達登餐飲 (DRI) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to the Darden fiscal year 2024 fourth quarter earnings call. (Operator Instructions) This conference is being recorded. If you have any objections, please disconnect at this time. I will now turn the call over to Ms. Courtney Aquilla. Thank you. You may begin.

歡迎參加達頓商學院 2024 財年第四季財報電話會議。 （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。我現在將把電話轉給考特妮·阿奎拉女士。謝謝。你可以開始了。

Thank you, Daryl, and 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. 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.

謝謝達裡爾，大家早安，謝謝您參加今天的電話會議。今天與我一起出席的有達頓總裁兼執行長 Rick Cardenas 和財務長 Raj Vennam。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。存在重大差異。

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. 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 non-GAAP measurements and reconciliations of these measurements are included in the presentation.

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。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。今天的討論和演示包括非 GAAP 衡量標準，演示文稿中還包括這些衡量標準的調整。

Looking ahead, we plan to release fiscal 2025 first quarter earnings on Thursday, September 19 before the market opens followed by a conference call. During today's call, any reference to pre-COVID when discussing fourth quarter performance is a comparison to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019 and any reference to annual pre-COVID performance is the trailing 12 months ending February of fiscal year 2020.

展望未來，我們計劃在 9 月 19 日星期四開市前發布 2025 財年第一季收益，隨後召開電話會議。在今天的電話會議中，在討論第四季度業績時，任何提及新冠疫情前的業績都是與2019 財年第四季度的比較，任何提及新冠疫情前的年度業績都是截至2020 財年2 月的過去12 個月。

Additionally, all references to industry results during today's call refer to Black Box Intelligence's Casual Dining Benchmark, excluding Darden's casual dining brands. During our fiscal fourth quarter industry same-restaurant sales decreased 0.8% and industry same-restaurant guest counts decreased 3.5%. And during our full fiscal year 2024, industry same-restaurant sales decreased 1.4% and industry same-restaurant guest counts decreased 4.7%.

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，不包括達頓的休閒餐飲品牌。在我們第四財季，行業同店銷售額下降了 0.8%，行業同店客人數量下降了 3.5%。在 2024 年整個財年，行業同店銷售額下降 1.4%，行業同店客人數量減少 4.7%。

This morning, Rick will share some brief remarks recapping the fiscal year. Raj will provide details on the fourth quarter and full year financial results and share our fiscal 2025 financial outlook. And then Rick will close with some final comments.

今天早上，瑞克將分享一些回顧本財年的簡短言論。 Raj 將提供有關第四季度和全年財務業績的詳細信息，並分享我們的 2025 財年財務展望。然後里克將以一些最後的評論作為結束。

Now I will turn it over to Rick.

現在我將把它交給里克。

Thank you, Courtney. Before I begin, I would like to thank Kevin Kalicak for his leadership of Investor Relations for close to 10 years. As many of you know, Kevin has moved to lead finance for Olive Garden. We're excited for his new opportunity and equally excited to have Courtney transition into leading Investor Relations. I'm confident you will find Courtney, a worthy successor.

謝謝你，考特尼。在開始之前，我要感謝 Kevin Kalicak 近 10 年來對投資者關係的領導。眾所周知，凱文 (Kevin) 已調任橄欖園 (Olive Garden) 的財務主管。我們對他的新機會感到興奮，也對考特尼轉變為領先的投資者關係感到興奮。我相信你會找到考特尼，一個值得的繼任者。

Thank you, Kevin, and good morning, everyone. I'm proud of our ability to stay disciplined and control what we can control. This continued focus enabled us to have a strong year in what became an increasingly weaker consumer environment, especially for consumers below the median household income. For the full year, we grew total sales by 8.6% to $11.4 billion, delivered adjusted diluted net earnings per share of $8.88, an increase of 11%, exceeding the high end of the EPS range we provided at the beginning of the fiscal year, despite the challenging sales environment that emerged in the back half of the year.

謝謝你，凱文，大家早安。我為我們能夠保持紀律並控制我們能控制的事情而感到自豪。這種持續的關注使我們在消費環境日益疲軟的情況下度過了強勁的一年，特別是對於家庭收入中位數以下的消費者而言。全年，我們的總銷售額增長了 8.6%，達到 114 億美元，調整後攤薄後每股淨利潤為 8.88 美元，增長 11%，超過了我們在財年年初提供的 EPS 範圍的上限，儘管下半年銷售環境充滿挑戰。

WWe opened 53 new restaurants in 24 states, 8 of which were reopenings, and acquired and completed the integration of Ruth's Chris Steak House. Throughout the year, we strengthened and defended our four competitive advantages, and our restaurants remain focused on being brilliant with the basics. This has enabled us to successfully navigate whatever comes our way, including the increased discounting and marketing pressure we've seen recently.

WWE在24個州開設了53家新餐廳，其中8家正在重新開業，並收購並完成了Ruth's Chris Steak House的整合。在這一年裡，我們加強並捍衛了我們的四大競爭優勢，我們的餐廳仍然專注於在基礎上取得輝煌。這使我們能夠成功應對遇到的任何情況，包括我們最近看到的不斷增加的折扣和行銷壓力。

And when evaluating our performance within the context of our long-term framework of 10% to 15% total shareholder return as measured by EPS growth plus dividend yield, we delivered a TSR of 14.2% for fiscal 2024, which is near the high end of our target. And as I said, our teams are focused on controlling what they can control.

在以每股收益成長加股息殖利率衡量的股東總回報率為10% 至15% 的長期框架內評估我們的業績時，我們2024 財年的股東總回報率為14.2%，接近2024 財年的最高值。正如我所說，我們的團隊專注於控制他們可以控制的事情。

One of the ways we do that is by having well-trained tenured team members. Our manager and team member retention is at or above pre-COVID levels and our teams are benefiting from this staffing consistency, which helps create great guest experiences.

我們做到這一點的方法之一是擁有訓練有素的終身團隊成員。我們的經理和團隊成員的保留率達到或高於新冠疫情爆發前的水平，我們的團隊也受益於這種人員配備的一致性，這有助於創造出色的賓客體驗。

We also provide our teams with training programs that not only enhance their skill sets, but build on the unique culture of our brands, further strengthening engagement. For example, LongHorn recently completed their seventh Steak Master Series. Over the course of two months, thousands of culinary team members competed in this highly engaging grilling competition and training program for the right to be crowned champion and received the $15,000 grand prize.

我們還為我們的團隊提供培訓計劃，不僅提高他們的技能，而且以我們品牌的獨特文化為基礎，進一步加強參與。例如，LongHorn 最近完成了第七屆牛排大師系列賽。在兩個月的時間裡，數千名烹飪團隊成員參加了這場高度參與的燒烤比賽和培訓項目，爭奪冠軍並獲得了 15,000 美元的大獎。

Congratulations to this year's champion, Jacob Montgomery from the LongHorn Steakhouse in Cape Coral, Florida. Beyond providing strong labor and cost management, our operators are ensuring their teams remain focused on being brilliant with the basics, which is driving record guest satisfaction.

恭喜今年的冠軍，來自佛羅裡達州珊瑚角 LongHorn 牛排館的雅各布蒙哥馬利 (Jacob Montgomery)。除了提供強有力的勞動力和成本管理之外，我們的營運商還確保他們的團隊繼續專注於基礎知識的精益求精，從而推動創紀錄的賓客滿意度。

Several of our brands reached all new time highs for overall guest satisfaction for the full fiscal year, including Olive Garden, Cheddar's Scratch kitchen, Yard House, Seasons 52, and Bahama Breeze. Additionally, within the casual-dining segment of Technomic's industry tracking tool, LongHorn ended the fiscal year ranked number one for food, service, atmosphere, and overall perceptions as well as brand fit and loyalty.

我們的多個品牌在整個財年的整體賓客滿意度方面創下了歷史新高，其中包括 Olive Garden、Cheddar's Scratch kitchen、Yard House、Seasons 52 和 Bahama Breeze。此外，在 Technomic 行業追蹤工具的休閒餐飲領域，LongHorn 在本財年結束時在食品、服務、氛圍、整體認知以及品牌契合度和忠誠度方面排名第一。

Now let me provide a final update on the integration of Ruth's Chris Steak House. During the quarter, we completed the transition of all company-owned restaurants onto both our proprietary point-of-sale and labor management systems, which were the final major changes for the restaurants. We also acquired a single franchise location in Destin, Florida, during the quarter.

現在讓我提供有關露絲克里斯牛排館整合的最後更新。在本季度，我們完成了所有公司自有餐廳向我們專有的銷售點和勞動力管理系統的過渡，這是餐廳的最終重大變化。本季我們也收購了佛羅裡達州德斯坦的一個特許經營地點。

Thanks to the hard work and collaboration between the Ruth's Chris team and our integration team, we closed on the acquisition and completed the integration during the same fiscal year. This included onboarding 5,000 new team members with no turnover among our nine directors of operations.

感謝 Ruth's Chris 團隊和我們的整合團隊之間的辛勤工作和協作，我們在同一財年完成了收購並完成了整合。這包括入職 5,000 名新團隊成員，而我們的 9 名營運總監沒有更換。

We also achieved the expected synergies resulting in EPS accretion of $0.10. Integration is not easy, and I'm particularly proud of the focus the restaurant team has maintained on the guest and team member experience throughout the process.

我們還實現了預期的協同效應，使 EPS 增加了 0.10 美元。整合並不容易，我對餐廳團隊在整個過程中對客人和團隊成員體驗的關注感到特別自豪。

Overall, I'm pleased with our performance for the fiscal year. We successfully navigated a challenging environment and our proven strategy, combined with the strength of our business ensures we are well positioned regardless of the operating environment.

總的來說，我對我們本財年的表現感到滿意。我們成功地應對了充滿挑戰的環境，我們行之有效的策略與我們的業務實力相結合，確保我們無論經營環境如何都處於有利地位。

As we begin fiscal 2025, we remain focused on managing our business for the long term by executing our strategy that drives growth and long-term shareholder value. We have also taken steps to further position Darden and our brands for future growth and success through several leadership changes. We are fortunate to have a deep bench of talent, and these changes are designed to allow two of our most seasoned presidents to devote more time to developing our newest brand presidents.

在 2025 財年開始之際，我們仍然專注於透過執行推動成長和長期股東價值的策略來長期管理我們的業務。我們也採取措施，透過幾次領導層變動，進一步定位達頓和我們的品牌，以實現未來的成長和成功。我們很幸運擁有大量人才，這些變化旨在讓我們兩位經驗最豐富的總裁能夠投入更多時間來培養我們最新的品牌總裁。

After nine years of leading LongHorn Steakhouse to record performance, Todd Burrowes has transitioned to a new role as President of Business Development. Todd now has responsibility for our new restaurant development and facilities team, our international and franchising business, and Ruth's Chris, our newest brand.

伯羅斯 (Todd Burrowes) 帶領 LongHorn Steakhouse 九年創下業績記錄後，現已調任業務開發總裁這一新職位。托德現在負責我們的新餐廳開發和設施團隊、我們的國際和特許經營業務以及我們的最新品牌 Ruth's Chris。

Reporting to Todd are: Marc Braun, Senior Vice President of Development; Brad Smith, President of International and franchising; and Rik Jenkins, President of Ruth's Chris, who previously led operations for the brand. Todd is well suited to lead this work. He brings an operator's perspective to new restaurant development and our growing franchise business.

向 Todd 報告的人員包括： Marc Braun，開發資深副總裁； Brad Smith，國際及特許經營總裁； Ruth's Chris 總裁 Rik Jenkins 曾領導品牌的營運。托德非常適合領導這項工作。他為新餐廳的開發和我們不斷增長的特許經營業務帶來了經營者的視角。

Further, Todd was with LongHorn when we acquired Rare Hospitality 17 years ago, and he will be a valuable leader and resource for Rik as Ruth's Chris team continues to acclimate to Darden. Todd's replacement at LongHorn is Laura Williamson. Laura is well respected across LongHorn, having served as a finance leader for nine years. She will report to me.

此外，17 年前我們收購 Rare Hospitality 時，Todd 就在 LongHorn 工作，隨著 Ruth 的 Chris 團隊繼續適應達頓，他將成為 Rik 的寶貴領導者和資源。托德在 LongHorn 的繼任者是勞拉威廉森 (Laura Williamson)。 Laura 在 LongHorn 廣受尊敬，擔任財務主管已有九年。她會向我報告。

We also named three new brand presidents within our Specialty Restaurant Group, who will report directly to John Martin, who continues to serve as President of the Specialty Restaurant Group. Bryan Clements, the former Head of Operations at Olive Garden is now President of Yard House.

我們也任命了特色餐廳集團的三位新品牌總裁，他們將直接向繼續擔任特色餐廳集團總裁的約翰馬丁匯報。 Olive Garden 前營運主管 Bryan Clements 現任 Yard House 總裁。

Falon Farrell, who led operations for Eddie V's, has been named President of the Capital Grille and Eddie V's, and Mark Cooper, who led finance for the Specialty Restaurant Group, is now President of Seasons 52 and Bahama Breeze.

領導 Eddie V's 營運的 Falon Farrell 被任命為 Capital Grille 和 Eddie V's 的總裁，領導 Specialty Restaurant Group 財務的 Mark Cooper 現任 Seasons 52 和 Bahama Breeze 的總裁。

I'm excited about these changes and confident we have the right leaders in place to drive future growth. I'm also proud that three of our seven brand presidents began their careers as the team members at our restaurants and the average tenure of all of our brand presidents is 27 years.

我對這些變化感到興奮，並相信我們有合適的領導者來推動未來的成長。我還感到自豪的是，我們的七位品牌總裁中有三位是作為我們餐廳的團隊成員開始他們的職業生涯的，我們所有品牌總裁的平均任期為 27 年。

Now I will turn it over to Raj.

