European Wax Center Inc (EWCZ) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the European Wax Centers Third Quarter Fiscal 2023 Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are small mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a Q&A session. In order to facilitate as many participants as possible, we ask you please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up during the Q&A session. If you have additional questions, you may rejoin the queue. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Bethany Johns, Director of Investor Relations. Ma'am, you may begin.

早安，女士們先生們，感謝你們的支持。歡迎參加歐洲蠟中心 2023 財政年度第三季財報電話會議。此時，所有參與者都是小模式。演講者演講結束後，將進行問答環節。為了方便盡可能多的參與者，我們要求您在問答環節中僅限提出一個問題和一項後續行動。如果您還有其他問題，可以重新加入佇列。現在，我想將會議交給投資者關係總監 Bethany Johns。女士，您可以開始了。

Thank you, and welcome to European Wax Centers Third Quarter Fiscal 2023 Earnings Call. With me today are David Willis, Chief Executive Officer; and Stacie Shirley, Chief Financial Officer. For today's call, David Willis will provide a brief review of our third quarter performance and discuss our priorities for fiscal 2023. Then Stacie will provide additional details regarding our third quarter financial performance and our fiscal 2023 outlook. Following the prepared remarks, David and Stacie will be available to take questions. 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 differ materially.

謝謝，歡迎參加歐洲蠟中心 2023 財年第三季財報電話會議。今天與我在一起的有執行長大衛威利斯 (David Willis)；和財務長 Stacie Shirley。在今天的電話會議中，David Willis 將簡要回顧我們第三季度的業績，並討論我們2023 財年的優先事項。然後Stacie 將提供有關我們第三季度財務業績和2023 財年展望的更多詳細信息。在準備好發言後，大衛和史黛西將可以回答問題。在我們開始之前，我想提醒您我們的法律免責聲明。我們今天將發表某些聯邦證券法意義上的前瞻性聲明，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，可能導致實際結果出現重大差異。

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 opinion 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. 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.blaccenter.com. I will now turn the call over to David Willis.

請參閱我們向 SEC 提交的文件以及今天發布的收益報告，以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資訊或未來事件修改或公開發布對我們前瞻性陳述的任何修改的結果。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指標，這些指標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 財務指標的更多資訊以及這些非 GAAP 與 GAAP 指標的調整表。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.blaccenter.com。我現在將把電話轉給大衛威利斯。

Thank you, Bethany, and good morning, everyone. It's a pleasure to be speaking to you all for the first time in my new role as European Wax Center's Chief Executive Officer. And I want to thank you for joining us today. As we shared in our press release this morning, we delivered another quarter of new unit, top line and bottom line growth in Q3. Our strong and committed franchisees drove more than 12% unit growth through 23 net new center openings and continue to add to our pipeline of future new units. We generated $241 million in system-wide sales, $56 million in total revenue and $19 million in adjusted EBITDA, each representing growth over the third quarter of fiscal 2022 despite a challenging macro environment. Furthermore, we delivered a 3.4% same-store sales increase driven by positive comps in both ramping and mature centers. We're grateful to our associates, franchisees and in-center partners for their relentless commitment to excellence.

謝謝你，貝瑟尼，大家早安。很高興以歐洲蠟像中心執行長的新身分首次與大家交談。我要感謝您今天加入我們。正如我們今天早上在新聞稿中分享的那樣，我們在第三季度實現了另一個季度的新單位、營收和利潤成長。我們強大而忠誠的特許經營商透過淨開設 23 個新中心，推動了超過 12% 的單位成長，並繼續增加我們未來新單位的儲備。儘管宏觀環境充滿挑戰，但我們的全系統銷售額為 2.41 億美元，總營收為 5,600 萬美元，調整後 EBITDA 為 1,900 萬美元，每一項都代表著 2022 財年第三季的成長。此外，在成長中心和成熟中心的積極競爭的推動下，我們的同店銷售額成長了 3.4%。我們感謝我們的員工、特許經營商和中心合作夥伴對卓越的不懈承諾。

While we delivered organic growth in each of these metrics, our third quarter did not materialize as we expected. I'll take a minute to talk about how business trends evolved as the quarter progressed. I'm pleased to say that throughout Q3, our wax pass holders and routine guests remain committed to their waxing routines, driving consistent visit frequency and spend, just as they have in previous quarters. Both of these groups demonstrate strong brand loyalty and represent predictable recurring revenue. We remain focused on continuing to grow these loyal guest cohorts who together comprise about 75% of network sales and increased share of wallet from them. We also remain focused on engaging our episodic guests who contribute a smaller portion of network sales, but whose behavior has been less predictable amid a difficult macro environment. During the second quarter, we deployed several initiatives through our CRM and data warehouse tools to reengage episodic guests, which were effective.

雖然我們在每項指標上都實現了有機成長，但第三季並未達到我們的預期。我將花一點時間談談業務趨勢如何隨著本季的進展而演變。我很高興地說，在整個第三季度，我們的打蠟通行證持有者和常客仍然致力於他們的打蠟程序，推動了一致的訪問頻率和支出，就像他們在前幾個季度一樣。這兩個群體都表現出強烈的品牌忠誠度，並代表了可預測的經常性收入。我們仍然專注於繼續發展這些忠實的顧客群體，他們合計約佔網路銷售額的 75%，並增加了他們的錢包份額。我們也繼續專注於吸引偶爾出現的客人，他們在網路銷售中所佔的比例較小，但在困難的宏觀環境中，他們的行為不太可預測。在第二季度，我們透過 CRM 和資料倉儲工具部署了多項措施來重新吸引不定期的客人，這些措施非常有效。

As we noted in our earnings call in August, we were pleased with their performance as we exited Q2. Additionally, solid sales trends entering Q3 gave us confidence in reiterating our fiscal year outlook, which assumes continued momentum. However, third quarter survey work confirmed that while substantially all guests continue to be pleased with their experience at European Wax center and plan to return a portion of them report that economic concerns are impacting their waxing frequency and spend. In particular, episodic guest behavior has been more impacted. As planned in the third quarter, we increased our digital ad spend focused on driving reservations across all gas cohorts in lieu of broad or unnatural promotional activity that could impact 4-wall margins. However, these media efforts proved less effective than planned, leading to top line trends below our expectations. As a result, we are updating our guidance for the remainder of the year to reflect current transactional run rates.

