European Wax Center Inc (EWCZ) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the European Wax Center's First Quarter 2023 Earnings Results. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, today's program is being recorded. And now I'd like to introduce your host for today's program, Bethany Johns, Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

感謝您的耐心等待，歡迎閱讀歐洲蠟中心 2023 年第一季度收益結果。 （操作員指示）提醒一下，今天的節目正在錄製中。現在我想介紹一下今天節目的主持人，投資者關係總監 Bethany Johns。請繼續。

Thank you, and welcome to European Wax Center's first quarter fiscal 2023 earnings call. With me today are David Berg, Chief Executive Officer; David Willis, President and Chief Operating Officer; and Stacie Shirley, Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝，歡迎參加歐洲蠟中心 2023 財年第一季度財報電話會議。今天與我在一起的有首席執行官 David Berg；大衛·威利斯，總裁兼首席運營官；和首席財務官 Stacie Shirley。

For today's call, David Berg and David Willis will provide a brief overview of our first quarter performance and discuss our priorities for fiscal 2023. Then Stacie will provide additional details regarding our first quarter financial performance and our fiscal 2023 outlook. Following the prepared remarks, David, Stacie and David will be available to take questions.

在今天的電話會議中，David Berg 和 David Willis 將簡要概述我們第一季度的業績，並討論我們 2023 財年的優先事項。然後 Stacie 將提供有關我們第一季度財務業績和 2023 財年展望的更多詳細信息。在準備好發言後，David、Stacie 和 David 將可以回答問題。

Before we start, I would like to remind you of our legal disclaimer. We will make certain statements today which are forward-looking within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including statements about the outlook of our business and other matters referenced in our earnings release issued today. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to different materially.

在我們開始之前，我想提醒您我們的法律免責聲明。我們今天將發表聯邦證券法含義內的某些前瞻性聲明，包括有關我們業務前景的聲明以及我們今天發布的收益報告中提到的其他事項。這些前瞻性陳述涉及許多風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與實際結果存在重大差異。

Please refer to our SEC filings as well as our earnings release issued today for a more detailed description of the risk factors that may affect our results. Please also note that these forward-looking statements reflect our opinions only as of the date of this call and we take no obligation to revise or publicly release the results of any revision to our forward-looking statements in light of new information or future events.

請參閱我們向 SEC 提交的文件以及今天發布的收益報告，了解可能影響我們業績的風險因素的更詳細描述。另請注意，這些前瞻性陳述僅反映我們截至本次電話會議之日的意見，我們沒有義務根據新信息或未來事件修改或公開發布對我們的前瞻性陳述的任何修改結果。

Also during this call, we will discuss non-GAAP financial measures which adjust our GAAP results to eliminate the impact of certain items. You will find additional information regarding these non-GAAP financial measures and a reconciliation of these non-GAAP to GAAP measures in our earnings release. A live broadcast of this call is also available on the Investor Relations section of our website at investors.waxcenter.com. I will now turn the call over to David Berg.

此外，在這次電話會議中，我們還將討論非公認會計原則財務措施，這些措施調整我們的公認會計原則結果，以消除某些項目的影響。您將在我們的收益報告中找到有關這些非 GAAP 財務指標的更多信息以及這些非 GAAP 與 GAAP 指標的調節表。本次電話會議的現場直播也可在我們網站的投資者關係部分觀看：investors.waxcenter.com。我現在將把電話轉給大衛·伯格。

Thank you, Bethany, and good morning everyone. Thank you for joining us today. We are pleased to deliver solid Q1 performance in line with our expectations as our says and dos match for the eighth consecutive quarter since we became a public company in 2021. We generated $218 million in system-wide sales, $50 million in total revenue and $16.3 million in adjusted EBITDA, representing 6%, 10% and 8% growth respectively. We delivered 4.5% same-store sales growth and opened 34 net new centers, the most centers ever opened in a single quarter since the brand was founded in 2004. We continue to drive both of our key growth vectors.

謝謝你，貝瑟尼，大家早上好。感謝您今天加入我們。我們很高興能夠實現穩定的第一季度業績，符合我們的預期，自 2021 年成為上市公司以來連續第八個季度言行相符。我們的全系統銷售額為 2.18 億美元，總收入為 5000 萬美元，總收入為 16.3 美元。調整後 EBITDA 增長 6%、10% 和 8%。我們實現了 4.5% 的同店銷售增長，並淨開設了 34 個新中心，這是自 2004 年該品牌成立以來單季度開設的中心數量最多的一次。我們將繼續推動我們的兩個關鍵增長向量。

Unit growth driven by our franchisees excited about the strong return on invested capital and in-center sales growth. Our focus on these vectors remains steadfast as we look ahead. And I would like to extend our sincere thanks to our associates and our franchisee partners for their commitment to our ongoing success and for living our values every day.

我們的特許經營商對投資資本的強勁回報和中心銷售增長感到興奮，推動了單位的增長。展望未來，我們對這些向量的關注仍然堅定。我謹向我們的員工和特許經營合作夥伴致以誠摯的謝意，感謝他們對我們持續成功的承諾以及每天踐行我們的價值觀。

European Wax Center created the category of professionalized out-of-home waxing and continues to be the undisputed leader in a highly fragmented space. Our model is fueled by the recurring nature of hair growth and our loyal guests who consider waxing to be a nondiscretionary part of their personal care routines. Our highly trained wax specialists deliver consistent, efficient and professional services with our unique Comfort Wax at a reasonable price in clean, hygienic centers. These qualities and our relentless focus on delighting our guests sets European Wax Center apart from others. And our scale is truly unmatched.

歐洲打蠟中心開創了專業化的戶外打蠟類別，並繼續成為高度分散的領域無可爭議的領導者。我們的模型是由頭髮生長的反复性質以及我們的忠實客人推動的，他們認為脫毛是他們個人護理程序中不可隨意選擇的一部分。我們訓練有素的蠟專家在乾淨、衛生的中心以合理的價格提供一致、高效和專業的服務，使用我們獨特的舒適蠟。這些品質以及我們對取悅客人的不懈關注使歐洲蠟像中心與眾不同。我們的規模確實是無與倫比的。

With almost 1,000 centers nationwide offering a high quality inclusive experience, European Wax Center is uniquely positioned to provide out-of-home waxing to every body. And our tech-enabled scheduling and efficient waxing regimen allow our guests to get in and get out as part of their busy days. Our new advertising campaign launched earlier this month features distinctive creative visuals that leverage our brand authority to invite all customers to wax with us and reinforces our status as the category expert.

歐洲蠟療中心在全國擁有近 1,000 個中心，提供高品質的包容性體驗，具有獨特的優勢，可以為每個人提供戶外蠟療服務。我們的技術支持的日程安排和高效的打蠟方案讓我們的客人可以在忙碌的日子裡進出。我們本月早些時候推出的新廣告活動具有獨特的創意視覺效果，利用我們的品牌權威邀請所有客戶與我們一起打蠟，並鞏固我們作為品類專家的地位。

Our Wax Pass program also continues to be a key differentiator. Wax passes provide our guests with a discount for prepurchasing a body-part specific package. For instance, 12 eyebrow waxes for the price of 9 during our semi-annual promo periods. Wax Pass holders are our most loyal guests. They make up about 40% of our customers, but generate 2/3 of our visits and network sales. With the recent implementation of our enterprise data warehouse and enhanced CRM capabilities, we've been able to identify an additional cohort of routine guests who also visit European Wax Center regularly, an average of 8x per year but who do not currently have a Wax Pass. Together, both Wax Pass holders and routine guests drive more than 75% of total visits and network sales. Both cohorts have remained incredibly consistent in their waxing routines in terms of both their frequency and their spend. They continue to view our services as nondiscretionary even in an uncertain macroeconomic environment.

我們的蠟通行證計劃也仍然是一個關鍵的差異化因素。蠟像通行證為預購身體部位特定套餐的客人提供折扣。例如，在半年促銷期間，12 支眉蠟的價格為 9 支。 Wax Pass 持有者是我們最忠實的客人。他們約占我們客戶的 40%，但產生了我們 2/3 的訪問量和網絡銷售額。隨著我們最近實施的企業數據倉庫和增強的 CRM 功能，我們已經能夠識別出另外一批常客，他們也定期訪問歐洲蠟像中心，平均每年 8 次，但目前沒有蠟像通行證。 Wax Pass 持有者和常客共同推動了總訪問量和網絡銷售額的 75% 以上。兩組人的脫毛習慣在頻率和花費方面都保持了令人難以置信的一致。即使在不確定的宏觀經濟環境下，他們仍然認為我們的服務是非自由裁量的。

In addition, we remain focused on our less frequent episodic guests where we see an opportunity to improve visit frequency and spend. Our strategic pillars are unchanged. And we are deploying additional levers to drive transactions and basket size in 2023 that gives us confidence in reiterating our full year guidance. David Willis will cover these in more depth in a moment.

此外，我們仍然關注不太頻繁的臨時客人，我們認為有機會提高訪問頻率和支出。我們的戰略支柱沒有改變。我們正在部署額外的槓桿來推動 2023 年的交易和籃子規模，這讓我們有信心重申全年指導。大衛·威利斯稍後將更深入地介紹這些內容。

We expect these efforts, coupled with our unit expansion, to enable us to generate long-term revenue growth, leverage our fixed cost profile for EBITDA margin expansion and generate significant free cash flow over time, all of which translates to significant value creation for European wax center's franchisees and our shareholders. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to our President and COO, David Willis, to discuss recent trends and our 2 key growth vectors, expanding our footprint through new center growth and driving in-center sales.

