達登餐飲 (DRI) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Hello, and welcome to the Darden Fiscal Year 2024 Third Quarter Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) This conference is being recorded. If you have any objections, please disconnect at this time.

您好，歡迎參加達頓 2024 財年第三季財報電話會議。 （操作員指示）本次會議正在錄製中。如果您有任何異議，請此時斷開連接。

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

我現在將電話轉給 Kevin Kalicak 先生。謝謝。你可以開始了，凱文。

Thank you, Kevin. 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，凱文。大家早安，感謝您參加今天的電話會議。今天加入我的是達頓商學院總裁兼執行長 Rick Cardenas；和財務長 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。這些陳述受到風險和不確定性的影響，可能導致實際結果與我們的預期和預測存在重大差異。這些風險在該公司今天上午發布的新聞稿以及向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中都有描述。

We are simultaneously broadcasting a presentation during this call, which is posted in the Investor Relations section of our website at darden.com.

我們在本次電話會議期間同時播放演示文稿，該演示文稿發佈在我們網站 darden.com 的投資者關係部分。

Today's discussion and presentation include certain non-GAAP measurements, and reconciliations of these measurements are included in the presentation. Looking ahead, we plan to release fiscal 2024 fourth quarter earnings on Thursday, June 20, before the market opens, followed by a conference call.

今天的討論和簡報包括某些非 GAAP 衡量標準，簡報中還包括這些衡量標準的調整。展望未來，我們計劃於 6 月 20 日星期四開盤前發布 2024 財年第四季收益，隨後召開電話會議。

During today's call, any reference to pre-COVID when discussing third quarter performance is a comparison to the third quarter of fiscal 2020. Additionally, all references to industry results during today's call refer to Black Box Intelligence's Casual Dining benchmark excluding Darden, specifically Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse and Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen.

在今天的電話會議中，在討論第三季度業績時對新冠疫情前的任何提及都是與2020 財年第三季度的比較。此外，今天電話會議中所有提及的行業業績均指Black Box Intelligence 的休閒餐飲基準，不包括Darden，特別是Olive Garden 、LongHorn 牛排館和 Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen。

During our fiscal third quarter, industry same-restaurant sales decreased 4.2%. And industry same-restaurant guest counts decreased 6.5%.

在我們的第三財季，產業同店銷售額下降了 4.2%。行業同店客人數下降 6.5%。

This morning, Rick will share some brief remarks on the quarter, and Raj will provide details on our financial results and an update to our fiscal 2024 financial outlook.

今天早上，Rick 將分享有關本季度的一些簡短評論，Raj 將提供有關我們財務業績的詳細資訊以及我們 2024 財年財務前景的最新資訊。

Now I'll turn the call over to Rick.

現在我將把電話轉給里克。

Thank you, Kevin. Good morning, everyone. I'm proud of our results this quarter. Each one of our segments grew total sales and profit in an operating environment that was tougher than we anticipated. We continued to outperform the industry benchmarks for same-restaurant sales and traffic.

謝謝你，凱文。大家，早安。我對本季的業績感到自豪。我們每個部門的總銷售額和利潤都在比我們預期更艱難的營運環境中成長。我們的同餐廳銷售額和客流量持續優於行業基準。

Total sales were $3 billion, an increase of 6.8%. And adjusted diluted net earnings per share were $2.62, which was in line with our expectations.

總銷售額為 30 億美元，成長 6.8%。調整後攤薄每股淨利為2.62美元，符合我們的預期。

We opened 16 restaurants during this quarter. Fiscal year-to-date, we have opened 43 restaurants in 22 states, 7 of which were reopenings. The quarter started well with strong holiday performance in December, but unfavorable winter weather negatively impacted January traffic. And while February results improved, we experienced some underlying softness we had not seen in the months leading up to January. The lower-income consumer does appear to be pulling back, and the mix of guests based on income is now in line with pre-COVID. I am proud that even as industry traffic trends weakened, we were able to gain share.

本季我們新開了 16 家餐廳。本財年迄今，我們已在 22 個州開設了 43 家餐廳，其中 7 家正在重新開業。該季度開局良好，12 月假期表現強勁，但不利的冬季天氣對 1 月的交通量產生了負面影響。雖然 2 月份的業績有所改善，但我們經歷了一些在一月份之前的幾個月中從未見過的潛在疲軟。低收入消費者似乎確實在減少，而基於收入的客人組合現在與新冠疫情之前的情況一致。我感到自豪的是，即使行業流量趨勢減弱，我們仍然能夠獲得份額。

We continue to focus on controlling what we can control, leveraging and strengthening our 4 competitive advantages of significant scale, extensive data and insights, rigorous strategic planning and our results-oriented culture; and executing our back-to-basics operating philosophy anchored in food, service and atmosphere.

我們繼續專注於控制我們能控制的事情，利用和加強我們的四大競爭優勢，即巨大的規模、廣泛的數據和洞察力、嚴格的策略規劃以及以結果為導向的文化；並執行我們以食物、服務和氛圍為基礎的經營理念。

Our restaurant teams continue to perform at their best, especially during our busiest times. In December, the Capital Grille set their all-time total monthly sales record. In February, Eddie V's set their all-time total weekly sales record, and Olive Garden established a new sales record for Valentine's Day.

我們的餐廳團隊繼續保持最佳狀態，尤其是在最繁忙的時候。 12 月，Capital Grille 創下了月度銷售總額紀錄。 2 月份，Eddie V's 創下了歷史上的每週總銷售記錄，Olive Garden 則創下了情人節的新銷售記錄。

Our internal guest satisfaction metrics reflect our team's focus on being brilliant with the basics. All of our brands remained at or near all-time highs for overall guest satisfaction during the quarter.

我們的內部賓客滿意度指標反映了我們團隊對基礎知識的重視。本季度，我們所有品牌的整體賓客滿意度均保持或接近歷史最高水準。

Additionally, within the casual dining, polished casual and fine dining segments of Technomic's industry tracking tool, the Darden brand was ranked #1 for overall experience. The brands were LongHorn Steakhouse, Seasons 52 and Ruth's Chris Steak House.

此外，在 Technomic 行業追蹤工具的休閒餐飲、精緻休閒和高級餐飲細分市場中，Darden 品牌在整體體驗方面排名第一。這些品牌包括 LongHorn Steakhouse、Seasons 52 和 Ruth's Chris Steak House。

Our team's ability to execute at a high level is driven by strong leadership and team member engagement across our brands. We work hard to ensure our results-oriented culture is a competitive advantage for us, and our industry-leading retention rates confirm it is in an area of strength.

我們團隊的高水準執行能力得益於我們品牌的強大領導力和團隊成員的參與。我們努力確保以結果為導向的文化成為我們的競爭優勢，而我們行業領先的保留率證實了它處於優勢領域。

During the quarter, we completed our biannual engagement survey, and the results showed that our overall level of engagement is at an all-time high. Also during the quarter, 3 of our brands were recognized as industry leaders in Black Box Intelligence. LongHorn, the Capital Grille and Seasons 52 each received the Employer of Choice Award.

在本季度，我們完成了一年兩次的敬業度調查，結果顯示我們的整體敬業度水準處於歷史最高水準。同樣在本季度，我們的 3 個品牌被評為 Black Box Intelligence 行業領導者。 LongHorn、Capital Grille 和 Seasons 52 均榮獲最佳雇主獎。

Now let me provide a quick update on Ruth's Chris. We are in the final stage of integration and remain on track to complete the major changes by the end of the fiscal year. We successfully completed the migration onto our HR platform at the end of December, and all restaurants have now successfully transitioned to our distribution network. Currently, we are halfway through converting the restaurants over to our point-of-sale system, and we are on track to complete that work by the end of May.

現在讓我快速介紹一下露絲飾演的克里斯的最新情況。我們正處於整合的最後階段，並預計在本財年年底前完成重大變革。我們在 12 月底成功完成了人力資源平台的遷移，所有餐廳現已成功過渡到我們的分銷網絡。目前，我們將餐廳改建為我們的銷售點系統的工作已完成一半，預計將於 5 月底完成這項工作。

This is the most challenging part of integration, and I'm really proud of the focus the Ruth's Chris team continues to have on delivering exceptional guest experiences. This can be seen in the fact that Ruth's Chris was named America's Favorite Chain Restaurant in Technomic's annual survey that was released during the quarter. The survey measures perceptions of service and hospitality, unit appearance and ambience, food and beverage, convenience and value. In addition to Ruth's Chris, Seasons 52, Bahama Breeze, LongHorn and the Capital Grille were all ranked in the top 10.

這是整合中最具挑戰性的部分，我對 Ruth's Chris 團隊繼續致力於提供卓越的賓客體驗感到非常自豪。從本季發布的 Technomic 年度調查中，Ruth's Chris 被評為美國最愛的連鎖餐廳就可以看出這一點。該調查衡量對服務和招待、單位外觀和氛圍、食品和飲料、便利性和價值的看法。除了Ruth的Chris之外，Seasons 52、Bahama Breeze、LongHorn和Capital Grille都位列前十。

Overall, I am pleased with our performance this quarter. We continue to manage the business for the long term by executing against our strategy and controlling what we can control. We also continue to work in pursuit of our shared purpose, to nourish and delight everyone we serve. One of the ways we do this for our team members and their families is through our Next Course Scholarship program.

總的來說，我對我們本季的表現感到滿意。我們繼續透過執行我們的策略並控制我們可以控制的事情來長期管理業務。我們也將繼續努力追求我們的共同目標，滋養和愉悅我們所服務的每個人。我們為團隊成員及其家人做到這一點的方法之一是透過我們的下一課程獎學金計劃。

Earlier this month, the Darden Foundation awarded more than 100 postsecondary education scholarships worth $3,000 each to children of Darden team members. Education is one of the greatest equalizers in our country, and I'm thrilled that we can create a lasting impact on the lives of our team members' families through this program.

本月早些時候，達頓基金會向達頓團隊成員的子女頒發了 100 多項高等教育獎學金，每項價值 3,000 美元。教育是我們國家最重要的均衡器之一，我很高興我們能夠透過這個計劃對我們團隊成員的家庭生活產生持久的影響。

Finally, I want to thank our 190,000 team members for everything you do to create exceptional experiences for our guests. You are the reason brands continue to be recognized as great places to work and top dining destinations.

最後，我要感謝我們的 19 萬名團隊成員為我們的客人創造卓越體驗所做的一切。你們是品牌繼續被公認為最佳工作場所和頂級餐飲目的地的原因。

Now I will turn it over to Raj.

現在我將把它交給 Raj。

Thank you, Rick, and good morning, everyone.

謝謝你，瑞克，大家早安。

Third quarter earnings were in line with our expectations, although our sales were softer than we anticipated. We were pleased with December's strong holiday performance as the month's same-restaurant sales were in line with our second quarter results. However, winter weather in January negatively impacted traffic results by approximately 100 basis points for the quarter. As we moved into February, sales trends improved but were below our expectations, exposing some underlying consumer weakness. Despite the unexpected variability in our sales trends, our teams did a great job managing their businesses.