正如我們在 8 月的財報電話會議中指出的那樣，我們對他們在第二季結束時的表現感到滿意。此外，進入第三季的穩健銷售趨勢使我們有信心重申我們的財政年度前景，該前景假設持續的勢頭。然而，第三季的調查工作證實，雖然基本上所有客人仍然對歐洲打蠟中心的體驗感到滿意，並計劃返回，但其中一部分客人表示，經濟問題正在影響他們的打蠟頻率和支出。特別是，間歇性的客人行為受到更大的影響。按照第三季的計劃，我們增加了數位廣告支出，重點是推動所有天然氣群體的預訂，而不是可能影響四牆利潤的廣泛或不自然的促銷活動。然而，事實證明這些媒體努力的效果不如預期，導致營收趨勢低於我們的預期。因此，我們正在更新今年剩餘時間的指導，以反映當前的交易運行率。

We have also retained a new media agency that is implementing new strategies, which we believe have the potential to favorably impact reservation trends over time. However, our revised guidance for fiscal 2023 has prudently not assumed a near-term change in trend from Q3 and Q4 to date. Stacie will provide more color on our outlook momentarily. We are very encouraged that our Wax pass and routine guests remain committed to our brand and underscore the strength and consistency of the European wax center model. We recognize that we have an opportunity to not only better engage existing episodic guests but also drive new customers to our brand, which I'll dive into shortly. To that end, we are more focused than ever on our 2 growth vectors, expanding our footprint through new center growth and driving in-center sales to benefit both system-wide and same-store sales growth. Turning first to unit growth. Our consistent execution of new center openings remains unchanged. We believe that both our pipeline of new locations and the health of our franchisees remain strong, and demand from franchisees of all sizes remains robust.

我們也保留了一家正在實施新策略的新媒體機構，我們相信隨著時間的推移，該策略有可能對預訂趨勢產生有利的影響。然而，我們對 2023 財年修訂後的指引謹慎地沒有假設第三季和第四季迄今的近期趨勢變化。史黛西將立即為我們的前景提供更多的色彩。我們感到非常鼓舞的是，我們的蠟像通行證和常規客人仍然致力於我們的品牌，並強調了歐洲蠟像中心模式的實力和一致性。我們意識到，我們不僅有機會更好地吸引現有的臨時客人，還可以吸引新客戶使用我們的品牌，我很快就會深入探討這一點。為此，我們比以往任何時候都更加關注我們的兩個成長向量，透過新中心的成長擴大我們的足跡，並推動中心內銷售，以有利於整個系統和同店銷售的成長。首先轉向單位增長。我們對新中心開幕的一貫執行保持不變。我們相信，我們的新門市通路和特許經營商的健康狀況仍然強勁，各種規模的特許經營商的需求仍然強勁。

In the third quarter, we opened 23 net new centers across 12 different states, all of which were in existing markets. Through Q3, we have already opened more than 80% of our expected fiscal '23 new centers. We are not seeing our franchisees slow their interest or new unit development. As a result, we continue to feel confident in our outlook of more than 10% unit growth this year, our multiyear pipeline and our long-term unit growth algorithm. Given the relatively modest initial investment for our centers, our franchisees have sufficient access to capital to fund their growth even in an elevated interest rate environment. We believe our franchisee base is well capitalized with access to lenders who recognize our model's strong cash-on-cash returns and are committed to supporting network expansion. Additionally, our development team has worked tirelessly to offset industry-wide inflation in the construction process, both through value engineering and by leveraging our scale to drive savings with vendors.

第三季度，我們在 12 個不同的州淨開設了 23 個新中心，所有這些中心都位於現有市場。截至第三季度，我們已經開設了 23 財年預期新中心的 80% 以上。我們沒有看到我們的特許經營商降低了他們的興趣或新單位的開發。因此，我們仍然對今年超過 10% 的單位成長前景、我們的多年通路和長期單位成長演算法充滿信心。鑑於我們中心的初始投資相對溫和，即使在利率升高的環境下，我們的特許經營商也有足夠的資金來支持其發展。我們相信，我們的加盟商基礎資本充足，能夠接觸到認可我們模式強勁的現金回報並致力於支持網絡擴張的貸款人。此外，我們的開發團隊孜孜不倦地努力，透過價值工程和利用我們的規模來降低供應商的成本，以抵消施工過程中全行業的通貨膨脹。

We are incredibly focused on managing franchisee upfront costs and ultimately, return on capital, which has encouraged continued reinvestment from our existing franchisees who are driving nearly all of our new center openings this year and comprise more than 90% of our forward-looking pipeline. With these franchisees in mind, our teams are hyper focused on driving top line and 4-wall performance through various initiatives, including staffing pipeline efforts, facilitating network best practices, advising franchisees on how to address controllable costs, implementing grassroots marketing efforts in identifying center-specific sales benchmarks to drive incremental revenue opportunities. And as always, the team continues to build our pipeline of wax specialists to support near-term and long-term growth. During Q3, we hosted a gathering of more than 100 franchisees, which featured several helpful sessions on associate recruitment and retention. Wax specialist utilization in centers has improved year-over-year and third quarter staffing levels were in line with targets.

我們非常注重管理特許經營商的前期成本以及最終的資本回報，這鼓勵了我們現有特許經營商的持續再投資，這些特許經營商推動了我們今年幾乎所有新中心的開業，並占我們前瞻性管道的90% 以上。考慮到這些特許經營商，我們的團隊高度專注於透過各種舉措來推動營收和四面牆績效，包括人員配置工作、促進網路最佳實踐、就如何解決可控成本向特許經營商提供建議、在確定中心方面實施基層行銷工作-特定的銷售基準來推動增量收入機會。像往常一樣，團隊繼續建立我們的蠟專家管道，以支持近期和長期的成長。第三季度，我們舉辦了一次 100 多家加盟商的聚會，其中包括幾場關於員工招募和留任的有用會議。中心的蠟專家利用率年比有所提高，第三季的人員配備水準符合目標。

We are also making progress towards the brand's optimal mix of more experienced wax specialists. We remain confident in our ability to support both the existing centers and new center growth through our wax specialist initiatives for years to come. Turning to our second growth vector, increasing both system-wide and same-store sales by driving in-center sales. As I mentioned last quarter, we were pleased to welcome Andrea Wasserman to our executive team earlier this summer as our first ever Chief Commercial Officer. While our marketing pillars remain attract more, buy more and visit more, under Andrea's leadership, we are evolving our approach to marketing and media with an even greater discipline around driving visits from both new and existing guests as well as attracting more guests to the brand. We recently engaged a new media agency focused on implementing a streamlined media strategy across all our paid digital channels and search efforts. Our revised approach launched this month with a singular focus, driving more guest reservations in centers.

我們也在該品牌的經驗豐富的蠟專家的最佳組合方面取得進展。我們對未來幾年透過我們的蠟專家計劃支持現有中心和新中心發展的能力仍然充滿信心。轉向我們的第二個成長方向，透過推動中心銷售來增加全系統和同店銷售。正如我上季度提到的，我們很高興今年夏天早些時候歡迎 Andrea Wasserman 加入我們的執行團隊，擔任我們的第一位首席商務官。雖然我們的行銷支柱仍然是吸引更多、購買更多和訪問更多，但在Andrea 的領導下，我們正在改進我們的行銷和媒體方法，圍繞吸引新舊客人的訪問以及吸引更多客人加入我們的品牌，採取更嚴格的紀律。 。我們最近聘請了一家新媒體機構，專注於在我們所有的付費數位管道和搜尋工作中實施簡化的媒體策略。我們在本月推出了修訂後的方法，其重點是推動更多的客人在中心進行預訂。

We continue to leverage enhanced guest insights to better refine the audiences we target, deliver the right creative at the right frequency and drive high conversion rates. To drive more visits from existing guests, we have already implemented additional action messaging to target guests that are at risk of lapsing. We are also testing additional channels in Q4 to learn even more about the most effective method of driving reservations among both new and existing guests regardless of cohort. As I've shared before, Wax pass holders visit more than twice as often as episodic guests, making the wax past our most powerful frequency driver. With that in mind, we have recently developed key communication flows to encourage Waxpass consideration and purchase through our marketing channels, not just in sensors. In fact, wax passes and gift cards are now available online for the first time in our brand's history, just in time for the holidays in our semiannual wax pass promotional period.