我們預計這些努力，加上我們的部門擴張，將使我們能夠實現長期收入增長，利用我們的固定成本狀況來擴大 EBITDA 利潤率，並隨著時間的推移產生大量的自由現金流，所有這些都將為歐洲創造巨大的價值。蠟中心的加盟商和我們的股東。說到這裡，我想將電話轉給我們的總裁兼首席運營官 David Willis，討論最近的趨勢和我們的 2 個關鍵增長向量，通過新中心的增長擴大我們的足跡並推動中心內的銷售。

David, over to you.

大衛，交給你了。

Thank you, David, and good morning everyone. Turning first to our unit growth vector. As David shared earlier, we opened 34 net new centers in Q1, densifying markets in key states like California, Florida and Illinois. We have incredible momentum as we approach 1,000 centers across 45 states, demonstrating that the European Wax Center brand resonates everywhere. Franchisee demand, especially among multi-unit developers remains robust. More than 90% of our pipeline is comprised of existing franchisees who are largely focused on densifying the top 20 markets nationwide. We are also welcoming new franchisees and expanding our reach in tertiary markets.

謝謝你，大衛，大家早上好。首先轉向我們的單位增長向量。正如 David 之前分享的那樣，我們在第一季度淨開設了 34 個新中心，緻密了加利福尼亞州、佛羅里達州和伊利諾伊州等關鍵州的市場。隨著我們在 45 個州開設 1,000 個蠟像中心，我們擁有令人難以置信的動力，這表明歐洲蠟像中心品牌在各地引起共鳴。特許經營商的需求，尤其是多單元開發商的需求仍然強勁。我們超過 90% 的渠道由現有特許經營商組成，他們主要專注於強化全國前 20 個市場的規模。我們還歡迎新的特許經營商，並擴大我們在三級市場的影響力。

By way of example, in Q1 we signed an agreement with a small family office to develop nearly 20 centers in Southern Georgia and Alabama. The development personnel we invested in this year are helping structure multi-unit development agreements for our larger franchisees in addressing pent up demand from smaller operators who want to add 1, 2 or 3 centers to their existing portfolios.

舉例來說，在第一季度，我們與一家小型家族辦公室簽署了一項協議，將在喬治亞州南部和阿拉巴馬州開發近 20 個中心。我們今年投資的開發人員正在幫助我們的大型特許經營商制定多單元開發協議，以滿足想要在現有投資組合中添加 1、2 或 3 個中心的小型運營商的被壓抑的需求。

As a reminder, our centers have a relatively modest initial investment of approximately $350,000 to $400,000. We are confident that our franchisees remain well-capitalized amidst this rising interest rate environment, with sufficient funding to continue growing the European Wax Center footprint. Continued demand is also helping us reach our targeted long-term franchisee mix sooner than expected. At the IPO, we communicated a long-term expectation that 1/3 of our centers would be owned by each of 3 groups, smaller independent operators, self-funded multiunit developers and private-equity backed operators. While our current location mix is 50% independent, 30% self-funded, and 20% private-equity-backed, opening the approximately 400 centers in our existing licensed pipeline will bring that mix close to 1/3 each within the next few years. Each of these groups is tremendously valuable to the brand and continues to demonstrate their steadfast commitment to our long-term growth.

請注意，我們中心的初始投資相對較低，約為 350,000 美元至 400,000 美元。我們相信，在利率上升的環境下，我們的特許經營商仍擁有充足的資本，有足夠的資金來繼續擴大歐洲蠟中心的足跡。持續的需求也幫助我們比預期更快地實現長期特許經營商組合目標。在首次公開募股時，我們傳達了一個長期預期，即我們中心的 1/3 將由 3 個集團分別擁有，即較小的獨立運營商、自籌資金的多單元開發商和私募股權支持的運營商。雖然我們目前的地點組合是 50% 獨立、30% 自籌資金和 20% 私募股權支持，但在我們現有的許可渠道中開設約 400 個中心，將在未來幾年內使這一組合接近 1/3 。這些團隊中的每一個都對品牌具有巨大的價值，並繼續表現出他們對我們長期增長的堅定承諾。

In addition to delivering significant unit growth, our field and operations teams are dedicated to improving 4-wall performance. We are focused on preparing new centers for opening, driving faster achievement of breakeven and building the pipeline of current and future wax specialists. As we've shared before, new centers opened in 2020 and 2021 are generating above-average sales volume in their first few years. Therefore, we are developing a new center marketing toolkit, leveraging best practices from these cohorts to help replicate those trends across the network with the goal of delivering breakeven profitability even faster.

除了實現顯著的單位增長外，我們的現場和運營團隊還致力於提高 4 牆性能。我們專注於為新中心的開業做準備，推動更快地實現盈虧平衡，並建立當前和未來蠟專家的管道。正如我們之前所分享的，2020 年和 2021 年開設的新中心在最初幾年的銷售額就高於平均水平。因此，我們正在開發一個新的中心營銷工具包，利用這些群體的最佳實踐來幫助在整個網絡上複製這些趨勢，目標是更快地實現盈虧平衡盈利。

In April, we rolled out a new reporting tool to our network that offers better access to real-time benchmarking analytics and performance data. Lastly, we are reaping the rewards of our efforts to deepen the wax specialist pipeline. Our beauty school partnership program continues to expand with positive recommendation ratings from 97% of participants. Our careers website generated double the number of wax specialists applications year-over-year. As a result, the average number of wax specialists per center has increased versus 2022. Through these initiatives, we are widening the gap as the undisputed leader in a highly fragmented category.

四月份，我們在網絡中推出了一款新的報告工具​​，可以更好地訪問實時基準分析和性能數據。最後，我們在深化蠟專業管道方面的努力正在收穫回報。我們的美容學校合作夥伴計劃不斷擴大，獲得了 97% 參與者的積極推薦。我們的職業網站產生的蠟專家申請數量同比增加了一倍。因此，與 2022 年相比，每個中心的蠟像專家平均數量有所增加。通過這些舉措，我們正在擴大與高度分散類別無可爭議的領導者的差距。

As a reminder, we remain the only nationwide brand in out-of-home waxing. We are 6x larger than the nearest competitor by number of units and 11x larger by network sales. With the unmatched demand from our franchisees, the strength of our development strategy and the effectiveness of our operational efforts, we control our destiny as we work towards tripling our current footprint to an estimated 3,000 centers over the long term.

提醒一下，我們仍然是唯一的戶外打蠟全國品牌。我們的單位數量是最接近的競爭對手的 6 倍，網絡銷售額是最接近的競爭對手的 11 倍。憑藉我們特許經營商無與倫比的需求、我們發展戰略的實力以及我們運營努力的有效性，我們掌控著自己的命運，我們努力在長期內將目前的足跡擴大兩倍，達到約 3,000 個中心。

Now turning to our second growth vector, driving in-center sales, which benefits both system-wide and same store sales growth. We achieved this by strengthening guest engagement through our 3-pillared attract-more, buy-more and visit-more strategies. As always, the attract-more pillar focuses on bringing new guests to European Wax Center. Our comprehensive media strategy has generated a significant increase in brand awareness year-over-year. We're seeing a lot of traction. And we believe that our bold new advertising campaign, Every Body Smooth, will help us continue to grow awareness in 2023. For the balance of the year, we're adjusting our media mix, shifting a portion of our media spend out of awareness-driving activities and into very targeted action-driving performance media channels that have previously worked well to convert guest awareness into guest visits.

現在轉向我們的第二個增長向量，推動中心內銷售，這有利於整個系統和同店銷售的增長。我們通過吸引更多、購買更多和訪問更多的三大支柱策略來加強賓客參與度，從而實現了這一目標。與往常一樣，吸引更多支柱的重點是為歐洲蠟像中心帶來新客人。我們全面的媒體策略使品牌知名度逐年顯著提高。我們看到了很大的吸引力。我們相信，我們大膽的新廣告活動“Every Body Smooth”將幫助我們在 2023 年繼續提高認知度。在這一年的剩餘時間裡，我們正在調整我們的媒體組合，將部分媒體支出轉移到認知度之外 -推動活動並進入非常有針對性的行動驅動績效媒體渠道，這些渠道以前在將賓客意識轉化為賓客訪問方面效果良好。

We also recently partnered with a messaging platform to increase guest reviews on Google. Online reviews are critical as they drive SEO optimization and help potential new guests understand the value of out-of-home waxing, particularly for intimate services. Because our highly trained wax specialists are one of our key differentiators in the drivers of in-suite unit economics, online reviews highlighting these experts offer a great opportunity to drive new guest acquisition. Existing franchisees piloting the platform last year saw a lift in transactions. So we are excited to implement this initiative across the network.

