enjoy a vegan or vegetarian protein. It is off to a terrific start and is helping drive cultural buzz for its health and environmental benefits.

2022 年，我們已經在我們的美國餐廳限時推出了以植物為基礎的香腸。這道主菜是使用農場而非實驗室種植的所有真正新鮮原料製成的，證明您不必犧牲味道來享受純素或素食蛋白質。這是一個了不起的開端，並正在幫助推動其健康和環境效益的文化熱潮。

And there's more on deck. Pollo Asado, the first menu innovation with chicken in our 28-year history, has been successfully validated as part of our stage-gate process, and our culinary team is in the early stages of developing other exciting menu items. So stay tuned.

甲板上還有更多。 Pollo Asado 是我們 28 年曆史上的第一個雞肉菜單創新，已成功驗證為我們階段性流程的一部分，我們的烹飪團隊正處於開發其他令人興奮的菜單項目的早期階段。所以請繼續關注。

Another important growth driver that accelerated during the pandemic has been our technology transformation, which is helping Chipotle become a real food-focused digital lifestyle brand. During the fourth quarter, digital sales grew 4% year-over-year to $811 million and represent 42% of sales. We're pleased to see our digital sales dollars continue to grow despite lapping tough comparisons, and our overall digital mix remained steady in what seems like a new normal. Incredibly, our full year digital sales of $3.4 billion is nearly 3.5x what we did pre-COVID in 2019.

在大流行期間加速的另一個重要增長動力是我們的技術轉型，這正在幫助 Chipotle 成為一個真正以食品為中心的數字生活方式品牌。第四季度，數字銷售額同比增長 4% 至 8.11 億美元，佔銷售額的 42%。儘管進行了艱難的比較，我們很高興看到我們的數字銷售收入繼續增長，我們的整體數字組合在似乎新常態的情況下保持穩定。令人難以置信的是，我們全年 34 億美元的數字銷售額幾乎是 2019 年疫情前的 3.5 倍。

Digital has proven to be sticky as it's a frictionless and convenient experience that has been aided by continuous investments, and you will likely see us increasing technology enablement for our restaurants and support centers to amplify innovation, enhance the customer experience and optimize efficiencies to improve operational execution.

數字化已被證明具有粘性，因為它是一種無摩擦且方便的體驗，並得到了持續投資的幫助，您可能會看到我們為我們的餐廳和支持中心增加技術支持，以擴大創新、增強客戶體驗並優化效率以改善運營執行。

As a result of this pandemic, many new consumers were introduced to Chipotle via our digital channels and are now using us for alternative and, at times, incremental occasions. Having 2 large and growing businesses that are supported by separate make-lines makes it easy for guests to access Chipotle through different channels and is a key point of differentiation. Currently, about 2/3 of our guests use in-restaurant as their exclusive channel, with the remainder using Chipotle's digital ecosystem to conveniently access our real food. This dynamic gives us several future opportunities, including adding more guests, converting more of our in-restaurant guests into higher frequency digital users and leveraging our expanding loyalty program.

由於這種流行病，許多新消費者通過我們的數字渠道被介紹給 Chipotle，現在他們將我們用於替代的，有時是增量的場合。擁有 2 家由獨立生產線支持的大型且不斷發展的企業使客人可以輕鬆地通過不同渠道訪問 Chipotle，這是差異化的關鍵點。目前，我們大約 2/3 的客人使用餐廳內作為他們的專屬渠道，其餘的則使用 Chipotle 的數字生態系統來方便地獲取我們真正的食物。這種動態為我們提供了一些未來的機會，包括增加更多的客人，將更多的餐廳客人轉化為頻率更高的數字用戶，以及利用我們不斷擴大的忠誠度計劃。

We now have more than 26.5 million members in our rewards program, which is a key enabler of our digital flywheel. We're focusing a lot more on personalization by creating journeys, primarily for new and at-risk customers that can influence guest behaviors and ultimately drive more frequency. As the program grows and we gain more experience, we are constantly learning, evolving and optimizing. For example, offering greater customization and flexibility to redeem rewards as well as gamifying the program with personalized challenges and badges that helped drive engagement and deepen relationships with our guests.

現在，我們的獎勵計劃中有超過 2650 萬會員，這是我們數字飛輪的關鍵推動力。我們通過創建旅程來更加關注個性化，主要針對可能影響客戶行為並最終提高頻率的新客戶和有風險的客戶。隨著項目的發展和我們獲得更多經驗，我們不斷學習、發展和優化。例如，提供更大的定制化和靈活性來兌換獎勵，以及通過個性化挑戰和徽章使計劃遊戲化，這有助於提高參與度並加深與客人的關係。

Not only have we seen strong positive responses from our most loyal fans, but even more exciting is that these program enhancements have increased engagement from our medium and low-frequency guests. We are delighted with our progress to date and believe ongoing investments and further leveraging of data-driven insights will make us even better.

我們不僅從最忠實的粉絲那裡看到了強烈的積極響應，更令人興奮的是，這些計劃的改進提高了我們中低頻率客人的參與度。我們對迄今為止取得的進展感到高興，並相信持續的投資和進一步利用數據驅動的洞察力將使我們變得更好。

Our last strategic driver is to expand access and convenience, which today is the #1 request from consumers. And we're listening. I'm excited to share that over the long term, we now believe we can operate at least 7,000 Chipotle restaurants in North America, up from our prior goal of 6,000 based on the success of small town opportunities that are delivering unit economics at or better than our traditional locations. We're also in the early stages of testing alternate formats, including seam locations, which, if successful, could further expand our addressable market. Additionally, given healthy and improving cash-on-cash returns, we are building a real estate pipeline that will allow us to accelerate new unit growth to be in the range of 8% to 10% per year, with greater than 80% of new restaurants having a Chipotlane. And of course, we continue to look for ways to enhance convenience with Chipotlanes, alternative formats, delivery and catering to provide many ways for our guests to Chipotle.

我們最後的戰略驅動力是擴大訪問和便利性，這是當今消費者的第一要求。我們正在傾聽。我很高興地與大家分享，從長遠來看，我們現在相信我們可以在北美經營至少 7,000 家 Chipotle 餐廳，高於我們之前的目標 6,000 家，這取決於小城鎮的成功機會，這些機會正在提供單位經濟效益或更好比我們傳統的位置。我們還處於測試替代格式的早期階段，包括接縫位置，如果成功，可以進一步擴大我們的潛在市場。此外，鑑於健康且不斷提高的現金回報率，我們正在建立一個房地產渠道，這將使我們能夠將新單位的增長率加速到每年 8% 至 10% 的範圍內，其中超過 80% 的新單位有 Chipotlane 的餐廳。當然，我們將繼續尋找通過 Chipotlanes、替代格式、交付和餐飲來提高便利性的方法，以便為我們的客人提供前往 Chipotle 的多種方式。

In closing, I can't thank our employees enough for everything they've done to elevate the brand and cultivate a better world for each other, our guests and our communities no matter what external restrictions came our way in 2021. As I've said before, challenges create opportunities, and we are now in a much stronger competitive position than we were 2 years ago.

最後，我非常感謝我們的員工為提升品牌和為彼此、我們的客人和我們的社區營造一個更美好的世界所做的一切，無論我們在 2021 年遇到什麼外部限制。因為我已經前面說過，挑戰創造機遇，我們現在的競爭地位比兩年前要強得多。

While we're still navigating through what we all hope is the last phase of this pandemic, I look forward to the future with optimism and can't wait to see what 2022 holds for Chipotle.

雖然我們仍在經歷我們都希望是這場大流行的最後階段，但我樂觀地期待著未來，迫不及待地想看看 2022 年對 Chipotle 的影響。

Okay. With that, here's Jack to walk you through the financials.

好的。有了這個，傑克將帶您了解財務狀況。

Thanks, Brian, and good afternoon, everyone. We ended the year on a positive note, with sales in the fourth quarter growing 22% year-over-year to reach $2 billion as comp sales grew 15.2%. Restaurant-level margin of 20.2% expanded 70 basis points over last year. And earnings per share adjusted for unusual items was $5.58, representing 60.3% year-over-year growth. The fourth quarter had unusual expenses related to legal expenses, our previously disclosed 2018 performance share modification transformation costs as well as restaurant asset impairment and closure costs, which negatively impacted our earnings per share by $0.89, leading to GAAP earnings per share of $4.69.

謝謝，布賴恩，大家下午好。我們以積極的態度結束了這一年，第四季度的銷售額同比增長 22%，達到 20 億美元，同時復合銷售額增長了 15.2%。餐廳級別的利潤率為 20.2%，比去年增加了 70 個基點。不尋常項目調整後的每股收益為 5.58 美元，同比增長 60.3%。第四季度有與法律費用、我們之前披露的 2018 年業績份額修改轉型成本以及餐廳資產減值和關閉成本相關的異常費用，這對我們的每股收益產生了 0.89 美元的負面影響，導致 GAAP 每股收益為 4.69 美元。

As we look ahead to 2022, there remains uncertainty on several fronts, including COVID impacts as well as staffing and inflationary pressures that limit our visibility, and therefore, make it difficult to provide full year comp guidance. These headwinds were significant in January, which also included some challenging weather, which led to a January comp of around 5%. We remain optimistic that as these challenges ease that our comps will accelerate from the January level. While it's difficult to predict the comp for Q1 with precision, we expect it to land somewhere in the mid to high single-digit range, assuming the effects of COVID continue to subside.