現在我將把它交給 Raj。

Thank you, Rick. And good morning, everyone. Fiscal 2024 was another strong year for Darden, and I am proud of the results our teams achieved. Despite sales results that were weaker than we anticipated, earnings exceeded our initial expectations for the year. Strong cost management by our teams and easing commodities and labor inflation drove this earnings outperformance.

謝謝你，瑞克。大家早安。 2024 財年對達頓商學院來說又是強勁的一年，我為我們團隊的成果感到自豪。儘管銷售業績弱於我們的預期，但今年的獲利超出了我們的最初預期。我們團隊強有力的成本管理以及大宗商品和勞動力通膨的緩解推動了盈利表現出色。

Now looking at the fourth quarter, we generated $3 billion of total sales, 6.8% higher than last year, driven by the addition of 80 company-owned Ruth's Chris Steak House restaurants and 37 net new restaurants from our legacy brands. Our same-restaurant sales were flat for the quarter, outpacing the industry by 80 basis points. And same restaurant guest counts exceeded the industry by 130 basis points.

現在來看第四季度，我們的總銷售額為30 億美元，比去年增長6.8%，這得益於公司自營的80 家Ruth's Chris Steak House 餐廳和我們傳統品牌的37 家淨新餐廳的推動。本季我們的同店銷售額持平，超出產業 80 個基點。同一餐廳的客人數量超出行業 130 個基點。

Throughout the quarter, our casual dining brands maintained their relative share of guest visits. Olive Garden guest count growth was near the top quartile of the industry and LongHorn Steakhouse was at the top decile of the industry. This is impressive when you consider the increased levels of discounting and promotional activity by some competitors within casual dining.

整個季度，我們的休閒餐飲品牌保持了相對的客人訪問份額。 Olive Garden 客人數量增長接近行業前四分之一，LongHorn Steakhouse 則位居行業前十分之一。考慮到休閒餐飲領域一些競爭對手不斷增加的折扣和促銷活動，這一點令人印象深刻。

Our same-restaurant guest count outperformance to the industry exceeded our same-restaurant sales outperformance due to our lower levels of pricing relative to the industry this quarter. Adjusted diluted net earnings per share from continuing operations increased 2.7% to $2.65. We generated $523 million in adjusted EBITDA and returned $254 million to shareholders through $156 million in dividends and $97 million of share repurchases.

由於本季我們的定價水準相對於業務較低，我們的同餐廳客人數量優於該行業的表現超過了我們同餐廳銷售的表現。持續經營業務調整後稀釋每股淨利成長 2.7%，達到 2.65 美元。我們產生了 5.23 億美元的調整後 EBITDA，並透過 1.56 億美元的股息和 9,700 萬美元的股票回購向股東返還了 2.54 億美元。

Turning to the fourth quarter P&L compared to last year, food and beverage expenses were 20 basis points better as commodities inflation was better than expected at approximately 2%. Seafood deflation this quarter helped partially offset mid-single-digit beef and produce inflation. Restaurant labor was 10 basis points better driven by productivity improvements and favorability in other benefits, which more than offset the impact of pricing below labor inflation, which was approximately 4%.

轉向第四季度損益表，與去年相比，食品和飲料支出增加了 20 個基點，因為大宗商品通膨率好於預期（約 2%）。本季海鮮通貨緊縮部分抵銷了牛肉中個位數的成長並產生了通貨膨脹。受生產力提高和其他福利優惠的推動，餐廳勞動力成長了 10 個基點，這完全抵消了低於勞動力通膨（約 4%）的定價帶來的影響。

Restaurant expenses were 10 basis points better than last year, driven by strong cost management and lower pre-opening expenses. Marketing expense was 1.3% of sales, consistent with our expectations and 20 basis points higher than last year. This all resulted in restaurant-level EBITDA improving 20 basis points to 20.9%.

在強有力的成本管理和開業前費用降低的推動下，餐廳費用比去年好 10 個基點。行銷費用佔銷售額的 1.3%，與我們的預期一致，比去年高 20 個基點。這一切都導致餐廳層級的 EBITDA 提高了 20 個基點，達到 20.9%。

Adjusted G&A expenses were 40 basis points lower, and the total expense was slightly favorable to our previous guidance. This was driven by ongoing synergies from the integration of Ruth's Chris and favorable mark-to-market expense on our deferred compensation. Due to the way we hedge our mark-to-market expense, this favorability is largely offset on the tax line.

調整後的一般管理費用降低了 40 個基點，總費用略優於我們先前的指導。這是由露絲的克里斯整合帶來的持續協同效應以及我們遞延薪酬的有利的按市價計算費用所推動的。由於我們對沖市值計價的費用的方式，這種優惠在很大程度上被稅額所抵消。

Interest expense increased 40 basis points due to the financing expenses related to the Ruth's Chris acquisition. Our adjusted effective tax rate for the quarter was 13.4%, 40 basis points higher, driven by the mark-to-market hedge impact I referenced earlier. And we generated $318 million in adjusted earnings from continuing operations, which was 10.8% of sales.

由於收購與 Ruth's Chris 相關的融資費用，利息費用增加了 40 個基點。受我之前提到的市值計價對沖影響的推動，我們本季調整後的有效稅率為 13.4%，高出 40 個基點。我們透過持續經營業務產生了 3.18 億美元的調整後收益，佔銷售額的 10.8%。

Looking at our segments for the quarter, Olive Garden increased total sales 0.7%, driven by new restaurant growth, partially offset by negative same-restaurant sales of 1.5%. While Olive Garden same-restaurant sales were below the industry, same-restaurant guest counts outperformed the industry benchmark by 60 basis points. This dynamic was due to our decision to minimize pricing. For the quarter, Olive Garden pricing was approximately 1%. Olive Garden segment profit margin of 22.8% continues to be industry leading.

從本季的細分市場來看，在新餐廳成長的推動下，Olive Garden 的總銷售額成長了 0.7%，但被同店銷售額 1.5% 的負成長部分抵銷。儘管 Olive Garden 同餐廳銷售額低於行業水平，但同餐廳客人數量卻比行業基準高出 60 個基點。這種動態是由於我們決定將定價降至最低。本季度，Olive Garden 的定價約為 1%。橄欖園分部利潤率為22.8%，持續維持業界領先。

At LongHorn, total sales increased 7.2%, driven by same-restaurant sales growth of 4% and new restaurant growth. LongHorn same-restaurant sales outperformed the industry by 480 basis points. Segment profit margin of 19.1% was 50 basis points above last year. Strong cost management, including improved labor productivity, grew LongHorn's margin growth this quarter as pricing was below inflation.

LongHorn 的總銷售額成長了 7.2%，這主要得益於同店銷售額成長 4% 和新餐廳成長。 LongHorn 同店銷售額優於業界 480 個基點。分部利潤率為 19.1%，比去年高出 50 個基點。由於定價低於通膨，強有力的成本管理（包括提高勞動生產力）推動了 LongHorn 本季的利潤成長。

Total sales in the fine dining segment increased with the addition of Ruth's Chris company-owned restaurants and despite negative same-restaurant sales at Capital Grille and Eddie V's, the fine dining segment's profit margin expanded in the fourth quarter, driven by improvement in our cost base.

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有所增加，儘管Capital Grille 和Eddie V's 的同店銷售額為負，但在成本改善的推動下，高級餐飲部門的利潤率在第四季有所擴大根據。

The other business segment sales increased with the addition of Ruth's Chris franchise and managed location revenue. This was partially offset by combined negative same-restaurant sales of 1.1% for the brands in the other segments. Segment profit margin of 17.4% was 160 basis points better than last year, driven by the sales leverage from the additional royalty revenue.

隨著露絲克里斯特許經營權和託管地點收入的增加，其他業務部門的銷售額也有所增加。其他細分市場品牌的同店銷售額合計下降 1.1%，部分抵銷了這種影響。受額外特許權使用費收入的銷售槓桿推動，部門利潤率為 17.4%，比去年高出 160 個基點。

As we look at our annual results for fiscal 2024, we had same-restaurant sales growth of 1.6%, outperforming the industry in same-restaurant sales and traffic by about 300 basis points. And this is on top of 500 basis points of outperformance in traffic last year. We delivered $1.8 billion in adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations. This is an increase of over 50% compared to five years ago. Additionally, we returned $1.1 billion to shareholders with $628 million in dividends and $454 million in share repurchases.

從 2024 財年的年度業績來看，我們的同店銷售額成長了 1.6%，在同店銷售額和客流量方面優於行業約 300 個基點。這是繼去年流量表現優異 500 個基點之後的結果。我們透過持續營運實現了 18 億美元的調整後 EBITDA。與五年前相比，這一數字增加了 50% 以上。此外，我們也向股東返還了 11 億美元，其中包括 6.28 億美元的股利和 4.54 億美元的股票回購。

Looking at our fiscal 2024 full year P&L, we had restaurant level EBITDA growth of 120 basis points, driven by strong cost management by our teams and pricing leverage. This favorability was partially offset by increased depreciation and amortization expense and the impairment expense related to eight permanent closures that occurred during the year.

從我們 2024 財年全年損益表來看，在我們團隊強而有力的成本管理和定價槓桿的推動下，我們的餐廳級 EBITDA 成長了 120 個基點。這種優惠被折舊和攤銷費用的增加以及與年內發生的八次永久性關閉相關的減損費用部分抵消。

This resulted in operating income margin that was 50 basis points higher than last year. Additional financing expenses, primarily related to the Ruth's Chris acquisition drove adjusted interest expense, 40 basis points higher than last year. This all resulted in adjusted earnings from continuing operations of 9.4%, flat to last year.

這導致營業利潤率比去年高出 50 個基點。主要與收購 Ruth's Chris 相關的額外融資費用導致調整後的利息費用比去年高出 40 個基點。這一切導致持續經營業務調整後收益為 9.4%，與去年持平。

Looking at our performance in 2019 relative to our long-term framework, we generated annualized EBIT growth of 8% and cash returns of 3.7%, culminating in total shareholder returns of 11.7% as measured by EPS growth plus dividend yield. This is well within our targeted range, despite the issuance of 9 million shares of common stock in fiscal 2020 and other business disruptions from COVID.

相對於我們的長期框架，我們在2019 年實現了8% 的年化息稅前利潤增長和3.7% 的現金回報率，最終以每股收益增長加股息收益率衡量的股東總回報率為11.7% 。儘管 2020 財年發行了 900 萬股普通股，並且新冠疫情造成了其他業務中斷，但這完全在我們的目標範圍之內。

Our strong operating model generates significant and durable cash flows. Since 2019, we have delivered 9% annualized adjusted EBITDA growth. Our balance sheet at the end of fiscal 2024 is well positioned with adjusted debt to EBITDA at 1.9 times. This is below our targeted range of 2 to 2.5 times, even with the additional debt at the Ruth's Chris acquisition.

我們強大的營運模式產生大量且持久的現金流。自 2019 年以來，我們的調整後 EBITDA 年化成長率為 9%。截至 2024 財年末，我們的資產負債表狀況良好，調整後債務與 EBITDA 比率為 1.9 倍。即使考慮到收購 Ruth's Chris 的額外債務，這仍低於我們 2 至 2.5 倍的目標範圍。

Now turning to our financial outlook for fiscal 2025, we expect total sales of $11.8 billion to $11.9 billion, driven by same-restaurant sales growth of 1% to 2% and 45 to 50 gross new restaurants. Capital spending of $550 million to $600 million, total inflation of approximately 3%, which includes commodities inflation of approximately 2% and labor inflation of approximately 4%, and annual effective tax rate of approximately 13% and approximately 119 million diluted average shares outstanding for the year.

現在轉向我們對 2025 財年的財務展望，我們預計總銷售額將達到 118 億美元至 119 億美元，這主要得益於同店銷售額增長 1% 至 2% 以及新餐廳總數 45 至 50 家。資本支出為5.5 億至6 億美元，總通膨率約為3%，其中包括約2% 的商品通膨率和約4% 的勞動力通膨率，年度有效稅率約為13%，稀釋後平均已發行股數約1.19 億股。

All of this results in diluted net earnings per share between $9.40 and $9.60. Finally, our Board approved a 7% increase to our regular quarterly dividend to $1.40 per share, implying an annual dividend of $5.60.

所有這些導致稀釋後每股淨利潤在 9.40 美元至 9.60 美元之間。最後，我們的董事會批准將定期季度股息增加 7%，達到每股 1.40 美元，這意味著年度股息為 5.60 美元。

And with that, I'll turn it back to Rick.

有了這個，我會把它轉回給里克。

Thanks, Raj. All of us at Darden continue to work together in pursuit of our higher purpose to nourish and delight everyone we serve, our guests, team members, and communities. During the year, we had the privilege of serving 420 million guests, more than 1 million per day, providing great food and drinks with attentive service and an engaging atmosphere. We also promoted 1,100 hourly team members into our manager and training program and promoted nearly 300 managers to general manager or managing partner positions.

謝謝，拉傑。達頓的所有人繼續共同努力，追求更高的目標，滋養和愉悅我們所服務的每個人、我們的客人、團隊成員和社區。這一年裡，我們有幸為 4.2 億名客人提供服務，每天超過 100 萬人次，提供美味的食物和飲料、周到的服務和迷人的氛圍。我們還將 1,100 名小時團隊成員晉升為經理和培訓計劃，並將近 300 名經理晉升為總經理或管理合夥人職位。

And we continue to invest in our team members with programs like Fast Fluency, which provides the opportunity to learn English for free and our Next Course scholarship program that through the Darden Foundation has awarded 200 scholarships for $3,000 each over the past two years to children of our team members.

我們繼續透過Fast Fluency 等計畫投資我們的團隊成員，該計畫提供免費學習英語的機會，還有我們的Next Course 獎學金項目，該計畫透過達頓基金會在過去兩年中向以下兒童的孩子頒發了200 份獎學金，每份獎學金金額為3,000 美元我們的團隊成員。

We also remain committed to nourishing, delighting the communities we serve through our ongoing efforts to fight hunger. As part of our Harvest food donation program, our restaurants donated 4.5 million meals to local food banks in fiscal 2024. We also continued our successful partnership with Feeding America with another $2 million donation from the Darden foundation that helped provide mobile food trucks to 10 more Feeding America food banks, bringing the total to 45 trucks provided over the last four years.