我們最近還與一個消息傳遞平台合作，以增加 Google 上的賓客評論。在線評論至關重要，因為它們可以推動搜索引擎優化 (SEO) 優化，並幫助潛在的新客人了解戶外打蠟的價值，尤其是私密服務。由於我們訓練有素的蠟像專家是我們推動套房內單位經濟效益的關鍵優勢之一，因此強調這些專家的在線評論為推動新客人獲取提供了絕佳的機會。去年試點該平台的現有特許經營商的交易量有所增加。因此，我們很高興能夠在網絡上實施這一舉措。

Our second pillar, buy-more, focuses on increasing the average ticket in centers. Ticket size is primarily driven by the type of service performed, the number of services per transaction, or SPT, and retail attachment. While our service mix stays relatively consistent, increasing SPT and retail attachment can be a very impactful driver of ticket value. We are currently testing bundles and service pairings, which make booking multiple and incremental services easier for guests. Additionally, offering a small discount on a service bundle will benefit cost-conscious guests while generating more total dollars for the brand.

我們的第二個支柱是“買更多”，重點是增加中心的平均門票。票據規模主要由所執行的服務類型、每筆交易的服務數量（或 SPT）以及零售附件決定。雖然我們的服務組合保持相對一致，但增加 SPT 和零售附件可能是門票價值的一個非常有影響力的驅動因素。我們目前正在測試捆綁服務和服務配對，這使得客人可以更輕鬆地預訂多項和增量服務。此外，對服務包提供小額折扣將使注重成本的客人受益，同時為品牌帶來更多的總收入。

Our third pillar, visit-more, is designed to increase visit frequency among existing guests. We are currently focused on enhancing guest frequency through Wax Pass holders in part by deepening our existing incentives for centers to drive incremental Wax Pass sales. This is a tried and true tactic we have used during our semi-annual promo periods. As a reminder, Wax Pass holders visit more than twice as often as episodic guests.

我們的第三個支柱是“訪問更多”，旨在增加現有客人的訪問頻率。我們目前的重點是提高蠟通行證持有者的來訪頻率，部分方法是深化我們對中心的現有激勵措施，以推動蠟通行證銷售的增量。這是我們在半年度促銷期間使用的經過驗證的真實策略。提醒一下，蠟像通行證持有者的訪問次數是臨時訪客的兩倍多。

As David mentioned, our Wax Pass holders and routine guests, our core customers, are driving over three quarters of network sales and have not changed their waxing routines. Not unexpectedly and validated by recent guest survey work. Episodic guests are more sensitive to economic pressures and have lowered their beauty-related spend as a result of the current macro environment. Unlike our Wax Pass holders and routine guests who remain strong, our episodic cohort has softened in recent weeks. Driven by this change in trend, we have leveraged our new data environment to identify last episodic guests and we are using our CRM tools to incentivize them with specific targeted offers for both services and retail products. Our CRM capabilities are unmatched among our highly fragmented competitive set and the most effective tool for driving visit frequency and average ticket.

正如 David 提到的，我們的打蠟通行證持有者和常客（我們的核心客戶）推動了超過四分之三的網絡銷售，並且沒有改變他們的打蠟習慣。這並不出人意料，並已通過最近的賓客調查工作得到驗證。間歇性客人對經濟壓力更加敏感，受當前宏觀環境影響，美容相關支出有所減少。與我們的蠟像通行證持有者和常客保持強勢不同，我們的間歇性人群在最近幾周有所軟化。在這種趨勢變化的推動下，我們利用新的數據環境來識別最後的臨時客人，並使用我們的 CRM 工具通過針對服務和零售產品的具體有針對性的優惠來激勵他們。我們的 CRM 功能在高度分散的競爭環境中是無與倫比的，也是提高訪問頻率和平均門票的最有效工具。

We're in the early innings of delivering personalized emails and text messages to those guests which are already generating higher transactions versus control groups. Ultimately, we are confident that we have the right initiatives in place to deliver additional engagement across our guest database, including our episodic cohort. As we execute on our attract-more, buy-more and visit-more initiatives, we expect to attract new guests to the brand, convert them into repeat guests, and drive valuable Wax Pass adoption.

我們正處於向那些已經比對照組產生更高交易量的客人發送個性化電子郵件和短信的早期階段。最終，我們相信我們已經採取了正確的舉措，可以在我們的賓客數據庫（包括我們的臨時隊列）中提供更多的參與度。當我們執行吸引更多、購買更多和訪問更多的舉措時，我們希望吸引新客人加入該品牌，將他們轉化為回頭客，並推動有價值的 Wax Pass 採用。

With that, I'd like to hand the call over to Stacie Shirley to review our financial performance and our guidance for the remainder of fiscal 2023.

在此，我想將電話轉交給 Stacie Shirley，以審查我們的財務業績和 2023 財年剩餘時間的指導。

As a reminder, Stacie joined the European Wax Center team at the end of March, and she's already made an incredibly positive impact on the organization. We're thrilled to have her on board and look forward to partnering with her to drive long-term growth and success. Stacie?

提醒一下，史黛西於三月底加入了歐洲蠟像中心團隊，她已經對該組織產生了令人難以置信的積極影響。我們很高興她的加入，並期待與她合作，推動長期發展和成功。史黛西？

Thanks, David, and good morning, everyone. I'm excited to be on my first earnings call as part of the European Wax Center team.

謝謝大衛，大家早上好。我很高興能夠作為歐洲蠟中心團隊的一員參加我的第一次財報電話會議。

Before I begin my remarks, I'd like to remind everyone that in some instances I will speak to adjusted metrics on this call. You can find reconciliation tables to the most comparable GAAP figures in our press release and 8-K filed with the SEC today.

在開始講話之前，我想提醒大家，在某些情況下，我將在本次電話會議上討論調整後的指標。您可以在我們今天向 SEC 提交的新聞稿和 8-K 中找到最具可比性的 GAAP 數據的調節表。

Turning to our financial performance. We delivered solid first quarter results in line with our expectations. Q1 system-wide sales increased 5.5% to $218.4 million, and total revenue increased 9.8% to $49.9 million. Top line growth was driven by our 2 growth vectors, including 11.9% unit growth. As David mentioned, our 34 net new centers were the most we've ever opened in a single quarter. Both our ramping and mature centers contributed to our 4.5% same-store sales increase, driven by price increases implemented in early 2022.

轉向我們的財務業績。我們第一季度的業績符合我們的預期。第一季度全系統銷售額增長 5.5%，達到 2.184 億美元，總收入增長 9.8%，達到 4990 萬美元。營收增長由我們的 2 個增長向量推動，包括 11.9% 的單位增長。正如 David 提到的，我們淨增 34 個中心，是我們單季度開設的中心數量最多的。在 2022 年初實施的提價推動下，我們的成長中心和成熟中心都為我們的同店銷售額增長了 4.5%。

From a profit standpoint, first quarter gross margin of 71% was in line with our full year guidance. Q1 adjusted EBITDA of $16.3 million increased 7.5% over last year. And adjusted EBITDA margin was 32.7%, exceeding our expectations of approximately 30%. SG&A expense timing, particularly for advertising, professional fees and payroll generated approximately $1 million in favorability for Q1. Adjusted EBITDA margin decreased 70 basis points year-over-year, primarily due to the addition of the medical supplies we now sell to franchisees, which are accretive to gross profit, but have a lower margin rate than the wax and proprietary retail products that drive the majority of our product revenue.

從利潤角度來看，第一季度毛利率為 71%，與我們全年指導一致。第一季度調整後 EBITDA 為 1,630 萬美元，比去年增長 7.5%。調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率為 32.7%，超出我們約 30% 的預期。 SG&A 支出時間，特別是廣告、專業費用和工資，為第一季度帶來了約 100 萬美元的優惠。調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率同比下降 70 個基點，主要是由於我們現在向特許經營商銷售的醫療用品的增加，這些用品增加了毛利潤，但利潤率低於驅動的蠟和自營零售產品我們的大部分產品收入。

Below the line, adjusted net income of $3.4 million differs from adjusted EBITDA of $16.3 million for the 3 primary reasons. First, interest expense was $6.9 million, an increase of $5.4 million year-over-year as a result of the whole business securitization we completed in April 2022 that locked in a fixed 5.5% rate on all of our long-term debt. Second, depreciation and amortization were $5.1 million for the quarter. The majority of this $4.7 million relates to the noncash amortization of intangible assets, such as franchisee relationships and area representative rights that were established prior to our IPO.

線下，調整後淨利潤 340 萬美元與調整後 EBITDA 1630 萬美元存在差異，主要有 3 個原因。首先，利息支出為 690 萬美元，同比增加 540 萬美元，原因是我們於 2022 年 4 月完成了整個業務證券化，將所有長期債務的固定利率鎖定為 5.5%。其次，本季度的折舊和攤銷為 510 萬美元。這 470 萬美元中的大部分與無形資產的非現金攤銷有關，例如我們 IPO 之前建立的特許經營關係和地區代表權。

And third, the income tax component. In Q1, we recognized a GAAP income tax benefit of $0.5 million versus non-GAAP income tax expense of approximately $1 million. We released our valuation allowance on deferred tax assets in Q4 of 2022. And as a result, we expect to recognize tax expense annually compared to the negligible amounts incurred during the period covered by the valuation allowance. As a reminder, exchanges from Class B shares to Class A shares will impact our effective tax rate over time. So we will provide quarterly rate updates for modeling purposes.

