達登餐飲 (DRI) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to the Darden Fiscal Year 2023 First Quarter Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) This conference is being recorded. If you have any objections, please disconnect at this time.

歡迎參加達頓 2023 財年第一季度收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）正在錄製此會議。如果您有任何異議，請在此時斷開連接。

I will now turn the call over to Mr. Kevin Kalicak. Thank you. You may begin.

我現在將把電話轉給 Kevin Kalicak 先生。謝謝你。你可以開始了。

Thank you, Jake. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for participating on today's call. Joining me today are Rick Cardenas, Darden's President and CEO; and Raj Vennam, CFO.

謝謝你，傑克。大家早上好，感謝您參加今天的電話會議。今天加入我的是達頓的總裁兼首席執行官 Rick Cardenas；和首席財務官 Raj Vennam。

As a reminder, comments made during this call will include forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations and projections. Those risks are described in the company's press release, which was distributed this morning and in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

提醒一下，本次電話會議期間發表的評論將包括 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》中定義的前瞻性陳述。這些陳述存在風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與我們的預期和預測大不相同。這些風險在該公司今天上午發布的新聞稿及其提交給美國證券交易委員會的文件中都有描述。

We are simultaneously broadcasting a presentation during this call, which is posted in the Investor Relations section of our website at darden.com. Today's discussion and presentation include certain non-GAAP measurements, and reconciliations of these measurements are included in the presentation.

在本次電話會議期間，我們同時播放了一個演示文稿，該演示文稿發佈在我們網站 darden.com 的投資者關係部分。今天的討論和演示包括某些非公認會計原則的測量，並且這些測量的調節包含在演示中。

Looking ahead, we plan to release fiscal 2023 2nd quarter earnings on Friday, December 16, before the market opens, followed by a conference call. During today's call, any reference to pre-COVID when discussing first quarter performance is a comparison to the first quarter of fiscal 2020.

展望未來，我們計劃在 12 月 16 日星期五開市前發布 2023 財年第二季度收益，隨後召開電話會議。在今天的電話會議中，在討論第一季度業績時對 COVID 之前的任何提及都是與 2020 財年第一季度的比較。

This morning, Rick will share some brief remarks on the quarter and our focus moving forward and Raj will provide details on our financial results. Now I will turn the call over to Rick.

今天早上，Rick 將分享一些關於本季度的簡短評論以及我們向前發展的重點，Raj 將提供有關我們財務業績的詳細信息。現在我將把電話轉給 Rick。

Thanks, Kevin. And good morning, everyone. As you saw from our press release, we had a solid quarter in what continues to be a challenging inflationary and uncertain macroeconomic environment. This was also the first quarter where we began to see the industry return to normal seasonal patterns.

謝謝，凱文。大家早上好。正如您從我們的新聞稿中看到的那樣，在仍然充滿挑戰的通貨膨脹和不確定的宏觀經濟環境中，我們的季度表現穩健。這也是我們開始看到該行業恢復正常季節性模式的第一季度。

I'm proud of the way our restaurant teams are performing. Our brands remain focused on executing our Back-to-Basics operating philosophy anchored in food, service and atmosphere, while at the Darden level, we continue to concentrate on strengthening and leveraging our 4 competitive advantages of significant scale, extensive data and insights, rigorous strategic planning and our results-oriented culture.

我為我們餐廳團隊的表現感到自豪。我們的品牌仍然專注於執行我們以食品、服務和氛圍為基礎的回歸基礎的經營理念，而在達頓層面，我們繼續專注於加強和利用我們的四大競爭優勢：規模巨大、數據和洞察力強、嚴謹戰略規劃和我們以結果為導向的文化。

Our people bring our brands to life every day, and our restaurant teams continue to execute at a high level, even with a lot of new team members as our staffing has returned to normal levels. Our team's ability to be brilliant with the basics is driving strong guest satisfaction across all our brands. These satisfaction measures at Olive Garden are at or near all-time highs, and steaks grilled correctly scores at LongHorn Steakhouse are the highest in their history.

我們的員工每天都在為我們的品牌注入活力，我們的餐廳團隊繼續保持高水平的執行力，即使我們的人員配備已恢復到正常水平，也有很多新的團隊成員。我們團隊在基礎知識方面表現出色的能力正在推動我們所有品牌的客戶滿意度。 Olive Garden 的這些滿意度指標處於或接近歷史最高水平，LongHorn Steakhouse 的牛排烤得正確得分是他們歷史上最高的。

We remain focused on creating great learning environments for new team members to ensure they are fully trained and execute to our standards. Further, our ongoing investments in our team members helps reinforce our strong employment proposition. This focus takes on added significance as we open value-creating new restaurants, which further strengthens our scale advantage.

我們仍然專注於為新團隊成員創造良好的學習環境，以確保他們接受全面培訓並按照我們的標準執行。此外，我們對團隊成員的持續投資有助於加強我們強大的就業主張。隨著我們開設創造價值的新餐廳，這一重點變得更加重要，這進一步加強了我們的規模優勢。

During the quarter, we successfully staffed and opened 9 new restaurants and we remain on track to open 55 to 60 new restaurants this fiscal year. We also continue to invest in our digital platform and To Go sales benefited from these investments during the quarter. To Go sales accounted for 24% of total sales at Olive Garden, 14% at LongHorn Steakhouse and 13% at Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen.

在本季度，我們成功地配備並開設了 9 家新餐廳，並且本財年我們仍有望開設 55 至 60 家新餐廳。我們還繼續投資於我們的數字平台，To Go 銷售在本季度受益於這些投資。 To Go 銷售額佔 Olive Garden 總銷售額的 24%，LongHorn Steakhouse 佔 14%，Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen 佔 13%。

Digital transactions accounted for 32% of all off-premise sales during the quarter and 10% of Darden's total sales. Our technology investments have created an infrastructure that reduces friction for our guests and our operators, and we will continue to invest in technology that benefits both off-premise and in-restaurant dining occasions.

數字交易占本季度所有場外銷售的 32%，佔 Darden 總銷售額的 10%。我們的技術投資為我們的客人和經營者創造了一個減少摩擦的基礎設施，我們將繼續投資於有利於場外和餐廳用餐場合的技術。

We are also leveraging our scale to help mitigate the impact of heightened inflation. During the quarter, we continued to experience significant commodities cost pressure, and our supply chain team did an excellent job of working with the suppliers to minimize or offset cost increases to the extent possible.

我們還利用我們的規模來幫助減輕通脹加劇的影響。在本季度，我們繼續面臨巨大的商品成本壓力，我們的供應鏈團隊在與供應商合作方面做得非常出色，以盡可能減少或抵消成本增加。

Inflation remains a headwind for consumers as well, particularly those in households making less than $50,000 a year. Olive Garden and Cheddar's have more direct exposure to these guests. Looking at guest behavior across our entire portfolio, we are seeing softness with these consumers, while conversely, we are seeing strength with guests in higher-income households. Even in this environment, our brands remain committed to our strategy to price below their competitors.

通貨膨脹對消費者來說仍然是一個不利因素，尤其是那些年收入低於 50,000 美元的家庭。 Olive Garden 和 Cheddar's 更直接地接觸到這些客人。從我們整個產品組合中的客人行為來看，我們看到這些消費者表現疲軟，而相反，我們看到高收入家庭的客人表現強勁。即使在這種環境下，我們的品牌仍然致力於我們的戰略，以低於競爭對手的價格。

Since we emerged from the high of the pandemic, you have heard us talk about the search for equilibrium or more normal business trends. During the quarter, we saw a return to historical seasonal patterns, which we did not experience last year. As we have discussed in recent calls, finding that equilibrium will inform our brand's marketing strategies.

自從我們擺脫大流行的高峰以來，您已經聽到我們談論尋求平衡或更正常的業務趨勢。在本季度，我們看到了歷史季節性模式的回歸，這是我們去年沒有經歷過的。正如我們在最近的電話會議中所討論的，找到這種平衡將為我們品牌的營銷策略提供信息。

As we execute our plans, we will be very selective in bringing any promotional activity back. And any promotional activity we introduced should be evaluated with the following filters.

當我們執行我們的計劃時，我們將非常有選擇性地恢復任何促銷活動。我們引入的任何促銷活動都應使用以下過濾器進行評估。

First, it needs to elevate brand equity by bringing the brand's competitive advantages to life. Second, it should be simple to execute. We will not jeopardize all the work we have done to simplify operations, which allows our teams to consistently deliver exceptional guest experiences. And finally, it will not be at a deep discount. We are focused on providing great value to our guests, but doing that in a way that drives profitable sales growth.

首先，它需要通過將品牌的競爭優勢變為現實來提升品牌資產。其次，它應該易於執行。我們不會危及我們為簡化運營所做的所有工作，這使我們的團隊能夠始終如一地提供卓越的客戶體驗。最後，它不會有很大的折扣。我們專注於為我們的客人提供巨大的價值，但這樣做的方式是推動可盈利的銷售增長。

As an example, Olive Garden's unique competitive advantage is Never Ending abundant craveable Italian food. That is why their television advertising progressed from spots that feature their never-ending first course to those that are now focused on their made-from-scratch sauces and anything they do going forward should continue to elevate this core brand equity.

例如，Olive Garden 的獨特競爭優勢是 Never Ending 豐富的令人垂涎的意大利美食。這就是為什麼他們的電視廣告從以他們永無止境的第一道菜為特色的地方發展到現在專注於他們從頭開始製作的醬汁的地方，他們未來所做的任何事情都應該繼續提升這一核心品牌資產。

I am pleased with the progress our teams made executing against their strategic priorities during the quarter. Our strategy is working, enabling us to grow sales, increase market share and invest in our people and our brands, all while continuing to earn -- to return capital to our shareholders.

我對我們的團隊在本季度的戰略重點執行方面取得的進展感到高興。我們的戰略正在奏效，使我們能夠增加銷售額、增加市場份額並投資於我們的員工和我們的品牌，同時繼續盈利——將資本返還給我們的股東。

Last month, we held our annual leadership conferences, which provide a powerful way for us to engage with every general manager and managing partner across all 1,875 restaurants. These restaurant leaders hold the most influential role in our company and the opportunity to interact with them and listen to those closest to the action is invaluable.

上個月，我們舉行了年度領導會議，這為我們與所有 1,875 家餐廳的每一位總經理和管理合夥人互動提供了一種強有力的方式。這些餐廳領導在我們公司中扮演著最有影響力的角色，與他們互動並傾聽最接近行動的人的機會是非常寶貴的。

Our leaders returned to their restaurants aligned to their brand's operational priorities and motivated to continue winning. In order to win, we must stay focused on executing our Back-to-Basics operating philosophy and leveraging our 4 competitive advantages as we continue working in pursuit of our higher purpose to nourish and delight everyone we serve. Our guests, our team members and the communities where we operate.

我們的領導者回到他們的餐廳，與他們品牌的運營重點保持一致，並有動力繼續獲勝。為了贏得勝利，我們必須專注於執行我們的“回歸基礎”經營理念，並利用我們的 4 大競爭優勢，繼續努力追求更高的目標，以滋養和取悅我們所服務的每一個人。我們的客人、我們的團隊成員和我們經營所在的社區。

One of the ways we serve our communities is by fighting hunger. Once again this year, Darden is helping Feeding America add refrigerated trucks for 10 member food banks to support mobile pantry programs and food distribution in communities with the highest need. With the addition of these new trucks, 25 different food banks have received the trucks since January of last year.

我們為社區服務的方式之一是與飢餓作鬥爭。今年，Darden 再次幫助 Feeding America 為 10 個成員食品銀行增加冷藏車，以支持流動食品儲藏室計劃和最需要社區的食品分發。隨著這些新卡車的加入，自去年 1 月以來，已有 25 家不同的食品銀行收到了這些卡車。

Of course, our philanthropic giving would not be possible without the passion our restaurant teams have for nourishing and delighting our guests. On behalf of our leadership team and our Board of Directors, I want to thank our 180,000 team members for everything you do to serve our guests and communities. Now I will turn it over to Raj.

當然，如果沒有我們的餐廳團隊對滋養和取悅客人的熱情，我們的慈善捐贈就不可能實現。我謹代表我們的領導團隊和董事會，感謝我們的 180,000 名團隊成員為服務我們的客人和社區所做的一切。現在我將把它交給 Raj。

Thank you, Rick. Good morning, everyone. We had strong absolute results in the first quarter and continue to be pleased with the efforts of our restaurant and support center teams to drive sales, effectively manage spending and navigate a challenging environment.

謝謝你，瑞克。大家，早安。我們在第一季度取得了強勁的絕對業績，並繼續對我們的餐廳和支持中心團隊為推動銷售、有效管理支出和應對充滿挑戰的環境所做的努力感到滿意。

We're lapping record first quarter performance from last year, which was driven by a resurgence in demand, more efficient labor with staffing levels below our standards and many other costs that had yet to be reintroduced into the business as we recovered from the impacts of the pandemic.

與去年相比，我們的第一季度業績創下歷史新高，這是由於需求回升、勞動力效率更高、人員配備水平低於我們的標準，以及許多其他成本尚未重新引入業務，因為我們從經濟危機的影響中恢復過來流行病。

Total sales for the first quarter were $2.4 billion, 6.1% higher than last year and driven by 4.2% same-restaurant sales growth and the addition of 34 net new restaurants. Diluted net earnings per share from continuing operations were $1.56. Total EBITDA was $340 million, and we paid $150 million in dividends and repurchased $199 million in shares, returning a total of $349 million of cash to our shareholders this quarter.

第一季度的總銷售額為 24 億美元，比去年同期增長 6.1%，受同店銷售額增長 4.2% 和新增 34 家新餐廳的推動。持續經營業務的每股攤薄淨收益為 1.56 美元。 EBITDA 總額為 3.4 億美元，我們支付了 1.5 億美元的股息並回購了 1.99 億美元的股票，本季度向我們的股東返還了總計 3.49 億美元的現金。

In the first quarter, total inflation was roughly 9.5% and total pricing was approximately 6.5%, almost 300 basis points below inflation. We expect total inflation and our gap between pricing and inflation to have peaked in the first quarter.

第一季度，總通脹率約為 9.5%，總定價約為 6.5%，比通脹率低近 300 個基點。我們預計總通脹和定價與通脹之間的差距將在第一季度達到頂峰。

We also expect inflation to moderate throughout the remainder of the year while our pricing gap should narrow in both the fast -- I'm sorry, both the second and third quarter and then reverts in the fourth quarter.

我們還預計通脹將在今年剩餘時間內放緩，而我們的定價差距應該會迅速縮小——對不起，第二季度和第三季度，然後在第四季度恢復。

And while we have commodities inflation risk in the back half of the year, we have pricing plans ready to put into action, which will help preserve our targeted gap to inflation for the year if we see inflation higher than our expectations.

雖然我們在下半年面臨大宗商品通脹風險，但我們已經準備好實施定價計劃，如果我們看到通脹高於我們的預期，這將有助於保持我們今年與通脹的目標差距。

Consistent with what we expected and communicated in the June call, the significant level of pricing below inflation pressured all aspects of our P&L in the first quarter and drove margins well below last year. As we look to the second quarter, we expect margins to decline less than they did in the first quarter and then grow versus last year in the back half.