儘管我們的銷售額低於我們的預期，但第三季的獲利符合我們的預期。我們對 12 月假期期間的強勁表現感到滿意，因為該月同店銷售額與我們第二季度的業績一致。然而，1 月的冬季天氣對該季度的交通表現產生了約 100 個基點的負面影響。進入二月份，銷售趨勢有所改善，但低於我們的預期，暴露了一些潛在的消費者弱點。儘管我們的銷售趨勢出現了意想不到的變化，但我們的團隊在管理業務方面做得很好。

In the third quarter, we generated $3 billion of total sales, 6.8% higher than last year, driven by the acquisition of Ruth's Chris Steak House, and 55 net new restaurants, which was partially offset by negative same-restaurant sales of 1%. We outperformed the industry again this quarter, with same-restaurant sales that were 320 basis points better than the industry and same-restaurant guest counts that were 270 basis points better. And on a 2-year basis, we have outperformed on same-restaurant sales by 770 basis points and by 970 basis points on same-restaurant guest counts.

第三季度，在收購Ruth's Chris Steak House 和55 家淨新餐廳的推動下，我們實現了30 億美元的總銷售額，比去年增長6.8%，但同店銷售額1% 的負增長部分抵消了這一影響。本季我們的表現再次跑贏行業，同店銷售額比行業高出 320 個基點，同店客人數量比行業高出 270 個基點。兩年來，我們的同餐廳銷售額比同餐廳高出 770 個基點，同餐廳客人數量比同餐廳顧客數量高出 970 個基點。

Our focus on managing the business and controlling costs resulted in adjusted diluted net earnings per share from continuing operations of $2.62 in the quarter, an increase of 12% from last year's reported earnings per share.

我們專注於管理業務和控製成本，導致本季持續經營業務的調整後稀釋每股淨利潤為 2.62 美元，比去年報告的每股收益增長 12%。

We generated $512 million of adjusted EBITDA and returned approximately $190 million of capital to our shareholders through $157 million in dividends and $33 million of share repurchases.

我們產生了 5.12 億美元的調整後 EBITDA，並透過 1.57 億美元的股息和 3,300 萬美元的股票回購向股東返還了約 1.9 億美元的資本。

Now looking at our adjusted margin analysis compared to last year. Food and beverage expenses were 90 basis points better, driven by pricing leverage. Total commodities inflation of approximately 1.5% was below our total pricing of approximately 3.5%. Restaurant labor was 10 basis points unfavorable to last year due to total labor inflation of approximately 4.5%, partially offset by pricing and productivity improvements at our brands. Restaurant expenses were 10 basis points higher as sales deleverage was partially offset by strong cost management by our teams. Marketing expenses were 10 basis points higher than last year, consistent with our expectations. All of this resulted in restaurant-level EBITDA of 20.6%, 70 basis points better than last year.

現在來看看我們與去年相比調整後的利潤率分析。在定價槓桿的推動下，食品和飲料費用提高了 90 個基點。商品總通膨率約為 1.5%，低於我們約 3.5% 的總定價。由於勞動力總通膨率約為 4.5%，餐廳勞動力比去年下降了 10 個基點，部分被我們品牌的定價和生產力提高所抵消。餐廳費用上漲了 10 個基點，因為我們團隊強而有力的成本管理部分抵銷了銷售去槓桿化的影響。行銷費用比去年高出 10 個基點，符合我們的預期。所有這些使得餐廳層級的 EBITDA 達到 20.6%，比去年提高了 70 個基點。

G&A as a percent of sales was 40 basis points lower than last year. And total expense was slightly favorable to our previous guidance related to lower incentive compensation and ongoing synergies from the integration of Ruth's Chris. Interest expense increased 50 basis points versus last year due to the financing expenses related to the Ruth's Chris acquisition.

G&A 佔銷售額的百分比比去年低 40 個基點。總費用略好於我們先前的指導，涉及較低的激勵薪酬和整合露絲克里斯的持續協同效應。由於收購與 Ruth's Chris 相關的融資費用，利息費用比去年增加了 50 個基點。

And for the quarter, adjusted earnings from continuing operations was 10.6% of sales, 30 basis points better than last year.

本季度，調整後的持續營運收益佔銷售額的 10.6%，比去年提高了 30 個基點。

Looking at our segments. Olive Garden increased total sales by 0.7%, driven by new restaurant growth, partially offset by negative same-restaurant sales of 1.8%. Olive Garden same-restaurant sales outperformed the industry benchmark by 240 basis points, and their traffic outperformed the industry by 270 basis points. Despite the negative same-restaurant sales, Olive Garden segment profit margin of 22.5% was flat to last year.

看看我們的細分市場。在新餐廳成長的推動下，Olive Garden 總銷售額成長了 0.7%，但被同店銷售額 1.8% 的負成長部分抵銷。橄欖園同店銷售額優於業界基準240個基點，客流量優於業界基準270個基點。儘管同店銷售額為負，Olive Garden 部門的利潤率為 22.5%，與去年持平。

At LongHorn, total sales increased 5.1%, driven by new restaurant growth and same-restaurant sales growth of 2.3%. LongHorn same-restaurant sales outperformed the industry by 650 basis points. Segment profit margin of 18.7% was 130 basis points above last year, driven by pricing leverage and improved labor productivity.

LongHorn 的總銷售額成長了 5.1%，這得益於新餐廳的成長和同餐廳銷售額成長 2.3%。 LongHorn 同店銷售額優於業界 650 個基點。在定價槓桿和勞動生產力提高的推動下，分部利潤率為 18.7%，比去年高出 130 個基點。

Total sales at Fine Dining segment increased with the addition of Ruth's Chris company-owned restaurants. Same-restaurant sales at both Capital Grille and Eddie V's were negative as the Fine Dining category continued to be challenged year-over-year. Fine Dining segment profit margin was flat year-over-year at 21.8%.

隨著 Ruth's Chris 公司自營餐廳的增加，高級餐飲部門的總銷售額增加。由於高級餐飲類別較去年持續面臨挑戰，Capital Grille 和 Eddie V's 的同店銷售額均為負數。精緻餐飲部門的利潤率與去年同期持平，為 21.8%。

The Other Business segment sales increased with the addition of Ruth's Chris franchised and managed location revenue but was partially offset by combined negative same-restaurant sales of 2.6% for the brands in the other segment. However, this was still 160 basis points above the industry benchmark. Segment profit margin of 14.9% was 90 basis points better than last year, driven by the additional royalty revenues and higher overall pricing related to inflation.

隨著 Ruth's Chris 特許經營和管理店收入的增加，其他業務部門的銷售額有所增長，但被其他部門品牌的同店銷售額 2.6% 的綜合負數部分抵消。然而，這仍比業界基準高出 160 個基點。受額外特許權使用費收入和通膨相關整體定價上漲的推動，該部門利潤率為 14.9%，比去年高出 90 個基點。

Turning to our financial outlook for fiscal 2024. We have updated our guidance to reflect our year-to-date results and expectations for the fourth quarter. We now expect total sales of approximately $11.4 billion; same-restaurant sales growth of 1.5% to 2%; 50 to 55 new restaurants; capital spending of approximately $600 million; total inflation of approximately 3%, including commodities inflation of approximately 1.5%; an annual effective tax rate of 12% to 12.5%; and approximately 121 million diluted average shares outstanding for the year. This results in an increase to our adjusted diluted net earnings per share outlook of $8.80 to $8.90, which excludes approximately $55 million of pretax transaction and integration-related costs.

談到我們 2024 財年的財務展望。我們更新了指導意見，以反映我們今年迄今的業績和對第四季度的預期。我們現在預計總銷售額約為 114 億美元；同店銷售額成長1.5%至2%； 50至55家新餐廳；資本支出約6億美元；總通膨率約3%，其中大宗商品通膨率約1.5%；年有效稅率為12%至12.5%；本年度已發行攤薄平均股數約 1.21 億股。這導致我們將調整後稀釋後每股淨利潤預期從 8.80 美元上調至 8.90 美元，其中不包括約 5,500 萬美元的稅前交易和整合相關成本。

For the fourth quarter specifically, our annual outlook implies sales of $2.95 billion to $2.99 billion, same-restaurant sales between negative 0.5% and positive 1% and adjusted diluted net earnings per share between $2.58 and $2.68.

具體而言，對於第四季度，我們的年度預期意味著銷售額為29.5 億美元至29.9 億美元，同店銷售額為負0.5% 至正1%，調整後稀釋後每股淨利潤為2.58 美元至2.68 美元。

Now looking forward into fiscal 2025, we plan on opening between 45 and 50 new restaurants and spending between $250 million and $300 million of capital for those new restaurants. Additionally, we anticipate approximately $300 million of capital spending related to ongoing restaurant maintenance, refresh and technology. And finally, we anticipate an effective tax rate of approximately 13% for fiscal 2025.

現在展望 2025 財年，我們計劃開設 45 至 50 家新餐廳，並為這些新餐廳投入 2.5 億至 3 億美元的資金。此外，我們預計與餐廳持續維護、更新和技術相關的資本支出約為 3 億美元。最後，我們預計 2025 財年的有效稅率約為 13%。

And now I'd like to close by saying that we continue to be very proud of our of how our teams are managing their businesses to deliver strong results in this dynamic environment.

最後，我想說的是，我們仍然對我們的團隊如何管理其業務以在這個充滿活力的環境中取得強勁成果感到非常自豪。

With that, we'll open the call for questions.

至此，我們將開始提問。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question today is coming from Eric Gonzalez from KeyBanc Capital Markets.

（操作員說明）我們今天的第一個問題來自 KeyBanc Capital Markets 的 Eric Gonzalez。

Maybe if you could unpack the comments about the low-income consumer pulling back and maybe specifically talking about what behaviors you're seeing that lead you to that conclusion and how the brands are differing from Olive Garden to Cheddar's to maybe some of the higher-end brands, how that low-income consumer is changing their usage of those brands.

也許如果你能解開有關低收入消費者撤退的評論，也許可以具體談論你所看到的哪些行為會導致你得出這個結論，以及從橄欖園到切達乾酪再到一些更高的品牌有何不同－終端品牌，低收入消費者如何改變他們對這些品牌的使用。

Eric, we're clearly seeing consumer behavior shifts. Our data shows we're essentially back to our normal pre-COVID mix across all income groups.

艾瑞克，我們清楚地看到消費者行為的改變。我們的數據顯示，所有收入群體的收入結構基本上都回到了疫情前的正常水準。

But specifically to your question, for the third quarter, transactions from households with incomes above $150,000 were higher than last year. Transactions from incomes below $75,000 were much lower than last year, and at every brand, transactions fell from incomes below $50,000. Similar to Q2, this shift was most pronounced in our Fine Dining segment.