第三，所得稅部分。第一季度，我們確認 GAAP 所得稅收益為 50 萬美元，而非 GAAP 所得稅費用約為 100 萬美元。我們於 2022 年第四季度發布了遞延所得稅資產的估值備抵。因此，與估值備抵期間發生的可忽略不計的金額相比，我們預計每年都會確認稅收費用。提醒一下，從 B 類股票轉換為 A 類股票將隨著時間的推移影響我們的有效稅率。因此，我們將提供季度費率更新以用於建模目的。

In terms of the balance sheet, we ended the quarter with $45.9 million in cash and $397 million outstanding under our senior secured notes. Our $40 million revolver remains fully undrawn. Net leverage continues to decrease and was 4.8x adjusted EBITDA at the end of Q1 compared to 5.6x in Q2 2022 after the securitization was completed. We continue to expect to delever approximately a full term from 2022 to 2023. Operating activities generated $4.2 million in cash during the first quarter and investing outflows totaled $360,000. We did not repurchase any stock during the quarter and have approximately $30 million remaining under our current authorization. Our industry-leading free cash flow profile gives us continued optionality to deploy cash to the benefit of our model, our network and our shareholders.

就資產負債表而言，本季度末我們的現金為 4590 萬美元，高級擔保票據項下的未償還現金為 3.97 億美元。我們的 4,000 萬美元左輪手槍仍未動用。淨槓桿率繼續下降，第一季度末調整後 EBITDA 為 4.8 倍，而證券化完成後，2022 年第二季度為 5.6 倍。我們繼續預計從 2022 年到 2023 年的整個期限內將進行去槓桿化。第一季度運營活動產生 420 萬美元現金，投資流出總額為 36 萬美元。本季度我們沒有回購任何股票，目前的授權剩餘約 3000 萬美元。我們行業領先的自由現金流狀況使我們能夠持續選擇部署現金，以造福我們的模型、網絡和股東。

Turning now to our outlook for 2023. As David described, the Wax Pass and routine guests driving more than 75% of our system-wide sales have continued to demonstrate resilience and consistency. Their visits are not wavering, demonstrating that European Wax Center provides a nondiscretionary service to these cohorts that they value as part of their personal care regimen. As mentioned earlier, we have launched several initiatives to drive transactions and ticket size across all of our guest database and particularly targeting our episodic guests. As I'll describe shortly, while these efforts will slightly impact the cadence of the year, we expect this data-driven targeted reengagement to support our previously communicated full year guidance.

現在轉向我們對 2023 年的展望。正如 David 所描述的，Wax Pass 和常客推動了我們整個系統 75% 以上的銷售額，繼續展現出彈性和一致性。他們的訪問並沒有動搖，這表明歐洲蠟療中心為這些人群提供了非自由裁量的服務，他們認為這是他們個人護理方案的一部分。如前所述，我們推出了多項舉措來推動所有賓客數據庫的交易和門票規模，特別是針對不定期的賓客。正如我稍後將描述的，雖然這些努力將稍微影響今年的節奏，但我們預計這種數據驅動的有針對性的重新參與將支持我們之前傳達的全年指導。

In terms of our unit growth, we have incredible momentum. As a reminder, we delivered more than 10% unit growth in 2022 and expect to deliver another 10% in 2023. A handful of Q1 new centers opened a few weeks earlier than expected. And 80% of our 2023 new centers are open or under construction as of the date of this call. As a result, we now expect to open slightly more than half of our 95 to 100 projected openings in the first half of 2023. New centers continue to generate a strong maturity curve and their sales ramps in years 2 through 5 will drive same-store sales in 2023. We remain very confident in our long-term goal of delivering at least 3,000 European Wax Centers nationwide.

就我們的單位增長而言，我們擁有令人難以置信的勢頭。提醒一下，我們在 2022 年實現了超過 10% 的單位增長，並預計在 2023 年再實現 10% 的增長。少數第一季度新中心比預期提前幾週開業。截至本次電話會議之日，我們 2023 個新中心的 80% 已開放或正在建設中。因此，我們現在預計將在 2023 年上半年開設 95 至 100 個預計開業店中的一半以上。新中心將繼續產生強勁的成熟度曲線，其在第 2 至第 5 年的銷售增長將推動同店銷售2023 年的銷售額。我們對在全國范圍內提供至少 3,000 個歐洲蠟像中心的長期目標仍然充滿信心。

Our expectations remain unchanged for 2023 system-wide sales of between $965 million and $990 million and total revenue between $222 million and $229 million, implying 7% to 10% growth for both metrics. With our increased focus on driving wax pass sales in our semiannual promo periods of May, June, November and December, we believe that Q2 and Q4 will be 75 to 100 basis points higher as a percentage of full year system-wide sales than they were in 2022. As a reminder, system-wide sales are recognized as payments for wax passes are received, while same-store sales reflect the Wax Pass visits as they are redeemed.

我們的預期保持不變，即 2023 年全系統銷售額在 9.65 億美元至 9.9 億美元之間，總收入在 2.22 億美元至 2.29 億美元之間，這意味著這兩個指標都將增長 7% 至 10%。隨著我們在 5 月、6 月、11 月和 12 月的半年促銷期更加註重推動蠟型銷售，我們相信第二季度和第四季度佔全年系統銷售額的百分比將比去年高出 75 至 100 個基點2022 年。提醒一下，系統範圍內的銷售額在收到蠟通行證付款時被確認，而同店銷售額則反映了兌換蠟通行證時的訪問次數。

As I just mentioned, the new initiatives we are rolling out to drive guest engagement are expected to impact our top line cadence. For Q2, we expect comps to be in the low-single-digit as the impact of our new initiatives ramp up and then return to mid-single-digits in the back half as guests respond to our targeted outreach and Q2 Wax Pass sales generate future return visits. We remain focused on our 2 key growth vectors and are confident in our mid-single-digit full year comp guidance.

正如我剛才提到的，我們為提高賓客參與度而推出的新舉措預計將影響我們的營收節奏。對於第二季度，隨著我們的新舉措的影響加大，我們預計比較將處於低個位數，然後隨著客人對我們的目標推廣和第二季度蠟通票銷售產生的反應，後半段將恢復到中個位數未來回訪。我們仍然專注於我們的兩個關鍵增長向量，並對我們的中個位數全年業績指引充滿信心。

Turning to profit. We continue to expect adjusted EBITDA in a range of $77 million to $80 million. From a cadence standpoint, we expect the timing dynamics I mentioned earlier to ship approximately $1 million of Q1 SG&A expense favorability into Q3 with mid-30s adjusted EBITDA margins resulting for Q2 and Q4. Our 2023 interest expense outlook remains approximately $28 million, slightly weighted in Q4 given a 53rd week in 2023. Due to additional exchanges from Class B to Class A shares, our expectations for 2023's blended statutory tax rate has increased to 20% from 18%. While we continue to expect adjusted net income within our existing range of $22 million to $24.5 million, the rate increase will drive approximately $0.5 million of incremental tax expense this year. On a final note, as we look ahead, we expect to return to meaningful EBITDA margin expansion in fiscal 2024 as our efforts are designed to generate long-term revenue growth, enabling margin expansion as well as significant free cash flow over time. With that, I'd like to turn the call back to David Berg to wrap up our prepared remarks and open it up for Q&A. David?

轉向盈利。我們仍然預計調整後 EBITDA 在 7700 萬美元至 8000 萬美元之間。從節奏的角度來看，我們預計我之前提到的時間動態會將第一季度大約 100 萬美元的 SG&A 費用優惠帶入第三季度，第二季度和第四季度的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 30 多歲。我們對 2023 年利息支出的展望仍然約為 2800 萬美元，考慮到 2023 年已是第 53 週，第四季度的利息支出略有加權。由於 B 類股票到 A 類股票的額外交換，我們對 2023 年混合法定稅率的預期從 18% 提高到 20%。雖然我們仍然預計調整後的淨利潤在 2200 萬美元至 2450 萬美元的現有範圍內，但稅率上調將導致今年約 50 萬美元的增量稅收支出。最後一點，展望未來，我們預計 2024 財年 EBITDA 利潤率將恢復有意義的擴張，因為我們的努力旨在實現長期收入增長，從而實現利潤率擴張以及隨著時間的推移實現大量自由現金流。說到這裡，我想把電話轉回大衛·伯格，以結束我們準備好的發言並開始問答。大衛？

Thank you, Stacy. In summary, we remain pleased with our continued top line growth, the resilience of our Wax Pass and routine guests and their enthusiasm for the brand. Their recurring predictable visits give us incredible confidence in the health of our business model over the long term. We recognize that an uncertain consumer environment has impacted a smaller segment of our guests who are more economically sensitive. We believe we're focused on the right initiatives to support our continued performance in 2023. And we look forward to updating you next quarter on our progress. In the meantime, our franchisee base is stronger than ever and continuing to invest in European Wax Centers nationwide. We remain the undisputed leader in out-of-home waxing and believe that our efforts are only widening the gap between us and competitors in this highly fragmented category.

