達登餐飲 (DRI) 2026 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Hello and welcome to the Darden fiscal-year 2026 third-quarter earnings call. (Operator Instructions) This conference is being recorded. If you have any objections, please disconnect at this time.

大家好，歡迎參加達登（Darden）2026 財政年度第三季財報電話會議。(接線員指示) 本次會議將被錄音。如您有任何異議，請此刻中斷連線。

I will now turn the call over to Ms. Courtney Aquilla. Thank you, you may begin.

現在我將把電話交給 Courtney Aquilla 女士。謝謝，您可以開始。

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

謝謝你，Kevin。各位早安，感謝大家參與今天的電話會議。與我一同出席的有達登總裁暨執行長 Rick Cardenas，以及財務長 Raj Vennam。

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

提醒各位，本次電話會議中的評論將包含《1995 年私人證券訴訟改革法》所定義的前瞻性陳述。這些陳述受風險與不確定性影響，可能導致實際結果與我們的預期與推估有重大差異。相關風險已載明於公司今早發布的新聞稿，以及向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中。

A supplemental materials presentation containing information shared on today's call is available on the Financials tab in the Investors section of our website at darden.com. Today's discussion includes certain non-GAAP measurements, and reconciliations of these measurements are included in that presentation. Looking ahead, we plan to release fiscal 2026 fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday, June 25, before the market opens, followed by a conference call.

包含今日電話會議所分享資訊的補充簡報資料，可於 darden.com 網站「投資人」專區的「財務資訊」分頁取得。今日討論包含若干非 GAAP 衡量指標，相關調節表亦收錄於該簡報中。展望未來，我們計畫於 6 月 25 日（週四）開盤前發布 2026 財政年度第四季財報，並隨後舉行電話會議。

During today's call, all references to industry results refer to the Black Box Intelligence Casual Dining benchmark excluding Darden. During the fiscal third quarter, average same-restaurant sales for the industry decreased 1.2% and average same-restaurant guest counts decreased 3%. Additionally, median same-restaurant sales for the industry increased 0.6% and median same-restaurant guest counts decreased 2.9%.

在今天的電話會議中，所有提及的產業表現均指 Black Box Intelligence 的休閒餐飲（Casual Dining）基準（不含達登）。在第三財季，產業平均同店銷售下滑 1.2%，產業平均同店來客數下滑 3%。此外，產業同店銷售中位數成長 0.6%，產業同店來客數中位數下滑 2.9%。

This morning, Rick will share some brief remarks on the quarter, and Raj will provide details on our third-quarter financial performance and share our updated fiscal 2026 financial outlook. Now, I'll turn the call over to Rick.

今天早上，Rick 將就本季做簡短說明，Raj 將提供第三季財務表現細節，並分享我們更新後的 2026 財政年度財務展望。現在，我把電話交給 Rick。

Thank you, Courtney. Good morning, everyone. We had a very strong quarter. We generated $3.3 billion of total sales, 5.9% higher than last year, driven by same-restaurant sales growth of 4.2%. We've been consistently outperforming industry same-restaurant sales. And this quarter, our gap widened as each of our 4 largest brands exceeded the industry by more than 400 basis points.

謝謝你，Courtney。各位早安。我們本季表現非常強勁。我們創造了 33 億美元的總銷售額，較去年成長 5.9%，主要由同店銷售成長 4.2% 所帶動。我們一直持續優於產業同店銷售表現。而在本季，我們的領先差距進一步擴大，因為我們最大的 4 個品牌同店銷售均較產業高出超過 400 個基點。

All of our segments delivered positive same-restaurant sales as our restaurant teams continue to be brilliant with the basics, once again, leading to impressive guest satisfaction scores. Our restaurant team's ability to consistently deliver exceptional guest experiences is enabled by historically high team member and manager retention levels that we are seeing across our businesses.

我們所有事業部門同店銷售皆為正成長，餐廳團隊持續把基本功做到極致，再次帶來亮眼的顧客滿意度分數。餐廳團隊能夠持續提供卓越的顧客體驗，得益於我們在各項業務中看到的、歷史高水準的員工與經理留任率。

We began the quarter with very strong holiday sales and several of our brands generated record Valentine's Day sales, reinforcing that guests choose the brands they trust for these special occasions. We also opened 16 new restaurants during the quarter and we remain confident in our ability to deliver our planned openings for the fiscal year.

本季一開始，我們在假期期間的銷售非常強勁，且旗下多個品牌在情人節創下單日銷售紀錄，進一步印證顧客在這些特殊時刻會選擇他們信賴的品牌。本季我們也新開了 16 家餐廳，並且我們仍對達成本財年的既定開店計畫充滿信心。

Olive Garden delivered positive same-restaurant sales of 3.2% for the quarter, driven by strong operational execution, even with 3 fewer weeks of price-pointed promotions than last year. The restaurant teams are focused on ensuring every guest is offered a free refill on breadsticks and soup or salad. This led to new all-time high guest satisfaction score for service and matched their all-time high for overall guest satisfaction.

Olive Garden 本季同店銷售正成長 3.2%，主要受惠於強勁的營運執行力，即使相較去年少了 3 週的定價促銷活動。餐廳團隊專注於確保每位顧客都會被提供免費續加的麵包棒，以及湯品或沙拉。這使服務滿意度創下歷史新高，整體顧客滿意度也追平其歷史最高水準。

In January, olive Garden completed the rollout of the lighter portion section of their menu, adding 7 more dishes under $15. This platform provides our guests with more choice by offering additional smaller portions of popular dishes at a lower price and is offered in addition to the Olive Garden's regular portion sizes. Since these are existing menu items, there is minimal operational complexity and the restaurant teams can execute at a high level. The lighter portion section of the menu is clearly resonating with our guests and our restaurant teams.

1 月，Olive Garden 完成了菜單中「輕食份量」專區的全面導入，新增 7 道 15 美元以下的餐點。此平台透過以較低價格提供受歡迎餐點的較小份量，為顧客帶來更多選擇，並且是作為 Olive Garden 原有標準份量之外的額外選項。由於這些都是既有菜單品項，因此營運複雜度極低，餐廳團隊能以高水準執行。菜單中的「輕食份量」專區顯然深受顧客與餐廳團隊的認同。

In February, Fan Favorites returned with Four-Cheese Manicotti for a limited time starting at $12.99. Olive Garden also reintroduced two past favorites, Ravioli di Portobello and Braised Beef Tortelloni, meeting strong guest affinity for familiar craveable dishes. Building on last year's successful introduction, Olive Garden recently launched Buy One, Take One and is extending the offer for one additional week versus last year. With the same starting at price point of $14.99, guests can choose 1 entree for their dine-in experience and then take a second entree home. To give guests even more reasons to enjoy it, this year's offer features a new Rigatoni alla Vodka entree for a limited time. Olive Garden is supporting Buy One, Take One with increased media.

2 月，「粉絲最愛」活動回歸，限時推出四起司 Manicotti，起價 12.99 美元。Olive Garden 也重新推出兩款過往人氣餐點：Ravioli di Portobello 與 Braised Beef Tortelloni，以回應顧客對熟悉、令人垂涎餐點的強烈偏好。延續去年成功的推出，Olive Garden 近期再次推出「買一帶一（Buy One, Take One）」並較去年延長一週。起價同為 14.99 美元，顧客可選擇 1 道主餐於店內享用，並可再帶 1 道主餐回家。為了讓顧客更有理由享用，今年的活動限時新增 Rigatoni alla Vodka 主餐。Olive Garden 也以增加媒體投放來支持「買一帶一」活動。

At LongHorn Steakhouse, strict adherence to their strategy rooted in quality, simplicity and culture continues to drive their momentum as they delivered same-restaurant sales growth of 7.2%. The LongHorn team is deeply committed to ensuring every item they serve meets their high-quality standards. Already this year, they have recertified every manager on their culinary standards. And during the quarter, their directors of operations completed hands-on culinary training in order to expertly assess and coach the behaviors that drive consistent execution.

在 LongHorn Steakhouse，嚴格遵循其以品質、簡約與文化為核心的策略，持續推動其成長動能，同店銷售成長達 7.2%。LongHorn 團隊深度投入，確保每一道出餐都符合其高品質標準。今年截至目前，他們已重新認證每一位經理的廚務標準。並且在本季，其營運總監完成了實作型廚務訓練，以便能專業評估並指導那些驅動一致性執行的行為。

Longhorn's people bring the brand to life in their restaurants and their culture remains a clear differentiator in earning strong team member loyalty, which in turn helps drive guest loyalty. During the quarter, LongHorn was recognized as one of the best places to work by Glassdoor. This award is particularly meaningful as winners are determined solely based on the feedback provided by team members.

LongHorn 的員工在餐廳中讓品牌精神具體呈現，而其文化仍是贏得高度員工忠誠度的明顯差異化優勢，進而有助於帶動顧客忠誠度。本季，LongHorn 獲 Glassdoor 評選為最佳工作場所之一。此獎項特別有意義，因為得獎者完全依據團隊成員所提供的回饋來決定。

Longhorn also celebrated 5 new Grill Master Legends during the quarter. This program is a great example of the intersection of quality and culture, celebrating team members who have each grilled more than 1 million steaks over the course of their career, a milestone that typically takes more than 20 years to reach.

LongHorn 本季也表揚了 5 位新的「烤台大師傳奇（Grill Master Legends）」。此計畫是品質與文化交會的絕佳例子，表彰那些在職涯中累計烤製超過 100 萬份牛排的團隊成員；達成此里程碑通常需要 20 年以上。

Same-restaurant sales for the Fine Dining segment grew 2.1% for the quarter. All 3 brands in this segment delivered positive same-restaurant sales driven by strong private dining sales growth at The Capital Grille NAVs and the continued success of the 3-course fixed price menu at Ruth's Chris Steak House. Within our Other Business segment, same-restaurant sales grew 3.9% during the quarter driven by very strong performance at Yard House and positive same-restaurant sales at Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen and Seasons 52.

本季高級餐飲（Fine Dining）事業部門同店銷售成長 2.1%。該部門旗下 3 個品牌同店銷售皆為正成長，主要受惠於 The Capital Grille 的私人包廂餐飲銷售（NAVs）強勁成長，以及 Ruth's Chris Steak House 的三道式固定價格菜單持續成功。在我們的其他事業（Other Business）部門，本季同店銷售成長 3.9%，主要由 Yard House 的非常強勁表現所帶動，並且 Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen 與 Seasons 52 也實現同店銷售正成長。

The Yard House team has done a great job of leveraging their competitive advantages of a socially energized bar and distinctive culinary offerings with broad appeal to drive strong demand for Yard House as a social gathering space. During the quarter, more than half of their restaurants set new daily sales records on Valentine's Day. At Cheddar's, the team remains focused on strengthening their competitive advantages of wow price and speed. During the quarter, they maintained their #1 ranking for affordability among major casual dining brands within Technomic's industry tracking tool.

Yard House 團隊善用其競爭優勢——充滿社交活力的酒吧氛圍與具特色、且廣受歡迎的餐飲選擇——成功帶動 Yard House 作為社交聚會空間的強勁需求。本季情人節當天，超過一半的餐廳創下新的單日銷售紀錄。在 Cheddar's，團隊仍專注於強化其「超值價格」與「速度」兩項競爭優勢。本季，他們在 Technomic 的產業追蹤工具中，持續維持於主要休閒餐飲品牌中「可負擔性」排名第 1。

I am proud of our performance this quarter and confident in our ability to build on our sales momentum. We remain focused on executing our proven strategy, enabling us to grow sales, increase market share and make meaningful investments in our business while returning capital to shareholders.

我為我們本季的表現感到自豪，並對我們能夠在銷售動能上再接再厲充滿信心。我們仍專注於執行已被驗證的策略，使我們能夠在成長銷售、提升市占率並對業務進行具意義的投資的同時，亦向股東返還資本。

We also continue to work in our pursuit of our shared purpose: to nourish and delight everyone we serve. One of the ways we do this for our team members and their families is through our Next Course Scholarship program. Next month, the Darden Foundation will award more than 90 postsecondary education scholarships worth $3,000 each to the children of Darden members. This is the fourth year of the program, and over that time, we have awarded more than $1 million worth of scholarships, helping them reach their educational goals.

我們也持續努力追求共同的使命：滋養並取悅我們所服務的每一個人。我們為團隊成員及其家庭做到這一點的方式之一，是透過我們的 Next Course 獎學金計畫。下個月，Darden 基金會將向 Darden 成員的子女頒發超過 90 份高等教育獎學金，每份價值 3,000 美元。這是該計畫的第四年；在此期間，我們已頒發總額超過 100 萬美元的獎學金，協助他們達成教育目標。

Finally, I want to thank our team members for their continued hard work and dedication to creating memorable experiences for our guests every day. On behalf of our leadership team and the Board of Directors, thank you for everything you do.

最後，我要感謝我們的團隊成員持續的辛勤工作與投入，天天為賓客創造難忘的體驗。我謹代表領導團隊與董事會，感謝各位所做的一切。

Now I'll turn it over to Raj.

接下來我把時間交給 Raj。

Thank you, Rick, and good morning, everyone. As Rick mentioned, in the third quarter, we generated $3.3 billion of total sales, 5.9% higher than last year driven by same-restaurant sales growth of 4.2% and the addition of 31 net new restaurants. Our same-restaurant sales exceeded the industry benchmark by 540 basis points during the quarter. Our sales momentum was strong throughout the quarter as we further expanded our positive gap to the industry.