展望 2022 年，在幾個方面仍存在不確定性，包括 COVID 影響以及限制我們知名度的人員配備和通貨膨脹壓力，因此難以提供全年薪酬指導。這些不利因素在 1 月份非常顯著，其中還包括一些具有挑戰性的天氣，導致 1 月份的產量下降了 5% 左右。我們仍然樂觀地認為，隨著這些挑戰的緩解，我們的業績將從 1 月份的水平加速。雖然很難準確預測第一季度的業績，但我們預計它將落在中高個位數範圍內，假設 COVID 的影響繼續消退。

There's no doubt our restaurant-level margin is (inaudible) in the near term. So let me provide some perspective on Q4 and what we expect moving forward. Besides ongoing labor pressures, our Q4 margin was impacted by a higher level of commodity inflation than we originally expected, primarily due to elevated beef and freight costs. As a result, we took a 4% menu price increase in the middle of December to help offset these headwinds. Given the timing of this pricing action, it had little impact in the quarter, resulting in our Q4 margin being at the lower end of our 20% to 21% guidance range. However, if you look ahead to Q1 where we will see the pricing benefit for the full quarter, our restaurant level margin is expected to be nearly 22%. And normalizing for the elevated marketing spend expected this quarter as well as transitory COVID-related cost pressures, the underlying Q1 margin would be in the low to mid-23% range. The bottom line is that our underlying margin remains healthy, and we believe we still have pricing power to use as needed if inflation continues to rise going forward. Of course, we'll be thoughtful and patient as we consider these actions to make sure we continue to deliver an excellent value and dining experience to our guests.

毫無疑問，我們的餐廳級利潤率在短期內是（聽不清）。因此，讓我提供一些關於第四季度的觀點以及我們對未來的預期。除了持續的勞動力壓力外，我們第四季度的利潤率還受到高於我們最初預期的商品通脹水平的影響，主要是由於牛肉和運費成本上漲。因此，我們在 12 月中旬將菜單價格上漲了 4%，以幫助抵消這些不利因素。鑑於此次定價行動的時間安排，它對本季度的影響不大，導致我們的第四季度利潤率處於我們 20% 至 21% 指導範圍的下限。但是，如果您展望第一季度，我們將看到整個季度的定價收益，我們的餐廳級利潤率預計將接近 22%。對於本季度預期的營銷支出增加以及與 COVID 相關的暫時性成本壓力正常化，第一季度的基本利潤率將在 23% 的中低範圍內。底線是我們的基本利潤率保持健康，我們相信如果未來通脹繼續上升，我們仍然有定價權可以根據需要使用。當然，我們在考慮這些行動時會考慮周到和耐心，以確保我們繼續為客人提供卓越的價值和用餐體驗。

Now let me go through the key P&L line items, beginning with cost of sales. While our supply chain team continues to do an admirable job keeping our restaurants and supply of key ingredients and managing the cost of doing so, external challenges were quite extreme in Q4, which led to food cost being 31.6%, an increase of 60 basis points from last year. As I just mentioned, inflation on beef and freight, and to a lesser extent, avocado costs more than offset the leverage from our menu price increases. As we think about Q1, the successful premium brisket LTO has ended, and we get the full benefit of our December pricing. These tailwinds will be partially offset by a full quarter of elevated beef prices as well as seasonally higher avocado pricing. As a result, we expect our Q1 food cost to be in the 30% to 30.5% range.

現在讓我來看看關鍵的損益表項目，從銷售成本開始。雖然我們的供應鏈團隊繼續在保持我們的餐廳和關鍵食材供應以及管理成本方面做得令人欽佩，但第四季度的外部挑戰相當極端，導致食品成本為 31.6%，增加了 60 個基點從去年開始。正如我剛才提到的，牛肉和運費的通貨膨脹，以及在較小程度上，鱷梨的成本超過了我們菜單價格上漲的影響。當我們考慮第一季度時，成功的優質胸肉 LTO 已經結束，我們從 12 月的定價中獲得了全部好處。這些順風將被整整四分之一的牛肉價格上漲以及鱷梨價格季節性上漲所部分抵消。因此，我們預計第一季度的食品成本將在 30% 至 30.5% 之間。

Labor costs for the fourth quarter were 26.4%, an increase of about 100 basis points from last year. This increase was driven by our strategic decision to increase average nationwide wages to $15 per hour in May of last year, which was partially offset by menu price increases and sales leverage. While we're expecting elevated wage inflation to continue, especially given higher exclusion and overtime pay because of the Omicron variant, our December menu price increase should provide some offset, resulting in labor costs being in the low 26% range for Q1.

第四季度的勞動力成本為 26.4%，比去年增加了約 100 個基點。這一增長是由我們在去年 5 月將全國平均工資提高到每小時 15 美元的戰略決定推動的，這部分被菜單價格上漲和銷售槓桿所抵消。雖然我們預計工資通脹將繼續上漲，特別是考慮到由於 Omicron 變體而導致的更高的排斥和加班工資，但我們 12 月的菜單價格上漲應該會提供一些抵消，導致第一季度的勞動力成本處於 26% 的低位範圍內。

Other operating costs for the quarter were 16.3%, a decrease of about 160 basis points from last year, due primarily to price and sales leverage. Marketing and promo costs for the quarter were 3.6%, about 30 basis points lower than we spent last year, but as expected, 120 basis point sequential increase from Q3 to support smoke brisket and the latest brand messaging under our Behind The Foil campaign. Like Q4, Q1 tends to be a higher marketing quarter to support new menu items like plant-based chorizo. Therefore, we expect marketing to be in the high 3% range in Q1 but to remain around 3% for the full year. Overall, other operating costs are expected to be in the mid-16% range for the first quarter.

本季度其他運營成本為 16.3%，比去年下降約 160 個基點，主要是由於價格和銷售槓桿。本季度的營銷和促銷成本為 3.6%，比我們去年的花費低約 30 個基點，但正如預期的那樣，與第三季度相比連續增加了 120 個基點，以支持煙胸和我們在背後宣傳活動下的最新品牌信息。與第四季度一樣，第一季度往往是一個較高的營銷季度，以支持新的菜單項，如植物性香腸。因此，我們預計第一季度營銷將處於 3% 的高位範圍內，但全年將保持在 3% 左右。總體而言，預計第一季度其他運營成本將在 16% 左右。

G&A for the quarter was $116 million on a GAAP basis or $133 million on a non-GAAP basis, excluding $18 million related to the proposed settlement of legal matters, $7.6 million for the previously disclosed modification to our 2018 performance shares and $1.3 million related to transformation expenses. G&A also includes about $100 million in underlying G&A, $30 million related to noncash stock compensation, $1.8 million related to higher performance-based bonus accruals and payroll taxes and equity vesting and stock option exercises, and roughly $1.4 million related to our upcoming all-manager conference. We expect our underlying G&A to be around $101 million in Q1 and grow slightly every quarter thereafter as we continue to make investments, primarily in technology and people, to support ongoing growth. Despite the elevated spend, our goal remains to deliver leverage on this line item relative to our sales growth, just like we did in 2021.

本季度的 G&A 為 1.16 億美元（按 GAAP 計算）或 1.33 億美元（按非 GAAP 計算），不包括與擬議解決法律問題有關的 1800 萬美元、先前披露的對我們 2018 年業績份額的修改的 760 萬美元和與轉型費用。 G&A 還包括約 1 億美元的基礎 G&A、3000 萬美元與非現金股票薪酬有關、180 萬美元與更高的績效獎金和工資稅、股權歸屬和股票期權行使有關，以及大約 140 萬美元與我們即將到來的全經理有關會議。我們預計第一季度我們的基本 G&A 約為 1.01 億美元，此後每個季度都會略有增長，因為我們將繼續進行投資，主要是在技術和人員方面，以支持持續增長。儘管支出增加，但我們的目標仍然是相對於我們的銷售增長在這一項目上發揮槓桿作用，就像我們在 2021 年所做的那樣。

We anticipate stock comp will be likely around $30 million in Q1, although this amount could move up or down based on our performance and subject to the 2022 grants which are issued in Q1. We also expect to recognize around $4 million related to employer taxes associated with shares that vested during the quarter as well as about $17 million related to our all-manager conference.

我們預計第一季度的股票補償可能在 3000 萬美元左右，儘管這一數額可能會根據我們的表現上下浮動，並取決於第一季度發放的 2022 年贈款。我們還預計將確認約 400 萬美元與本季度歸屬股票相關的雇主稅，以及與我們的全經理會議相關的約 1700 萬美元。

Our effective tax rate for Q4 was 20.3% on a GAAP basis and 18.7% on a non-GAAP basis. Both rates benefited from option exercises and share vesting at elevated stock prices. In addition, our GAAP tax rate included a benefit for the write-off of uncertain tax position reserves in the fourth quarter of 2021. For fiscal 2022, we estimate our underlying effective tax rate will be in the 25% to 27% range, though it may vary based on discrete items.

我們第四季度的有效稅率在 GAAP 基礎上為 20.3%，在非 GAAP 基礎上為 18.7%。兩種利率都受益於期權行權和股價上漲的股票歸屬。此外，我們的 GAAP 稅率包括在 2021 年第四季度沖銷不確定的稅收狀況準備金的好處。對於 2022 財年，我們估計我們的基本有效稅率將在 25% 至 27% 範圍內，不過它可能因離散項目而異。

Our balance sheet remains healthy as we ended the year with $1.4 billion in cash, restricted cash and investments, with no debt, along with the $500 million untapped revolver. During the fourth quarter, we repurchased $169 million of our stock in average price of $1,750. And we continue to -- we expect to continue using excess free cash flow to opportunistically repurchase our stock.