與我們在 6 月電話會議中的預期和溝通一致，定價低於通脹的顯著水平在第一季度給我們損益表的各個方面帶來了壓力，並使利潤率遠低於去年。當我們展望第二季度時，我們預計利潤率的下降幅度將小於第一季度，然後在下半年與去年同期相比有所增長。

Now looking at the details of the P&L compared to last year, food and beverage expenses were 280 basis points higher, driven by commodities inflation of 15%. Restaurant labor was 50 basis points above last year, driven by hourly wage inflation of just over 9% and wrapping on last year's elevated productivity. Total restaurant labor inflation was 7.5%.

現在查看損益表的細節，與去年相比，食品和飲料費用增加了 280 個基點，受商品通脹 15% 的推動。餐廳勞動力比去年高出 50 個基點，原因是時薪通脹率略高於 9%，加上去年生產力的提高。餐廳勞動力總通脹率為 7.5%。

Restaurant expenses were 10 basis points above last year driven by higher repairs and maintenance expense due to supply chain challenges and utilities inflation of 16%. Marketing spend was 20 basis points higher as we increased testing of both digital and television marketing.

由於供應鏈挑戰和公用事業通脹 16%，維修和維護費用增加，餐廳費用比去年高 10 個基點。隨著我們增加對數字和電視營銷的測試，營銷支出增加了 20 個基點。

G&A expense was 130 basis points below last year, driven primarily by 2 factors. First, mark-to-market expense on our deferred compensation plans was lower by about $7 million and as a reminder, this -- due to the way we hedged this expense, this favorability is largely offset on the tax line.

G&A 費用比去年低 130 個基點，主要受兩個因素驅動。首先，我們的遞延薪酬計劃的按市值計價的費用減少了約 700 萬美元，提醒一下，由於我們對沖這筆費用的方式，這種優惠在很大程度上被稅線抵消了。

Second, equity compensation expense related to retirement-eligible individuals and our incentive accrual, while both in line with our plan were significantly less than last year. Operating income margin of 10% was 220 basis points below last year, but 60 basis points above pre-COVID levels. Our effective tax rate for the quarter was 13.7%, and we ended the quarter with earnings from continuing operations of $194 million.

其次，與符合退休條件的個人和我們的激勵應計相關的股權補償費用，雖然都符合我們的計劃，但明顯低於去年。營業利潤率為 10%，比去年低 220 個基點，但比疫情前水平高 60 個基點。我們本季度的有效稅率為 13.7%，截至本季度，我們的持續經營收益為 1.94 億美元。

Now looking at our segments. All of our segments outperformed their respective industry benchmarks on both traffic and sales. And as Rick mentioned, we began seeing a return-to-normal seasonal sales patterns. This was evident in our monthly same-restaurant sales compared to last year when we did not experience typical seasonal softness. Same-restaurant sales for June were in the mid-3% range. July was in the low-1% range, and they were approximately 8% in August.

現在看看我們的細分市場。我們所有的細分市場在流量和銷售方面都超過了各自的行業基準。正如里克所說，我們開始看到季節性銷售模式恢復正常。與去年相比，我們沒有經歷典型的季節性疲軟，這在我們每月的同店銷售額中很明顯。 6 月份同店銷售額在 3% 左右。 7 月份處於 1% 的低位，8 月份約為 8%。

Sales at Olive Garden were 3.7% above last year, and average weekly sales were 101% of the pre-COVID levels despite the significant reduction in promotional activity and couponing versus that time period. As we talked about in the past, we believe the pre-COVID marketing and promotional activities historically drove double-digit traffic.

Olive Garden 的銷售額比去年增長了 3.7%，儘管與那個時期相比，促銷活動和優惠券顯著減少，但平均每週銷售額是 COVID 之前水平的 101%。正如我們過去所說，我們認為 COVID 之前的營銷和促銷活動在歷史上推動了兩位數的流量。

And when we look at our average weekly traffic at Olive Garden, we're retaining over 90% of pre-COVID, indicating that traffic trends are flat to above pre-COVID levels when considering historical marketing activities.

當我們查看 Olive Garden 的平均每周流量時，我們保留了 90% 以上的 COVID 之前的流量，這表明在考慮歷史營銷活動時，流量趨勢持平至高於 COVID 之前的水平。

LongHorn sales were 6.6% above last year, and average weekly sales were 126% of the pre-COVID levels. Sales in our Fine Dining segment were 8.6% above last year, and average weekly sales were 120% of the pre-COVID levels. Our Other Segment sales were 9.9% above last year, and average weekly sales were 109% of the pre-COVID levels.

LongHorn 的銷售額比去年增長了 6.6%，平均每週銷售額是疫情前水平的 126%。我們的高級餐飲部門的銷售額比去年增長了 8.6%，平均每週銷售額是疫情前水平的 120%。我們其他部門的銷售額比去年高 9.9%，平均每週銷售額是疫情前水平的 109%。

Despite all of our segments having higher sales above last year, the high levels of inflation and wrapping on last year's inflated earnings when many costs had not fully returned to the business, pressured segment profit margin below last year for all the segments.

儘管我們所有部門的銷售額都高於去年，但高水平的通貨膨脹以及在許多成本尚未完全恢復到業務時覆蓋去年的虛增收益，使所有部門的部門利潤率低於去年。

Turning to our financial outlook for fiscal 2023. We reiterated all aspects of our guidance in this morning's press release, culminating in diluted net earnings per share between $7.40 and $8 for the year.

談到我們對 2023 財年的財務展望。我們在今天上午的新聞稿中重申了我們指導的各個方面，最終使本年度的攤薄後每股淨收益在 7.40 美元至 8 美元之間。

Finally, looking at the second quarter, we've seen continued strength in our sales trends with quarter-to-date sales above the high end of our annual same-restaurant sales outlook range. We also expect commodities inflation close to 13% and pressuring the second quarter EPS to be flat to slightly below last year.

最後，看看第二季度，我們看到我們的銷售趨勢持續強勁，季度至今的銷售額高於我們年度同店銷售前景範圍的高端。我們還預計大宗商品通脹率接近 13%，並迫使第二季度每股收益持平至略低於去年。

In what continues to be an unpredictable year, we're confident with the underlying strength of our business model and in our team's ability to effectively manage through it. And with that, we'll open it up for questions.

在這仍然是不可預測的一年中，我們對我們的商業模式的潛在實力以及我們團隊有效管理它的能力充滿信心。有了這個，我們將打開它的問題。

(Operator Instructions) We'll begin with Brian Mullan with Deutsche Bank.

（操作員說明）我們將從德意志銀行的 Brian Mullan 開始。

Rick, in the prepared remarks, you referenced seeing some continued softness with the lower-income consumers with the most exposure at Cheddar's and Olive Garden. Just to the degree you'd be able to comment, is that consumer feeling incrementally more pressure than they were when we heard from you 3 months ago or does it feel more stable to you right now? It would just be helpful to hear your thoughts given all the cross currents.

里克，在準備好的評論中，你提到在切達干酪和橄欖園的曝光率最高的低收入消費者中看到了一些持續的疲軟。就您能夠發表評論的程度而言，與我們 3 個月前收到您的消息時相比，消費者感到壓力越來越大，還是您現在感覺更穩定？考慮到所有的交叉流，聽聽你的想法會很有幫助。

Brian, thanks for the question. The consumer at the below 50,000 is feeling a little bit worse than maybe before, but gas prices are helping. So if you think about that consumer at $50,000 a year and below, gas prices make up a big portion of their income. And actually, that consumer spends more money on gas per person than any other income group above them. So as gas prices came down, they started feeling a little bit better, but we'll see what happens with gas prices going forward.

布賴恩，謝謝你的問題。低於 50,000 的消費者感覺可能比以前更糟，但汽油價格有所幫助。因此，如果您考慮這位年收入在 50,000 美元及以下的消費者，汽油價格佔他們收入的很大一部分。實際上，該消費者每人在汽油上的花費比高於他們的任何其他收入群體都多。因此，隨著汽油價格下降，他們開始感覺好一些，但我們將看看未來汽油價格會發生什麼。

And if I can clarify one other thing that I mentioned in the prepared remarks, I said that To Go sales were 32% -- I'm sorry, digital sales were 32% of To Go -- of off-premise. They were actually 62%. So sorry about that.

如果我可以澄清我在準備好的評論中提到的另一件事，我說 To Go 的銷售額是場外的 32%——對不起，數字銷售額是 To Go 的 32%。他們實際上是 62%。很抱歉。

Okay. And then just a follow-up question on marketing. You did touch on how you'll approach it from here, if you were to bring it back. But if you could just maybe elaborate a little bit on how you will approach that. I know the goal is to make sure you're driving restaurant profit dollars for the organization. But maybe from a capability perspective or from how you measure ROI, is there anything different going forward than maybe how you would have did this 3 or 4 years ago as you bring it back, if you do bring it back?

好的。然後只是關於營銷的後續問題。你確實提到瞭如果你要把它帶回來，你將如何從這裡接近它。但是，如果您可以詳細說明一下您將如何解決這個問題。我知道目標是確保您為組織增加餐廳利潤。但也許從能力的角度或從你如何衡量投資回報率的角度來看，如果你真的把它帶回來，那麼與 3 或 4 年前你將它帶回來時可能會做的事情有什麼不同嗎？

Yes, I'm not going to get into detail on if we're bringing it back. As I did say in the prepared remarks, if and when they introduce promotional activity, it should elevate brand equity, and which we've been doing for the last year or so at Olive Garden. It should be simple to execute and not be at a deep discount.

是的，我不打算詳細說明我們是否將其帶回來。正如我在準備好的評論中所說的那樣，如果他們推出促銷活動，它應該會提升品牌資產，而我們在過去一年左右的時間裡一直在 Olive Garden 做這件事。它應該很容易執行，而且不會有很大的折扣。

Our goal with anything we do, promotional activity or anything else we do to drive sales, is profitable sales growth. And we have ways to measure ROI. The things that we learned through COVID and even we -- and we knew before, when LongHorn started to reduce their kind of limited time offer price point, deep discounted promotions is there was a lot of work involved in getting items that we don't usually have in the restaurant, getting that through the supply chain, training it. And so there were a lot of costs there.

我們所做的任何事情、促銷活動或我們為推動銷售所做的任何其他事情的目標都是盈利的銷售增長。我們有方法來衡量投資回報率。我們通過 COVID 甚至我們學到的東西——而且我們之前知道，當 LongHorn 開始降低他們的限時優惠價格點時，大幅折扣促銷活動涉及到獲得我們沒有的物品的大量工作通常在餐廳裡，通過供應鏈，培訓它。所以那裡有很多成本。

And so as we think about future potential kind of communication methods and the way we talk about our products and promote, as I said, it's going to be things that don't make it more complicated, much more complicated in the restaurant, but it has to, has to focus on our brand equities and not be at a deep discount.

因此，當我們考慮未來潛在的溝通方式以及我們談論產品和推廣的方式時，正如我所說，這不會讓事情變得更複雜，在餐廳裡變得更複雜，但它必須，必須專注於我們的品牌資產，而不是大幅折扣。

We'll now move to our next question, which will come from Jeffrey Bernstein with Barclays.

我們現在將轉到下一個問題，該問題將來自巴克萊銀行的 Jeffrey Bernstein。

Great. Two questions. One, just on the near-term results. I'm just wondering how did the actual comp and earnings compare to internal expectation for the first quarter?

偉大的。兩個問題。一，只看近期結果。我只是想知道第一季度的實際薪酬和收益與內部預期相比如何？

And as you think about fiscal '23, I know the guidance was unchanged, but it would seem like the lower end more likely in a slowing macro. I'm just wondering whether we're missing something in terms of your expectation for a comp reacceleration or more significant inflation easing or more cost savings? Just trying to get a sense for the first quarter relative to the rest of the year.

當您考慮 23 財年時，我知道指導沒有改變，但在宏觀經濟放緩的情況下，低端似乎更有可能。我只是想知道我們是否遺漏了您對補償重新加速或更顯著的通脹緩解或更多成本節約的期望？只是想了解第一季度相對於今年剩餘時間的情況。

Jeff, this is Raj. So when we think about our plan and our actual internal expectations and our estimate, we basically just told the Board that we're basically back on plan. We're really in line with our internal expectations. As we look specifically at the quarter, was there a little bit of a [miss] on the sales side? Yes, but not as big as you guys might think. And then overall, profitability was in line and actually slightly ahead. But again, quarter-to-quarter, there is some volatility.

傑夫，這是拉傑。因此，當我們考慮我們的計劃以及我們的實際內部期望和我們的估計時，我們基本上只是告訴董事會我們基本上已經回到了計劃中。我們確實符合我們的內部預期。當我們具體看這個季度時，銷售方面是否有一點[錯過]？是的，但沒有你們想像的那麼大。然後總體而言，盈利能力是一致的，實際上略微領先。但同樣，季度與季度之間存在一些波動。

We -- as the quarter started or as the year started, we started to see the seasonality return to normal. And that was really one of the things that changed how we thought about the business. And if you look at versus pre-COVID how we trended, the traffic retention was actually pretty similar in Q1 to the way it was in Q4. So there's a lot of noise when you look at year-over-year because of the reopening last year, and especially if you think about California that reopened in the middle of June or late June, that helped Olive Garden and to some extent, Yard House, you're wrapping on those levels.

我們 - 隨著季度開始或一年開始，我們開始看到季節性恢復正常。這確實是改變我們對業務的看法的事情之一。如果你看看我們與 COVID 之前的趨勢相比，第一季度的流量保留實際上與第四季度的情況非常相似。因此，由於去年重新開放，當您查看年復一年時會產生很多噪音，特別是如果您考慮到加利福尼亞在 6 月中旬或 6 月下旬重新開放，這有助於橄欖園，並在一定程度上幫助了 Yard房子，你在這些層面上包裝。

So that's why there's a lot of noise year-over-year. But I think the best way to look at it is versus pre-COVID. And when we look at it through that lens, Q1 was actually, like I said, pretty consistent with the performance we had in Q4.

所以這就是為什麼每年都會有很多噪音。但我認為最好的看待它的方法是與 COVID 之前相比。當我們從這個角度來看它時，就像我說的那樣，第一季度實際上與我們在第四季度的表現非常一致。

Understood. And then just to follow up, the comps. I think you mentioned in August, you're running roughly -- you ran roughly 8%. That seems like a significant acceleration versus the June and July, and I think you said in September, you're running above the 4% to 6% that you guided for the full year.

明白了。然後只是跟進，比賽。我想你在 8 月份提到過，你的運行速度很粗略——你運行了大約 8%。與 6 月和 7 月相比，這似乎是一個顯著的加速，我認為你在 9 月說過，你的全年增長率超過了 4% 到 6%。

So I'm just wondering if you can share any thoughts in terms of why you think you saw such a sharp reacceleration versus maybe June and July. I don't know if it's just all that compares on a multiyear basis or maybe, Rick, as you mentioned, the easing gas price is helping. Just trying to get your thoughts on the reacceleration and your directional assumption for the rest of the year.

因此，我只是想知道您是否可以就您認為與 6 月和 7 月相比出現如此急劇的重新加速的原因分享任何想法。我不知道這是否只是在多年的基礎上進行比較，或者里克，正如你提到的，寬鬆的汽油價格正在幫助。只是想了解你對今年剩餘時間的重新加速和方向假設的看法。

Yes. I think I would, again, go back to the reference to pre-COVID. And if you actually look at it through that lens, you're going to find that August, while year-over-year was higher, it wasn't that big of an increase versus pre-COVID. Is there a movement of a point or 2 between the month-to-month when you look at it versus pre-COVID? Yes. But in general, we're actually fairly consistent.