謝謝你，Rick，各位早安。如 Rick 所提到，第三季我們創造了 33 億美元的總銷售額，較去年成長 5.9%，主要由同店銷售成長 4.2%以及淨新增 31 家新餐廳所帶動。本季我們的同店銷售較產業基準高出 540 個基點。整個季度我們的銷售動能都很強勁，並進一步擴大了相對於產業的正向差距。

Winter weather negatively impacted same-restaurant sales by approximately 100 basis points for the quarter with more than 40% of our restaurants having to close temporarily in January during winter storm [Thorne]. Same-restaurant sales adjusted for weather were greater than 5%, a strong performance in what is traditionally a high-volume order. Overall, our teams did a great job managing the business through the volatility created by weather.

冬季天候對本季同店銷售造成約 100 個基點的負面影響；在一月冬季風暴[Thorne] 期間，超過 40% 的餐廳不得不暫時關閉。 同店銷售若排除天候影響則超過 5%，在傳統上屬於高訂單量的期間仍展現強勁表現。整體而言，我們的團隊在天候帶來的波動中，仍出色地管理了業務。

Third quarter earnings were in line with our expectations, delivering mid-single-digit earnings per share growth. Adjusted diluted net earnings per share from continuing operations of $2.95 were 5.4% higher than last year. We generated $579 million of adjusted EBITDA and returned $300 million to our shareholders this quarter by paying $173 million in dividends and repurchasing $127 million in shares.

第三季獲利符合我們的預期，帶來每股盈餘中個位數成長。持續營運的調整後稀釋每股淨利為 2.95 美元，較去年成長 5.4%。我們創造了 5.79 億美元的調整後 EBITDA，並於本季透過支付 1.73 億美元股利及回購 1.27 億美元股票，向股東返還 3.00 億美元。

Now looking at our adjusted margin analysis compared to last year. Food and beverage expenses were 50 basis points higher, primarily due to elevated beef cost driving total commodities inflation of approximately 5% for the quarter. Restaurant labor was 20 basis points lower driven by productivity improvement as pricing was in line with total labor inflation of 3.3%. Marketing expenses were 10 basis points higher, consistent with our expectations due to incremental marketing activity. Restaurant expenses were 10 basis points lower due to sales leverage.

接著看我們相較去年的調整後利潤率分析。食品與飲料費用上升 50 個基點，主要因牛肉成本走高，帶動本季整體原物料通膨約 5%。餐廳人力成本下降 20 個基點，受惠於生產力提升；而定價與 3.3% 的整體人力通膨大致一致。行銷費用上升 10 個基點，符合我們的預期，係因增加行銷活動所致。餐廳其他費用下降 10 個基點，主要來自銷售槓桿效益。

This resulted in restaurant level EBITDA of 21%, 30 basis points lower than last year as our pricing was 40 basis points below inflation. Adjusted G&A expenses were flat to last year. Leverage from sales growth was offset by 20 basis points of unfavorable mark-to-market expenses on our deferred compensation. Due to the way we hedge mark-to-market expense, this unfavorability is fully offset in taxes. As a result, our adjusted effective tax rate of 12.1% was 130 basis points lower than last year.

因此餐廳層級 EBITDA 為 21%，較去年下降 30 個基點，因我們的定價較通膨低 40 個基點。調整後一般及行政（G&A）費用與去年持平。銷售成長帶來的槓桿效益，被遞延薪酬按市價評價（mark-to-market）費用不利的 20 個基點所抵銷。由於我們對按市價評價費用的避險方式，這項不利影響在稅負上會被完全抵銷。因此，我們的調整後有效稅率為 12.1%，較去年低 130 個基點。

We generated $341 million in adjusted earnings from continuing operations, which was 10.2% of sales.

我們的持續營運調整後盈餘為 3.41 億美元，占銷售額的 10.2%。

Looking at our segments. All segments grew sales and segment profit dollars for the quarter driven by positive same-restaurant sales. As Rick mentioned, we continue to make meaningful investments in the business, such as the lighter portion section of the Olive Garden menu. This, along with our measured approach in reacting to elevated beef costs, resulted in headwind to segment profit margin for the quarter relative to last year.

接著看各事業部門。本季所有部門在同店銷售為正的帶動下，銷售與部門獲利金額皆成長。如 Rick 所提到，我們持續對業務進行具意義的投資，例如 Olive Garden 菜單中的較輕份量（lighter portion）專區。這項投資，加上我們對牛肉成本上升採取審慎應對的作法，使得本季部門獲利率相較去年面臨逆風。

Total sales for Olive Garden increased by 4.7% driven by strong same-restaurant sales growth as well as the addition of 17 net new restaurants. The sales momentum continued from prior quarters with same-restaurant sales that outperformed the industry benchmark by 440 basis points. Olive Garden delivered a strong segment profit margin of 23% for the quarter, which was only 10 basis points below last year. This includes approximately 40 basis points of margin investment related to the addition of the lighter portion section of the menu and the impact of delivery fees.

Olive Garden 的總銷售額成長 4.7%，主要由強勁的同店銷售成長以及淨新增 17 家新餐廳所帶動。銷售動能延續前幾季，同店銷售較產業基準高出 440 個基點。Olive Garden 本季交出 23% 的強勁部門獲利率，僅較去年低 10 個基點。其中包含約 40 個基點的利潤率投資，與新增菜單較輕份量專區及外送費用影響相關。

At LongHorn, total sales increased 11.2% driven by same-restaurant sales growth of 7.2% and the addition of 22 net new restaurants. The sustained sales and traffic outperformance resulted in same-restaurant sales exceeding the industry benchmark by 840 basis points and same-restaurant traffic exceeding by 640 basis points. The LongHorn team remains focused on their strategy driving strong results, delivering segment profit margin of 18.6% despite elevated beef costs.

LongHorn 的總銷售額成長 11.2%，主要由同店銷售成長 7.2%以及淨新增 22 家新餐廳所帶動。持續優於同業的銷售與來客表現，使同店銷售較產業基準高出 840 個基點，同店來客數較產業基準高出 640 個基點。LongHorn 團隊仍專注於其策略並帶來強勁成果，即使牛肉成本上升，仍實現 18.6% 的部門獲利率。

Total sales at Fine Dining segment increased 4.3% driven by positive same-restaurant sales of 2.1% and the addition of 2 net new restaurants. The segment profit margin of 22% was 50 basis points lower than last year. The Other Business segment sales increased 3.2% with positive same-restaurant sales of 3.9%, partially offset by the permanent closure of Bahama Breeze restaurants. Segment profit margin of 15.6% was flat to last year.

Fine Dining（精緻餐飲）部門總銷售額成長 4.3%，主要由同店銷售正成長 2.1%以及淨新增 2 家新餐廳所帶動。該部門獲利率為 22%，較去年低 50 個基點。Other Business（其他業務）部門銷售成長 3.2%，同店銷售為正成長 3.9%，但部分被 Bahama Breeze 餐廳永久關閉所抵銷。部門獲利率 15.6% 與去年持平。

Turning to our financial outlook for fiscal 2026. We've updated our guidance to reflect year-to-date results and expectations for the fourth quarter. We now expect total sales growth for the year of approximately 9.5%, same-restaurant sales growth of approximately 4.5%, approximately 70 new restaurant openings, commodities inflation of approximately 4%, an effective tax rate of approximately 12.5% and adjusted diluted net earnings per share of $10.57 to $10.67, including approximately $0.25 related to the additional 53rd week.

接著談 2026 會計年度的財務展望。我們已更新指引，以反映年初至今的結果以及對第四季的預期。我們目前預期全年總銷售成長約 9.5%，同店銷售成長約 4.5%，約開出 70 家新餐廳，原物料通膨約 4%，有效稅率約 12.5%，以及調整後稀釋每股淨利為 10.57 至 10.67 美元，其中包含約 0.25 美元與額外的第 53 週相關。

For the fourth quarter specifically, our annual outlook implies total sales growth of 13% to 14.5%, which includes the extra fiscal week. Same restaurant sales growth of 3.5% to 5% incorporates the strong trends we have seen through the first 3 weeks of March. We expect adjusted diluted net earnings per share between $3.59 and $3.69.

就第四季而言，我們的全年展望意味著總銷售成長 13% 至 14.5%，其中包含額外的會計週。同店銷售成長 3.5% 至 5%，納入了我們在三月前 3 週所看到的強勁趨勢。我們預期調整後稀釋每股淨利介於 3.59 至 3.69 美元。

As previously announced, we've completed the exploration of strategic alternatives for the Bahama Breeze brand and determined that 14 locations will permanently close and the remaining 14 will be converted to other Darden brands over the next 12 to 18 months. We believe the commercial locations are great sites that will benefit several of the brands in our portfolio.

如先前所宣布，我們已完成對 Bahama Breeze 品牌策略替代方案的評估，並決定永久關閉 14 個據點，其餘 14 個據點將在未來 12 至 18 個月內轉換為其他 Darden 品牌。我們相信這些商業據點都是很好的店址，將使我們投資組合中的多個品牌受益。

Our team members remain a priority throughout this process. A majority of team members, including more than 70% of managers who are impacted by the permanent closures, have already been placed in new roles within the Darden portfolio. Additionally, we intend to keep the restaurant teams from the conversion locations with the new brand or other Darden brands. We do not expect these actions to have a material impact on our financial results.

在整個過程中，我們的團隊成員始終是優先事項。受永久關店影響的團隊成員中（包括超過 70% 的受影響經理），多數已在 Darden 旗下品牌組合中安排到新的職務。此外，我們也打算讓轉換門店的餐廳團隊留在新品牌或其他 Darden 品牌中。我們預期這些行動不會對我們的財務結果造成重大影響。

Now looking forward to fiscal 2027. I would like to provide our thoughts on a few items. First, we expect to open between 75 and 80 new restaurants in addition to converting 14 Bahama Breeze locations to other Darden brands. Next, we expect to spend approximately $850 million of capital on the following: approximately $475 million for new restaurants, approximately $25 million for the 14 Bahama Breeze conversions and approximately $350 million related to ongoing restaurant maintenance, refresh and technology. Finally, we anticipate an effective tax rate of approximately 13.5% for fiscal 2027 and total interest expense of approximately $200 million.

接著展望 2027 財年。我想就幾個事項分享我們的看法。首先，我們預期將新開 75 到 80 家餐廳，並另外把 14 家 Bahama Breeze 門店轉換為其他 Darden 品牌。其次，我們預期將投入約 8.5 億美元資本支出，主要用於：新餐廳約 4.75 億美元、14 家 Bahama Breeze 轉換約 2,500 萬美元，以及約 3.5 億美元用於持續性的餐廳維護、翻新與科技相關投入。最後，我們預估 2027 財年的有效稅率約為 13.5%，利息費用總額約為 2 億美元。

In closing, I want to commend our teams for their outstanding efforts in serving our guests. Their dedication is reflected in the strong financial results we delivered and our continued outperformance to the industry. We remain confident in our ability to grow sales, manage costs and deliver value to our guests and shareholders.

最後，我要表揚我們團隊在服務賓客方面的傑出努力。他們的投入反映在我們交出的強勁財務成果，以及我們持續優於產業的表現。我們仍對自身有信心，能夠提升銷售、管理成本，並為賓客與股東創造價值。

Now, we'll take your questions.

現在，我們開始回答各位的提問。

(Operator Instructions) Brian Bittner, Oppenheimer.

（接線員指示）Brian Bittner，Oppenheimer。

Just as it relates to your same-store sales guidance, the implied outlook for the fourth quarter is that 3.5% to 5% range, which is very impressive. And that's happening despite much tougher comparisons, I think, of nearly 400 basis points in the fourth quarter. I think investors in general have been pretty worried about this multi-quarter stretch of tougher comparisons upcoming. So can you help us understand what do you believe is driving the ability to lap these, so far at least with such ease, particularly at Olive Garden?

就你們的同店銷售指引而言，隱含的第四季展望落在 3.5% 到 5% 的區間，這非常令人印象深刻。而且即使面對更艱難的比較基期，我認為第四季大約有將近 400 個基點的壓力。我想投資人普遍一直很擔心接下來連續幾季都會遇到更艱難的比較基期。所以你們能否協助我們理解：你們認為是什麼在驅動你們能夠（至少到目前為止）如此輕鬆地跨越這些比較基期，尤其是在 Olive Garden？

Brian, let me start. So as we look at guidance for next year, I think people are looking at this quarter-to-quarter tougher comparisons towards this last year. But the way we think about it is what are the drivers of the business and how do we continue to build growth or gain growth over time through the initiatives we have? And I think we've shown that over time, we achieve what we commit to. We've been able to show that we can grow.

Brian，我先來回答。我們在看明年的指引時，我想大家關注的是相較去年逐季變得更艱難的比較基期。但我們的思考方式是：業務的驅動因素是什麼？以及我們如何透過現有的各項措施，持續建立成長、或隨時間推進而取得成長？我認為我們也已經長期證明，我們能做到我們所承諾的。我們已經展現出我們可以成長。

And so as we look at specifically with respect to Olive Garden last year, you said it's a tougher compare. But if you think about the drivers of growth last year were primarily true, too. One was Buy One, Take One coming and returning for the first time since COVID and second was the third-party delivery. Well, guess what? Those two are still in place today. And we are extending our Buy One, Take One by an additional week and, Rick mentioned, we're also supporting that with additional media.