我們的資產負債表保持健康，因為我們在年底擁有 14 億美元的現金、受限制的現金和投資，沒有債務，還有 5 億美元的未開發左輪手槍。在第四季度，我們以 1,750 美元的平均價格回購了 1.69 億美元的股票。我們將繼續 - 我們預計將繼續使用多餘的自由現金流機會性地回購我們的股票。

We're privileged to have the financial strength with which to make ongoing strategic investments, including restaurant design and real estate development growth. I'm really impressed by the hard work of our development and operations team as they opened 78 new restaurants in the fourth quarter with 67, including a Chipotlane. This is despite all the construction inflationary pressures, subcontractor labor issues, critical equipment shortages and landlord delivery delays. For the full year, we exceeded our guidance and opened 250 new restaurants with 81% or 174, including a Chipotlane. We ended 2021 with 355 Chipotlanes, including 16 conversions and 11 relocation. And overall, these formats continue to demonstrate a stellar performance. Furthermore, we're gaining more confidence in our conversion and relocation strategy, which will allow us to enhance the Chipotlane opportunity and provide more access and convenience for our guests. As a result, we expect to open between 235 and 250 restaurants in 2022 with more than 80%, including a Chipotlane. And this guidance includes 5 to 10 relocations to add a Chipotlane. Looking past the pandemic, we expect to be able to accelerate openings in 2023 and beyond and move towards the high end of the 8% to 10% openings range that Brian mentioned.

我們有幸擁有財務實力來進行持續的戰略投資，包括餐廳設計和房地產開發增長。我們的開發和運營團隊的辛勤工作給我留下了深刻的印象，他們在第四季度開設了 78 家新餐廳，共有 67 家，其中包括一家 Chipotlane。儘管存在所有建築通脹壓力、分包商勞動力問題、關鍵設備短缺和房東交付延遲等問題。全年，我們超出了我們的指導，新開了 250 家餐廳，佔 81% 或 174 家，其中包括一家 Chipotlane。到 2021 年底，我們共有 355 個 Chipotlanes，其中包括 16 個轉換和 11 個搬遷。總體而言，這些格式繼續表現出出色的表現。此外，我們對我們的改建和搬遷戰略越來越有信心，這將使我們能夠增加 Chipotlane 的機會，並為我們的客人提供更多的訪問和便利。因此，我們預計到 2022 年將開設 235 至 250 家餐廳，其中包括 Chipotlane 在內的餐廳數量將超過 80%。該指南包括 5 到 10 次搬遷以添加 Chipotlane。縱觀大流行，我們預計能夠在 2023 年及以後加速開放，並朝著布賴恩提到的 8% 到 10% 的開放範圍的高端邁進。

Let me end by expressing my gratitude for our nearly 100,000 team members in the restaurants and in the support centers for overcoming countless issues in the past year to safely serve and delight our guests. Their focus and strong execution have brought us to where we are today and I believe will be critical to sustaining our industry leadership in the future.

最後，我要感謝餐廳和支持中心的近 100,000 名團隊成員在過去一年中克服了無數問題，以安全地服務和取悅我們的客人。他們的專注和強大的執行力使我們取得了今天的成就，我相信這對於我們在未來保持行業領先地位至關重要。

With that, we're happy to take your questions.

有了這個，我們很高興回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions) And the first question will come from Dennis Geiger with UBS.

（操作員說明）第一個問題將來自瑞銀的丹尼斯蓋格。

Wanted to focus a little bit more on the margin. I guess both for kind of the 1Q, I think Jack and Brian, you talked to, I think, low to mid-23 sort of underlying. Wondering if you could just talk a little bit more about what goes into that. And just kind of the go forward, if you could kind of give any kind of color as we go through the year, what that margin trajectory looks like and related -- as it relates to that long-term algorithm you provided, if there's any change there or if it's kind of consistent with what you've messaged prior.

想要更多地關注邊緣。我想兩者都是 1Q，我認為 Jack 和 Brian，你談過，我認為，低到中 23 種潛在的。想知道你是否可以多談談其中的內容。只是一種前進，如果你能在我們度過這一年時給出任何顏色，保證金軌跡是什麼樣的和相關的——因為它與你提供的長期算法有關，如果有的話在那裡更改，或者它是否與您之前發送的消息一致。

Yes. So I'll start, Jack. To answer your question, the long-term algorithm, we still believe we will achieve it. And it's a combination of the sales growth and, obviously, pricing where we need to, when we need to. And then we've got a lot of initiatives going on, make sure that we're as efficient as possible. So long term, we've got 100% confidence in what we can achieve. To your specific question about some of the stuff happening in the short term, I'll turn that over to Jack.

是的。所以我要開始了，傑克。為了回答你的問題，長期算法，我們仍然相信我們會實現它。這是銷售增長的結合，顯然，我們需要在需要的時候定價。然後我們有很多計劃正在進行，確保我們盡可能高效。從長遠來看，我們對我們可以實現的目標有 100% 的信心。對於你關於短期內發生的一些事情的具體問題，我會把它交給傑克。

Yes. The key things that are happening as you move from Q4 to Q1, are the menu price increase we took, we only -- we got like less than 100 basis points of impact in the fourth quarter as we took that in December. We'll get the full benefit of that in Q1. That's going to be offset somewhat by the fact that beef inflation has continued. We keep thinking that beef is going to level off and then go down. It just hasn't happened yet. And so while we got a partial quarter of beef inflation during the fourth quarter, we'll get a full quarter of inflation during that month.

是的。從第四季度到第一季度發生的關鍵事情是我們採取的菜單價格上漲，我們只是 - 我們在第四季度受到的影響不到 100 個基點，就像我們在 12 月採取的那樣。我們將在第一季度獲得全部收益。這將在一定程度上被牛肉通脹持續的事實所抵消。我們一直認為牛肉會趨於平穩然後下降。它只是還沒有發生。因此，雖然我們在第四季度獲得了部分季度的牛肉通脹，但我們將在該月獲得完整的季度通脹。

So we're just -- mainly those 2 things alone and then brisket -- actually brisket does -- it's a premium priced item, but it also is a premium cost item. So that has a drag on the margin as well. And so that ended during the fourth quarter. So when you look at what our margin is expected to be in Q1 without considering timing adjustments, it's in that kind of high 22% range. But we're going to spend more than average on marketing because we're going to support -- we already have supported new menu items. We're going to support our next campaign. And so when you adjust for the timing of that and some other timing differences, that's where our normalized underlying margin should be in that kind of 23% range.

所以我們只是 - 主要是這兩件事，然後是牛腩 - 實際上牛腩確實 - 它是一種高價商品，但它也是一種高價商品。所以這也對邊緣有拖累。所以這在第四季度結束了。因此，當您在不考慮時間調整的情況下查看我們第一季度的預期利潤率時，它處於 22% 的高水平範圍內。但我們將在營銷上花費超過平均水平，因為我們將支持——我們已經支持新的菜單項。我們將支持我們的下一個活動。因此，當您調整該時間和其他一些時間差異時，我們的標準化基礎保證金應該在 23% 的範圍內。

And then the other thing I would just add is typically, our winter months are not our high-margin months. So it, of course, depends on what happens with inflation throughout the year. But if inflation doesn't get too much worse, we would hope that we would see margin at or above that 23% range going forward.

然後我要補充的另一件事通常是，我們的冬季月份不是我們的高利潤月份。因此，當然，這取決於全年通貨膨脹的情況。但如果通脹沒有變得更糟，我們希望未來的利潤率能達到或高於 23% 的範圍。

The next question will be from Jared Garber from Goldman Sachs.

下一個問題將來自高盛的 Jared Garber。

I wanted to ask about menu innovation. And 2021 was a year in which you had several really successful innovation come through the menu. I wanted to just get a sense of how you're thinking about that as we approach '22 or head into further into '22 and how you think about lapping and maybe what those -- where you're focused on the menu.

我想問一下菜單創新。 2021 年是您通過菜單獲得多項真正成功的創新的一年。我想了解當我們接近 22 年或進一步進入 22 年時，您是如何考慮的，以及您對研磨的看法，也許還有那些——您專注於菜單的地方。

Yes. Sure. Yes. Well, you touched on the first part. We're really happy with how all of our initiatives performed. I think it's a testament to our discipline around ensuring what we launch has a high probability of success and that we're able to execute, supply it and then deliver a great experience. So really delighted with what we did in '21.

是的。當然。是的。好吧，你談到了第一部分。我們對我們所有舉措的執行情況感到非常滿意。我認為這證明了我們的紀律，即確保我們推出的產品具有很高的成功概率，並且我們能夠執行、提供它，然後提供出色的體驗。對我們在 21 年所做的事情感到非常高興。

As I mentioned this in my earlier remarks, the plant-based chorizo is off to a great start. If you haven't had a chance to try it, I highly recommend to give it a try. It's really terrific. But the way we think about it is we obviously want to listen to what our customers say they would like to see on the menu. That's why we've done things like quesadillas, improved the queso. We want to listen to what habits and trends are happening. So that's why you see us do things like leading with cauliflower rice, plant-based chorizo. And then we're going to lead consumer pallets. And that's why we're really excited about this Pollo Asado program that we just tested. Obviously, Carne Asada was something that we're really excited about. And hopefully, you had a chance to try the brisket. That was just, I thought, outstanding.

正如我在之前的評論中提到的那樣，以植物為基礎的香腸有了一個良好的開端。如果您還沒有機會嘗試，我強烈建議您嘗試一下。這真是太棒了。但我們的想法是，我們顯然想听聽顧客說他們想在菜單上看到什麼。這就是為什麼我們做了像油炸玉米餅這樣的事情，改進了 queso。我們想听聽正在發生的習慣和趨勢。所以這就是為什麼你看到我們做一些事情，比如用花椰菜飯、植物性香腸。然後我們將領導消費者托盤。這就是為什麼我們對剛剛測試過的 Pollo Asado 程序感到非常興奮。顯然，Carne Asada 是我們非常興奮的事情。希望你有機會嚐嚐牛腩。我想，這簡直太棒了。

And so we're going to continue to probably do 2 to 3 innovations a year. We're going to use kind of those guardrails is where our culinary team is looking. And then we're going to continue to use our disciplined approach so that we have a pretty good idea of how it's going to perform when we do roll it out nationally.

因此，我們將繼續每年進行 2 到 3 次創新。我們將使用我們的烹飪團隊正在尋找的那種護欄。然後我們將繼續使用我們嚴格的方法，以便我們對在全國范圍內推廣它時的表現有一個很好的了解。

The next question will be from David Palmer from Evercore ISI.