我們繼續利用增強的客戶洞察來更好地細化我們的目標受眾，以正確的頻率提供正確的創意並提高轉換率。為了吸引更多現有客人的光臨，我們已經針對有流失風險的目標客人實施了額外的行動消息。我們也在第四季度測試其他管道，以便更多地了解推動新老客人預訂的最有效方法，無論其群體如何。正如我之前分享的，蠟像通行證持有者的訪問頻率是臨時訪客的兩倍多，這使得蠟像超越了我們最強大的頻率驅動器。考慮到這一點，我們最近開發了關鍵的溝通流程，以鼓勵透過我們的行銷管道（而不僅僅是感測器）考慮和購買 Waxpass。事實上，蠟像通行證和禮品卡現在在我們品牌歷史上首次在網上提供，正好趕上我們半年一次的蠟像通行證促銷期的假期。

Lastly, as we mentioned last quarter, we believe that offering additional hair removal modalities could be an effective method of attracting more guests to the brand, encouraging more visits and getting guests to buy more products and services over the long term. Our belief is that laser hair removal has the potential to both capture an incremental customer demographic and increased share of wallet from existing wax guests in turn, enhancing already robust four-wall economics over time. We are in the very early stages of this effort and officially launched our laser test in 6 New York area centers about a month ago. While we plan to share initial test results further in 2024, we're pleased with the enthusiasm from both franchisees and guests during these early days. As we think about our longer-term opportunities and corporate responsibilities, I also want to highlight the third quarter release of our inaugural ESG report, detailing our efforts to build a more confident, inclusive and sustainable community as well as our first brand-wide fundraising campaign supporting the national domestic Biolin top line. Both of these efforts underscore our commitment to sustainability and living our values as a company every day. With that, I'd like to hand the call over to Stacie Shirley to review our financial performance and updated guidance for the balance of fiscal 2023. Stacie?

最後，正如我們上季度提到的，我們相信提供額外的除毛方式可能是吸引更多客人加入品牌、鼓勵更多訪問並讓客人長期購買更多產品和服務的有效方法。我們相信，雷射除毛有潛力既能吸引更多的客戶群體，又能增加現有蠟療客人的錢包份額，隨著時間的推移，增強本已強勁的四牆經濟效益。我們正處於這項工作的早期階段，大約一個月前，我們在紐約的 6 個地區中心正式啟動了雷射測試。雖然我們計劃在 2024 年進一步分享初步測試結果，但我們對早期加盟商和客人的熱情感到高興。當我們思考我們的長期機會和企業責任時，我還想強調我們第三季發布的首份ESG 報告，詳細介紹了我們為建立一個更加自信、包容和可持續的社區所做的努力，以及我們的首次品牌範圍內的籌款該系列產品支持全國國內百奧林一線。這兩項努力都強調了我們對永續發展的承諾，以及每天實踐我們公司價值觀的承諾。因此，我想將電話轉交給 Stacie Shirley，以審查我們的財務業績和 2023 財年餘額的最新指導。Stacie？

Thanks, David, and good morning. 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. Let's begin with our third quarter financial results. We were pleased with how we exited Q2 and entered Q3, which began largely as we expected. However, as David described, a challenged macro environment impacted transactions and our media efforts were less effective than planned, causing top line trends to trail our expectations as we move through the quarter. Nonetheless, we still delivered continued growth over the prior year period. Q3 system-wide sales increased 2.4% to $240.7 million, and total revenue increased 1.2% to $55.7 million. Year-over-year growth rates reflect the impact of a reporting calendar that shifted some of our largest wax pass promotional days into Q2 this year instead of Q3. And as a reminder, payments for wax passes are a component of system-wide sales and trigger royalty revenue for us as a franchisor.

謝謝，大衛，早安。在開始演講之前，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。讓我們從第三季的財務表現開始。我們對退出第二季並進入第三季的方式感到滿意，該季度的開始基本上符合我們的預期。然而，正如大衛所描述的，充滿挑戰的宏觀環境影響了交易，我們的媒體努力沒有達到預期效果，導致本季的營收趨勢落後於我們的預期。儘管如此，我們仍然比去年同期實現了持續成長。第三季全系統銷售額成長 2.4%，達到 2.407 億美元，總營收成長 1.2%，達到 5,570 萬美元。同比成長率反映了報告日曆的影響，該日曆將我們一些最大的蠟通行證促銷日轉移到今年第二季而不是第三季。提醒一下，蠟通行證的付款是整個系統銷售的一部分，並為我們作為特許人帶來特許權使用費收入。

Overall, top line growth was driven by our 2 growth vectors, including 12.6% unit growth over the third quarter of last year. Same-store sales also increased 3.4%, driven by both our ramping and mature centers. Consistent with the first half of this year, higher average tickets were the primary comp driver. From a profit standpoint, third quarter gross margin of 71.8% was largely in line with our expectations. Third quarter SG&A was $14.4 million and as a percent of revenue, was 25.8%, 100 basis points higher than Q3 last year, driven by an increase in corporate funded marketing. Q3 adjusted EBITDA increased 3.4% to $19.3 million. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 34.6%, representing an 80 basis point improvement year-over-year and exceeding our low 30s expectations, primarily due to the timing of advertising and professional fees that shifted into the fourth quarter. Below the line, adjusted net income was $6.1 million. This differs from $19.3 million in adjusted EBITDA due to 3 primary factors.

總體而言，營收成長是由我們的 2 個成長向量推動的，其中包括比去年第三季 12.6% 的單位成長。在我們不斷擴張和成熟的中心的推動下，同店銷售額也成長了 3.4%。與今年上半年一致，平均票價上漲是主要的驅動因素。從利潤角度來看，第三季毛利率為71.8%，基本上符合我們的預期。第三季銷售及管理費用為 1,440 萬美元，佔營收的百分比為 25.8%，比去年第三季高 100 個基點，這主要得益於企業資助的行銷活動的增加。第三季調整後 EBITDA 成長 3.4%，達到 1,930 萬美元。調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 34.6%，年增 80 個基點，超出了我們 30 多歲的低預期，這主要是由於廣告和專業費用的時間轉移到了第四季度。線下調整後淨利為 610 萬美元。由於 3 個主要因素，這與 1,930 萬美元的調整後 EBITDA 存在差異。

First, interest expense was $6.5 million, a slight decrease from $6.8 million in Q3 2022 due to additional short-term interest income this year. Second, Q3 depreciation and amortization expenses were $5 million. Consistent with prior quarters, the vast majority of this line item relates to the noncash amortization of intangible assets, such as franchisee relationships and area representative rights that were established prior to our IPO. And third, income taxes. We released our valuation allowance on deferred tax assets at the end of 2022. As a result, we expect to recognize annual income tax expense compared to negligible expense incurred during the period covered by the valuation allowance. For Q3, GAAP net income reflects $1.8 million of tax expense and adjusted net income reflects $1.7 million of adjusted tax expense. And now to our cash flows and liquidity, which reflect the significant strength of our asset-light model. Even in a tough environment, we continue to generate strong free cash flows for the benefit of both our network and our shareholders.