再具體談 Olive Garden，去年你提到比較基期更艱難。但如果你回頭看，去年成長的驅動因素主要也同樣成立。第一是 Buy One, Take One 自 COVID 以來首次回歸；第二是第三方外送。那你猜怎麼著？這兩項今天仍然都在。而且我們會把 Buy One, Take One 再延長一週，另外如 Rick 提到的，我們也會用更多媒體投放來支持。

So we build a plan and we build an estimate based on the initiatives we have in place, taking into consideration the macro factors. And I think we feel good about what we're guiding here. And I don't know, Rick, if you want to --

因此，我們會在考量總體環境因素的同時，根據已經到位的各項措施來制定計畫並做出估算。我認為我們對目前給出的指引感到有信心。我不知道，Rick，你是否想要--

And just my quick follow-up is just related to the relationship of pricing and inflation. Can you talk about that as we're moving forward into fourth quarter and then into 2027? I know you're not giving exact guidance obviously for next year yet. But you had some pretty meaningful gaps in that dynamic throughout this year, which seem to be narrowing now. So maybe you can just put some color on that for us.

我再快速追問一題，關於定價與通膨之間的關係。你能談談我們進入第四季、以及邁向 2027 年時這個關係會如何發展嗎？我知道你們顯然還不會提供明年的精確指引。但今年你們在這個動態上出現了相當明顯的落差，而現在看起來正在縮小。所以也許你可以為我們補充一些背景。

Yes, Brian. Look, I think we've had a pretty big underpricing of inflation through the first 3 quarters. As we get to Q4, we expect our pricing to catch up to inflation. We expect overall inflation to be in the mid-3s and our pricing to be in that mid-3s. And I think if you look at our implied guide for Q4, you can see the power of that, right? When we start coming close to pricing close to inflation, you see the margins grow meaningfully. And that's what you're seeing in the implied guidance for the fourth quarter.

好的，Brian。你看，我認為在前三季，我們的定價相對通膨有相當大的不足。到了第四季，我們預期定價將追上通膨。我們預期整體通膨約在 3% 中段，而我們的定價也會在 3% 中段。而且我想如果你看我們第四季隱含的指引，你就能看到這種效果，對吧？當我們的定價開始接近通膨時，你會看到利潤率明顯成長。這就是你在第四季隱含指引中看到的情況。

We'll share more about next year. But I think the way to think about it is we've given ourselves a lot of flexibility by underpricing inflation over several years. And we feel like we have -- across the industry when you look at, we have more power than anybody else in terms of being able to price to cover inflation. It's more of how we choose to run the business. And we've always been focused on long term.

我們會在明年分享更多細節。但我認為可以這樣理解：我們在過去幾年定價低於通膨，讓自己保有很大的彈性。而且我們覺得，放眼整個產業，我們在「能夠透過定價來覆蓋通膨」這件事上，比任何人都有更大的能力。更多是取決於我們選擇如何經營這門生意。而我們一直都著眼於長期。

And I think to the extent we're achieving our long-term framework of 10% to 15% TSR by not having to price as much, then we do that. But I think you'll hear more in the June call. But our framework costs were 10% to 15%, and that's what we aim to deliver.

我認為只要我們能在不需要大幅提價的情況下，達成我們長期架構所設定的 10% 到 15% TSR（股東總報酬），那我們就會這麼做。但我想你會在 6 月的電話會議上聽到更多。不過我們的架構目標是 10% 到 15%，而這就是我們力求交付的。

David Palmer, Evercore ISI.

David Palmer，Evercore ISI。

Quick question and a follow-up. How would you generally explain the same-store sales growth gap between LongHorn and Olive Garden? Is that really simply about the energy around protein and perhaps a little bit of the underpricing of beef costs lately? Or do you think there's something else that would explain the gap that we see between those two brands in terms of comps?

一個簡短問題加一個追問。你會如何概括解釋 LongHorn 與 Olive Garden 之間同店銷售成長差距？這真的只是因為市場對蛋白質品類的熱度，以及最近牛肉成本定價偏低帶來的一點助力嗎？還是你認為還有其他因素，可以解釋我們在這兩個品牌同店表現（comps）之間看到的差距？

Yes, David, I'll start by saying Longhorn has been on a very long path to continue to improve their business to make sure that the guests get a great quality product every day, and you heard that in some of the prepared remarks. They've also significantly underpriced beef costs in the grocery store over time. So the guests are getting an amazing value when they go to Longhorn to eat. Going back to the quality, they've done an amazing job in cooking their steaks. Guests want to come to a restaurant.

好的，David。我先說，LongHorn 長期以來一直在持續改善其營運，確保賓客每天都能獲得高品質的產品，你也在我們先前的準備發言中聽到了。此外，長期以來，他們相對於雜貨通路的牛肉成本，定價也明顯偏低。因此，賓客到 LongHorn 用餐時，能獲得非常驚人的價值感。回到品質，他們在煎烤牛排方面做得非常出色。賓客想要到餐廳用餐。

And if you can't cook a great steak, why do you open?

如果你連一塊好牛排都煎不好，那你為什麼要開店？

And LongHorn cooks a great steak well, very close to 100% of the time. And when they don't, they take care of the guest. So the gap between Olive Garden and LongHorn is it fluctuates. And this quarter, LongHorn, I think, had a little bit more pricing than Olive Garden did. They had a little bit more traffic growth than Olive Garden did. And I'm not sure they were impacted quite as much by the weather as Olive Garden.

而 LongHorn 幾乎在接近 100% 的時間都能把牛排煎得很好。即使偶爾沒有做到，他們也會妥善照顧賓客。所以 Olive Garden 與 LongHorn 之間的差距是會波動的。而在本季，LongHorn 我認為定價比 Olive Garden 略高一些。他們的來客數成長也比 Olive Garden 略高一些。而且我不確定他們受到天氣影響是否像 Olive Garden 那麼大。

But so as you think about all of those things, we don't worry about one brand outperforming another brand. We have a portfolio of great brands. And there's going to be quarters that one brand outperforms another one just like we generally outperform the industry. So we're very pleased with both of our brands, both Olive Garden and LongHorn and the performance they've had. But I think those can explain some of the big differences. And if Raj wants to add anything else.

但當你思考所有這些事情時，我們不會擔心某個品牌表現勝過另一個品牌。我們擁有一個由優秀品牌組成的投資組合。而且總會有某些季度某個品牌表現優於另一個品牌，就像我們整體通常也會優於產業一樣。所以我們對兩個品牌——Olive Garden 與 LongHorn——以及它們的表現都非常滿意。但我認為這些可以解釋一些較大的差異。如果 Raj 想補充其他內容的話。

No. The only thing I'll just add is, as Rick mentioned, we also manage the brands just like -- some of the things we do are depending on how we look at our performance across the portfolio. So there were 3 fewer weeks of price-pointed promotion at Olive Garden. And that's a decision we made because of how strong we felt the quarter was going to be. And that alone is probably about 100 basis points impact to Olive Garden's comps.

沒有。我唯一想補充的是，如 Rick 提到的，我們也會以管理品牌的方式來管理——我們做的一些事情會取決於我們如何看待整個品牌組合的表現。因此 Olive Garden 的定價促銷少了 3 週。這是我們做出的決策，因為我們對本季的強勁表現很有信心。僅這一點，對 Olive Garden 的同店銷售（comps）影響大概約 100 個基點。

Great. That's helpful stuff. Do you see the gap between those two brands growing? Or I mean, you just called out something of a reason why it might narrow, but we see that the comparisons getting tougher for Olive Garden. So I know that there's going to be concern that, that growth gap will widen against the tougher comparisons. Do you see that gap widening or perhaps narrowing off of some of those artificial hurts that happened last quarter? And I'll pass it on.

很好。這些資訊很有幫助。你們認為這兩個品牌之間的差距會擴大嗎？或者說，你剛剛點出了一些可能讓差距縮小的原因，但我們看到 Olive Garden 的比較基期變得更具挑戰。所以我知道大家會擔心在更艱難的比較基期下，那個成長差距會擴大。你們認為差距會擴大，還是可能因為上季一些人為因素造成的拖累而縮小？我就把問題交給你們。

Well, David, again, we're not as concerned with the gap widening or narrowing in our brands as long as the brands continue to grow. And the important gap widening for us is Olive Garden's gap to the industry. And Olive Garden's gap to the industry widened in our third quarter. LongHorn's gap widened even more. In the long run, though, law of large numbers, Olive Garden and LongHorn will probably converge over time. I can't say it's going to happen in Q4. I can't say it's going to happen next year.

David，再次強調，只要品牌持續成長，我們並不那麼在意品牌之間的差距是擴大還是縮小。對我們而言更重要的差距，是 Olive Garden 相對於產業的差距。而 Olive Garden 相對於產業的差距在我們第三季擴大了。LongHorn 的差距擴大得更多。但長期來看，基數效應（規模法則），Olive Garden 與 LongHorn 可能會隨時間推移而逐步收斂。我不能說這會在第四季發生。我也不能說會在明年發生。

But over time, as long as we're not doing anything significantly different in promotional cadence or other things, you would expect those gaps to narrow a little bit. But maybe LongHorn will be above Olive Garden for a while. We just can't tell you exactly when that will converge.

但隨著時間推移，只要我們在促銷節奏或其他方面沒有做出顯著不同的作法，你會預期這些差距會稍微縮小一些。但也許 LongHorn 會在一段時間內高於 Olive Garden。我們只是無法告訴你確切何時會收斂。

Lauren Silberman, Deutsche Bank.

Lauren Silberman，德意志銀行。

Congrats on the quarter. I'm going to start with just the increasing gas prices. It sounds like you really haven't seen much of an impact given the quarter-to-date strength. But any thoughts on whether there could be a delayed reaction from consumers? And any color on what you've seen historically with high gas prices and how that's impacted different brands?

恭喜本季表現。我想先從汽油價格上漲談起。聽起來鑑於本季迄今的強勁表現，你們似乎沒有看到太大的影響。但你們是否認為消費者可能會有延遲反應？以及能否分享一下，歷史上在高油價時期，對不同品牌造成的影響是什麼？

Yes, Lauren, as quite a few of you have written, the data doesn't show a really strong correlation between gas prices and restaurant spending. I would say historically, higher gas prices had more of an impact on durable goods and less of an impact on services. And I've been through a number of these cycles. I don't know how many. When there is a sudden and significant price increase in gas, there can be a brief pullback.

是的，Lauren，正如你們不少人所寫的，數據並未顯示油價與餐廳支出之間有非常強的相關性。我會說，歷史上油價較高對耐久財的影響更大，對服務的影響較小。而我經歷過好幾輪這樣的循環。我也不知道有多少輪。當油價出現突然且顯著的上漲時，可能會出現短暫的回落。

But that's usually in a few weeks.

但通常只會持續幾週。

And if you recall, the sudden increase in gas prices were a couple of weeks ago, and we still had a pretty darn good quarter. The biggest driver we see in traffic for restaurants is GDP. So if gas prices remain high for a long period of time and make a big effect in GDP, there may be some softness. But in general, we're not too worried about gas prices and we'll be able to react however we need to if they stay really high for a while.

而且如果你回想一下，油價的突然上漲是在幾週前發生的，但我們這一季仍然表現相當不錯。我們看到影響餐廳客流量最大的驅動因素是 GDP。所以如果油價在很長一段時間內維持高檔，並對 GDP 造成很大影響，可能會出現一些疲軟。但整體而言，我們對油價並不太擔心；如果油價真的在高位維持一段時間，我們也能視需要做出相應調整。

Great. And just a follow-up on the Q4 guide, the 3.5% to 5%. It's a fairly wide range. Any color on what you're embedding through the rest of the quarter? I know there's a lot of moving pieces, just trying to understand high end versus low end versus current trends.

很好。另外追問一下第四季指引 3.5% 到 5%。這是一個相當寬的區間。能否說明一下你們在本季剩餘期間所內含的假設？我知道有很多變動因素，只是想了解高端與低端以及目前趨勢之間的差異。

Yes. Lauren, I think it's just, look, what we're trying to embed is just there's still some uncertainty and the range is there to kind of capture that level of uncertainty. But we feel like we're in a good place quarter-to-date and that's taken into consideration. But we're also taking into consideration just the environment out there and just trying to make sure that we don't overpromise. So we're just trying to make sure that we're being thoughtful and taking into consideration all the factors that are out there.

是的。Lauren，我想我們試圖納入的就是：目前仍存在一些不確定性，而這個區間是用來涵蓋那個不確定性的程度。但我們認為本季迄今我們處於不錯的位置，這也已納入考量。同時我們也把外部環境納入考量，並確保不會過度承諾。所以我們只是希望審慎思考，把所有外部因素都納入考量。

Christine Cho, Goldman Sachs.

Christine Cho，高盛。

I would like to discuss beef prices particularly as we look ahead to FY27. I think last call, you've mentioned you're starting to see some green shoots, but seems spot prices are still trending upwards and news of the strike also seems to be an incremental headwind. Could you kind of share your directional thoughts on these and your locked in rates for the next few quarters ahead?