是的。我想我會再次回到對 COVID 之前的參考。如果你真的從這個角度來看它，你會發現 8 月份雖然同比有所增加，但與 COVID 之前相比，增幅並沒有那麼大。當您查看它與 COVID 之前相比時，每月之間是否有一個或 2 個點的移動？是的。但總的來說，我們實際上是相當一致的。

And I think it's just -- I know it's hard because it's 3 years ago, but that's really the baseline you got to look at. If you look at it through that lens, our cadence actually looks pretty reasonable. It doesn't look like there's a huge acceleration. Now there are some specific things related to unique -- in the promotional activity for the brands that when we wrap on that, the pre-COVID retention might be a little different.

而且我認為這只是 - 我知道這很難，因為那是 3 年前的事了，但這確實是你必須要看的基線。如果你從那個角度來看，我們的節奏實際上看起來很合理。似乎沒有很大的加速度。現在有一些與獨特性相關的具體事情——在品牌的促銷活動中，當我們總結這一點時，COVID 之前的保留可能會有所不同。

And that is part of how we look at it, and that's -- we take that into consideration as we estimate the business. And that's where you see the retention may be a little bit different month-to-month because of the promotional activity we might be wrapping on versus pre-COVID. But when you exclude that, in general, it's actually been fairly consistent, and our estimate essentially assumes that going forward.

這是我們看待它的一部分，那是 - 我們在估計業務時會考慮到這一點。這就是您看到每個月的保留率可能會有所不同的地方，因為我們可能會進行促銷活動，而不是在 COVID 之前。但是，當你排除這一點時，總的來說，它實際上是相當一致的，我們的估計基本上假設了這一點。

We'll now move to our next question, which will come from John Glass, Morgan Stanley.

我們現在將轉到下一個問題，該問題將來自摩根士丹利的約翰·格拉斯。

Rick, first of all, can you just talk about the competitive intensity, promotional intensity in the industry? Everyone presumably is feeling the same pressure on the low-end consumer. So are you seeing more competitive activity?

Rick，首先，您能談談行業的競爭強度、促銷強度嗎？想必每個人都對低端消費者感到同樣的壓力。那麼你看到更多的競爭活動了嗎？

First, I heard some of your competitors talk about reducing promotional activity just to repair their margins. So there's a lot of crosscurrents here. How do you perceive what's going on in the industry from a competitive intensity standpoint right now?

首先，我聽說您的一些競爭對手談論減少促銷活動只是為了修復他們的利潤。所以這裡有很多交叉流。從競爭強度的角度來看，您如何看待行業中正在發生的事情？

Yes. We aren't seeing a lot of significant promotional activity. Other than a couple out there, there's one brand out there doing an all-you-can-eat promotion that they did before COVID at the same price point. There's another brand out there doing an all-you-can-eat promotion at a much significantly higher price point than pre-COVID.

是的。我們沒有看到很多重要的促銷活動。除了那裡的幾個之外，還有一個品牌在以相同的價格進行他們在 COVID 之前所做的所有你可以吃的促銷活動。還有另一個品牌以比 COVID 之前高得多的價格進行自助餐促銷。

But I think, you mentioned it, margins are challenged in a lot of these competitors. And so the ability for them to do significant discounted promotions to drive traffic may not be something that they do. Now if food cost come way down, they might start talking about promotions and price points. But the margins that you see out there versus pre-COVID might make it a little bit harder for them to do some significant deep discounting.

但我認為，你提到過，很多競爭對手的利潤率都受到挑戰。因此，他們可能無法通過大幅折扣促銷來吸引流量。現在，如果食品成本下降，他們可能會開始談論促銷和價格點。但是，您看到的與 COVID 之前相比的利潤率可能會讓他們更難進行一些重大的大幅折扣。

That's great. And then you talked about your own low-end consumer, particularly at Olive Garden being under pressure. Do you intend to target those consumers to stimulate the return to your restaurants?

那太棒了。然後你談到了你自己的低端消費者，特別是在 Olive Garden 面臨壓力。您是否打算針對這些消費者來刺激您的餐廳的回歸？

Or do you view this as like, look, right now, they're not probably dining out as much and so no matter what you do, it doesn't really change their outlook on dining? How do you think about recapturing those visits?

或者你認為這就像，看，現在，他們可能沒有那麼多外出就餐，所以不管你做什麼，這並沒有真正改變他們對就餐的看法？您如何看待重新獲得這些訪問？

Yes, I think a couple of things. One is, let's not read into it that we're seeing a huge, huge reduction in that consumer. We're seeing a little bit of change in the behavior from that consumer, but not huge. And so we don't want to change what we do just to capture a segment of the population. We want to continue to focus on what we've been doing, especially at Olive Garden, is to earn one more visit from our loyal guests. And our loyal guests span a lot of income levels.

是的，我認為有幾件事。一個是，讓我們不要讀到我們看到該消費者大量減少的情況。我們看到該消費者的行為發生了一些變化，但變化不大。所以我們不想改變我們所做的只是為了抓住一部分人口。我們希望繼續專注於我們一直在做的事情，尤其是在橄欖園，是為了贏得我們忠實客人的再次光臨。我們的忠實客人跨越了很多收入水平。

And so anything we do is going to help drive more loyalty from our existing guests, whether they are at below 50,000 or above 50,000. Remember, we said that 50,000 income consumers make up a portion of Olive Garden, but it's not a majority. And so a majority of our consumers still are above that, and that consumer, especially above 100 is doing very well.

因此，我們所做的任何事情都將有助於提高現有客人的忠誠度，無論他們是低於 50,000 人還是高於 50,000 人。請記住，我們說過 50,000 名收入消費者構成了 Olive Garden 的一部分，但不是大多數。因此，我們的大多數消費者仍然高於這個數字，而那個消費者，尤其是 100 歲以上的消費者表現非常好。

(Operator Instructions) We'll now take a question from Jared Garber with Goldman Sachs.

（操作員說明）我們現在將回答 Jared Garber 與 Goldman Sachs 的問題。

Raj, I wanted to ask about the commodity inflation and the outlook maybe from here for the next 3 to 6 months. I think you said there is some risk in the back half of the year. And it seems like maybe the second quarter inflation guide is a bit higher than what we had been expecting, based, I guess, on some recent commentary.

Raj，我想問一下商品通脹以及未來 3 到 6 個月的前景。我想你說下半年有一些風險。而且，我猜，基於最近的一些評論，第二季度通脹指南似乎比我們預期的要高一些。

So I wanted to just get a sense of what you're seeing and how you're contracting forward and then maybe when we can start expecting maybe some inflation easing? Particularly on beef, I think we've seen some easing in the inflationary environment on some of the costs there. So I just wanted to get a sense of how you're planning for that to flow through throughout the year.

所以我想了解一下你所看到的以及你是如何向前收縮的，然後也許我們什麼時候可以開始預期通脹可能會有所緩解？特別是在牛肉方面，我認為我們已經看到通脹環境中的一些成本有所緩解。因此，我只是想了解您如何計劃全年進行。

Yes, Jared. First of all, I want to remind you that the commodities inflation, when we talk about inflation is really a function of what we purchased last year at what price. And for us, I'll take one great example is we had a great chicken contract. I think we were buying boneless chicken breast in the range of, call it, mid-$1 range and as you all know, I think over 2, 3 months ago, the price of that was as much as [$3.50].

是的，傑瑞德。首先，我想提醒大家，商品通脹，當我們談論通脹時，實際上是我們去年以什麼價格購買的東西的函數。對我們來說，我舉一個很好的例子，我們有一份很棒的雞肉合同。我認為我們購買的無骨雞胸肉價格在 1 美元左右，眾所周知，我認為在 2、3 個月前，價格高達 [3.50 美元]。

And I think this week, it traded -- it's come down to almost $1.80, $1.85, right? So it's come down a lot. The pricing level, we are definitely seeing the movement in the right direction. But we had expected some of that to happen as we guided. And in fact, directionally, things are moving consistent with what we expected, maybe not as quite as fast as we thought.

而且我認為這週，它的交易 - 它已經下降到近 1.80 美元，1.85 美元，對吧？所以下降了很多。定價水平，我們肯定看到朝著正確方向發展。但我們曾預計其中一些會在我們指導下發生。事實上，在方向上，事情的發展與我們的預期一致，可能沒有我們想像的那麼快。

But it's not that far off. I mean our commodities inflation for the year, at the beginning of the year, we said we're around 7%. We're probably looking at closer to 7.5%, but that's not a huge change given the volatility we've had in the market. But as we get to the back half, we do wrap on some of these elevated costs.

但這並不遙遠。我的意思是我們今年的商品通脹率，在年初，我們說我們在 7% 左右。我們可能正在考慮接近 7.5%，但考慮到我們在市場上的波動性，這並不是一個巨大的變化。但是當我們進入後半部分時，我們確實會計算其中一些高昂的成本。

And so as we look at quarter-to-quarter, we do expect as we get into Q3 to be more in that mid-single-digit range. And as we get to Q4, probably more close to flat to slightly deflationary year-over-year. The other thing is we have -- our coverage, it's really still hard to get coverage too far out.

因此，當我們按季度查看時，我們確實預計隨著我們進入第三季度會更多地處於中個位數範圍內。隨著我們進入第四季度，可能更接近於同比持平或略有通縮。另一件事是我們有 - 我們的覆蓋範圍，仍然很難讓覆蓋範圍太遠。

And as you can see from this morning, I think we showed it in the amount of coverage in our slides here. I think we have 50% coverage over the next 6 months. And in fact, when you look at the next 3 months, that's just over 70% but then after that, it's only -- it's closer to 30% coverage. And so it's still hard to get -- the forward premiums are still high, and we -- especially when things are coming down, we don't want to lock ourselves and not have that optionality. But again, as I said in my comments earlier, if it ends up being a little bit higher, we have head room in pricing to be able to deal with that.

正如您從今天早上看到的那樣，我認為我們在這裡的幻燈片中展示了它的覆蓋範圍。我認為我們在接下來的 6 個月內有 50% 的覆蓋率。事實上，當您查看接下來的 3 個月時，覆蓋率剛剛超過 70%，但在那之後，它只是 - 接近 30% 的覆蓋率。所以仍然很難獲得——遠期溢價仍然很高，而且我們——尤其是當事情下降時，我們不想鎖定自己並且沒有那種選擇權。但是，正如我之前在評論中所說，如果它最終會更高一點，我們在定價方面有足夠的空間來處理這個問題。

We'll now move to Chris O'Cull with Stifel. Go ahead, please.

我們現在將與 Stifel 一起搬到 Chris O'Cull。請繼續。

Raj, I was hoping you could just level set us for the second quarter. The comps you said were above the 4% to 6% range quarter-to-date. But if the comps relative to pre-COVID are pretty steady for the rest of the quarter, would that imply much variation?

Raj，我希望你能在第二季度為我們設定水平。你說的補償高於季度至今的 4% 到 6% 的範圍。但是，如果相對於 COVID 之前的比較在本季度剩餘時間里相當穩定，那是否意味著會有很大的變化？

So I think much variation -- I want to make sure I understand the question right. When you say much variation from like month-to-month within the quarter? If that's the case, yes, there is some because of -- again, if you look at -- I have to go back and look at exactly the pre-COVID numbers.

所以我認為變化很大——我想確保我正確理解了這個問題。當您說本季度內每月的變化很大時？如果是這樣的話，是的，有一些是因為——再一次，如果你看一下——我必須回去仔細看看 COVID 之前的數字。

But I know that, like I was mentioning earlier, there is the promotional activity that you have to take into consideration as a base. So when we look at pre-COVID, we tease out the impact of promotions and look at that, and that's how I -- we say that's fairly consistent when you look at it, taking out the impact of the promotional activity from then to now.

但我知道，就像我之前提到的那樣，作為基礎，您必須考慮促銷活動。因此，當我們查看 COVID 之前的情況時，我們會梳理出促銷活動的影響並查看它，這就是我的方式 - 我們說當您查看它時，這是相當一致的，從那時到現在，我們會剔除促銷活動的影響.

But are we seeing that versus pre-COVID? Were a little bit better September to date. Yes, but it's not meaningful. It's not big enough to really call it a trend change.

但是，我們是否看到了與 COVID 之前相比的情況？到目前為止，9 月的情況要好一些。是的，但沒有意義。它還不足以真正稱其為趨勢變化。

Okay. I was just trying to figure out if October, November comparisons relative to COVID or pre-COVID or relative to last year even, are much different from what you have in September -- you're wrapping in September?

好的。我只是想弄清楚 10 月、11 月與 COVID 或 COVID 之前的比較，甚至與去年相比，是否與您在 9 月的情況有很大不同——您是在 9 月結束？

I don't believe so. I'm trying to think if there is a holiday shift in November, but that's the only thing I can think of. But I don't think there is any change.

我不相信。我正在考慮 11 月是否有假期輪班，但這是我唯一能想到的。但我不認為有任何變化。

Okay. And then assuming the holidays following -- assuming the holiday is following a more normal seasonal pattern this year, which of your brands do you expect to be impacted the most on a year-over-year basis?

好的。然後假設接下來的假期 - 假設今年假期遵循更正常的季節性模式，您預計您的哪些品牌會受到同比最大的影響？

For example, I would think Fine Dining's performance might accelerate if we have a normal holiday season, but I wasn't sure how all the brands might be impacted.

例如，如果我們有一個正常的假期，我認為 Fine Dining 的表現可能會加速，但我不確定所有品牌可能會受到怎樣的影響。

Actually, I think by the time we got to the holiday season last year, obviously, Omicron was a factor that started to kick in late into the holidays, and we expect third quarter to be an outperformer on the comp side because of that wrap on that.

實際上，我認為當我們去年進入假日季節時，顯然，Omicron 是一個在假期後期開始發揮作用的因素，我們預計第三季度將在競爭方面表現出色，因為這種包裝那。

But outside of that, when we look at our segments, I don't know that there's anything unique that this year holiday wrap that would cause them to be different from where we were before COVID. And I just want to remind you, last year, December was a record sales month for us. It was really the Omicron impact was kind of basically the last week of December leading into January.

但除此之外，當我們查看我們的細分市場時，我不知道今年的假期包裝有什麼獨特之處會導致它們與我們在 COVID 之前的情況不同。我只想提醒你，去年 12 月對我們來說是創紀錄的銷售月份。實際上，Omicron 的影響基本上是從 12 月的最後一周到 1 月。

We'll now move to our next question. That will come from Dennis Geiger with UBS.

我們現在將轉到下一個問題。這將來自瑞銀的丹尼斯蓋格。

I appreciate the details in the commentary on pricing. I was just wondering if you could speak to what you've seen to date as far as the customer response to the pricing and kind of how that impacts your go-forward thoughts obviously, marrying that up with how you spoke to inflation.

我很欣賞定價評論中的細節。我只是想知道你是否可以談談你迄今為止所看到的客戶對定價的反應以及這顯然如何影響你的前進想法，並將其與你對通貨膨脹的看法結合起來。

Yes, I'd say generally, the pricing flow-through is consistent with what we would expect. I think Rick mentioned earlier, when you look at the lower income, is there a little bit of erosion on the add-ons? Yes, but it's not meaningful enough for us to say that there's a pushback on pricing. But mind you, we're pricing a lot less than our competitors.