謝謝你，史黛西。總而言之，我們對我們的收入持續增長、Wax Pass 和常客的彈性以及他們對品牌的熱情感到滿意。他們定期、可預測的訪問讓我們對我們業務模式的長期健康發展充滿信心。我們認識到，不確定的消費環境影響了一小部分對經濟更為敏感的客人。我們相信，我們正在專注於正確的舉措，以支持我們在 2023 年繼續保持業績。我們期待在下個季度向您通報我們的最新進展。與此同時，我們的特許經營商基礎比以往任何時候都更強大，並繼續投資全國范圍內的歐洲蠟像中心。我們仍然是戶外打蠟領域無可爭議的領導者，並相信我們的努力只會擴大我們與這個高度分散的類別中的競爭對手之間的差距。

We now like to open up the call for questions. Operator?

我們現在開始提問。操作員？

And our first question comes from the line of Randy Konik from Jefferies.

我們的第一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Randy Konik。

I guess first question is, I just want to maybe expand a little bit upon some of the early learnings from the service bundle tests that you're going after. And then as it relates to, you talked about on the call some incentives to drive a Wax Pass focus at the center level. Can you just take us through the process there and how that incentives may have changed from prior iterations?

我想第一個問題是，我只是想稍微擴展一下您所追求的服務捆綁測試的一些早期知識。然後，與此相關的是，您在電話會議上談到了在中心層面推動蠟通行證重點的一些激勵措施。您能否向我們介紹整個流程以及激勵措施與之前的迭代相比有何變化？

Randy, thanks for the questions. This is David Willis. So the service bundle is literally launched yesterday in our corporate center, so I don't think we get a fair data set, an early read, maybe perhaps ironically the very first ticket that was rung up was a pilot bundle. There was an ingrown hair service and ingrown -- Brazilian service, ingrown hair serum purchased from a customer that hasn't transacted with the brand since 2018. So something caught their eye. So we will be glad to report progress on that. In terms of the incentives, these are the same Wax Pass contests we run every promo period. The network associates really get incentivized to drive Wax Pass sales through these contests. So for perspective, these are fairly small dollars that the brand is investing, $50,000 to $75,000 that we make the top 50 to 75 performers in the Wax Pass promo some incentives available for them. So same tried-and-true tactic we've used in prior periods, and that's what we mean by incentive, Randy.

蘭迪，謝謝你的提問。這是大衛·威利斯。因此，該服務捆綁包實際上是昨天在我們的公司中心推出的，所以我認為我們沒有得到公平的數據集，無法提前閱讀，也許具有諷刺意味的是，啟動的第一張票是一個試點捆綁包。有一種內生頭髮服務和內生——巴西服務，從一位自 2018 年以來就沒有與該品牌進行過交易的顧客那裡購買了內生頭髮精華液。所以有一些東西引起了他們的注意。因此，我們很高興報告這方面的進展。就激勵措施而言，這些與我們在每個促銷期舉辦的蠟通行證競賽相同。通過這些競賽，網絡員工確實得到了推動 Wax Pass 銷售的激勵。因此，從長遠來看，該品牌投資的資金相當小，為 50,000 美元到 75,000 美元，我們為 Wax Pass 促銷活動中排名前 50 到 75 名的表演者提供了一些獎勵。我們在之前的時期使用過同樣經過驗證的策略，這就是我們所說的激勵的意思，蘭迪。

Got you. And then my last question, my follow-up is it seems like you talked about strong enthusiasm from the different groups, the independents, the self-funded and the PE entities to continue to want to buy into the system. So maybe can you just give us some perspective how those conversations have changed among those different groups over the last few months, recognizing the higher interest rates, et cetera. So just curious on understanding their level of demand going forward for units given changes in the economy and the interest rate environment.

明白你了。然後我的最後一個問題，我的後續問題是，您似乎談到了來自不同團體、獨立人士、自籌資金和私募股權實體的強烈熱情，他們希望繼續購買該系統。因此，也許您可以給我們一些看法，在過去幾個月裡，不同群體之間的對話發生了怎樣的變化，認識到利率上升等等。因此，我們只是想了解考慮到經濟和利率環境的變化，他們對單位的未來需求水平。

Sure, Randy. So our network, our franchisees are very well-capitalized. In fact, the institutional players in our network have overequitized their investments and the noninstitutional players really have cash flow from existing locations to fund further development. Over 90% of our development comes from our existing franchisee base. I did say in our prepared remarks, we're pleased we've recruited a new family office investor into the network that has agreed to develop a sizable number of centers in the Southeast. And we stay in touch with our Franchise Advisory Council and our franchisees. We pulled them, what are you seeing in terms of regional lenders. And we've got about a half a dozen lenders that have a lot of activity with our network. Every one of those lenders remains active. And kind of as a reminder, we're a relatively modest upfront investment compared to some other concepts. So we're directionally $350,000 to $400,000 upfront. We're really not seeing the interest rate environment have any impact on our franchisees' desire to add more centers to their portfolios.

當然，蘭迪。所以我們的網絡和特許經營商的資本都非常充足。事實上，我們網絡中的機構參與者已經過度公平化了他們的投資，而非機構參與者確實有來自現有地點的現金流來為進一步的發展提供資金。我們90%以上的發展來自於我們現有的加盟商基礎。我確實在我們準備好的發言中說過，我們很高興我們在網絡中招募了一位新的家族辦公室投資者，該投資者已同意在東南部開發大量中心。我們與特許經營諮詢委員會和特許經營商保持聯繫。我們撤回了它們，您對區域貸款機構有何看法？我們有大約六家貸款機構在我們的網絡上開展了大量活動。這些貸方中的每一個都仍然活躍。提醒一下，與其他一些概念相比，我們的前期投資相對較小。因此，我們定向預付 350,000 至 400,000 美元。我們確實沒有看到利率環境對我們的特許經營商在其投資組合中添加更多中心的願望產生任何影響。

And our next question comes from the line of Lorraine Hutchinson from Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的洛林·哈欽森 (Lorraine Hutchinson)。

I just wanted to follow up on the comments that some of your episodic customers that the trends have weakened in recent weeks. Can you talk about the magnitude of the slowdown? And what do you think the catalyst was for that slowdown?

我只是想跟進一些偶爾出現的客戶的評論，他們認為最近幾週趨勢已經減弱。您能談談經濟放緩的嚴重程度嗎？您認為經濟放緩的催化劑是什麼？

Lorraine, good morning. Let me just double-click a little bit on transaction trends kind of across the cohorts that we talked about. So that Wax Pass and routine guests, their frequency has continued to be strong and consistent, view us as nondiscretionary. And as we mentioned, drive over 75% of our network sales. That episodic guest, through our guest survey work has shown that they are a bit more no more sensitive to the economic pressure that we're under, particularly as we exited Q1 and into the early days of Q2. So what we've done is deployed some additional levers to drive transactions and ticket size. And what's really important, I think, for everybody to recall is that we're focused on things that we know how to do, that we've done before to drive behavior, and we've got some proof points. So let me go through kind of the guest initiatives and what we're doing. And because your question went to episodic guests, Lorraine, I'll start there. We've really enhanced our CRM capability with our new data warehouse that we've spoken about over the last couple of quarters, gives us confidence that we can specifically identify those guests that may have fallen off or softened their behavior a little bit in the past recently. So we're doing a couple of things, using targeted CRM via text and e-mails we identified a portion of the 2021 cohort where we incentivize them with very small offers that we've seen drive transaction lift versus the control group early on in our test thus far. The other thing we've done with that episodic guest, and this is -- if you think about the episodic guests, it's really a subset of the episodic guests that we've seen the change in behavior on. And we looked at them to say, hey, what's the opportunity to get them to buy a Wax Pass. You may recall, Lorraine, that late last summer we saw the similar behavior and we offered a 3-plus-1 wax pass. So a more economical bundle than the 9-plus-3. And we saw a very nice lift from an incremental standpoint. We've offered that again to that very specific episodic guest that we've identified in our data warehouse and through CRM that we think will be receptive to that. So we believe that with that small portion, small subset of the episodic guests that change our behavior, this is going to be a great incentive. With respect to Wax Pass, as David just mentioned, we continue to just drive what our network knows how to do incredibly well. The gamification, the contest that we run amongst our centers and the incentives that we provide to them have really been a tried-and-true method for us to drive Wax Pass sales. If we go back to our most recent promotional period, which was November, December, 1 of our 2 in the year, we saw a 16% lift in growth in Wax Pass sales. So we continue to think that that's the right thing to do in helping our centers stay hyper-focused on driving Wax Pass as we've always talked about really the best leading indicator of our business as we go forward. And then finally, with respect to new guests, you saw in our comments that we've reallocated and really are optimizing our media mix to shift some of our spend out of high level awareness driving spend into more targeted action-driving media channels, lower funnel channels to really drive guests into the system. So all of these things we've done have a high degree of confidence that we're going to be successful in doing these and really what really gives us that confidence in reiterating our guidance for the balance of the year.

