Denny's Corp (DENN) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Greetings. Welcome to the Denny's Corporation fourth quarter 2023 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please note this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to your host, Curt Nichols, Vice President of Investor Relations and Financial. You may begin.

問候。歡迎參加 Denny's Corporation 2023 年第四季財報電話會議。（操作員說明）請注意，本次會議正在錄製中。現在我將會議交給東道主投資者關係和財務副總裁科特·尼科爾斯 (Curt Nichols)。你可以開始了。

Good afternoon. Thank you for joining us for Denny's fourth quarter 2023 earnings conference call. With me today from management are Kelli Valade, Denny's President and Chief Executive Officer, and Robert Verostek, Denny's Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Please refer to our website at investor.dennys.com to find our fourth quarter earnings press release, along with the reconciliation of any non-GAAP financial measures mentioned on the call today.

午安.感謝您參加 Denny 的 2023 年第四季財報電話會議。今天與我一起出席的管理層成員包括 Denny's 總裁兼執行長 Kelli Valade 和 Denny's 執行副總裁兼財務長 Robert Verostek。請造訪我們的網站 Investor.dennys.com 以尋找我們的第四季度收益新聞稿，以及今天電話會議中提到的任何非公認會計準則財務指標的調節表。

This call is being webcast and an archive of the webcast will be available on our website later today. Kelli will begin today's call with a business update, then Robert will provide a development update and recap of our fourth quarter financial results before commenting on guidance. After that, we will open it up for questions.

此次電話會議正在進行網路直播，今天稍後將在我們的網站上提供網路直播的存檔。凱利將以業務更新開始今天的電話會議，然後羅伯特將提供開發更新並回顧我們第四季度的財務業績，然後再對指導意見發表評論。之後，我們將開放提問。

Before we begin, let me remind you that in accordance with the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, the company knows that certain matters to be discussed by members of management during this call may constitute forward-looking statements. Management urges caution in considering its current trends and any outlook on earnings provided during this call.

在我們開始之前，讓我提醒您，根據 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》的安全港條款，本公司知道管理層成員在本次電話會議中討論的某些事項可能構成前瞻性陳述。管理層敦促謹慎考慮當前趨勢以及本次電話會議期間提供的任何盈利前景。

Such statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual performance of Denny's to be materially different from the performance indicated or implied by such statements. Such risks and factors are set forth in the company's most recent annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 28, 2022, and in any subsequent Forms 8-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. With that, I will now turn the call over to Kelli Valade, Denny's President and Chief Executive Officer.

此類聲明受到風險、不確定性和其他因素的影響，這些因素可能導致丹尼的實際業績與此類聲明所表明或暗示的業績有重大差異。此類風險和因素在本公司截至 2022 年 12 月 28 日的最新 10-K 表格年度報告以及任何後續 8-K 表格和 10-Q 表格季度報告中列出。現在，我將把電話轉給 Denny 總裁兼執行長 Kelli Valade。

Thank you, Curt, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. We were pleased to close out 2023 with solid domestic system-wide, same-restaurant sales of 1.3% in the fourth quarter, reflecting sequential improvement throughout the quarter.

謝謝你，柯特，大家下午好。感謝您今天加入我們。我們很高興以第四季度國內全系統同餐廳銷售額 1.3% 的強勁成績結束 2023 年，反映出整個季度的環比改善。

And because of that improvement in momentum, we delivered system-wide, same-restaurant sales growth of positive 3.6% for the full year, which was above the high end of our previously guided range, a satisfying achievement given the operational challenges the industry endured again in 2023. In fact, Denny's same-restaurant sales outperformed the full-service industry benchmark for both the fourth quarter and for the full year, an impressive statistic for sure.

由於勢頭的改善，我們全年全系統同餐廳銷售額增長了 3.6%，高於我們之前指導範圍的上限，考慮到行業所面臨的運營挑戰，這是一個令人滿意的成就2023 年再次。事實上，丹尼的同餐廳銷售額在第四季度和全年都超過了全方位服務行業基準，這無疑是一個令人印象深刻的統計數據。

Looking ahead to 2024, we entered the new year with a clear focus on what we know is resonating with our consumers and a laser-like focus on our three strategic areas of focus. These are a best-in-class breakfast with craveable items, an unbeatable value proposition, and convenience in the form of unique, off-premise options.

展望 2024 年，我們進入了新的一年，明確地專注於我們所知道的與消費者產生共鳴的內容，並高度關注我們的三個策略重點領域。這些是一流的早餐，包含令人垂涎的食物、無與倫比的價值主張以及獨特的店外選擇形式的便利。

We spent last summer cascading these new strategies to our franchisees, culminating with a comprehensive unveiling of our new playbook at our annual convention in October. By November, we put these strategies in play with bold moves with a new menu, new food innovation, and an unbeatable value proposition. The playbook is now working and is providing momentum in this new year.

去年夏天，我們向我們的特許經營商傳達了這些新策略，最終在 10 月的年度大會上全面宣布了我們的新策略。到 11 月，我們透過新菜單、新食品創新和無與倫比的價值主張等大膽舉措，將這些策略付諸實行。劇本目前正在發揮作用，並為新的一年提供動力。

First, let's talk about our craveable breakfast items and new menu. According to recent Yelp data, there were nearly 6,000 new restaurant openings with the breakfast and brunch category in 2023. Clearly, there's an enormous demand for breakfast, coupled with consumers wanting breakfast items whenever it suits them. This is obviously our sweet spot. We are America's diner after all, and we own breakfast.

首先，我們來談談我們令人垂涎的早餐食品和新菜單。根據 Yelp 最近的數據，2023 年將有近 6,000 家新開的早餐和早午餐類別餐廳。顯然，人們對早餐的需求很大，而且消費者想要任何適合自己的早餐食品。這顯然是我們的最佳點。畢竟我們是美國的食客，我們擁有早餐。

Our November menu launch showcased that breakfast leadership in a big way as we leaned into our unique, ownable equities on their slam platforms, including our new strawberry-stuffed French toast slam, now made with our delicious premium brioche French toast. And guests are clearly loving it given their reaction to this launch as we are selling over 150 total French toast plates per week per restaurant.

我們在十一月推出的菜單在很大程度上展示了早餐的領先地位，因為我們在他們的大滿貫平台上傾斜了我們獨特的、可擁有的股票，包括我們新的草莓餡法式吐司大滿貫，現在用我們美味的優質奶油蛋捲法式吐司製成。考慮到客人對此次推出的反應，他們顯然很喜歡它，因為我們每家餐廳每週銷售超過 150 個法式吐司盤。

Additionally, this menu launch was a key activation point in our new playbook, and that we've revamped the look and the feel of the menu also, and leaned into what's most important to our guests while being focused on ease of execution for our operators. Specifically, along with new product innovation, we simplified the menu layout while minimizing customizations and the build-your-own categories on the menu.

此外，這個選單的發布是我們新劇本中的一個關鍵激活點，我們還改進了菜單的外觀和感覺，並專注於對我們的客人最重要的內容，同時專注於我們的操作員執行的便利性。具體來說，隨著新產品的創新，我們簡化了菜單佈局，同時最大限度地減少了菜單上的客製化和建立您自己的類別。

This not only allowed us to highlight our most popular and most craveable items, but it simplified operations without any impact on the guests or the guest preferences. This new menu also led to margin improvements, given our strategic approach to highlighting our most profitable items and ones we know to be guest favorites.

這不僅使我們能夠突出我們最受歡迎和最令人渴望的商品，而且簡化了操作，而不會對客人或客人的偏好產生任何影響。鑑於我們的策略方法是突出我們最賺錢的項目和我們知道是客人最喜歡的項目，這個新菜單也導致了利潤率的提高。

Finally, the recent menu also incorporated a new pricing model that will help protect our value leadership while better enabling franchisees to make smart pricing decisions that are aligned with regional factors and more localized competitive benchmarking. The new pricing structure and approach will help us minimize traffic erosion when we do take price, as we now have a heightened focus on the elasticity of certain menu categories and items.

最後，最近的菜單還採用了新的定價模式，這將有助於保護我們的價值領先地位，同時更好地使加盟商能夠做出符合區域因素和更本地化的競爭基準的明智定價決策。新的定價結構和方法將幫助我們在定價時最大限度地減少流量侵蝕，因為我們現在更加關注某些菜單類別和項目的彈性。

At a time when the guest is still extremely sensitive to price increases at the grocery store and in restaurants, this strategy and focus is well timed and will continue to help us with our goal of smart menu, smart pricing. Importantly, this improved approach will also be critically important in California as we work to offset the potential impact of AB 1228, formerly known as the FAST Act.

在客人對雜貨店和餐廳的價格上漲仍然極其敏感的時候，這一策略和重點恰逢其時，並將繼續幫助我們實現智慧菜單、智慧定價的目標。重要的是，這種改進的方法在加州也至關重要，因為我們正在努力抵消 AB 1228（以前稱為 FAST 法案）的潛在影響。

This quarter's results were also aided by our approach to leading with value and leveraging our increasingly successful barbell strategy. Our Original Grand Slam, starting at the unbeatable price of $5.99 was featured nationwide starting in late November with positive results.

本季的業績也得益於我們以價值為主導的方法以及利用我們日益成功的槓鈴策略。我們的原創 Grand Slam 起價為 5.99 美元，從 11 月底開始在全國推廣，並取得了積極的成果。

We believe we brought this compelling offer to the guests at the perfect moment, helping them balance holiday travel and shopping, knowing they could count on Denny's for the best breakfast out there at an incredibly compelling price. The guests responded well and quickly as we saw traffic and sales trends increase and we immediately noticed share gains against both family dining and casual dining.

我們相信，我們在完美的時刻為客人提供了這一令人信服的優惠，幫助他們平衡假日旅行和購物，因為他們知道他們可以依靠Denny's 以令人難以置信的令人信服的價格享用最好的早餐。當我們看到客流量和銷售趨勢增加時，客人反應良好且迅速，我們立即註意到家庭餐飲和休閒餐飲的份額增長。

Mix on our value platform remained consistent at 17%, but we grew check with premium offerings, merchandise in-restaurant, which is proof positive of our successful barbell strategy where some guests indeed are coming in for our value equity, but others are ordering more premium options. In addition, we remain focused on providing convenience through our off-premise business, and we saw pickup here on a year-over-year basis also.