首先，由於今年額外的短期利息收入，利息支出為 650 萬美元，較 2022 年第三季的 680 萬美元略有下降。其次，第三季折舊和攤提費用為 500 萬美元。與前幾季一致，該專案的絕大多數與無形資產的非現金攤銷有關，例如我們首次公開募股之前建立的特許經營關係和地區代表權。第三，所得稅。我們於 2022 年底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費用相比，我們預計將確認年度所得稅費用。第三季度，GAAP 淨利潤反映了 180 萬美元的稅收費用，調整後的淨利潤反映了 170 萬美元的調整後稅收費用。現在談談我們的現金流和流動性，這反映了我們輕資產模式的顯著優勢。即使在艱難的環境中，我們仍會繼續產生強勁的自由現金流，以造福我們的網路和股東。

From Q2 to Q3, our cash position increased by roughly $10 million to $64 million. We had $395 million outstanding under our senior secured notes and nothing drawn on our $40 million revolver. Net leverage continued to decrease sequentially, ending Q3 at 4.4x adjusted EBITDA compared to 5.3x in Q3 last year. Based on our outlook, we expect to further delever in the fourth quarter. Operating activities generated $17.6 million in cash during the third quarter compared to investing outflows of approximately $150,000. We purchased approximately $5.5 million of stock during the quarter and still have approximately $23.5 million remaining under our current buyback authorization. Ultimately, our asset-light, capital-light business model enables us to determine the best way to deliver long-term shareholder value as we continue to monitor our environment. Turning now to our updated outlook for 2023. With strong franchisee confidence in demand, we remain confident in delivering more than 10% unit growth for fiscal 2023. We have clear visibility and now expect to open 98 to 100 net new centers this year, which is towards the high end of our previous outlook.

從第二季到第三季度，我們的現金部位增加了大約 1,000 萬美元，達到 6,400 萬美元。我們的優先擔保票據下有 3.95 億美元未償還，而我們的 4000 萬美元左輪手槍沒有任何動用。淨槓桿率持續下降，第三季調整後 EBITDA 為 4.4 倍，而去年第三季為 5.3 倍。根據我們的展望，我們預計第四季將進一步去槓桿化。第三季營運活動產生了 1,760 萬美元現金，而投資流出約為 15 萬美元。我們在本季購買了約 550 萬美元的股票，目前的回購授權仍剩餘約 2,350 萬美元。最終，我們的輕資產、輕資本業務模式使我們能夠在繼續監控環境的同時確定實現長期股東價值的最佳方法。現在轉向我們對2023 年的最新展望。憑藉加盟商對需求的強勁信心，我們仍然有信心在2023 財年實現超過10% 的單位增長。我們有明確的預見性，現在預計今年將淨開設98 至100 個新中心，這正接近我們先前展望的高端。

In terms of the top line, as David mentioned earlier, our previous guidance incorporated a solid start to the quarter and assumed that our strategic initiatives and media efforts would drive continued improvement through the back half of this year. While LastPass and routine guests continued to show resilience and consistency, trends among our less frequent guests did not sustain the momentum we expected. As a result, we are updating our financial outlook for the balance of the year to reflect the current trends we observed in Q3 and Q4 to date. Our 2023 system-wide sales expectations are now between $945 million and $955 million, with total revenue expected between $217 million and $219 million. Our full year same-store sales expectations moved to a range of 1.5% to 2.5%. Our adjusted EBITDA outlook is $74.5 million to $76 million, reflecting the impact of a lower top line. As a reminder, and consistent with our remarks last quarter, this range includes up to $1 million of SG&A, primarily in the fourth quarter to support our laser hair removal test.

就營收而言，正如大衛之前提到的，我們先前的指導包含了本季的良好開局，並假設我們的策略舉措和媒體努力將推動今年下半年的持續改善。雖然 LastPass 和常客繼續表現出韌性和一致性，但不太常來的客人的趨勢並沒有維持我們預期的勢頭。因此，我們正在更新今年剩餘時間的財務展望，以反映我們在第三季和第四季迄今為止觀察到的當前趨勢。目前，我們對 2023 年全系統銷售額的預期為 9.45 億美元至 9.55 億美元，總收入預計為 2.17 億美元至 2.19 億美元。我們的全年同店銷售預期調整至 1.5% 至 2.5% 的範圍。我們調整後的 EBITDA 前景為 7,450 萬至 7,600 萬美元，反映了收入下降的影響。提醒一下，與我們上季度的言論一致，該範圍包括高達 100 萬美元的 SG&A，主要在第四季度用於支援我們的雷射除毛測試。

Despite a challenged environment, we are committed to our promotional discipline in preserving 4-wall economics. As a result, our full year gross margin expectations remain approximately 71%, unchanged from our previous outlook. Our 2023 interest expense outlook remains approximately $28 million, slightly weighted to Q4, given a 53rd week in 2023. As a reminder, both fiscal years 2022 and 2023 included a 53rd week, but we will return to a 52-week year in fiscal 2024. We continue to expect our 2023 blended statutory tax rate to approximate 20%, which is based on known year-to-date exchanges from Class B to Class A shares. All in, we expect adjusted net income between $20.5 million and $21.5 million. Transaction trends have been relatively stable exiting Q3 and into Q4 to date. Our revised guidance incorporates a range of outcomes for the balance of the year, including continued stability or moderate deceleration from the current run rate. At the midpoint, our updated full year outlook translates to more than 10% unit growth alongside mid-single-digit system-wide sales, total revenue and adjusted EBITDA increases.