下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 David Palmer。

Question on pricing. Is the current year-over-year run rate 12% after that latest increment? And what's going to dictate your pricing strategy through the year? And in particular, I know people are curious about how you view your pricing power. What informs your view about Chipotle's pricing power? And basically, how does that dovetail with your pricing strategy?

關於定價的問題。在最新的增量之後，當前的同比運行率是否為 12%？什麼將決定您全年的定價策略？特別是，我知道人們對你如何看待你的定價能力感到好奇。您對 Chipotle 定價能力的看法是什麼？基本上，這與您的定價策略有何吻合？

Yes. So David, I think we're more in the 10% range right now as you look at Q1. And if we were to take any more pricing for the balance of the year, that ultimately ends up being about a 6% or more -- probably a little bit more than 6% for the year.

是的。所以大衛，當你看第一季度時，我認為我們現在更多地處於 10% 的範圍內。如果我們對今年的剩餘時間採取更多定價，最終最終會達到大約 6% 或更多——今年可能略高於 6%。

To answer your question on when and why we would take pricing, Jack can touch on this. We continue to see pressure on wages. We want to make sure that we continue to be competitive on that front. We feel like we're in a really good position right now. As a result, our restaurants are staffed better than they were pre-COVID and, frankly, better than they have been for the last 2 years through this whole COVID period. So we don't want to slip on our wages. So we're going to keep a close eye on that. And then, obviously, we'll look for any inefficiencies to help mitigate that, but we do have the pricing lever there.

要回答您關於我們何時以及為什麼要定價的問題，Jack 可以談到這一點。我們繼續看到工資壓力。我們希望確保我們在這方面繼續保持競爭力。我們覺得我們現在處於一個非常好的位置。因此，我們餐廳的人員配備比 COVID 之前更好，坦率地說，比過去 2 年整個 COVID 期間的情況都要好。所以我們不想拖欠工資。因此，我們將密切關注這一點。然後，顯然，我們會尋找任何低效率來幫助緩解這種情況，但我們確實有定價槓桿。

And then as Jack mentioned, beef and freight and some of these other things that continue to stay elevated, if we don't see it abate, we'll have to take some additional pricing there. So it's really the last thing we want to do, but we're fortunate that we can pull it. And we see no resistance to date with the levels that we're currently at.

然後正如傑克所說，牛肉和運費以及其他一些繼續保持高位的東西，如果我們沒有看到它減少，我們將不得不在那裡採取一些額外的定價。所以這確實是我們最不想做的事情，但我們很幸運能夠做到這一點。到目前為止，我們目前的水平沒有看到任何阻力。

And I think I mentioned this in my earlier remarks or maybe this was in the interview I did earlier, I mean, keep in mind, when we talk about these percentages, I'd like to run people the absolute dollar. The chicken Boorito for most parts of the country is still less than $8. Chicken bowl is still less than $8. And that's phenomenal value, especially when I see where, frankly, food that I would question the caliber not being what our caliber is nor what the customization is, right in that price point, if not higher. So we've got a lot of pricing power. Our customers appreciate the brand, appreciate the culinary. And we're fortunate to be in that position.

我想我在之前的評論中提到了這一點，或者這可能是在我之前做的採訪中，我的意思是，請記住，當我們談論這些百分比時，我想用絕對的美元來管理人們。該國大部分地區的Boorito雞肉仍然不到8美元。雞碗仍然不到8美元。這是非凡的價值，特別是當我看到坦率地說，我會質疑品質不是我們的品質或定制是什麼時，就在那個價格點上，如果不是更高的話。所以我們有很大的定價權。我們的客戶欣賞品牌，欣賞美食。我們很幸運能處於這個位置。

And the next question will be from Peter Saleh with BTIG.

下一個問題將來自 BTIG 的 Peter Saleh。

Brian, I think you just touched on this a little bit, but I'm hoping you can elaborate a little bit. You guys just took another price increase, and you're running with about 10%, but what about the value proposition? And how do you ensure you just don't outprice some of your consumers? Is there a benchmark that you're looking at to price against? Or is there something else we can look at to get a sense on how much inflation you guys are willing to take on?

布賴恩，我想你剛剛談到了一點，但我希望你能詳細說明一下。你們剛剛又漲價了，而且漲了大約 10%，但是價值主張呢？你如何確保你的價格不會超過你的一些消費者？您是否正在尋找一個基準來進行定價？或者我們可以看看其他東西來了解你們願意承擔多少通貨膨脹？

Yes. So look, we do a couple of things. One, we have internal work where we're constantly evaluating the value strength of our brand through, call it, traditional market research. And we also do the analytical side of things, where after we take pricing, we really do analyze what happens to transactions. And the good news is we have so much data now with our loyalty database that we're able to understand are there any behavioral impacts from what we're seeing. And we see very little resistance there.

是的。所以看，我們做了幾件事。一，我們有內部工作，我們通過傳統市場研究不斷評估我們品牌的價值實力。我們也做分析方面的事情，在我們定價之後，我們真的會分析交易會發生什麼。好消息是，我們的忠誠度數據庫現在擁有如此多的數據，我們能夠了解我們所看到的是否會對行為產生任何影響。我們在那裡看到的阻力很小。

And then obviously, we look out into the marketplace. You look at -- and all this stuff, right, pricing usually has something to do with your relative options. And when you look at the options, again, this is why I think we get such strong value scores to get our food with our customization, with our access, and frankly, the quantity that you're also able to get. We're kind of in our own space, and we're very fortunate to be in that space. And there's a lot of headroom from what we can tell. And I really hope we never have to use all of it, but we'll be judicious. And when we need to, we will.

然後很明顯，我們著眼於市場。你看 - 所有這些東西，對，定價通常與你的相對選擇有關。當您再次查看選項時，這就是為什麼我認為我們獲得如此高的價值得分以通過我們的定制、我們的訪問以及坦率地說，您也能夠獲得的數量來獲得我們的食物。我們有點在自己的空間裡，我們很幸運能在那個空間裡。從我們可以看出的情況來看，還有很多空間。我真的希望我們永遠不必使用所有這些，但我們會明智的。當我們需要時，我們會的。

And the next question is from David Tarantino from Baird.

下一個問題來自 Baird 的 David Tarantino。

My question is about the unit growth outlook accelerating. I guess first question is just wanted to gauge your confidence level in being able to ramp up to those types of numbers in the current labor environment we're in given how tight the labor market has become. I guess is there certain things you're doing on the staffing side ahead of that acceleration that are worth talking about?

我的問題是關於單位增長前景加速的問題。我想第一個問題只是想衡量你在當前勞動力環境中能夠提升到這些類型數字的信心水平，因為勞動力市場變得如此緊張。我想在加速之前你在人員配備方面做的某些事情值得一提嗎？

And then the second question related to this is, Jack, I was wondering if you could give us an update on what the return profile looks like for the Chipotlanes that you're developing.

然後與此相關的第二個問題是，傑克，我想知道您是否可以向我們提供有關您正在開發的 Chipotlanes 的返回配置文件的最新信息。

So yes. So David, your first question, we continue to feel really good about, one, the performance of our restaurant openings, right? So we opened 215, and the performance was excellent. That's a testament to our real estate development team, on our operators to ensure those restaurants were staffed for the opening. And one of the things -- I think I mentioned this in the script, we promoted something like 19,000 people to the manager level.

所以是的。所以大衛，你的第一個問題，我們繼續感覺很好，第一，我們餐廳開業的表現，對吧？於是我們開了215，性能非常好。這證明了我們的房地產開發團隊，我們的運營商確保這些餐廳在開業時配備了工作人員。其中一件事——我想我在劇本中提到了這一點，我們將大約 19,000 人提升為經理級別。

And the one thing that's great about our company is as we close in on having 3,000 restaurants and 4,000 restaurants, our goal is to internally develop our future of leaders. And the reason why that's important is it's a lot easier to prepare for 300 openings when you're working off of a base of 3,000 or 4,000. Or whatever number of openings we want to achieve, the bigger our base is, the more talent we can develop. And I think we're demonstrating we can develop that talent with the fact that we just promoted 19,000 employees. So they'll stay with us. They'll grow with us. They're excited about the growth opportunity.

我們公司最棒的一件事是，隨著我們接近擁有 3,000 家餐廳和 4,000 家餐廳，我們的目標是在內部培養我們未來的領導者。這很重要的原因是，當您在 3,000 或 4,000 的基礎上工作時，準備 300 個開口要容易得多。或者無論我們想要實現多少職位空缺，我們的基礎越大，我們可以培養的人才就越多。我認為我們正在證明我們可以通過我們剛剛提升了 19,000 名員工的事實來培養這種人才。所以他們會留在我們身邊。他們會和我們一起成長。他們對增長機會感到興奮。

I will tell you, obviously, COVID made it very hard to open 215 restaurants. That wasn't an easy thing. And again, I'd give a real hats off to our team for being able to execute that type of new restaurant opening quantity as well as quality.

我會告訴你，很明顯，COVID 讓開 215 家餐廳變得非常困難。那不是一件容易的事。再說一次，我真的要向我們的團隊致敬，因為他們能夠執行那種類型的新餐廳開業數量和質量。

And the last thing I'll say before I hand over to Jack is the pipeline is very strong. And we're fortunate people want Chipotle in their towns, the landlords want Chipotle in their centers. And we just demonstrated now we also have the small town opportunity to add to the Chipotlane opportunity.

在交給傑克之前我要說的最後一件事是管道非常強大。我們很幸運，人們想要在他們的城鎮中使用 Chipotle，而房東想要在他們的中心使用 Chipotle。我們剛剛展示了現在我們也有小鎮機會來增加 Chipotlane 的機會。

So we're in a really good position. Obviously, I'm hoping we're in the last phase of COVID and some things get a little bit easier versus harder going forward. But it's a real testament to the strength of our operations, the strength of our development team that we're able to open 215 high-quality new units.