我們的價值平台上的混合比例保持在17%，但我們增加了對優質產品、餐廳內商品的檢查，這證明了我們成功的槓鈴策略，有些客人確實是為了我們的價值權益而來，但其他客人則訂購了更多高級選項。此外，我們仍然專注於透過我們的場外業務提供便利，並且我們也看到了同比的取貨情況。

Specifically, off-premise sales were approximately 20% of total sales, up from 19% in the third quarter. We feel good about this sales mix, considering that many in our industry are actually experiencing sales declines in this channel.

具體而言，場外銷售額約佔總銷售額的 20%，高於第三季的 19%。考慮到我們行業中的許多人實際上正在經歷該管道的銷售下降，我們對這種銷售組合感到滿意。

For us, these channels provide a unique opportunity to leverage operating capacity at dinner and late night to a distinctly new consumer. For these reasons, this will continue to be a part of our strategies, which is why we're leaning into testing our third virtual brand with Banda Burrito and why we're leaning into a test with Franklin Junction, a global leader in branded virtual restaurants. We should be able to speak to both of these tests in more depth in our upcoming calls, but we continue to be hopeful and encouraged by the results we're seeing so far.

對我們來說，這些管道提供了一個獨特的機會，可以利用晚餐和深夜的營運能力來吸引全新的消費者。基於這些原因，這將繼續成為我們策略的一部分，這就是為什麼我們傾向於與 Banda Burrito 測試我們的第三個虛擬品牌，以及為什麼我們傾向於與全球品牌虛擬領導者 Franklin Junction 進行測試餐廳。我們應該能夠在即將舉行的電話會議中更深入地討論這兩項測試，但我們仍然對迄今為止所看到的結果充滿希望和鼓舞。

Now I'd like to provide updates to some of our other priorities captured in our creative framework. Here, we'll focus on technology and innovation first. We're pleased with our recent progress on our new cloud-based POS platform as we are now moving forward with installations in all company restaurants expected to be completed by the second quarter of this year, with franchise restaurants to follow.

現在我想更新我們的創意框架中的一些其他優先事項。在這裡，我們將首先關注技術和創新。我們對新的基於雲端的 POS 平台最近的進展感到高興，因為我們現在正在推進所有公司餐廳的安裝工作，預計將於今年第二季度完成，特許經營餐廳也將緊隨其後。

This foundation will enable improved kitchen visual systems, or KVS, server handhelds, and QR pay, resulting in more consistent operation execution, labor efficiencies, and enhanced guest experiences. In addition, our culinary and operations teams are continuing to lean in and explore opportunities to further leverage our ovens and other kitchen equipment to drive menu innovation and kitchen efficiencies.

此基礎將改善廚房視覺系統（KVS）、手持伺服器和二維碼支付，從而實現更一致的操作執行、勞動效率和增強的賓客體驗。此外，我們的烹飪和營運團隊正在繼續努力並探索進一步利用我們的烤箱和其他廚房設備來推動菜單創新和廚房效率的機會。

In fact, next quarter, you'll see new exciting products, which will leverage our new ovens as the primary cooking platform. Importantly, we've also seen improvement in our food quality scores year over year, and a high percentage of this improvement can be attributed to our new kitchen equipment.

事實上，下個季度，您將看到令人興奮的新產品，這些產品將利用我們的新烤箱作為主要烹飪平台。重要的是，我們也看到食品品質分數逐年提高，而這種改善很大一部分歸功於我們的新廚房設備。

And of course, we have to talk about our people and our guests. We're extremely proud of the progress we have made with our people programs, including the launch of our game program this last year. We're impacting lives and careers by offering education-entertainment for all.

當然，我們必須談論我們的員工和客人。我們對我們的人才計劃所取得的進展感到非常自豪，包括去年推出的遊戲計劃。我們透過為所有人提供教育娛樂來影響生活和職業。

As a result, we continue to see improvements in staffing and reduced turnover rates at Denny's. In fact, management turnover for 2023 improved 400 basis points compared to '22 and was approximately 400 basis points lower than GuestXM family dining index, formerly Black Box Intelligence.

因此，我們繼續看到 Denny's 的人員配備有所改善，人員流動率也有所下降。事實上，2023 年的管理階層流動率比 22 年提高了 400 個基點，比 GuestXM 家庭餐飲指數（原 Black Box Intelligence）低約 400 個基點。

As for the guest experience, our overall 2023 net sentiment score was 41% compared to 32% for the family dining segment and 23% for the overall restaurant industry. And our Google ratings continue to improve as we recently reached a 4.3 rating.

至於賓客體驗，我們 2023 年的總淨情緒得分為 41%，而家庭餐飲細分市場的得分為 32%，整個餐飲業的得分為 23%。我們的 Google 評級持續提高，最近達到了 4.3 的評級。

I can't say enough about the progress of both our teams and our guests as we have our company and franchise operators to thank for taking such great care of our guests always. Their continued commitment to delighting every guest is appreciated and apparent.

對於我們團隊和客人的進步，我無法說太多，因為我們要感謝我們的公司和特許經營商始終對我們的客人給予如此周到的照顧。他們對讓每一位客人滿意的持續承諾是值得讚賞和顯而易見的。

We also continue to remodel restaurants with our Heritage 2.0 program while testing the next evolution of our prototype, which will lean into our unique diner image with a modern, updated, and fresh look. Early results from the modern diner test are strong with positive marks for a unique, brighter, yet warm approach to a modern diner.

我們也繼續利用 Heritage 2.0 計劃改造餐廳，同時測試原型的下一個演變，將採用現代、更新和新鮮的外觀，以體現我們獨特的餐廳形象。現代餐廳測試的早期結果非常強勁，對現代餐廳獨特、明亮而溫馨的方式給予了積極的評價。

Sales and traffic results are also promising. We'll have full results from this test to share soon, and we'll begin incorporating the modern diner remodel program into the mix in the back half of the year.

銷售和客流量結果也令人樂觀。我們很快就會分享這次測試的完整結果，並且我們將在今年下半年開始將現代餐廳改造計劃納入其中。

Finally, I want to pivot and talk about the growth and expansion of Keke's Breakfast Café. We are thrilled to have opened our first Keke location outside the state of Florida a couple of weeks ago in Hendersonville, Tennessee, just outside of Nashville.

最後，我想談談可可早餐咖啡館的成長與擴張。我們很高興幾週前在田納西州亨德森維爾（納許維爾郊外）開設了佛羅裡達州以外的第一家 Keke 門市。

Despite opening during a snowstorm, sales were strong for the first week and continue to be impressive. We also recently held an official grand opening ceremony for the new café, receiving a warm welcome as we were joined by the Hendersonville community, including the mayor, the city chamber, and local businesses.

儘管在暴風雪期間開業，但第一周的銷售仍然強勁，並且繼續令人印象深刻。我們最近也為新咖啡館舉行了正式的盛大開幕儀式，受到包括市長、市商會和當地企業在內的亨德森維爾社區的熱烈歡迎。

With this new location, we debuted a new café design, an updated look and feel that was developed through our learnings from last year's brand ethos work. It's a beautiful design, highlighting the things unique to Keke that we know that our guests love. Mornings from scratch is a prominent tagline, and our unique positioning, which serves to highlight our core differentiators of fresh from scratch cooking daily made with the highest quality ingredients offered in great abundance.

在這個新地點，我們首次推出了新的咖啡館設計，這是透過我們從去年的品牌精神工作中汲取的經驗而開發的更新的外觀和感覺。這是一個美麗的設計，突出了可可的獨特之處，我們知道我們的客人喜歡這些東西。「從頭開始的早晨」是我們的一個突出口號，也是我們獨特的定位，它突顯了我們每天使用大量提供的最優質食材從頭開始新鮮烹飪的核心差異化優勢。

We've also now launched a new menu on this location and all existing Keke's restaurants. This menu offers a simplified approach with less items and a focus on what we know Keke's does best. In addition, the alcohol program test was a success and a system-wide rollout now is underway. This program will become a brand standard and a requirement for all new café openings.

我們現在也在該店和所有現有的可可餐廳推出了新菜單。菜單提供了一種簡化的方法，菜單項目較少，並且重點關注我們所知道的 Keke's 最擅長的菜餚。此外，酒精計劃測試取得了成功，目前正在全系統範圍內推廣。該計劃將成為品牌標準和所有新咖啡館開業的要求。

For us, this has been a critical year, building a strong foundation for the brand and integrating the Keke's brand into the portfolio at Denny's. We're incredibly pleased with the progress President Dave Schmidt has made as we have built a strong team, cemented a unique position in the AM breakfast segment, and a competitive differentiated path that will allow us to win in new markets this year and beyond.

對我們來說，這是關鍵的一年，為品牌奠定了堅實的基礎，並將 Keke's 品牌整合到 Denny's 的產品組合中。我們對戴夫·施密特(Dave Schmidt) 總裁所取得的進展感到非常滿意，因為我們已經建立了一支強大的團隊，鞏固了在上午早餐領域的獨特地位，以及一條有競爭力的差異化道路，將使我們能夠在今年及以後的新市場中獲勝。

As a reminder, we have a franchise disclosure document in place and 14 signed development agreements for over 100 Keke's cafés across multiple states, 11 of those were Denny's franchisees and 3 with Keke's existing franchisees. We expect this number to grow and we'll soon be talking about many more.

提醒一下，我們已經制定了一份特許經營披露文件，並為多個州的100 多家Keke's 咖啡館簽署了14 份開發協議，其中11 家是Denny's 特許經營商，3 家是Keke 現有特許經營商。我們預計這個數字會成長，並且我們很快就會討論更多。

Our approach to Keke's and our early results are in line with our expectations. Our strategic intent and purchasing Keke's was to compete in this highly fractured, yet steadily growing daytime eatery segment. We have the unique opportunity to leverage our model franchise or approach and our strong network of franchisees in both brands to grow exponentially and capture market share. We are well on our way with the work we have done so far.

我們對科科的方法和我們的早期結果符合我們的預期。我們收購 Keke's 的策略意圖是為了在這個高度分散但穩定成長的日間餐廳領域中競爭。我們擁有獨特的機會，可以利用我們的特許經營模式或方法以及兩個品牌強大的特許經營商網絡來實現指數級增長並佔領市場份額。到目前為止，我們所做的工作進展順利。

Finally, we have been laser-like in our focused approach to understanding what the guests love about Keke's, and the results here are also phenomenal. The Keke's brand 2023 overall net sentiment of 54% significantly outperformed the family dining index of 31% in addition to significantly outperforming the segment and scores for service, ambiance, and intend to return. This tells us we have a winning formula and a brand that guests absolutely love. The future is bright for our small but mighty Keke's brand.