我們也繼續致力於透過不斷努力消除飢餓，滋養我們所服務的社區，讓他們感到高興。作為Harvest 食品捐贈計畫的一部分，我們的餐廳在2024 財年向當地食物銀行捐贈了450 萬份餐點 我們也繼續與Feeding America 建立成功的合作夥伴關係，達頓基金會又捐贈了200 萬美元，幫助另外10 個人提供了移動食品車Feeding America 食物銀行使過去四年提供的卡車總數達到 45 輛。

To wrap up, I want to thank our team members and our restaurants and our support center for their outstanding efforts throughout the year. Their disciplined approach in executing our strategy is what enables us to succeed regardless of the operating environment.

最後，我要感謝我們的團隊成員、我們的餐廳和我們的支援中心一年來做出的傑出努力。他們執行我們策略的嚴格方法使我們無論營運環境如何都能取得成功。

Now I will take your questions.

現在我就回答大家的問題。

(Operator Instructions) Brian Harbour, Morgan Stanley.

（操作員指示）Brian Harbour，摩根士丹利。

Yeah, thank you. Good morning, guys. Maybe first, just on your sales outlook for the year, could you comment on how you see the different brands feeding into that? And you obviously have very different comparisons as we think about, the start of the year versus the end of the year, what -- presumably there's kind of some pickup in Olive Garden, how do you think about the drivers of that?

是的，謝謝。早上好傢伙。也許首先，就您今年的銷售前景而言，您能否評論一下您如何看待不同品牌對此的貢獻？正如我們所想，你顯然有非常不同的比較，年初與年底，大概橄欖園有一些回升，你如何看待其驅動因素？

Hey, Brian, this is Raj. Good morning. So let's just start with the guidance at a high level from a sales outlook, right, before we get into the brand level. So when we take a look at the upcoming year, we look at, you know, the information that's out there and where the macro is expected to be. And as you all know, most economists are expecting weakening GDP growth. So that's taken into consideration. Then we're also taking into consideration what we're cycling through, right? We started to see a little bit more weakness in the back half of this fiscal year. So we're taking that into consideration as we look at next year.

嘿，布萊恩，這是拉傑。早安.因此，在我們進入品牌層面之前，讓我們先從銷售前景的高層指導開始。因此，當我們展望即將到來的一年時，我們會關注現有的資訊以及宏觀經濟的預期走向。眾所周知，大多數經濟學家預計 GDP 成長將會減弱。所以這是考慮在內的。然後我們也會考慮我們正在騎車的情況，對吧？我們在本財年後半段開始看到更加疲軟的情況。因此，我們在展望明年時會考慮到這一點。

So when we look at how we built this estimate and guidance, we expect underlying traffic trends to gradually improve throughout the year. And so that's really how we built it. I don't want to get into the exact details on the brands, but at a blended level, we're thinking 1% to 2% same-restaurant sales growth for the fiscal year -- for the full year. And as I said, gradual improvement through the year and the underlying trends.

因此，當我們研究如何建立這項估計和指導時，我們預計潛在的流量趨勢將在全年逐漸改善。這就是我們建構它的方式。我不想透露有關品牌的具體細節，但在綜合層面上，我們認為本財年（全年）同餐廳銷售額增長 1% 到 2%。正如我所說，這一年的逐步改善和潛在趨勢。

And then there's just one call-out is that Thanksgiving shifts out of Q2 into Q3. So Q2 print might look better than the underlying trends and Q3 will be the opposite. So that's typically about somewhere around 80 to 100 basis points impact on sales in the quarter, positive for Q2 and negative for Q3. And so all that said, in this current environment, there's more variability around our sales guide, but we have higher levels of confidence in our earnings outlook. And so that's kind of where we are.

然後有一個值得注意的地方是感恩節從第二季轉移到第三季。因此，第二季的印刷品可能看起來比基本趨勢更好，而第三季則相反。因此，這通常會對本季的銷售產生大約 80 到 100 個基點的影響，對第二季是正面的，對第三季是負面的。話雖如此，在當前環境下，我們的銷售指南存在更多變化，但我們對獲利前景抱有更高的信心。這就是我們現在的處境。

Okay, thank you. And maybe could you just comment on your pricing thoughts at this point within that? Is there anything we should keep in mind with respect to timing? Is there perhaps some that you would delay in an effort to keep it more modest at start of the year?

好的謝謝。也許您現在可以評論一下您的定價想法嗎？關於時間安排，我們有什麼需要注意的嗎？為了在年初保持更溫和的態度，你是否會推遲一些事情？

Yeah, Brian, the good news on pricing is we've actually kept pricing very modest over the last five years, right? So we do expect pricing for this year to be more in line with inflation. So in that 2.5% to 3% range probably. But as we think about how that's going to be spread, we expect it to be more consistent quarter to quarter out now. There may be a 10, 20 basis points movement between quarters, but if you look at over the last five years, we've underpriced a lot, and that gives us some flexibility, and we've talked about that before.

是的，布萊恩，關於定價的好消息是，我們在過去五年中實際上一直保持著非常溫和的定價，對吧？因此，我們確實預計今年的定價將更符合通貨膨脹。所以可能在 2.5% 到 3% 的範圍內。但當我們考慮這種情況將如何傳播時，我們預計現在每個季度的情況會更加一致。季度之間可能會有 10、20 個基點的變動，但如果你看看過去五年，我們的定價被低估了很多，這給了我們一定的靈活性，我們之前已經討論過這一點。

So we've only priced about 20% over the last five years compared to where the overall CPI is, which I think was close to 23% on the same 5-year basis and then full services at 28%, and underprice grocery as well. So we feel like we've done a lot of work on keeping prices low, and we're going to continue to do that and as you saw that in the fourth quarter, too, we talked about Olive Garden closer to 1% pricing in the fourth quarter.

因此，與整體CPI 相比，過去5 年我們的定價僅為20% 左右，我認為在相同的5 年基礎上，整體CPI 接近23%，然後全面服務的價格為28%，食品雜貨的價格也較低。因此，我們覺得我們在保持低價方面做了很多工作，我們將繼續這樣做，正如您在第四季度看到的那樣，我們談到了 Olive Garden 的定價接近 1%。

Lauren Silberman, Deutsche Bank.

勞倫·西爾伯曼，德意志銀行。

Great. Thank you. Just first on your approach to marketing, so Olive Garden comps have been weak over the last couple of quarters, some share loss this quarter. I understand on a traffic basis, you outperformed. But as you think about your approach to marketing and promos, how does that influence your decision to increase marketing? And what are you expecting for fiscal '25?

偉大的。謝謝。首先是你的行銷方法，所以橄欖園公司在過去幾季一直疲軟，本季出現了一些份額損失。據我了解，就流量而言，您表現出色。但是，當您考慮行銷和促銷的方法時，這對您增加行銷的決定有何影響？您對 25 財年有何預期？

Yeah, Lauren, on regards to marketing, we've said in the past that we would probably tick it up a couple of tenths a year, and that's probably what we'll do in fiscal '25. But we're going to continue to focus on our marketing efforts on our filters, which we've talked about many times. And we're not going to do things to buy sales, even with the increasing discounting our competitors are doing.

是的，勞倫，關於行銷，我們過去曾說過，我們可能每年將其提高十分之幾，這可能是我們在 25 財年要做的事情。但我們將繼續專注於過濾器的行銷工作，我們已經多次討論過這一點。即使我們的競爭對手正在加大折扣力度，我們也不會採取購買銷售的措施。

Our best way to drive sales is our focus on a back-to-basics operating philosophy and our guests telling others what a great value they have when they come to our restaurants. I mean just remember; we do have levers to pull. We do have more marketing to pull if we want to, but our focus is on profitable sales growth.

我們推動銷售的最佳方式是專注於回歸本源的經營理念，並讓我們的客人告訴其他人，當他們來到我們的餐廳時，他們擁有多麼巨大的價值。我的意思是記住；我們確實有槓桿可以拉。如果我們願意的話，我們確實可以進行更多的行銷，但我們的重點是獲利的銷售成長。

Great. Thank you for that. And just a follow-up on the consumer environment. Is this mostly related to the low-income consumer? Just what are you seeing across the middle income, high income across the breadth of your brands? Thanks so much.

偉大的。謝謝你。這只是消費者環境的後續行動。這主要與低收入消費者有關嗎？您對整個品牌的中等收入和高收入有何看法？非常感謝。

Yeah, Lauren. It is mostly the income -- the consumer below the median household income, which is about $75,000. Consumers are generally concerned about inflation and they're becoming more concerned about the job market. And what we're seeing are some behavior shifts that we had already started to seeing. So for Q4 transactions from household below -- with incomes below the median were lower than last year. So and that's more pronounced with consumers below $50,000 in income.

是的，勞倫。主要是收入——低於家庭收入中位數（約 75,000 美元）的消費者。消費者普遍擔心通貨膨脹，並且越來越擔心就業市場。我們所看到的是一些我們已經開始看到的行為轉變。因此，第四季收入低於中位數的家庭的交易量低於去年。對於收入低於 5 萬美元的消費者來說，這一點更為明顯。

And these impacts were even greater in our fine dining brands. So that's why you saw fine dining had a little bit more negative comp than others. But at the same time, our guests aren't managing their check like we've seen in prior quarters. And so, we continue to tell you what this means for our brands, operators to deliver their brand promise and value will continue to appeal to consumers despite economic challenges.

這些影響對於我們的美食品牌來說甚至更大。這就是為什麼你會看到高級餐廳比其他餐廳的負面補償要多一些。但同時，我們的客人並沒有像我們在前幾個季度看到的那樣管理他們的支票。因此，我們繼續告訴您，這對我們的品牌、營運商意味著什麼，儘管面臨經濟挑戰，但他們的品牌承諾和價值將繼續吸引消費者。

And that's what we're focused on doing. We're focusing on giving the consumers that are coming to our restaurants and spending their hard-earned money, a great value and a great experience and have them tell others to come back.

這就是我們專注於做的事情。我們專注於為來到我們餐廳並花費辛苦賺來的錢的消費者提供超值的體驗和良好的體驗，並讓他們告訴其他人回來。

Eric Gonzalez, KeyBanc Capital Markets.

岡薩雷斯 (Eric Gonzalez)，KeyBanc 資本市場。

Hi. Thanks for the question. I think I just heard you say that your guests aren't managing the check the way you've seen in prior quarters. Can you make a comment on why you think that's the case?

你好。謝謝你的提問。我想我剛剛聽到你說你的客人沒有像你在前幾季看到的那樣管理支票。您能評論為什麼會出現這種情況嗎？

Hey, Eric. So yes, we did. So if you think back to what we said earlier in the fiscal year, we were seeing a big negative mix on the check and we talked about that, especially both the casual brands and fine dining. And last quarter we said we started to see some moderation. And as we look at this year, this quarter, if we look at Olive Garden and LongHorn, basically the mix was flat. So basically, there was no negative mix at all, which is a significant improvement.

嘿，艾瑞克。所以是的，我們做到了。因此，如果你回想一下我們在本財年早些時候所說的，我們在支票上看到了巨大的負面組合，我們談到了這一點，尤其是休閒品牌和精緻餐飲。上個季度我們說我們開始看到一些放緩。當我們看看今年、這個季度的情況時，如果我們看看 Olive Garden 和 LongHorn，基本上混合情況是持平的。所以基本上，根本沒有負面的混合，這是一個顯著的進步。

And then when you look at fine dining, you know, we saw some moderation in Q3 and that continues to moderate into Q4. I think we're now down into the 80, 90 basis points range in the negative mix versus the 200 or so that we were seeing a couple quarters ago. So we're just starting to see the ones that come to us are not managing the check as much as they used to.

然後，當您查看高級餐飲時，您知道，我們在第三季度看到了一些放緩，並且這種情況在第四季度繼續放緩。我認為我們現在的負面組合已降至 80 至 90 個基點範圍，而幾個季度前我們看到的是 200 個基點左右。因此，我們剛開始發現那些來找我們的人不再像以前那樣管理支票了。

Okay. And then just maybe on the guidance, you know, there was a fairly wide gap in comp performance between Olive Garden and LongHorn this quarter. You know, you have that 1% to 2% guidance for next year. If you're not willing to break it out by brand in terms of guidance, but maybe you can comment on whether you'd expect that performance gap to widen or stay as wide as it is, or do you think it's going to converge in FY20 cuts?

好的。然後，也許根據指導，你知道，本季度 Olive Garden 和 LongHorn 之間的比較表現存在相當大的差距。你知道，明年的指導值為 1% 到 2%。如果您不願意在指導方面按品牌進行細分，但也許您可以評論一下您是否預計性能差距會擴大或保持如此之大，或者您認為它會收斂於2020 財年削減？

Eric, the way we are looking at it is most brands are going to be within the range we provided. We are providing a 1% to 2%. I'm not going to get into the comments about the range between Olive Garden and LongHorn specifically, but when we look at 1% to 2%, we expect most brands to be in that range. And obviously Olive Garden being over 50% of the portfolio, they'll have -- they weigh the Darden average too. And if you look back at last year, fiscal '24, we delivered 1.6% in same-restaurant sales for Darden, and Olive Garden was right on top at 1.6%. So we'll see how this plays out, but we don't want to comment on Olive Garden versus LongHorn specifically.