儘管環境充滿挑戰，我們仍致力於維繫四牆經濟的促銷紀律。因此，我們的全年毛利率預期保持在 71% 左右，與先前的預期保持不變。考慮到2023 年是第53 週，我們對2023 年利息支出的展望仍然約為2800 萬美元，稍微權重於第四季度。提醒一下，2022 財年和2023 財年都包括第53 週，但我們將在2024 財年恢復到52 週的年度我們繼續預計 2023 年混合法定稅率約為 20%，這是基於已知的年初至今從 B 類股票到 A 類股票的交換。總而言之，我們預計調整後淨利潤在 2,050 萬美元至 2,150 萬美元之間。迄今為止，第三季和第四季的交易趨勢相對穩定。我們修訂後的指導意見納入了今年剩餘時間的一系列結果，包括當前運行率的持續穩定或適度減速。在中點，我們更新的全年展望意味著超過 10% 的銷售成長，同時全系統銷售額、總收入和調整後 EBITDA 也實現中等個位數的成長。

Even in an uncertain environment, we are proud to expect meaningful organic top line growth and stable adjusted EBITDA margins year-over-year. Most importantly, our existing franchisee network continues to reinvest in the brand, and we feel confident in our long-term unit growth algorithm. In conclusion, we remain the undisputed leader in our category, delighting guests in more than 1,000 centers across 45 states. Frequency and spend among our core guests are solid and consistent. However, the macro environment has been a headwind this year among our less frequent guests. We believe our best-in-class business model remains lucrative for franchisees to enjoy robust cash-on-cash returns at maturity. Those compelling unit economics in turn drive sustained reinvestment from existing franchisees. We expect our continued focus on unit growth and in-center sales growth will enable us over the long term to grow both network and corporate revenue, leverage our fixed cost profile for EBITDA margin expansion and continue generating significant free cash flow, in turn creating further value for European Wax center, our franchisees and our shareholders. With that, I'd like to turn the call back to David to wrap up our prepared remarks and open it up for Q&A. David?

即使在不確定的環境中，我們也很自豪地期望實現有意義的有機收入成長和穩定的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率同比。最重要的是，我們現有的加盟商網路繼續對品牌進行再投資，我們對我們的長期單位成長演算法充滿信心。總而言之，我們仍然是同類產品中無可爭議的領導者，為 45 個州 1,000 多個中心的客人帶來愉悅。我們的核心客人的頻率和消費穩定且一致。然而，今年宏觀環境對我們不太常來的客人來說是一個阻力。我們相信，我們一流的商業模式對於特許經營商來說仍然是有利可圖的，可以在到期時享受強勁的現金回報。這些引人注目的單位經濟效益反過來又推動了現有特許經營商的持續再投資。我們預計，我們對單位成長和中心銷售成長的持續關注將使我們能夠長期增加網路和企業收入，利用我們的固定成本狀況來擴大 EBITDA 利潤率，並繼續產生大量的自由現金流，從而進一步創造為歐洲蠟中心、我們的特許經營商和股東帶來價值。至此，我想將電話轉回給大衛，以結束我們準備好的演講並開始問答。大衛？

Thank you, Stacie. As I laid out at the top of the call, we're focused on driving reservations and top line growth amid the near-term challenges presented by this macro environment, while also maintaining our promotional discipline and margin profile. Despite these challenges, we remain confident in our long-term growth potential. We believe we have a resilient service offering with loyal core guests and continued opportunities to expand our brand and the model. As the dominant player in a highly fragmented category, we are well positioned to leverage our scale and take market share in a period of disruption. At only 1/3 of our long-term unit target of 3,000 centers are white space is significant, and we benefit from continued reinvestment from committed franchisees to support our growth trajectory. With so much potential yet to be realized, we remain as excited as ever about our future and the growth opportunities ahead for all of our stakeholders. We'd now like to open up the call for questions. Operator?

謝謝你，史黛西。正如我在電話會議開頭指出的那樣，在宏觀環境帶來的近期挑戰中，我們的重點是推動預訂和營收成長，同時保持我們的促銷紀律和利潤狀況。儘管面臨這些挑戰，我們對長期成長潛力仍然充滿信心。我們相信，我們擁有富有彈性的服務，擁有忠實的核心客人，並有持續的機會來擴展我們的品牌和模式。作為高度分散的類別中的主導者，我們處於有利地位，可以在混亂時期利用我們的規模並佔據市場份額。我們的 3,000 個中心的長期單位目標中只有 1/3 是空白空間，這一點非常重要，我們受益於忠誠的特許經營商的持續再投資，以支持我們的成長軌跡。由於巨大的潛力尚未實現，我們對我們的未來以及所有利益相關者未來的成長機會一如既往地感到興奮。我們現在要開始提問。操作員？

[Operator's Instructions)

[操作者須知]

Our first question comes from Randall Konik with Jefferies.

我們的第一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Randall Konik。

I guess maybe, David, can you give us maybe a little bit more color on the pattern differential from the episodic guests, maybe changes that you're seeing frequency and spend. Maybe a little more flavor there would be very helpful. And how that potentially -- how much that has changed versus, let's say, the second quarter 90 days ago or 90 days ago? I just want to just get a little more color there would be very helpful.

我想，大衛，你能給我們更多關於與間歇性客人的模式差異的資訊嗎？也許你看到的頻率和支出發生了變化。也許多一點味道會很有幫助。與 90 天前或 90 天前的第二季相比，這可能發生了多大變化？我只是想多一點顏色，那會很有幫助的。

You bet, Randy. So our transaction trends exiting our second quarter and entering the third quarter were solid, Randy. And that is what gave us confidence in reiterating our full year guide on our last earnings call. There's really 2 things that happened in the quarter. The less frequent guests began to pull back in late August and into September. We saw no disruption or change in frequency or spend with our wax past guests or routine guest, but the less frequent guests began to pull back during that time. As we saw signals that the macro could be impacting this cohort, we increased our digital ad spend to try to drive additional reservations from all guest cohorts. So as we kind of saw movement through the quarter, Randy, it was really back half of August and through September.

你敢打賭，蘭迪。因此，我們從第二季退出到第三季的交易趨勢是穩定的，蘭迪。這讓我們有信心在上次財報電話會議上重申我們的全年指南。本季確實發生了兩件事。八月底和九月份，不太常來的客人開始減少。我們沒有看到頻率上的中斷或變化，也沒有看到與過去的客人或常客一起度過的時光，但在那段時間裡，不太頻繁的客人開始減少。當我們看到宏觀經濟可能影響這群人的訊號時，我們增加了數位廣告支出，試圖吸引所有賓客群體的額外預訂。蘭迪，當我們看到整個季度的變化時，實際上是八月下旬和九月。

So what are we doing about it is probably more important. Will we continue to leverage data to more effectively acquire and retain our most valuable guests. And we're driving reservations through new channels with more value-oriented messaging. We're trying to target our guests with the messaging that resonates with them. Those elements of our brands that are most valuable to them. And as I touched on just briefly in our prepared remarks, we also recently launched online wax passes and gift cards within the last couple of weeks to allow our guests to transact with the brain where they want. So hopefully, Randy, that gives you a bit more color in terms of the movement through the quarter in terms of what we saw.

因此，我們對此採取的措施可能更為重要。我們是否會繼續利用數據來更有效地吸引和留住最有價值的客人。我們正在透過新管道透過更多以價值為導向的資訊來推動預訂。我們試圖向客人傳達能引起他們共鳴的訊息。我們品牌中對他們來說最有價值的元素。正如我在準備好的演講中簡要提到的那樣，我們最近還在過去幾週內推出了在線蠟通行證和禮品卡，以便我們的客人可以在他們想要的地方與大腦進行交易。因此，蘭迪，希望這能讓您對我們所看到的本季的走勢有更多的了解。

Yes, it does. And then I guess a final question for me would be early impressions or early learnings. I know it's very early on some of the laser tests that you've done so far. Anything stand out that you can share with us?