最後，我們像雷射一樣專注地了解客人對可可餐廳的喜愛程度，這裡的結果也是驚人的。可可品牌2023年整體淨情緒為54%，顯著優於家庭餐飲指數的31%，此外，其服務、氛圍和回歸意圖也顯著優於該細分市場和得分。這告訴我們，我們擁有一個成功的秘訣和一個深受客人喜愛的品牌。對於我們小而強大的科科品牌來說，未來是光明的。

In closing, 2023 marked another year of resilience for our dedicated franchisees, our operators, and support teams, and we look to build on our achievements in 2024. This past year, we honored our past, celebrating our 70 years in the business at Denny's, and we charted a clear path to winning for the next 70 years.

最後，2023 年對於我們專注的特許經營商、營運商和支援團隊來說又是一個充滿活力的一年，我們希望在 2024 年取得更大的成就。去年，我們向過去致敬，慶祝 Denny's 成立 70 週年，並為未來 70 年的勝利制定了清晰的道路。

We couldn't do this without the strong partnership and collaborative approach with our incredible franchisees and owners. They are the reason we push to deliver our best every day. They deserve it, and our guests deserve it.

如果沒有與我們令人難以置信的特許經營商和所有者的強有力的合作夥伴關係和協作方式，我們就無法做到這一點。他們是我們每天努力做到最好的原因。他們應得的，我們的客人也應得的。

It's clear we have the right approach to win in today's environment with committed leaders and partners and a game plan for our two unique incredible brands primed for growth and continued momentum for 2024 and beyond. With that, I'll turn the call over to Robert.

很明顯，我們擁有在當今環境中獲勝的正確方法，擁有堅定的領導者和合作夥伴，以及我們兩個獨特的令人難以置信的品牌的遊戲計劃，為2024 年及以後的增長和持續動力做好了準備。這樣，我就把電話轉給羅伯特。

Thank you, Kelli, and good afternoon, everyone. Today I will provide a development update and a review of our fourth quarter results before discussing our 2024 annual guidance.

謝謝你，凱利，大家下午好。今天，在討論我們的 2024 年年度指導之前，我將提供開發更新和第四季度業績的回顧。

Starting with development highlights, our brands opened 32 combined restaurants in 2023, marking the highest number of openings since 2017. Within the quarter, Denny's franchisees opened seven new restaurants, including one international location. This resulted in 28 Denny's restaurant openings for the year, flat with 2022 and consistent with pre-pandemic opening rates.

從發展亮點開始，我們的品牌於2023年開設了32家合併餐廳，創下自2017年以來開業數量的最高紀錄。在本季度內，丹尼的特許經營商開設了七家新餐廳，其中包括一家國際餐廳。這導致 Denny's 全年新開 28 家餐廳，與 2022 年持平，並與大流行前的開業率一致。

Keke's opened two franchise cafés during the quarter, resulting in a total of four cafés for the full year. As Kelli noted, we also opened an additional Keke's company café in late January in Hendersonville, Tennessee marketing, the first café outside of Florida. This marks the first of several company cafés as we plan to utilize company capital to develop oversight efficiency in various markets within and outside of Florida. In addition, Keke's currently has four cafés under construction with several others in permitting and site approval phases.

Keke's 在本季開設了兩家特許經營咖啡館，全年總共開設了四家咖啡館。正如 Kelli 指出的，我們還在 1 月底在田納西州亨德森維爾開設了一家額外的 Keke's 公司咖啡館，這是佛羅裡達州以外的第一家咖啡館。這標誌著多家公司咖啡館中的第一家，因為我們計劃利用公司資本來提高佛羅裡達州內外各個市場的監管效率。此外，Keke's 目前還有四家咖啡館正在建設中，其他幾家咖啡館正處於許可和場地審批階段。

Moving to our fourth quarter results, Denny's domestic system-wide, same-restaurant sales grew 1.3% in the fourth quarter compared to 2022, anchored by a 1.5% increase at domestic franchised restaurant. Denny's domestic system-wide, same-restaurant sales were 3.6% for the full year 2023, exceeding the performance for eight of the nine years prior to the pandemic.

轉向我們第四季度的業績，與 2022 年相比，丹尼第四季度的國內全系統同餐廳銷售額增長了 1.3%，其中國內特許經營餐廳的銷售額增長了 1.5%。2023 年全年，Denny 的國內全系統同餐廳銷售額成長了 3.6%，超過了疫情爆發前九年中八年的表現。

Denny's domestic system-wide same restaurant sales growth was primarily driven by pricing of approximately 7.5%, along with a product mix benefit of approximately 0.3%. Denny's domestic average weekly sales for Q4 were approximately $38,000, including off-premises sales of approximately $8,000 or 20% of total sales. As a result, average unit volumes for 2023 were approximately $1.9 million.

Denny 的國內全系統同店銷售成長主要是由約 7.5% 的定價以及約 0.3% 的產品組合效益所推動的。第四季 Denny 的國內平均每週銷售額約為 38,000 美元，其中場外銷售額約為 8,000 美元，佔總銷售額的 20%。因此，2023 年的平均單位銷售量約為 190 萬美元。

Franchise and license revenue was $61.3 million compared to $66.5 million in the prior year quarter. This change was primarily driven by a $5.3 million decrease in initial and other fees associated with the sale of kitchen equipment in the prior year quarter.

特許經營和授權收入為 6,130 萬美元，去年同期為 6,650 萬美元。這項變更主要是由於上一季與廚房設備銷售相關的初始費用和其他費用減少了 530 萬美元。

Franchise operating margin was $31.5 million or 51.4% of franchise and license revenue compared to $31.6 million or 47.6% in the prior year quarter. Approximately 430 basis points of this favorable change in margin rate resulted from the completion of our kitchen modernization rollout during 2023.

特許經營營業利潤為 3,150 萬美元，佔特許經營和授權收入的 51.4%，而去年同期為 3,160 萬美元，佔 47.6%。利潤率的這項有利變化約 430 個基點是由於我們在 2023 年完成廚房現代化部署所致。

Company restaurant sales were $54 million compared to $54.4 million in the prior year quarter. Company restaurant operating margin was $5.4 million or 10% compared to $6.8 million or 12.6% in the prior year quarter. This margin change was primarily due to $1.8 million in legal costs in the current quarter, partially offset by improvements in product costs compared to the prior year quarter. The $1.8 million in legal cost had an unfavorable 340 basis-point impact on the company restaurant operating margin rate for the current quarter.

該公司餐廳銷售額為 5,400 萬美元，去年同期為 5,440 萬美元。該公司餐廳營業利潤為 540 萬美元，即 10%，而去年同期為 680 萬美元，即 12.6%。這項利潤率變化主要是由於本季 180 萬美元的法律成本，部分被產品成本與去年同期相比的改善所抵銷。180 萬美元的法律費用對公司本季餐廳營業利潤率產生了 340 個基點的不利影響。

Commodity inflation was in line with our internal expectations at approximately 2% in Q4 2023 compared to 1% deflation experienced in Q3 2023. Additionally, labor inflation for Q4 2023 was 3% flat with Q3 2023. G&A expenses for Q4 totaled $19.3 million compared to $17 million in the prior year quarter. These results collectively contributed to adjusted EBITDA of $18.6 million.

2023 年第四季大宗商品通膨率約為 2%，符合我們的內部預期，而 2023 年第三季的通貨緊縮率為 1%。此外，2023 年第四季的勞動力通膨率為 3%，與 2023 年第三季持平。第四季的一般管理費用總計 1,930 萬美元，而去年同期為 1,700 萬美元。這些結果合計為調整後 EBITDA 貢獻了 1,860 萬美元。

The provision for income taxes was $1.7 million, reflecting an effective income tax rate of 36.9% for the quarter compared to 20.7% in the prior year quarter. Adjusted net income per share was $0.14. We generated adjusted free cash flow of $7.4 million.

所得稅準備金為 170 萬美元，反映本季有效所得稅率為 36.9%，去年同期為 20.7%。調整後每股淨利為 0.14 美元。我們產生了 740 萬美元的調整後自由現金流。

Our quarter-end total debt to adjusted EBITDA leverage ratio was 3.26 times. We had approximately $266 million of total debt outstanding, including $256 million borrowed under our credit facility.

我們季末總負債與調整後 EBITDA 的槓桿率為 3.26 倍。我們的未償債務總額約為 2.66 億美元，其中包括根據信貸安排借入的 2.56 億美元。

During the quarter, we allocated $16.2 million to share repurchases, continuing our commitment of returning capital to our shareholders. At the end of the quarter, we had approximately $100 million remaining under our existing repurchase authorization. Since beginning our share repurchase program in late 2010, we have allocated over $700 million to repurchase approximately 67 million shares at an average share price of $10.39.

本季度，我們撥款 1,620 萬美元用於股票回購，繼續履行向股東返還資本的承諾。截至本季末，我們現有的回購授權剩餘約 1 億美元。自 2010 年底開始股票回購計畫以來，我們已撥款超過 7 億美元，以平均股價 10.39 美元回購約 6,700 萬股股票。

Let me now take a few minutes to expand on the business outlook section of our earnings release. We anticipate Denny's domestic, system-wide, same-restaurant sales will be between 0% and 3% compared to 2023. We anticipate opening 40 to 50 restaurants and cafés on a consolidated basis, inclusive of 12 to 16 Keke's openings and the consolidated net decline of 10 to 20 restaurants.

現在讓我花幾分鐘時間來詳細介紹我們收益報告中的業務前景部分。我們預計，與 2023 年相比，Denny 的國內全系統同餐廳銷售額將介於 0% 至 3% 之間。我們預計將新開 40 至 50 家餐廳和咖啡館，其中包括 12 至 16 家客客餐廳的開業以及 10 至 20 家餐廳的綜合淨減少。

We are projecting commodity inflation to be between 0% and 2% for 2024. We expect labor inflation between 4% and 5% for the year. This labor inflation guidance takes into account the anticipated impact from AB 1228 in California.