艾瑞克，我們的看法是大多數品牌都會在我們提供的範圍內。我們提供 1% 到 2%。我不會具體評論 Olive Garden 和 LongHorn 之間的範圍，但當我們考慮 1% 到 2% 時，我們預計大多數品牌都會在這個範圍內。顯然，Olive Garden 佔投資組合的 50% 以上，他們也會衡量達頓平均值。如果你回顧去年，即 24 財年，我們為 Darden 提供的同餐廳銷售額為 1.6%，而 Olive Garden 則以 1.6% 的增幅位居榜首。所以我們會看看結果如何，但我們不想具體評論 Olive Garden 與 LongHorn 的情況。

Andrew Charles, TD Cowan.

安德魯查爾斯，TD·考恩。

Great, thanks. Rick, the question is on Olive Garden. You called out multiple levers at your disposal to help properly go traffic beyond marketing. Can you expand more on those opportunities? Is it menu innovation? Is it the to-go business, the catering business? Just to welcome more thoughts on how to sustain the traffic gap versus the industry.

萬分感謝。里克，問題是關於橄欖園的。您調出了多種可以使用的槓桿來幫助正確地獲得行銷以外的流量。您能否進一步拓展這些機會？是菜單創新嗎？是外送業務、餐飲業務嗎？只是為了歡迎更多關於如何維持與產業的流量差距的想法。

Hey, Andrew. Yes to all. Now, remember, Raj said we did exceed industry benchmarks. Olive Garden has taken much lower pricing than Darden over the year and the industries over the years. And we're really proud of their team. We're really proud of Dan and the team and what they've done. You know, they're going to continue to focus their marketing on their key equity of a never-ending, craveable, abundant Italian food, specifically focusing on ensuring every guest is offered a refill with their first course. That's something that's not provided in other competitors. So that refill is a pretty big part of what we do and a big part of their value equation.

嘿，安德魯。全部同意。現在，請記住，拉傑說我們確實超越了行業基準。橄欖園多年來的定價遠低於達頓和業界。我們為他們的團隊感到非常自豪。我們為丹和他的團隊以及他們所做的事情感到非常自豪。你知道，他們將繼續將行銷重點放在永無止境、令人渴望的、豐富的意大利美食上，特別是要確保為每位客人提供第一道菜的補充。這是其他競爭對手所不具備的。因此，補充裝是我們工作的重要組成部分，也是他們價值等式的重要組成部分。

But we're also going to continue to innovate over in our menu. What you see right now on television if you haven't is our Create Your Own Pasta at $12.99. You know, consumers in more challenging times are looking for more price certainty, and that is an amazing value to Create Your Own Pasta at $12.99 with unlimited first course. And we'll continue to focus our marketing efforts there. And we have digital marketing that we can pull as well.

但我們也將繼續在菜單上進行創新。如果您還沒有在電視上看到我們的“自製意大利麵”，價格為 12.99 美元。您知道，在更具挑戰性的時期，消費者正在尋求更高的價格確定性，而以12.99 美元的價格製作自己的意大利麵並提供無限量的第一道菜，這是一個驚人的價值。我們將繼續將行銷工作重點放在那裡。我們也可以進行數位行銷。

So without getting into all the details, we do have levers to pull, but I want to remind everybody we're focused on profitable sales growth, not just buying sales to show a top line number. And we've been very consistent over the years with that. That profitable sales growth is what matters and Raj talked about our EBITDA growth over the last five years, how strong it was. And so, we'll continue to focus there.

因此，在不討論所有細節的情況下，我們確實有槓桿可以拉動，但我想提醒大家，我們專注於盈利的銷售增長，而不僅僅是購買銷售來顯示營收數字。多年來我們一直非常堅持這一點。獲利的銷售成長才是最重要的，拉傑談到了我們過去五年的 EBITDA 成長，以及它的強勁程度。因此，我們將繼續關注這一點。

Okay, great. And my final question is about the Ruth's acquisition for franchisee. Curious if this leaves you open-minded for more franchise acquisitions in 2025 or if this one was perhaps more one-off?

好的，太好了。我的最後一個問題是關於露絲對特許經營商的收購。好奇這是否會讓您對 2025 年更多特許經營權收購持開放態度，或者這是否可能是一次性的？

Yeah, let me start by saying the franchisees at Ruth's Chris are really valued partners to us. And our focus was on integrating our company on restaurants into Darden. You know, this one restaurant franchise was an opportunistic purchase. So you know, we're going to continue as is and speak with our franchisees if they want to speak with us, but right now we're going to continue to focus on making sure our team gets acclimated to the systems that we've implemented. And so, it's not necessarily a change in strategy. It was an opportunistic purchase for us.

是的，首先我要說的是，Ruth's Chris 的特許經營者對我們來說是非常重要的合作夥伴。我們的重點是將我們的餐廳公司整合到達頓。你知道，這家餐廳的特許經營權是一次機會主義的購買。所以你知道，我們將繼續保持現狀，如果我們的特許經營商想與我們交談，我們將與他們交談，但現在我們將繼續專注於確保我們的團隊適應我們已經採用的系統。因此，這並不一定是策略的改變。這對我們來說是一次機會主義的購買。

David Tarantino, Baird.

大衛·塔倫蒂諾，貝爾德。

Hi, good morning. Raj, I just wanted to come back to the guidance for the year. And I think you mentioned that you have assumed that you expect underlying traffic to improve as the year moves on. So I just wanted to ask if you could elaborate on what factors you think will drive that improvement? Is it mostly just comparisons related or are you thinking there's something inside the business that will improve on a sequential basis as the year moves on?

早安. Raj，我只想回到今年的指導。我想您提到您已經假設隨著時間的推移，基礎流量會有所改善。所以我只是想問您是否可以詳細說明您認為哪些因素會推動這種改進？是否主要只是比較相關，或者您是否認為業務內部有一些東西會隨著時間的推移而連續改善？

David, it's primarily driven by the comparables, but the underlying trends have held up pretty well. I mean, even if you look at our fourth quarter that we just came off, month-to-month underlying trends were actually held up pretty steady, and it was an improvement from Q3. And you know, we talked about what we're seeing on the check side, that's also a positive sign. So we think there is, you know, just as we cycle through some of the weakness, that should help us gradually get better through the year.

大衛，這主要是由可比較數據推動的，但基本趨勢保持得很好。我的意思是，即使你看看我們剛結束的第四季度，逐月的基本趨勢實際上保持相當穩定，而且比第三季度有所改善。你知道，我們討論了我們在支票方面看到的情況，這也是一個積極的跡象。因此，我們認為，正如我們循環克服一些弱點一樣，這應該會幫助我們在這一年中逐漸變得更好。

Got it. And then, Rick, on Olive Garden, I guess a question I would have is on the advertising approach. Do you see an opportunity to better highlight the value you're already offering? Not necessarily provide a new discount or something different than what you're adding, but it seems like that brand has a great value proposition. I'm just wondering if you think there's an opportunity to emphasize that a bit more in the advertising.

知道了。然後，瑞克，在《橄欖園》中，我想我要問的一個問題是廣告方法。您是否有機會更好地突出您已經提供的價值？不一定提供新的折扣或與您添加的內容不同的東西，但該品牌似乎具有很大的價值主張。我只是想知道您是否認為有機會在廣告中進一步強調這一點。

Yes, David and that's exactly what we're doing right now. You know, on TV right now, we've got our Create Your Own Pasta at $12.99 with the price point on the television. And, you know, we do believe that Olive Garden has a great everyday value. And so, what we -- the things that we can do to continue to highlight that versus discounting is what we'll continue to do.

是的，大衛，這正是我們現在正在做的事。您知道，現在我們在電視上推出了“製作自己的意大利麵”，價格為 12.99 美元，與電視上的價格相同。而且，您知道，我們確實相信橄欖園具有巨大的日常價值。因此，我們可以做的事情是我們將繼續做的事情，以繼續強調這一點，而不是打折。

Jim Salera, Stephens.

吉姆·薩萊拉，史蒂芬斯。

Hi guys, good morning. Thanks for taking our question. Can you just give us some of the puts and takes on the 3% inflation guide for 2025, particularly what you're thinking around the food basket and labor?

嗨，大家早安。感謝您提出我們的問題。您能否向我們介紹一下對 2025 年 3% 通膨指導的一些看法，特別是您對食品籃和勞動力的看法？

Yeah, Jim. So this is Raj. So on the food basket, we're basically assuming commodities to be around 2%. I think the biggest driver within the food basket is beef. We still expect beef to be in the mid-single digits. And then we actually expect low-single-digit deflation in chicken. And then pretty much all other categories are probably going to be in that low-single-digit inflation. And so that's how we're getting to commodities being around 2%.

是的，吉姆。這就是拉吉。因此，在食品籃中，我們基本上假設大宗商品的比例約為 2%。我認為食品籃子中最大的驅動力是牛肉。我們仍然預計牛肉產量將在個位數左右。然後我們實際上預計雞肉將出現低個位數的通貨緊縮。然後幾乎所有其他類別都可能處於低個位數的通膨水平。這就是我們如何將商品價格控制在 2% 左右。

From a labor perspective, we are actually expecting labor to be more like a 4% overall. So if you think about where we've been and what the hourly wage inflation is expected to be closer to 4% and then total labor to be around 4%. So those are the two big things. And then from all other restaurant expenses are probably going to be more in that 2.5% to 3%. And that's how we're getting to that overall being closer to 3%.

從勞動力角度來看，我們實際上預期整體勞動力比例約為 4%。因此，如果你考慮我們的情況，以及預期時薪通膨率將接近 4%，那麼總勞動力將在 4% 左右。這是兩件大事。然後，所有其他餐廳的開支可能會多出 2.5% 到 3%。這就是我們如何使整體接近 3%。

Okay, great. Thanks for the detail on that. And then if I could maybe try to tie that to the consumer. You mentioned earlier one of the concerns or chief concerns for the consumer is just kind of overall inflation. If we see inflation maybe come in at the lower end of your expectations, is it possible that, that could also provide better-than-expected lift on the comp side, given that consumers maybe feel a little bit better about how far their dollar goes? Just trying to think of kind of the catalyst path for the consumer into 2025, what might make the results from the consumer be better than what you're anticipating?

好的，太好了。感謝您提供詳細資訊。然後我是否可以嘗試將其與消費者聯繫起來。您之前提到消費者的擔憂或主要擔憂之一就是整體通膨。如果我們看到通膨可能低於預期，那麼考慮到消費者可能對自己的美元走勢感覺更好一些，這是否也可能為公司帶來好於預期的提振？試想消費者進入 2025 年的催化劑路徑是什麼，什麼可能會讓消費者的結果比你預期的更好？

Yeah, Jim, The consumer is really focused on what price they're paying in everywhere, not just in restaurants. And if you think about the cost that they have on the non-discretionary costs, they've been growing faster than wages for quite a few years, and that eats into discretionary spending. So if inflation in the non-discretionary gets better, that may give them a little bit more discretionary.

是的，吉姆，消費者真正關注的是他們在任何地方支付的價格，而不僅僅是在餐廳。如果你考慮一下非可自由支配成本的成本，你會發現，多年來它們的成長速度一直快於薪資的成長，這會侵蝕可自由支配的支出。因此，如果非全權委託的通膨狀況好轉，他們可能會擁有更多的可自由支配權。

And if you're considering food at the grocery store or food -- a non-discretionary, then yes, that should help. But we'd like to see some lower inflation in things like things that people have to buy. Rent, utilities, childcare, all of those things would help with -- on the non-discretionary side, help discretionary spend.

如果您正在考慮雜貨店的食物或非自由裁量的食物，那麼是的，這應該會有所幫助。但我們希望看到人們必須購買的東西的通貨膨脹率下降。租金、水電費、兒童保育，所有這些都有助於——在非可自由支配方面，有助於可自由支配支出。

Sara Senatore, Bank of America.

薩拉·參議員，美國銀行。

Great, thank you. I guess, I wanted one clarification and then a question, please. The clarification is just, you mentioned pricing, like 1% in Olive Garden and pricing below inflation, but your food margins were better than we had expected. So I just wanted to understand like what the dynamic might have been across brands, whether there was any mix. I mean, presumably all of them are actually some of the best food margins. So if you could just help me unpack that a little bit. And then I do have a question about the demand environment.

太好了謝謝。我想，我想要一個澄清，然後再問一個問題。需要澄清的是，你提到了定價，例如橄欖園的 1% 和低於通貨膨脹的定價，但你的食品利潤率比我們預期的要好。所以我只是想了解不同品牌之間的動態，是否有混合。我的意思是，想必它們其實都是利潤最高的食品。所以如果你能幫我稍微解開一下。然後我確實有一個關於需求環境的問題。

Yeah, Sara. Good morning. So when we look at the fourth quarter, yes, our pricing was -- across Darden was below inflation. I think our pricing was closer to 2.5, inflation was around 3. So there is about -- I think the delta was almost 70 basis points. But that, again, goes back to the testament of our teams and our ability to manage through different cycles, right, through different environments.

是的，薩拉。早安.因此，當我們看第四季度時，是的，我們的定價在整個達頓都低於通貨膨脹。我認為我們的定價接近 2.5，通貨膨脹率約為 3。但這又回到了我們團隊的證明，以及我們在不同周期、對不同環境中進行管理的能力。

We've talked about how in a slow growth environment, we should see costs get better, but also, we should see our own -- the controllables be even more -- come in even better. So ultimately, it's just a testament to our teams, how well they manage the business, with the focus on getting to the returns we need to get for the business.

我們已經討論過在緩慢成長的環境中，我們應該看到成本變得更好，我們也應該看到我們自己的——可控因素更多——變得更好。因此，最終，這只是對我們團隊的證明，他們管理業務的能力如何，重點是獲得我們需要的業務回報。

Okay, and those controllables sit in even in the cog line?

好吧，那些可控裝置甚至位於齒輪線上？

There is some, yes.

有一些，是的。

Okay, got it. Thank you. And then just the question on demand is, to some of the earlier comments you've made, perhaps the demand environment is softer-than-expected in so far as the issue with your comps is you're still taking share, but I'm interpreting it to mean perhaps versus where we expected, given the low-income consumer primarily, I think. I'm trying to, I guess, ask when you think about where that expectation was when you acquired Ruth and kind of doubled down on fine dining, had you anticipated something more robust or there was always an expectation of normalization and even in that context the acquisition makes sense?