洛林，早上好。讓我雙擊一下我們討論的群組中的交易趨勢。因此，Wax Pass 和常規客人的訪問頻率仍然強勁且一致，認為我們是不隨意的。正如我們提到的，推動我們 75% 以上的網絡銷售。通過我們的賓客調查工作，這位偶爾出現的賓客表明，他們對我們面臨的經濟壓力不再敏感，特別是在我們退出第一季度並進入第二季度初期時。因此，我們所做的就是部署一些額外的槓桿來推動交易和票據規模。我認為，真正重要的是，每個人都應該記住，我們專注於我們知道如何做的事情，我們以前做過的事情來推動行為，並且我們有一些證據。讓我介紹一下嘉賓的倡議以及我們正在做的事情。因為你的問題是向臨時嘉賓提出的，洛林，我就從這裡開始。我們通過過去幾個季度談到的新數據倉庫確實增強了我們的 CRM 功能，這讓我們有信心能夠明確識別那些在酒店中可能表現不佳或行為有所軟化的客人。最近過去。因此，我們正在做幾件事，通過文本和電子郵件使用有針對性的 CRM，我們確定了 2021 年群體的一部分，我們通過非常小的優惠來激勵他們，我們在早期就看到這些優惠相對於對照組而言推動了交易提升到目前為止我們的測試。我們對情景客人所做的另一件事是——如果你考慮一下情景客人，它實際上是我們看到行為變化的情景客人的一個子集。我們看著他們說，嘿，有什麼機會讓他們購買蠟像通行證。洛林，您可能還記得，去年夏末我們看到了類似的行為，並且我們提供了 3 加 1 蠟通行證。因此，這是比 9+3 更經濟的捆綁包。從增量的角度來看，我們看到了非常好的提升。我們再次向我們在數據倉庫中和通過 CRM 確定的非常具體的情景客人提供了這一服務，我們認為他們會接受這一點。因此，我們相信，只有一小部分、一小部分偶爾會改變我們行為的客人，這將是一個巨大的激勵。關於 Wax Pass，正如 David 剛才提到的，我們將繼續推動我們的網絡知道如何做得非常好。遊戲化、我們在中心之間舉辦的競賽以及我們為他們提供的激勵措施確實是我們推動 Wax Pass 銷售的一種行之有效的方法。如果我們回到最近的促銷期，即​​ 11 月、12 月、一年中 2 個促銷期中的第 1 個，我們會看到 Wax Pass 銷售額增長了 16%。因此，我們仍然認為，這是幫助我們的中心高度專注於推動 Wax Pass 的正確做法，因為我們一直在談論我們前進過程中業務的最佳領先指標。最後，關於新客人，您在我們的評論中看到，我們已經重新分配並確實正在優化我們的媒體組合，將我們的一些支出從高水平意識驅動支出轉移到更有針對性的行動驅動媒體渠道，降低漏斗渠道真正推動客人進入系統。因此，我們所做的所有這些事情都非常有信心，我們將成功完成這些工作，真正讓我們有信心重申今年剩餘時間的指導。

And our next question comes from the line Dana Telsey from Telsey Advisory Group.

我們的下一個問題來自 Telsey Advisory Group 的 Dana Telsey。

Just as you think about the change in cadence, what are you seeing by region? Is California different than any other regions of the country? And how would you frame it? And then just coming out of the quarter, was there a difference in cadence going into the quarter and ending the quarter? And then you've always talked about higher-tier aestheticians to drive greater productivity. Where are we on that journey of aestheticians through their greater level of productivity?

正如您思考節奏的變化一樣，您在各個地區看到了什麼？加利福尼亞州與美國其他地區有何不同？你會如何構建它？然後，剛剛結束該季度，進入該季度和結束該季度的節奏是否存在差異？然後你總是談論更高層次的美學家來提高生產力。在美學家提高生產力水平的旅程中，我們處於什麼位置？

Dan, let me start with the aestheticians in terms of our wax specialist pipeline. So we're really continuing to build on the momentum we generated last year with regard to the wax specialist pipeline. The beauty school partnership program has expanded now to 25 schools in 5 states. We've had several hundred attendees, a 97% approval rating that I think we addressed in our prepared remarks. And our careers page has generated more than double the wax specialist applications in the first quarter. So I think from a staffing level, we feel pretty good, very similar to our last call. I think if you were to pull our average franchisee, they would say, I've got enough waxers, I'm still focused on leveling up waxers to get more red and orange levels as they are our most proficient waxers. And I'd say, overall, our franchisees are making solid progress with respect to that. In terms of the change in cadence, your question as to geography, I don't think we saw it isolated to one state or one region. This episodic guest, for context, what we're seeing in terms of the recent ticket trends, it's about 1 in 10 episodic guests is where we're seeing the opportunity. David had touched on the incentives that we are using to get that 1 in 10 episodic guests back into our centers on a more regular basis, but not really seeing it isolated to one part of the country or another Dana.

丹，讓我從美容師的蠟專家管道開始。因此，我們確實在繼續鞏固去年在蠟專業管道方面產生的勢頭。美容學校合作夥伴計劃現已擴展到 5 個州的 25 所學校。我們有數百名與會者，支持率高達 97%，我想我們在準備好的發言中已經談到了這一點。我們的職業頁面在第一季度產生的蠟專家申請數量增加了一倍多。所以我認為從人員配置層面來看，我們感覺非常好，與上次通話非常相似。我想如果你要拉我們的普通加盟商，他們會說，我有足夠的打蠟機，我仍然專注於升級打蠟機以獲得更多的紅色和橙色水平，因為它們是我們最熟練的打蠟機。我想說，總的來說，我們的特許經營商在這方面正在取得紮實的進展。就節奏的變化而言，你關於地理的問題，我認為我們並沒有看到它孤立於一個州或一個地區。這位情景嘉賓，就背景而言，我們在最近的門票趨勢方面看到的情況，大約十分之一的情景嘉賓是我們看到的機會。大衛談到了我們正在使用的激勵措施，以讓十分之一的臨時客人定期回到我們的中心，但並沒有真正看到它被隔離在該國的一個地區或另一個達納。

And then just on the store openings this year. Obviously you opened a lot in the first quarter. Any cadence through the balance of the year that we should be mindful of?

然後是今年的新店開業。顯然你在第一季度就打開了很多。我們應該注意這一年餘下時間的節奏嗎？

Well, we did. We opened a few more earlier in Q1 than we had anticipated. But we are expecting with 80% of our full year guidance, now either open or under construction, we're expecting slightly more than half will actually open in the first half of 2023, if that's helpful.

好吧，我們做到了。我們在第一季度開業的時間比我們預期的要早一些。但我們預計，全年指導中的 80% 現已開放或正在建設中，如果有幫助的話，我們預計略多於一半的項目將在 2023 年上半年實際開放。

And our next question comes from the line of Scot Ciccarelli from Truist Securities.

我們的下一個問題來自 Truist Securities 的 Scot Ciccarelli。

So I guess I have another follow-up on your comments about the episodic customers. I know you guys cited some weakness with this customer cohort last year as well. So what is it you're seeing today in terms of the incremental change? Is it some customers just kind of like dropping off totally, less frequency? Is it buying less, all of the above? Any kind of color there would be helpful.

所以我想我對你對偶發性客戶的評論還有另一個後續行動。我知道你們去年也提到了這個客戶群體的一些弱點。那麼，您今天看到的增量變化是什麼呢？是不是有些顧客就完全放棄了，頻率降低了？以上都是買的少嗎？任何一種顏色都會有幫助。

Yes, Scott, maybe trying to get this appropriate context. We have talked about the episodic guests. That informed our guide that we provided in March. What we're seeing, this 1 in 10 episodic guest translates to less than 5% of system-wide sales on an annualized basis. So I just want to make sure we're clear. We want to absolutely be transparent to address any questions. But in the context of what we're talking about, we see the opportunity here is less than 5% of total system-wide sales specific to this guest. The programs that we have deployed recently to target this guest, we're pleased with the initial feedback and response rate from these guests. So we are confident in reiterating our full year guide for the year.

是的，斯科特，也許是想找到合適的背景。我們已經討論過臨時嘉賓。這為我們三月份提供的指南提供了信息。我們看到，按年化計算，這十分之一的偶發客人相當於整個系統銷售額的不到 5%。所以我只是想確保我們清楚。我們希望以絕對透明的方式解決任何問題。但就我們正在討論的內容而言，我們發現這裡的機會不到該客人的整個系統總銷售額的 5%。我們最近針對該客人部署的計劃，我們對這些客人的初步反饋和響應率感到滿意。因此，我們有信心重申今年的全年指南。

And Scot, to your point, we talked about that last year, and that's why as we went to the toolbox, we saw something that drove incremental spend by that guest that was more economically pinched. And that's why we brought back the 3-plus-1 offer for that guest. Unlike last year where we offered that across the board with our more enhanced day warehouse and better CRM, we've targeted specifically those guests, that episodic guest that has softened in the behavior. And to David's point, this is a very small subset of that episodic guest and have offered that specifically to that guest rather than across the board. And we expect to see the same sort of lift and take up a rate that we saw when we offered that last summer.

斯科特，就你的觀點而言，我們去年討論過這個問題，這就是為什麼當我們查看工具箱時，我們看到了一些推動經濟拮据的客人增加支出的原因。這就是我們為該客人恢復 3 加 1 優惠的原因。與去年我們通過更增強的日間倉庫和更好的 CRM 全面提供這一服務不同，我們專門針對那些行為軟化的間歇性客人。就大衛的觀點而言，這只是那位偶爾出現的客人的一小部分，並且是專門向該客人提供的，而不是全面提供的。我們預計會看到與去年夏天我們提供的相同類型的提升和採用率。

Got it. And then one quick follow-up. Can you talk to aesthetician retention rates at the franchisee level? I just know that they're -- we're still hearing from a lot of other retailers, there's ongoing pressures on wages, et cetera. And I'm wondering if there's any kind of issue in terms of retention or let's call it, wage pressures that the franchise needs are under.