我們預計 2024 年商品通膨率將在 0% 至 2% 之間。我們預計今年勞動力通膨率將在 4% 至 5% 之間。該勞動力通膨指引考慮了 AB 1228 對加州的預期影響。

Our expectations for consolidated total general and administrative expenses are between $83 million and $86 million, including $12 million related to share-based compensation expense, which does not impact adjusted EBITDA. This consolidated range contemplates a full year of G&A for Keke's new management team and a fully reloaded incentive plan, which is paid out at approximately 70% over the last four years.

我們對合併總一般和管理費用的預期在 8300 萬美元至 8600 萬美元之間，其中包括與股權激勵費用相關的 1200 萬美元，這不會影響調整後的 EBITDA。這個綜合範圍考慮了科科新管理團隊全年的一般管理費用和全面重新加載的激勵計劃，該計劃在過去四年中支付了約 70%。

Additionally, this range would suggest corporate administrative expenses have grown at a compounded annual rate of 2.5% to 3% from pre-pandemic 2019 before considering the investment in Keke's management team who will drive that brand's growth,. That compares to a compounded annual growth rate of 4.3% nationally for private industry salaries and wages between 2019 and 2023. As a result, we anticipate consolidated adjusted EBITDA of between $85 million and $89 million.

此外，這一範圍表明，在考慮對可可管理團隊進行投資以推動該品牌成長之前，自 2019 年大流行前以來，企業管理費用已以 2.5% 至 3% 的複合年增長率增長。相較之下，2019 年至 2023 年間，全國私人企業薪資的複合年增長率為 4.3%。因此，我們預計綜合調整後 EBITDA 將在 8,500 萬美元至 8,900 萬美元之間。

Finally, I would like to thank our engaged franchisees and results-driven brand teams who have remained focused on serving our guests while supporting the transformation of the Denny's brand and the growth of Keke's. That wraps up our prepared remarks. I will now turn the call over to the operator to begin the Q&A portion of our call.

最後，我要感謝我們積極參與的加盟商和以結果為導向的品牌團隊，他們始終專注於為我們的客人提供服務，同時支持 Denny's 品牌的轉型和 Keke's 的發展。我們準備好的發言就到此結束。我現在將把電話轉給接線員，開始我們電話的問答部分。

(Operator Instructions) Michael Tamas, Oppenheimer & Company.

（操作員說明）Michael Tamas，Oppenheimer & Company。

Hi, thanks. Good afternoon. You provided same-store sales guidance of 0% to 3% for the year. So can you first touch on maybe what level of menu pricing you're anticipating within that for 2024? And then can you talk about the cadence, should we see sales build throughout the year or how do you want us thinking about that trajectory? Thanks.

你好謝謝。午安.您提供的當年同店銷售指引為 0% 至 3%。那麼您能否先談談您預計 2024 年的菜單定價水準是多少？然後您能談談節奏嗎？我們是否應該看到全年銷量的成長，或者您希望我們如何考慮這一軌跡？謝謝。

Yeah, hey, Michael. How are you? Hope you're well. With regard to pricing for the year, we are going to roll into some rollover pricing on the year of approximately 2%. And there will be additional pricing. We have two pricing windows. We're getting back to our normal cadence of the year, which is, in April, menu print, in October, menu print, which will have two additional menu opportunities for pricing within those menu prints.

是的，嘿，麥可。你好嗎？希望你一切都好。關於今年的定價，我們將在今年推出約 2% 的展期定價。而且還會有額外的定價。我們有兩個定價視窗。我們將回到今年的正常節奏，即四月打印菜單，十月打印菜單，在這些菜單打印中將有兩個額外的菜單定價機會。

So we're rolling over two. You have two additional pricings. The April pricing will allow us to contemplate AB 1228 in California, so I would expect that window to probably have more pricing than the October window. So I would think that the pricing will be in the range of the 5% to 6% with that build that I just described there.

所以我們要滾過兩個。您還有兩個額外的定價。4 月的定價將使我們能夠考慮加州的 AB 1228，因此我預計該視窗的定價可能比 10 月的視窗更高。因此，我認為，對於我剛才描述的構建，定價將在 5% 到 6% 的範圍內。

With regard to the cadence, I think you probably captured it correctly. I think it does somewhat build over the course of the year. We are rolling over the prior year, some pretty strong numbers from Q1 of the prior year. We have seen some impacts from weather as we started off January here. So I do believe it will build over the course of the year based on some of those items I just mentioned along with our initiatives becoming even further baked as we move throughout the year with regard to menu innovation, value messaging, off-prem with regard to the virtual brand. So I think all of those will continue to mature across the year.

關於節奏，我認為你可能正確地捕捉到了它。我認為它確實在這一年中有所積累。我們正在回顧上一年，上一年第一季的一些數據相當強勁。從一月開始，我們已經看到了天氣的一些影響。因此，我確實相信，它將在今年的過程中建立在我剛才提到的一些項目的基礎上，隨著我們全年在菜單創新、價值信息傳遞、場外相關方面的進展，我們的計劃將進一步完善。到虛擬品牌。所以我認為所有這些都將在今年繼續成熟。

So with regard to pricing, I think that 5% to 6% range. And I do think, as you described, it does build over the course of the year.

所以關於定價，我認為是5%到6%的範圍。我確實認為，正如您所描述的，它確實是在這一年中建立起來的。

Thank you. And then, I think the unit growth guidance suggests you close about 50 to 70 units this year. Can you talk about maybe what led to that decision? Any help on timing or pacing of that throughout the year? And then can you talk about maybe the financial impact, maybe EBITDA, or how we should think about that? Thanks.

謝謝。然後，我認為單位增長指導建議您今年關閉約 50 至 70 個單位。您能談談是什麼導致了這個決定嗎？對於全年的時間安排或進度有什麼幫助嗎？然後你能談談財務影響，也許是 EBITDA，或者我們應該如何考慮這個問題？謝謝。

Yeah, so it's another really good question. So, to your point that the midpoint there would suggest about 60 closures, right, that 50 to 70 range that you described. The reality of that situation is, having come through the inflation environment that we had, although it did temper quite a bit in 2023, the profitability of restaurants that -- where kind of that breakeven for a unit, a Denny's restaurant to remain open has really kind of elevated from about $1 million to about $1.2 million.

是的，這是另一個非常好的問題。因此，就您的觀點而言，中間點建議大約有 60 個關閉，對吧，您所描述的 50 到 70 個範圍。這種情況的現實情況是，在經歷了我們所經歷的通貨膨脹環境後，儘管在 2023 年確實有相當大的緩和，但餐廳的盈利能力 - 一個單位的盈虧平衡點，丹尼餐廳保持營業確實從大約100 萬美元增加到了大約120 萬美元。

And so we're continuing -- that used to be that level, used to be that $ 1 million I just referenced, that used to be the breakpoint of a closure. So we are continuing to work through some additional closures as a result of those inflationary pressures. Our goal, I've said previously, is to get back to a more normalized rate, but we wanted to be as we started off the year to be somewhat conservative with regard to that.

所以我們繼續——這曾經是那個水平，曾經是我剛才提到的 100 萬美元，曾經是關閉的斷點。因此，由於通貨膨脹壓力，我們正在繼續努力關閉一些額外的工廠。我之前說過，我們的目標是恢復到更正常化的利率，但我們希望在年初時對此保持一定程度的保守。

When you think of these restaurants -- to your point with regard to what the EBITDA impact would be, these generally are about $1-million units, $1-million restaurant. So at $40,000 to $50,000 in EBITDA, that is rolling up. So as we build new higher Denny's restaurant openings, so we guided 40 to 50 openings, 12 to 16 of those being Keke's, you would expect us to open somewhere around 30, 30 Denny's. Those are almost double the volume nowadays of the closures.

當你想到這些餐廳時——按照你的觀點，關於 EBITDA 影響是什麼，這些餐廳通常是 100 萬美元左右的單位、100 萬美元的餐廳。因此，EBITDA 為 40,000 至 50,000 美元，這一數字正在增加。因此，當我們新建更高的 Denny's 餐廳開業時，我們指導了 40 到 50 個開業，其中 12 到 16 個是 Keke's，您可能會期望我們在某個地方開設 30、30 個 Denny's 左右。這些數量幾乎是目前關閉數量的兩倍。

So the reality is, it's somewhat net neutral on the EBITDA between those two, the closing that about half the number of openings that are closing, but the volume of the openings are about double that of a closing. And we are at that level of openings. The guidance actually suggests the highest number of Denny's openings since 2017. So we have that machine back open with the 12 to 16 Keke's. That's three to four times the level of openings that we have seen out of that brand at any point in its history, really. So we're really excited about what that's starting to produce for us.

因此，現實情況是，這兩者之間的 EBITDA 在某種程度上是淨中性的，最終關閉的空缺數量約為一半，但空缺數量約為關閉數量的兩倍。我們正處於這樣的空缺水準。該指導實際上表明 Denny's 的空缺職位數量是自 2017 年以來的最高水平。所以我們把那台機器重新打開，裡面有 12 到 16 個 Keke 的機器。這確實是我們在該品牌歷史上任何時候看到的空缺職位數量的三到四倍。因此，我們對它開始為我們帶來的成果感到非常興奮。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thanks, Michael.

謝謝，麥可。

Jake Bartlett, Truist Securities.

傑克·巴特利特，Truist 證券公司。

Great, thanks for taking the question. First, I just wanted to dig into kind of what drove the miss on EBITDA versus your expectations. It looks like your sales was a little bit above. So what was the surprise that drove that miss? I think versus the midpoint of guidance is about 5% lower, so any help there would be good.

太好了，感謝您提出問題。首先，我只是想深入了解導致 EBITDA 未達到預期的原因。看來你們的銷售額有點高了。那麼到底是什麼意外導致了這次失誤呢？我認為與指導中位數相比大約低 5%，因此任何幫助都會很好。

Yeah, that's a really good question, Jake, and hello, good to hear your voice. Some of the -- it really was -- they were in some of our prepared remarks, really kind of revolving around $2.5 million to $3 million worth of reserve adjustments that we really didn't have a good line of sight into there. More than half of that came from some legal reserves that we had to book late into the year.

是的，這是一個非常好的問題，傑克，你好，很高興聽到你的聲音。其中一些——確實是——它們出現在我們準備好的一些演講中，實際上涉及價值 250 萬至 300 萬美元的準備金調整，但我們確實沒有很好的視野。其中一半以上來自我們必須在今年稍後預訂的一些法定儲備。

$2.5 million of that really set in the company margin. And if you right-size for that on the quarter, it would have been between 14.5% to 15% and that $2.5 million would have added a basically another full point to the year. And there was about $0.5 million of reserve adjustments related to our captive within the G&A section of our P&L also.