是的，它確實。然後我想對我來說最後一個問題是早期印像或早期學習。我知道您迄今為止所做的一些雷射測試還處於早期階段。您有什麼突出的事情可以與我們分享嗎？

Sure. So our hypothesis, as we discussed on the last call, we had kind of 3 things we wanted to understand. Could we capture an incremental customer to the brand an incremental demographic to EWC by offering laser? Could we expand the share of wallet from our existing wax guests with laser? And overall, could we enhance what we think are already very robust 4-wall economics. Four weeks into the test, as mentioned, Randy, we're in 6 centers in the New York City area. The early reads on all of those fronts are encouraging. We plan to share kind of more details of this pilot results in 2024, but at least initial reads would suggest our hypothesis we're encouraged by the reason all 3 hypothesis.

當然。因此，正如我們在上次電話會議中討論的那樣，我們的假設是我們想要了解三件事。我們能否透過提供雷射來吸引品牌的增量客戶以及 EWC 的增量人口？我們能否透過雷射擴大現有蠟像客人的錢包份額？總的來說，我們能否增強我們認為已經非常強勁的四牆經濟學。蘭迪，正如前面提到的，測試已經進行了四個星期，我們在紐約市地區的 6 個中心進行測試。所有這些方面的早期讀物都令人鼓舞。我們計劃在 2024 年分享該試點結果的更多細節，但至少初步閱讀會表明我們的假設，我們對所有 3 個假設的原因感到鼓舞。

Our next question comes from Lorraine Hutchinson with 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)。

It seems like the episodic guest has been really choppy quarter-by-quarter. I wanted to just zoom out and ask if you're seeing anything that would cause you to change your new store ramp expectations, your sales at maturity or anything that you think would change the franchise model?

看來這位客串嘉賓每季都表現得不穩定。我想縮小範圍並詢問您是否看到任何會導致您改變新店成長預期、成熟銷售或您認為會改變特許經營模式的事情？

You're exactly right. It has been choppy. This is now kind of the sixth quarter that I think the macros had an impact on that part of our guest file. We remain very bullish on our new unit development, not just in terms of NCOs delivered, but the pipeline of forthcoming NCOs. Our management team is really supporting our franchisees every way that we can because opening a center is certainly helpful to the brand. But if that center doesn't drive tickets and is not ramping properly and ultimately profitable, we're not going to see those reinvestment, right? So our teams are hyper focused on making sure -- not only do we deliver additional new centers into the system, but we're supporting franchisees to ensure that those are ramping properly and profitably.

你說得完全正確。一直很不穩定。現在已經是第六季了，我認為宏對我們訪客文件的這一部分產生了影響。我們仍然非常看好我們新單位的開發，不僅是在已交付的 NCO 方面，而且是在即將推出的 NCO 方面。我們的管理團隊確實竭盡全力支持我們的特許經營商，因為開設中心肯定對品牌有幫助。但如果該中心不帶動門票，也沒有適當增加並最終盈利，我們就不會看到這些再投資，對嗎？因此，我們的團隊非常專注於確保——我們不僅向系統提供更多的新中心，而且我們還支持特許經營商，以確保這些中心能夠正常成長並獲利。

So nothing right now, Lorraine, would suggest that we're seeing a slowdown in demand. Our franchisees, by and large, are well capitalized. We have a very supportive lender group, that's familiar with our model that continues to support our franchisees' further development. But we're not taking this macro environment lightly. We touched on, I think, on our last call that we some NCO disciplines that we're putting in place to ensure that those preopening marketing efforts are effective, so our franchisees can build an adequate number of guests in their file to market to the day they open. We also want to ensure that those centers are properly staffed to support the reservations and tickets. Both of those things are very, very important to ensure that new centers get off the ground efficiently.

因此，洛林，目前沒有任何跡象表明我們看到需求放緩。總的來說，我們的特許經營商資本充足。我們有一個非常支持我們的貸方團體，他們熟悉我們的模式，並將繼續支持我們的加盟商的進一步發展。但我們不會掉以輕心地對待這個宏觀環境。我認為，我們在上次電話會議中提到，我們正在製定一些 NCO 紀律，以確保開業前的營銷工作有效，這樣我們的特許經營商就可以在他們的檔案中建立足夠數量的客人，以便向他們開業的那天。我們也希望確保這些中心配備適當的人員來支持預訂和門票。這兩件事對於確保新中心有效啟動都非常非常重要。

I would add one last thing, making sure that we're balanced as it relates to -- or most importantly, we're trying to drive more reservations and in-center transactions. And so making sure we're balanced from a standpoint of how we're doing that and not just overly discounting on a broad-based perspective so that we're protecting margins.

我想補充最後一件事，確保我們在相關方面保持平衡——或者最重要的是，我們正在努力推動更多的預訂和中心交易。因此，確保我們從如何做到這一點的角度保持平衡，而不僅僅是從廣泛的角度過度打折，以便我們保護利潤。

Our next question comes from Dana Telsey with Telsey Advisory Group.

我們的下一個問題來自特爾西諮詢小組的達納·特爾西。

As you think about the cadence of sales and what you're seeing, are you seeing it in all regions around the country? Is there anything different from one region to another. And then as you speak with the franchisees, how are they managing the expense structure or the acquisitions? How are you looking to continue to grow acquisitions or grow that frequency? Are there any survey work that you've done in terms of determining if there's adjustments in pricing or wax pass events? Do you need to do more over or less of in terms of managing the business as we go forward in this macro environment?

當您考慮銷售節奏和您所看到的情況時，您是否在全國所有地區都看到了這種情況？一個地區與另一個地區有什麼不同嗎？然後，當您與特許經營商交談時，他們如何管理費用結構或收購？您希望如何持續增加收購或提高收購頻率？您是否做過任何調查工作來確定定價或蠟質通行證活動是否有調整？隨著我們在這個宏觀環境中前進，您在管理業務方面需要做更多還是更少？

Thanks, Dana. I appreciate the question. From a geography standpoint, not really seeing much there. There's obviously going to be spots here and there and some of that is going to be generated based on NCOs and where that's occurring, but nothing really to call out. As far as the WAC specialists, I'll say a couple of things, I'm sure David might have some comments as well. But we continue to deepen that pipeline. We've talked about the relationships that we have with beauty schools, and that's a really important piece. And we've been -- I'd say, successful, we're meeting our goals as it relates to not only the number of our wax specialists, but also the level kind of at the red or orange and looking at that on a center-by-center basis.