所以我們處於一個非常好的位置。顯然，我希望我們處於 COVID 的最後階段，有些事情會變得更容易一些，而不是更難一些。但這確實證明了我們的運營實力，我們開發團隊的實力，我們能夠開設 215 個高質量的新單元。

So Jack, I'll let you talk to David's question on Chipotlanes.

所以傑克，我會讓你談談大衛關於 Chipotlanes 的問題。

Yes. David, Chipotlanes continue to outperform our non-Chipotlane restaurants. That's why you've seen us quickly get up to now 80% of our new restaurants have a Chipotlane. They have higher volume. They skew more towards digital, and that SKU comes from order-ahead, which is a higher margin transaction. And the investment is only modestly higher, call it, in that $75,000 range. So if a non-Chipotlane opening get a cash-on-cash return within a couple of years as the sales grow in that 55% to, call it, 60% return, a Chipotlane is going to generate cash-on-cash returns in the 65% to 70% returns. So clearly, exceptional returns.

是的。大衛，Chipotlanes 繼續優於我們的非 Chipotlane 餐廳。這就是為什麼您看到我們迅速起床的原因，到目前為止，我們 80% 的新餐廳都有 Chipotlane。他們有更高的音量。他們更傾向於數字化，而 SKU 來自提前訂購，這是一種更高利潤的交易。而且投資只是在 75,000 美元的範圍內略高一些。因此，如果一個非 Chipotlane 開業在幾年內獲得現金回報，因為銷售額增長 55% 至，稱之為 60% 回報，那麼 Chipotlane 將產生現金回報65% 到 70% 的回報率。如此明顯，非凡的回報。

And then what Chipotlane is also allowing us to do is go into these small towns where we have another convenient access point. And then also, we're starting to get into these seam locations. We only have a few open. But with the extra convenience channel at Chipotlane, it just makes it more doable from a financial standpoint and a convenience standpoint to go into these small towns and seam locations that generate superior returns. So yes, Chipotlane continues to perform at exceptional levels.

然後 Chipotlane 還允許我們進入這些小鎮，在那裡我們有另一個方便的接入點。然後，我們開始進入這些接縫位置。我們只有幾個開放的。但是通過 Chipotlane 的額外便利渠道，從財務和便利的角度來看，進入這些產生豐厚回報的小城鎮和接縫地點變得更加可行。所以，是的，Chipotlane 繼續以非凡的水平表現。

And the next question will be from Brian Bittner with Oppenheimer & Company.

下一個問題將來自 Oppenheimer & Company 的 Brian Bittner。

Can you just update us again on the pace of the loyalty membership trajectory as we enter 2022? Is it still showing a healthy pace of growth? And with this now a very large base of members in this immense digital ecosystem, Brian, what do you believe is the biggest strategic or operational unlock that still sits in front of you as it relates to loyalty that you believe can be incremental to the business moving forward?

當我們進入 2022 年時，您能否再次向我們介紹忠誠度會員發展的步伐？它仍然顯示出健康的增長速度嗎？現在，在這個龐大的數字生態系統中擁有龐大的成員基礎，Brian，您認為最大的戰略或運營解鎖仍然擺在您面前，因為它與您認為可以增加業務的忠誠度有關向前進？

Yes. Sure. So yes, look, we are very fortunate that we continue to grow the loyalty population in a meaningful clip. Obviously, it's not at the same speed it was a year or 2 ago, but it's one of the things that's kind of interesting. As we add more restaurants and we get people more access, the loyalty/rewards program becomes even that much more of an appealing program that they want to be a part of. So we continue to see people join.

是的。當然。所以，是的，看，我們非常幸運，我們繼續以有意義的方式增加忠誠度人口。顯然，它的速度與一年或兩年前不同，但這是有趣的事情之一。隨著我們增加更多餐廳並為人們提供更多訪問權限，忠誠度/獎勵計劃變得更加吸引人，他們希望參與其中。所以我們繼續看到人們加入。

One of the big unlocks for us, frankly, is we still have a lot of people that are only dining room people, and then we have a lot of people that are only digital people. And there's a small group that's doing both. And call it the 50%, 60% that are dining room-only people, I think if we get those people to have a really positive experience using the rewards program, it's just a tremendous unlock for what that rewards program can grow to be.

坦率地說，對我們來說最大的解鎖之一是我們仍然有很多人只是餐廳的人，然後我們有很多人只是數字人。有一小部分人同時在做這件事。並稱其為僅餐廳的 50%、60% 的人，我認為如果我們讓這些人在使用獎勵計劃時獲得真正積極的體驗，那麼獎勵計劃可以發展成為一個巨大的解鎖。

As you mentioned, there's a lot of incremental opportunity in that. And just within the universe of people that we have, the guys have really, I think, learned quite a bit about how to do these journeys so that they communicate and engage the right way, so that we get the behavior more frequency, or if we see somebody lapsing, we get them to come back into the business.

正如您所提到的，其中有很多增量機會。就在我們擁有的人的世界中，我認為，這些人確實學到了很多關於如何進行這些旅程的知識，以便他們以正確的方式進行交流和參與，以便我們更頻繁地進行行為，或者如果我們看到有人倒閉，我們讓他們重新投入業務。

So there's incremental opportunities on just getting all those people that are exclusive dining room people to become at least comfortable with using our digital platform. Even if they don't want to order through it, they can at least take the benefits of it. And then, look, as that database grows, we get smarter in the journeys. We definitely have demonstrated inside here that we can use this tool to influence behavior both in frequency as well as staying with the business.

因此，讓所有那些專屬餐廳的人至少對使用我們的數字平台感到滿意，這是有增量的機會。即使他們不想通過它訂購，他們至少可以從中受益。然後，看，隨著數據庫的增長，我們在旅途中變得更加聰明。我們在這里肯定已經證明，我們可以使用這個工具來影響頻率以及與業務保持一致的行為。

And the next question is from Andrew Charles with Cowen.

下一個問題來自 Andrew Charles 和 Cowen。

Brian, you were very proactive getting the average wage to $15 an hour back in May of last year, but I was curious about your multiyear view for where wages could go as more national retailers enact formalized programs to get to $17 an hour as you strive to keep Chipotle as an employer of choice.

布賴恩，去年 5 月，你非常積極地將平均工資提高到每小時 15 美元，但我很好奇你多年來對工資的看法，因為隨著越來越多的國家零售商制定正式的計劃，在你努力達到每小時 17 美元的情況下，工資會去向何方讓 Chipotle 成為首選雇主。

Yes. Look, I think wages are going to continue to go up. And I think the combination of having the right wage and the right development or growth opportunity is what gets people excited to be a part of the company. And that's why I think it's really important. That's why I chose to share it. Look, even in a tough environment, we're still promoting 19,000 people, which tells you 2 things. One, they grew with us, and they stayed with us. So we're going to always make sure that we've got the right wage to get people into our company. And then we also want to make sure that we're growing them so that they're excited to stay with our company.

是的。看，我認為工資會繼續上漲。而且我認為擁有合適的工資和合適的發展或成長機會的結合是讓人們興奮成為公司的一員的原因。這就是為什麼我認為它非常重要。這就是我選擇分享它的原因。看，即使在艱難的環境中，我們仍在提拔 19,000 人，這告訴你兩件事。一，他們和我們一起成長，他們和我們在一起。因此，我們將始終確保我們有合適的工資來吸引人們進入我們的公司。然後我們還想確保我們正在培養他們，以便他們很高興能留在我們公司。

And I think your point is a good one. I don't want to fall behind. I like being in the position of people viewing Chipotle as a leader in this space. I think our jobs are great. I think our company is special. And if we can get people to experience that, they have a real opportunity to grow with us and ultimately change their lives and potentially their families. So that's one of the luxuries, I think, we get to have at Chipotle is you can really change people's lives with a career here.

我認為你的觀點很好。我不想落後。我喜歡處於人們將 Chipotle 視為該領域領導者的位置。我認為我們的工作很棒。我覺得我們公司很特別。如果我們能讓人們體驗到這一點，他們就有真正的機會與我們一起成長，並最終改變他們的生活，並可能改變他們的家庭。所以這是一種奢侈，我認為，我們在 Chipotle 擁有的是，你可以在這里通過職業真正改變人們的生活。

The next question is from John Glass with Morgan Stanley.

下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的約翰·格拉斯。

I wanted to circle back on the small town opportunity. One, how many are there today? Like what's the evidence that you have for this incremental opportunity? Years ago, there was something called an A model. So it was like a lower CapEx, good return, but lower volume unit. Are these lower volume but better returns because they're lower CapEx? Or how should we think about both the returns and the volume calculus as we think about the small market opportunity? And just how many there are so far so we can gauge where you are on that?

我想回到小鎮的機會。一，今天有多少人？比如你有什麼證據可以證明這個增量機會？幾年前，有一種叫做 A 模型的東西。所以這就像一個較低的資本支出，良好的回報，但較低的銷量單位。是因為它們的資本支出較低，所以銷量較低但回報較高？或者當我們考慮小市場機會時，我們應該如何考慮回報和交易量計算？到目前為止有多少，所以我們可以衡量你在哪裡？

Yes. I mean the one thing that is nice is it's definitely a little bit higher margin because the cost of the lease is a little bit lower. And what we're seeing, though, is no trade-off in volume. Actually, it's probably an outsized, call it, revenue or sales. So it's kind of a really great proposition because a little bit cheaper to putting some of the fixed cost, and then people view us as an employer that they want to be a part of. So we have a really good success rate in staffing them. And then the towns are really excited to have a Chipotle. So we see great sales -- opening sales and then sales that stay with us.