其中 250 萬美元真正用於公司利潤。如果你在這個季度調整規模，它會在 14.5% 到 15% 之間，而這 250 萬美元基本上會為今年增加一個完整的點。在損益表的一般管理費用部分中，還有約 50 萬美元與我們的自保公司相關的準備金調整。

So again, we -- really, it bothers us. We put out guidance with the full intention of achieving it. And the fact that we didn't because of these kind of one-time events was truly bothersome to us. But when you adjust for those, right-size for those, the margin, particularly on the company side, are much better.

再說一次，我們——真的，這讓我們很困擾。我們發布指導意見的目的就是為了實現這一目標。事實上，由於這些一次性事件，我們沒有這樣做，這對我們來說確實很麻煩。但當你針對這些進行調整，調整合適的規模時，利潤率，尤其是公司方面的利潤率，就會好得多。

Some of the other pieces of those one-time charges, $2.5 million, the largest part was legal. We also had some claims development into workers' comp and GL, a general liability, and some minor medical that impacted that, so just kind of pervasive across the board, nothing really going in our favor this fourth quarter.

這些一次性費用的其他部分為 250 萬美元，其中最大的部分是合法的。我們也對工人補償和總帳、一般責任以及一些影響較小的醫療索賠進行了一些索賠，因此在整個行業中普遍存在，第四季度沒有什麼真正對我們有利的。

Got it, got it. It all makes sense. My other question was about traffic and your expectations in '24 given the guidance for same-store sales and the pricing that you talked about. You said pretty negative traffic. So I guess I'm wondering what is driving that. Are you seeing trade out of the category?

明白了，明白了。這一切都是有道理的。我的另一個問題是關於流量以及您在 24 年的預期，考慮到您談到的同店銷售和定價的指導。你說的是相當負面的流量。所以我想我想知道是什麼推動了這一點。您是否看到該類別以外的交易？

I know -- at some point you were talking abo kind of trade down and trade out and kind of being maybe a net neutral on that. But what are you seeing with the consumer? Why do you think you're seeing this pressure on traffic and what can you do about it? Is there -- I know you're working on some innovation on the lower end of the menu. What's your confidence that you can try to really move the needle here with the traffic?

我知道——在某些時候，你正在談論一種向下交易和向外交易的方式，並且可能對此持淨中立態度。但您對消費者有何看法？您認為為什麼會遇到這種交通壓力？您可以採取什麼措施？有嗎——我知道你們正在菜單低端進行一些創新。您對能夠真正改善這裡的交通狀況有多大信心？

Yeah, so another really good question, Jake. So when we look at it and we pay attention to what's happening in the general economy, we're seeing it as somewhat a distant -- there's not a lot of confidence into what we're seeing in the 2024. So we -- our guidance to your point on the guest traffic side is really a reflection of that.

是的，這是另一個非常好的問題，傑克。因此，當我們審視它並關注整體經濟中正在發生的事情時，我們認為它有點遙遠——我們對 2024 年所看到的情況沒有太多信心。因此，我們對您在訪客流量方面的觀點的指導實際上反映了這一點。

As you're aware, our consumer set is -- half of our consumer has an income base of less than $50,000. So again, we're just being conservative there. We are really bullish about everything that we have into the hopper. We have new -- we've got the Original Grand Slam. That $5.99, $7.99 messaging that we launched in mid-November really changed trends in a very material way.

如您所知，我們的消費者群體中有一半的消費者的收入基礎低於 50,000 美元。再說一遍，我們只是保守而已。我們對料斗中所擁有的一切都非常樂觀。我們有了新的——我們有了最初的大滿貫。我們在 11 月中旬推出的 5.99 美元、7.99 美元消息確實以非常實質的方式改變了趨勢。

We have concept, new value concepts in various levels of testing. We have the multiple virtual brands in various levels of testing. So in large part, being conservative because the rhetoric in the environment is there, but bullish about the other things that we have going.

我們在各個層級的測驗中都有概念、新的價值概念。我們有多個虛擬品牌處於不同等級的測試中。因此，在很大程度上，我們之所以保持保守，是因為環境中存在言論，但對我們正在進行的其他事情持樂觀態度。

Yeah, Jake, I think -- hi, it's great to hear your voice as well. And just to echo what Robert said and just piggyback, it really is about just watching the predictions from economists, just watching those that we track, and those that are putting out those reports and just tell us whether it's inflation and the recent reports that just came out are just that, a lot went into thinking about it and being optimistic yet just realistic.

是的，傑克，我想──嗨，很高興聽到你的聲音。只是為了呼應羅伯特所說的，只是順便說一句，這實際上只是觀察經濟學家的預測，只是觀察我們跟踪的預測，以及那些發布這些報告的人，只是告訴我們是否是通貨膨脹以及最近的報告只是結果就是這樣，我們對此進行了很多思考，保持樂觀但現實。

I would also call out, our value mix has been ticking up, and we've seen that just in January alone. So we feel like we're probably projecting it the right way and looking at it the right way, and yet we are still optimistic.

我還要指出，我們的價值組合一直在上升，僅在一月我們就看到了這一點。因此，我們覺得我們可能正在以正確的方式預測它並以正確的方式看待它，但我們仍然保持樂觀。

Lastly, I would tell you in both in the fourth quarter of last year and in January, we can tell that we are stealing share both on sales and traffic against our competitive benchmarks, which are both benchmarks for family dining and casual dining. So is there trade down from casual? Perhaps. Is there trade out from us? Perhaps. We also see evidence that people in fact are still anxious enough to maybe visit less often. But again, for us, we can see what we're doing against the competitive set.

最後，我想告訴大家，在去年第四季和一月份，我們可以看出，我們在銷售和流量方面都在搶佔競爭基準（家庭餐飲和休閒餐飲的基準）的份額。那麼，休閒裝是否有下降的趨勢呢？也許。我們有貿易嗎？也許。我們還看到證據表明，人們實際上仍然非常焦慮，可能會減少訪問次數。但同樣，對我們來說，我們可以看到我們在競爭中所做的事情。

The last thing I'll say relative to this, Jake, is that our value mix, while ticking up and an indicator perhaps of indeed where people are being cautious, our GCA is still up. And we continue to just be really excited about and encouraged by our barbell strategy in that those that Robert called out, less than $50,000, may be the ones definitely coming in sensing that we do have great value at this unbeatable pricing.

傑克，與此相關的最後一件事是，我們的價值組合雖然有所上升，並且可能確實表明人們確實在謹慎，但我們的 GCA 仍在上升。我們繼續對我們的槓鈴策略感到非常興奮和鼓舞，因為那些羅伯特所說的低於 50,000 美元的人可能肯定會意識到我們在這個無與倫比的定價下確實具有巨大的價值。

Great food are also -- though there are also people coming in and then upgrading to our amazing new products like the strawberry French toast. Stuffed French toast just continues to just sell incredibly well. So I feel like we're balanced. We've thought a lot about it, and we're really still pretty optimistic about the things we have in the hopper, as you heard from Robert.

食物也很棒——儘管也有人進來然後升級到我們令人驚嘆的新產品，例如草莓法式吐司。夾餡法式吐司繼續賣得非常好。所以我覺得我們是平衡的。我們對此進行了很多思考，而且我們對料斗中的東西仍然非常樂觀，正如您從羅伯特那裡聽到的那樣。

Great. I appreciate it all. Thank you so much.

偉大的。我很感激這一切。太感謝了。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thanks, Jake.

謝謝，傑克。

Nick Setyan, Wedbush.

尼克·塞蒂安，韋德布希。

Thank you. I just want to first clarify the pricing commentary. Did I understand correctly that Q1 pricing is 2%?

謝謝。我只想先澄清一下定價評論。我是否正確理解第一季定價為 2%？

Yeah, sorry, Nick, no. Sorry if I misled you. We have -- we're rolling off 2% in pricing in the quarter. The pricing that we will see throughout the year is in that 5% to 6% range. That will be fairly steady across the year, maybe a little bit tick higher in April as we take into account pricing related to AB 1228. I apologize if I misled with my remarks, but no, no, the pricing in Q1 will be more in line with the 5% to 6% that I referenced today.

是的，抱歉，尼克，不。抱歉，如果我誤導了你。我們將在本季將價格下調 2%。我們全年看到的價格將在 5% 到 6% 的範圍內。全年這一數字將相當穩定，由於我們考慮到與 AB 1228 相關的定價，四月可能會略高一些。如果我的言論誤導了我，我深表歉意，但不，不，第一季的定價將更符合我今天提到的 5% 至 6%。

Okay. And Q4 sounds like it was in the mid-5% range, just to kind of get to that 7.5% for the year. Is that correct?

好的。第四季聽起來像是在 5% 的中間範圍內，只是為了今年達到 7.5%。那是對的嗎？

So we -- the math of it is, is that we actually layered in additional pricing with a November print. So while we're rolling off various pieces of that over the -- as we move into Q1, the actual pricing effect in the quarter in Q3 and Q4 2023 was more in the 7.5% range. So that's the number you should think about. So the 1.3% would suggest about a six-point traffic decline.

所以我們 - 數學上來說，我們實際上在 11 月印刷品中加入了額外的定價。因此，雖然我們在進入第一季時滾動了其中的各個部分，但 2023 年第三季和第四季的實際定價效應更多在 7.5% 的範圍內。所以這就是你應該考慮的數字。因此，1.3% 意味著流量下降了大約六點。

About a 6.3 traffic decline?

流量下降約 6.3？

Yeah, about that. Again, it's not perfectly perfect math in that when you're dealing with same-store sales. But yes, in that 6% range. Yes, appreciate you. Give me the opportunity to clarify those remarks.

是的，關於那件事。同樣，當您處理同店銷售時，這並不是完美的數學。但是，是的，在 6% 的範圍內。是的，謝謝你。請給我機會澄清這些言論。

No, it's very helpful. Thank you. And then just on the G&A guidance, it does sound like you're pretty much assuming sort of a full payout across the board. And so when it's all said and done, it seems like G&A may not be as high as the full year guidance implies. I mean, hopefully it is and everything across the top line and margins are great. But if not, it sounds like G&A is actually going to be a little bit lower. Is that a fair understanding of how you're guiding G&A?