好，知道了。謝謝。然後，關於需求的問題是，對於您之前發表的一些評論，也許需求環境比預期要軟，因為您的競爭問題是您仍在佔據份額，但我認為，考慮到主要是低收入消費者，我將其解釋為可能與我們預期的情況相反。我想，當你想到當你收購露絲並在精緻餐飲上加倍努力時，你的期望在哪裡時，我想問你是否期望有更強勁的東西，或者總是有正常化的期望，即使在這種情況下也是如此此次收購有意義嗎？

Hey, Sara. This is Rick. When we acquired Ruth's, we think about an acquisition over a long, long period of time. We're not as worried about the next quarter or the quarter after the acquisition. Now, would we have liked the consumer at the below-median income to continue to go to fine dining? Absolutely. But any time we make an acquisition, there could be a chance that it's because we're going into a slowdown and maybe there's a little bit of a better opportunity for price discovery there. So I would never read into when we make an acquisition into a certain category or not.

嘿，薩拉。這是瑞克。當我們收購露絲的時候，我們考慮了很長一段時間的收購。我們並不擔心下一個季度或收購後的季度。現在，我們會希望收入低於中位數的消費者繼續去高級餐廳嗎？絕對地。但任何時候我們進行收購，都有可能是因為我們正在陷入經濟放緩，也許那裡有更好的價格發現機會。因此，我永遠不會去研究我們何時會對某個類別進行收購。

Remember, we have criteria for our M&A and Ruth's met every one of that criteria, and we were able to agree on our price. So that's why it happened at the time it happened. And generally, that's when any of our M&A will happen, as long as we find the brands that meet the criteria and we get price discovery and we agree on a price and we'll do that deal, we're not worried about the environment that we're going into or that we're coming out of because these are long, long-term investments for us.

請記住，我們有併購標準，而露絲滿足了每項標準，因此我們能夠就我們的價格達成一致。所以這就是當時發生的原因。一般來說，這就是我們進行任何併購的時候，只要我們找到符合標準的品牌，我們就能發現價格，我們就價格達成一致，我們就會進行這筆交易，我們不擔心環境我們即將進入或退出的領域，因為這些對我們來說是長期投資。

Jeffrey Bernstein, Barclays.

傑弗裡·伯恩斯坦，巴克萊銀行。

Great. Thank you. Rick, my first question is just on the weakening conditions you mentioned in the back half, it does seem like within your portfolio, at least, Olive Garden was hit harder, and I guess relative to the industry as well, which I think is contrary to past economic slowdowns when most people look at Olive Garden as the more defensive value brand.

偉大的。謝謝。里克，我的第一個問題是關於你在後半部分提到的疲軟狀況，至少在你的投資組合中，橄欖園受到的打擊更嚴重，我想相對於整個行業也是如此，我認為這是相反的過去經濟放緩時，大多數人將橄欖園視為更具防禦性的價值品牌。

So I'm just wondering, as you take a step back. What do you think has changed this go-around? How much of it is maybe internally what you're doing versus maybe what the competition is doing and if you can give any sequential color on the trends through the quarter or into June just to kind of get a sense of how we're starting fiscal '25, that would be great. And then I had one follow-up.

所以我只是想知道，當你退後一步時。您認為是什麼改變了這次復飛？其中有多少可能是您內部正在做的事情與競爭對手正在做的事情以及您是否可以對整個季度或六月的趨勢提供任何連續的顏色，只是為了了解我們如何開始財務'25，那就太好了。然後我進行了一項後續行動。

Sure, Jeff. I'm not going to talk about the trends into fiscal '25 where we are. And I think Raj had mentioned that the quarterly -- fourth quarter, we were pretty consistent month-over-month -- month to month to month. But I will say for Olive Garden, in prior slowdowns, Olive Garden outperformed. They outperformed at the same-restaurant sales and at that time they were taking more pricing than everybody else.

當然，傑夫。我不會談論 25 財年我們所處的趨勢。我認為拉傑已經提到過，第四季度，我們每個月的表現都非常穩定。但我要說的是，對於橄欖園來說，在之前的經濟放緩中，橄欖園的表現優於大盤。他們在同家餐廳的銷售中表現出色，而且當時他們的定價比其他人都高。

We outperformed this quarter in traffic, and we've continued to outperform the industry in traffic for the last many years and we only took 1% pricing. What I would tell you is that if we would have taken the pricing that the industry took in the third quarter or in the fourth quarter, I'm sorry, Olive Garden would have been positive and would have performed even more. And so, this is a long game for us.

我們本季的流量表現優於產業，在過去的許多年裡，我們的流量表現一直優於產業，而且我們只採取了 1% 的定價。我要告訴你的是，如果我們採用業界在第三季或第四季的定價，我很抱歉，橄欖園將會是正面的，並且表現會更好。因此，這對我們來說是一場漫長的比賽。

The other thing that we're not pulling are things that everybody or not everybody, but people used to pull in slowdowns, couponing, deep discounting and all those other things and we're not doing that even at a time that our competitors have ramped up discounting, deep discounting on television and, you know, Olive Garden still outperformed in traffic, didn't outperform in comp sales, but as I said, we only took 1% pricing.

我們不做的另一件事是每個人或不是每個人都做的事情，但人們過去常常做減速、優惠券、大幅折扣和所有其他事情，即使我們的競爭對手已經加大力度，我們也沒有這樣做大幅折扣，電視上的大幅折扣，你知道，橄欖園在流量方面仍然表現出色，但在競爭銷售方面卻沒有表現出色，但正如我所說，我們只採取了 1% 的定價。

And so, we're really, really proud of that and we'll continue to do that. And maybe that's why we didn't outperform on the sales side, but we did continue to outperform on the traffic side. And I just want to say their gap in fiscal Q4 was 60 basis points in traffic, and their two-year gap is 530 basis points in traffic. So we feel pretty good with where they are.

因此，我們對此感到非常非常自豪，我們將繼續這樣做。也許這就是為什麼我們在銷售方面沒有表現出色，但我們在流量方面確實繼續表現出色。我只想說，他們在第四財季的流量差距為 60 個基點，兩年的流量差距為 530 個基點。所以我們對他們的處境感覺很好。

Absolutely. And then my follow-up, Raj, as you think about -- well, as you're setting up a guidance for fiscal '25, you mentioned how in fiscal '24, you beat your initial EPS guidance despite seemingly falling short on the initial fiscal '24 comp guidance and as you look at '25 wondering as we enter the year it seems like maybe if there was a risk that it's the same scenario where I mean just looking at the fourth quarter your comps were below the fiscal '25 guide.

絕對地。然後我的後續行動，拉傑，正如你所想的那樣——好吧，當你為25 財年制定指導時，你提到瞭如何在24 財年，你超越了最初的每股收益指導，儘管看起來沒有達到預期目標。是，僅看看第四季度，你的比較就低於25 財年指引。

So what leverage do you have on the margin and earnings side to maybe beat the comps -- if the comps would again fall short as we move through fiscal '25? It would seem like you don't have as much opportunity with inflation easing as maybe you had this past year. So how do you think about the outlook for fiscal '25 if the comps were to fall short? Thank you.

那麼，如果在我們進入 25 財年時，當比較公司再次低於預期時，你在利潤率和收益方面有什麼槓桿作用來擊敗比較公司呢？似乎你沒有像去年那樣有那麼多的通膨寬鬆機會。那麼，如果比較結果達不到預期，您如何看待 25 財年的前景？謝謝。

Hey, Jeff. So I don't want to get into the exact details, but let me stay high level and talk about how we think about philosophically, right? If the environment is such that the sales continue to be weaker, that also implies the demand is weaker and the inflation should be a little bit better. So let's start with that. And in fact, if you look at last year, that was part of the reason we were able to exceed the earnings guidance even with the sales off. That's not all of it, but that's partial.

嘿，傑夫。所以我不想討論具體的細節，但讓我保持較高的水平，談談我們如何從哲學角度思考，對吧？如果銷售持續疲軟，這也意味著需求疲軟，通膨應該會好一點。那麼就讓我們從這個開始吧。事實上，如果你看看去年，這就是我們即使在銷售額下降的情況下也能夠超過盈利指導的部分原因。這不是全部，但這只是部分。

The other part of it is how we manage through the -- how our teams manage through the cycle. So as I said earlier, our restaurant teams and our teams at the support center work very hard to kind of, you know, have these targets and we work towards them and we're always trying to get better. And there's just even more push on that when things are a little bit softer on the top line.

另一部分是我們如何管理——我們的團隊如何管理整個週期。正如我之前所說，我們的餐廳團隊和支援中心的團隊非常努力地工作，以實現這些目標，我們為實現這些目標而努力，並且總是努力變得更好。當營收情況稍微疲軟時，就會有更大的推動力。

So that's kind of how I talk about it. I don't want to get into the specifics because, you know, this is a big business. It's very complex. There are a lot of nuances. There's a lot of -- but there's a lot that goes in to get to where we need to get to. And we feel, I think if you just look back, it shows that we have the ability to get there to a different base.

這就是我談論它的方式。我不想透露細節，因為，你知道，這是一門大生意。這非常複雜。有很多細微差別。有很多——但為了到達我們需要到達的地方，還有很多事情要做。我們覺得，如果你回顧過去，你會發現我們有能力到達一個不同的基地。

David Palmer, Evercore ISI.

大衛·帕爾默，Evercore ISI。

Thanks. Good morning. Olive Garden's strategy has been to sort of set itself up as a well-positioned everyday value and a strong consumer service. Do you see the consumer recognizing this? Like are the consumer satisfaction scores at Olive Garden doing as well versus the peer group in Italian as say LongHorn or Texas Roadhouse are doing in steak?

謝謝。早安.橄欖園的策略是將自己打造成定位良好的日常價值和強大的消費者服務。您看到消費者認識到這一點了嗎？就像 LongHorn 或 Texas Roadhouse 在牛排方面的表現相比，Olive Garden 的消費者滿意度得分與義大利同行的表現一樣好嗎？

Yeah, David. I won't comment on how they're doing versus their competition, but I can tell you as Olive Garden, both internally and externally, their value ratings have increased over this last year. And they're pretty close to the top end of the value and overall, in the measures we look at. I also mentioned they were kind of at the highest levels of guest satisfaction in this fiscal year. But again, they continue in all of our brands. Most of our brands -- I think all of our brands were at or above their value perceptions externally versus last year.

是的，大衛。我不會評論他們與競爭對手相比的表現，但我可以告訴你，作為 Olive Garden，無論是內部還是外部，他們的價值評級都比去年有所提高。在我們所考慮的衡量標準中，它們非常接近價值和總體的上限。我還提到，他們在本財年的賓客滿意度達到了最高水準。但同樣，它們仍然存在於我們所有的品牌中。我們的大多數品牌——我認為我們所有的品牌與去年相比，其外部價值認知都達到或超過了。

Yeah. I guess, I'm wondering why you think the traffic share gains are not stronger. Is it just simply the consumer awareness of the value that's at Olive Garden? Or is it perhaps something about the Italian category, such as the ease of trading down to at-home posts a little easier we're seeing very strong growth in, for instance, Rayo’s Sauces lately. So we're seeing scratch cooking really picking up in at-home. We're not seeing a strong stake demand at-home. So I'm wondering if there's sort of an interaction index with at-home trade down that's stronger in the Italian category. Do you have any thoughts on that?

是的。我想，我想知道為什麼你認為流量份額收益不那麼強勁。這僅僅是消費者對橄欖園價值的認知嗎？或者這可能與義大利類別有關，例如，在家工作的交易變得容易一些，我們最近看到 Rayo’s Sauces 等產品的成長非常強勁。因此，我們看到在家做飯確實開始流行。我們在國內沒有看到強勁的股權需求。所以我想知道是否存在某種與國內貿易下降的互動指數在義大利類別中更強。您對此有什麼想法嗎？

Well, there may be interaction in trade down to at-home because of the median income consumer. It's not necessarily the Italian. But I can tell you where we compete in the full-service base, Olive Garden was at 75th percentile in their traffic. So and again, when you're comparing how they're doing in full service. And then we're putting in this at-home, everybody is dealing with the at-home as well, not just Italian.

嗯，由於中等收入消費者的存在，貿易中可能會有互動。不一定是義大利人。但我可以告訴你我們在全方位服務基地中的競爭位置，Olive Garden 的流量排在第 75%。一次又一次，當你比較他們在全方位服務中的表現。然後我們把這個放在家裡，每個人都在處理家裡的事情，而不僅僅是義大利人。

And then finally, the competitors had ramped up very deep discounting and while we had -- we didn't see that actually impacting Olive Garden or our other brands because the trends kind of stayed similar. What we did see, interestingly, is a little bit of a shift from QSR to some of those competitors.

最後，競爭對手加大了折扣力度，而我們卻沒有看到這實際上影響了 Olive Garden 或我們的其他品牌，因為趨勢保持相似。有趣的是，我們確實看到了從 QSR 到其中一些競爭對手的一點轉變。

And so that might be where they're trying to take some share from. But we did see that and that lifted the industry index in some of those -- and maybe one of those competitors, which is a big part of the index. So there's a little bit of a nuance in how the index works, especially when you're taking share from another category -- another part of the index.

因此，這可能是他們試圖從中獲取一些份額的地方。但我們確實看到了這一點，這提升了其中一些行業的指數——也許還有那些競爭對手之一，這是該指數的重要組成部分。因此，該指數的運作方式存在一些細微差別，尤其是當您從另一個類別（指數的另一部分）獲取份額時。

Dennis Geiger, UBS.