是的，我一般會說，定價流程與我們的預期一致。我認為 Rick 之前提到過，當您查看較低的收入時，附加組件是否有一點侵蝕？是的，但我們說定價存在阻力是不夠的。但請注意，我們的定價遠低於競爭對手。

And as you think about the fact that the last quarter our pricing was 6.5% roughly, that compares to full-service CPI of 9%. And in fact -- and then -- and I'll just point out that when you look at it over a 2-year basis, we priced 7.5%. And I think FSR is close to 14% on a 2 year. And that just gives you a sense of the fact that we may not be seeing what some others might be seeing because we haven't taken the levels of pricing that the industry in general has taken.

當您考慮上一季度我們的定價大致為 6.5% 的事實時，相比之下，全方位服務的 CPI 為 9%。事實上 - 然後 - 我只是指出，當你在 2 年的基礎上看它時，我們定價 7.5%。我認為 FSR 在 2 年內接近 14%。這只是讓您了解我們可能看不到其他人可能看到的事實，因為我們沒有採取行業普遍採取的定價水平。

Appreciate that. And then just I'm wondering if you could speak to dining room traffic levels currently. Where that stands? What kind of runway you may still have within the dining room and the benefits there, if To Go stays elevated?

感謝。然後只是我想知道你是否可以談談目前的餐廳交通水平。那站在哪裡？如果 To Go 保持高位，您在餐廳內可能還有什麼樣的跑道以及那裡的好處？

Well, I think we've said in the past, there's not a huge difference in profitability between dining room versus take -- off-premise. The margin differential is de minimis across the portfolio. Is there some difference from brand to brand? Yes. But when you look at through the portfolio, the levels of profitability is not that different.

好吧，我認為我們過去曾說過，餐廳與外賣之間的盈利能力沒有太大差異。整個投資組合的保證金差異微乎其微。品牌和品牌之間有區別嗎？是的。但是，當您查看投資組合時，盈利水平並沒有那麼不同。

And as we look at -- if you're looking at what the impact might have if the mix changes, I wouldn't say that changes the margin that much. And again, we -- 2 quarters in a row, now we are seeing consistent off-premise level. So we'll have to see how that plays out over time. But I don't expect the margin to change materially based on the change in mix.

正如我們所看到的 - 如果您正在研究如果混合變化可能會產生什麼影響，我不會說這會改變利潤率。再一次，我們 - 連續兩個季度，現在我們看到一致的場外水平。因此，我們將不得不看看隨著時間的推移它會如何發揮作用。但我預計利潤率不會因組合的變化而發生重大變化。

David Tarantino with Baird has our next question.

貝爾德的大衛塔倫蒂諾有我們的下一個問題。

Raj, I just want to clarify a couple of comments you made on the underlying sales trends. So my question really is specific to Olive Garden and how you're viewing the performance for the first quarter relative to what you were seeing prior to the first quarter?

Raj，我只想澄清您對潛在銷售趨勢的一些評論。所以我的問題確實是針對橄欖園的，以及相對於第一季度之前的情況，您如何看待第一季度的表現？

It sounds like maybe you aren't viewing it that differently. But I just wanted to clarify just the way we would calculate kind of multiyear comps, it did look like a slowdown, but then you did have that promotional activity pre-COVID. So I guess, when you sort of make all the adjustments you're making for Olive Garden specifically, how are you viewing the performance of that brand in the first quarter?

聽起來你可能並沒有以不同的方式看待它。但我只是想澄清一下我們計算多年補償的方式，它確實看起來像是放緩，但你確實在 COVID 之前進行了促銷活動。所以我想，當你專門為 Olive Garden 進行所有調整時，你如何看待該品牌在第一季度的表現？

Yes, David. Look, we're actually very pleased with the work that Olive Garden team has done in keeping with their strategy. And I'll tell you, as we look at our guest count retention, which is the way we look at it. Q4 Olive Garden guest count retention was in that low 90s, call it 91, 91-ish and in the first quarter, they were basically in that range. So they were within 0.5 point of what Q4 was.

是的，大衛。看，我們實際上對 Olive Garden 團隊按照他們的戰略所做的工作感到非常滿意。我會告訴你，當我們查看我們的客人保留率時，這就是我們看待它的方式。第 4 季度 Olive Garden 的客人保留率處於 90 年代那麼低的水平，稱之為 91、91 歲左右，而在第一季度，他們基本上在這個範圍內。所以他們在第四季度的 0.5 個點以內。

Was there -- I think year-over-year, there are a lot of dynamics, which is why I think there's a little bit of that confusion as well. But when you look at it on a 3-year, traffic retention from Q4 to Q1 at Olive Garden was pretty consistent. And then the other thing I'll point out is Q1 before COVID, what we're comparing to is the quarter where we had buy one take one for 9 weeks of the -- 8 or 9 weeks of the quarter.

有沒有 - 我認為每年都有很多動態，這就是為什麼我認為也有一些混亂。但是，如果您以 3 年的時間來看，Olive Garden 從 Q4 到 Q1 的流量留存率相當穩定。然後我要指出的另一件事是 COVID 之前的第一季度，我們要比較的是我們在該季度的 8 週或 9 週內購買了 9 週的季度。

And then we also had a big launch of a second promotion that had high TRPs and couponing. And in fact, so when you actually exclude all that, we feel like Olive Garden was actually in a great place. And that's the point we're trying to make is that I don't think -- we are -- us being close to the business and understanding the details, when we take out those noise -- take that noise out, Olive Garden's performance has been pretty consistent.

然後我們還推出了具有高 TRP 和優惠券的第二次促銷活動。事實上，當你真正排除所有這些時，我們覺得橄欖園實際上是一個很棒的地方。這就是我們試圖說明的一點是，我不認為 - 我們是 - 我們接近業務並了解細節，當我們消除這些噪音時 - 消除噪音，橄欖園的表現一直很一致。

Great. That's helpful. And then on the quarter-to-date number, I think you said last year you were doing comps versus pre-COVID around 7%, if I'm not mistaken. So if you're north of 6% versus that number, it would imply a pretty big acceleration versus what we've seen in recent quarters.

偉大的。這很有幫助。然後在本季度至今的數字上，如果我沒記錯的話，我想你去年說過你正在做與 COVID 之前的比較大約 7%。因此，如果您與該數字相比超過 6%，則與我們最近幾個季度所看到的相比，這將意味著一個相當大的加速。

And it didn't sound like you were viewing it that way. So I guess, could you reconcile that math for us in your comments that maybe you haven't seen an inflection?

聽起來你不是那樣看的。所以我想，你能否在你的評論中為我們調和這個數學，也許你沒有看到拐點？

Yes, David. I think a couple of things. One, you got to take into consideration the pricing difference between -- over 3 years from the first quarter to the second quarter. Then I think when we look at traffic, Yes. I mean it does -- like I was mentioning earlier, there is a little bit of an increase versus pre-COVID.

是的，大衛。我認為有幾件事。第一，您必須考慮從第一季度到第二季度超過 3 年的價格差異。然後我認為當我們查看流量時，是的。我的意思是確實如此——就像我之前提到的那樣，與 COVID 之前相比，有一點點增加。

But when we take out the impact from promotions from 3 years ago, it's not a huge step change. So that's the other part that I think you're missing is like September 3 years ago, we did not have the same level of promotional activity at Olive Garden as we did in June and August -- or the first quarter of this year. So that's another factor that plays into how we look at it.

但是，當我們從 3 年前的促銷活動中剔除影響時，這並不是一個巨大的變化。所以這就是我認為你缺少的另一部分，就像 3 年前的 9 月一樣，我們在 Olive Garden 的促銷活動水平沒有我們在 6 月和 8 月 - 或今年第一季度所做的那樣。所以這是影響我們如何看待它的另一個因素。

Now moving to a question from Peter Saleh with BTIG.

現在轉到 BTIG 的 Peter Saleh 提出的問題。

Great. I appreciate all the color. I just want to come back to that conversation around the guest count consistency at Olive Garden and just kind of pair that with the commentary you guys made earlier.

偉大的。我欣賞所有的顏色。我只是想回到關於橄欖園客人數量一致性的對話，並將其與你們之前發表的評論相結合。

So just trying to understand, I think last quarter, Rick, you had mentioned that there was some check management at Cheddar's. I think this quarter, you're talking about some slowdown or weakness with the consumer under $50,000 of income.

所以只是想理解，我想上個季度，里克，你提到切達有一些支票管理。我認為本季度，您談論的是收入低於 50,000 美元的消費者的一些放緩或疲軟。

Just trying to understand how that's manifesting itself right now in these 2 brands. Is it more traffic declines? Or is it check management? Just trying to understand that in the context of what Raj just indicated on guest count retention at Olive Garden.

只是想了解這兩個品牌現在是如何表現出來的。是不是更多的流量下降？還是支票管理？只是想在 Raj 剛剛指出的橄欖園客人人數保留的背景下理解這一點。

Thanks, Peter. All right. We're getting a lot of questions on traffic at Olive Garden. I just want to reiterate, we're really proud of the work Olive Garden has done and Dan has done and the team over the last couple of years. What they've done to simplify their operation, to improve margins over time over pre-COVID has been great.

謝謝，彼得。好的。我們收到了很多關於橄欖園交通的問題。我只想重申，我們真的為 Olive Garden 和 Dan 在過去幾年所做的工作以及團隊感到自豪。他們為簡化操作、隨著時間的推移提高利潤率而不是 COVID 之前所做的工作非常出色。

They outperformed the industry this year -- this quarter in both sales and traffic. And as I shared in our prepared remarks, within our portfolio, they have more consumers at below $50,000. That doesn't mean that we're worried about the below $50,000 consumer because it hasn't been a significant move in traffic from that.

他們今年的表現優於行業——本季度的銷售和流量。正如我在準備好的評論中所分享的那樣，在我們的投資組合中，他們有更多的消費者價格低於 50,000 美元。這並不意味著我們擔心低於 50,000 美元的消費者，因為它在流量方面並沒有顯著變化。

Yes, we've seen some check management a little bit. And as we've said, it's not significant. So our media is a lot lower. There's a lot of reasons for the performance at Olive Garden and the performance at Cheddar's. But we haven't seen much check management, maybe a little bit at Cheddar's.

是的，我們已經看到了一些支票管理。正如我們所說，這並不重要。所以我們的媒體要低很多。 Olive Garden的表現和Cheddar's的表現有很多原因。但是我們還沒有看到太多的支票管理，也許在Cheddar's 有一點。

Understood. Okay. Very helpful. And then just on the marketing expense for the full year, I think you guys had indicated previously, maybe that would be up about 10 basis points. I think in the first quarter, it was up about 20 basis points.

明白了。好的。非常有幫助。然後就全年的營銷費用而言，我想你們之前已經說過，也許會增加大約 10 個基點。我認為在第一季度，它上漲了大約 20 個基點。

Are you still on track for maybe just a modest increase this year? Or do you think you guys will maybe take that up slightly given the trends so far in the first quarter?

您是否仍有望在今年實現適度增長？還是您認為鑑於第一季度迄今為止的趨勢，你們可能會稍微接受這一點？

Peter actually, I don't think it has anything to do with the first quarter trends. But as we look at our plans, I think we're basically within that 10 to 20 basis points and quarter-to-quarter it might vary, but you might see some quarters at 20, some at 10, but that's still what we expect to do for the year.

彼得實際上，我認為這與第一季度的趨勢沒有任何關係。但是當我們查看我們的計劃時，我認為我們基本上在 10 到 20 個基點之內，並且每個季度可能會有所不同，但是您可能會看到一些季度為 20，一些為 10，但這仍然是我們的預期一年要做的事情。

We will now hear from Brian Bittner with Oppenheimer.

我們現在將聽取奧本海默和布萊恩·比特納的來信。

I wanted to address, I think there's some confusion in how you're talking about trends relative to pre-COVID. Because clearly, we, as analysts have no way to strip out impacts of promotions like you do when you speak to your underlying trend and you speak to it excluding promotions, it's kind of apples versus oranges to our models.

我想解決，我認為您在談論與 COVID 之前相關的趨勢時存在一些混淆。因為很明顯，作為分析師，我們無法像您在談論潛在趨勢並且不包括促銷活動時那樣消除促銷活動的影響，對於我們的模型來說，這是一種蘋果與橘子的對比。

So like, for instance, if you hold anywhere near this 6% comp for 2Q, it would suggest 400 basis points of acceleration in the pre-COVID trend from where you were in the first quarter. And so I think what we're trying to figure out is there's something happening that's more positive in the business recently than you're leading on or conversely, should we expect that 1-year trend to come down a lot moving forward to kind of keep that multi-stack trend intact? If that makes sense.

因此，例如，如果您在第二季度保持接近 6% 的比例，則表明 COVID 之前的趨勢與第一季度相比有 400 個基點的加速。所以我認為我們試圖弄清楚的是，最近在業務中發生的事情比你領導的更積極，或者相反，我們是否應該預期 1 年的趨勢會下降很多保持多棧趨勢不變？如果這是有道理的。

Yes, Brian, I mean, I understand where you're coming from. But I think there's so much uncertainty in this environment for us to basically say that what we saw in the last 3 weeks or 4 weeks and then just to be able to say, that should be the new number and that's how we should look at it for the full year. That doesn't make sense.

是的，布賴恩，我的意思是，我明白你來自哪裡。但我認為在這種環境中存在很大的不確定性，我們基本上可以說我們在過去 3 週或 4 週內看到的情況，然後可以說，這應該是新的數字，這就是我們應該如何看待它全年。那沒有意義。

If we look at what happened over the last 6 months, consistently, there's a little bit of movement from week-to-week. But when you come back and look at it over a larger period of time, call it 6 or 8 weeks, it's pretty consistent. And that's really what we're looking at it through that lens.

如果我們看看過去 6 個月發生的事情，一貫地，每週都會有一些變化。但是當你在更長的時間裡回來看它時，稱之為 6 或 8 週，它是相當一致的。這就是我們通過那個鏡頭看到的。

And I get the point around the promotions, and you don't have visibility to some of that. But even if you just look at the absolute number, I think for Q1 -- Q4, it was like I said, 91% -- 91% to 92% and Q1 was basically 91% of pre-COVID for -- at Olive Garden, for example.

我明白促銷活動的重點，而你對其中的一些沒有了解。但即使你只看絕對數字，我認為對於第一季度 - 第四季度，就像我說的那樣，91% - 91% 到 92%，第一季度基本上是 COVID 之前的 91% - 在橄欖園， 例如。

So it's actually pretty consistent from Q4 to Q1 at an absolute quarter level. Month-to-month, week-to-week, there is some volatility, but that's really -- that's where the promotions come into play.

因此，在絕對季度水平上，從第四季度到第一季度實際上非常一致。每月、每週都會有一些波動，但那是真的——這就是促銷活動發揮作用的地方。

Okay. And just going back to the first quarter on Olive Garden. I know you were happy with its performance and again, stripping out the promotions, great noise in how you look at it versus us. But you obviously verse the quarter before, it did slow materially in the trend versus '19 or versus pre-COVID, whereas all the other segments and brands really held steady.