是的。我的意思是，好的一件事是它的利潤率肯定會高一點，因為租賃成本會低一點。然而，我們所看到的並不是數量上的權衡。實際上，這可能是一個超大的收入或銷售額。所以這是一個非常棒的提議，因為投入一些固定成本要便宜一些，然後人們將我們視為他們想成為其中一部分的雇主。因此，我們在為他們配備人員方面取得了非常好的成功率。然后城鎮真的很高興有一個Chipotle。因此，我們看到了巨大的銷售——開始銷售，然後銷售留在我們身邊。

So look, we feel really good about it. I think there's hundreds of these that we can easily find and build. And Jack, you'll have to correct me here. But I think when we're talking about small town, we're not talking about 5, 10 -- we're talking about like 40,000-plus. So it's still pretty good size. It's small for Chipotle. But I want to make sure we quantify that for you so you realize what we're talking about when we say small town. But Jack, I don't know if you want to add anything to that.

所以看，我們對此感覺非常好。我認為我們可以很容易地找到和構建數百個。傑克，你必須在這裡糾正我。但我認為，當我們談論小鎮時，我們不是在談論 5、10 - 我們在談論 40,000 多個。所以它的尺寸還是很不錯的。它對 Chipotle 來說很小。但是我想確保我們為您量化了這一點，以便您了解我們所說的小鎮時我們在說什麼。但是傑克，我不知道你是否想添加任何東西。

Yes. And there are some that will be smaller than that, but it might be like on an expressway or something. But I think the key is that these are restaurants that are not in a metropolis. So it's not in the area with a lot of Chipotlane -- or Chipotles. So they tend to have 0 impact. The margins are higher. The volumes are about the same. So the returns are higher as well. Typically, the construction cost is higher as well.

是的。還有一些會比這更小，但它可能就像在高速公路上或其他什麼地方。但我認為關鍵是這些餐廳不在大都市。所以它不在有很多 Chipotlane 或 Chipotles 的地區。所以他們往往有0影響。利潤率更高。卷都差不多。所以回報也更高。通常，建設成本也較高。

The challenge really is just to make sure that we have a strategic process or strategic approach so that we can keep an eye on these. So a field leader, for example, they have to travel 300 miles to get to a remote small town location. That's very hard to do. But if you string a bunch of small towns together where there's one that's 50 miles away and another that's 50 miles away, you string these along so that a field leader can, over a number of days, make sure that he gets touches with those restaurants, develops the leadership in those restaurants. From a financial standpoint and from a bringing a special dining experience to these small towns, it's a home run.

真正的挑戰只是確保我們有一個戰略流程或戰略方法，以便我們能夠密切關注這些。例如，一位現場領導者，他們必須行駛 300 英里才能到達一個偏遠的小鎮。這很難做到。但是，如果你將一堆小鎮串在一起，一個在 50 英里外，另一個在 50 英里外，在這些餐廳中發展領導力。從財務的角度來看，從為這些小鎮帶來特殊的用餐體驗來看，這是一個本壘打。

The next question is from Joshua Long with Piper Sandler.

下一個問題來自 Joshua Long 和 Piper Sandler。

Want to see if we could circle back into loyalty and the growing digital base of users that you have. And curious how that's informing your lifetime value considerations for your customers. I think maybe that dovetails into the -- some of the journeys that you talked about. But curious if you're able to act on any of that now or how you think about that working into your pipeline going forward?

想看看我們是否可以重新回到忠誠度和您擁有的不斷增長的數字用戶群。並且好奇這是如何為您的客戶提供終身價值考慮的。我認為這可能與您談到的一些旅程相吻合。但是好奇你現在是否能夠採取任何行動，或者你如何看待未來的管道工作？

Yes. Look, it's a high, high priority. We were really excited about the size of the database. And then we're really excited about how much learning we've had over the last couple of years so that we can do exactly what you just talked about. We know when we get people into the rewards, call it, system, the average ticket goes up and the frequency at which they shop with Chipotle goes up. So we're winning share of occasions, and that's ultimately what we're after.

是的。看，這是一個高、高優先級。我們對數據庫的大小感到非常興奮。然後我們真的很興奮在過去的幾年裡我們學到了很多東西，這樣我們就可以完全按照你所說的去做。我們知道，當我們讓人們獲得獎勵時，稱之為系統，平均票價會上升，他們在 Chipotle 購物的頻率也會上升。所以我們贏得了一些場合的份額，而這最終就是我們所追求的。

I think making access easier, making people aware of that access, really engaging with people in a personalized way, we're able to gain more occasions. And that's really what we use the data to understand. And then the other thing that's powerful, too, in the data is we can see where we maybe aren't executing the experience we want to, and it gives us the opportunity to save what was a less-than-ideal experience, to turn that person from being a lapsed user into coming back to the business and staying with us.

我認為讓訪問更容易，讓人們意識到這種訪問，真正以個性化的方式與人們互動，我們能夠獲得更多機會。這就是我們使用數據來理解的。然後另一個強大的東西，同樣，在數據中，我們可以看到我們可能沒有執行我們想要的體驗，它讓我們有機會保存不太理想的體驗，轉向該人從失效用戶回到業務並與我們保持聯繫。

So that's really the mission, and we're very fortunate that we've got such a robust data set now, and we've got a really talented team that's, I think, eager to learn every day and build on what we've done to date. We're not going to be complacent, right? We have a real opportunity here to build on the momentum that we have.

所以這才是真正的使命，我們很幸運，我們現在擁有如此強大的數據集，而且我們擁有一支非常有才華的團隊，我認為，他們每天都渴望學習並在我們已有的基礎上再接再厲迄今為止完成。我們不會自滿的，對吧？我們在這裡有一個真正的機會來鞏固我們所擁有的勢頭。

The next question is from Brian Vaccaro with Raymond James.

下一個問題來自 Brian Vaccaro 和 Raymond James。

I wanted to circle back on labor, if I could. And with 7 to 8 months under your belt since increasing wages and making the other labor investments, I guess I'm just curious to get your assessment of how effective those changes have been. And obviously understanding Omicron's had an impact, but how much of an underlying improvement have you seen in retention application flow or, say, the percentage of stores that are still significantly understaffed? And then if you think needs -- more needs to be done, what form would that likely take? Is it more wage increases? Or is it more than just the money issue in the stores that remain meaningfully understaffed?

如果可以的話，我想繞回分娩。自從提高工資和進行其他勞動力投資以來，你已經有 7 到 8 個月的時間了，我想我只是想知道你對這些變化的有效性的評估。顯然，了解 Omicron 會產生影響，但是您在保留申請流程中看到了多少潛在的改進，或者說，仍然嚴重人手不足的商店的百分比？然後，如果您認為需要 - 需要做更多工作，那可能採取什麼形式？是不是加薪幅度更大？還是不僅僅是商店里人手嚴重不足的問題？

Yes. I mean, look, what I'll tell you is we -- we've made tremendous progress. And even with the Omicron surge, I would tell you we've learned a lot, right, over the last 2 years so that we knew how to go into the markets where we're having a problem. We put a very focused effort on making sure people knew. Those employees that go out on an exclusion, they're coming back. So you're not -- your team has not all of a sudden lost the folks that went out on exclusion. They're coming back.

是的。我的意思是，聽著，我要告訴你的是我們——我們已經取得了巨大的進步。即使隨著 Omicron 的激增，我會告訴你，我們在過去 2 年中學到了很多東西，對，所以我們知道如何進入我們遇到問題的市場。我們非常專注於確保人們知道。那些被排除在外的員工，他們會回來的。所以你不是——你的團隊並沒有突然失去那些被排除在外的人。他們要回來了。

And oh, by the way, as your business grows, what we call being at model, we are out actively recruiting so that you're going to have staff so that you can perform as this business grows. So I think we've just gotten a lot better at, one seeing, okay, this restaurant is about to have a real challenge. We've put a very focused effort on that restaurant. We ensure we catch the right wage, the right communication of what this job is all about.

哦，順便說一句，隨著您的業務增長，我們稱之為模特，我們正在積極招聘，以便您擁有員工，以便您可以隨著業務的增長而表現出色。所以我認為我們在這方面做得更好了，一看到，好吧，這家餐廳即將面臨真正的挑戰。我們已經在這家餐廳投入了非常集中的精力。我們確保我們獲得正確的工資，正確地傳達這份工作的全部內容。

And I'll tell you what, the one thing that we were probably surprised by, and we weren't leveraging enough initially, is telling people the growth story. Like the number of people that I've met that have joined Chipotle that might have been a multiunit operator at another organization, but they were willing to join our organization as a team member, ultimately maybe a service manager, because they want the opportunity to grow with us, because they felt like they were capped out where they were. And so we've really ramped up that communication. And you'll see that in our marketing materials on what it means to get a job at Chipotle. It's not just the job you're getting now, but you're -- potentially, if you want to stay with us, what you can grow into.

我會告訴你，我們可能感到驚訝的一件事，我們最初沒有充分利用，就是告訴人們成長的故事。就像我遇到的加入 Chipotle 的人數一樣，他們可能是另一個組織的多單元操作員，但他們願意作為團隊成員加入我們的組織，最終可能是服務經理，因為他們希望有機會和我們一起成長，因為他們覺得他們被限制在他們所在的地方。所以我們真的加強了這種溝通。您會在我們的營銷材料中看到在 Chipotle 找到工作意味著什麼。這不僅僅是你現在得到的工作，而且你 - 潛在地，如果你想和我們在一起，你可以成長為什麼樣的人。

So -- but we've made tremendous progress. I think we made the right choice with using the DML as the tool to throttle up and down based on the challenges we were having with staffing. I'm happy to say that's now happening in like less than 2% of our restaurants, which is great.

所以——但是我們已經取得了巨大的進步。我認為我們做出了正確的選擇，根據我們在人員配備方面遇到的挑戰，使用 DML 作為上下限流的工具。我很高興地說，現在只有不到 2% 的餐廳發生這種情況，這很棒。

And the reason why it's so low is because our staffing is so much better across the enterprise. So -- but with that said, we're about to move into the season where we sell even more Booritos, and it's going to require even more employees. So we're staying after it. We think we've learned a lot. And we're seeing pretty good yield as a result of our efforts to date.