不，這很有幫助。謝謝。然後，就一般管理費用指南而言，聽起來您確實幾乎假設全面全額支付。因此，總而言之，一般行政費用似乎可能沒有全年指引所暗示的那麼高。我的意思是，希望如此，並且營收和利潤率方面的一切都很棒。但如果沒有，聽起來 G&A 實際上會低一些。這是對您指導一般及行政費用的合理理解嗎？

Given the last four years, Nick, it would represent 70%, but I like your more bullish claim that we're going to hit all of our guidance and actually pay out that level. And everybody will be excited to do that. But yes, the $83 million to $86 million range does include a 100% short-term incentive compensation assumption.

考慮到過去四年，尼克，這將代表 70%，但我喜歡你更樂觀的說法，即我們將達到所有指導並實際支付該水平。每個人都會對此感到興奮。但是，8,300 萬美元至 8,600 萬美元的範圍確實包括 100% 短期激勵薪酬假設。

Okay. And then on the franchise margin, can we just talk about sort of the trajectory on the franchise margin in '24? And then just how many company-owned Keke's you guys are thinking of within that guidance in '24?

好的。然後在特許經營利潤方面，我們可以談談 24 年特許經營利潤的軌跡嗎？那麼，在 24 年的指導方針中，你們想到了多少家公司擁有的 Keke？

Yeah, let me start with the second part first. I'll give Curt a chance to help me out with the margin question on the franchise. But with regard to the Keke's openings, the 12 to 16, I would tell you that in the current year, in 2024, that those will likely be 40% to 50% company openings. As we build the pipeline with additional Keke's franchisee development and some great strength within the Denny's franchise development related to the development agreements that we announced on the last call, those 14 agreements for 100 additional café commitment.

是的，讓我先從第二部分開始。我會給科特一個機會來幫助我解決特許經營權的利潤問題。但關於科克的空缺職位，即 12 至 16 個，我想告訴你，在今年，即 2024 年，這些空缺職位可能佔 40% 至 50%。當我們與額外的Keke's 特許經營商開發和Denny's 特許經營開發中的一些強大實力建立管道時，這些實力與我們在上次電話會議上宣布的開發協議有關，這14 項協議涉及100 家額外的咖啡館承諾。

So in the current year, as we build out operational efficiency in places like Tennessee and Jacksonville, you will see us invest more into company,-operated cafés. So the 12 to 16 would likely be 40% to 50% from 40% to 50% for company café openings.

因此，今年，當我們在田納西州和傑克遜維爾等地提高營運效率時，您會看到我們對公司經營的咖啡館進行了更多投資。因此，對於公司咖啡館的開業來說，12 到 16 歲的人可能會佔 40% 到 50%，從 40% 到 50%。

With regard to the margin, what I'm being shown is that it will be very, very similar to 2023. So approximately 51%. In the changes, as you note in the remarks is we have this odd revenue recognition standard that impacted the prior year where we were having to recognize the kitchen equipment that we were installing for franchisees as revenue with a complete contract offset into the expense, which depressed franchise margins by four to five percentage points.

至於利潤率，我看到的是，它將與 2023 年非常非常相似。所以大約是 51%。正如您在評論中指出的那樣，在這些變化中，我們有一個奇怪的收入確認標準，該標準影響了上一年，我們必須將我們為特許經營商安裝的廚房設備確認為收入，並將完整的合約抵銷到費用中，這特許經營利潤率下降了四到五個百分點。

So we don't have that same type of impact within the 2023 results. So you shouldn't see, you shouldn't expect or anticipate another four to five percentage-point growth. It'll be very similar at that low-50s percent range, 50%, 51% range so.

因此，我們在 2023 年的結果中並沒有產生同樣類型的影響。所以你不應該看到，你不應該期望或預期另外四到五個百分點的成長。在 50%、50%、51% 範圍內，情況會非常相似。

Got it. Okay, thank you very much.

知道了。好的，非常感謝。

Thanks, Nick.

謝謝，尼克。

Todd Brooks, Benchmark Company.

托德·布魯克斯，基準公司。

Hey, good evening, everyone. Thanks for taking my questions.

嘿，大家晚上好。感謝您回答我的問題。

Hey, Todd.

嘿，托德。

Hey, Todd.

嘿，托德。

Hey, good to talk to you both. One follow-up to Jake's question, actually. Kelli, I think when you were answering that value mix has ticked up in January, I know it was stable Q4 versus Q3. Can you share with us how much it has ticked up just to maybe dimensionalize?

嘿，很高興與你們倆交談。實際上，這是傑克問題的一個後續。凱利，我想當你回答一月份價值組合有所上升時，我知道第四季與第三季相比是穩定的。您能否與我們分享一下，為了進行維度化，它已經上漲了多少？

Sure, yeah, absolutely, Todd. A couple of points, we've seen it go up a couple of points. It's a recent trend change but again, we're still seeing that check holds reiterate that and we're still seeing people coming in and ordering some of these great new products around innovation. So the value messaging we know is working to get them in the door. We'll refresh that messaging this quarter and -- but it's ticked up a couple of points as of late. And again, probably evidence to what most are saying about how people are feeling. But for us, again, still confident in the strategy on barbell and that is really working for us.

當然，是的，絕對，托德。幾個點，我們已經看到它上升了幾個點。這是最近的趨勢變化，但我們仍然看到檢查保留重申了這一點，並且我們仍然看到人們進來並訂購一些圍繞創新的偉大新產品。因此，我們所知道的價值資訊正在努力讓他們進來。我們將在本季度刷新這一消息，但最近它已經上升了幾個點。再說一次，這可能是大多數人所說的關於人們感受的證據。但對我們來說，我們仍然對槓鈴策略充滿信心，這對我們來說確實有效。

And if I think back historically, this is run in the low to mid-20s before, hasn't it, so we're not back to maybe historical peaks for where values mixed out?

如果我回顧歷史，這之前是在 20 多歲左右的低點到中點運行的，不是嗎，所以我們可能不會回到價值混合的歷史高峰？

I think that's correct. Robert is nodding his head as well.

我認為這是正確的。羅伯特也點點頭。

Yeah, Todd, we -- during the height of 2, 4, 6, 8 launch, it was in the 23%, 24%, 25% range and as long as the barbell strategy is effective, as Kelli is alluding to, we're not afraid of driving that value instance, right.

是的，托德，我們 - 在 2、4、6、8 發射的高峰期，它處於 23%、24%、25% 的範圍內，只要槓鈴策略有效，正如凱利提到的那樣，我們不害怕驅動那個值實例，對吧。

And this is all -- these are -- this is not just the Original Grand Slam and the one that we're talking about as of late, although that has been incredibly successful as we've talked about. This is other things that are messaged in the restaurant that we would classify our Everyday Value Slam or Super Slam. We kind of capture those all in that kind of value incidence bucket for us. The Original Grand Slam is the one that has upticked as of late, yeah.

這就是全部——這些——這不僅僅是最初的大滿貫和我們最近談論的大滿貫，儘管正如我們所談論的那樣，它取得了令人難以置信的成功。這是餐廳中傳達的其他訊息，我們將把我們的日常價值大滿貫或超級大滿貫分類。我們為我們捕獲了所有這些價值發生桶。是的，最初的大滿貫是最近的上升。

That's helpful, thanks. And I wanted to get a little bit on Keke's. So at the end of Q3, you updated us on the 14 agreements, 100 units, and I think today's commentary was 14 agreements, 100 plus units. Are we actively selling agreements now? Are we digesting the explosion that we had in agreements in Q3. I'm just curious, I felt there was more momentum maybe to continue off the franchisee convention, the signings that you saw there, (multiple speakers) talk about that.

這很有幫助，謝謝。我想了解一下科科的。因此，在第三季末，您向我們更新了 14 項協議、100 多個單位，我認為今天的評論是 14 項協議、100 多個單位。我們現在正在積極銷售協議嗎？我們是否正在消化第三季協議中的爆炸性成長？我只是很好奇，我覺得加盟商大會結束後可能會有更多的動力繼續下去，你在那裡看到的簽約，（多個發言者）談論了這一點。

Sure, yeah, yeah, I think that's fair, Todd. And what we're seeing is, obviously, there's a lot of excitement about it, and there's also been a lot of -- and I think we mentioned this and talked about it quite a bit. There's a tremendous amount of excitement still, and there's momentum, and there's a lot of conversations about Nashville. It's that new prototype. It's the new design. It's that all those things are in play, and then we still have levers to pull in terms of just continuing to drive that momentum.

當然，是的，是的，我認為這是公平的，托德。顯然，我們看到的是，人們對此感到非常興奮，而且也有很多——我想我們提到了這一點並談論了很多。人們仍然興奮不已，勢頭強勁，並且有很多關於納許維爾的討論。這就是那個新原型。這是新設計。所有這些事情都在發揮作用，然後我們仍然有槓桿可以繼續推動這一勢頭。

But a lot of folks, really excited, a lot of things that are in play with the new menu cocktails. Again, successful Tennessee opening, we're really encouraged by what we saw there. So there's quite a few that are lined up as of right now as you know, the ones that we've talked about. And then we literally had people waiting to come to that opening and said, hey, let's get this thing open. Let's do a great job opening it.

但很多人真的很興奮，很多東西都與新菜單雞尾酒結合。田納西州的開幕再次成功，我們對在那裡所看到的一切感到非常鼓舞。因此，正如您所知，目前有相當多的人正在排隊，我們已經討論過。然後我們確實有人等著來到那個空位並說，嘿，讓我們把這個東西打開吧。讓我們好好地打開它。

We got that ceremony. We did the ceremonial grand opening, ribbon-cutting with everyone in the community that we could get so that we could get this name out there and it's been really successful, but we also have franchisees waiting to go there, lining up to go there and be introduced via our development team, and those people are coming in as we speak.

我們舉行了那個儀式。我們舉辦了隆重的開幕典禮，與社區中的每個人一起剪彩，這樣我們就可以把這個名字傳出去，而且非常成功，但我們也有特許經營商等著去那裡，排隊去那裡，然後通過我們的開發團隊介紹的，就在我們說話的時候，這些人就進來了。

So we expect that momentum to continue. There's really no pause other than to say, hey, let's get this thing out of Florida and see how it can perform for us. We do also have four cafés under construction. And then again, these openings next year are pretty accelerated rate, as Robert already talked about.