我想討論牛肉價格，特別是展望 FY27 的時候。我記得上次電話會議你們提到開始看到一些回溫跡象，但現貨價格似乎仍在走高，而罷工的消息看起來也成為額外的逆風。你們能否分享一下對這些因素的方向性看法，以及未來幾個季度你們已鎖定的合約價格／費率？

Christine, so let me start by saying, look, as far as fiscal 2027, we want to wait until June to provide more specifics. But I can tell you, for Q4, we have 85% fixed price coverage. So we have actually -- this is really pretty strong coverage relative to recent past. We haven't been able to cover that much in the last several years. So that's a good thing.

Christine，我先說明一下：關於 2027 財年，我們希望等到 6 月再提供更具體的資訊。但我可以告訴你，就第四季而言，我們有 85% 的固定價格覆蓋。所以相較於近期過去，這其實是相當強的覆蓋程度。過去幾年我們都無法覆蓋到這麼高的比例。所以這是好事。

The other thing is we are starting to see some willingness from suppliers to contract further. So we have started to lock in some things for fiscal '27 probably well ahead of where we would have been a year ago or the last few years with respect to the next year. But I want to wait until June to really share more specifics.

另外，我們也開始看到供應商更願意簽更長期的合約。因此我們已開始為 2027 財年鎖定一些項目，這可能比一年前或過去幾年在面對下一年度時的進度更超前。但我想等到 6 月再真正分享更多細節。

Now the other thing around the price, look, there are a lot of dynamics in terms of happening on the supply side. And so we're not expecting things to get significantly better on the supply side. But look, there's still double-digit demand destruction that we're seeing even in February in retail, right? So I think, ultimately, where it lands will depend on what happens with demand as prices go up.

至於價格方面，你看，供給端有很多動態正在發生。因此我們不預期供給端會顯著改善。但你看，即便在 2 月，我們在零售端仍看到兩位數的需求破壞（需求被抑制），對吧？所以我認為最終落點將取決於價格上漲時需求端會發生什麼變化。

I'd like to also circle back on the lighter portion menu rollout at Olive Garden. Any color on how the incident rates trended since the launch? And is the mix impact kind of tracking in line with your expectations? Also any new learnings on the guests that are choosing these items? Does the uptick appear primarily value-driven or more kind of health or GLP-1 motivated?

我也想回到 Olive Garden 較清淡份量（lighter portion）菜單的推出。自上線以來，相關事件發生率（incident rates）的走勢如何？以及產品組合（mix）影響是否大致符合你們的預期？另外，對於選擇這些品項的顧客，你們是否有新的觀察？這波提升主要看起來是由價值訴求驅動，還是更偏向健康或 GLP-1 相關動機？

Christine, I would say we finished the launch in mid-January of this year with the rest of the divisions going live. And those divisions are seeing kind of the same trends as the divisions that we launched earlier. The good news is we're seeing increased frequency in the guests that are ordering these lighter portions. We're seeing huge value scores and huge scores for portion size. So it's a combination of many things.

Christine，我會說我們在今年1月中旬完成了上線，其餘各事業部也都已正式啟用。而這些事業部所呈現的趨勢，與我們較早上線的事業部大致相同。好消息是，我們看到點選這些較輕份量餐點的顧客，下單頻率正在提高。我們看到非常高的價值評分，以及非常高的份量大小評分。所以這是多種因素共同作用的結果。

We do know that the Olive Garden menu has abundant portions, and abundant means different things to different people. And so when you get as much soup or salad as you want and as many breadsticks as you want, a lighter portion is maybe all that you're looking for, whether it's GLP-1 related or not.

我們確實知道 Olive Garden 的菜單份量很充足，而「充足」對不同的人有不同的意義。因此，當你可以想吃多少湯或沙拉就吃多少、想吃多少麵包棒就吃多少時，較輕份量可能就是你所需要的全部，不論是否與 GLP-1 有關。

Idon't think it's just GLP-1s. I think a lot of people want smaller portions if you get all these other things. And as I said, portion size ratings have gone up significantly and value ratings have gone up significantly for those items. And we have seen increased frequency in the guests that are ordering it. It's a significant increase in frequency.

我不認為這只是 GLP-1 的因素。我認為很多人在有這些其他附加內容的情況下，會想要更小的主餐份量。而且如我所說，這些品項的份量大小評分大幅上升，價值評分也大幅上升。我們也看到點選它的顧客下單頻率增加。這是相當顯著的頻率提升。

Last, I'll say, is a lot of the preference is happening at the weekend lunch when we don't have a lunch menu. So there's a good reason for this lighter portion menu. Finally, the mix impact is about what we thought it would be. And Raj mentioned what the margin impact of the mix was, but the mix impact is about where we thought when we first launched the menu.

最後我想說的是，很多偏好發生在週末午餐時段，而我們那時並沒有午餐菜單。所以推出這個較輕份量菜單是有充分理由的。最後，組合（mix）影響大致符合我們的預期。Raj 提到組合對毛利率的影響，但就組合影響而言，與我們最初推出菜單時的預期差不多。

Chris Carril, KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Chris Carril，KeyBanc Capital Markets。

So how should we think about marketing expense now in the 4Q in the context of the updated guidance you provided this morning? And I presume you'll wait to provide any detail on marketing expense for fiscal '27 in June. But any thoughts on how you're thinking about marketing at a higher level here in a potentially more volatile macro backdrop would be helpful.

那麼，結合你們今天早上提供的最新指引，我們應該如何看待第四季（4Q）的行銷費用？我猜你們會等到6月才提供 2027 財年的行銷費用細節。但在可能更波動的總體環境背景下，從更高層次談談你們如何思考行銷策略，會很有幫助。

Yes, Chris, I think we've been very clear throughout the year that we expect marketing to be between 10 basis points as a percent of sales last year. And that's really how we're looking at it because one of the things we had this year that we mentioned on the call was we had an RFP for a media buy that translated into meaningful cost saves, actually north of 10 basis points as a percent of sales. So that's actually helping us increase marketing activity even in quarters. Where you don't see a growth as a percent of sales, we're actually buying more because we had those savings to help.

是的，Chris，我想我們今年一直很清楚地表示，我們預期行銷費用占銷售額的比重，會比去年高出約 10 個基點。我們之所以這樣看，是因為今年我們在電話會議中提到，我們針對媒體採買進行了 RFP（招標），帶來了可觀的成本節省，實際上超過占銷售額 10 個基點。因此，即使在某些季度你看不到行銷費用占銷售額比重的成長，這些節省其實也在幫助我們增加行銷活動。我們實際上買了更多，因為有這些節省作為支撐。

Okay. Got it. And then, I guess, maybe to give Olive Garden a little bit of a break here but maybe changing directions a little bit. Can you comment on the improvement that you saw in the Fine Dining segment? How are you thinking about the segment going forward? And how much of a benefit to the comp in the quarter was from the strong Valentine's Day that you mentioned?

好的。了解。然後，我想也許讓 Olive Garden 先喘口氣，但稍微換個方向。你能評論一下你們在高級餐飲（Fine Dining）部門看到的改善嗎？你們如何看待該部門未來的走勢？以及你提到情人節表現強勁，這對本季同店銷售（comp）的貢獻有多大？

Yes. Chris, as we mentioned, Fine Dining, all three Fine Dining brands were positive same-restaurant sales in the quarter. It wasn't just driven by Valentine's Day. I don't even think that would be meaningful, maybe tens of basis points for the whole quarter for Valentine's Day. We had a really good private dine, as we mentioned, Capital Grille and Eddie V's.

是的。Chris，如我們提到的，高級餐飲方面，本季三個高級餐飲品牌的同店銷售都為正成長。這不只是由情人節帶動。我甚至不認為那會很有意義；就整個季度而言，情人節的影響可能只是幾十個基點。我們的私人用餐（private dine）表現非常好，如我們提到的 Capital Grille 和 Eddie V's。

And I will say this three-course price fixed menu for Ruth's Chris is really resonating. We ran it for, I think, five or six weeks this quarter, and it's resonating with guests. We're seeing guests that were lapsed to Ruth's Chris come back and we're seeing guests that have ordered that come back. So we think this is a good platform for them. And we're really pleased with the fact that all the brands in Fine Dining were positive this quarter. It's been a little bit of time since that's happened.

另外我想說，Ruth's Chris 的三道式定價套餐（price fixed menu）非常受到歡迎。我們本季推出了大概五到六週，顧客反應很好。我們看到曾經流失的 Ruth's Chris 顧客回流，也看到點過這個套餐的顧客再次回來。所以我們認為這對他們而言是一個很好的平台。而且我們對高級餐飲所有品牌本季都呈現正成長感到非常滿意。這樣的情況已經有一段時間沒有發生了。

And we can't tell you what we think going forward. But everything we have is contemplated in our guide, and our guide is a pretty strong guide. So I would think that Fine Dining would be doing okay in the fourth quarter.

至於未來我們無法告訴你我們的看法。但我們所掌握的一切都已反映在我們的指引中，而我們的指引相當強勁。所以我會認為，高級餐飲在第四季應該會表現得還不錯。

Sara Senatore, Bank of America.

Sara Senatore，Bank of America。

Quick housekeeping. I think I missed it. Can you run through the price and mix that were in the comp? And maybe give a little bit of color on, I think you mentioned, LongHorn have more price than Olive Garden, but just how the brands compared to the average?

快速確認一下細節。我想我漏聽了。你能說明一下同店銷售（comp）中的價格（price）與組合（mix）貢獻嗎？另外也請補充一些背景：我記得你提到 LongHorn 的漲價幅度比 Olive Garden 更高，但各品牌相對於平均水準的比較是如何？

Yes, Sara. So at the Darden level, our comps were 4.2%, our check growth was 3.5%, our pricing was basically 3.4%. So I think 10 basis points of positive mix. When you look at Olive Garden, their pricing was 2.8%, but they also had catering help. Catering grew by about 130 basis points, which we don't count it as traffic, but that's really for all practical purposes, that is increasing traffic.

好的，Sara。以 Darden 整體來看，我們的同店銷售為 4.2%，客單成長（check growth）為 3.5%，定價（pricing）基本上是 3.4%。所以我認為組合是正向約 10 個基點。看 Olive Garden 的話，他們的定價是 2.8%，但也有外燴（catering）的助益。外燴成長約 130 個基點，我們不把它算作來客數（traffic），但就實務上而言，這確實是在增加來客。

So if you take that into consideration, their traffic was up basically 100 basis points. And then they had some investment, like we talked about the investment in lighter portions impacted the check by roughly 60 basis points. Uber fees helped a little bit with about 50. So I mean, the way we look at it is Olive Garden's comps, while the traffic we print might be negative 0.4%, when you add back the weather and the catering, that's basically a positive 2 comp on traffic.

因此如果把這點納入考量，他們的來客數基本上增加約 100 個基點。另外他們也有一些投資，如我們談到的較輕份量投資，對客單大約造成 60 個基點的影響。Uber 費用也有些許幫助，大約 50 個基點。所以我們的看法是，雖然 Olive Garden 公布的來客數同店可能是 -0.4%，但把天氣與外燴加回來後，來客數同店基本上是正向約 2%。

And for LongHorn, the same-restaurant sales of 7.2% included traffic of 3.3% and the check growth of 3.9%, pricing was 4.4%. So they had a negative mix of 50 basis points.

至於 LongHorn，同店銷售 7.2% 包含來客數 3.3% 與客單成長 3.9%，定價為 4.4%。所以他們的組合是負向 50 個基點。

Okay. That's very helpful. And then I guess just in terms of the decision to run fewer weeks of price point and promotions as you said, maybe 100 basis points, but then this quarter running an extra week of the Buy One, Take One and supporting it with more marketing. Presumably, all those things were planned well in advance.

好的。這非常有幫助。接著我想問，關於你提到上季減少以價格點與促銷運行的週數（大概 100 個基點），但本季又多跑了一週「買一帶一（Buy One, Take One）」並以更多行銷支持。推測這些應該都是很早之前就規劃好的。

But I just wanted to kind of confirm that because I wasn't sure if the decision to go from fewer weeks last quarter to 1 more week this quarter indicated something about kind of the promotional intensity or what the results were versus your expectation. Just trying to kind of reconcile those two decisions or maybe just tougher compares or something else entirely, but just curious about that.

但我想確認一下，因為我不確定從上季較少週數到本季多一週的決策，是否反映了促銷強度的變化，或是結果相對於你們預期的差異。我只是想把這兩個決策串起來理解，或可能只是同店比較基期更嚴峻、或完全是其他因素，但我對此很好奇。

Yes, Sara. I would say, as big as Olive Garden is, we can't move on a real big time here. We had planned both of those things quite a while ago. So we had planned running fewer price pointed weeks in Q3 and planned on adding a week of Buy One, Take One in Q4 well early in this fiscal year, maybe even before the fiscal year started. And the reason that we moved three weeks out, we eliminated a promotion in the third quarter because we believed that weather would get back to a normal five-year average and so we'd have some weather tailwinds for us this quarter.

是的，Sara。我會說，儘管Olive Garden規模很大，我們也不可能在這裡做出真正大幅度、即時性的調整。這兩件事我們其實早在很久以前就已經規劃好了。因此，我們在本財年很早期、甚至可能在財年開始之前，就已規劃在第三季減少較多「價格導向週」（price-pointed weeks）的檔期，並規劃在第四季增加一週的「買一帶一」（Buy One, Take One）。我們把三週移出、也就是在第三季取消一個促銷，是因為我們相信天氣會回到過去五年的正常平均水準，因此本季我們會有一些天氣帶來的順風。

Well, there were headwinds. So that was just something that happened. And Raj kind of mentioned what would have happened if there wasn't that kind of weather headwind. We would have had a two comp in traffic, so we planned these long time ahead of time.