謝謝，達納。我很欣賞這個問題。從地理角度來看，那裡並沒有真正看到太多東西。顯然，到處都會有一些地點，其中一些是根據士官和發生地點而生成的，但沒有什麼真正值得指出的。至於 WAC 專家，我會說幾句話，我相信 David 也會有一些評論。但我們將繼續深化這項管道。我們已經討論了我們與美容學校的關係，這是非常重要的一部分。我想說，我們已經成功了，我們正在實現我們的目標，因為這不僅與我們的蠟專家的數量有關，還與紅色或橙色的水平有關，並在以中心為基礎。

Yes. I would say, Dana, just to add to that, Stacie's spot on, we feel comfortable that the average center has the requisite targeted number of wax specialists. We continue to work with our franchisees on what we call leveling up and retention. We got a solid mix in terms of our most experienced waxers for the average centers. We're not exactly where we want to be in terms of the optimal mix, but we're working our way towards that. And kind of back to your question on the elevated labor rates. You may recall, we did not do or recommend an across-the-board price increase in fiscal 2023 for our network. We certainly have franchisees operating in certain markets with elevated labor costs. And in many cases, those franchisees have taken pricing at the local level to protect their 4-wall profitability. But we didn't do an across-the-board, peanut better spread price increase this year.

是的。我想說的是，達納，補充一點，史黛西的觀點是，我們對平均中心擁有必要的目標數量的蠟專家感到滿意。我們繼續與我們的特許經營商合作，進行所謂的升級和保留。我們為普通中心提供了最有經驗的打蠟師的可靠組合。就最佳組合而言，我們還沒有完全達到我們想要的目標，但我們正在朝著這個目標努力。回到你關於勞動力價格上漲的問題。您可能還記得，我們​​沒有或建議在 2023 財政年度對我們的網路進行全面提價。我們當然有特許經營商在某些勞動成本較高的市場運作。在許多情況下，這些特許經營商都採用當地定價來保護他們的四面牆盈利能力。但今年我們並沒有全面提高花生的價格。

Our next question comes from Scott Ciccarelli with Truist Securities.

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

This is Joe on for Scott. I know you mentioned that you stayed away from broader unnatural promotional activity in the quarter. Do you have any insight into whether nearby peers are maybe getting more aggressive and drawing away those episodic guests that you might typically get?

這是喬替斯科特發言。我知道您提到您在本季度避免了更廣泛的非自然促銷活動。您是否了解附近的同行是否可能變得更加咄咄逼人並吸引了您通常可能遇到的那些偶爾出現的客人？

Joe, good question. The survey that we have completed would suggest this episodic guests, we're not losing her to a competitor. She's not waxing that. And in many cases, she is an event-driven waxer. So she walks us before she takes a given vacation before she makes a trip. She's not taking that trip, so she's not doing the other things leading up to that trip. The best intelligence we have from our guests would suggest we haven't lost her to a competitor. She still values European Wax Center. Unlike the wax pass guests and the routine guests that view us as nondiscretionary, some of our episodic guests view us as more of a luxury and she's simply pulling back given the macro environment.

喬，好問題。我們完成的調查表明，這位偶爾出現的客人，我們不會將她輸給競爭對手。她沒有打蠟。在很多情況下，她是一個事件驅動的打蠟者。所以她在休假前會帶我們去旅行，然後去旅行。她不會參加那次旅行，因此她不會做那次旅行之前的其他事情。我們從客人那裡得到的最好情報表明我們並沒有把她輸給競爭對手。她仍然看重歐洲蠟像中心。與那些認為我們不隨意的蠟通客人和常規客人不同，我們的一些臨時客人將我們視為更多的奢侈品，考慮到宏觀環境，她只是在撤退。

Got it. That makes sense. And then just one quick follow-up. Can you talk about how Wax Pass sales are trending for the quarter maybe versus your expectations?

知道了。這就說得通了。然後只是一個快速跟進。您能否談談本季 Wax Pass 的銷售趨勢與您的預期有何不同？

Yes, Joe, good question. So we are in our semiannual promotional period. We launched a couple of weeks ago. We feel good about where Wax Pass sales are trending. In fact, the current transaction trends and the wax pass conversion rates, all of those are factored into our revised guide for the year.

是的，喬，好問題。所以我們正處於半年一次的促銷期。我們幾週前推出了。我們對 Wax Pass 的銷售趨勢感到滿意。事實上，當前的交易趨勢和蠟通轉換率，所有這些都已納入我們今年修訂的指南中。

Thank you. Our next question comes from Simeon Gutman with Morgan Stanley.

謝謝。我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的西蒙·古特曼。

This is Jackie cession for Simeon. Just in terms of the Q4 implied guide, could you talk about the assumptions within that on the transactions versus ticket side? I know you guys called out lower quarter-to-date transactions, but just any more color there in light of the environment you're seeing.

這是傑基對西蒙的讓步。就第四季隱含指南而言，您能否談談交易與門票方面的假設？我知道你們指出季度至今的交易量較低，但根據你們所看到的環境，有更多的顏色。

Yes. So we didn't break that out kind of between transactions and pricing, if that's what you're speaking to. But what I can tell you is that first 2 quarters, we certainly had that tailwind of the pricing increase that David mentioned just a minute ago. that we took in Q1 of '22, and still a little bit of that in Q3. So our comp has been heavily driven by pricing this year. So I would expect that there will still be some of that going on in Q4 as it relates to sort of the additional pricing that our centers or franchisees took on their own.

是的。所以我們沒有在交易和定價之間進行區分（如果這就是你所說的）。但我可以告訴你的是，前兩個季度，我們確實受到了大衛一分鐘前提到的價格上漲的推動。我們在 22 年第一季採取了這些措施，在第三季仍然採取了一些措施。因此，今年我們的業績很大程度上受到定價的推動。因此，我預計第四季度仍會發生一些情況，因為這與我們的中心或特許經營商自行承擔的額外定價有關。

Our next question comes from Korinne Wolfmeyer with Piper Sandler.

我們的下一個問題來自 Korinne Wolfmeyer 和 Piper Sandler。

[Operation's Instructions)

【操作說明】

Our next question comes from John Heinbockel with Guggenheim Partners.

我們的下一個問題來自古根漢合夥人公司的約翰·海因博克爾。

Okay. So David, I'm curious, is the idea now maybe lean more into the loyal -- the more loyal consumer as opposed to episodic. And I'm curious within that, how is the bundling test going is that showing an ability to move the needle?

好的。所以，我很好奇，大衛現在的想法可能更傾向於忠誠——更忠誠的消費者，而不是間歇性的。我很好奇，捆綁測試進展如何，是否顯示出改變現狀的能力？

Yes, John, great question. We candidly want to do both. And apologies if I wasn't clear in my prepared remarks, we are wanting to drive tickets in general. Part of that is reengaging episodic guests, attracting new guests to the brand, but absolutely increasing share of wallet with our existing guests is a primary focus of our commercial and marketing teams. In terms of the bundling test, we talked on this a couple of calls ago, we did kind of -- started with the 6 inter pilot to work through the operational teams, expanded that to a 100 center pilot. And now we've got a couple of months of data to get a solid read on that. And we're encouraged by our ability to drive greater ticket, the longer-term goal with bundles, near-term benefit would be to increase the average ticket. The longer-term benefit would be to influence guest behavior. So I guess it might have only purchased one service from us per visit would commit to purchasing 2 or more services from us per visit. We have extended that extended the number of centers that now have the service bundles to over 200. We're going to continue to monitor and measure. But we're encouraged enough that I anticipate we will further roll out bundles throughout the network.