好的。回到橄欖園的第一季度。我知道你對它的表現很滿意，再一次去掉了促銷，你如何看待它與我們之間的巨大噪音。但是您顯然在前一個季度中表示，與 19 年或 COVID 之前相比，它的趨勢確實顯著放緩，而所有其他細分市場和品牌確實保持穩定。

And I guess the question is, does Olive Garden have a bigger return to seasonality factor in its business than the other brands? And also, what percentage of Olive Garden is exposed to that under $50,000 consumer relative to the other brands?

我想問題是，Olive Garden 在其業務中的季節性因素是否比其他品牌的回報更大？此外，相對於其他品牌，Olive Garden 有多少百分比接觸到低於 50,000 美元的消費者？

Yes, Brian. So Olive Garden did not have a different seasonal pattern than the other brands. The seasonality pattern was very consistent with Olive Garden, with LongHorn and Cheddar's. The difference in kind of the 3-year difference or pre-COVID difference was something that Raj said. In the summer of 2019, we had buy one take one in the first quarter at Olive Garden. It was the first time we did it in the first quarter. So it was about, I think, a 2-point swing that we had from Q4 to Q1. But the seasonality was very consistent across when you compare.

是的，布賴恩。所以橄欖園與其他品牌沒有不同的季節模式。季節性模式與 Olive Garden、LongHorn 和 Cheddar's 非常一致。 Raj 說的是 3 年差異或 COVID 前差異的種類差異。 2019年夏天，我們在Olive Garden第一季度買了一個拿一個。這是我們在第一季度第一次這樣做。因此，我認為，從第四季度到第一季度，我們的波動幅度大約為 2 點。但是當你比較時，季節性是非常一致的。

As the $30,000 -- the $50,000 income, Cheddar's and Olive Garden are fairly consistent. They're a little bit higher than they are at LongHorn. But it's not anywhere near the majority. And so we're not going to give you an exact number, but it is higher than LongHorn, but it's not significantly higher.

作為 30,000 美元——50,000 美元的收入，Cheddar's 和 Olive Garden 相當一致。他們比在 LongHorn 高一點。但它並不接近大多數。所以我們不會給你一個確切的數字，但它比 LongHorn 高，但並沒有明顯更高。

Andrew Charles with Cowen has the next question. Go ahead.

安德魯查爾斯和考恩有下一個問題。前進。

Given the return of seasonality in the industry that could weigh on Olive Garden seasonally like fiscal 2Q, within the reiterated revenue guidance though, what gives you confidence that you'll see the benefit of seasonality in fiscal 3Q and fiscal 4Q, the strongest fiscal quarter -- strongest seasonal quarters for the business as the consumer backdrop, particularly at the low end is a bit shaky here?

鑑於該行業的季節性回歸可能會像第二財季一樣對 Olive Garden 造成季節性影響，但在重申的收入指導範圍內，您有信心在第三財季和第四財季（最強勁的財季）中看到季節性帶來的好處——作為消費者最強勁的季度業務，尤其是在低端，這裡有點不穩定？

Yes. Well, when we talk about return to seasonality is based on the consumer backdrop there is today, it's not necessary -- if something changes dramatically, you might see some different seasonal patterns. But my guess is you'll still see the same flows month-to-month, quarter-to-quarter.

是的。好吧，當我們談論回歸季節性是基於當今的消費者背景時，沒有必要——如果情況發生巨大變化，你可能會看到一些不同的季節性模式。但我的猜測是，您仍然會看到每月、每季度的相同流量。

It just might be a little bit lower, a little bit higher depending on where the consumer is. The only difference that we'll see -- and that's versus pre-COVID. When you think about versus last year, we are going to have the Omicron wrap that we have in January, basically, and a little bit of February. So that should help versus last year on a Q3 basis.

根據消費者的位置，它可能會低一點，高一點。我們將看到的唯一區別是與 COVID 之前的區別。當您考慮與去年相比時，我們將在 1 月份擁有 Omicron 包裝，基本上是在 2 月份。因此，與去年第三季度相比，這應該會有所幫助。

But as we talk about seasonality it's really more about the consumer returning more to normal based on COVID, not on the economy because we're basically assuming that the economy stays somewhere around where we are. If it gets a little worse that might impact inflation in a positive way for us.

但是，當我們談論季節性時，實際上更多是關於消費者基於 COVID 恢復正常，而不是經濟，因為我們基本上假設經濟保持在我們所處的某個地方。如果情況變得更糟，可能會對我們產生積極的通脹影響。

And as we said in the call in the first quarter, if food costs go down 1%, it's better, it offsets the 2% decline in guest count -- I'm sorry, total inflation goes down 1%, it impacts -- it's the same impact as a 2% change in guest count.

正如我們在第一季度的電話會議中所說，如果食品成本下降 1%，那就更好了，它可以抵消 2% 的客人數量下降——對不起，總通脹下降 1%，它會影響——這與客人數量變化 2% 的影響相同。

And Lauren Silberman with Credit Suisse has the next question.

瑞士信貸的 Lauren Silberman 提出了下一個問題。

I have a quick follow-up on Olive Garden. So it seems like the headwinds to no reduction in discounting impact were outsized in the fiscal first quarter given all the promotions. To be clear, excluding the promotions, were 3-year trends closer to positive mid-single digit? And is that what you'd expect for the rest of the year?

我對橄欖園有一個快速跟進。因此，考慮到所有促銷活動，在第一財季，折扣影響沒有減少的不利因素似乎過大了。需要明確的是，不包括促銷活動，3 年的趨勢是否更接近正中個位數？這就是你對今年剩餘時間的期望嗎？

I would say on 3-year trends in sales would be positive even more than that because we were positive to 3 years ago in sales right now. On the traffic side, what we've said in the past is the marketing activity and the spending that we've done in marketing is probably around a 10% impact to traffic.

我會說 3 年的銷售趨勢會比這更積極，因為我們現在對 3 年前的銷售是積極的。在流量方面，我們過去所說的是營銷活動，我們在營銷方面所做的支出可能對流量產生 10% 左右的影響。

And Raj mentioned that in the first quarter and in the fourth quarter, we were in the low 90s to traffic to pre-COVID, and that's mostly driven by all of the media that we did before and the coupons and all the other things.

Raj 提到，在第一季度和第四季度，我們的流量處於 COVID 之前的低 90 年代，這主要是由我們之前所做的所有媒體以及優惠券和所有其他事情驅動的。

But it was something that we wanted to do, and we expected to see some traffic miss from that. And so total sales would be higher and guest count would be higher if we were in the same kind of marketing mix we were before.

但這是我們想做的事情，我們希望從中看到一些交通失誤。因此，如果我們採用與以前相同的營銷組合，總銷售額會更高，客人數量也會更高。

Understood. And then just -- I wanted to ask about on-premise traffic across the industry. It's still down despite closures. Any perspective on why that might be the case and which occasions still haven't fully recovered, especially as we enter what seems to be an increasingly challenging consumer environment?

明白了。然後只是 - 我想詢問整個行業的本地流量。儘管關閉，它仍然下降。關於為什麼會出現這種情況以及哪些情況仍未完全恢復的任何觀點，尤其是當我們進入似乎越來越具有挑戰性的消費環境時？

Yes, I think a couple of things. The off-premise experience is a lot better across a lot of places. So people have other ways to get their food from Casual Dining than they did before. And so that could lead to a little bit less dining room traffic especially as there are still some consumers that don't want to go out to eat. While a lot of people think COVID is over, there are some that don't.

是的，我認為有幾件事。在很多地方，場外體驗要好得多。因此，與以前相比，人們有其他方式從休閒餐飲中獲取食物。因此，這可能會導致餐廳客流量減少，尤其是在仍有一些消費者不想出去吃飯的情況下。雖然很多人認為 COVID 已經結束，但也有一些人沒有。

And so even with restaurant closures, a lot of the closures happened in independents in urban markets. And so some of the suburban markets are still doing well and they didn't have as many closures. So -- but what Raj was mentioning earlier, with margins being basically the same for us on off-premise versus on-premise because we don't have that delivery charge then we're okay, wherever it is.

因此，即使餐廳關閉，很多倒閉也發生在城市市場的獨立餐廳。因此，一些郊區市場仍然表現良好，而且沒有那麼多關閉的市場。所以 - 但是 Raj 之前提到的，我們在場外與在場的利潤率基本相同，因為我們沒有交付費用，那麼無論它在哪裡，我們都可以。

We want our dining rooms to be more full and you're starting to see them fill up. They're not -- not all the brands are back to pre-COVID levels. LongHorn is above pre-COVID levels in traffic. And so we feel good about all of our brands and what they're going to do.

我們希望我們的餐廳更滿，而您開始看到它們被填滿。他們不是——並非所有品牌都恢復到 COVID 之前的水平。 LongHorn 的流量高於 COVID 之前的水平。因此，我們對我們所有的品牌以及他們將要做什麼都感覺良好。

The good news is if we -- if our dining rooms aren't back to full, we've got capacity. And as we continue to see some improvement, as we continue to do the things that we have been doing over the last few years, focusing on simplification, making it easier for our teams to do what they do, investing in our food, investing in our teams, then we're going to have an even better experience as guests come back, and they are coming back.

好消息是，如果我們——如果我們的餐廳還沒有滿員，我們就有了容量。隨著我們繼續看到一些改進，隨著我們繼續做我們過去幾年一直在做的事情，專注於簡化，讓我們的團隊更容易做他們所做的事情，投資我們的食物，投資我們的團隊，那麼當客人回來時，我們將獲得更好的體驗，而且他們正在回來。

So that just gives us more opportunity to grow in the long run because our dining rooms in some of our brands aren't back to pre-COVID levels, that's being offset in most of our brands by To Go.

因此，從長遠來看，這只是為我們提供了更多增長的機會，因為我們某些品牌的餐廳沒有恢復到 COVID 之前的水平，這在我們的大多數品牌中都被 To Go 所抵消。

Moving to Jeff Farmer with Gordon Haskett.

和 Gordon Haskett 一起搬到 Jeff Farmer。

Just a couple of quick follow-ups. So can you update us on where you see G&A dollars for the full year considering what we saw in the Q1?

只是幾個快速跟進。那麼，考慮到我們在第一季度看到的情況，您能否向我們更新您在哪裡看到全年的 G&A 美元？

Yes, Jeff, I think for the full year we're probably still close to that $400 million, which is where I think we were before COVID. So 3 years of inflation and other things, growth costs all help offset the corporate restructuring savings of over $25 million or so that we got. So I would say, at this point, our estimate is closer to that $400 million for the full year.

是的，傑夫，我認為全年我們可能仍接近 4 億美元，這是我認為在 COVID 之前我們所處的位置。因此，3 年的通貨膨脹和其他因素，增長成本都有助於抵消我們獲得的超過 2500 萬美元左右的企業重組節省。所以我想說，在這一點上，我們的估計更接近全年的 4 億美元。

Okay. And then there were a couple of mentions about this. But as we approach that January, February, time frame when you saw the most significant Omicron headwinds, is there any color you can provide on the magnitude of sales headwind that you potentially saw over that January and February time period?

好的。然後有幾個提到這一點。但是，當我們接近 1 月和 2 月時，您看到 Omicron 最顯著的逆風時，您可以提供任何顏色來說明您在 1 月和 2 月期間可能看到的銷售逆風的幅度嗎？

Yes. I think last year, we -- if you go back, we talked about that impacting sales by about $100 million, call it, in that $90 million to $100 million range. So that's really the tailwind as you look at it year-over-year on the sales front.

是的。我想去年，我們 - 如果你回過頭來看，我們談到這會影響銷售額約 1 億美元，稱之為 9000 萬美元到 1 億美元的範圍。因此，當您在銷售方面逐年查看時，這確實是順風。

We'll now move to John Tower with Citi.

我們現在將與花旗一起搬到約翰塔。

Just 2 for me. First, Rick, your comments earlier in the prepared remarks and answering some of the questions about promotions only coming back on if they're profitable. Does that mean that we may see historical promos of the past show up again, but priced at a level that's more profitable to Darden? So for example, I'm thinking like Never Ending Pasta at Olive Garden.

對我來說只有2個。首先，Rick，您在之前準備好的評論中的評論並回答了一些關於促銷的問題，只有在它們有利可圖的情況下才會出現。這是否意味著我們可能會看到過去的歷史促銷再次出現，但定價在對達頓來說更有利可圖的水平？例如，我在想橄欖園的永無止境的意大利面。

Yes, John, we're not going to discuss our plans for competitive reasons. But as we've said a few times today, anything that we do should emphasize our brand equity and be more profitable than they were before.

是的，約翰，出於競爭原因，我們不會討論我們的計劃。但正如我們今天多次說過的那樣，我們所做的任何事情都應該強調我們的品牌資產，並且比以前更有利可圖。

And then I guess just following up on another comment earlier in the call, the idea that you're seeing strength in that higher income households, for those over 50,000.

然後我想只是跟進電話會議早些時候的另一條評論，即你看到高收入家庭的力量，對於那些超過 50,000 的人。

Can you just talk about how that's showing up in the business either across the brands or within brands? Are you seeing, say, for example, higher traffic growth at Olive Garden in that subsegment? Or is it more about the check growth? Just curious if you could suss that out a little bit.

您能否談談這在跨品牌或品牌內部的業務中是如何體現的？例如，您是否看到橄欖園在該細分市場的流量增長更高？還是更多關於支票增長？只是好奇你能不能猜出一點。

Yes, John, I think there's a few ways to kind of tease that out. One is look at our Fine Dining business and how well they're doing and the sales that they've had even though in the first quarter the urban markets hadn't reopened yet really much and a lot of people hadn't gone back to work.

是的，約翰，我認為有幾種方法可以解決這個問題。一個是看看我們的高級餐飲業務，看看他們的表現以及他們的銷售額，儘管在第一季度城市市場還沒有真正重新開放，很多人還沒有回到工作。

We had a significant difference in Fine Dining in the suburban markets versus the urban markets. That's tightening now with people going back to work. But Fine Dining is doing really well. Many of our other brands in the Other Segment, you've got Yard House, you've got Seasons 52 doing very well because of that consumer.

我們在郊區市場與城市市場的美食有顯著差異。現在隨著人們重返工作崗位，這種情況正在收緊。但 Fine Dining 的表現確實不錯。我們在其他細分市場中的許多其他品牌，你有 Yard House，你有第 52 季因為那個消費者而做得很好。

And at Olive Garden, our mix has changed. And so our consumer is a little bit higher. And so think about LongHorn, and LongHorn caters to a little bit higher consumer and their sales are still strong and traffic is still strong versus pre-COVID. So there's a lot of ways to see it.

在橄欖園，我們的組合發生了變化。所以我們的消費者稍微高一點。所以想想 LongHorn，LongHorn 迎合了更高一點的消費者，與 COVID 之前相比，他們的銷售仍然強勁，流量仍然強勁。所以有很多方法可以看到它。

And we're seeing the ability as we take price in some of the Fine Dining brands, there's really no pushback. So we think that, that is a broad-based benefit for us because we have a portfolio of brands that kind of run the spectrum of the consumer.

我們看到了一些高級餐飲品牌定價的能力，真的沒有阻力。所以我們認為，這對我們來說是一個廣泛的好處，因為我們擁有一系列涵蓋消費者範圍的品牌。

And so when one segment of the population isn't doing as well, the other segment is, then we are still okay. And then if it flips the other way, we're okay. And so right now, there's just one segment of the population that's being hurt a little bit more by inflation than others. And the good news is we've got brands that aren't impacted by that.