但具體到你的問題，第三季收入超過 15 萬美元的家庭的交易量高於去年。收入低於 75,000 美元的交易量遠低於去年，每個品牌的收入低於 50,000 美元的交易量均有所下降。與第二季類似，這種轉變在我們的高級餐飲領域最為明顯。

Great. And then just a follow-up. If you could just talk about from a margin perspective, this year has been pretty strong. I'm wondering if you could maybe tease out how much of that margin improvement is related to commodities versus what you've achieved from a productivity perspective. And as you look to next year, do you see that being a year of additional productivity gains? Or is some of that pulled forward to this year?

偉大的。然後只是後續行動。如果你只從利潤率的角度來看，今年的表現相當強勁。我想知道您是否可以弄清楚利潤率的提高有多少與大宗商品相關，以及您從生產力角度取得的成就。當您展望明年時，您是否認為這是生產力進一步提高的一年？或者其中一些被推遲到今年？

Eric, this is Raj. So from a margin perspective, if you look at where -- what we talked about at the beginning of the year, we -- this was one of the years where we had a pricing a little bit above inflation going into the fiscal year. But as the year progressed, inflation came down better -- inflation came in better than we expected for both commodities and labor. And then that, combined with our team's strong cost management, that improved productivity on the labor front. We also improved our waste. We had some favorability on the mix in terms of how the trading happened between the items.

埃里克，這是拉傑。因此，從利潤率的角度來看，如果你看看我們在年初談論的內容，我們在進入本財年時定價略高於通膨的年份之一。但隨著時間的推移，通膨下降得更好——大宗商品和勞動力的通膨都比我們的預期好。然後，結合我們團隊強大的成本管理，提高了勞動力方面的生產力。我們也改善了浪費。就商品之間的交易方式而言，我們對這種組合有一些好感。

So all of these were contributors to our margin improvement versus our plan. Now as we look at next year, we'll share more details in June. But the way we look at -- as we -- we're going through the planning process right now, but we'll always use our long-term framework as a guidepost to inform how we think about plan. So we'll share more details in June. And -- but we have -- if you look back over the last 4 years, we underpriced a lot.

因此，與我們的計劃相比，所有這些都有助於我們提高利潤率。現在，當我們展望明年時，我們將在六月分享更多細節。但我們看待的方式——正如我們——我們現在正在經歷規劃過程，但我們將始終使用我們的長期框架作為路標來告知我們如何考慮計劃。因此，我們將在六月分享更多詳細資訊。而且——但我們有——如果你回顧過去四年，我們的定價被低估了很多。

Your next question is coming from Brian Bittner from Oppenheimer.

您的下一個問題來自奧本海默的布萊恩·比特納。

I wanted to follow up on the lower-income consumer and your comments about this cohort pulling back because it was a pretty pronounced commentary there. I know you talked to Eric's question about what you're seeing, but I think this is reflected in your 4Q same-store sales outlook. But do you anticipate this dynamic that you're seeing with the low-end consumer to be powerful enough to impact industry sales throughout the rest of the calendar year? And if so, how are you thinking about updating your strategy to deal with this?

我想跟進低收入消費者以及您對這一群體退出的評論，因為這是一個非常明顯的評論。我知道您向埃里克提出了您所看到的問題，但我認為這反映在您的第四季度同店銷售前景中。但您是否預期低端消費者的這種動態足以影響整個日曆年剩餘時間的產業銷售？如果是這樣，您如何考慮更新策略來應對這個問題？

Brian, yes, we can't determine whether it's going to be impacting the rest of the year. What we can say -- what I can say is that impact to the low-end consumer was a year-over-year phenomenon. And now we're back to our pre-COVID mix. And so if you think about where we were before COVID, what percent of our guests were below $50,000, what percent of our below $75,000, et cetera, across all of our segments, all of our brands, it's almost exactly the same as it was before COVID. So at least that makes us feel like we know how to operate in this environment.

布萊恩，是的，我們無法確定這是否會影響今年剩餘時間。我們能說的是──我能說的是，對低端消費者的影響是逐年出現的現象。現在我們又回到了新冠疫情之前的情況。因此，如果你想一想我們在新冠疫情爆發之前的情況，我們的客人中有多少人的消費低於50,000 美元，我們的消費低於75,000 美元，等等，在我們所有的細分市場、我們在所有的品牌中，情況幾乎與以前一模一樣。在新冠疫情之前。所以至少這讓我們覺得我們知道如何在這種環境下運作。

The other thing is if you look at Black Box, according to Black Box, every segment in the industry, from QSR and up, was negative in same-restaurant traffic in our third quarter, every one of them. So that's also a year-over-year phenomenon. And so we'll continue to monitor what we see with the guest and what we see on that lower-end consumer. But we're pleased that it's back to a normal -- our normal pre-COVID levels.

另一件事是，如果你看看 Black Box，根據 Black Box 的數據，該行業的每個細分市場，從 QSR 及以上，在我們第三季度的同餐廳客流量中都是負值。所以這也是一個逐年出現的現象。因此，我們將繼續監控我們在客人身上看到的情況以及我們在低端消費者身上看到的情況。但我們很高興它恢復到了正常水平——新冠疫情前的正常水平。

And in respect to marketing, as we've talked about often, we're focused on profitable sales growth. And our brands, all of our segments improved sales and profits for the quarter year-over-year. And we -- even with the increase in competitive activity, we expected -- we exceeded, I'm sorry, industry traffic by 270 basis points on top of the 700-basis-point gap we had in Q3 last year, so almost 1,000 points, so 970-point gap in 2 years.

在行銷方面，正如我們經常談論的那樣，我們專注於盈利的銷售成長。我們的品牌、所有部門本季的銷售額和利潤均較去年同期成長。而且我們——即使競爭活動有所增加，我們預計——抱歉，我們的行業流量比去年第三季度 700 個基點的差距高出 270 個基點，所以幾乎 1,000 個基點分，所以2年內差距970分。

So we're going to stick to our strategy of everyday value to our guests and continue to use our filters to evaluate any marketing activity. If that means that we're going to spend a little bit more in a quarter or a little bit less in a quarter, that's what we'll do. But we're going to focus on our strategy and stick to it as long as we can.

因此，我們將堅持為客人提供日常價值的策略，並繼續使用我們的過濾器來評估任何行銷活動。如果這意味著我們將在一個季度內增加一點支出或在一個季度內減少一點支出，那麼我們就會這麼做。但我們將專注於我們的策略並盡可能堅持下去。

And just as my follow-up, as it relates to the third quarter specifically, your ability to manage the margins was very impressive despite where the comps shook out. Can you just talk a little more specifically about how you nimbly manage that labor and other operating expense line?

正如我的後續行動一樣，因為它與第三季度具體相關，儘管比較情況不佳，但您管理利潤的能力非常令人印象深刻。您能否更具體地談談您如何靈活地管理勞動力和其他營運費用線？

And just, Raj, as we look to 4Q, I think you had previously said you expect to underprice inflation by about 150 to 200 basis points in the fourth quarter. Is that still kind of the range you want us thinking about pricing versus inflation for 4Q?

Raj，當我們展望第四季時，我想您之前曾說過，預計第四季通膨將低估約 150 至 200 個基點。這仍然是您希望我們考慮第四季度定價與通膨的範圍嗎？

Brian, I'll start with how we manage labor and productivity, and then I'll let Raj answer the question on the pricing.

布萊恩，我將從我們如何管理勞動力和生產力開始，然後我將讓拉吉回答有關定價的問題。

So if you think about what we've been doing over the years, we've been improving our technology on guest count forecasting by using machine learning and AI tools to help the brands write better schedules and manage their business better, and we're able to react quicker to impacts that we see in our restaurants. But we're also continuing to find ways to improve productivity, and one of the ways and the benefit that we had this quarter is continued improvement in turnover. And so we've had less training expense for new team members. And we've got better retention so the team members know how to do their job better.

因此，如果您考慮我們多年來所做的事情，我們一直在透過使用機器學習和人工智慧工具來改進我們的賓客數量預測技術，以幫助品牌制定更好的時間表並更好地管理其業務，而且我們能夠對我們在餐廳看到的影響做出更快的反應。但我們也在繼續尋找提高生產力的方法，本季我們獲得的方法和好處之一是營業額的持續改善。因此，我們對新團隊成員的訓練費用減少了。我們擁有更好的保留率，因此團隊成員知道如何更好地完成工作。

In the turnover ranks, where we are today across Darden, our turnover went down by about 20 basis -- 20 percentage points versus last year and almost 30 percentage points better than the industry. And now our turnover is much closer to pre-COVID levels, except for Yard House and Cheddar's, which actually we believe are at a level lower than they've ever had in their history.

在營業額排名中，我們今天在達頓的營業額下降了約 20 個基點，比去年下降了 20 個百分點，比行業高出近 30 個百分點。現在，我們的營業額已接近新冠疫情爆發前的水平，但 Yard House 和 Cheddar's 除外，實際上我們認為這兩家公司的營業額低於其歷史上的任何水平。

So those things help with labor and food costs and other parts of the P&L. And I'll let Raj answer the other part about inflation.

因此，這些因素有助於降低勞動力和食品成本以及損益表的其他部分。我將讓拉吉回答有關通貨膨脹的另一部分。

Yes, Brian, for Q4, we're still expecting that gap to be in the 100 to 150. So overall inflation is expected to be in the mid-3s for us, and the pricing is probably going to be in the [2% to 2.5%]. So we still expect to underprice inflation by -- in that range of 100 to 150 in Q4.

是的，Brian，對於第四季度，我們仍然預計這一差距將在 100 到 150 之間。因此，我們預計總體通膨率將在 3 左右，定價可能會在 [2%至 2.5%]。因此，我們仍預期第四季通膨率將低於 100 至 150 倍。

Your next question is coming from Dennis Geiger from UBS.

你們的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的丹尼斯·蓋格。

Wondering if you could speak to what you're seeing from a customer average check standpoint. Anything with respect to alcohol or other mix contributions that you saw in the quarter or that have changed relative to prior quarters?

想知道您是否可以從客戶平均檢查的角度來談談您所看到的情況。您在本季看到的酒精或其他混合貢獻有什麼變化，或相對於前幾季發生了變化嗎？

Yes. We're actually -- for the check for the third quarter, we actually saw the mix moderate from the levels we saw in terms of what we saw in Q2. So if you look at our casual brands, the negative mix was around 40 basis points. In Q2, it was closer to 60 basis points. And then from the Fine Dining, we saw a huge improvement. I think Fine Dining in the second quarter was north of 200 basis points negative mix. We're now seeing in the low 100 basis points negative mix. So that's almost half.