因此，我們預計這種勢頭將持續下去。除了說，嘿，讓我們把這個東西帶出佛羅裡達州，看看它如何為我們服務之外，真的沒有任何停頓。我們還有四家咖啡館正在興建中。話又說回來，正如羅伯特已經談到的那樣，明年這些職位空缺的速度相當快。

And are the four -- or the 40% of growth this year that's anticipated to be company stores, are you seeding other states for proof of concept or are you looking to get that kind of operational efficiency in the Tennessee market as a corporate market and then -- go ahead, Robert, sorry.

今年預計將成長 40% 的公司商店是這四個州，您是否正在向其他州播種以進行概念驗證，或者您是否希望在田納西州市場作為企業市場獲得這種運營效率？那麼——繼續吧，羅伯特，抱歉。

Yeah, so just so -- Todd, we're really excited by what we're seeing in Tennessee. We already have another corporate café under construction in Tennessee right now. We have another corporate café in Jacksonville under construction right now. And you will see us move into Texas seating, Texas as the next corporate area for development. So we will be in places other than Florida and Tennessee this year.

是的，就這樣——托德，我們對在田納西州看到的一切感到非常興奮。目前，我們在田納西州已經有另一家企業咖啡館正在興建中。我們在傑克遜維爾還有另一家公司咖啡館正在建設中。您將看到我們進入德克薩斯州座椅，德克薩斯州作為下一個發展的公司區域。因此，今年我們將前往佛羅裡達州和田納西州以外的地方。

Okay, great. And then just a couple to wrap up on Keke's and I'll get back in queue. Since the program was successful, can you speak to maybe alcohol incidence or lift in check that you saw in the test that we should think about for AUVs for the concept? And then the second one, just with the new prototype opening in Tennessee, which looks great from the pictures I've seen online, thoughts on -- is there a point in -- or do the franchisees existing in Florida want to go back and rework their units in the new prototype or is this really a go-forward type of prototype for Keke's? Thanks.

好的，太好了。然後只要有幾個可以結束 Keke 的，我就會回到隊列中。由於該計劃取得了成功，您能否談談您在測試中看到的酒精發病率或提升情況，我們應該考慮 AUV 的概念？然後是第二個，就在田納西州開設了新的原型機，從我在網上看到的圖片來看，它看起來很棒，我的想法是——有沒有意義——或者佛羅裡達州現有的特許經營者是否想回去並在新原型中重新設計他們的單位，或者這真的是科科的一個前進類型的原型嗎？謝謝。

A lot in there, Todd, and really great questions, so first to take maybe the last thing that you mentioned in terms of going back in in Florida, there are a lot of franchisees really excited about it. It's a beautiful building, it's a beautiful design, really leaned into what Keke's is known for and what's special about it with an updated, really bright, fresh look. So I'm glad you got to see that. Pictures don't totally do it justice. It really is a stunning building.

托德，裡面有很多問題，而且都是很好的問題，所以首先考慮一下你提到的關於回到佛羅裡達州的最後一件事，有很多特許經營商對此感到非常興奮。這是一座美麗的建築，這是一個美麗的設計，真正體現了 Keke's 的著名之處以及它的特別之處，具有更新、非常明亮、新鮮的外觀。所以我很高興你能看到這一點。圖片並不能完全反映它的真實性。這確實是一座令人驚嘆的建築。

The franchisees will go back. There's conversations with a lot of them in Florida to go back and look at paint colors, look at some of the things that they could pull forward. There's really not been a comprehensive remodel program for the Keke's brand up until now, so they are excited about the things that we can pull forward and having those conversations for sure.

加盟商會回去。我們與佛羅裡達州的許多人進行了對話，回顧油漆顏色，看看他們可以推進哪些事情。到目前為止，科科品牌確實還沒有一個全面的改造計劃，所以他們對我們可以推進的事情感到興奮，並且肯定會進行這些對話。

In terms of the alcohol program, so really encouraged by what we're seeing. It's a really simplified approach with mimosas, sangrias. And 5% to 7% of mix is really what we're seeing there. Higher on the weekends, this is obviously expected, but really in line with what we thought that that would do for us.

就酒精計劃而言，我們所看到的確實令人鼓舞。這是含羞草、桑格利亞汽酒的一種非常簡單的方法。5% 到 7% 的混合比例正是我們所看到的。週末走高，這顯然是預期的，但確實符合我們的想法，這會為我們帶來好處。

So it's not been rolled out system-wide. In fact that Tennessee location did not yet open with it. It's one of those things where we're excited about the potential this has. This is a brand where it doesn't have a honeymoon curve like other brands I'm used to. It doesn't have a honeymoon curve where decreases actually grows over time. And we're actually not talking about it just yet because we know it's got the potential, and we've already seen that starting to grow.

所以它還沒有在全系統範圍內推廣。事實上，田納西州的分店還沒有開業。這是我們對其潛力感到興奮的事情之一。這是一個不像我習慣的其他品牌有蜜月曲線的品牌。它沒有蜜月曲線，隨著時間的推移，減少實際上會增加。實際上我們還沒有談論它，因為我們知道它有潛力，而且我們已經看到它開始成長。

And again, we didn't open with the cocktails or the alcohol program. We didn't open with some of the other things that we know we can pull, and that will help it to continue to grow for us. So we are excited about what that can do for the Keke system in terms of rolling that alcohol program, as well as even the remodels and what that could do for the Florida market.

再說一次，我們沒有以雞尾酒或酒精節目開始。我們沒有以其他一些我們知道可以拉動的東西開始，這將有助於它繼續為我們發展。因此，我們對這可以為 Keke 系統在推出酒精計劃方面所做的事情感到興奮，甚至對改造以及這可以為佛羅裡達市場做些什麼感到興奮。

Okay. Thanks, Kelli.

好的。謝謝，凱利。

You're welcome.

不客氣。

Jon Tower, Citi.

喬恩塔，花旗銀行。

Great, thanks for taking the questions. Maybe if we could start off on the unit closures, and specifically, I'm just trying to -- maybe you can help us bring fence -- how many of the stores are potentially at risk of closure. I think, Robert, you mentioned earlier that profitability breakevens are close to $1.2 million now at Denny's. I'm just curious if you could maybe give us some idea of what percentage of the system might be at or near those levels and yeah, maybe that's -- we'll stop for the moment.

太好了，感謝您提出問題。也許我們可以從關閉單位開始，具體來說，我只是想——也許你可以幫助我們建立圍欄——有多少商店可能面臨關閉的風險。羅伯特，我想您之前提到過 Denny's 目前的獲利損益平衡點接近 120 萬美元。我只是好奇你能否告訴我們系統的百分比可能達到或接近這些水平，是的，也許就是——我們暫時停止。

Yeah, Jon, so happy to try to provide some additional color to that. With regard to -- we assess the Denny's system with regard to kind of quintiles. In our low -- I can tell you that our lowest quintile in aggregate is actually above the $1.2 million. So it's only a subset of that lowest quintile that we are really dealing with.

是的，喬恩，很高興嘗試為此提供一些額外的色彩。關於－我們評估丹尼系統的五分位數。在我們的最低點——我可以告訴你，我們最低的五分位數總計實際上高於 120 萬美元。所以這只是我們真正處理的最低五分之一的子集。

The other piece that makes this a little bit harder to predict is that it's made up of -- there's many franchisees that have restaurants within there, and they all have different motivations, right? So they -- if it's covering the lease cost, but not necessarily profitable, it may be a restaurant that remains open even in that scenario. So it's hard to say of that subset of units, of that subset of quintile, how many are likely to close near end.

另一個讓這有點難以預測的因素是，它是由許多特許經營商組成的，其中有餐廳，他們都有不同的動機，對吧？因此，如果它能夠覆蓋租賃成本，但不一定能獲利，那麼即使在這種情況下，它也可能是一家仍在營業的餐廳。因此，很難說對於該單位的子集，對於五分位數的子集，有多少可能會接近尾聲。

Over time, right, an elongated timeframe, you may be looking at half that quintile. But right now, what we're comfortable doing is to guide one year at a time with what we know and really, really watch closely, particularly as we move across this year and with all the initiatives that we have in place to hopefully to grow out of it.

隨著時間的推移，正確的，更長的時間範圍，你可能會看到五分之一的一半。但現在，我們願意做的就是用我們所知道的並真正密切關注的內容一次指導一年，特別是當我們跨過今年並採取所有希望能夠實現增長的舉措時出來了。

I can tell you that of these quintiles that three of the -- four of them actually grew volume over the course of the pandemic that the only one that did not was that lowest quintile. So if we can get that moving also, it may put less of those at risk. Again, another reason why we're just trying to give that one-year look right now as opposed to looking out much further than that, a lot of nuances that go into predicting how many of those will actually close in the near term.

我可以告訴你，在這些五分之一中，其中三個——其中四個實際上在大流行期間增加了交易量，唯一沒有增長的是最低的五分之一。因此，如果我們也能做到這一點，那麼面臨風險的人可能會更少。同樣，我們現在只是試圖給出一年的展望而不是進一步展望的另一個原因是，在預測其中有多少在短期內實際關閉時存在很多細微差別。

Thank you. And I guess on the flip side of that, it sounds encouraging with the new store openings on the Denny's side, the first numbers reaching 2017 levels. So I'm just curious, maybe you can give us a little bit color on where these stores, are they more infill, are they new markets, are the new franchisees existing franchisees, are they effectively relocations of existing stores. Just curious if you could provide some color.

謝謝。我想另一方面，Denny's 一側的新店開業聽起來令人鼓舞，首批數字達到 2017 年的水平。所以我很好奇，也許你可以給我們一些關於這些商店在哪裡的信息，它們是否更充實，它們是否是新市場，新的特許經營商是否是現有的特許經營商，他們是否有效地搬遷了現有商店。只是好奇你是否可以提供一些顏色。

Yeah, happy to do that also. Generally, not offsets, not close-this-Denny's-open-this-Denny's. So they're not generally offset. 90% of the restaurants that closed are what we were just talking about, these very, very low volume units. So it's not that -- we're not offsetting because of a property control issue, so not offset.

是的，我也很高興這樣做。一般來說，不是偏移，不是關閉這個丹尼的打開這個丹尼的。所以它們通常不會抵消。 90% 關閉的餐廳就是我們剛才所說的，這些數量非常非常低的單位。所以事實並非如此——我們不會因為財產控制問題而進行抵消，所以不會抵消。

Every year, we have new franchisees, somewhere in the neighborhood of, let's say, four to six new franchisees. So there will always be some new franchisee development. But generally, the vast majority of these openings would be infill restaurants from existing franchisees, so I think that's probably the best way to look at it.