丹尼斯蓋革，瑞銀集團。

Great. Thanks, guys. Just wondering if you could speak to the development environment a bit more. It seems like consistent expectations as it relates to new builds. But anything you're seeing there sort of on timing, thinking about build cost, et cetera?

偉大的。多謝你們。只是想知道您是否可以多談談開發環境。這似乎是與新構建相關的一致期望。但是你在時間上看到了什麼，考慮到建造成本等等？

Yeah, Dennis. I will -- let me start by saying that the new restaurant projection we have for next year is within our long-term framework. So while it's lower than we like it to be, it's still within our long-term framework. And recall, the new restaurants also include M&A. So we bought about 80 restaurants from Ruth’s Chris that were part of last year. Now that's not impacting this year, but it is part of our framework.

是的，丹尼斯。我首先要說的是，我們明年的新餐廳預測是在我們的長期框架內的。因此，雖然它低於我們希望的水平，但它仍然在我們的長期框架內。回想一下，新餐廳還包括併購。因此，我們去年從 Ruth’s Chris 那裡購買了大約 80 家餐廳。現在這不會影響今年，但它是我們框架的一部分。

Construction costs are still quite a bit higher than they were before COVID, but the levels are normalizing more and it's still taking a little longer to get construction starts. We're just trying to figure out ways to improve our process to potentially get starts moving a little bit faster. And maybe there is some things that we can do to help municipalities with kind of working on permitting and other things,

建築成本仍比新冠疫情爆發前高出不少，但水準正在趨於正常化，而且開工仍需要更長的時間。我們只是想找出改進流程的方法，以便有可能更快地啟動。也許我們可以做一些事情來幫助市政當局處理許可和其他事情，

But we feel pretty good about our pipeline for next year. We'd like to see it higher for the years after, but we're not going to just build restaurants and put a number out there that we don't think that we can hit, and we feel pretty good about where we are. And again, Raj showed you where we were for the last five years in our new unit growth. It was almost 3%. It was 2.9%, which is at the high end of our framework. So we don't necessarily think year to year, we think long-term.

但我們對明年的管道感覺非常好。我們希望在接下來的幾年裡看到它更高，但我們不會只是建造餐廳並放出一些我們認為無法達到的數字，而且我們對自己的處境感到非常滿意。 Raj 再次向您展示了過去五年我們新單位增長的情況。幾乎是3%。該比例為 2.9%，處於我們框架的高端。因此，我們不一定要逐年思考，而是長期思考。

Thanks, Rick. And one more, just curious if you could comment a little more on sort of what your expectation is for the industry promotional environment for the year. Is what we're seeing sustainable? Can it increase? I know there's a million factors that go into this. but just getting your perspective. Would love any thoughts on what over the next three quarters or so, what the industry environment on promo discounting, et cetera, looks like in your opinion? Thank you.

謝謝，瑞克。另外，我想知道您是否可以多評論一下您對今年行業促銷環境的期望。我們所看到的情況是可持續的嗎？可以增加嗎？我知道這涉及一百萬個因素。但只是了解你的觀點。您對未來三個季度左右的時間、促銷折扣等行業環境有何想法？謝謝。

Yeah, Dennis, I think my perspective is -- we like what we're doing better, right? We don't think that -- we think that everyday low value and continue to focus on our core equities is more sustainable than deep discounting to try to drive people in. Others can do that, and we'll continue to play this long game.

是的，丹尼斯，我認為我的觀點是——我們喜歡我們正在做的更好的事情，對嗎？我們認為，每天的低價值並繼續專注於我們的核心股票比試圖吸引人們進入的大幅折扣更可持續。

And over time, you have to keep wrapping on that. If you do a deep discount and it stays the same way, you have to do even more the next year, you have to do more television. And we just think we'd rather do more great food, more great service, and let's wrap that. And so again, I can't comment on what other people think is sustainable or not. We just think our business, the way we do it is more sustainable.

隨著時間的推移，你必須繼續關注這一點。如果你做了很大的折扣並且保持同樣的方式，那麼你明年必須做得更多，你必須做更多的電視節目。我們只是認為我們寧願做更多美味的食物，更優質的服務，然後讓我們結束吧。再說一遍，我無法評論其他人認為可持續或不可持續的事情。我們只是認為我們的業務以及我們的工作方式更加永續。

Peter Saleh, BTIG.

彼得·薩利赫，BTIG。

Great, thanks. Raj, I wanted to ask on the flat mix, which I think you mentioned was a pretty meaningful improvement from what you've seen in the past couple of quarters. Can you just give us a little bit more detail on what's driving this? Is this alcohol mix improving entrees, consumers trading up to more expensive entrees? Is it appetizers? And is there any way to dissect this by income cohort? Are you seeing more improvement from the lower income, higher income, anything you can glean there?

萬分感謝。 Raj，我想問一下扁平化的問題，我認為你提到的這一點與你在過去幾季所看到的相比是一個非常有意義的改進。您能否為我們提供更多有關推動這一情況的詳細資訊？這種酒精混合物是否會改善主菜，讓消費者轉向更昂貴的主菜？是開胃菜嗎？有什麼方法可以依照收入群體來剖析這個問題嗎？您是否從較低的收入、較高的收入以及您能在那裡收集到的任何東西中看到了更多的改善？

Hey Peter. Yeah, just to start, that was specifically at Olive Garden and LongHorn. And so, when we look at -- and it's different for both brands. So when you look at LongHorn, the mix was driven by some add-ons, increased add-ons. They had a great -- they also had a new lamb entree that actually -- that was -- that did really well. There was parmesan crusting, people wanted to get more of that. So there were things like that were helpful with the mix.

嘿彼得。是的，首先是在 Olive Garden 和 LongHorn。因此，當我們觀察時，這兩個品牌的情況是不同的。因此，當您查看 LongHorn 時，您會發現這種組合是由一些附加元件、增加的附加元件驅動的。他們有一個很棒的 - 他們還有一個新的羊肉主菜，實際上 - 那是 - 做得非常好。有帕瑪森起司結皮，人們想要更多。所以類似的事情對混音很有幫助。

What we -- alcohol is kind of fairly stabilized. So it's not necessarily a headwind anymore. And so, that's probably helping. But when you look at Olive Garden, the same thing where people are not -- we're not seeing as much trade down within the -- whether it's the entree trade down or not getting add-ons. So just in general, more stabilization and so maybe this is -- the guest that's coming in today is not managing the check as much. And so that's different from maybe some of the guests that were coming in earlier than the fiscal year.

我們的酒精相當穩定。因此，這不再一定是逆風。所以，這可能會有所幫助。但當你看看橄欖園時，人們並沒有看到同樣的事情——我們沒有看到那麼多的交易下降——無論是主菜交易下降還是沒有獲得附加服務。所以總的來說，更加穩定，所以也許這是——今天進來的客人沒有那麼多地管理支票。因此，這可能與本財年之前到來的一些客人有所不同。

Jeff Farmer, Gordon Haskett.

傑夫法默，戈登哈斯克特。

Great. Good morning and thank you. Just a couple of quick follow-ups. With the 1% to 2% FY25 same-store sales guidance, you pointed to the 2.5% to 3% menu pricing. But can you give us a little bit of color as it relates to both traffic and mix assumptions for FY25 guidance?

偉大的。早安，謝謝。只需幾個快速跟進。根據 2025 財年 1% 至 2% 的同店銷售指導，您指出了 2.5% 至 3% 的菜單定價。但您能給我們一些與 2025 財年指導的流量和組合假設相關的資訊嗎？

Yeah, I think it's fair to assume that our check is probably going to be in that range of 2.5% to 3%. So you can back into the implied traffic. So we do expect the mix to be fairly flat.

是的，我認為可以公平地假設我們的支票可能會在 2.5% 到 3% 的範圍內。這樣您就可以返回隱含的流量。因此，我們確實預期這種組合將相當平坦。

Okay. And then I might have missed it, but G&A dollars in FY25, did you provide that guidance?

好的。然後我可能會錯過它，但 25 財年的一般行政費用，您提供了該指導嗎？

You did not miss it. We haven't talked about it. The G&A for this year, we should be closer to $450 million -- for fiscal '25, it should be closer to $450 million. And I think that's going to be spread fairly evenly from second to the fourth quarter, with the first quarter to be $20 million higher than those three quarters. It's just typical that we have a little bit more in the first half.

你沒有錯過它。我們還沒有談論過它。今年的一般管理費用應該接近 4.5 億美元，而 25 財年的一般管理費用應該接近 4.5 億美元。我認為從第二季度到第四季度，這一數字將相當均勻地分佈，第一季將比這三個季度高出 2000 萬美元。上半場我們有更多的機會，這是很典型的。

Jon Tower, Citi.

喬恩塔，花旗銀行。

Great, thanks. I appreciate you taking. Going to the cost side of the equation, it was pretty impressive that even with the comp that you put up in the fourth quarter, how you were able to manage labor and the other op expense line very well. And I'm just curious if you could dig into how you expect those lines to play out in fiscal '24 or better said, do you think a lot of the management that you're able to put in across labor as well as the other OpEx can carry forward into fiscal '25 kind of offsetting some of that inflation that you're seeing.

萬分感謝。我很感激你接受。談到成本方面，令人印象深刻的是，即使您在第四季度提供了補償，您仍然能夠很好地管理勞動力和其他營運費用。我只是好奇你是否能深入了解一下你期望這些政策在 24 財年如何發揮作用，或者更好地說，你是否認為你能夠在勞動力和其他方面投入大量管理？ ，以抵消您所看到的部分通貨膨脹。

Hi, Jon. So if you look at the drivers this year, we talked about improved productivity. That was -- a part of that was also driven by lower turnover. And so there may be a few quarters where we'll still get a little bit of that benefit, but as we look to next year, I would expect -- we would expect COGS to be better because commodities inflation is likely going to be, as I said, closer to that 2% and then pricing being a little bit more, you should get some leverage on that line.

嗨，喬恩。因此，如果你看看今年的驅動因素，我們就談到了生產力的提升。這在某種程度上也是由於營業額下降所致。因此，可能有幾個季度我們仍會獲得一點好處，但當我們展望明年時，我預計，我們預計銷貨成本會更好，因為大宗商品通膨可能會是，正如我所說，接近2%，然後定價再高一點，您應該在這條線上獲得一些槓桿。

We do expect to continue to look at other OpEx, right? That's one of the things non-guest-facing cost is where we spend a lot of time looking at how do we continue to get better. And that's the power of the platform. That's the power of having this big multiple brands and being able to learn from each other. And the last piece is, there is some continuing synergies from Ruth's acquisition that we talked about. We got about half this year. We're going to get the rest next year. So those are all different drivers of how we get that margin growth.

我們確實希望繼續關注其他營運支出，對吧？這是非面向客戶的成本之一，我們花了很多時間研究如何繼續變得更好。這就是平台的力量。這就是擁有如此大的多個品牌並能夠相互學習的力量。最後一點是，我們談到了露絲的收購帶來了一些持續的綜效。我們今年大概拿了一半。明年我們會得到剩下的。因此，這些都是我們實現利潤成長的不同驅動因素。

Got it. Thank you. And I know a lot has been talked about today on the marketing side. So I'm just curious, one more, I guess, on the topic. In terms of the way that you're speaking to the consumer, I know you're using traditional television as a primary means to communicate Olive Garden's message. But I'm just curious if you could dig into what you're doing on social and how you might be changing the brand's perception on those platforms or even in traditional media, are you going after different day parts in terms of where you're advertising even platforms where you're advertising through linear media. Maybe just more information there would be great.

知道了。謝謝。我知道今天在行銷方面討論了很多。所以我只是對這個主題很好奇。就您與消費者交談的方式而言，我知道您正在使用傳統電視作為傳達橄欖園訊息的主要手段。但我只是好奇你是否可以深入了解你在社交上所做的事情以及你如何改變品牌在這些平台甚至傳統媒體上的看法，你是否會根據你所在的位置來追求不同的一天部分甚至可以通過線性媒體進行廣告的平台進行廣告。也許只要有更多資訊就太好了。

Yeah, Jon. For several years, we've been building our internal digital media capabilities, and we've done -- Olive Garden is the only one on television. Everybody else does spend marketing and it's in digital. And we've been testing things like connected television. We've been testing other things to help drive our traffic.

是的，喬恩。多年來，我們一直在建立我們的內部數位媒體能力，我們已經做到了——《橄欖園》是電視上唯一的一個。其他人都在進行數位行銷。我們一直在測試連網電視之類的東西。我們一直在測試其他東西來幫助增加我們的流量。

And because we've been testing this allows us to kind of move them into other brands to see how they work. We do a lot of test and learn. And so, we don't expect our media to grow significantly year over year because we think we're more efficient with the tests that we do. And so, as we continue to do that, we know what the right times to put messages out there.

因為我們一直在測試這一點，所以我們可以將它們轉移到其他品牌中，看看它們是如何運作的。我們做了很多測試和學習。因此，我們預計我們的媒體不會逐年顯著成長，因為我們認為我們所做的測試效率更高。因此，當我們繼續這樣做時，我們知道什麼時候發布資訊是正確的。

We know what days and we knew all those things. So we're not necessarily going to think about ramping up a communication of a certain day part unless the brand thinks it's the right thing to do. And so they might -- we might see some brands talk about a certain day part or not. But we are using our digital that we've learned over the years, and we have an internal team here that's great at what they do and we'll continue to focus on that.

我們知道什麼日子，我們知道所有這些事情。因此，我們不一定會考慮加強特定時段的溝通，除非品牌認為這是正確的做法。所以他們可能會——我們可能會看到一些品牌談論或不談論某一天的某個部分。但我們正在使用我們多年來學到的數位技術，我們這裡有一個內部團隊，他們非常擅長他們的工作，我們將繼續關注這一點。

Chris O'Cull, Stifel.

克里斯·奧卡爾，斯蒂菲爾。

Yeah, thanks. Rick, you mentioned several sales building opportunities earlier. But I was wondering if you think there are any opportunities to improve throughput during high demand peak periods at Olive Garden. I'm assuming the restaurants are still in a way during traditional peak periods like Friday and Saturday nights.