是的。實際上，對於第三季的檢查，我們實際上看到，與第二季的水平相比，混合情況有所放緩。因此，如果你看看我們的休閒品牌，你會發現負面組合約為 40 個基點。第二季接近 60 個基點。然後從高級餐廳，我們看到了巨大的進步。我認為第二季的高級餐飲負面組合超過 200 個基點。我們現在看到的是低 100 個基點的負面組合。所以這幾乎是一半。

So we are seeing some improvement in terms of check mix. And part of that could be a wrap, but also the holidays were pretty strong. And so that -- on that front, we're actually seeing a positive momentum, I guess, quarter-to-quarter.

所以我們看到檢查組合方面有一些改進。其中一部分可能是個總結，但假期也相當強勁。因此，在這方面，我想，我們實際上每個季度都看到了積極的勢頭。

That's great. Just one other quick one. Just as it relates to off-premise, anything to call out there in the quarter, what you're seeing, how your strategy has been effective despite some of the consumer pressures out there on the off-premise side of things?

那太棒了。只是另一快。正如它與場外業務相關一樣，本季度有哪些值得關注的事情，您所看到的情況，儘管在場外方面存在一些消費者壓力，但您的策略如何有效？

Yes. From an off-premise perspective, our sales as a percent of sales was slightly below last year but not a lot. This is typically a high season for Olive Garden off-premise. So Q3 was closer to 26%. Last year was also in that range. We were probably 40, 50 basis points lower but not a lot. And LongHorn was around 13%, which was also about 40 or 30 basis points lower.

是的。從場外角度來看，我們的銷售額佔銷售額的百分比略低於去年，但也不是很多。這通常是橄欖園場外的旺季。所以第三季接近 26%。去年也在這個範圍內。我們可能下降了 40、50 個基點，但幅度不大。 LongHorn 的利率約為 13%，也低了約 40 或 30 個基點。

But overall, I think it goes back to the execution. Our focus has been staying on just ensuring that we execute at the highest levels for off-premise, and that's helped contribute to maintaining the stability.

但總的來說，我認為這又回到了執行上。我們的重點一直是確保我們在場外執行最高水平，這有助於保持穩定。

Our next question today is coming from Jon Tower from Citigroup.

今天我們的下一個問題來自花旗集團的 Jon Tower。

I guess the first one is -- and I understand you, guys, want to stay true to the operating philosophy. But how do you keep your brands top of mind and visible in front of consumers when the industry is getting more aggressive with getting in front of them by spending a lot more dollars than they have in the past several years on marketing?

我想第一個是──我理解你們，夥伴們，想要忠於經營理念。但是，當行業越來越積極地在行銷上花費比過去幾年更多的錢來搶佔消費者的心時，如何才能讓您的品牌在消費者心目中佔據首位並在消費者面前可見呢？

Jon, if you think about the amount we spend, even with the spending that we had this quarter, Olive Garden in most of the weeks were in the top 3 in share of voice. And so we're still in front of our consumer. We have other ways to get in front of the consumer with our eClub and with other digital spend.

喬恩，如果你考慮我們的支出金額，即使考慮到我們本季度的支出，橄欖園在過去幾週的大部分時間裡，在聲音份額方面都處於前三名。所以我們仍然站在消費者面前。我們還有其他方式透過我們的 eClub 和其他數位支出來吸引消費者。

But at the end of the day, the best way to get people to come into our restaurants is to have guests recommend us to others. And so that's what we're continuing to focus on. We will continue to use marketing with our filters to talk about our core equities and to continue to drive results in the long term. And we do have great everyday value. And what -- as we think about what we want to do in the future, I don't want to get into the details, but we have levers to pull. And if we pull them, you'll know after we pull them.

但歸根結底，吸引人們進入我們餐廳的最佳方式是讓客人向其他人推薦我們。這就是我們繼續關注的重點。我們將繼續利用行銷和過濾器來談論我們的核心資產，並繼續推動長期業績。我們確實擁有巨大的日常價值。當我們思考未來想要做什麼時，我不想透露細節，但我們有槓桿可以拉動。如果我們拉它們，我們拉它們之後你就會知道。

Okay. I appreciate that. And then just on the '25 outlook for the unit growth, I was surprised it was lower than at least this year from a gross opening or a planned opening perspective. Can you speak to why, as of right now, you're expecting kind of 45 to 50 versus what we've been seeing in the past several years?

好的。我很感激。然後就 25 年的單位成長前景而言，我感到驚訝的是，從總開業或計劃開業的角度來看，它至少低於今年。您能否談談為什麼您目前預計的數字是 45 到 50，而我們過去幾年看到的數字是 45 到 50 左右？

Yes, Jon, you said it, the new restaurant projection we have for next year, it is within our long-term framework, but it's lower than we'd like it to be. We're going to keep working on getting to the high end of that framework over time, but it will take a little bit of time.

是的，喬恩，你說過，我們明年的新餐廳預測，它在我們的長期框架內，但低於我們希望的水平。隨著時間的推移，我們將繼續努力達到框架的高端，但這需要一點時間。

I would say construction costs were quite a bit higher than pre-COVID levels. And we have walked away from some deals because of the construction costs, and they've come back to us after we walked away. And so we're willing to slow it down a little bit to get a better result in the long term. And -- but the good news is, at least the construction cost has stabilized.

我想說，建築成本比新冠疫情之前的水準高很多。由於建設成本的原因，我們放棄了一些交易，而在我們放棄後，他們又回到了我們身邊。因此，我們願意稍微放慢速度，以便從長遠來看獲得更好的結果。而且——但好消息是，至少建築成本已經穩定下來。

The other thing is it's still taking longer to get construction starts than it was 4 years ago. It's also taking longer to get to completion than it was in the past. And so if you think about the time it will take to build a restaurant, it's longer than it was. A lot of that is driven by developers, utilities hookups and time for permitting and also time for getting certificates of occupancy.

另一件事是，與四年前相比，開工所需的時間仍然更長。與過去相比，完成任務所需的時間也更長。因此，如果你考慮建造一家餐廳所需的時間，你會發現它比以前要長。其中很大一部分是由開發商、公用事業連接、許可時間以及獲得佔用證書的時間推動的。

So if you think about the time that we have openings, we've got a lot of our openings next year towards the end, which could slip. And that's what we -- we just wanted to make sure that we get the number -- that we tell you a number that we're going to hit. But we want to get closer to that high end over the long term.

因此，如果你考慮我們空缺的時間，明年年底我們會有很多空缺，這些空缺可能會推遲。這就是我們——我們只是想確保我們得到了這個數字——我們告訴你我們將要達到的數字。但從長遠來看，我們希望更接近這一高端。

And the other thing is I want everybody to remember we do include M&A as part of those new restaurants. And we didn't talk about that, but Ruth's Chris, we added 77 restaurants this year. So it gave us a little bit of a relief valve to not be so aggressive if we didn't need to be aggressive.

另一件事是，我希望每個人都記住，我們確實將併購作為這些新餐廳的一部分。我們沒有談論這個，但露絲的克里斯，我們今年增加了 77 家餐廳。所以這給了我們一點安全閥，讓我們在不需要咄咄逼人的情況下不要那麼咄咄逼人。

Our next question today is coming from David Tarantino from Baird.

今天我們的下一個問題來自貝爾德 (Baird) 的大衛·塔倫蒂諾 (David Tarantino)。

Rick, I want to come back to the question of how you would manage the business if the environment were to get worse from here. And in particular, you mentioned you had some levers to pull. I know you don't want to share details around that, but I was wondering if you could just comment on whether anything would change if things got worse. And then specifically on the pricing question, just wondering your pricing philosophy in the current environment and whether you will continue to be conservative relative to your inflation levels.

瑞克，我想回到這個問題：如果環境從這裡變得更糟，你將如何管理業務。特別是，你提到你有一些槓桿可以拉動。我知道您不想分享相關細節，但我想知道您是否可以評論如果事情變得更糟，是否會發生任何變化。然後特別是關於定價問題，只是想知道您在當前環境下的定價理念以及您是否會繼續相對於通膨水平保持保守。

Yes, David, as we think about the levers we can pull, we have -- as we've talked over the years, we brought our marketing down. We've actually focused more on our core equities. And every year, we might take marketing up a little bit, but we're not going to strategic -- we're not going to change our strategy. We're not going to become a discount kind of heavily promotional brand. We worked really hard through COVID and before to get to what we think is a better, stable, stronger business for us for the long term. And we would be willing to deal with short-term pressures to not change our strategy to get to the long term.

是的，大衛，當我們考慮我們可以拉動的槓桿時，我們已經——正如我們多年來所說的那樣，我們降低了行銷力度。實際上，我們更加關注我們的核心股票。每年，我們都可能會加強一點行銷力度，但我們不會策略性地——我們不會改變我們的策略。我們不會成為一個打折促銷的品牌。在新冠疫情期間和之前，我們非常努力地工作，以實現我們認為對我們來說更長期、更穩定、更強大的業務。我們願意應對短期壓力，不改變我們的策略以實現長期目標。

Now again, we have some tactics that we can do, which would still stick to our strategy. But we're not going to -- we don't plan on getting to be a promotional, deep-discounting brand. Again, Olive Garden, which had less marketing in Q3 than it did in Q2, while they had less marketing than last year [and] in the second quarter, our competitors had more, Olive Garden still gained share. And that's what our focus is, the share gain, sales and profit growth over the time.

現在，我們有一些可以採取的戰術，這些戰術仍然符合我們的策略。但我們不會——我們不打算成為一個促銷、大幅折扣的品牌。同樣，橄欖園在第三季度的營銷量比第二季度少，雖然他們的營銷量比去年少，但在第二季度，我們的競爭對手的營銷量更多，橄欖園仍然獲得了份額。這就是我們關注的重點，隨著時間的推移，份額成長、銷售額和利潤成長。

We're going to continue to focus on execution, our food, our service and our atmosphere to increase frequency with our core guests. And we love our core guests. We think they're great for us, and we'll continue to build over time. We're just not going to fight gravity on what's going on in the environment. We're going to stick to what we want to do.

我們將繼續專注於執行、我們的食物、我們的服務和我們的氛圍，以增加與我們的核心客人的頻率。我們熱愛我們的核心客人。我們認為它們對我們來說非常有用，我們將隨著時間的推移繼續發展。我們只是不會與環境中正在發生的事情對抗重力。我們會堅持做我們想做的事。

And then on the pricing side, we -- our strategy is to continue to price below inflation over time. And we've taken a lot less pricing than the competitive set. We've taken a lot less pricing than CPI, a lot less pricing than full service, limited service over the last 4 years. So it gives us some room to continue to price if we need to. But our still -- our plan is still, over the long term, to price below inflation.

然後在定價方面，我們的策略是隨著時間的推移繼續將定價低於通膨率。而且我們的定價比競爭產品低很多。在過去 4 年裡，我們採取的定價比 CPI 低很多，比全面服務、有限服務低很多。因此，如果需要的話，這給了我們繼續定價的空間。但從長遠來看，我們的計劃仍然是價格低於通膨。

Next question today is coming from Jeffrey Bernstein from Barclays.