每年，我們都會有新的特許經營商，比如說，附近有四到六個新的特許經營商。所以總是會有一些新的加盟商發展。但一般來說，這些空缺的絕大多數都是現有特許經營商的填充餐廳，所以我認為這可能是最好的看待方式。

With -- and now, 1,342 franchise domestic restaurants, another 65 company, we're fairly penetrated into most markets. You can go find some, particularly if you look east of the Mississippi, that we could potentially build out. But in general, these are infills into existing markets where we know the Denny's has a lot of strength.

現在，我們擁有 1,342 家國內特許經營餐廳，另外還有 65 家公司，我們已經相當滲透到大多數市場。你可以去找一些，特別是如果你向密西西比河以東看，我們可能會建造一些。但總的來說，這些都是對現有市場的補充，我們知道丹尼在這些市場上有很大的實力。

Got it. And then just kind of thinking about California a little bit more in detail, do you have any specific plans to address value in that market given obviously the changes in pricing structure across the industry coming in April? I mean, are there any explicit plans that you might have to attack the value messaging, whether it's on building brand awareness with incremental marketing? Obviously, you've got a lot of innovation in the pipeline when it comes to product, but I'm just curious how you plan on handling that market specifically in April forward.

知道了。然後更詳細地考慮加州，鑑於 4 月整個行業定價結構的明顯變化，您是否有任何具體計劃來解決該市場的價值？我的意思是，是否有任何明確的計劃可以攻擊價值訊息，無論是透過增量行銷來建立品牌知名度？顯然，在產品方面，你們已經有了很多創新，但我只是好奇你們計劃如何在四月處理這個市場。

Great, great question and lots of conversations that we have. We're working very closely with the California franchisees. In fact, we call it our situation room where we come to them and we partner with them both in them sharing kind of ideas that they might have. Many of them have other brands. Many of them have QSR brands actually.

非常非常好的問題，我們進行了很多對話。我們正在與加州特許經營商密切合作。事實上，我們稱之為“情況室”，我們會在那裡與他們合作，分享他們可能有的想法。他們中的許多人還有其他品牌。他們中的許多人實際上都有 QSR 品牌。

So while we're not in that same situation, of course, being a full-service brand, we're being very mindful of that. So what I can tell you is the value messaging there -- so we've got a price point of $5.99 in many markets, but in California, it's $7.99. That's competitive for there. That's been working there fairly well. It's actually been working really well there also. So we'll continue with that messaging.

因此，雖然我們沒有處於同樣的情況，但作為一個全方位服務品牌，我們當然非常注意這一點。所以我可以告訴你的是那裡的價值資訊——所以我們在許多市場的價格點是 5.99 美元，但在加州是 7.99 美元。這對那裡來說是有競爭力的。這在那裡運作得相當好。事實上，它在那裡也運作得很好。因此，我們將繼續該訊息傳遞。

The other thing that we have done, we are reimplementing or reinstituting the co-op program. And so we'll continue to spend at the local level. We'll spend more at the local level, working in partnership with them. So we'll do things unique to the market wherever possible.

我們所做的另一件事是，我們正在重新實施或重新建立合作項目。因此，我們將繼續在地方層級進行支出。我們將在地方層級投入更多資金，與他們合作。因此，我們將盡可能做市場獨特的事情。

We're doing our match again for that co-op program. So we're bringing that back after several years of not doing that. And we know that will help strengthen the market. And then finally, really, really looking to strengthen the top line for them in as many ways as possible.

我們正在為那個合作項目再次進行比賽。因此，在幾年沒有這樣做之後，我們將把它帶回來。我們知道這將有助於加強市場。最後，真的真的希望以盡可能多的方式增強他們的收入。

I've mentioned this before, but looking at the virtual brands, the things we're testing in off-premise, so not only helping them with analytics and metrics to understand the effectiveness of their off-premise channels today, but also potentially bringing those virtual brands to them first, bringing those to enable as much revenue that we could possibly help them drive.

我之前已經提到過這一點，但是看看虛擬品牌，我們在場外測試的東西，因此不僅可以幫助他們進行分析和指標以了解其場外渠道的有效性，而且還可能帶來首先向他們提供這些虛擬品牌，為他們帶來盡可能多的收入，我們可以幫助他們增加收入。

So that's really the focus for us. It's almost a triage approach with them. And at the same time, making sure just we're available to have the conversation so we're staying really close to it.

這確實是我們關注的焦點。這幾乎是他們的一種分類方法。同時，確保我們能夠進行對話，以便我們可以真正接近它。

Got it, thank you for taking the questions.

明白了，感謝您提出問題。

Of course.

當然。

Thanks, Jon.

謝謝，喬恩。

Thank you, Jon.

謝謝你，喬恩。

Aisling Grueninger, Piper Sandler.

艾斯林·格魯寧格，派珀·桑德勒。

Hi, good afternoon. It's great to hear about all the momentum with Keke's development, but just on the franchise comp result for the quarter, could you speak to what is behind the softness there? Is it specific to the Florida consumer or is there a primary driver you'd point us at?

嗨，下午好。很高興聽到 Keke 的發展勢頭強勁，但就本季的特許經營業績而言，您能談談疲軟背後的原因嗎？它是針對佛羅裡達州消費者的，還是您可以向我們指出的主要驅動因素？

Yeah, so that's a really good question. Florida remains -- you must have been looking at some of my cheat sheets that we prepared. Florida is by far the weakest state that we've had. There's actually some good strength throughout the Midwest. When you look at New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, strength there, but the Florida still trails quite significantly with regard to that.

是的，這是一個非常好的問題。佛羅裡達仍然存在——你一定看過我們準備的一些備忘錄。佛羅裡達州是迄今為止最弱的州。實際上整個中西部都有一些不錯的實力。當你看看紐約、賓夕法尼亞州、俄亥俄州、印第安納州、伊利諾伊州時，它們的實力都很強，但佛羅裡達州在這方面仍然明顯落後。

And the reality is, if you look at the pace of our same-store sales across the quarter, October was weaker than November, and November was weaker than December, and December actually showed some significant strength as we got deep into our value messaging, the $5.99, $7.99, Original Grand Slam messaging. So again, we were -- with regard to that, we were pretty pleased on the way we finished out the year.

事實是，如果你看看我們整個季度同店銷售的速度，10 月弱於11 月，11 月弱於12 月，隨著我們深入了解我們的價值信息，12 月實際上顯示出了一些顯著的優勢， 5.99 美元、7.99 美元的原創大滿貫消息。再說一遍，我們對這一年的結束方式感到非常滿意。

Great. Thanks for that. My second question is on 24/7. Now that we're in 2024, I'm just hoping you could give us an update on what percent of the store base is back to 24/7, and what your expectations are for the return to 24/7 this year.

偉大的。感謝那。我的第二個問題是 24/7。現在已經到了 2024 年，我只是希望您能給我們提供最新信息，說明有多少商店基礎恢復到 24/7，以及您對今年恢復到 24/7 的期望是什麼。

Yeah, again, really good question. That's really stabilized. When we've looked at it, it grew through about the July-August timeframe. We had a pretty concerted effort to get back as many as we could to 24/7. And it's kind of leveled off at about the 75% level. And the other piece to note, though, is even if you're not a 24/7, the vast are already over 20 hours.

是的，又是一個非常好的問題。這下真的穩定了。當我們查看它時，它在大約七月至八月的時間範圍內增長。我們齊心協力，盡可能恢復到 24/7。並且穩定在 75% 左右的水平。不過，另一件事需要注意的是，即使您不是 24/7，大部分時間也已經超過 20 小時了。

So I think we've stabilized. I don't think you'll see material growth from here nor do I think you'll see a material slide from here. I think this is somewhat of the new norm.

所以我認為我們已經穩定下來了。我認為您不會從這裡看到物質增長，也不會看到物質下滑。我認為這在某種程度上是新常態。

And I think the other reality --

我認為另一個現實--

(multiple speakers) I'm sorry, go ahead.

（多位發言者）對不起，請繼續。

(multiple speakers) No, that's okay. I was only going to add to what Robert mentioned in terms of just, we just came off the last question on the FAST Act or AB 1228 and the impact there in California. So we're just always mindful of the profitability of our franchisees, the health of those franchisees that we talked about. It's about driving top line, it's about just showing them every opportunity, but also just being the best partner possible.

（多個發言者）不，沒關係。我只想對 Robert 提到的內容進行補充，我們剛剛結束了關於 FAST 法案或 AB 1228 的最後一個問題以及對加州的影響。因此，我們始終關注特許經營商的盈利能力以及我們談到的那些特許經營商的健康狀況。這是為了提高收入，向他們展示每一個機會，同時也是盡可能成為最好的合作夥伴。

We still know, given the percentage, not only of those that are 24/7 at 75% and holding, but also the amount of hours that we are open that as a full-service brand that use -- we are back strong and as strong as many other players that used to be 24/7 and haven't gotten even close to 75% back. So we feel good about it. And yet, given the pressures in some of the states like California, we're just mindful of that.

我們仍然知道，考慮到百分比，不僅是 24/7（75%）並持有的百分比，而且還包括我們作為全方位服務品牌開放的時間量——我們強勢回歸，並且作為與許多其他過去24 /7 的玩家一樣強大，但還沒有達到75% 的回報。所以我們對此感覺良好。然而，考慮到加州等一些州面臨的壓力，我們只是注意到了這一點。

Thanks.

謝謝。

You're welcome.

不客氣。

Thank you. We have reached the end of the question-and-answer session. I'll turn the call back over to Curt Nichols for closing remarks.

謝謝。我們的問答環節已經結束。我會將電話轉回給科特·尼科爾斯，讓其結束語。

Well, thank you, everyone, for joining us on today's call. We look forward to our next earnings conference call in the spring when we will discuss our first quarter 2024 results. Thank you, all, and have a great evening.

好的，謝謝大家參加今天的電話會議。我們期待在春季舉行的下一次收益電話會議，屆時我們將討論 2024 年第一季的業績。謝謝大家，祝大家有個愉快的夜晚。

Thank you. And this concludes today's conference and you may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

謝謝。今天的會議到此結束，此時您可以掛斷電話了。感謝您的參與。