但結果是有逆風。所以那只是發生了的事情。Raj也大致提到，如果沒有那種天氣逆風，本來會是什麼情況。我們的來客數（traffic）同店成長本來會有2%的comp，因此這些都是我們很早之前就規劃好的。

This is not a reaction to promotional intensity anywhere else. If you recall, when we added Never Ending Pasta Bowl, we came back, I think, it was seven weeks, maybe eight weeks. And then within a year or two, it was up to 12.

這不是對其他地方促銷強度的反應。如果你還記得，當我們加入「無限續碗義大利麵」（Never Ending Pasta Bowl）時，我們後來我記得是做了七週、也許八週。然後在一兩年內，就拉長到12週。

So that was a decision and a planned decision we made. I can't tell you that Buy One, Take one will get to 12 weeks. But I can tell you that when we launched Buy One, Take One last year, we never intended it to be as short as it was.

所以那是一個決策，而且是我們事先規劃的決策。我不能告訴你「買一帶一」會不會也做到12週。但我可以告訴你，去年我們推出「買一帶一」時，我們從來沒打算讓它像當時那麼短。

Jon Tower, Citi.

Jon Tower，花旗（Citi）。

Maybe starting, could you dig into the delivery at Olive Garden during the quarter? I think you've been running about 4% mix last period. Did much change? And going forward, how are you thinking about pulsing it as you move into the fourth quarter? Obviously, there's a different macro dynamic happening right now and at a higher price -- well, not high.

或許先從這裡開始：你能否深入談談本季Olive Garden的外送表現？我記得你們上一期外送占比大約在4%。這次有什麼明顯變化嗎？另外往前看，進入第四季時，你們打算如何以「脈衝式」（pulsing）的方式推動外送？顯然現在宏觀環境動態不同，而且在較高的價格水準——嗯，也不算高。

There's the delivery fees on top of it. So I'm just curious if it's going to be a brighter spotlight on that relative to previous quarters.

另外還有外送費疊加在上面。所以我想了解，相較於前幾季，外送是否會成為更受關注的重點。

Yes, Jon, a couple of things. Uber was 4.7% of sales for Q3. Now we did do CS support. So when we took that 4 week promotion out, so 3 weeks less price pointed when we took that one out in January, we replaced it with just a delivery message that had no offer. It was just, hey, olive Garden delivers. And then in February, we added an offer to the Olive Garden delivery to free delivery like we did last year. And so last year in Q3, we were roughly 0.8 in delivery. Last year in Q4, we're 3.5%.

是的，Jon，有幾點。第三季Uber占銷售額的4.7%。我們確實做了CS支援。所以當我們把那個為期4週的促銷拿掉、也就是在一月移除（少了3週的價格導向檔期）之後，我們用一個沒有任何優惠的外送訊息來替代。就是單純說：嘿，Olive Garden有外送。然後在二月，我們像去年一樣，針對Olive Garden外送加入了「免外送費」的優惠。因此去年第三季外送占比大約是0.8%。去年第四季是3.5%。

So you saw that big jump when we started marketing delivery in Q4. So I would say that in Q4 this year, I'm not going to tell you if we're going to do marketing for delivery. But if we do, it would be a secondary message. And I would think that the jump in delivery from Q3 this year to Q3 last year won't be the same in Q4 because that's when we had the big spike. But we still believe that delivery should be a little bit higher than last year.

所以你看到我們在第四季開始行銷外送時，外送占比出現了大幅跳升。因此我會說，今年第四季我不會告訴你我們是否會對外送做行銷。但如果有做，它會是次要訊息。而且我認為，今年從第三季到第四季的外送跳升幅度，不會像去年那樣，因為去年第四季才是出現大幅尖峰的時點。但我們仍然相信，外送占比應該會比去年略高一些。

Okay. Great. And maybe, obviously, it sounds like the lighter fare or lighter portion menu at Olive Garden, it sounds like it's a pretty good success early on. I'm just curious, as you're looking across the rest of your brands, I know each one is a little bit different, but is that an opportunity to bring to other brands within the portfolio, or is the guest just a little bit different?

好的。很好。另外，顯然聽起來Olive Garden的清爽餐（lighter fare）或較小份量菜單，早期看起來相當成功。我想了解的是，當你們看整個其他品牌時，我知道每個品牌都有些不同，但這是否是一個可以帶到投資組合內其他品牌的機會？還是說顧客族群本來就不太一樣？

Yes. We've said this before. I think LongHorn has done some of this already. LongHorn did this at lunch years ago and lunch is growing pretty fast. And with a good lunch platform, smaller items, sandwiches, et cetera, that's grown over time.

是的。我們之前說過。我認為LongHorn其實已經做了一些。LongHorn多年前就在午餐時段做了這類嘗試，而午餐成長相當快。而且有一個好的午餐平台、較小份的品項、三明治等等，這些隨時間推進都有所成長。

And they already have different sizes of some steaks. So if you think about their filet, they've got two different sizes of filet. They got sirloins. They've got two different kind of ribeyes, one's bone-in and one's not. They've got different sizes for chicken, different sets for salmon.

而且他們某些牛排本來就有不同份量。所以如果你看他們的菲力（filet），就有兩種不同大小。他們也有沙朗（sirloin）。他們有兩種不同的肋眼（ribeye），一種帶骨、一種不帶骨。他們的雞肉有不同份量，鮭魚也有不同組合。

So they kind of have a lot of that already. But they are looking at other things that they can do to bring portions that might not be as big for people that don't want such a big portion. The same thing with Ruth's Chris. If you think about the price fixed menu at Ruth's Chris, it's one of their smaller filets, et cetera. So we have opportunities in all of our brands to look at something like this. It might not be as broad as we do at Olive Garden because most of these menus in the other brands have kind of variety of size.

所以他們其實已經具備不少這類配置。但他們也在看還有哪些事情可以做，為不想吃那麼大份量的人提供可能沒那麼大的份量選擇。Ruth's Chris也是一樣。如果你想到Ruth's Chris的固定價格（price fixed）菜單，那通常就是用他們較小份的菲力等。所以我們在所有品牌上，都有機會去看類似的做法。只是可能不會像Olive Garden做得那麼廣，因為其他品牌的菜單本來就有各種不同的份量選擇。

Brian Harbour, Morgan Stanley.

Brian Harbour，摩根士丹利（Morgan Stanley）。

Yeah, thanks. Good morning, guys. I guess, maybe just the income cohort question, anything that you'd call out about some income bands that may have shifted in the quarter? And also in Fine Dining, is there any group that you think has kind of come back more?

是的，謝謝。各位早安。我想問一下收入分層（income cohort）那題：本季是否有任何你們會特別點出的收入區間出現變化？另外在高級餐飲（Fine Dining）方面，有沒有哪一群客人你覺得回流得更多？

Brian, so from an income perspective, what we're seeing is there is growth across all households with income above $50,000. And the biggest growth is coming from households over $150,000. That's just generally what we're seeing across all brands. As we look at Fine Dining, we're seeing decent growth as we start to go above $150,000 as well, but $200,000 plus is where we're seeing the most growth. And that's where we see even bigger disparity between the below $75,000, below $100,000 and then the above $150,000.

Brian，就收入面來看，我們看到的是：所有家庭年收入在5萬美元以上的族群都在成長。而最大的成長來自年收入15萬美元以上的家庭。這大致是我們在所有品牌看到的情況。再看高級餐飲，我們也看到當收入開始高於15萬美元時有不錯的成長，但年收入20萬美元以上是我們看到成長最多的區間。而這也使得年收入低於7.5萬美元、低於10萬美元，與高於15萬美元之間的差距更為明顯。

Okay. Got it. Raj, just directionally, so it's still your expectation, I think that food cost pressure kind of continues to diminish a bit into the fourth quarter. I guess, also, is there any reason that with the sales you're doing, there wouldn't be a little bit more leverage on the other restaurant expenses at this point?

好的。了解。Raj，方向性來說，你仍然預期食品成本壓力在第四季會繼續稍微緩解，對嗎？另外，以你們目前的銷售表現，是否有任何原因使得此時在其他餐廳費用上不會出現更多的槓桿效益（leverage）？

So I think we would expect to get -- I mean, look, let me step back. I hate for us to talk about a specific line item on the P&L because there are multiple variables that can play a role in where we land for the end of the quarter. But as we look at the business, the guidance that we provided for the fourth quarter implies margin growth.

所以我想我們會預期能夠取得——我的意思是，先讓我退一步說。我不太希望我們去談損益表（P&L）上的某一個特定科目，因為有多個變數都可能影響我們在季末的落點。但就我們對業務的觀察而言，我們對第四季所提供的指引（guidance）意味著利潤率（margin）將成長。

And we're going to get it from, at this point, probably pretty much every line on the P&L. But it doesn't have to end up that they way. We're okay. Ultimately, we look at what's the bottom line, right? I think we're going to show good margin growth.

而且我們將會從目前這個時間點，可能幾乎從損益表（P&L）上的每一個科目來取得。但最後不一定會變成那樣。我們沒問題。歸根結底，我們看的是最終盈餘（bottom line），對吧？我認為我們會展現不錯的利潤率成長。

Jeffrey Bernstein, Barclays.

Jeffrey Bernstein，巴克萊。

Great. First question is just on the fiscal '26 guidance. I know there's only one quarter remaining, but you raised the total revenue growth guidance, you raised the comp and the unit growth guidance. But ex the incremental $0.05, I guess, from the 53rd week, it seems like the implied fourth quarter EPS guidance is still somewhat in line with The Street. I'm just wondering how you think about maybe what's preventing the greater EPS upside, especially as total inflation guidance seems to be unchanged? Just trying to get a sense for how you think about that going from the top line to the bottom line as we think about at least the upcoming quarter.

很好。第一個問題是關於 2026 財年的指引。我知道只剩下一個季度，但你們上調了總營收成長指引，也上調了同店（comp）與展店（unit growth）成長指引。但若扣除我猜是來自第 53 週的額外 0.05 美元增量，看起來隱含的第四季 EPS 指引仍大致與市場一致。我想了解你們如何看待：是什麼因素讓 EPS 沒有更大的上行空間，尤其是總通膨指引似乎沒有改變？只是想從營收端到獲利端，理解你們對至少接下來這一季的思考。

Jeff, look, I don't want to explain the Street's model, right? I'm focused on what we built as a plan. And if you look at our initial guidance at the beginning of the year, we said our guidance was $10.50 to $10.70. And as we got through the year, our inflation was a lot higher than we thought and we didn't price for all of it. But we had better comps than we thought in the plan. And so we took our comps to reflect that. But ultimately, we're still delivering on the higher end. If you take the midpoint of it, it is higher than the midpoint of what we had initially guided.

Jeff，你看，我不想去解釋市場的模型，對吧？我專注在我們所建立的計畫。如果你看我們年初的初始指引，我們說指引是 10.50 到 10.70 美元。隨著年度進行，我們的通膨比預期高很多，而我們沒有把所有通膨都反映在定價上。但我們的同店表現比計畫中預期更好。所以我們把同店指引上調以反映這點。但最終，我們仍是在較高端交付成果。如果你看中位數，它高於我們最初指引的中位數。

The delta on the 53rd week is just a function of we had approximately $0.20 and now we're seeing approximately $0.25. If you think about the how rounding works, a couple of pennies could make it approximately $0.20 versus approximately $0.25. So don't read this as a $0.05 delta. It could be one to two because of how it rounds. And that's why we said approximately, so I'll leave it at that.

第 53 週的差異只是因為：我們原先大約是 0.20 美元，現在看到大約是 0.25 美元。若考慮四捨五入的方式，幾分錢的差距就可能讓它看起來是約 0.20 而不是約 0.25。所以不要把這解讀成 0.05 美元的差異。因為四捨五入的關係，可能只有 0.01 到 0.02 美元。這也是為什麼我們說「大約」，我就先說到這裡。

Got it. So it sounds like greater comp, greater inflation, net-net, still a strong earnings year. And then as I think about that going into next year, I appreciate the color on the unit growth and the CapEx spend. But maybe more broadly speaking, and I know it's just directionally at this point, and maybe you mentioned it earlier, is it fair to assume you think fiscal '27 growth in line with your long-term algo?

了解。所以聽起來是：同店更好、通膨更高，兩者相抵之下，仍然是很強的一個獲利年度。那當我把這延伸到明年來看，我很感謝你們對展店成長與資本支出（CapEx）投入的補充說明。但更廣泛地說，我知道目前只是方向性的，而且你們可能先前也提過，是否可以合理假設你們認為 2027 財年的成長會與你們長期演算法（long-term algo）一致？

It seems like you're entering fiscal '27 with comps above the 1.5% to 3.5% long-term target. Maybe you could share the current annual EPS sensitivity to an incremental point of comp. Any color at least directionally on how we should think about fiscal '27 versus the long term would be great.