之所以如此之低，是因為我們在整個企業中的人員配備要好得多。所以——但話雖如此，我們即將進入銷售更多 Booritos 的季節，這將需要更多的員工。所以我們堅持下去。我們認為我們學到了很多。由於我們迄今為止的努力，我們看到了相當不錯的收益。

So we love the position we're in. I really hope we don't have another surge. But putting that aside, I love what Scott and Maurice have done to ensure that our restaurants are staffed.

所以我們喜歡我們所處的位置。我真的希望我們不會再次出現激增。但撇開這一點不談，我喜歡 Scott 和 Maurice 為確保我們的餐廳配備人員所做的一切。

All right. That's great. And I guess I'll circle back on the food cost situation, if I could. And Jack, I think you said you saw beef and freight and a little bit of avocado pressure. But I'm curious to what degree you're seeing inflation on the chicken side, which I believe is your #1 protein. And I know visibility is low, and a lot of things can change on a dime during this environment, it seems. But your best guess or view of the outlook here. Is it reasonable to expect high single-digit inflation for a couple more quarters, perhaps, and then you start to lap some of the increases moving through the second half of '21? Or just curious to get your broad perspective there if it differs from that materially.

好的。那太棒了。如果可以的話，我想我會回到食品成本的情況。還有傑克，我想你說你看到了牛肉和貨運以及一點鱷梨壓力。但我很好奇你看到雞肉方面的通貨膨脹程度，我相信這是你的＃1蛋白質。而且我知道能見度很低，在這種環境下，很多事情似乎都會發生變化。但您對這裡前景的最佳猜測或看法。預計未來幾個季度的高個位數通脹是否合理，然後你開始在 21 年下半年開始記錄一些增長？或者只是好奇地想知道你的廣闊視野，如果它與那個實質上不同的話。

Yes. Listen, I'm glad you said it's really hard to predict the future because this has been the toughest I've seen in terms of predicting the future about availability and about pricing early in my whole career. Having said that, I would say it's going to take at least a few quarters. Like I wouldn't expect to see much relief. Hopefully, things won't get too much worse over the next few quarters. But we're not expecting to see much of a relief until later in the year.

是的。聽著，我很高興你說預測未來真的很難，因為這是我在整個職業生涯早期預測未來可用性和定價方面遇到的最困難的事情。話雖如此，我想說這至少需要幾個季度。就像我不希望看到很多緩解一樣。希望在接下來的幾個季度中情況不會變得更糟。但我們預計在今年晚些時候之前不會有太大的緩解。

Having said that, you asked about chicken in particular. Chicken, knock on wood, has not been that bad. We've had some near misses during the year. It was more driven by availability of labor and people who had to be excluded because they were -- either they came down with COVID or were with somebody who had COVID. And so there were some near misses in terms of our suppliers maybe being unable to meet our demand.

話雖如此，你特別問了雞肉。雞，敲木頭，並沒有那麼糟糕。在這一年中，我們遇到了一些險些失誤。它更多地是由勞動力的可用性和不得不被排除在外的人所驅動的，因為他們要么感染了 COVID，要么與感染了 COVID 的人在一起。因此，我們的供應商可能無法滿足我們的需求。

Our supply chain team with Carlos have done a great job of working with suppliers and moving capacity around as needed. And what we've seen over the last several months and what we expect we'll see more of in the future, more pressure on beef, more pressure on freight. Avocados, we think, that's more of seasonal thing, that's more of a cyclical thing. That doesn't feel like a classic kind of supply chain issue that we're seeing in this environment. But I wouldn't be surprised if there's going to be another ingredient or 2. There's just been so many disruptions.

我們與 Carlos 合作的供應鏈團隊在與供應商合作並根據需要轉移產能方面做得非常出色。我們在過去幾個月看到的情況以及我們預計未來會看到更多情況，牛肉壓力更大，貨運壓力更大。我們認為，鱷梨更像是季節性的，更像是周期性的。這不像是我們在這種環境中看到的典型供應鏈問題。但如果會有另一種或兩種成分，我不會感到驚訝。只是有太多的干擾。

So hopefully, things will be reasonably normal. We think we've taken the pricing action we need to for what we've seen so far, and then we'll wait and see what happens in the next quarter or 2.

所以希望，事情會相當正常。我們認為我們已經針對迄今為止所看到的情況採取了所需的定價行動，然後我們將拭目以待下一季度或第二季度會發生什麼。

And the next question will be from John Ivankoe with JPMorgan.

下一個問題將來自摩根大通的 John Ivankoe。

I wanted to get back to the conversation on store level staffing but focusing on the GM. Has there been any change in turnover throughout '21? Has there been any unusual maybe blips in the quit rate that you've noticed? And as you think, obviously, about a growing business going forward, is there anything about training or compensation or the type of person that you're looking for perhaps looking to promote that may change with Chipotle as Chipotle grows as you think about the next era?

我想回到關於商店級別人員配置的對話，但重點是 GM。整個 21 年的營業額是否有任何變化？您是否注意到戒菸率有任何不尋常的可能變化？正如你所想，顯然，關於一個不斷增長的業務，是否有任何關於培訓或薪酬或你正在尋找的人的類型可能會隨著 Chipotle 的發展而改變，因為你考慮下一個時代？

Yes. No. Look, I got to tell you, we're very fortunate with the general managers we have in our company because those guys, through all this, showed up to the restaurants every single day and figured out how to flex with whatever new thing came their way, whether they were people calling off, whether it was people unfortunately coming down with COVID. There was a time period where people, they didn't really know what COVID was, and these guys and women showed up every day to lead their teams. And we're very fortunate to have that caliber of leader running our restaurants. And we're also very fortunate that because we're a growing company, those leaders are the leaders that then become our field leaders and our team directors and then ultimately our VPs. And they see it. And one of my favorite things to do in my company is have the opportunity to go visit them in their restaurants. And I'll tell you what, they are so proud of their team. They're so proud of their results, and they're so proud of where we are.

是的。不。聽著，我得告訴你，我們很幸運有我們公司的總經理，因為這些人，通過這一切，每天都出現在餐廳裡，並想出如何靈活應對任何新事物來了，無論是人們取消，還是不幸地感染了COVID的人們。曾經有一段時間，人們並不真正了解 COVID 是什麼，而這些人每天都來領導他們的團隊。我們很幸運有這樣的領導才能經營我們的餐廳。我們也很幸運，因為我們是一家成長中的公司，這些領導者是領導者，然後成為我們的領域領導者和團隊主管，最終成為我們的副總裁。他們看到了。我在公司最喜歡做的事情之一就是有機會去他們的餐廳拜訪他們。我會告訴你什麼，他們為自己的團隊感到驕傲。他們為自己的成果感到驕傲，也為我們所處的位置感到驕傲。

So we're working on being better with our learning and training tools. I think we mentioned this in the call, we're rolling that out for them. We're rolling out for them a new labor scheduling tool. And then, obviously, we're looking for ways to make the job more efficient, more consistent so that they can continue to do the great work that they do on the culture and the people and the culinary.

因此，我們正在努力使用我們的學習和培訓工具做得更好。我想我們在電話中提到了這一點，我們正在為他們推出這一點。我們正在為他們推出一種新的勞動力調度工具。然後，很明顯，我們正在尋找使工作更高效、更一致的方法，以便他們能夠繼續在文化、人員和烹飪方面做出出色的工作。

So we're very fortunate. We've not seen the great resignation that you read about -- or hear about at our company, and definitely not at our general manager level. So hopefully, some of them are listening right now because I would brag about them for this whole call, if I could. So thanks for asking the question.

所以我們非常幸運。我們還沒有看到你讀到的偉大辭職——或者在我們公司聽到的，絕對不是在我們的總經理級別。所以希望他們中的一些人現在正在聽，因為如果可以的話，我會在整個電話會議上吹噓他們。所以感謝您提出這個問題。

And the next question is from Brian Mullan with Deutsche Bank.

下一個問題來自德意志銀行的 Brian Mullan。

Just a question on the international development opportunity outside of North America. Can you share what the focus is right now in the existing markets, France, Germany, U.K.? And are you also exploring new markets in Western Europe or even elsewhere at this point in time or just really focused on those existing markets right now?

只是關於北美以外的國際發展機會的問題。您能否分享一下法國、德國、英國等現有市場目前的重點是什麼？您現在是否也在探索西歐甚至其他地方的新市場，或者現在只是真正專注於那些現有市場？

Yes. So for right now, we are just focused on those existing markets and really just France and the U.K. As you probably have read or know, Germany has been very slow to kind of get out of the COVID challenges. But look, I'm optimistic on what all Western Europe can be. And fortunately, we've had some really good recent openings in both France and the U.K. And I'm optimistic about how we can grow in those countries. And once we feel like we're in a really good spot there, we'll definitely think about how we expand beyond it.

是的。因此，就目前而言，我們只關注那些現有市場，實際上只關注法國和英國。正如您可能已經閱讀或知道的那樣，德國在擺脫 COVID 挑戰方面進展緩慢。但是你看，我對整個西歐的發展持樂觀態度。幸運的是，我們最近在法國和英國都有一些非常好的開業機會。我對我們如何在這些國家發展持樂觀態度。一旦我們覺得我們在那里處於一個非常好的位置，我們肯定會考慮如何超越它。

So one thing I know for sure is when you look at consumers in other countries, they like our proposition: clean food, food with integrity, high levels of customization, culinary happening right in front of you, labors that resonate, chicken, rice and beans, those are pretty globally accepted ingredients. So I'm optimistic about the future. But right now, we're focused on making sure we've got a winning proposition in the markets that we're currently in, and then we'll expand from there accordingly.