今天的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的傑弗裡·伯恩斯坦。

My first question, Rick, you mentioned the operating environment tougher than anticipated. Just wondering, how would you size up how much of that is the broader macro versus maybe whether you'd say there were any internal missteps? I mean I'm assuming your data is showing that the broader industry pullback, it was not just Darden in February that you're seeing -- the broader industry see the very same directional trend in February. Is that fair to say? Any thoughts there would be great.

我的第一個問題，Rick，你提到營運環境比預期更艱難。只是想知道，您如何衡量其中有多少是更廣泛的宏觀因素，或者您是否會說存在任何內部失誤？我的意思是，我假設你的數據顯示更廣泛的行業回調，你看到的不僅僅是達頓在二月份的情況——更廣泛的行業在二月份看到了完全相同的方向趨勢。這麼說公平嗎？任何想法都會很棒。

Yes, Jeff, I think it's a broader market versus any specific missteps we had. Our gap increased from January to February. Our traffic and sales gap increased -- both of those increased between January and February. And as I said, every category in the industry from QSR and up, had negative traffic in the quarter. And so I think there's a little bit of a bigger challenge, at least a year-over-year challenge for our consumer. And we're going to see how that plays out over the next couple of quarters and see if there's anything we need to change, but it won't be a dramatic change.

是的，傑夫，我認為這是一個更廣闊的市場，而不是我們所犯的任何具體錯誤。從一月到二月，我們的差距有所擴大。我們的流量和銷售差距都在增加——一月到二月期間都增加了。正如我所說，該行業從快餐及以上的每個類別在本季度都出現了負流量。因此，我認為存在一個更大的挑戰，至少對我們的消費者來說是一個逐年的挑戰。我們將看看接下來幾季的情況如何，看看是否有任何我們需要改變的地方，但這不會是一個巨大的改變。

Understood. And then just to follow up, the February, it sounds like you said it improved but below plan. Did that underlying consumer weakness persist into March? I mean I know we're talking about short periods, but February is a short period, and now we're pretty far into March. I'm just wondering whether you've seen any change for the better or the worse.

明白了。然後跟進，二月份，聽起來你說情況有所改善，但低於計劃。潛在的消費者疲軟是否持續到三月？我的意思是我知道我們正在談論短期，但二月是一個短暫的時期，現在我們已經進入三月了。我只是想知道你是否看到了任何好的或壞的變化。

I'm just curious, from your perspective because you do have, I believe, up to 9 brands now, what do you think drove that change in behavior? Is there anything in particular you're seeing? Because it does seem like January was weather, but then it really was just February and potentially into March. So I'm just wondering what your perspective is in terms of what drove that pullback.

我只是很好奇，從您的角度來看，因為我相信您現在確實擁有多達 9 個品牌，您認為是什麼推動了這種行為變化？您看到了什麼特別的事嗎？因為看起來一月確實是天氣，但實際上只是二月，可能會進入三月。所以我只是想知道您對推動回調的原因有何看法。

Yes. I would say, first of all, our guidance contemplates everything we know about March. I don't want to get into March. We have a lot of challenges forecasting 3 weeks in the month when you've got spring break shifts and those kind of things happen. And so we're going to continue to watch.

是的。我想說，首先，我們的指導考慮了我們對三月的了解。我不想進入三月。我們在預測當月的 3 週內有春假輪班以及這類事情發生時面臨著許多挑戰。所以我們將繼續觀察。

I think I've read a little bit on tax returns being a little bit delayed. But we're not going to read too much into that. Our -- we improved our gap between January and February. And so that's what we feel good about. We're not going to talk about March yet.

我想我讀過一些關於納稅申報表有點延遲的內容。但我們不會對此進行太多解讀。我們——我們改善了一月和二月之間的差距。這就是我們感覺良好的原因。我們還不打算談三月。

Next question is coming from Jeff Farmer from Gordon Haskett.

下一個問題來自戈登哈斯克特的傑夫法默。

Just following up on Jeff's question there. So again, you had made some reference to the lower-income consumer, but in terms of thinking about just maybe a little bit softer trends than you had expected, how much of that would you put at the feet of the lower-income consumer as opposed to the balance of potential drivers?

只是跟進傑夫的問題。因此，您再次提到了低收入消費者，但考慮到趨勢可能比您預期的要軟一些，您會將其中多少放在低收入消費者的腳下反對潛在驅動力的平衡？

Yes. I would say that if you think about our results being a little bit softer than we thought, I would put it more at the feet at the lower end and the higher end. Our higher-end consumer was up versus last year. So that would tell you that it was really more on the lower-end consumer. But as I think about what the consumer trends are, I just want to remind everybody that we believe that operators that can deliver on their brand promise with value can continue to appeal to consumers despite economic challenges. And that's what we're going to continue to focus on doing.

是的。我想說，如果你認為我們的結果比我們想像的要軟一點，我會把它更多地放在低端和高端的腳上。我們的高端消費者比去年增加。所以這會告訴你，它實際上更多地針對低端消費者。但當我思考消費趨勢是什麼時，我只是想提醒大家，我們相信，即使面臨經濟挑戰，能夠兌現品牌承諾和價值的營運商也能繼續吸引消費者。這就是我們將繼續專注於做的事情。

I remain confident that we're well positioned and prepared for whatever we have to deal with, thanks to the breadth of those 9 brands that Jeff talked about, the strategic decision we made to price well below inflation and CPI over the last 4 years and those outstanding team members we have in our restaurants who are committed to create exceptional guest experiences for our guests.

我仍然相信，我們已經做好了充分的準備，可以應對我們必須應對的一切，這要歸功於傑夫談到的9 個品牌的廣度，以及我們在過去4 年中做出的定價遠低於通膨和CPI 的策略決策，以及我們餐廳擁有傑出的團隊成員，他們致力於為我們的客人創造卓越的賓客體驗。

And so yes, the lower-end consumer probably drove a little bit more of our miss to what we thought when we talked to you before, but we're going to continue to focus on what we do and take care of every guest that walks in the door at the best that we can to have them to come back.

所以，是的，低端消費者可能會讓我們更多地懷念我們之前與您交談時的想法，但我們將繼續專注於我們所做的事情並照顧每一位步行的客人我們盡最大努力讓他們回來。

And then the second question, you just touched on. You gave me a pretty good segue there. But in terms of your more conservative pricing strategy relative to your peers, from what you've seen, has that driven traffic outperformance, market share outperformance? Is that strategy actually pay dividends to these customers, casual dining customers, appreciate that the Darden brand portfolio is actually a better price value than a lot of other concepts from what you've seen?

然後是你剛才提到的第二個問題。你在那裡給了我一個很好的延續。但就您相對於同業更保守的定價策略而言，從您所看到的來看，這是否推動了流量表現、市場佔有率表現？這種策略是否真的為這些客戶帶來紅利，休閒餐飲客戶，欣賞達頓品牌組合實際上比您所看到的許多其他概念具有更好的價格價值？

Yes, Jeff. I think if you look at our gap over 2 years, our gap to the industry, as I said, being almost 1,000 basis points -- I'm sorry, that -- yes, 10% gap over the 3 years. It's been strong. And that's what we do. We're taking this price below inflation, having a great everyday value. And we think over the long term, that continues to build the value differential we have. We've got value leaders across, and that helps build the traffic gap.

是的，傑夫。我認為，如果你看看我們兩年多的差距，我們與行業的差距，正如我所說，幾乎是 1,000 個基點——我很抱歉——是的，三年內差距為 10%。一直很強。這就是我們所做的。我們將這個價格定為低於通貨膨脹的價格，具有很高的日常價值。我們認為，從長遠來看，這將繼續擴大我們的價值差異。我們擁有價值領先者，這有助於縮小流量差距。

Your next question today is coming from Andrew Strelzik from BMO Capital Markets.

今天你們的下一個問題來自 BMO 資本市場的 Andrew Strelzik。

I wanted to ask about industry capacity, particularly given what you're talking about with more challenged kind of traffic backdrop. And I think initially, during COVID, Darden talked about maybe a 10% decline in locations because of closures. And it feels like from a lot of the public companies we hear from, there's a desire to accelerate unit growth or has been. And I'm not exactly sure what's going on, on the independent side.

我想詢問行業容量，特別是考慮到您所談論的交通背景更具挑戰性。我認為最初，在新冠疫情期間，達頓談到，由於關閉，門市數量可能會減少 10%。我們從許多上市公司聽到的感覺是，他們希望或已經加速單位成長。我不太確定獨立方面發生了什麼事。

So I guess I'm just curious, if you have a sense where capacity is now versus that 10% reduction. Are you seeing it come back in any of your markets or any specific regions? And maybe if you could touch on the independent side as well.

所以我想我只是好奇，你是否知道現在的容量與減少 10% 的情況相比。您是否看到它在您的任何市場或任何特定地區捲土重來？也許您也可以談談獨立方面。

Andrew, I think we're still in that ballpark of 10-plus percent. But if you actually look at the last year or so, there have been more closures than openings from the data we've seen. So net, there's net closings even in the last 9, 12 months data that we're looking at.

安德魯，我認為我們仍然處於百分之十以上的水平。但如果你實際觀察去年左右的情況，從我們看到的數據來看，關閉的數量多於空缺的數量。因此，即使在我們查看的過去 9 個月、12 個月的數據中，也存在淨成交量。

When you think about the environment today, with all the regulation around where things are, it's very hard for someone to open a new restaurant. The financing costs have gone up. There is less developments happening. That's actually part of the reason we talked about some growth being constrained a little bit in the near term for us on the unit opening.

當你想到今天的環境時，由於所有的監管都圍繞著事物的所在地，人們很難開一家新餐廳。融資成本上升。事態發展較少。這實際上是我們談到近期單位開業的成長受到一些限制的部分原因。

So I -- so we would say it's not that different. It has not gotten much better. Maybe let's put it that way.

所以我——所以我們會說這並沒有那麼不同。情況並沒有好轉。也許我們可以這樣說。

Okay. Great. And then maybe on your unit growth, expectations for next year. Just curious where we should expect the fewer openings to come from. I guess does it just match based on the size of the portfolio or any of the brands in particular?

好的。偉大的。然後也許是你的單位成長，對明年的預期。只是好奇我們應該期望更少的空缺來自哪裡。我想它只是根據產品組合的規模或特定品牌的規模來匹配嗎？

Yes. I would say, assume that 2/3 of the growth is going to be coming from Olive Garden and LongHorn combined, and then the rest is -- 1/3 is from all the other brands. I don't know that we would say there's a huge difference year-over-year. It's a little bit of a change. But as we look forward, as Rick said, we'll continue to try to get that ramped up further.