看起來你們進入 2027 財年時，同店表現高於長期目標 1.5% 到 3.5%。也許你們可以分享一下：同店每額外增加 1 個百分點，對年度 EPS 的敏感度目前是多少。若能提供一些至少方向性的說明，讓我們理解 2027 財年相對於長期目標該如何看待，會很有幫助。

Well, Jeff, I would say we'll share more about fiscal '27 later, but I think what we're targeting is trying to stay in that frame or at least achieve what we said as part of the framework, so 1.5% to 3.5% for comps and 3% to 4% for a new restaurant growth. And as you look at what were the initial indication for fiscal '27, excluding the Bahama Breeze impact, we would expect it to be in that range of 3% to 4% for new unit growth contribution. And then part of the that framework is keep margin flat to positive 20 basis points to get us to that EPS growth plus dividend yield of 10% to 15%. And I think that's kind of what we would plan for. Any given year it might be a little bit different, but that's what we target long term.

嗯，Jeff，我會說我們之後會再分享更多關於 2027 財年的內容，但我認為我們的目標是盡量維持在那個框架內，或至少達成我們在框架中所說的：同店 1.5% 到 3.5%，以及新餐廳成長 3% 到 4%。而就 2027 財年的初步跡象來看，若排除 Bahama Breeze 的影響，我們預期新店成長貢獻會落在 3% 到 4% 的區間。此外，該框架的一部分是：利潤率持平到正向 20 個基點，讓我們達到 EPS 成長加上股息殖利率合計 10% 到 15%。我想這大致就是我們會用來規劃的方向。每一年可能會有些不同，但長期來看我們就是以此為目標。

At this point, I don't see a reason why we wouldn't be there, but who knows? We'll give you an update in June.

就目前而言，我看不出有什麼理由我們做不到，但誰知道呢？我們會在六月給你們更新。

Jim Salera, Stephens.

Jim Salera，Stephens。

Raj, earlier, you had talked about double-digit demand destruction at retail for beef. And I can't help but draw a line between the strong results at LongHorn and then that commentary. So are you able to give us any context? Are you seeing consumers who forego buying beef at the grocery store then showing up at LongHorn in a way that's actually a tailwind to your traffic at LongHorn because they're nervous about preparing it so they show up to have you prepare it for them instead?

Raj，先前你提到零售端牛肉出現兩位數的需求破壞（demand destruction）。我不禁把這點與 LongHorn 的強勁表現連結起來。所以你能否提供一些背景？你們是否看到：消費者在雜貨店不買牛肉之後，反而以某種方式出現在 LongHorn，對 LongHorn 的來客數形成順風，因為他們對自己料理感到不安，所以改來讓你們替他們料理？

Jim, this is Rick. In times of high prices in the grocery store, you generally see a little bit more consumer going to a restaurant to get their steak. When a consumer has to cook a very expensive steak at home and they mess it up, they still have to eat it. When a consumer goes to a restaurant and orders a steak and we mess it up, we eat it and they still eat a great steak.

Jim，我是 Rick。在雜貨店價格很高的時候，你通常會看到更多消費者去餐廳吃牛排。當消費者必須在家裡煎一塊非常昂貴的牛排而且煎壞了，他們還是得把它吃掉。當消費者到餐廳點牛排而我們把它做壞了，是我們把它吃掉，而他們仍然能吃到一塊很棒的牛排。

So I think that's part of the reason, but I can't tell you that we have data to say that consumer says, I saw this price in the grocery store, I decided not to do it. I'm going to go to LongHorn instead. I mean, we've got great data. We've got the best data and insights in the space. But we don't ask I guess that question so we don't know.

所以我認為這是部分原因，但我無法告訴你我們有數據能證明消費者是因為看到雜貨店的價格，決定不在家做，而改去 LongHorn。我的意思是，我們有很棒的數據。我們有這個領域最好的數據與洞察。但我們不會去問那個問題，所以我們不知道。

And then maybe one follow-up question given the traffic outperformance for the Darden as a whole relative to the industry. How much of that is incremental frequency from existing guests who are just satisfied with the menu innovation and some of the portion size offerings versus you winning share from other peers within the group?

另外再追問一題：考量到 Darden 整體的來客數表現相對於產業更強。其中有多少是來自既有顧客的額外來店頻率提升（因為他們對菜單創新與部分份量選項感到滿意），又有多少是你們從同業競爭者那裡搶到市占？

Yes. Look, we're getting from both. When we look at our frequency, we are seeing frequency increase across the portfolio from the guests. But we're also getting new guests. So it's a combination of that. The data that we look at probably shows that a little bit more from increased frequency, call it, 60/40, I guess, 65/35, in that range.

是的。你看，我們兩者都有。當我們看來店頻率時，我們確實看到整個品牌組合中，顧客的來店頻率在提升。但我們也獲得了新顧客。所以是兩者的組合。我們看的數據大概顯示，更多是來自頻率提升，大概可以說是 60/40，我猜，或 65/35，大概在那個範圍。

Andrew Charles, TD Cowen.

Andrew Charles，TD Cowen。

Rick, catering Olive Garden continues to grow pretty nicely despite lapping several quarters since the large growth began. So what do you attribute that to?

Rick，Olive Garden 的外燴（catering）在大型成長開始後已經過了好幾個季度、基期也變高了，但仍持續相當不錯地成長。你認為主要原因是什麼？

Andrew, growth at Olive Garden is about execution. So I didn't hear the very first word. So I want to make sure I'm answering what growth you're talking about at Olive Garden.

Andrew，Olive Garden 的成長在於執行力。我沒有聽清楚第一個字。所以我想先確認一下：你指的是 Olive Garden 哪一項成長，這樣我才能確保回答到你的問題。

It was catering.

是外燴。

Catering growth. Catering growth, it's a great deal at Olive Garden. And we do an amazing job at getting it to the guest at the exact time they want it, and we have a good digital platform to do it. So catering is a very strong support for us and it's probably one of the best values at Olive Garden. And then we have a delivery part of catering that we do our self-delivery.

外燴成長。外燴成長，在 Olive Garden 的確是很划算。而且我們在把餐點於客人指定的確切時間送達方面做得非常出色，並且我們有良好的數位平台來支援。因此外燴對我們是非常強的支撐，且可能是 Olive Garden 最具價值的選項之一。另外我們也有外燴的外送部分，我們採用自營配送。

It's our highest-rated part of anything we do at Olive Garden. So what guests want for catering is they want to make sure they get the food that they ordered, they get it on time and it's a great value. And Olive Garden checks all three boxes every time.

這是我們在 Olive Garden 所做的所有事情中評價最高的一部分。所以客人對外燴的需求是：他們希望確保拿到自己點的餐點、準時送達，而且很划算。而 Olive Garden 每次都能同時滿足這三點。

Got you. And then, Raj, is it fair to assume that a good portion of the converted Bahama Breezes will be Olive Gardens just given similar square footage combined as well as Olive Garden is one of your highest ROIC brands for new stores?

了解。接著，Raj，我這樣假設是否合理：在轉換的 Bahama Breeze 店點中，有相當一部分會改成 Olive Garden，因為兩者店面坪數相近，而且 Olive Garden 也是你們新店投資資本報酬率（ROIC）最高的品牌之一？

Yes, Andrew, this is Rick. I wouldn't say it's fair to assume that most of the conversions will be Olive Garden. There's 14 conversions. Olive Garden is pretty much almost everywhere Bahama Breeze is. So I would say it's fair to assume that Olive Garden will have a couple maybe, but they won't have a lot of them.

是的，Andrew，我是 Rick。我不會說可以合理假設大多數轉換都會是 Olive Garden。總共有 14 家轉換。Olive Garden 幾乎在 Bahama Breeze 所在的地方都已經有了。所以我會說可以合理假設 Olive Garden 可能會有幾家，但不會有很多。

David Tarantino, Baird.

David Tarantino，Baird。

First, a clarification on Raj's comments about next year and the total shareholder return being in line with your normal. Are you adjusting for the lapping of the 53rd week or maybe you don't need to adjust and still hit that target range? But I guess, could you clarify whether we should be making any adjustments to your comment?

首先，想釐清一下 Raj 對明年以及總股東報酬（TSR）將與你們正常水準一致的評論。你們是否有把第 53 週的比較基期因素調整掉？或者也許不需要調整仍能達到那個目標區間？但我想問的是，你能否說明我們是否需要對你的說法做任何調整？

Yes, David, I would say we always look at it on a 52-to-52 because that's the right comparison. But versus the 53rd, what is it going to look like, I mean, you'll find out in June. I mean, at this point, long term, it's really 52 to 52 is the right comparison.

是的，David，我會說我們一向都用 52 週對 52 週來看，因為那才是正確的比較方式。但若是相對於第 53 週，會呈現什麼樣子——我的意思是，你們會在六月知道。也就是說，就長期而言，52 對 52 才是正確的比較。

Great. And I guess my real question, Raj, is about the commodity cost outlook. I appreciate you don't want to give specifics for next year. But just wondering directionally if the spike in oil prices, and hence, distribution costs is going to have any material impact on the outlook for commodity cost for you and for the industry for that matter and, I guess, you would probably have a competitive advantage with your supply chain. But just any thoughts on that topic would be helpful.

很好。我真正的問題，Raj，是關於大宗商品成本的展望。我理解你不想提供明年的具體數字。但我想從方向上了解：油價上漲、進而帶動配送成本上升，是否會對你們以及整個產業的大宗商品成本展望造成任何實質影響？而且我想你們的供應鏈可能會有競爭優勢。但對這個議題的任何看法都會很有幫助。

David, I don't want to speculate. But if you look at where we are expecting the inflation for commodities for this year to be, which is 4%, our thinking from where we're sitting now for next year directionally should be better than that even with some of the recent news. But we'll provide an update in June.

David，我不想臆測。但如果你看我們對今年大宗商品通膨的預期是 4%，以我們目前所掌握的情況來看，明年的方向性應該會比這個更好，即便有一些近期的消息也是如此。不過我們會在六月提供更新。

Danilo Gargiulo, Bernstein.

Danilo Gargiulo，Bernstein。

Rick, I was wondering if you can elaborate more on the turnover rate being particularly low. Is that a function of what you're doing, where you are in the market? Or is that something that you're seeing across the board for the industry? And was that the primary driver for the labor productivity improvement that you've seen this quarter? And if that's the case, for how long do you expect the low turnover to last?

Rick，我想請你更詳細說明一下離職率特別低的原因。這是你們自身作為、你們所在市場狀況的結果嗎？還是你們看到整個產業普遍都是如此？另外，這是否是你們本季看到勞動生產力改善的主要驅動因素？如果是的話，你們預期低離職率會維持多久？

Yes, Danilo, I would say our turnover, our retention has continued to outpace the industry. Ours is getting better, faster than the industry is. And I would attribute that to a great employment proposition that we provide. We give our team members opportunities to grow, and that gives them a chance to come into the industry and get life-changing manager jobs and above. And so almost all of our brands are at record turnover levels and the ones that aren't are pretty darn close. And the industry data is getting a little bit better.

是的，Danilo，我會說我們的離職率、我們的人才留任一直都優於產業。我們改善的速度比產業更快。我會把這歸因於我們提供了很棒的雇主價值主張。我們給團隊成員成長機會，讓他們有機會進入這個產業並獲得能改變人生的餐廳經理職位以及更高階的職位。因此我們幾乎所有品牌的離職率都在創紀錄的低點，而那些還沒到紀錄低點的也非常接近。而產業數據也在稍微變好。

So when we think about labor, low turnover helps labor costs because you've got more productive employees doing the job, you've got less need to hire and train. We do still train, but we train them, cross-train them, but we spend less money on new hire training. So that should help us. As long as we keep our turnovers moving in the right direction, then our labor productivity should get slightly better. We may invest some of that.

所以當我們談到人力時，低離職率有助於降低人力成本，因為有更具生產力的員工在做工作，也更不需要大量招募與訓練。我們仍然會訓練，但我們會訓練他們並進行交叉訓練，不過在新進員工訓練上的花費會更少。因此這應該會對我們有幫助。只要我們的離職率持續朝正確方向改善，我們的勞動生產力就應該會略為提升。我們也可能會把其中一部分再投入。

As we mentioned, we always find ways to invest in the guests. And if we get some things that are much better than we would expect, we would probably give some of that back to the consumer in the form of either better service or better pricing or better deals.

如同我們提到的，我們總是會找到投資在顧客身上的方式。如果有些項目表現遠優於我們的預期，我們可能會把其中一部分回饋給消費者，形式可能是更好的服務、更好的定價或更好的優惠。

And then from Raj's comments earlier, one could infer that maybe 2027 could be more elevated pricing versus 2026, a little bit above inflation perhaps. And historically with pricing above inflation, the guest count could be more reduced. And so I'm wondering what kind of initiative at a high level, do you think you could be deploying in 2027 to perhaps counterbalance this and still have a guest-driven growth for your brands?

另外，從 Raj 先前的評論來看，有人可能會推論 2027 年的定價可能會比 2026 年更高，或許會略高於通膨。而歷史上當定價高於通膨時，來客數可能會下滑得更多。因此我想了解，從高層次來看，你認為 2027 年你們可能會推動哪些措施，來抵銷這個影響，並且仍然讓你們的品牌維持以顧客帶動的成長？

Danilo, let me start and then maybe Rick can add to that. So I don't want to signal anything specific to '27 with respect to pricing versus inflation. What we're talking about is we've given ourselves a lot of room over the next -- essentially since COVID by underpricing the full-service CPI by almost 1,200 basis points, even grocery by 400 basis points. And so we feel like if we need to take price, we can take it and we can be smart about it without impacting the guests, part of the reason being cumulatively, we're in a much better place.