所以我肯定知道的一件事是，當你看到其他國家的消費者時，他們喜歡我們的主張：清潔食品、誠信食品、高度定制化、就在你面前的烹飪、引起共鳴的勞動、雞肉、米飯和豆類，這些是全球公認的成分。所以我對未來很樂觀。但現在，我們專注於確保我們在目前所在的市場中獲得成功，然後我們將相應地從那裡擴展。

The next question is from Chris Carril with RBC Capital Markets.

下一個問題來自加拿大皇家銀行資本市場的 Chris Carril。

So can you expand on delivery mix today and how the margins for those orders compare to other channels with the incremental delivery menu pricing you've taken over the past year plus? And how are you thinking about delivery mix and impact to margins from delivery as we move further into '22?

那麼，您能否擴展今天的交付組合，以及這些訂單的利潤率與您在過去一年中採用的增量交付菜單定價的其他渠道相比如何？隨著我們進一步進入 22 世紀，您如何看待交付組合以及交付對利潤率的影響？

Yes. Sure. So obviously, delivery, we've got 2 kind of businesses there, right? We've got our in-app delivery business or what we call white label and then, obviously, the third-party partnerships we have with like Uber Eats and DoorDash in marketplace. And you mentioned this, we took some pricing so that the margin issue became less of an issue. And unfortunately -- or I guess the reality is that channel comes with additional cost. If you want that convenience, it comes with some additional cost.

是的。當然。很明顯，交付，我們在那裡有兩種業務，對吧？我們有我們的應用內交付業務或我們所說的白標業務，然後，顯然，我們與市場上的 Uber Eats 和 DoorDash 等第三方合作夥伴關係。你提到了這一點，我們採取了一些定價，以便保證金問題變得不那麼重要。不幸的是——或者我猜現實是頻道會帶來額外的成本。如果您想要這種便利，它會帶來一些額外的費用。

And what we've seen is people recognize that and are willing to accept that for those occasions. So our digital business is roughly 42% of the business. Today, delivery is about probably a little less than 20%, roughly 20%. And the good news is our order-ahead business continues to grow as we build Chipotlanes and as we continue to, frankly, market against the idea of order-ahead and pick up yourself.

我們所看到的是人們認識到這一點，並願意在那些場合接受這一點。因此，我們的數字業務約佔業務的 42%。今天，交付可能略低於 20%，大約 20%。好消息是，隨著我們建立 Chipotlanes 並且坦率地說，我們繼續在市場上反對提前訂購的想法並振作起來，我們的提前訂購業務繼續增長。

So not nearly the margin dilution that delivery used to be, but still our best margin transaction as the digital transaction where you order-ahead and pick up.

因此，幾乎沒有像交付過去那樣稀釋保證金，但仍然是我們最好的保證金交易，作為您提前訂購和提貨的數字交易。

Jack, I don't know if you want to add anything to that.

傑克，我不知道你是否想添加任何東西。

Yes. No. Brian, you said it perfectly.

是的。不，布賴恩，你說得很好。

And the next question will come from Andy Barish with Jefferies.

下一個問題將來自 Andy Barish 和 Jefferies。

Just wanted to circle back on some of the operational efficiencies, Brian, that you've mentioned a couple of times now, making kind of the team members' jobs a little bit easier or implementing technology. Can you give us an example or 2 of where you're heading down that road? And what -- maybe also what things would be a nonstarter in terms of Chipotle's credo?

只是想回顧一下您已經多次提到的一些運營效率，Brian，讓團隊成員的工作更容易一些或實施技術。你能給我們舉一兩個例子來說明你在這條路上的方向嗎？還有什麼 - 就Chipotle的信條而言，也許還有什麼事情是不可能的？

Yes. Sure. So look, we're trying to find -- well, first of all, as I mentioned, right, just getting a better labor scheduling tool that uses artificial intelligence and analytics that doesn't rely on just looking back past 4 weeks but can look at things happening real time so that the team is able to prep accordingly. We should then end up in a scenario where we don't run out of guacamole at the end of the day, right? And so we're working on technology where just that occurs. How do we help our team members know when to cook more chicken throughout the day, when to make guacamole and how much guacamole to make after lunch because we want to be in the Chipotle business from open to close. Nothing disappoints our teams more than when a customer shows up at 8:00 or 9:00 and they're out of something. And so if we can give them tools where they don't have to worry about making too much or not making enough, it just makes their job so much easier. It eliminates one stress. They don't want a disappoint a customer.

是的。當然。所以看，我們試圖找到——嗯，首先，正如我提到的，對，只是獲得一個更好的勞動力調度工具，它使用人工智能和分析，不依賴於僅僅回顧過去 4 週，而是可以查看實時發生的事情，以便團隊能夠做出相應的準備。然後我們應該在一天結束時不會用完鱷梨醬的情況結束，對吧？因此，我們正在研究發生這種情況的技術。我們如何幫助我們的團隊成員知道什麼時候多做雞肉，什麼時候做鱷梨醬，午餐後做多少鱷梨醬，因為我們想在 Chipotle 業務中從開放到關閉。沒有什麼比客戶在 8:00 或 9:00 出現而他們沒有東西更讓我們的團隊失望的了。因此，如果我們可以為他們提供工具，讓他們不必擔心製作過多或製作不足，這只會讓他們的工作變得更加輕鬆。它消除了一種壓力。他們不想讓客戶失望。

So we're working with that type of technology to help them do just that. And then we're also looking at technology, whether it's robotics, automation, how do we get rid of the jobs people frankly don't love doing, right? Cleaning dishes all day, not a fun job; hard job, frankly; wet job. And it's like if we can find ways to eliminate those tasks, right, like we're always going to be cutting and coring avocados. But if there was a way to cut and core the avocados so that all our team number has to do is mash and add the salt, add the lime, add the onions, that would make their job so much better.

所以我們正在使用這種技術來幫助他們做到這一點。然後我們也在關注技術，無論是機器人技術、自動化，我們如何擺脫人們坦率地說不喜歡做的工作，對吧？整天洗碗，不好玩；坦率地說，辛苦了；濕作業。就像我們能找到消除這些任務的方法一樣，對，就像我們總是要切割和去核鱷梨一樣。但是，如果有一種方法可以將鱷梨切開並去核，那麼我們團隊成員所要做的就是搗碎並加入鹽，加入酸橙，加入洋蔥，那會讓他們的工作變得更好。

So it's those types of things. We're not going to walk away from having great culinary. You're always going to see our chicken sizzling on the poncho, all right? That's just one of the sounds and sites of Chipotle and, frankly, the smell that I think makes our experience unique.

所以就是這些類型的東西。我們不會放棄美味佳餚。你總是會看到我們的雞在雨披上噝噝作響，好嗎？這只是 Chipotle 的聲音和地點之一，坦率地說，我認為這種氣味使我們的體驗與眾不同。

And then obviously, we're looking for ways to be even more accurate, more timely on the digital make-line. So there's real opportunities there. I think we've got a great system, and I think we can build on what has really been something that's worked really well for us. So that kind of gives you a flavor of the various things we're looking at.

然後很明顯，我們正在尋找在數字生產線上更準確、更及時的方法。所以那裡有真正的機會。我認為我們有一個很棒的系統，我認為我們可以建立在對我們非常有效的東西的基礎上。因此，這讓您對我們正在研究的各種事物有所了解。

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Brian Niccol for any closing remarks.

女士們，先生們，我們的問答環節到此結束。我想把會議轉回給 Brian Niccol 做任何閉幕詞。

All right. Thanks. And thanks, everybody, for all the questions and dialing in. Obviously, very proud of our team, everybody in the restaurants. 2021 was a lot of ups and downs, but I think couldn't be prouder of the results to deliver a comp north of 19%, business now bigger than $7.5 billion, a $3.5 billion digital business. These are all big milestones for our company. We opened over 200 -- we opened 215 restaurants. I mean we're literally achieving new highs in all fronts. Our average unit volumes are well beyond the $2.5 million now. So obviously, the fourth quarter had some challenges. Inflation is something that we'll continue to deal with. Staffing, we've made tremendous progress on. And as I look at where we are in 2022, I just believe we're positioned to execute the Chipotle business better than we probably have in a while. And it's exciting to be staffed at pre-COVID levels again. It's exciting to see people getting promoted in our organization. And it's exciting to see the customer reward us with their business every day.

好的。謝謝。感謝大家提出的所有問題和撥入電話。顯然，我們為我們的團隊以及餐廳裡的每個人感到非常自豪。 2021 年有很多起起落落，但我認為不能為實現 19% 以上的業績而感到自豪，業務現在超過 75 億美元，35 億美元的數字業務。這些都是我們公司的重要里程碑。我們開了 200 多家——我們開了 215 家餐廳。我的意思是，我們確實在各個方面都達到了新高。我們現在的平均單位銷量遠遠超過 250 萬美元。很明顯，第四季度遇到了一些挑戰。通貨膨脹是我們將繼續處理的問題。人員配備方面，我們取得了巨大進步。當我回顧我們在 2022 年的情況時，我相信我們的定位是比我們可能在一段時間內更好地執行 Chipotle 業務。再次以 COVID 之前的水平配備人員是令人興奮的。看到人們在我們的組織中得到晉升是令人興奮的。很高興看到客戶每天都用他們的業務來獎勵我們。

So again, really, strong position for our company. I think it demonstrates our pricing power, our resilience and the strength of our culture and people. And luckily, we get to celebrate with everybody at our all-manager conference in March and look forward to catching up with everybody next quarter.

再說一次，真的，我們公司的強勢地位。我認為它展示了我們的定價能力、我們的應變能力以及我們的文化和人民的力量。幸運的是，我們可以在三月份的全經理會議上與大家一起慶祝，並期待在下個季度與大家見面。

So thank you for all the questions. And hopefully, you get out there and try the plant-based chorizo. All right. Take care, guys. Thank you. Bye.

所以謝謝你的所有問題。希望你能走出去嘗試以植物為基礎的香腸。好的。保重，伙計們。謝謝你。再見。

And thank you, sir. The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

謝謝你，先生。會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開連接。