是的。我想說，假設 2/3 的成長將來自 Olive Garden 和 LongHorn 的總和，然後剩下的 1/3 來自所有其他品牌。我不知道我們是否會說同比有巨大差異。這只是一點點的改變。但正如里克所說，展望未來，我們將繼續努力進一步提高這一水平。

Your next question is coming from John Ivankoe from JPMorgan.

您的下一個問題來自摩根大通的約翰·伊万科。

I remember in past periods, there were a number of things that you've done that aren't necessarily operationally difficult and, I don't think, overly discounts the brands, things like dinners for 2, buy one take one, maybe even highly targeted couponing to certain lower-income consumers to bring them back. Those types of things did prove effective to the Darden of the past. I mean I wonder if ideas like that are on the table is the first part of the question.

我記得在過去的時期，你做過的很多事情在操作上並不一定困難，而且我不認為過度打折品牌，比如兩人晚餐、買一送一，甚至可能向某些低收入消費者提供高度針對性的優惠券，以吸引他們回來。事實證明，這些事情對過去的達頓確實有效。我的意思是，我想知道這樣的想法是否擺在桌面上是問題的第一部分。

And secondly, a lot of the higher-income consumer, obviously, as you're getting more price resistant about some of the restaurants that they visit, is there a way to invite some of the higher-income consumer maybe through different types of promotions back in the Olive Garden as well that you haven't been doing in the past couple of years?

其次，顯然，許多高收入消費者對他們光顧的某些餐廳的價格越來越抵觸，是否有辦法透過不同類型的促銷活動來邀請一些高收入消費者回到過去幾年你沒有去過的橄欖園？

John, yes, that was -- the deep discounting, couponing, a lot of promotions was kind of a Darden pre-COVID. This is the Darden post-COVID, which is when we're talking about marketing, being things that elevate brand equity that are easy to execute and they're not at a deep discount. It doesn't mean that we won't have price points on things over time, but that's kind of more of our everyday low price or around that price. You think about Never Ending Pasta Bowl, we ran that this year at $13.99. It was a great promotion for us. And that was at $13.99. So we can think about doing those things again next year with Never Ending Pasta Bowl. We already have buy one take one on our menu basically, with the $6 take homes. So there's a lot of everyday value already.

約翰，是的，那就是——大幅折扣、優惠券和大量促銷活動有點像新冠疫情前的達頓。這就是新冠疫情後的達頓，也就是我們談論行銷時，那些能夠提升品牌資產、易於執行且不會大幅折扣的事情。這並不意味著隨著時間的推移，我們的商品不會有價格點，但這更多的是我們的日常低價或圍繞該價格。你想想永不停歇的意大利麵碗，我們今年的價格是 13.99 美元。這對我們來說是一次很棒的促銷。當時的價格是 13.99 美元。因此，我們可以考慮明年透過「永無止境的義大利麵碗」再次做這些事情。我們的菜單上基本上已經有買一送一，6 美元帶回家。所以已經有很多日常價值了。

In terms of kind of talking to the higher-end consumer, as I mentioned, we actually grew at the higher-end consumer at all of our segments. The $200,000-plus, $150,000-plus was up year-over-year. But I think you could see a little -- a few signs of some consumers trading down within our brands. When you think about LongHorn did really well with -- as they grew even at a little bit -- at the high-end consumer at a little bit lower, the $150,000, $125,000, and they had actually positive check. And so we're seeing some of that shift in some ways. And so we think as long as we execute great and we have great word of mouth, that will get that higher-end consumer maybe to trade to one of our brands from someone else. Even if it trades from one of our current brands to one of our brands, that's fine with us, too.

在與高端消費者的交流方面，正如我所提到的，我們實際上在所有細分市場的高端消費者中都取得了成長。 20萬美元以上、15萬美元以上年增。但我認為你可以看到一些跡象，表明一些消費者在我們的品牌中進行了降價。當你想到 LongHorn 時，他們在高端消費者中的表現確實很好，甚至有一點增長，價格稍低一些，150,000 美元、125,000 美元，而且他們實際上有積極的支票。因此，我們在某些​​方面看到了這種轉變。因此，我們認為，只要我們執行力出色並且擁有良好的口碑，就可能會讓高端消費者從其他人那裡購買我們的品牌之一。即使它從我們現有的品牌之一交易到我們的品牌之一，我們也沒有問題。

But again, long term, every day, talk about what our core equities are, execute better than the restaurant next door, and we'll win, and we'll deal with short-term challenges.

但同樣，從長遠來看，每天，談論我們的核心資產是什麼，比隔壁的餐廳執行得更好，我們就會贏，我們將應對短期挑戰。

And is the company discussing kind of reintroducing or at least thinking about a more effective way to approach loyalty? I mean is that something that becomes table stakes in '24 and '25? Or are we happy with the current approach?

公司是否正在討論重新引入或至少考慮一種更有效的方法來提高忠誠度？我的意思是，這會成為 24 年和 25 年的籌碼嗎？或者我們對目前的方法感到滿意嗎？

We're happy with the current approach. If you think about loyalty in full-service restaurants, frequency isn't super high. And we've learned that when we did loyalty before. And so it's a little bit less valuable for a consumer, we believe.

我們對目前的方法感到滿意。如果您考慮全方位服務餐廳的忠誠度，頻率並不是很高。我們以前在忠誠度方面就已經了解到這一點。因此我們認為，它對消費者來說價值有點低。

Now there's other ways to get that data. The value of loyalty is the data that you get, and we have other ways to grab that data. Doesn't mean that we won't think about loyalty in the future. We're just focusing on what we can do right now to continue to execute better to drive results and not to drive something that's just buying sales because we'll have to keep buying it next year and the year after that. We don't want to go out and buy sales. We want to go out and earn those sales.

現在還有其他方法可以獲得該數據。忠誠度的價值在於您獲得的數據，我們有其他方法來獲取這些數據。並不意味著我們將來不會考慮忠誠度。我們只是專注於我們現在可以做的事情，以繼續更好地執行以推動結果，而不是推動僅僅購買銷售的東西，因為我們必須在明年和後年繼續購買它。我們不想出去買銷售。我們想要走出去並贏得這些銷售。

Next question today is coming from Danilo Gargiulo from Bernstein Research.

今天的下一個問題來自伯恩斯坦研究中心的 Danilo Gargiulo。

So first of all, it appears the LongHorn weather these challenges of this tough operating environment better than other brands. So I'm wondering, what caused that? And what learnings could be applied to the other brands?

首先，LongHorn 似乎比其他品牌更能應對了嚴峻營運環境的這些挑戰。所以我想知道，是什麼原因造成的？哪些經驗教訓可以應用在其他品牌？

So Danilo, I think as we talked about in the past, there's a lot of things, right? First of all, let's start with the big picture. We've talked about how, in general, steak does a little bit better when beef prices are higher just because of the relative gap between the consumer would rather not take risk on cooking something that's expensive. So let's start with that big picture.

所以達尼洛，我認為正如我們過去談論的那樣，有很多事情，對吧？首先，讓我們從大局開始。我們已經討論過，一般來說，當牛肉價格較高時，牛排的表現會更好一些，只是因為消費者之間存在相對差距，不願意冒險烹飪昂貴的東西。讓我們從大局開始。

With that said, within the steak category, not everybody is winning. So if you look at LongHorn, our performance has been driven by our execution. We talk about the simple operations, quality, investments in quality. So our team -- Todd and the team have done a great job over the last 4 years, invest -- continuing to invest in the food and in service.

話雖如此，在牛排類別中，並不是每個人都能獲勝。因此，如果你看看 LongHorn，你會發現我們的業績是由我們的執行力所驅動的。我們談論簡單的操作、品質、對品質的投資。所以我們的團隊——托德和他的團隊在過去四年裡做得很好，投資——繼續投資於食品和服務。

And so if you look at it overall, you get a better value today than you ever did in the -- so if you look at their pricing, it has been a lot lower in the industry versus the industry. And especially for the Steak House, their pricing has been much lower than the competition. So the value equation is much better and a great execution. Really, those are the 2 things.

因此，如果你從整體上看，你今天會得到比以往任何時候都更好的價值——所以如果你看一下他們的定價，你會發現行業內的價格比行業內低得多。尤其是牛排館，他們的定價比競爭對手低得多。因此，價值方程式要好得多，而且執行力也很好。確實，這是兩件事。

Great. And I want to follow up on one of the comments that Rick was just making on the level of attraction of your customers over the long period of time. And I wonder if you can provide some update on your customer trends with regards to the frequency at which they are spending in your brand. And maybe if you can offer also some insight on the size of your eClub members today versus the past and the total addressable market that you have, so how many customers you're seeing on a monthly basis at any of your brands.

偉大的。我想跟進 Rick 剛剛發表的關於長期客戶吸引力水平的評論之一。我想知道您是否可以提供一些關於您的客戶趨勢的最新信息，包括他們在您的品牌上消費的頻率。也許您還可以提供一些關於您現在的 eClub 會員規模與過去的比較以及您擁有的總目標市場的一些見解，以及您每月在您的任何品牌上看到的客戶數量。

Well, let me start by saying, I think we serve about 100 -- about 1 million guests a day across all of our brands, so -- or more than that actually. And so we get a lot of people coming in. Our frequency hasn't dramatically changed over the last year. And our eClub is roughly between 25 million and 30 million guests. That's active eClub. We have more members, but they're active. And so we have ways to communicate with that, and that's across all of our brands.

好吧，首先讓我說，我認為我們所有品牌每天為大約 100 名（大約 100 萬）客人提供服務，所以——或者實際上比這個數字更多。所以我們有很多人進來。去年我們的頻率沒有顯著變化。我們的 eClub 大約有 2500 萬到 3000 萬客人。這就是活躍的 eClub。我們有更多的成員，但他們很活躍。因此，我們有辦法與之溝通，這貫穿我們所有的品牌。

And so we're really confident now that we've got our -- as I said earlier on the income demographic, back to where we were pre-COVID. We know how to operate in that environment. We're seeing some shifts at the above 65 years old, and we've talked about that before. They're shifting a little bit more to lunch, a little bit earlier to dine, and that's great. But -- so those are the only real major shifts we've seen.

因此，我們現在非常有信心，正如我之前在收入人口方面所說，我們已經回到了新冠疫情之前的水平。我們知道如何在這種環境下運作。我們在 65 歲以上人群中看到了一些轉變，我們之前已經討論過這一點。他們將午餐時間多一點，晚餐時間提前一點，這很好。但是——所以這些是我們所看到的唯一真正的重大轉變。

Next question is coming from Sara Senatore from Bank of America.

下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Sara Senatore。

Just a couple of clarifications, please. The first is in terms of the gap in the industry. I know you mentioned that it widened from January to February. But I was curious if it's also been -- have been widening before that from the fiscal 2Q to 3Q. I think historically, the gap has tended to widen when trends -- industry gets tougher because of that sort of more selective consumer, but I wanted to see if that was the case, kind of stepping back.