因此，當一部分人口表現不佳時，另一部分人表現不佳，那麼我們仍然可以。然後如果它反過來，我們就沒事了。所以現在，只有一小部分人受到通貨膨脹的傷害比其他人多一點。好消息是我們的品牌不受此影響。

Moving on to Eric Gonzalez with KeyBanc.

繼續使用 KeyBanc 的 Eric Gonzalez。

Maybe one about your guidance. It was encouraging to see that you reiterated all the components of the outlook. Raj, last quarter, you commented that the guidance implies full year margins in '23 will be -- will exceed that at pre-COVID levels.

也許是關於你的指導。令人鼓舞的是，您重申了展望的所有組成部分。 Raj，上個季度，您評論說，該指導意味著 23 年的全年利潤率將 - 將超過 COVID 之前的水平。

But if I look at where things fell in the first quarter, the 17.5% was about 50 or 60 bps below where you were in the first quarter of '20. So the question is, do you still expect those store level margins to exceed pre-COVID levels for the full year?

但如果我看看第一季度的情況，17.5% 比 20 年第一季度的水平低了大約 50 或 60 個基點。所以問題是，您是否仍然期望這些商店級別的利潤率全年超過 COVID 之前的水平？

And second, can you give us a bit more color on how you expect the margin to progress throughout the year? And what some of the levers outside of pricing that you can pull to bring it back up?

其次，您能否就您對全年利潤率的預期進展提供更多信息？您可以通過哪些定價之外的槓桿來恢復價格？

Yes, Eric, let's say, we always talk about margins at the full -- at the operating profit level or EBITDA level. The reason we do that is because there's a lot of difference -- if we manage G&A better, that gives us flexibility to put more costs into the -- investment into the four walls.

是的，埃里克，比方說，我們總是談論利潤率——在營業利潤水平或 EBITDA 水平。我們這樣做的原因是因為有很大的不同——如果我們更好地管理 G&A，這讓我們可以靈活地將更多成本投入到對四堵牆的投資中。

So we don't focus as much on the four walls as the full because for us, at the end of the day, it's the total portfolio, right? Where are we for the whole P&L? Where are we from an EBIT margin? Where are we from an EBITDA margin? If you look at it through that lens, first quarter was higher than pre-COVID by about, call it, 60 basis points on the profit level and 40 basis points when you look at it through EBITDA. So let me start with that.

所以我們不像完整的那樣專注於四面牆，因為對我們來說，歸根結底，這是整個投資組合，對嗎？對於整個損益表，我們在哪裡？我們的息稅前利潤率在哪裡？我們的 EBITDA 利潤率在哪裡？如果您從這個角度來看，第一季度的利潤水平比 COVID 之前高出大約 60 個基點，而當您通過 EBITDA 看時則高出 40 個基點。所以讓我從那個開始。

And then as we look at the full year, do we still expect restaurant level margins to be better than pre-COVID? Yes, that's what's embedded in our guidance for the full year. The cadence of that is going to be that we have -- if you recall last year, the first and second quarter had the most improvement versus pre-COVID.

然後，當我們縱觀全年時，我們是否仍然預計餐廳級別的利潤率會好於 COVID 之前？是的，這就是我們全年指導中的內容。其節奏將是我們擁有的——如果你記得去年，第一季度和第二季度與 COVID 之前相比有最大的改善。

So that's why you saw year-over-year decline in the first quarter. We expect that to narrow a little bit in the second quarter, but still decline versus last year but still ahead of pre-COVID. And then as we get to the back half, we expect to be higher than last year. That's what's embedded in our guidance. And part of that is the shrinking gap between pricing and inflation. And again, this was planful as we went into this year. And so we expect -- at this point, we expect it to play out that way.

這就是為什麼你看到第一季度同比下降的原因。我們預計第二季度會有所收窄，但與去年相比仍會有所下降，但仍領先於 COVID 之前。然後當我們進入後半部分時，我們預計會高於去年。這就是我們的指導中所包含的內容。部分原因是定價和通脹之間的差距正在縮小。再一次，這是我們進入今年時的計劃。所以我們期望 - 在這一點上，我們期望它會以這種方式發揮作用。

And our next question will come from Andrew Strelzik with BMO.

我們的下一個問題將來自 BMO 的 Andrew Strelzik。

I wanted to come back to the value and pricing discussion. And you noted -- I know I'm asking this question amid all the inflation, but you noted chicken breast prices haven't come back and you mention that beef prices haven't come back.

我想回到價值和定價討論。你注意到了——我知道我是在通貨膨脹的情況下問這個問題的，但你注意到雞胸肉價格沒有回升，你提到牛肉價格沒有回升。

So I guess if we do go into kind of a more deflationary environment, you do see commodity costs really pull back. How do you think about promoting value throughout your brands? Do you feel like we end up in a position where maybe we're offside from a value perspective as maybe a Casual Dining group?

所以我想如果我們真的進入一種更加通縮的環境，你確實會看到商品成本真的回落。您如何看待在整個品牌中提升價值？您是否覺得我們最終處於一個可能越位的位置，從價值的角度來看，可能是休閒餐飲集團？

I know we used to talk about food at home, food away from home, I don't know if you -- how you think about that risk, but just curious for your thoughts on the levers, maybe if we were to go into that scenario.

我知道我們過去常常談論在家吃飯，離家吃飯，我不知道你是否——你如何看待這種風險，但只是好奇你對槓桿的看法，也許如果我們要進入那個設想。

Yes, if we go into a scenario that food costs deflate even more or reduce even more than we have in our estimate already. Because remember, what I said in the June call and even today is we continue to expect food cost to go down, the inflation to go down from where it was in the first quarter. And I'm assuming that our competitors are assuming the same thing.

是的，如果我們進入一種情況，即食品成本比我們已經估計的更緊縮或減少得更多。因為請記住，我在 6 月的電話會議中甚至今天說的是，我們繼續預計食品成本會下降，通脹率將從第一季度的水平下降。我假設我們的競爭對手也在假設同樣的事情。

That said, we don't anticipate changing our messaging to be a pure value play. We think we have value on all of our brands every day based on the investments that we've made in our food, the improvement that we have in our service, and our brands are going to talk about, whichever ones do any kind of communication, they're equities.

也就是說，我們預計不會將我們的消息傳遞更改為純粹的價值遊戲。我們認為我們每天都對我們所有的品牌有價值，基於我們在食品方面的投資，我們在服務方面的改進，我們的品牌會談論，無論哪個品牌進行任何形式的交流，它們是股票。

And at Olive Garden, it's Never Ending craveable abundant Italian food. At LongHorn, its quality and they talk about quality, it doesn't have -- they don't have to talk about price. And at our other brands, we talk about -- at Cheddar's, it is wow value.

在橄欖園，它永無止境地渴望豐富的意大利美食。在 LongHorn，它的質量和他們談論質量，它沒有——他們不必談論價格。在我們的其他品牌中，我們談論 - 在 Cheddar's，這是令人驚嘆的價值。

So Cheddar's talks more in digitally, it will be about value because that's their equity. So we're not going to change our marketing based on what's happening with food costs. We're going to market based on our strategy.

因此，Cheddar 更多地以數字方式進行討論，這將是關於價值的，因為那是他們的權益。因此，我們不會根據食品成本的變化來改變我們的營銷方式。我們將根據我們的策略進行市場營銷。

Okay. Great. That's helpful. And then I apologize if I missed this. You mentioned staffing being back kind of to normal levels. But can you just give us an update on what you're seeing in terms of turnover and application flow?

好的。偉大的。這很有幫助。然後，如果我錯過了這一點，我深表歉意。你提到人員配置恢復到正常水平。但是，您能否向我們介紹一下您在營業額和申請流程方面看到的最新情況？

Yes. We continue to get a significant increase in applicant flow across the country. We have a new talent management system. We've had it for over a year. And that system allows applicants to automatically schedule their interviews, et cetera.

是的。我們繼續在全國范圍內獲得申請人流量的顯著增加。我們有一個新的人才管理系統。我們已經用了一年多了。該系統允許申請人自動安排他們的面試等等。

And we've got so many interviews schedule. We're going to have to figure out how to maybe slow that down because managers, all they're doing is interviewing in a lot of places. So we've got a really good applicant flow.

我們有這麼多的採訪時間表。我們將不得不弄清楚如何才能放慢速度，因為經理們，他們所做的只是在很多地方進行面試。所以我們有一個非常好的申請流程。

As we said, we opened quite a few restaurants this quarter. All of them were fully staffed with great people ready to go. Our turnover, our manager retention is much closer to pre-COVID levels. It's pretty close to pre-COVID levels and well better than the industry average, our manager retention.

正如我們所說，本季度我們開了很多餐館。他們所有人都配備了準備出發的優秀人才。我們的營業額，我們的經理保留率更接近於 COVID 之前的水平。它非常接近 COVID 之前的水平，並且遠高於行業平均水平，即我們的經理保留率。

And our team member retention is also well above the industry, but it's not quite back to pre-COVID levels. So our teams are focused and as we mentioned, we had our General Manager -- Managing Partner conferences last month. And most of those conferences we're talking about ensuring that we train our new team members and improve retention. We think that's a key for us going forward, and we'll continue to focus on trying to get our retention levels back to pre-covered levels.

而且我們的團隊成員保留率也遠高於行業，但還沒有完全回到 COVID 之前的水平。所以我們的團隊很專注，正如我們提到的，上個月我們舉行了總經理 - 管理合夥人會議。我們談論的大多數會議都是為了確保我們培訓我們的新團隊成員並提高保留率。我們認為這是我們前進的關鍵，我們將繼續專注於嘗試將我們的保留水平恢復到預先覆蓋的水平。

We'll now move to our next question. That will come from David Palmer with Evercore ISI.

我們現在將轉到下一個問題。這將來自 Evercore ISI 的 David Palmer。

I think you said all traffic at Olive Garden is down 9% versus pre-COVID. Raj, I think you said that's the inverse of the 91%. And if To Go mix was up maybe 9 points since then, the dining room traffic would be down more than that, maybe mid-teens or something like that. So maybe you can confirm if that's about right.

我想你說過橄欖園的所有流量都比疫情前下降了 9%。 Raj，我想你說那是 91% 的倒數。如果從那時起 To Go mix 可能上升了 9 個點，那麼餐廳的客流量會下降更多，可能是十幾歲左右或類似的東西。所以也許你可以確認這是否正確。

But I'm wondering how much you look at that traffic gap in the dining room versus pre-COVID as an opportunity that you can invest against in a good ROI type of fashion versus traffic that was simply not profitable and not worth chasing with TV advertising, LTOs or coupons because it's just not efficient spend and you got a healthy reset with COVID.

但是我想知道您將餐廳的流量差距與 COVID 之前的流量差距視為您可以投資於良好 ROI 類型的時尚的機會，而不是根本無利可圖且不值得通過電視廣告追逐的流量、LTO 或優惠券，因為它只是沒有效率的支出，而且你在 COVID 中得到了健康的重置。

Yes, David, I think let me start by saying your numbers are right. That's accurate. The -- yes, does that present an opportunity in the dining room, absolutely. But we're going to go about it in a manner that's actually sustainable and that's where we go back to, over the last 3 years, we've invested so much into underpricing inflation.

是的，大衛，我想首先讓我說你的數字是正確的。這是準確的。 - 是的，這絕對是在餐廳裡提供了一個機會。但我們將以一種實際上可持續的方式來解決這個問題，這就是我們回到過去的三年，我們在抑制通貨膨脹方面投入了大量資金。

If you look at where Olive Garden's pricing has been over the 3 years combined, full 3 years combined is at 10%. When you look at where full-service CPI -- restaurant CPI was for the same time frame, it's 17.5%. So we've actually significantly underpriced the industry and actually, I would argue, significant underpriced, maybe not to the same extent our competitors.

如果您查看 Olive Garden 的價格在 3 年內的總和，整整 3 年的總價格為 10%。當您查看全方位服務 CPI（餐廳 CPI）在同一時間範圍內的位置時，它是 17.5%。因此，我們實際上大大低估了該行業的價格，實際上，我認為，價格大大低估了，可能與我們的競爭對手不同。

So that is the way we believe to build back that guest. And Rick mentioned getting that one extra visit from our loyal guest. We think this is a sustainable, durable way to really get our guests back, it's going to take time. It's not a one magic, let's drive people in today or tomorrow. It's just going to happen over time. And I would argue that we're starting to see the fruit of some of that, but it takes time.

所以這就是我們相信重建那位客人的方式。瑞克提到讓我們的忠實客人多來一次。我們認為這是一種可持續、持久的方式來真正讓我們的客人回來，這需要時間。這不是一個魔術，讓我們今天或明天開車。它只會隨著時間的推移而發生。我認為我們開始看到其中一些成果，但這需要時間。

And I just want to add one thing, David, which is what you said. Some of those guests that we were doing in these dining rooms might not have been as profitable as we'd like, right? We had a lot of coupons. There were times that we had 5 coupons in 1 week at Olive Garden when we were running Never Ending Pasta Bowl, right?

我只想補充一件事，大衛，這就是你所說的。我們在這些餐廳裡招待的一些客人可能沒有我們想要的那麼有利可圖，對吧？我們有很多優惠券。有時我們在橄欖園運行永無止境的意大利麵碗時，在 1 週內有 5 張優惠券，對嗎？

And so we had to ask ourselves, is that the right thing to do to drive traffic just to have a full restaurant if that traffic really isn't very profitable. We do a lot of work when they're there. And so are we better off with a loyal guest that doesn't need all of those discounts to come in, and we can serve them? They know what they're going to get, they get a consistent experience.

所以我們不得不問自己，如果流量真的不是很有利可圖，那麼為了擁有一個完整的餐廳而增加流量是正確的做法嗎？當他們在那裡時，我們會做很多工作。那麼，如果我們有一位忠誠的客人，不需要所有這些折扣，我們會更好嗎？我們可以為他們服務嗎？他們知道他們會得到什麼，他們會獲得一致的體驗。

So everything Raj said, I agree with. But our strategy is to -- we've significantly reduced discounting. It's such a small part of our -- of the number of checks, very, very minimal, and we'd like to keep it that way.

所以 Raj 所說的一切，我都同意。但我們的策略是——我們已經大大減少了折扣。這是我們支票數量的一小部分，非常非常少，我們希望保持這種狀態。

The other comment that you said in the opening comments, I think you said that customer satisfaction levels were near highs. I don't know if there -- I'd have to go back and check, but what brands you maybe were talking about there. That's pretty striking because I think the industry customer satisfaction levels are near lows. I mean they've kind of gotten roughed up by a tough labor market.

您在開場評論中所說的另一條評論，我認為您說客戶滿意度接近高位。我不知道是否有——我得回去檢查一下，但你可能在那裡談論的是什麼品牌。這非常引人注目，因為我認為行業客戶滿意度接近低點。我的意思是他們已經被艱難的勞動力市場搞得一團糟。

So are you finding that you've -- sort of your gap to the peers has dramatically shifted? And the reason I ask that is because given your strategy, we see obviously best-in-class operators, they have very thin marketing and promotion budgets. So to some degree, if there might be a return on the customer [sat] gap that you might be thinking about at this point?