是的，謝謝。里克，您之前提到了幾個銷售建設機會。但我想知道您是否認為有機會提高 Olive Garden 在高需求高峰期的吞吐量。我假設餐廳在周五和周六晚上等傳統高峰時段仍然在某種程度上。

Yeah, Chris, I think not just at Olive Garden, but all our brands can do more to improve throughput in our peak periods. We can get a little bit quicker in what we do to make sure that the guest doesn't feel rush, but they don't feel like they're waiting for a lot of things. So we do think that there's opportunities and not just at Olive Garden, and if we can do that better, we should get some -- at least some traffic in that day if people were walking away. But in the long run, getting a little bit quicker, maybe better for us any day, not just on the peak periods.

是的，克里斯，我認為不僅在 Olive Garden，我們所有的品牌都可以採取更多措施來提高高峰期的吞吐量。我們可以做得更快一些，以確保客人不會感到匆忙，但他們不會覺得自己在等待很多事情。因此，我們確實認為存在機會，而不僅僅是在橄欖園，如果我們能做得更好，我們應該得到一些——至少在那天如果人們走開的話會有一些流量。但從長遠來看，變得更快一點，也許對我們任何一天都更好，而不僅僅是在高峰期。

Okay. And then, Raj, Olive Garden segment margin contracted, I think, 70 basis points this quarter, while the other segments or the other segments saw some considerable year-over-year expansion. Can you help us understand what drove that pressure? And do you see other -- those factors putting pressure on Olive Garden this going into fiscal '25.

好的。然後，我認為本季 Raj、Olive Garden 部門的利潤率收縮了 70 個基點，而其他部門或其他部門則出現了相當大的同比擴張。您能幫助我們了解造成這種壓力的原因嗎？您是否看到其他因素在進入 25 財年時給 Olive Garden 帶來壓力？

No, Chris, I think it's actually just kind of normalizing what they should have been, right? Last year, I think, we had a little too high margin. I mean, to be at 22.8% segment profit margin is industry leading. I mean that's just -- that's just really high. That would be aspirational for a lot of brands in this industry to be able to get to those levels. And frankly, it goes back to our decision to not price as much, right?

不，克里斯，我認為這實際上只是讓他們應該成為的人正常化，對嗎？我認為去年我們的利潤率有點太高了。我的意思是，22.8% 的細分利潤率是行業領先的。我的意思是，這實在太高了。對於這個行業的許多品牌來說，能夠達到這些水平將是一個願望。坦白說，這可以追溯到我們不定價的決定，對嗎？

And we had talked about it last year. We didn't think 23.5% segment profit was the right number. That was a little too high. And so, it's really giving back a little bit of that. But we don't expect that to be like a -- as we look -- move forward, we don't expect that to be a drag going forward. It's just more of -- there were some things that needed to be normalized.

我們去年就討論過這個問題。我們認為 23.5% 的分部利潤並不是正確的數字。那有點太高了。所以，它確實回饋了一點。但我們預計這不會像我們所看到的那樣向前推進，我們預計這不會成為未來的拖累。只是更多的是——有些事情需要正常化。

Danilo Gargiulo, Bernstein.

達尼洛·加吉烏洛，伯恩斯坦。

Raj, given your focus on more profitable traffic and cost control, cost management in this environment, can you help us understand the flow-through of the marginal dollar today and how it compares with the marginal dollar flow-through back in, say, 2019?

Raj，考慮到您在這種環境下專注於更有利可圖的流量和成本控制、成本管理，您能否幫助我們了解今天的邊際美元流量以及它與 2019 年的邊際美元流量相比如何？

Hey Danilo, I think the flow-through from the marginal dollar is not that different. It is actually fairly similar. It's just there are other things that are more non-variable costs that we're also looking at. So it's not -- that's how we're getting to that. But from a high level, if you look at across the portfolio, somewhere around 35% to 40% is probably the right flow-through to think about it. And I don't think that's any different from where we were before in 2019.

嘿達尼洛，我認為邊際美元的流量沒有那麼不同。它實際上非常相似。只是我們也在考慮其他更多的非變動成本。所以這不是——這就是我們要做的事情。但從較高的層面來看，如果你縱觀整個投資組合，大約 35% 到 40% 可能是考慮這個問題的正確流量。我認為這與 2019 年之前的情況沒有任何不同。

Okay, thank you. And Rick, just from a long-term perspective, can you share maybe the rationale and timing behind these recent executive changes? And in particular, what you're expecting from your team in their newly created roles and specifically, if you can comment on kind of post promotion and kind of the role of the Chief Business Development Officer, what are you expecting out of that? Thank you.

好的謝謝。里克（Rick），從長遠角度來看，您能否分享一下最近這些高階主管變動背後的理由和時機？特別是，您對團隊新創建的角色有何期望，特別是，如果您可以評論職位晉升和首席業務發展官角色的類型，您對此有何期望？謝謝。

Yeah, Danilo, as I said in the prepared remarks, these changes help set us up for future growth and developing our leaders. So if you think about Todd and John elevating their roles a little bit, Todd leading development, international, and franchising and Ruth's Chris. And those all have really good synergies for Todd, right? So development in new restaurants, that's for all brands but international franchising with the percent of restaurants that Ruth's Chris has his franchise, it's actually a pretty good synergy there.

是的，達尼洛，正如我在準備好的發言中所說，這些變化有助於我們為未來的成長和培養我們的領導者做好準備。因此，如果你認為托德和約翰稍微提升了他們的角色，托德領導開發、國際和特許經營，而露絲則領導克里斯。這些對托德來說都有很好的協同作用，對嗎？因此，新餐廳的開發，適用於所有品牌，但國際特許經營與露絲的克里斯擁有特許經營權的餐廳百分比一樣，這實際上是一個非常好的協同效應。

Plus, as I said, Todd, came to us from Rare Hospitality when we bought them. So he knows what it's like after the systems integration and how to help people assimilate more. And he'll help Rick, who's our new president, become a great president. And then finally, as I mentioned, having an operator’s perspective and new restaurant development, I think, is a pretty good thing to do.

另外，正如我所說，當我們購買它們時，托德從 Rare Hospitality 來找我們。所以他知道系統整合後是什麼樣子，也知道如何幫助人們更同化。他將幫助我們的新總統里克成為偉大的總統。最後，正如我所提到的，我認為擁有經營者的視角和新餐廳的開發是一件非常好的事情。

We think about how to do the turnovers better, how to get -- make sure we are more planful in telling the brands when we think the restaurant is going to open. So there aren't moves and delays, so we can get those a little bit better. So that's really where Todd comes into play.

我們思考如何更好地提高營業額，如何確保我們在餐廳即將開業時更有計劃地告訴品牌。所以沒有移動和延遲，所以我們可以做得更好一些。這就是托德真正發揮作用的地方。

And then on John's side, if you think about the Specialty Restaurant Group with five brands and John leading all five, that was a lot. And so, how do we help bring him up and bring the new president underneath John, who are all proven leaders, and all have a good future here with us, while John can help them become even better brand presidents. A couple of them -- one of them is a former finance person, but he's got a great operations knowledge, and he actually was a restaurant manager many, many years ago.

然後在約翰方面，如果你考慮一下擁有五個品牌的特色餐廳集團，而約翰領導著這五個品牌，那就很多了。那麼，我們如何幫助培養他並將新總裁帶到約翰的領導下，他們都是經過驗證的領導者，並且在我們這裡都有美好的未來，而約翰可以幫助他們成為更好的品牌總裁。其中有幾個人——其中一個是前財務人員，但他擁有豐富的營運知識，而且他實際上在很多很多年前是一名餐廳經理。

But John can help Mark become a better general manager and think more about operations. You've got Falon Farrell, who's now going to be leading Capital Grille and Eddie V's. Actually, Falon started at Capital Grille as a team member, and she worked at Capital Grille for many years. And then she led training for Capital Grille and Eddie V’s. And now she -- then she led Eddie V’s for quite a while in operation. So she can see how do we bring some synergies in the support center for Capital Grille and Eddie V’s to help leverage those brands better, but while working for John who can continue to develop her for the future.

但約翰可以幫助馬克成為更好的總經理，多思考營運。 Falon Farrell 現在將領導 Capital Grille 和 Eddie V’s。事實上，Falon 最初是作為團隊成員加入 Capital Grille，並在 Capital Grille 工作了多年。然後她領導了 Capital Grille 和 Eddie Vâs 的培訓。現在她——當時她領導埃迪·瓦斯運作了相當長一段時間。因此，她可以了解我們如何在 Capital Grille 和 Eddie Vâs 的支援中心帶來一些協同效應，以幫助更好地利用這些品牌，同時為 John 工作，John 可以繼續為她的未來發展。

And then I think about Bryan Clements. Bryan, his history, he started a big bar brand years ago. He spent many years at LongHorn to understand how LongHorn and a simple operating model works, and he spent time at Olive Garden, leading Olive Garden operations, and that's a big system. And how do you think about a big system when you've got Yard House who's passing 80 restaurants, and we want to continue to grow them, and he can help with more system thinking at Yard House.

然後我想到了布萊恩·克萊門茨。布萊恩，他的歷史，他幾年前創立了一個大酒吧品牌。他在 LongHorn 工作了很多年，了解 LongHorn 和簡單的運營模式是如何運作的，他還在 Olive Garden 工作過，領導 Olive Garden 的運營，這是一個大系統。當 Yard House 擁有 80 家餐廳時，你如何看待一個大系統，我們希望繼續發展它們，他可以幫助 Yard House 進行更多系統思考。

So we think it's a really great move for all of them. And Laura -- I didn't mention, you know, Laura is a great leader here at Darden. And she spent nine years at LongHorn. She really knows LongHorn. And she's got a great relationship with Todd. She'll be able to continue to talk to Todd and the team at LongHorn has rallied around her.

所以我們認為這對他們所有人來說都是一個非常好的舉動。勞拉——我沒有提到，你知道，勞拉是達頓商學院的一位偉大領導者。她在 LongHorn 度過了九年。她真的很了解LongHorn。她和托德的關係很好。她將能夠繼續與托德交談，LongHorn 的團隊已經團結在她周圍。

So our reasoning behind that is to get people ready, while other people are basically retirement eligible. And so we want to make sure that they're here to help them progress. And you know what our retirement programs are not saying that anybody is leaving anytime soon, but this gives them a chance to develop people while they're still around.

因此，我們背後的理由是讓人們做好準備，而其他人基本上都有退休資格。因此，我們希望確保他們在這裡幫助他們進步。你知道，我們的退休計畫並不是說任何人都會很快離開，但這給了他們一個在員工還活著的時候培養他們的機會。

Andy Barish, Jefferies.

安迪·巴里什，杰弗里斯。

Hey guys, two quick ones. Just hearing some commentary on the softer Florida market where you guys kind of over index, any thoughts there? And then if you could give us the Olive Garden to-go mix for the fiscal year '24 versus '23? And is there any trends you're seeing there, any impact on maybe some of the same-store sales components, just not remembering how you guys calculate that fully?

嘿夥計們，兩個快點。剛剛聽到一些關於佛羅裡達市場疲軟的評論，你們有什麼想法嗎？然後，您能否向我們介紹 24 財年和 23 財年的橄欖園外送組合？您是否看到了任何趨勢，對同店銷售的某些組成部分有任何影響，只是不記得您是如何完整計算的？

All right. Andy, let's start with the trends themselves. So if we actually look at the last quarter, and I may have mentioned in the prior quarter, too, but Florida, Texas and California generally were a little bit weaker. We saw that not just Florida, but Texas and California. And that did contribute to the top line being where it was.

好的。安迪，讓我們從趨勢本身開始。因此，如果我們實際上看看上一季度，我可能也在上一季提到過，但佛羅裡達州、德克薩斯州和加利福尼亞州的表現總體上稍弱一些。我們不僅看到了佛羅裡達州，還看到了德克薩斯州和加利福尼亞州。這確實有助於實現營收目標。

And so that's -- I don't know that we have a strong explanation for why one of the thoughts was maybe some of these markets that opened faster coming out of COVID might be the ones where we're seeing a little bit of softness and maybe a little bit of strength on the ones that opened a little bit later coming out of COVID but that's just a hypothesis. But that's -- the facts are, you're seeing some strength in the New England market and other things and not as much in California, Texas, and Florida.

所以，我不知道我們有一個強有力的解釋來解釋為什麼其中一個想法可能是一些因新冠疫情而開放得更快的市場可能是那些我們看到有點疲軟的市場，或許，那些因新冠肺炎疫情而稍後開業的酒店會有所增強，但這只是一個假設。但事實是，你在新英格蘭市場和其他地區看到了一些實力，而在加州、德州和佛羅裡達州則沒有那麼強勁。

As we look at our to-go mix at Olive Garden was basically at, I think, for the year, 24%, which is fairly similar to last year, not a huge -- not much change. And LongHorn is at 14% think we saw a little bit of an improvement year-over-year like 1 point or so at LongHorn on the quarter, but that's just fairly stabilized there. And I think there was another question about some mix -- I can't -- what was the -- was there another one, Andy, that I missed?

當我們看到橄欖園的外賣組合時，我認為今年基本上是 24%，這與去年相當相似，不是巨大的變化。 LongHorn 的成長率為 14%，我們認為本季 LongHorn 的成長率比去年同期有一點改善，例如 1 個百分點左右，但情況相當穩定。我認為還有一個關於某種混音的問題——我不能——那是什麼——安迪，我錯過了另一個問題嗎？

Yeah. No. Just if the to-go trend had changed or decline if that was impacting any of the components of same-store sales, but it doesn't sound like that.

是的。不。

No, it's not. Yeah.

不，這不對。是的。

Brian Vaccaro, Raymond James.