請澄清幾點。首先是行業差距。我知道你提到它從一月擴大到二月。但我很好奇，在此之前，這個數字是否也從第二財季擴大到了第三季。我認為從歷史上看，當行業變得更加艱難時，差距往往會擴大，因為消費者的選擇性更強，但我想看看情況是否如此，有點後退。

And then the other question I have is -- obviously, gotten a lot of questions about the low income. I wanted to understand how perhaps this normalization will serve as a headwind in the coming quarters. So for example, you're back at the pre-COVID levels now. Does that continue to be a bit of a headwind for the next 3 quarters until you lap this quarter? And are you thinking about offsets in the form of better mix? So perhaps that normalization continues to show up from a traffic perspective but, by the same token, less of a mix headwind.

然後我的另一個問題是——顯然，我收到了很多關於低收入的問題。我想了解這種正常化可能會如何在未來幾季成為阻力。舉例來說，你現在回到了新冠疫情之前的水平。在接下來的三個季度中，這是否會繼續成為一個逆風，直到您完成本季的圈數為止？您是否正在考慮以更好的組合形式進行抵銷？因此，從流量的角度來看，這種正常化或許會繼續顯現出來，但出於同樣的原因，混合阻力也會減少。

Okay. Let's start with the gap itself. So if you look at the gap, in January, the gap narrowed a bit, we think, primarily because of the geography and the footprint we have that has disproportionately impacted by weather. If you look at the concentration of where the weather was, there was a higher concentration of our restaurants. And we think that's part of the reason the gap was not as strong.

好的。讓我們從差距本身開始。因此，如果你看看一月份的差距，我們認為差距有所縮小，這主要是因為我們的地理和足跡受到天氣的影響不成比例。如果你看看天氣好的地方的集中度，你會發現我們的餐廳集中度更高。我們認為這就是差距不那麼大的部分原因。

Now the other part of this gap narrowing this quarter related to the last quarter was the fact that we're wrapping on huge gap from a year ago. We had a very strong performance a year ago. So that's really how we would kind of frame that.

現在，本季與上季相關的差距縮小的另一部分是我們正在彌補一年前的巨大差距。一年前我們的表現非常強勁。這就是我們的框架方式。

We're not -- look, we've been clear that it's very hard to maintain multiple hundreds of basis points of gap forever. We're going to have that narrow over time. But things we've done with our pricing and our value equation have helped us continue to take share, and we're happy with that. And as Rick said earlier, in an environment when there was intensity in -- promotional intensity, more so than ever, we still outperformed, and we were able to gain share. So that's the piece on the industry.

我們不是——看，我們已經很清楚，永遠保持數百個基點的差距是非常困難的。隨著時間的推移，我們將會縮小這個範圍。但我們在定價和價值方程式方面所做的事情幫助我們繼續佔據份額，我們對此感到滿意。正如里克早些時候所說，在促銷強度比以往任何時候都更加強烈的環境中，我們仍然表現出色，並且我們能夠獲得份額。這就是關於這個行業的文章。

Now as you look at the income mix, yes, we -- so this has been an ongoing shift. So we've talked about in Q2 that we're starting to see a shift a little bit more towards the pre-COVID mix. So we are -- so as we wrap -- as we looked at Q4 now -- Q3 that just ended, we were right essentially where we were before COVID. So yes, the next 3 quarters, there's a little bit of moderation of getting that, but it's not as big as it was this quarter.

現在，當你看看收入結構時，是的，我們——所以這是一個持續的轉變。因此，我們在第二季談到，我們開始看到更多向新冠疫情前的組合轉變。所以，當我們結束時，正如我們現在看到的第四季度，剛剛結束的第三季度，我們基本上處於新冠疫情之前的水平。所以，是的，接下來的三個季度，這種情況會有所緩和，但不會像本季那麼大。

If you think about -- we don't think. I mean we'll have to see. But based on the data we have, what we are seeing, it should be -- it should moderate. But we would expect the next 2 to 3 quarters to kind of get back to those levels.

如果你想——我們不會想。我的意思是我們得看看。但根據我們所掌握的數據和我們所看到的情況，它應該是——它應該適度。但我們預計未來 2 到 3 個季度會回到這些水準。

From a mix perspective, though, that mix, we actually think mix is going to get better. We expect mix to continue to moderate. I think I mentioned already that Q2 to Q3, we saw an improvement. As we get into Q4, we should see that get better. And as we get into next year, we expect this to be not a huge headwind. And we'll see how that plays out, but that's our best thinking at this point.

不過，從混合的角度來看，我們實際上認為混合會變得更好。我們預計混合將繼續溫和。我想我已經提到過，第二季度到第三季度，我們看到了進步。當我們進入第四季度時，我們應該會看到情況有所改善。當我們進入明年時，我們預計這不會是一個巨大的阻力。我們將看看結果如何，但這是我們目前最好的想法。

Next question today is coming from Gregory Francfort from Guggenheim Securities.

今天的下一個問題來自古根漢證券公司的格雷戈里·弗蘭克福特。

A lot of what I wanted to ask was asked, but I wanted to ask you about the commodity outlook and thoughts into the fourth quarter. Maybe what's implied in risks to the upside or downside on that going forward?

我想問的很多問題都被問到了，但我想問你關於第四季度大宗商品前景和想法的問題。也許未來的上行或下行風險意味著什麼？

Greg, sorry. As far as the -- on the commodity side, if you look at where -- what we expect, we expect third quarter to be around -- the implied guidance would be around 3% for commodities inflation. And part of the reason the -- it's going up relative to where we've been is that everything except for seafood is inflationary as we move into the fourth quarter. Now not huge, but as you look at beef and produce are more in the mid-single to high single-digit inflation. And then most other categories are in low single digits. So a little bit of that is just a -- comparison to last year, a function of the levels last year. But from a coverage point, we're 75% covered for Q4, which is consistent with historical average levels. And I think on beef, we're actually 80% covered for Q4.

格雷格，對不起。就大宗商品而言，如果你看看我們的預期，我們預期第三季會出現大宗商品通膨的隱含指引，約為 3%。相對於我們之前的情況有所上升的部分原因是，隨著我們進入第四季度，除了海鮮之外的所有東西都處於通貨膨脹狀態。現在不是很大，但當你看看牛肉和農產品時，通貨膨脹率處於中個位數到高個位數之間。大多數其他類別的銷售額都處於低個位數。所以其中一點只是與去年的比較，是去年水準的函數。但從覆蓋率來看，我們第四季的覆蓋率為 75%，這與歷史平均值一致。我認為在牛肉方面，第四季度我們實際上已經覆蓋了 80%。

As far as we look into '25, we're -- as I said earlier, we're in the middle of planning process for next year. So we'll be able to share more in the June call. But I think at this point, we are working through some contracts for next year. So I would hesitate to share a lot at this point.

就我們對 25 年的展望而言，正如我之前所說，我們正處於明年的規劃過程中。因此，我們將能夠在六月的電話會議中分享更多資訊。但我認為目前我們正在製定明年的一些合約。所以我現在猶豫是否要分享很多事情。

Next question is coming from Patrick Johnson from Stifel.

下一個問題來自 Stifel 的帕特里克·約翰遜。

Rick, I wanted to touch on menu innovation, particularly at Olive Garden and LongHorn. And I'm just curious if there are any opportunities you see to either introduce permanent menu items that still align with the brand strategy or even if there's potential to create limited-time platforms like Never Ending Pasta Bowl that aren't necessarily discounted but could drive incremental interest in visits over time.

里克，我想談談菜單創新，特別是在橄欖園和長角。我只是好奇你是否有機會引入仍符合品牌戰略的永久菜單項，或者即使有潛力創建像“永無止境的意大利麵碗”這樣的限時平台，這些平台不一定會打折，但可以隨著時間的推移，增加訪問的興趣。

Yes, Patrick. There's always room for menu innovation. We've got to balance innovation and new items with improving our existing items and making sure our menu stay compact and simpler than they were before COVID. And there's also always room for kind of limited-time, not necessarily promotional offers.

是的，派崔克。菜單總是有創新的空間。我們必須在創新和新菜餚之間取得平衡，同時改進我們現有的菜餚，並確保我們的菜單比新冠疫情之前保持緊湊和簡單。而且總是有一些限時優惠（不一定是促銷優惠）的空間。

So currently, LongHorn has lamb on their menu, and it does really well. It's doing a lot better than it did last year. And with brands like Cheddar's, we use opportunity buys to put some menu -- items on the menu but at really great values. And Olive Garden is continuing to look at ways to improve some of their items and maybe introduce an item but take off an item.

目前，LongHorn 的菜單上有羊肉，而且做得非常好。它的表現比去年好很多。對於像 Cheddar's 這樣的品牌，我們利用機會購買來放置一些菜單 - 菜單上的項目但價格非常高。橄欖園正在繼續尋找改進其某些產品的方法，也許會引入一個產品但取消一個產品。

So yes, we still have a lot of work that we do with innovation. But most of our guests come to us for what we have on our menu today, and we're not going to alienate the core guest by completely changing those menus around, and we don't plan on getting back to a 6- or 7-week promotion where an item is great. It does great for 6 weeks, and then the guest comes back in week 10, and it's not there anymore.

所以，是的，我們在創新方面還有很多工作要做。但我們的大多數客人來找我們是為了今天菜單上的菜品，我們不會通過徹底改變這些菜單來疏遠核心客人，我們也不打算回到 6 或 7 的水平。 - 每週促銷，商品很棒。它在 6 週內表現良好，然後客人在第 10 週回來，但它已經不在那裡了。

And so we'll continue to innovate. But we'll continue to innovate a lot more on improvements, but we'll introduce new items here and there.

因此我們將繼續創新。但我們將繼續在改進方面進行更多創新，但我們將到處引入新項目。

Next question is coming from Lauren Silberman from Deutsche Bank.

下一個問題來自德意志銀行的勞倫‧西爾伯曼。

A few follow-ups. Can you just talk about the same-store sales differences that you're seeing across regions? And then from a marketing perspective, you're now running less than 1.5% of sales this year, well below pre-COVID at 3% or even north. So I understand you want to be prudent and protect long term. So why is this the right level of marketing spend today? How do you assess it even if it's not deep discounting?

一些後續行動。您能談談您所看到的不同地區的同店銷售差異嗎？從行銷角度來看，今年的銷售額不到 1.5%，遠低於新冠疫情爆發前的 3%，甚至更高。所以我理解你想要謹慎並保護長期利益。那為什麼現在的行銷支出水準是適當的呢？即使折扣不是很大，你又如何評價呢？

Yes, Lauren, so from a regional perspective, we continue to see softness in Texas and California. I think Texas pretty much throughout the year, we had seen weakness, and that continues to be the case. Florida was a little weaker but nothing crazy. But you also had the weather impact that probably disproportionately impacted both Texas and California during Q3. Different types of events but weather there. So that's the regional.