Danilo，我先回答，然後 Rick 也許可以補充。所以我不想就 2027 年相對於通膨的定價釋放任何具體訊號。我們要說的是：在接下來——基本上自 COVID 以來——我們的定價一直低於全服務餐飲 CPI 將近 1,200 個基點，甚至也低於雜貨約 400 個基點，因此我們給自己留下了很大的空間。所以我們覺得如果需要調價，我們是有能力調價的，而且可以更聰明地調價而不影響顧客，其中一部分原因是累積下來，我們的位置已經好很多。

Our relative value position is very strong. So we don't necessarily think in the year -- if there is a year where we take a little bit more or actually in line with price, that all of a sudden, that becomes a headwind to guest count. That's not how we view it.

我們的相對價值定位非常強。所以我們不一定認為在某一年——如果有一年我們多調一點，或甚至只是跟著通膨調價——就會突然變成來客數的逆風。我們不是這樣看待的。

And Danilo, I would add to that, even if we price out inflation and we anticipate commodities being a little bit better over time, then it wouldn't be a huge price for next year if we do that. But I would also add that, again, we keep investing in our team, in our product, in what we serve to the guest. I would say that those investments build on themselves over time, and guests notice the value that they get. Most of our brands are at record high guest satisfaction, record high affordability, record high values for those brands.

Danilo，我也補充一下，即使我們的定價高於通膨，而我們預期大宗商品成本隨時間推移會稍微好轉，那麼如果我們明年這麼做，調價幅度也不會很大。但我也要再補充：同樣地，我們會持續投資在我們的團隊、我們的產品，以及我們提供給顧客的餐點上。我會說這些投資會隨時間累積並相互加乘，而顧客會注意到他們所獲得的價值。我們大多數品牌的顧客滿意度、可負擔性與價值感都在創歷史新高。

So I would say that we got just continued operational execution. And as we've said, we'll continue to look at our media spend and become more effective with that media spend but still increase slightly, like we've said about 10 basis points or so. We'll probably do the same thing next year, could be even more so depending on how impactful that marketing spend is. So we should have some things that help counterbalance anything we do at price. But as Raj said, we don't think what we would do at price would be a tremendous drawdown to the guest count.

所以我會說，我們只是持續把營運執行做好。而且如同我們所說，我們會持續檢視媒體投放，讓媒體費用的效益更高，但仍會小幅增加，正如我們提到的大約增加10個基點左右。明年我們可能也會做同樣的事，甚至可能更多，取決於那筆行銷支出有多大的影響力。因此，我們應該會有一些作法，能夠在我們做任何價格調整時提供一定的對沖與平衡。但如Raj所說，我們不認為我們在價格上會做的事情，會對來客數造成很大的下滑。

Gregory Francfort, Guggenheim Partners.

Gregory Francfort，Guggenheim Partners。

Rick, this may be a little bit out of left field, but just I'm curious your thoughts on some of these AI tools that are coming on, how much you're using them at corporate, what that's unlocking for you from an analytics perspective. Just any thoughts on kind of what may be changing inside your business with what's going on?

Rick，這可能有點出乎意料，但我只是好奇你對近期出現的這些AI工具有什麼看法，你們在總部使用的程度如何，從分析的角度來看為你們解鎖了哪些能力。也想聽聽你對於在你們業務內部，隨著這些變化正在發生，可能會有哪些改變的想法？

Yes, Greg, not quite out of left field. But I'm going to start anything about AI to say that at the core, we are and we always will be a hospitality-driven company, which means you need people. So we're a people-focused business so we're going to need them. But our team is doing an incredible job every day. What we're using AI, machine learning for is to give our team member, our managers a much better forecast of their business so they can schedule better, plus we're using tools to that to make them write better schedules.

是的，Greg，這不算太出乎意料。但我談AI之前先說，我們的核心是、也永遠會是一家以待客之道為驅動的公司，這代表你需要人。所以我們是一個以人為本的生意，我們會需要他們。但我們的團隊每天都做得非常出色。我們使用AI、機器學習，是為了讓我們的團隊成員、我們的管理者能更好地預測他們的業務，讓他們能更好地排班，同時我們也在使用相關工具，幫助他們把班表排得更好。

They can order food better. Because the best thing you can do as a manager is to have a great forecast so you can staff your restaurant right and have the right amount of food.

他們可以更好地下食材訂單。因為作為管理者，你能做的最重要的事情，就是有一個很好的預測，這樣你才能把餐廳的人力配置到位，並準備適量的食材。

That said, we're doing things here in the support center to improve on tasks that are repetitive, using AI to start projects faster to get things done faster. But we have yet to take any jobs out because of AI. We've got 200,000 employees in this company and only about 1,000 of them work here. The other 200,000 work in the restaurant. And I would say we're probably not going to lose any team members in the restaurant because of AI.

話雖如此，我們也在支援中心做一些事情，針對重複性的工作加以改善，使用AI讓專案更快啟動、把事情更快完成。但我們目前還沒有因為AI而裁撤任何職位。我們公司有20萬名員工，只有大約1,000人在這裡工作。另外那20萬人是在餐廳工作。我會說，我們大概不會因為AI而在餐廳流失任何團隊成員。

We're going to make their jobs better. We're going to make the guest experience better. But I would say that ultimately, the approach for AI for us is about amplifying the expertise for our people, not replacing them, as I said. It helps us deliver on exceptional service, and that's what we'll keep doing.

我們會讓他們的工作變得更好。我們會讓顧客體驗變得更好。但我會說，最終我們對AI的做法，是在放大我們員工的專業能力，而不是取代他們，正如我所說。它幫助我們提供卓越的服務，而這也是我們會持續做的事。

And the last I'll say is we've got a great team in IT here, over 200 people strong. And they're using it to write code faster, to get a lot of savings in what they do so that we can have more tools for our teams at a faster pace. And even some things that we've been looking to do for years that we were struggling to get done, AI is getting it done a lot faster. So that's where you're going to see the benefit of AI. But you probably won't see it specifically because it's not going to be necessarily so guest forward.

最後我想說的是，我們這裡有一支很強的IT團隊，規模超過200人。他們正在用AI更快地寫程式碼，讓他們的工作能節省很多成本，這樣我們就能以更快的速度為團隊提供更多工具。甚至有些我們多年來一直想做、但一直難以完成的事情，AI讓它們快很多就能完成。所以你會在這些地方看到AI的效益。但你可能不會很明顯地看到它，因為它未必會直接面向顧客。

Jeff Farmer, Gordon Haskett.

Jeff Farmer，Gordon Haskett。

You guys mentioned that Uber was, I think, roughly 4.7% of mix at Olive Garden. But I am curious in terms of the concept's total off-premise mix, including to-go and catering.

你們提到Uber在Olive Garden的占比，我想大約是4.7%。但我也好奇，就該品牌整體的店外（off-premise）占比而言，包括外帶與外燴在內，情況如何？

Yes, Jeff, I think we were at 29%, and that's about 3 points higher than last year. I think last year was 26%. Recall, Q3 is typically high off-premise because of catering, we talked about earlier, and just generally a high off-premise quarter.

是的，Jeff，我想我們是29%，比去年高大約3個百分點。我記得去年是26%。回想一下，第三季通常店外占比較高，因為有外燴，我們前面也談過，而且整體而言第三季本來就是店外占比較高的一季。

Okay. And then just same question from LongHorn off-premise mix?

好的。那LongHorn的店外占比也是同樣的問題？

I think LongHorn was 15% for the quarter, which was 1 point higher than last year, yes.

我想LongHorn本季是15%，比去年高1個百分點，是的。

Dennis Geiger, UBS.

Dennis Geiger，UBS。

Curious if any updated thoughts on tax rebate, stimulus benefits or kind of any latest expectation you have based on anything you've observed so far to date?

想請教是否有任何對退稅、刺激方案效益的最新看法，或是基於你們目前觀察到的情況，對未來的最新預期是什麼？

Yes, Dennis, it's still a little early. Most of the refunds are going to happen in basically March and April, but we did see some of the refunds coming in, in February. We know that per recipient, the tax refunds are higher. But I will say everything we know is contemplated our guidance. The last thing I'll say is we do know that when checks drop, we see the impact. And we had some of that impact in February, but it was pretty small amounts in February.

是的，Dennis，現在仍然有點早。大多數退稅基本上會在3月和4月發放，但我們確實在2月看到部分退稅入帳。我們知道以每位領取者來看，退稅金額更高。但我會說，我們所知道的一切都已納入我們的財測指引之中。最後我想說的是，我們確實知道當支票發放時，我們會看到影響。我們在2月也看到一些影響，但2月的金額相當小。

Great. Rick, and then just quick on the operational stuff and that speed of service initiative, which I know is longer term in nature. I feel like I've observed it in the Olive Garden. Just curious if any update to share there and where the guest and the employee feedback is, if anything to share?

很好。Rick，另外快速問一下營運方面，以及那個服務速度（speed of service）計畫，我知道那是偏長期的。我覺得我在Olive Garden有觀察到。想請問那邊是否有任何最新進展可以分享？顧客與員工的回饋如何？有沒有什麼可以分享的？

Well, I'm glad you've experienced it at the Olive Garden. They really started to make a good push on it in this year's Q3. And they're doing some things in different restaurants to test initiatives to get the roadblocks out of the way for speed. And I would say that at Olive Garden, there's 50,000 servers. And so how do you convince 50,000 people that they have to change the way they do things and then help give them the tools to do that. And they don't have to be technology tools.

嗯，我很高興你在Olive Garden體驗到了。他們其實是在今年第三季開始大力推動。他們在不同餐廳做一些事情，測試各種措施，來移除影響速度的障礙。我會說，在Olive Garden有5萬名服務生。所以問題是，你要如何說服5萬人必須改變他們做事的方式，並且幫助提供他們做到這件事所需的工具。而且那些工具不一定要是科技工具。

It's how do you get the soups out and breadsticks out faster, so the first course out faster? How do you ensure that you give the guest the speed and the pace that they want? Olive Garden is making some moves, and I think those moves are going to get even bigger in the upcoming quarters. And our other brands are following suit. Olive Garden is moving a little bit earlier, but the other brands are going to get there.

例如，如何更快把湯和麵包棒送出，也就是讓第一道菜更快上桌？如何確保你提供顧客想要的速度與節奏？Olive Garden正在採取一些行動，我認為這些行動在接下來幾季會變得更大、更有規模。我們其他品牌也在跟進。Olive Garden走得稍微早一些，但其他品牌也會做到。

And our goal is to get this experience in the time that the guests believe is ideal. And right now, the ideal time is a little bit faster than what all of casual dining is doing and it's a little bit faster than where we are.

而我們的目標，是在顧客認為理想的時間內完成這段用餐體驗。而現在，理想時間比整個休閒餐飲（casual dining）目前的做法要快一些，也比我們目前的表現要快一些。

So we're going to get to the ideal time. It's just going to take a while. And the guest impact of that will be seen two different ways. In the short term, it's going to be better throughput on the high-volume tough days. In the long term, it's going to be guests coming for us for occasions they weren't coming before.

所以我們會達到那個理想時間。只是這需要一些時間。而這對顧客的影響會以兩種不同方式呈現。短期來看，在高來客量、較艱難的日子裡，會有更好的吞吐量。長期來看，顧客會因為某些以前不會選擇我們的用餐情境（occasion）而來到我們這裡。

And that second one is long term and it's going to take a while. It's going to take time for the guests to realize that, hey, I've got 45 minutes to go to lunch in total, and I need to get in and other in 30. Can I do it? If they don't believe they can do it today, I want them to believe they can do it in a few years. And when they can, they're going to come back a lot more often. And I just used lunch as an example. It's not just about lunch.

而第二個是長期的，會需要一段時間。需要時間讓顧客意識到：嘿，我總共只有 45 分鐘可以去吃午餐，而我需要在 30 分鐘內進來並點完餐。我做得到嗎？如果他們今天不相信自己做得到，我希望他們在幾年後會相信自己做得到。而當他們做得到時，他們就會更常回來。我只是用午餐作為例子。不只是午餐而已。

Andrew Strelzik, BMO Capital Markets.

Andrew Strelzik，BMO 資本市場。

Apologies if I missed this, but you lowered the commodity inflation guidance from 4% to 5% down to 4%. What was the driver of that within the basket? And was that more 3Q related or 4Q related? And then I guess related to that, keeping the overall inflation of 3.5%, was there anything as an offset to the lower commodity inflation, or is that just kind of rounding?

如果我漏聽了先致歉，但你們把商品通膨指引從 4% 到 5% 下修到 4%。在這個籃子裡，是什麼因素驅動了這個變化？而這比較是與第三季相關，還是與第四季相關？另外我想相關地問一下，在整體通膨仍維持 3.5% 的情況下，是否有任何項目用來抵銷較低的商品通膨，還是這只是四捨五入造成的？

Yes, Andrew, it's really rounding because we see approximately 3.5%. But when you look at commodity specifically, there was some favorability. Most of the favorability that we have versus the prior estimate is in beef. I think we expected Q4 to be more in the double-digit range and it ended up being high single digits. And we had some offset on the favorable dairy that's helping partially offset.