知道了。然後是快速跟進。您能談談加盟商層面的美容師保留率嗎？我只知道他們 - 我們仍然從許多其他零售商那裡聽到，工資持續面臨壓力等等。我想知道在保留方面是否存在任何問題，或者我們稱之為特許經營所面臨的工資壓力。

Sure. So in terms of -- I'll focus really on the wax specialist. You may recall, Scott, that historically we've seen the greatest amount of turnover in that position in the first 90 days. And I think that's really driven from 2 things, either the Wax specialist decides this is not the career for her or if center managers can't get them leveled up to a certain level within 90 days it's going to be very difficult for them to ultimately get to orange and red level status. We're actually seeing turnover in that first 90 days decrease a bit over the last 90 days. So we're encouraged by that. Our operations teams have been focused now for 2 or 3 quarters on leveling up strategies and retention strategies. So we like to think that we're seeing a positive impact with turnover slightly declining in the first 90 days. So we're going to keep after it up, Scott.

當然。因此，就我而言，我將真正關注蠟專家。 Scott，您可能還記得，從歷史上看，我們在前 90 天內看到該職位的人員流動量最大。我認為這實際上是由兩件事驅動的，要么蠟專家認為這不是她的職業，要么如果中心經理無法在 90 天內將他們提升到一定水平，那麼他們最終將很難達到橙色和紅色級別狀態。實際上，我們發現前 90 天的營業額比過去 90 天略有下降。所以我們對此感到鼓舞。我們的運營團隊現在兩三個季度都專注於升級策略和保留策略。因此，我們認為我們看到了積極的影響，前 90 天的營業額略有下降。所以我們會繼續努力，斯科特。

And our next question comes from the line of Jonathan Komp from Baird.

我們的下一個問題來自貝爾德 (Baird) 的喬納森·康普 (Jonathan Komp)。

This is Alex Conway on for John this morning. I just wanted to ask if you have any details around the comp guidance for the full year, kind of what are the ins and outs there with Q2 being a little lower? And then also if there's any pricing impact you expect for the rest of the year.

我是亞歷克斯·康威，今天早上替約翰發言。我只是想問您是否有關於全年薪酬指導的任何詳細信息，第二季度略低一些的情況是什麼？然後，您預計今年剩餘時間是否會對價格產生任何影響。

Sure. This is Stacie Shirley. So as we think about the comp for the remainder of the year, one, we've reiterated our guidance. And so as you think of the cadence, Q2, because of the impact of this episodic guests that we've been talking about and pulling back, we've guided to a low single digit. But as we think about the balance of the year, we expect to be in the mid-single digits, and that's going to be really driven by, again, the success and continued consistency of our Wax Pass guests as well as these particular targeted events and promotions towards that episodic guests. It's going to take a little time for those to kind of take root. And so that gives us confidence that we will achieve the mid-single-digit guidance that we had given previously. The other part of your question, we, at this time, don't anticipate any pricing increases for this year, but we'll continue to monitor that.

當然。這是斯泰西·雪莉。因此，當我們考慮今年剩餘時間的業績時，我們重申了我們的指導。因此，當你想到第二季度的節奏時，由於我們一直在談論和撤回的這位偶發嘉賓的影響，我們已將其引導至較低的個位數。但當我們考慮到今年的剩餘時間時，我們預計會達到中個位數，而這將再次受到我們的蠟通行證客人的成功和持續一致性以及這些特定目標活動的推動以及針對偶爾出現的客人的促銷活動。這些需要一些時間才能紮根。因此，這讓我們有信心實現之前給出的中個位數指引。你問題的另一部分，我們目前預計今年不會出現任何價格上漲，但我們將繼續監控這一情況。

Yes. And then following up, with the more targeted marketing spend that you talked about shifting less from brand awareness, kind of why was now the right time to do that? And is it something that you've done in the past? Or is this really the first time you've taken more away from brand awareness to more targeted marketing.

是的。接下來，您談到的更有針對性的營銷支出較少從品牌知名度轉移，為什麼現在是這樣做的正確時機？這是你過去做過的事情嗎？或者這真的是您第一次從品牌知名度轉向更有針對性的營銷。

Alex, we always take a look at kind of how we allocate the funds and the marketing funds that we get from franchisees. A lot of that is driven to help build brand awareness and to make sure that we're driving reservations into our franchisee centers. We had a nice lift in terms of our growth and awareness levels in the past couple of quarters. And we just thought it made sense given sort of a call to action and really getting folks inm incentivizing folks to come into the centers that it made sense to make that shift a little bit more deliberately in this quarter. And it's something we look at on a quarter-to-quarter basis as we allocate those dollars.

亞歷克斯，我們總是關注我們如何分配從特許經營商那裡獲得的資金和營銷資金。其中很大一部分是為了幫助建立品牌知名度，並確保我們能夠吸引加盟商中心的預訂。在過去的幾個季度中，我們的增長和意識水平有了很大的提升。我們只是認為，考慮到某種行動呼籲，並真正讓人們激勵人們進入中心，在本季度更加刻意地進行這種轉變是有意義的。這是我們在分配這些資金時每個季度都會關注的事情。

And our next question comes from the line of John Heinbockel from Guggenheim Partners.

我們的下一個問題來自古根海姆合夥人公司的約翰·海因博克爾。

Curious about the routine guest opportunity, right? Because it's probably a mid-single-digit percent of your customers. You would think a very substantial percentage could be converted to Wax Pass. Do you think that's the case? And then when I think about bringing on new guests, what percent right would come on as Wax Pass guests as opposed to routine or episodic? Is it a very significant percentage?

對常規客座機會感到好奇，對吧？因為這可能佔您客戶的中個位數百分比。您可能會認為很大一部分可以轉換為蠟通行證。你認為是這樣嗎？然後，當我考慮引入新客人時，與例行公事或偶爾發生的情況相比，作為蠟通行證客人的比例是多少？這是一個非常顯著的百分比嗎？

John, so on the routine, you're spot on in terms of the percentage of the guest file, it is mid-single digits in terms of that particular cohort. It's about 11% of our ticket volume and system-wide sales. They are coming with the same frequency, candidly about half a visit more frequently than our Wax Pass guest on average. There may be an opportunity to convert them on Wax Pass. Candidly, they're giving the brand a bit more money by not being on a Wax Pass. And their behavior has not changed a bit over the last several quarters. So it's clearly a very valuable guest cohort to the brand. In terms of percent that ultimately find their way into Wax Pass, it's about 20%. So if I just say if we recruit a new guest into the brand, follow the guest journey, directionally 20% of those new guests will find their way into our most valuable fully grailed Wax Pass guest.

約翰，所以在例行公事中，您在來賓文件的百分比方面很準確，就該特定群體而言，它是中等個位數。這約占我們門票量和全系統銷售額的 11%。他們來訪的頻率相同，坦率地說，他們的訪問頻率平均比我們的 Wax Pass 客人高出一半。可能有機會在 Wax Pass 上轉換它們。坦率地說，他們通過不加入蠟通行證為該品牌多賺了一些錢。他們的行為在過去幾個季度中沒有發生任何變化。因此，這顯然是該品牌非常有價值的賓客群體。就最終進入 Wax Pass 的百分比而言，約為 20%。因此，如果我只是說，如果我們招募一位新客人進入該品牌，按照客人旅程，這些新客人中的 20％ 將找到進入我們最有價值的完全聖杯客人的方式。

Okay. And then I know the journey to 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 of ownership, if you look at the centers that will open this year, right, the 95 to 100, how would that break down, right? And maybe if you think about your pipeline out to 24, do you think private equity is as much as 40% or 50% of that or not that high?

好的。然後我知道所有權達到 1/3、1/3、1/3 的過程，如果你看看今年將開設的中心，對吧，從 95 到 100，這將如何分解，對嗎？也許如果你考慮一下你的管道到 24 個，你認為私募股權是其中的 40% 或 50% 還是沒有那麼高？

Yes. So when I look at our license pipeline, specifically our growth partners, they today represent to center 40% of total units in the system, but almost 70% of that license pipeline. I think we had talked, John, in the last few years, we've kind of over-indexed on NCOs with our smaller operators. We're now, as we brought institutional capital players into the brand now they kind of found entry points through acquisition. We've worked through [MUD] agreements with them. And so now they are starting to find their stride in terms of NCOs. So I think we had said in our prepared remarks, today's existing asset base from our smaller operators is about 50% of open units. But if I fast forward 2, 3 years out, we're getting to that 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 because of the development that's coming over the next few years is by volume largely driven from the self-funded multiunit developers in the private equity-backed operators.

是的。因此，當我查看我們的許可證管道時，特別是我們的增長合作夥伴，他們今天佔系統中總單位數的 40%，但幾乎佔許可證管道的 70%。約翰，我想我們已經談過了，在過去的幾年裡，我們對較小的運營商的士官索引有些過度。現在，當我們將機構資本參與者引入該品牌時，他們通過收購找到了切入點。我們已經與他們達成了 [MUD] 協議。所以現在他們開始在士官方面取得進步。因此，我認為我們在準備好的發言中已經說過，今天我們較小的運營商的現有資產基礎約為開放單位的 50%。但如果我快進 2、3 年，我們就會達到 1/3、1/3、1/3，因為未來幾年的發展主要是由自籌資金的多單元驅動的開發商是私募股權支持的運營商。

And our next question comes from the line of Kelly Crago from Citi.