那麼，您是否發現您與同齡人的差距已經發生了巨大變化？我問這個的原因是因為考慮到你的策略，我們顯然看到一流的運營商，他們的營銷和促銷預算非常薄。因此，在某種程度上，如果您此時可能正在考慮的客戶 [sat] 差距可能會有回報？

David. We specifically mentioned Olive Garden being at or near record highs, and we talked about LongHorn having their steaks grilled correctly at record. But I would tell you that Cheddar's is at a record high for us in the time that we've owned them. They've got the highest satisfaction. They've got the lowest dissatisfaction they've ever had. We've got the same thing at Olive Garden, high satisfaction at LongHorn. I believe they're at their highest overall ratings. Or if not at the highest they're as close as they've been because cooking the steak right is a big part of satisfaction. At our other brands at Seasons 52 satisfaction is really high.

大衛。我們特別提到 Olive Garden 處於或接近歷史高位，我們談到 LongHorn 的牛排在記錄時烤得正確。但我會告訴你，在我們擁有切達干酪的時候，切達干酪對我們來說是創紀錄的。他們得到了最高的滿足。他們的不滿是有史以來最低的。我們在橄欖園也有同樣的經歷，對 LongHorn 的滿意度很高。我相信他們的總體評分最高。或者，如果不是最高的，它們也和以前一樣接近，因為正確烹飪牛排是滿足感的很大一部分。在 Seasons 52 的其他品牌中，滿意度非常高。

So we haven't really seen -- we've actually bucked the trend on consumer satisfaction, not just in the category. If you look at consumer satisfaction or customer satisfaction over the last few years, it's been on a decline. Ours is not. And we think it's because of what we've done over the last few years and even the last 5 or 10 years to continue to improve our guest experience, to continue to add more value on the plate and to be consistent.

所以我們還沒有真正看到——我們實際上已經在消費者滿意度方面逆勢而上，而不僅僅是在這個類別中。如果你看看過去幾年的消費者滿意度或客戶滿意度，它一直在下降。我們的不是。我們認為這是因為我們在過去幾年甚至過去 5 年或 10 年所做的工作，才能繼續改善我們的客戶體驗，繼續增加更多的價值並保持一致。

We've got a core group of team members that work in every one of our restaurants that have been there a long time. Our restaurants are fully staffed in general, we've got pockets of restaurants that are understaffed, but those are the same kind of pockets that we had before COVID. And so we believe that the things that we've done over the last few years have helped improve guest satisfaction because we've got great loyal team members.

我們有一個核心團隊成員，他們在我們的每家餐廳工作了很長時間。我們的餐廳一般都配備齊全，我們也有一些人手不足的餐廳，但這些與我們在 COVID 之前的情況相同。因此，我們相信我們在過去幾年所做的事情有助於提高客人的滿意度，因為我們擁有非常忠誠的團隊成員。

So is that part of the reason that we aren't -- we don't have to do as much versus others on the marketing front? Perhaps, but what I would say, it gives us even more confidence that if we do turn on some media that we're going to execute really well and delight even more people.

那麼這是否是我們不是的部分原因——我們不必在營銷方面與其他人做太多的事情？也許吧，但我想說的是，它讓我們更有信心，如果我們打開一些媒體，我們會執行得非常好，讓更多的人感到高興。

And with Bank of America, Sara Senatore.

與美國銀行，Sara Senatore 合作。

Just 2 follow-ups, please. One, you made the point -- Raj made the point that your collective gap between food away from home and your own pricing has been quite wide. But you also said that you expect that gap or your inflation, your input inflation and your pricing gap to narrow.

請僅進行 2 次跟進。第一，您提出了觀點——拉吉指出，您在家外的食物和您自己的定價之間的集體差距相當大。但你也說過，你預計這個差距或你的通脹、你的輸入通脹和你的定價差距會縮小。

So I guess is there a -- which presumably means your gap with -- the collective gap with the CPI overall will also narrow. Is there like sort of a specific ratio you like to keep? Or I guess, how do you think about that, the importance of having that very wide gap? But at the same time, seeing it narrow a little bit as perhaps support for margin. So just that was one question.

所以我想是否存在——這大概意味著你與——與整體 CPI 的集體差距也會縮小。有沒有你喜歡保持的特定比例？或者我猜，你怎麼看，有這麼大的差距的重要性？但與此同時，看到它略微收窄可能是對保證金的支撐。所以這只是一個問題。

And then my second question is just on margins overall as you think about versus pre-COVID, I guess, my sense is that the big changes are in Cheddar's in particular. But as we think about kind of structural earnings power, what's the right segment margin, can you give any guidance among -- across the different segments, Olive Garden, LongHorn and then the Fine Dining and Other. Just to get a sense of what normalized earnings should look like by segment?

然後我的第二個問題只是總體而言，當您考慮與 COVID 之前相比時，我想，我的感覺是，特別是切達干酪的重大變化。但是，當我們考慮結構性盈利能力時，什麼是正確的細分市場利潤率，您能否在不同細分市場、橄欖園、LongHorn 以及 Fine Dining 和其他之間提供任何指導。只是為了了解按部門劃分的標準化收益應該是什麼樣子？

Okay, Sara, that's a lot. So let me start with the pricing gap first, and then I'll get into the margins. So the comment we were making was specifically quarter-to-quarter movement in the year. But what we're targeting for the year is about 100 basis points gap to our inflation.

好的，莎拉，很多。因此，讓我先從定價差距開始，然後再談利潤。因此，我們所做的評論特別是一年中的季度變動。但我們今年的目標是與我們的通脹差距約 100 個基點。

This is not necessarily reflecting the food away from home or that -- but I don't anticipate that our gap to the full-service restaurant CPI will shrink. This is more about what's going to happen over the -- by a lot. Maybe is there a 50 basis points movement, sure. But is it going to shrink a lot, no.

這不一定反映了離家出走的食物或那——但我預計我們與全方位服務餐廳 CPI 的差距不會縮小。這更多地是關於將要發生的事情。當然，也許會有 50 個基點的變動。但它會縮小很多嗎，不會。

What we're talking about is we are targeting for the year, as we said at the beginning of the year, we set approximately 6% inflation -- total inflation and approximately 5% pricing. And we're continuing -- we're just saying that we'll continue that. But the gap is the largest in the first quarter. It's really a function of year-over-year on the commodities being at the highest levels.

我們談論的是我們的目標是今年，正如我們在年初所說的那樣，我們設定了大約 6% 的通脹率——總通脹率和大約 5% 的定價。我們正在繼續——我們只是說我們將繼續這樣做。但這一差距是第一季度最大的。這實際上是商品處於最高水平的同比函數。

So as they come down, the gap to that inflation will narrow and might actually even reverse a little bit in one quarter in the fourth quarter. But the point here is that when you look at it over time, our gap is still pretty wide. And we expect that to remain that wide relative to the full-service CPI and implied also relative to competitors. So that's the thing on the pricing side.

因此，隨著它們下降，與通脹的差距將縮小，甚至可能在第四季度的一個季度內出現一點逆轉。但這裡的重點是，隨著時間的推移，我們的差距仍然很大。我們預計，相對於全方位服務的 CPI 和隱含的相對於競爭對手而言，它仍將保持如此之大。這就是定價方面的問題。

As far as margins versus pre-COVID, our guidance implies that our margins will be less than last year. However, they will be still higher than pre-COVID. It still implies, call it, 40 to 50 basis points erosion versus last year for the full year. However, on the -- versus pre-COVID still somewhere close to 150, is what that implies.

至於利潤率與 COVID 之前相比，我們的指導意味著我們的利潤率將低於去年。但是，它們仍將高於 COVID 之前的水平。這仍然意味著，與去年相比，全年下跌 40 到 50 個基點。但是，與 COVID 之前相比，仍然接近 150，這意味著。

As far as individual segments, I think the benefit of the portfolio is that our ability to react differently to different situations. And so to the extent, we have -- we don't want to put a specific target by segment, because that really boxes us into a corner. And the way we would think about it is if the consumer on the high end is doing well, maybe we get a little bit more margin from there and invest in the places where we need to.

就各個細分市場而言，我認為投資組合的好處是我們能夠對不同情況做出不同的反應。所以在某種程度上，我們有 - 我們不想按細分設定特定目標，因為這真的把我們逼到了一個角落。我們的想法是，如果高端消費者表現良好，也許我們會從那裡獲得更多利潤並投資於我們需要的地方。

So we're thinking long term to get to this portfolio number, but we continue to kind of really evaluate that and play it by the year based on the environment. And so we want to just be more nimble on that front.

因此，我們正在考慮長期獲得這個投資組合數量，但我們會繼續真正評估它，並根據環境在一年內發揮它。因此，我們希望在這方面更加靈活。

Now we'll move to a question from Danilo Gargiulo with Bernstein.

現在我們將轉到 Danilo Gargiulo 和 Bernstein 的問題。

So first question, I'd like to understand a bit better on kind of the markers that you're looking for the marketing expense to accelerate as a percent of sales. In particular, if it's not kind of additional softness in traffic, what are the markers that you're looking for?

所以第一個問題，我想更好地了解您正在尋找的營銷費用佔銷售額百分比的指標。特別是，如果它不是一種額外的交通軟化，那麼您要尋找的標記是什麼？

Yes. I would say that this year, our marketing is going to be 10 to 20 basis points above last year. What are specific markers going to -- we're looking at to significantly increase marketing? There's quite a few.

是的。我想說今年，我們的營銷將比去年高出 10 到 20 個基點。什麼是特定的標記——我們正在考慮顯著增加營銷？有不少。

One is we're going to continue to -- we're testing right now in some digital marketing and other media to see which one drives the best ROI. And when we feel like it's time to turn that on, we will. We're going to make sure that our turnover is back to a more reasonable level. Our guest experience is still great.

一個是我們將繼續——我們現在正在一些數字營銷和其他媒體中進行測試，看看哪一個能帶來最好的投資回報率。當我們覺得是時候打開它了，我們會的。我們將確保我們的營業額回到更合理的水平。我們的客人體驗仍然很棒。

But there's no one individual marker that we're going to say this -- when this happens, we're going to turn on media. We just don't want to let our competitors know what the markers are.

但是沒有一個單獨的標記我們會這麼說——當這種情況發生時，我們將打開媒體。我們只是不想讓我們的競爭對手知道標記是什麼。

And then as a follow-up on unit growth. So we noticed that on the Fine Dining basis, there was a reduction of -- a net reduction of 3 units. So I'm wondering, is there going to be a different composition in terms of kind of the plan of your portfolio going forward? Or was the reduction just a kind of a quarterly reduction that you don't expect in the longer run?

然後作為單位增長的後續行動。所以我們注意到，在 Fine Dining 的基礎上，減少了——淨減少了 3 個單位。所以我想知道，就你未來的投資組合計劃而言，是否會有不同的構成？還是說減少只是一種季度的減少，從長遠來看是您不期望的？

Yes, a couple of things. One, we had one of our restaurants catch fire and it had to close temporarily. But yes, and we have -- yes, we moved Capital Burger into the other segment versus Fine Dining before, and there's 3 Capital Burgers in there. But we opened a restaurant in Fine Dining, but we only had one total closure. So our total openings across the year are going to be consistent with what we said in June.

是的，有幾件事。一，我們的一家餐廳著火了，它不得不暫時關閉。但是，是的，我們已經 - 是的，我們之前將 Capital Burger 與 Fine Dining 相比，轉移到了另一個細分市場，那裡有 3 個 Capital Burgers。但是我們在 Fine Dining 開了一家餐廳，但我們只有一家完全關門。因此，我們全年的總開業人數將與我們在 6 月份所說的一致。

We'll now hear from Brian Vaccaro with Raymond James.

我們現在將聽取 Brian Vaccaro 和 Raymond James 的來信。

I just wanted to follow up on the labor environment. And you said staffing levels are less of an issue and your guest sat metrics are strong. So maybe this is less of an issue for you. But on the -- it seems like retention, training, rebuilding teams and culture seems to be a significant challenge for a lot of companies in and outside of the restaurant industry.

我只是想跟進勞工環境。而且您說人員配備水平不是問題，而且您的客人坐下指標很強大。所以也許這對你來說不是一個問題。但是，對於餐飲業內外的許多公司而言，保留、培訓、重建團隊和文化似乎是一項重大挑戰。

So could you talk a little bit about how you're navigating these challenges? What changes or adjustments you've made? And what are some areas where you still see opportunities to improve on the labor front?

那麼你能談談你是如何應對這些挑戰的嗎？你做了哪些改變或調整？在哪些領域，您仍然看到勞動力方面的改進機會？

On the labor front or the staffing front. So a couple of things. One, yes, when we hire -- when we have a lot more hires than we normally do because we were trying to fill our restaurants back up and when our turnover is a little bit higher than it used to be, that leads to higher training.

在勞動力方面或人員配備方面。所以有幾件事。一個，是的，當我們招聘時——當我們的員工比平時多得多，因為我們試圖填補我們的餐館，當我們的營業額比以前高一點時，這會導致更高的培訓.

But we've got a great employment proposition. We're continuing to build up our certified trainer ranks. Some of them left the industry when COVID happened. So we're going to -- we're just going to ensure that we do what we did before COVID. We're going to make sure when we hire somebody, they get onboarded like they should at a Darden restaurant, that they go through the training, all of the training, and they're not just kind of thrown into the wolfs because of short staffing. And the fortunate thing is we're not really short staffed.

但我們有一個很好的就業建議。我們正在繼續建立我們的認證培訓師隊伍。當 COVID 發生時，他們中的一些人離開了這個行業。所以我們要——我們只是要確保我們做我們在 COVID 之前所做的事情。我們將確保當我們僱用某人時，他們會像在達頓餐廳應有的那樣入職，他們會接受培訓，所有的培訓，而且他們不會因為時間短而陷入困境人員配備。幸運的是，我們的人手並不短缺。

So we have time to spend to train our team members. In our industry, like many service industries, most -- a lot of the turnover happens in the first 90 days. And so when you spend the time on training somebody and they leave within 90 days, there's a lot of cost. So we're focusing our efforts on hiring the right people and training them to our standards so they don't leave in the first 90 days. And if we can just get that back to close to pre-COVID levels, our retention is going to be back to pre-COVID levels. And that will save a lot of money on the P&L.

所以我們有時間去培訓我們的團隊成員。在我們這個行業，就像許多服務行業一樣，大多數——很多營業額發生在前 90 天。因此，當您花時間培訓某人並且他們在 90 天內離開時，會產生很多成本。因此，我們正集中精力招聘合適的人，並按照我們的標準對他們進行培訓，這樣他們就不會在最初的 90 天內離職。如果我們能夠將其恢復到接近 COVID 之前的水平，我們的留存率將回到 COVID 之前的水平。這將在損益表上節省大量資金。

That's helpful color. And Raj, I think you said hourly wage inflation up around 9.5% -- up a little over 9% in this quarter. I guess with staffing levels recovered, I'm curious to what degree do you expect hourly inflation to moderate over the next few quarters?

這是有用的顏色。 Raj，我認為你說的時薪通脹率上升了 9.5% 左右——本季度上升了 9% 多一點。我想隨著人員配備水平的恢復，我很好奇你預計未來幾個季度每小時的通脹會在多大程度上放緩？

Yes, Brian, we expect for the full year to be around 8%. So that has implied there's some moderation as we go through the year. Yes, you're right, we started with a little bit over 9% in the first quarter. But again, we had -- if you look at last year cadence, you got to look at that there was a step-up in the back half of last year. So as we wrap on that, we don't expect it to be at those levels, yes.