是的，勞倫，所以從區域角度來看，我們繼續看到德克薩斯州和加利福尼亞州的疲軟。我認為德州幾乎全年都表現疲軟，而且情況仍然如此。佛羅裡達州稍微弱一些，但也沒什麼瘋狂的。但在第三季度，天氣影響可能對德州和加州造成了不成比例的影響。不同類型的事件，但那裡的天氣。這就是區域性的。

From a marketing perspective, we've been very clear that, look, we're going to be prudent, we're going to be very deliberate in how we bring back marketing. We've learned a lot in terms of the effectiveness of marketing in different channels, how we deploy it. And we've talked about bringing it back at a level that's more methodical in terms of 10 to 20 basis points increase over time. In a way, that's margin neutral, all else being equal. So that's kind of really what -- how we're thinking about it.

從行銷的角度來看，我們非常清楚，看，我們將謹慎行事，我們將非常慎重地考慮如何恢復行銷。我們在不同管道的營銷有效性以及如何部署行銷方面學到了很多東西。我們已經討論過將其恢復到一個更有條理的水平，即隨著時間的推移增加 10 到 20 個基點。在某種程度上，在其他條件相同的情況下，這是保證金中性的。這就是我們真正的想法。

And we have done a lot of work. We continue to do a lot of work on marketing mix analysis, and we got our teams of data scientists internally and work with some external partners to ensure that we're getting the appropriate return, and it's actually being effective the way we want it to be, which is to elevate brand equity and build long-term guest loyalty.

我們已經做了很多工作。我們繼續在行銷組合分析方面做大量工作，我們內部有資料科學家團隊，並與一些外部合作夥伴合作，以確保我們獲得適當的回報，並且它實際上按照我們希望的方式有效be，即提升品牌資產並建立長期的顧客忠誠度。

And then if I can just -- on the guide, lowered sales maintained or increased the lower end of the guide, inflation more favorable. Any other puts and takes in the guide for the year? And then can you just clarify what you're expecting for the full year on G&A?

然後，如果我可以——在指導上，降低銷售額維持或增加指導的下限，通貨膨脹更加有利。今年指南中還有其他的觀點嗎？那麼您能澄清一下您對全年一般行政管理費用的期望嗎？

Yes. Let me start with the G&A. We expect G&A to be pretty similar to what we said last time, $440 million, I think, is what we said for last -- in the last quarter. So call it roughly $100 million for Q4.

是的。讓我從一般行政費用開始。我們預計 G&A 與我們上次所說的非常相似，我認為，我們在上個季度所說的就是 4.4 億美元。因此，第四季的預算約為 1 億美元。

Look, I think the big things are we've obviously brought down some sales expectation, but inflation is better. And then our teams are doing a better job managing our business. So there is some improvement in productivity, improvement in other waste and other types of inefficiencies. But outside of that, nothing that's not outside of those few items that I've just mentioned.

聽著，我認為最重要的是我們明顯降低了一些銷售預期，但通膨情況更好。然後我們的團隊可以更好地管理我們的業務。因此，生產力有所提高，其他浪費和其他類型的低效現像也有所改善。但除此之外，沒有什麼不屬於我剛才提到的那幾項之外的。

But if you just step back and look at what we -- where we started the year, right, if we look at the beginning of the year, we said earnings guidance was $8.55 to $8.85. And we said, to the extent sales slow down or we see weakness in sales, we should see inflation come down and our cost management continue to help us get us closer to that. And today, we're talking about earnings guidance of $8.80 to $8.90, now with a lot lower sales, but we got there through other wins.

但如果你退後一步，看看我們今年年初的情況，對吧，如果我們看看年初，我們說盈利指導為 8.55 美元至 8.85 美元。我們說，如果銷售放緩或我們看到銷售疲軟，我們應該會看到通膨下降，而我們的成本管理將繼續幫助我們更接近這一目標。今天，我們談論的是 8.80 美元至 8.90 美元的盈利指導，現在的銷售額要低得多，但我們透過其他勝利實現了這一目標。

So again, I don't want to say we said -- we told you, but it's just -- that is reality. That's what happened.

再說一次，我不想說我們說過——我們告訴過你，但這就是——這就是現實。這就是發生的事情。

Next question is coming from Peter Saleh from BTIG.

下一個問題來自 BTIG 的 Peter Saleh。

I apologize if I missed this, but I know you guys commented on the traffic softness for the lower-income consumer and maybe by cohort. But can you maybe discuss the behavior of those consumers in terms of their check management? Are you seeing a lot of trade down for the consumers that are coming in within the menu or within brands? Or are they cutting alcohol or appetizers or desserts? Or just anything that suggests that those consumers that are coming in are also managing that check down?

如果我錯過了這一點，我深表歉意，但我知道你們評論了低收入消費者的流量疲軟，也許是按群體。但您能否討論一下這些消費者在支票管理上的行為？您是否發現菜單或品牌內的消費者有大量降價？或者他們正在減少酒精、開胃菜或甜點嗎？或只是任何表明那些進來的消費者也在管理檢查的東西？

Yes. Interestingly, from a check management perspective, it's not as much driven by income. The gap is more driven by older consumers. Especially, 65-plus is managing the check a little bit more. It's not -- irrespective of their income is what we're seeing. And they are also -- I think Rick mentioned earlier, they're shifting more to lunch. So we're seeing a couple of things. They're getting a little bit less add-ons but also managing the check.

是的。有趣的是，從支票管理的角度來看，它並沒有那麼受收入驅動。這一差距更多是由老年消費者造成的。特別是，65 歲以上的人對支票的管理要多一些。事實並非如此——無論他們的收入如何，這都是我們所看到的。他們也是——我想里克之前提到過，他們將更多的時間轉移到午餐上。所以我們看到了一些事情。他們獲得的附加元件少了一些，但也管理了檢查。

But the -- but also, like I said earlier, from Q2 to Q3, it's actually less management of check. Now with a little bit less traffic, but that's -- but what's happening is check management is actually getting better. In terms of negative mix, it's not as big as it was in Q2.

但是，正如我之前所說，從第二季度到第三季度，檢查管理實際上較少。現在流量減少了一點，但事實是檢查管理實際上正在變得更好。就負面組合而言，沒有第二季那麼大。

Next question is coming from Brian Vaccaro from Raymond James.

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

For my question, and sorry if I missed it, but could you share what traffic in the quarter was for Olive Garden and LongHorn? I know that's usually in the queue, but did you or can you share that?

對於我的問題，抱歉，如果我錯過了，您能分享一下 Olive Garden 和 LongHorn 本季的流量嗎？我知道這通常在隊列中，但你有或可以分享嗎？

Yes, sure. Olive Garden check was 2% in the quarter. So basically, traffic would be negative [3.8%]. And then LongHorn traffic was in the mid-negative 2s.

是的，當然。本季橄欖園支票為 2%。所以基本上，流量將為負 [3.8%]。然後 LongHorn 流量處於負 2 秒左右。

Okay. And I guess you've had this question a couple of times, but I'll ask it this way. In an environment where you're seeing softness on the lower-end consumer and maybe there's just a broader backdrop where value seems increasingly important, I guess it's interesting to see Olive Garden's relative comp outperformance narrow, given the brand's strong everyday value positioning.

好的。我猜你已經問過這個問題好幾次了，但我會這樣問。在你看到低端消費者疲軟的環境中，也許只是在更廣泛的背景下，價值似乎變得越來越重要，我想，考慮到該品牌強大的日常價值定位，看到橄欖園的相對競爭表現縮小是很有趣的。

So I guess, how do you reconcile that? And is there any evidence that you're starting to see some profitable guests to certain brands, not asking for names, but certain brands that are gaining share or have shifted their tactics in the last year?

所以我想，你如何協調這一點？有沒有證據表明您開始看到某些品牌的一些有利可圖的客人，不是問名字，而是某些品牌在去年獲得了份額或改變了策略？

Yes, Brian. If you think about Olive Garden, so as Raj said, Olive Garden exceeded the industry benchmark for same-restaurant traffic by 270 basis points. They spent less in media at a time when many of their competitors ramped up discounts on television. So they exceeded by 270 with less media and when others were ramping up. Their 2-year gap is 830 basis points. So that's a big share gain over 2 years.

是的，布萊恩。如果你想想 Olive Garden，正如 Raj 所說，Olive Garden 的同餐​​客流量超出了行業基準 270 個基點。當許多競爭對手加大電視折扣力度時，他們在媒體上的支出減少了。因此，當其他人都在加大力度時，他們在媒體較少的情況下就超過了 270 人。他們的 2 年差距為 830 個基點。因此，這是兩年來的巨大份額增長。

So I'm really proud of the work that Dan and his team have done to improve the guest experience. They continue to focus on their key equity of never-ending, craveable, abundant Italian food, specifically focusing on ensuring every guest is offered a refill on their never-ending first course. And that's a huge value.

因此，我對丹和他的團隊為改善賓客體驗所做的工作感到非常自豪。他們繼續專注於永無止境、令人垂涎、豐富的意大利美食，特別注重確保每位客人都能在永無止境的第一道菜上續杯。這是一個巨大的價值。

I can't tell you if our -- if an Olive Garden guest has shifted over to one of those competitors, but I can tell you that we trade guests all the time. Some of our biggest -- Olive Garden's biggest competitors are the ones that are doing some of the discounting today.

我無法告訴你我們的橄欖園客人是否已經轉移到這些競爭對手之一，但我可以告訴你我們一直在交換客人。我們的一些最大的——橄欖園最大的競爭對手是那些今天正在進行一些折扣的人。

And so we're really proud of the 270-basis-point gap on top of the gap they had before. And if we're seeding a profitable guest, I don't think it's a seed forever. It's just because people shift and they move around. And so we're going to keep focusing on what we can do to keep our guests coming back for one more visit.

因此，我們對他們之前的差距達到 270 個基點感到非常自豪。如果我們要培養一位有利可圖的客人，我認為這不會是永遠的種子。這只是因為人們會轉移並且他們會四處走動。因此，我們將繼續專注於如何讓我們的客人再次光臨。

We reached the end of our question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the floor back over to management for any further or closing comments.

我們的問答環節結束了。我想將發言權交還給管理階層，以徵求進一步的意見或結束意見。

Thank you. That concludes our call. I'd like to remind you that we plan to release fourth quarter results on Thursday, June 20, before the market opens with the conference call to follow. Thanks again for participating in today's call, and have a great day.

謝謝。我們的通話到此結束。我想提醒您，我們計劃在 6 月 20 日星期四開盤前發布第四季度業績，隨後召開電話會議。再次感謝您參加今天的電話會議，祝您有美好的一天。

Thank you. That does conclude today's teleconference and webcast. You may disconnect your line at this time, and have a wonderful day. We thank you for your participation today.

謝謝。今天的電話會議和網路廣播到此結束。此時您可以斷開線路，度過美好的一天。我們感謝您今天的參與。