我們的下一個問題來自花旗銀行的 Kelly Crago。

Just curious on ticket versus transaction in the quarter and then how that looks quarter-to-date and how we should expect that to trend in the back half of the year, just given -- I do believe you begin to lap some of these -- some of the slowdown from that to product guests last year.

只是對本季度的門票與交易感到好奇，然後是季度至今的情況，以及我們應該如何預期下半年的趨勢，剛剛給出 - 我確實相信你開始關注其中的一些 - - 去年產品客人的一些放緩。

Yes. This is Stacie again. So as we look at Q1, right, both of our ramping and mature centers did comp, but that was really driven by the annualization of a price increase that we did last year. So I think as we've said that we -- in the first half, we would have a tailwind of a price increase. And in the second half, as we're kind of again circling back around some of the challenges that we had in the back half of last year, that will be a tailwind in the second half. Anything to add? I think I had it.

是的。這又是史黛西。因此，當我們看第一季度時，我們的成長中心和成熟中心都實現了比較，但這實際上是由我們去年的價格上漲年化推動的。因此，我認為正如我們所說，在上半年，我們將迎來價格上漲的順風。在下半年，當我們再次回顧去年下半年遇到的一些挑戰時，這將是下半年的順風車。有什麼要補充的嗎？我想我已經擁有了。

Got it. And then just secondly, just a follow-up on the specific episodic guests that you're speaking to. Just curious what's unique about that guest in terms of income, age, just any sort of color you could provide and whether this is kind of indication of more like a broadening of the weakening macro environment of the consumer. Just anything you're hearing from your franchisees would be great.

知道了。其次，對您正在交談的特定嘉賓進行跟進。只是好奇這位客人在收入、年齡、你可以提供的任何顏色方面有什麼獨特之處，以及這是否更像是消費者疲軟的宏觀環境擴大的跡象。您從加盟商那裡聽到的任何信息都會很棒。

Yes. Kelly, we're probably best informed by the guest survey work that we do. And again, just as David Willis mentioned, a very small subset of that episodic guest. And it's probably not surprisingly. It's that guest that has a little bit lower income that is feeling the pinch from inflationary pressures. And as David sort of quantified, that's less than sort of a 5% impact on our top line annual system-wide sales. So we think the incentives that we have offered to that episodic guest are the right ones that give them an economical bundle to get them back into the brand in a way that they can afford. But it's really largely driven by the macroeconomic situation that we find ourselves in right now.

是的。凱利，我們所做的賓客調查工作可能是最了解我們情況的。再說一次，正如大衛·威利斯提到的那樣，只是那個臨時嘉賓的一小部分。這可能並不奇怪。正是那些收入稍低的客人感受到了通貨膨脹壓力的壓力。正如 David 所量化的那樣，這對我們全系統年度銷售額的影響不到 5%。因此，我們認為我們為偶爾出現的客人提供的激勵措施是正確的，可以為他們提供經濟實惠的捆綁包，讓他們以他們負擔得起的方式重新回到該品牌。但這實際上很大程度上是由我們目前所處的宏觀經濟形勢驅動的。

(Operator Instructions) And our next question comes from the line of Simeon Gutman from Morgan Stanley.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Simeon Gutman。

And this is Hannah Pittock on for Simeon Gutman. I wanted to ask on retail products. I know there's been some newness there. I'm wondering how attachment rate is trending. Or if there's any kind of change in the services versus retail mix of system-wide sales, specifically product sales as a percent of system-wide sales. Look like they stepped down sequentially. So I'm wondering if mix was a part of that.

這是漢娜·皮托克 (Hannah Pittock) 替西蒙·古特曼 (Simeon Gutman) 發言。我想詢問零售產品。我知道那裡有一些新鮮事。我想知道附件率的趨勢如何。或者，服務與全系統銷售的零售組合是否有任何變化，特別是產品銷售佔全系統銷售的百分比。看起來他們是依次下台的。所以我想知道混合是否是其中的一部分。

Hannah, good morning. Retail products, as you know, are really a small portion of our system-wide sales as we utilize retail products really to help convey that authority position that we have to our guests. You're right. In fact in the fiscal year 2021, we redesigned and relaunched our entire product lineup. Attachment rates have held fairly consistently in the kind of mid-teens range. We've seen that consistent over the past few years. I think what we're excited about is that we're going to utilize limited-time offers, and we've done this successfully in the history of the brand to generate excitement, to purposely make sure that we run out of product so that our guests are invited into a new product line. We just launched a [misc] product that has gone incredibly well in the first week, so we started to sell that. We are not in the discounting world, generally speaking, in retail. We always see that there's an opportunity to continue to drive attachment. One of the things that David alluded to in answering one of the questions is a bundling opportunity where we will bundle services together but also a product, a retail product with a service because just as a reminder, our products really are there to enhance the efficacy of the service, make it last longer, make it more comfortable. So getting our guests' understanding that it's an integral part of their overall waxing experience is something we think there's opportunity to do in terms of our bundling as we go forward.

漢娜，早上好。如您所知，零售產品實際上只占我們整個系統銷售的一小部分，因為我們利用零售產品實際上是為了幫助向客人傳達我們擁有的權威地位。你說得對。事實上，在 2021 財年，我們重新設計並重新推出了整個產品系列。依戀率一直保持在十幾歲左右的範圍內。過去幾年我們已經看到這種情況是一致的。我認為我們感到興奮的是，我們將利用限時優惠，我們在品牌歷史上已經成功地做到了這一點，以產生興奮，有目的地確保我們用完產品，以便我們的客人被邀請進入新的產品線。我們剛剛推出了一款[雜項]產品，該產品在第一周內表現非常出色，因此我們開始銷售該產品。一般來說，我們並不處於零售業的折扣世界。我們總是看到有機會繼續推動依戀。大衛在回答其中一個問題時提到的一件事是捆綁機會，我們不僅將服務捆綁在一起，而且將產品、帶有服務的零售產品捆綁在一起，因為只是提醒一下，我們的產品確實是為了提高功效服務，讓服務持續更長久，讓服務更舒適。因此，我們認為，在我們前進的過程中，我們有機會在捆綁銷售方面做一些事情，讓我們的客人明白這是他們整體打蠟體驗不可或缺的一部分。

Makes sense. That's very helpful. And maybe as a follow-up. You mentioned that the newer cohorts of store openings are tending to ramp a little bit faster than historical cohorts have. Does that change the way we should think about the comp algorithm if kind of growth is being pulled into year 1 versus year 2 and it's factored into the comp? Or at this point, is it such a small part of the mix that it doesn't really move the needle?

說得通。這非常有幫助。也許作為後續行動。您提到新開店的群體往往比歷史群體的增長速度要快一些。如果將某種增長納入第一年與第二年並將其納入計算中，這是否會改變我們考慮計算算法的方式？或者在這一點上，它是否只是混合中的一小部分，以至於它並沒有真正起到推動作用？

Hannah, I would say today it's a fairly small part of the mix. We had talked I think on prior calls, we're very pleased that the last couple of years cohorts are ramping faster out of the gate in year 1. And for those that are 2 years and older, have maintained that momentum through their second year of operation. We do want to monitor this candidly through maturity before I think we're ready to say, a, is it consistent across the board; b, can we replicate it? We had touched on, at least in the prepared remarks, the NCO playbook that we're focused on this year. We're candidly just trying to leverage best practices that these great operators have executed against across the board. So for now, I wouldn't change the comp as a result of kind of the early success we've seen from these recent cohorts. We just want to monitor these through maturity.

漢娜，我今天想說的是，這只是其中的一小部分。我認為在之前的電話會議中，我們已經談過，我們很高興過去幾年的隊列在第一年更快地走出大門。對於那些 2 歲及以上的人來說，他們在第二年保持了這種勢頭的操作。在我認為我們準備好說：a，它是否全面一致之前，我們確實希望在整個成熟過程中坦誠地監控這一點； b、我們可以復制它嗎？至少在準備好的發言中，我們已經談到了我們今年關注的 NCO 劇本。坦率地說，我們只是試圖利用這些偉大的運營商全面執行的最佳實踐。因此，就目前而言，由於我們從最近的這些團隊中看到了早期的成功，我不會改變陣容。我們只是想在成熟過程中監控這些。

This does conclude the question-and-answer session of today's program. I'd like to hand the program back to David Berg for any further remarks.

今天節目的問答環節到此結束。我想將程序交還給大衛·伯格以供進一步評論。

Thank you, Jonathan. Thanks, everybody, for joining our call this morning, and we will look forward to speaking with you and chatting in August about Q2. I appreciate everybody taking the time this morning. Have a great day.

謝謝你，喬納森。感謝大家今天早上加入我們的電話會議，我們期待在 8 月份與您討論第二季度。我感謝大家今天早上抽出時間。祝你有美好的一天。

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect. Good day.

女士們、先生們，感謝你們參加今天的會議。這確實結束了該程序。您現在可以斷開連接。再會。