布萊恩·瓦卡羅，雷蒙德·詹姆斯。

Hey, thanks. And good morning. I know we're running off. So just two quick ones for me. Can you provide traffic and check for Olive Garden and LongHorn in the fourth quarter? And then, Raj, did I hear correctly blended price up 2.5% to 3% for the fiscal '25 and that seems stable. So does that suggest you've taken price recently? And could see that range as early as the first quarter? Thank you.

嘿，謝謝。早安.我知道我們要逃跑了所以對我來說只有兩個快速的。能否提供一下Olive Garden和LongHorn第四季的交通狀況和檢視情況？然後，Raj，我沒聽錯的話，25 財年的混合價格上漲了 2.5% 到 3%，而且看起來很穩定。那麼這是否表示您最近已經定價了？最早可以在第一季看到這個範圍嗎？謝謝。

Yeah, Brian, the blended -- let me start with the later question first. Yeah, the blended in the 2.5% to 3%. We have taken some pricing -- we are -- yeah, typically, we take some in June, so there's some pricing. So you should start to see some of that in the quarter. For the fourth quarter, our total check growth was 2.2% at Darden level, I think Olive Garden was more like a one-third, and LongHorn was probably in the 3%-ish, LongHorn has positive traffic. The traffic growth, I think, in the quarter was 0.8%. So in the total SRS is 4%, so the check growth was at on 3.2%.

是的，布萊恩，混合的——讓我先從後面的問題開始。是的，混合了2.5%到3%。我們已經採取了一些定價——是的，通常我們會在六月採取一些定價，所以有一些定價。因此，您應該在本季開始看到其中的一些變化。第四季度，我們的總支票增長在達頓水平為 2.2%，我認為 Olive Garden 更像是三分之一，而 LongHorn 可能在 3% 左右，LongHorn 的流量為正。我認為該季度的流量成長率為 0.8%。因此，總 SRS 為 4%，因此支票成長為 3.2%。

Jake Bartlett, Truist Securities.

傑克·巴特利特，Truist 證券公司。

Great, thanks for taking the question. I want to dig in on that last question and answer a little bit more, and that's pricing at Olive Garden. Pricing decelerated to 1% in the fourth quarter. You talked about comps being similar across the brand in '25 and pretty stable pricing throughout the year. Does that imply that you're going to see a pretty big step-up in menu price at Olive Garden? Or should we expect kind of a similar, much more cautious pricing at Olive Garden throughout the whole year?

太好了，感謝您提出問題。我想深入探討最後一個問題並回答更多一點，這就是 Olive Garden 的定價。第四季定價下降至 1%。您談到 25 年整個品牌的比較相似，並且全年定價相當穩定。這是否意味著您將看到 Olive Garden 的菜單價格大幅上漲？或者我們應該預期橄欖園全年的定價會類似、更謹慎？

I'm sorry, I was on mute. If you look at Olive Garden's pricing for the year, fiscal year, they were actually close to [mid-3s]. And so that's pretty consistent, not all the way to where Darden blended was 4. So they're about 50 or 70, 80 basis points below Darden. As we think about next year, they're not going to -- we would expect them to be maybe in the 30, 40 basis points range of where Darden might end up. So I don't expect this to be as big of a gap. But we're still -- we're not talking about huge pricing actions, right? We talked about -- there is always some timing of the quarter to quarter. But on the year, if we think 2.5% to 3%, Olive Garden is probably closer to 2.5%

抱歉，我當時處於靜音狀態。如果你看看 Olive Garden 今年、財政年度的定價，它們實際上接近 [mid-3]。所以這是非常一致的，並不是一直到達頓混合為 4。當我們考慮明年時，他們不會——我們預計他們可能會在達頓最終可能達到的 30 到 40 個基點範圍內。所以我預計差距不會那麼大。但我們仍然——我們不是在談論巨大的定價行為，對嗎？我們談到——每季總是會有一些時間安排。但就今年而言，如果我們認為是 2.5% 到 3%，那麼 Olive Garden 可能更接近 2.5%

Got it. But I think that would imply that in the near-term, you'd be taking up pricing in Olive Garden in this environment, in macro environment. I'm wondering whether you think that creates a little bit of risk to traffic even from where we started. If you can maybe answer that, but then I also just had a follow-up on the Fast Recovery Act in California, and you guys have a decent presence there, and I think we haven't gotten a lot of commentary about the impact. It seems like some pretty seismic impacts in California impact on labor, but also shift in demand maybe from limited service into casual dining. So any comment there on what you've seen over the last few months as the Fast Recovery actually implemented?

知道了。但我認為這意味著在短期內，您將在這種環境下、宏觀環境下對橄欖園進行定價。我想知道您是否認為這會為交通帶來一點風險，即使從我們開始的地方也是如此。如果你可以回答這個問題，但我也剛剛對加州的《快速恢復法案》進行了後續行動，你們在那裡有不錯的表現，我認為我們還沒有得到很多關於其影響的評論。加州的一些地震影響似乎對勞動力產生了影響，但需求也可能從有限的服務轉向休閒餐飲。那麼，您對過去幾個月快速恢復實際實施過程中所看到的情況有何評論？

Hey Jake, this is Rick. I'm going to start on the fact act with saying that our employment proposition is great in California. So we've got a great one there. On average, our team members earn well over $20 an hour. And California only represents about 5% of our restaurants. So it's not like it's an over-index for us. We haven't seen a real impact in wages. And since the Fast Act came about, but unfortunately, we have seen many closures of fast-food restaurants in that time.

嘿傑克，這是瑞克。我首先要說的是，我們的就業主張在加州非常好。所以我們有一個很棒的人。平均而言，我們的團隊成員每小時賺取超過 20 美元。加州僅占我們餐廳總數的 5% 左右。所以這對我們來說並不是一個過高的指數。我們還沒有看到工資受到真正的影響。自從《禁食法案》出台以來，不幸的是，我們看到許多快餐店在那段時間倒閉。

And so our California performance for the quarter was still not as strong as the company, as you said. But as Raj said, we did see some softness in California, but I think that was more related to some weather there than anything else. But again, we haven't seen a whole lot of change in our wages. Our employment proposition is great in California. But we have seen some fast-food restaurants, unfortunately, have to close because of the act.

因此，正如您所說，我們加州本季的業績仍然不如該公司強勁。但正如拉傑所說，我們確實在加州看到了一些疲軟的情況，但我認為這與那裡的某些天氣關係更大。但同樣，我們的薪資並沒有發生很大的變化。我們在加州的就業主張非常好。但不幸的是，我們看到一些快餐店因為這行為而不得不關門。

Thank you. (technical difficulty) can you price at Olive Garden now in this environment?

謝謝。 （技術難度）橄欖園現在在這種環境下能定價嗎？

So Jake, I'll go back to the pricing actions, some of this is timing of when you take actions. Every year, there's a little bit of pricing action, right? And this year, or in fiscal '24, we did not have any pricing action until pretty late into maybe Q4, middle of Q4. So that's just already there. It's not a lot of pricing on top. Some of that is also moving to years, right, some restaurants in different markets as things change with the environment and minimum wage, we make some adjustments. But nothing crazy.

所以傑克，我將回到定價行動，其中一些是你採取行動的時間。每年都會有一些定價行動，對嗎？今年，或 24 財年，我們直到第四季末、第四季中期才採取任何定價行動。所以這已經存在了。上面的定價並不高。有的也是要到幾年了，對吧，不同市場的一些餐廳隨著環境和最低工資的變化，我們做一些調整。但沒什麼瘋狂的。

If you look at -- I mentioned earlier and in response to a different question, we have taken a lot less pricing at Olive Garden. So we're not worried about where they are. I mean if you look at over the five years, cumulatively, their CAGR is probably more in the 3.5% range when the industry is closer to 5%-plus. So we feel like there's a better -- great value proposition at Olive Garden, and we try to keep prices as low as we can, and you've seen that.

如果你看一下——我之前提到過，在回答另一個問題時，我們在橄欖園的定價要低得多。所以我們不擔心他們在哪裡。我的意思是，如果你看一下過去五年的累積情況，當行業接近 5% 以上時，他們的複合年增長率可能更多在 3.5% 的範圍內。所以我們覺得橄欖園有一個更好的——巨大的價值主張，我們盡力將價格保持在盡可能低的水平，你已經看到了。

Gregory Francfort, Guggenheim Securities.

格雷戈里·弗蘭克福特，古根漢證券公司。

Hey. Thanks for the question. My question is just -- I think it was asked on unit growth earlier in the call, and you guys were suggesting it makes sense to look at the long term. I think you're opening up 15 to 20 or so Olive Gardens a year, which is one of the faster paces of growth we've seen in a long time. How many stores do you think Olive Garden could have on a long-term basis? You have a lot of competitors that are up at 1,200, [1,700] stores with a lot lower AUVs. Just sort of curious how you come up with the long-term target for Olive Garden. Thanks.

嘿。謝謝你的提問。我的問題是——我認為在電話會議的早些時候就被問及了單位增長，你們建議從長遠來看是有意義的。我認為你們每年會開放 15 到 20 個左右的橄欖園，這是我們長期以來看到的最快的增長速度之一。您認為 Olive Garden 長期可以擁有多少家商店？你有很多競爭對手，他們擁有 1,200、[1,700] 家商店，但 AUV 卻低得多。只是有點好奇你是如何設定橄欖園的長期目標的。謝謝。

Hey, Greg. Let me start by saying every time we come up with a target for Olive Garden, we blow past it. So we haven't really talked about a target for Olive Garden for a lot of years. What we have found over the last 5 or 10 years is that we can open more Olive Gardens in markets that Olive Gardens are already in, where prior to that, we weren't doing that as much. Convenience is important to consumers, and we'd rather be a little closer where they live. And so we do believe there's opportunities to open Olive Gardens for the foreseeable future, and we don't think we're near the top of the Olive Garden limit yet.

嘿，格雷格。首先我要說的是，每次我們為橄欖園提出目標時，我們都會超越它。因此，我們已經很多年沒有真正討論過橄欖園的目標了。在過去的 5 或 10 年裡，我們發現我們可以在橄欖園已經存在的市場上開設更多的橄欖園，而在此之前，我們並沒有這樣做太多。便利性對消費者來說很重要，我們寧願離他們住的地方近一點。因此，我們確實相信在可預見的未來有機會開放橄欖園，我們認為我們尚未接近橄欖園的上限。

Greg, did you have any other questions?

格雷格，您還有其他問題嗎？

No, no, that was it. I appreciate the perspective. Thanks.

不，不，就是這樣。我很欣賞這個觀點。謝謝。

Andrew Strelzick, BMO Capital Markets.

Andrew Strelzick，BMO 資本市場。

Hey, good morning. Thanks for taking the questions. I just had two quick ones for me. There's been a lot of discussion about the low-income consumer. I think last quarter, you said that you saw growth with the higher-end consumer at all of your segments. So I was hoping we could get an update there on how that is trending, if that's still what you're realizing. And then my second question is about the balance sheet, and you mentioned leverage being below the target. It's been that way for a bit now. So I'm just curious how you're thinking about what might narrow that gap or how you're thinking about leverage on the balance sheet going forward? Thanks.

嗨，早安。感謝您提出問題。我只準備了兩個快速的。關於低收入消費者有很多討論。我想上個季度，您說您在所有細分市場都看到了高端消費者的成長。因此，我希望我們能夠了解該趨勢的最新情況（如果您仍然意識到這一點）。我的第二個問題是關於資產負債表的，您提到槓桿率低於目標。這樣已經有一段時間了。所以我只是好奇你如何考慮什麼可以縮小這個差距，或者你如何考慮未來資產負債表上的槓桿？謝謝。

Hey, Andrew. Let's start with the question around the incomes. We are seeing the higher income being a little bit better, and it varies from brand to brand. And as you can imagine, when you think about a brand that grew traffic for LongHorn, for example, they actually had growth pretty much across all income segments.

嘿，安德魯。我們先從收入問題開始。我們看到收入越高越好，而且每個品牌的情況都不同。正如你可以想像的那樣，當你想到一個為 LongHorn 帶來流量成長的品牌時，他們實際上在所有收入領域都實現了大幅成長。

But from a fine dining perspective, you're seeing growth at the higher end. I wouldn't say that's just the median household. It actually has to go up north of 150 to see where we're seeing some growth. And then the pullback is mostly at the lower -- at the below-median household income. And then the other segments are either -- other income groups or cohorts are either stable or growing.

但從高級餐飲的角度來看，您會看到高級餐廳的成長。我不會說這只是中位數家庭。實際上必須上升到 150 以上才能看到成長。然後，回檔主要發生在較低的地區——低於中位數的家庭收入。然後其他細分市場要么是其他收入群體或群體要么穩定要么在成長。

And then on the balance sheet, we always work with our Board to figure out what's the best way to kind of really position ourselves. We like the flexibility we have, and as we've always said, we want to use our balance sheet to get productive assets over time. And so that's still -- the philosophy remains the same.

然後在資產負債表上，我們總是與董事會合作，找出真正定位自己的最佳方法。我們喜歡我們所擁有的靈活性，正如我們一直所說的那樣，我們希望利用我們的資產負債表隨著時間的推移獲得生產性資產。所以，理念仍然是一樣的。

Thank you. We have reached the end of our question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn the floor back over to Courtney Aquilla for closing remarks.

謝謝。我們的問答環節已經結束。現在我想請考特妮·阿奎拉致閉幕詞。

That concludes our call. I want to remind you that we plan to release first-quarter results on Thursday, September 19, before the market opens with the conference call to follow. Thank you for participating in today's call.

我們的通話到此結束。我想提醒您，我們計劃在 9 月 19 日星期四開盤前發布第一季業績，隨後召開電話會議。感謝您參加今天的電話會議。

Thank you. This does conclude today's teleconference. We appreciate your participation. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Enjoy the rest of your day.

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。我們感謝您的參與。此時您可以斷開線路。享受你一天剩下的時間。