是的，Andrew，這其實就是四捨五入，因為我們看到大約是 3.5%。但當你特別看商品時，確實有一些有利因素。相較於先前的估計，我們大部分的有利因素來自牛肉。我想我們原本預期第四季會是兩位數的區間，但最後是高個位數。而乳製品方面也有一些有利因素，部分提供了抵銷。

So I would say, those are the two drivers in terms of the change. Again, we're talking about tens of basis points of change because we were saying, I think, earlier 4% to 4.5% and now approximately 4% for the year.

所以我會說，這兩項是變動的驅動因素。再說一次，我們談的是變動幾十個基點，因為我們先前說的我記得是 4% 到 4.5%，現在則是全年約 4%。

Got it. Okay. And then with the step-up in new units for next year, I know it's only a handful incrementally, but should we assume that most of those Olive Garden and LongHorn? Or is that a little more broad-based? Anything to call out there?

了解。好。另外，明年新店數量有上調，我知道增量只有少數幾家，但我們是否應該假設大多數會來自 Olive Garden 和 LongHorn？還是會更廣泛一些？這部分有什麼需要特別說明的嗎？

Yes, it's a little bit more. As we look at 75 to 80, I'd say 50 to 55 is going to come from those 2 brands, but then probably mid-single digits for the rest of the brands. So as you look at, I say, Yard House, Cheddar's and Chuy's will probably all have mid-single-digit unit growth, number of units. And then the rest will come from Fine Dining.

是的，會更分散一些。我們看 75 到 80 家的話，我會說其中 50 到 55 家會來自那兩個品牌，但其他品牌大概各是中個位數的增長。所以你看，像 Yard House、Cheddar's 和 Chuy's，可能都會有中個位數的門店增長、店數增加。其餘的則會來自 Fine Dining（高級餐飲）。

Yes, Andrew, and I would add that over the long term, you should see over time, not right away, you should see more of our growth as a percent growth coming from the smaller brands, so you think about Chuy's, Yard House, think about Cheddar's, they've got to be at the higher end of our framework or more because Olive Garden is going to be within that framework somewhere, probably at the lower end. So in order for us to get to that framework and to get a more balanced portfolio, those other brands are going to grow faster over the long term is what we said. So in the first few years in that, olive Garden is going to drive some of the growth.

是的，Andrew，我還要補充，從長期來看，你會隨著時間（不是立刻）看到我們的成長，以百分比來說會更多來自較小的品牌；所以你想想 Chuy's、Yard House、再想想 Cheddar's，它們必須在我們框架的高端，甚至更高，因為 Olive Garden 會落在那個框架之內的某個位置，可能偏低端。因此，為了讓我們達到那個框架並建立更均衡的品牌組合，我們所說的是：長期來看，其他品牌的成長會更快。所以在最初幾年，Olive Garden 會帶動部分成長。

John Ivankoe, JPMorgan.

John Ivankoe，摩根大通。

The question is on operations. And obviously, perfect is it possible in the real world. So I wanted to see the percentage of restaurants that you thought were operationally excellent today. And I think the converse of that is percentage of restaurants that you may have an opportunity to significantly improve your operational improvement, especially as the labor market might be more willing for you to do so.

問題是關於營運。而且很明顯，在現實世界裡不可能做到完美。所以我想了解一下，你們認為目前有多少比例的餐廳在營運上表現卓越。反過來說，有多少比例的餐廳，你們可能有機會在營運改善上大幅提升，特別是在勞動市場可能更願意配合你們這麼做的情況下。

John, I can't give you an exact number here. But let's just use the 80/20 rule. I would say 80% of the restaurants are operating great and maybe 20% have some room to improve. It's probably less than that. I will say that our dissatisfaction, which we measure guest satisfaction, but our dissatisfaction at our brands are pretty much at all-time lows.

John，我沒辦法在這裡給你一個精確數字。但我們就用 80/20 法則來說。我會說 80% 的餐廳營運得很棒，可能有 20% 還有一些改善空間。實際上可能比那更少。我會說，我們的不滿意度（我們衡量的是顧客滿意度），我們各品牌的不滿意度幾乎都在歷史低點。

And I'm talking about low single-digit dissat in our big brands. And that is pretty amazing when you consider where dissatisfaction rates can be in casual dining and any dining or any --

我指的是我們大型品牌的不滿意度在低個位數。考慮到在休閒餐飲以及任何餐飲、或任何--

Yes. definitely. And yes, listen, some people aren't going to be happy with Perfect. So low single digits is very good. Let me ask you a separate question in the interest of time. Greg asked about AI. And I think, specifically on a corporate level, you mentioned having AI-driven forecasts for general managers.

是的，確實。而且是的，你聽著，有些人不可能對「完美」感到滿意。所以低個位數是非常好的。為了節省時間，我另外問一個問題。Greg 問到了 AI。我想特別是在公司層面，你提到為總經理提供 AI 驅動的預測。

But within quick service a number of these different companies are talking about basically assistance for the general manager to help them do their jobs better even beyond forecasting, your labor allocation, food prep, what have you. Does that make sense for casual dining broadly? Does that make sense for Darden? And is that something you might be working on and see as an opportunity?

但在速食/快餐服務領域，有不少公司在談的是基本上為總經理提供協助，幫助他們把工作做得更好，甚至不只是預測，還包括人力配置、備料等等。這對休閒餐飲整體而言有意義嗎？這對 Darden 有意義嗎？這是否是你們可能正在做、並視為機會的事情？

Absolutely, John. And I did mention that it's forecasting, but it is about food prep and labor management and other things. So I probably didn't put it all in there, but it's all part of that. And I think whatever we can do to make the general manager and the restaurant managers' job easier to get them out of the office and with our guests and with our team members is what AI can help do. What I did say is we won't have it to our guests are actually seeing it in their face, but we're using a lot of that stuff already.

絕對是，John。我確實提到是預測，但也包括備料、人力管理以及其他事情。所以我可能沒有把所有內容都講進去，但那都是其中的一部分。我認為，任何能讓總經理和餐廳經理的工作更容易、讓他們走出辦公室，去面對我們的顧客、和我們的團隊成員在一起的事情，AI 都能幫上忙。我說過的是，我們不會做到讓顧客直接在他們面前看到，但我們其實已經在使用很多這類工具了。

Brian Vaccaro, Raymond James.

Brian Vaccaro，Raymond James。

Hi, thanks, just a quick one for me. It's really a question on the Casual Dining segment, and it's pretty striking how your outperformance gap has widened significantly in recent quarters. So maybe if you could just talk about this widening gap between the winners and losers in the segment. Are you starting to see a tick up in closures or think we might be on the precipice of seeing that? Or just any other thoughts you have on this widening gap.

嗨，謝謝，我這邊就一個簡短問題。主要是關於休閒餐飲（Casual Dining）板塊，你們在最近幾季的超額表現差距顯著擴大，這點相當醒目。所以也許你可以談談這個板塊裡贏家與輸家之間差距擴大的情況。你們是否開始看到關店數有所上升，或認為我們可能正處於即將看到關店潮的邊緣？或是你對這個差距擴大還有任何其他看法。

(technical difficulty)

（技術問題）

Ladies and gentlemen, please stand by. We do experience some technical difficulties. Just give me a one moment, please, while I get the speakers back on the line. Ladies and gentlemen, please stand by.

各位女士、先生，請稍候。我們遇到一些技術問題。請給我一點時間，我把講者重新接回線上。各位女士、先生，請稍候。

Ladies and gentlemen, please do not disconnect. We are reconnecting the speakers at this point. One moment, please, while we reconnect to speakers. Once again, we are experiencing technical difficulties, please continue to hold. Do not disconnect. We do appreciate your patience in this matter.

各位女士、先生，請不要掛斷。我們正在重新連接講者。請稍候片刻，我們正在重新連接講者。再次提醒，我們遇到技術問題，請繼續等候。請勿掛斷。感謝各位在此事上的耐心等候。

And, Brian, you're still in queue, my friend, just stand by, okay.

而且，Brian，你還在排隊中，我的朋友，先稍等一下，好嗎。

Can you hear us now?

你現在聽得到我們嗎？

Yes, we can. please go ahead.

是的，聽得到。請繼續。

Okay. All right. All right, sorry. I don't know if, John, you got my whole answer but --

好的。好。好，抱歉。我不確定，John，你是否聽到我完整的回答，但--

We didn't hear anything, Rick. This is Brian Vaccaro. Do you want me to ask the question again or did you get it all?

我們什麼都沒聽到，Rick。我是Brian Vaccaro。你要我再問一次問題，還是你都聽到了？

No, I got it -- John -- oh, the question about AI for John. Did you get that answer? That's what I want to make sure.

不，我有聽到——John——喔，是給John的那個關於AI的問題。你有聽到那個回答嗎？我想確認的是這個。

Oh, continue -- yeah, we got cut off on that, I think. So you can finish up that maybe, and then I'll ask my question.

喔，請繼續——對，我想那段我們被切斷了。所以你可以把那部分補完，然後我再問我的問題。

I do apologize. Brian -- your question was next, and then we -- that's when we got cut off. Do you want to proceed from there?

我很抱歉。Brian——接下來輪到你的問題，然後我們——就是在那時候斷線了。你要從那裡繼續嗎？

Oh, so you heard all it, John. Okay, go ahead, Brian.

喔，所以你都聽到了，John。好的，Brian，你請。

Okay. Okay, great. So yeah, just a question on the Casual Dining segment, and it's pretty shrinking how your outperformance gap has widened significantly in recent quarters. So maybe you could just talk about this widening gap between the winners and losers in the segment. And are you starting to see a tick up in closures or think we might be on the precipice of seeing something like that? Just any broader thoughts on this widening gap.

好的。好的，很好。所以，是關於休閒餐飲（Casual Dining）部門的一個問題，最近幾季你們的超越表現差距顯著擴大，這點相當引人注目。所以也許你可以談談這個部門裡贏家與輸家之間差距擴大的情況。你們是否開始看到關店數量略有上升，或認為我們可能正處於即將看到那種情況的邊緣？對於這個差距擴大，有沒有任何更宏觀的看法。

Hey, Brian, I would say I'm really pleased that that gap keeps widening. There are winners and losers in every industry and especially in categories like ours, which aren't super high-growth category. There's always going to be winners and losers, and we plan to be winners.

嗨，Brian，我會說我很高興這個差距持續擴大。每個產業都有贏家和輸家，尤其是在像我們這樣的類別中，並不是超高成長的類別。總是會有贏家和輸家，而我們計畫成為贏家。

Are we seeing a lot more closings? I wouldn't say we're seeing more closing. We're seeing some bankruptcies, but that generally happens over time. We've been on the precipice of big closings for years, and maybe one day it will happen. I just don't know. I don't know what other companies are thinking about in their plans in the future.

我們有看到更多關店嗎？我不會說我們看到更多關店。我們看到一些破產案，但那通常是隨時間發生的。我們多年來一直都像是站在大規模關店的邊緣，也許有一天會發生。我只是不了解。我不知道其他公司對未來的規劃在想些什麼。

But restaurants that have -- individual restaurants that continue to lose margin and continue to lose traffic, eventually, they can't pay the rent. So some of those will close and the good brands will kind of pick up the slack and add restaurants. But we're just going to keep performing the way we have no matter what the situation is out there. And if restaurants close, we'll be the beneficiaries.

但那些——持續毛利下滑、持續客流下滑的單店，最終會付不起租金。所以其中一些會關閉，而好的品牌會某種程度上補上缺口並增開餐廳。但不管外部情況如何，我們都會持續以我們一直以來的方式表現。如果有餐廳關閉，我們會成為受益者。

All right. That's helpful. And then last quick one, just, Raj, sorry if I missed it, but where do you see your G&A shaking out for the year in your updated guidance? Thanks again.

好的。這很有幫助。最後一個快問，Raj，若我漏聽了先說抱歉，但在更新後的財測指引中，你們預期今年的G&A（一般及行政費用）會落在哪個水準？再次感謝。

Yeah, Brian, I think we're still looking at approximately $500 million for the full year. Q4, that implies higher -- heavier G&A in Q4 for a couple of reasons. One, we have an extra week. Call it, that's roughly $10 million. And because of the growth we have, the most of the growth -- as you look at year-over-year growth on sales and earnings, we have pretty strong growth implied, especially on the earnings in Q4. And so that leads to higher incentive comp. And so between those two, I think Q4 is probably -- you're thinking roughly about $30 million higher than Q3.

是的，Brian，我想我們全年仍然預估大約是5億美元。第4季，這意味著——基於幾個原因——第4季的G&A會更高、更偏重。第一，我們多了一週。大概約1,000萬美元。另外，因為我們的成長，當你看年對年在營收與獲利的成長時，我們隱含的成長相當強勁，尤其是第4季的獲利。因此會帶來更高的激勵性薪酬。所以這兩項加起來，我想第4季大概——你可以理解為比第3季高出約3,000萬美元。

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

謝謝。我們的問答環節到此結束。我想把時間交回給Courtney，請她做進一步或結語的說明。

This concludes our call. I want to remind you that we plan to release fourth-quarter results on Thursday, June 25, before the market opens with the conference call to follow. Thanks for participating.

本次電話會議到此結束。提醒各位，我們計畫於6月25日（週四）在開盤前發布第四季業績，並在之後舉行電話會議。感謝各位參與。

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

謝謝。今天的電話會議與網路直播到此結束。您現在可以掛斷電話，祝您有美好的一天。感謝您今天的參與。