是的，布賴恩，我們預計全年將在 8% 左右。因此，這意味著我們在這一年中會有所緩和。是的，你是對的，我們在第一季度開始時略高於 9%。但同樣，我們有 - 如果你看看去年的節奏，你必須看看去年下半年有一個進步。因此，當我們總結這一點時，我們不希望它達到這些水平，是的。

All right. And then last one for me, shifting gears just for a second. I guess I wanted to ask about the path to sustaining higher margins in a post-COVID world and I realize COGS is a big piece, but I ask it in context of Olive Garden store margins that are sort of for the first time running a couple of hundred bps below pre-COVID levels.

好的。然後是我的最後一個，換檔一秒鐘。我想我想問一下在後 COVID 世界中維持更高利潤率的途徑，我意識到 COGS 是一個很大的部分，但我是在 Olive Garden 商店利潤率的背景下提出的，這是第一次經營一對夫婦低於 COVID 之前的水平數百個基點。

And I guess where do you see ultimately COGS settling out over a multi-quarter or 12-plus months out from here? Maybe if not getting that specific, maybe just walk through or remind us the line item dynamics that you need to play out to achieve higher margins in a post-COVID world?

我猜你認為 COGS 最終會在哪裡解決一個多季度或 12 個月以上的問題？也許如果沒有具體說明，也許只是走過或提醒我們在後 COVID 世界中實現更高利潤所需的訂單項動態？

Brian, I'll start and then turn it over to Raj on maybe some line items. But if you think about Olive Garden, Olive Garden had the highest inflation of any brand at Darden this quarter. You had a lot of chicken inflation, Olive Garden sells a lot of chicken. There was inflation wheat and inflation in cheese. And so that basically is Olive Garden's menu.

布賴恩，我會開始，然後將它交給 Raj，也許是一些訂單項。但如果你想想橄欖園，橄欖園在本季度達頓所有品牌中的通貨膨脹率最高。你有很多雞肉通貨膨脹，橄欖園賣了很多雞肉。小麥有通貨膨脹，奶酪有通貨膨脹。所以這基本上是橄欖園的菜單。

And so that's why you saw a little bit more of a margin squeeze pressure at Olive Garden, but we have a portfolio that allowed Olive Garden to continue to price the way they've been pricing. And so we would expect, over the years, our cost of sales to move back towards where it was before. And -- so we made some investments during COVID to shift some cost -- some spending from marketing to cost of sales. We did that at LongHorn. We did it at Olive Garden.

這就是為什麼你在 Olive Garden 看到了更多的利潤擠壓壓力，但我們有一個投資組合允許 Olive Garden 繼續按照他們的定價方式定價。因此，我們預計，多年來，我們的銷售成本將回到以前的水平。而且——因此，我們在 COVID 期間進行了一些投資以轉移一些成本——一些支出從營銷成本轉移到了銷售成本。我們在 LongHorn 做到了這一點。我們在橄欖園做到了。

But we would expect our cost of sales to get back to a more reasonable level over the next few years. It's not going to happen in one year. It's going to happen over a few years as food cost becomes more normal. But if Raj wants to add any more color on the different margin line items?

但我們預計我們的銷售成本將在未來幾年恢復到更合理的水平。這不會在一年內發生。隨著食品成本變得更加正常，這將在幾年內發生。但是，如果 Raj 想在不同的邊距行項目上添加更多顏色？

Yes. I would just say, obviously, in the near term, from a margin perspective on the line items, we expect food cost to be higher, we expect -- but everything else to be lower than pre-COVID. If you look at restaurant labor is better than pre-COVID because of the productivity improvements. Restaurant expenses are better than pre-COVID. Marketing is better than pre-COVID and then G&A is better than pre-COVID.

是的。我只想說，顯然，在短期內，從訂單項的利潤角度來看，我們預計食品成本會更高，但其他一切都將低於 COVID 之前。如果您看一下由於生產力的提高，餐廳的勞動力比 COVID 之前的要好。餐廳開支比新冠疫情前要好。營銷優於 COVID 之前，然後 G&A 優於 COVID 之前。

So these are all the other line items that are actually helping fund some of the -- deal with this higher inflation and helping fund some investments we've made into the plate. But then, as Rick said, over time, we'll continue to evaluate what makes sense and as inflation kind of normalizes or gets deflationary on the commodities front, that gives us more room to kind of balance back over time.

因此，這些都是實際上幫助資助一些的其他項目 - 應對這種更高的通貨膨脹並幫助資助我們在板塊中進行的一些投資。但是，正如里克所說，隨著時間的推移，我們將繼續評估什麼是有意義的，並且隨著通脹在商品方面正常化或通貨緊縮，隨著時間的推移，這給了我們更多的平衡空間。

Now we'll hear from John Ivankoe with JPMorgan.

現在我們將聽取摩根大通的 John Ivankoe 的來信。

Rick, at the very beginning of the call, I think it was you, Raj, I apologies if I'm messing this up. There was a mention on technology investments that could potentially influence both the on- and off-premise experience. Could you, I guess, elaborate a little bit more in that?

Rick，在電話一開始，我想是你，Raj，如果我把這件事搞砸了，我很抱歉。有人提到了可能會影響內部和外部體驗的技術投資。我想，你能詳細說明一下嗎？

I mean is that more kind of employee-facing work that could potentially drive some efficiencies? Or are there any customer-facing initiatives that you're seeing, particularly on the off-premise side that you think could increase sales? If you could just elaborate a little bit what that means, I guess, both over the near and medium term in terms of opportunities that the brands may have on the technology side from this point forward?

我的意思是，更多類型的面向員工的工作可能會提高一些效率嗎？或者您是否看到了任何面向客戶的舉措，尤其是在您認為可以增加銷售額的場外業務方面？如果你能詳細說明一下這意味著什麼，我猜，在近期和中期，就品牌從現在開始在技術方面可能擁有的機會而言？

Sure, John. I want to start by saying we've got a great team on the IT team that does a lot of work on the guest experience and the team member and the manager experience. We've been spending a lot of our efforts over the last few years improving the To Go experience because that's where the business was. And we'll continue to make investments in the off-premise experience. We've got some things that are in test now that will help the guests on the off-premise experience.

當然，約翰。首先我想說的是，我們的 IT 團隊有一個很棒的團隊，他們在客戶體驗、團隊成員和經理體驗方面做了很多工作。在過去的幾年裡，我們一直在努力改善 To Go 體驗，因為這就是業務所在。我們將繼續對場外體驗進行投資。我們現在有一些東西正在測試中，可以幫助客人獲得場外體驗。

But we've also got some things that were working for the restaurant managers to make it easier for them to do their job. So if the manager job is easier than they can spend more time with our team, our team can be trained better and spend better time with their guests. And so we're going to be spending some time and energy on focusing on things that make their managers job easier.

但我們也有一些對餐廳經理有用的東西，讓他們更容易完成工作。因此，如果經理的工作比他們花更多時間與我們的團隊更容易，我們的團隊可以得到更好的培訓，並花更多的時間與客人相處。因此，我們將花費一些時間和精力來專注於讓他們的經理工作更輕鬆的事情。

And we're also still doing some guest-facing things at the restaurant, but not overly in their face. And so how does somebody get on the wait list a little easier? How does somebody check in to the restaurant a little bit easier? How do they pay for their check a little bit easier?

而且我們還在餐廳裡做一些面向客人的事情，但並不過分面對他們。那麼如何讓某人更容易進入候補名單呢？有人如何更輕鬆地入住餐廳？他們如何更輕鬆地支付支票？

So there are some things that we're still working on across all those dimensions. And the benefit of our scale is we can do that, we can test it in one restaurant and in one brand and move it to the other brands, and it kind of leverages that IT spend across more restaurants.

因此，我們仍在所有這些方面都在做一些事情。我們規模的好處是我們可以做到這一點，我們可以在一家餐廳和一個品牌中對其進行測試，然後將其轉移到其他品牌，這在某種程度上利用了 IT 在更多餐廳上的支出。

Next, we have Chris Carril with RBC Capital Markets.

接下來，我們請來加拿大皇家銀行資本市場的 Chris Carril。

Great. Just following up on off-premise. Can you talk about how that roughly 10-point swing in Olive Garden off-premise sales mix versus pre-COVID levels potentially impacts the check or maybe mix specifically versus those pre-COVID levels that we're comparing to?

偉大的。只是在場外跟進。您能否談談 Olive Garden 場外銷售組合與 COVID 之前的水平相比大約 10 個點的波動可能會影響檢查，或者可能與我們正在比較的 COVID 之前的水平相比具體混合？

And then as you're thinking about the balance of the year, does your guidance assume that off-premise mix stays steady from here?

然後當你考慮今年的餘額時，你的指導是否假設場外混合從這裡開始保持穩定？

Yes. Chris, off-premise mix, I mean, I think pre-COVID we were running close to 15%, 16%. So 8% more than that. That doesn't really change the check that differently. There is a little bit less beverages, but there are other add-ons. So when you look at overall, it's not a big difference.

是的。克里斯，場外組合，我的意思是，我認為在 COVID 之前我們的運行率接近 15%、16%。所以比那個多8%。這並沒有真正改變支票。飲料少了一點，但還有其他附加物。所以從整體上看，差別不大。

The other thing is catering is one mix that could -- that has an impact on the check average. But it's -- again, it's not huge at this point, but that is something that we have seen some resurgence in. In fact, when you look at over the last 2 quarters, while our total off-premise mix stayed pretty consistent at Olive Garden at 24%, there's more of catering and a little bit less of individual To Go. But ended up being 24% of total sales, but it was just a different mix. So that's really the only mix change we've noticed on the off-premise, but really no major impact on the check.

另一件事是餐飲是一種可能 - 對支票平均值產生影響的組合。但它 - 再說一次，在這一點上它並不大，但我們已經看到了一些復甦。事實上，當你看過去兩個季度時，雖然我們在 Olive 的總體場外組合保持一致花園佔 24%，餐飲更多，個人 To Go 少一些。但最終佔總銷售額的 24%，但這只是一個不同的組合。所以這確實是我們在場外注意到的唯一混合變化，但實際上對檢查沒有重大影響。

And then as we look at guidance, I mean, there's really not a lot of -- we don't -- again, I think we kind of expected this to come down a little bit. But given where we've been over the last 2 quarters, we're not assuming a big change or a big decline in off-premise in guidance. But our belief is that to the extent there is some change there, that's offset with dine-in.

然後，當我們查看指導時，我的意思是，真的沒有很多——我們沒有——再說一次，我認為我們有點預計這會下降一點。但考慮到我們在過去兩個季度中的表現，我們不會假設外部指導會發生重大變化或大幅下降。但我們的信念是，如果那裡有一些變化，那將被堂食所抵消。

And one last thing. Just so you know, the third quarter is generally our highest off-premise experience, right, because we get a lot of catering, a lot of parties. So what I would say is after Q2, we might -- it is what it is, but Q3 may be higher than you would expect because of what normally happens in our third quarter and To Go.

最後一件事。你知道，第三季度通常是我們最高的場外體驗，對，因為我們有很多餐飲，很多派對。所以我想說的是，在第二季度之後，我們可能會 - 它就是這樣，但第三季度可能會比你預期的要高，因為我們第三季度和 To Go 通常會發生什麼。

Got it. That's helpful. And then just returning to labor cost. I think you mentioned you expect wage inflation to be about 8% for the year. But what's your total labor inflation outlook, just inclusive of any kind of productivity measures or any shifts in hours, anything like that?

知道了。這很有幫助。然後只是回到勞動力成本。我想你提到你預計今年的工資通脹率約為 8%。但是，您的總體勞動力通脹前景是什麼，僅包括任何類型的生產力措施或任何工作時間的變化，諸如此類？

Yes, the total labor is somewhere in that 6% to 6.5% year-over-year because last year, we already got all the productivity last year. So we don't see a year-over-year significant improvement in productivity.

是的，總勞動力同比增長 6% 到 6.5%，因為去年我們已經獲得了去年的所有生產力。因此，我們沒有看到生產力逐年顯著提高。

In fact, as I was mentioning, first quarter, we were wrapping on elevated productivity from last year. But 6% to 6.5% for total labor is how we're looking at it. That includes the indirect labor as well, the manager salary and all that stuff.

事實上，正如我所提到的，第一季度，我們正在努力提高去年的生產力。但總勞動力的 6% 到 6.5% 是我們的看法。這也包括間接勞動、經理工資和所有這些東西。

Now we'll hear from Nick Setyan with Wedbush Securities.

現在我們將聽取 Wedbush Securities 的 Nick Setyan 的來信。

It would be really helpful if you could just tell us what the pricing at Olive Garden is and what it's expected to be for the full year versus LongHorn.

如果您能告訴我們 Olive Garden 的定價是多少，以及與 LongHorn 相比全年的預期價格，那將非常有幫助。

And then just a clarification. With the month-to-month volatility in the quarter, was it largely driven by Olive Garden or was it very similar across the brands?

然後只是一個澄清。由於本季度的逐月波動，主要是由 Olive Garden 推動還是在各個品牌之間非常相似？

Let me start with the latter first. The month-to-month volatility was actually pretty much across all our brands. I think we kind of had -- June was, like I said, mid-3s for the portfolio. That delta between Darden and Olive Garden was pretty consistent quarter-to-quarter -- I mean, month-to-month during the quarter. So there wasn't a huge one segment or one brand that was driving the volatility month-to-month.

讓我先從後者開始。實際上，我們所有品牌的月度波動幾乎都是如此。我想我們有點——就像我說的那樣，六月是投資組合的三分之二。達頓和橄欖園之間的三角洲季度之間的差異相當一致——我的意思是，在這個季度中，每個月都是如此。因此，沒有一個巨大的細分市場或一個品牌在逐月推動波動。

On the pricing side, I don't want to get specifically to a brand, but I mentioned already that when you look at over 3 years, Olive Garden's pricing has been 10%. And Darden's pricing is also basically 10%, 10.2%. So it's within -- Olive Garden being such a big part of our portfolio, what we say about Darden pretty much represents what Olive Garden is going to be.

在定價方面，我不想專門針對一個品牌，但我已經提到，當你看 3 年多時，Olive Garden 的定價一直是 10%。而達頓的定價也基本是10%、10.2%。所以它在裡面——橄欖園是我們投資組合的重要組成部分，我們對達頓的評價幾乎代表了橄欖園的未來。

Ladies and gentlemen, this will conclude your question-and-answer session. I'll turn the call back over to Kevin for any additional or closing remarks.

女士們，先生們，你們的問答環節到此結束。我會將電話轉回給 Kevin，以獲取任何補充或結束語。

Thanks, Jake. That concludes our call. I'd like to remind you, we plan to release second quarter results on Friday, December 16, before the market opens, with the conference call to follow. Thank you all for participating in today's call.

謝謝，傑克。我們的電話到此結束。我想提醒您，我們計劃在 12 月 16 日星期五市場開盤前發布第二季度業績，隨後召開電話會議。感謝大家參加今天的電話會議。

And once again, ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude your conference. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

再一次，女士們，先生們，這確實結束了你們的會議。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連接。