是的，約翰，好問題。坦白說，我們希望兩者兼得。如果我在準備好的發言中不清楚的話，我深表歉意，我們總體上希望推動門票。其中一部分是重新吸引不定期的客人，吸引新客人加入品牌，但絕對增加現有客人的錢包份額是我們商業和行銷團隊的主要關注點。就捆綁測試而言，我們在幾次電話前討論過這個問題，我們確實做了一些事情——從 6 個內部飛行員開始，透過營運團隊進行工作，然後將其擴展到 100 個中心飛行員。現在我們已經有了幾個月的數據來對此進行可靠的解讀。我們對推動更多門票的能力感到鼓舞，捆綁銷售的長期目標是增加平均門票。長期的好處是影響客人的行為。因此，我猜它每次訪問可能只會向我們購買一項服務，而每次訪問可能會承諾向我們購買 2 項或更多服務。我們已經將提供服務包的中心數量擴展至 200 多個。我們將繼續進行監控和衡量。但我們受到了足夠的鼓舞，我預計我們將進一步在整個網路中推出捆綁包。

And one thing I'd add, John, as your question as far as leaning more into episodic, it's really more leaning in to just attracting more guests to the center. And a lot of that is going to come with -- we talked about the change to our media agency, and we feel very good about the strategies that they're putting in place, but it's more broad-based, I'd say.

約翰，我要補充的一件事是，就你的問題而言，更傾向於情節，它實際上更傾向於吸引更多的客人來到中心。其中許多都會隨之而來——我們討論了我們媒體機構的變革，我們對他們正在實施的策略感到非常滿意，但我想說，它的基礎更廣泛。

And then maybe as a follow-up, right? So we go through a period here, right, where AUV is down because of the macro, obviously, to run these centers well, you have to invest in specialists, right? I mean I'm curious the levers you have to take some pressure off the first year to 18 months of P&L, right, for the franchisees? I mean you're not going to touch the royalty. Could you take less on less margin on wax. How do you think about those levers?

然後也許作為後續行動，對吧？所以我們經歷了一段時期，對吧，AUV 由於宏觀原因而下降，顯然，為了很好地運營這些中心，你必須投資專家，對嗎？我的意思是，我很好奇您必須採取哪些手段來減輕加盟商第一年至 18 個月損益表的壓力，對嗎？我的意思是你不會碰皇室。你能少拿點蠟的保證金嗎？您如何看待這些槓桿？

Yes, John. So we've got, as you said, a number of levers. If we saw AUVs not trending in a direction that was driving the reinvestment rates that we're seeing, of course, we would look at opportunities to support our franchisees. And if we had to use our P&L, we would evaluate those. Our focus has been on operational recruitment and marketing support to ensure that these centers can ramp productively in years 1 and 2 and profitably through maturity. So I think you raised an interesting point. There's a number of levers we could pull, we have been fortunate that the center level performance at large has performed in such a way we haven't had to discount royalties or pull back marketing fund. But we absolutely want to make sure our franchisees can continue to grow and grow profitably so that we can continue to enjoy the reinvestment rates that we're seeing.

是的，約翰。所以，正如你所說，我們有很多槓桿。如果我們看到 AUV 的趨勢沒有像我們所看到的那樣推動再投資率，那麼我們當然會尋找機會來支持我們的特許經營商。如果我們必須使用損益表，我們會對其進行評估。我們的重點是營運招募和行銷支持，以確保這些中心能夠在第一年和第二年高效發展，並在成熟後實現盈利。所以我認為你提出了一個有趣的觀點。我們可以使用很多槓桿，我們很幸運，中心級的整體表現使我們不必打折版稅或撤回行銷資金。但我們絕對希望確保我們的特許經營商能夠繼續成長並實現獲利成長，以便我們能夠繼續享受我們所看到的再投資率。

Our next question comes from Korinne Wolfmeyer with Piper Sandler.

我們的下一個問題來自 Korinne Wolfmeyer 和 Piper Sandler。

The first one is to press on the episodic guest trends a little bit more. And I think you've previously talked about about 5% to 10% of gas being affected by macro pressures. Is that still the case? And then is the added pressure you're seeing just a stronger magnitude for those guests? Or has that 5% to 10% started to increase?

第一個是進一步關注不定期客串趨勢。我想您之前已經談到大約 5% 到 10% 的天然氣受到宏觀壓力的影響。現在還是這樣嗎？那麼，您所看到的額外壓力對這些客人來說是否更大？或者說 5% 到 10% 已經開始增加了？

If I think about this episodic bucket, let me first start with our wax pass and routine guests. That part of our guest file comprises over 75% of system-wide sales. So if I kind of lump everyone else into this episodic bucket, it's about 25% of our network sales. What you've got in this bucket is pretty widespread. You've got folks that are event-driven waxes are going to come 2 or 3 times a year that are only going to come in for their waxing before that special event. And you have some folks that this group appears to be more impacted, they view us not as a nondiscretionary part of their service like our Wax Pass and routine guests. So it's this part of our guest file that is, we feel more pinched from the macroeconomic environment. We feel there's a part best demographic data we have available, which suggests more of this part of our guest file is a lower-income guest on average than our Wax Pass and our routine guests. So we speculate the macro is having a more bigger impact on this part of our guest file.

如果我想到這個情節桶，讓我先從我們的蠟通行證和常規客人開始。我們的賓客檔案中的這一部分佔整個系統銷售額的 75% 以上。因此，如果我將其他所有人都歸類為這個偶發性類別，那麼它大約占我們網路銷售額的 25%。這個桶子裡的東西相當普遍。有些人是由活動驅動的打蠟，每年會來 2 到 3 次，他們只會在那個特殊活動之前才會來打蠟。有些人認為這個群體似乎受到更大的影響，他們認為我們不像我們的蠟通行證和常規客人那樣是他們服務的非自由裁量部分。因此，這就是我們的來賓檔案的這一部分，即我們感到宏觀經濟環境更加緊張。我們認為我們擁有最好的人口統計數據，這表明我們的客人檔案中的這部分客人平均收入比我們的蠟通票和常規客人低。因此我們推測宏對我們的來賓文件的這一部分產生了更大的影響。

Got it. Very helpful. And then briefly on some of the marketing and ad spend you talked about, I believe you said you maybe increased some spend this quarter, but it proved not as effective. But then you also said some ad spend got pushed into Q4 from Q3. So can you just touch on what exactly is going on there and what we should expect for spending into Q4 and maybe even the early parts of 2024?

知道了。很有幫助。然後簡要介紹您談到的一些行銷和廣告支出，我相信您說過您可能在本季度增加了一些支出，但事實證明效果並不那麼有效。但您也說一些廣告支出從第三季推到了第四季。那麼，您能否談談具體情況以及我們對第四季甚至 2024 年初的支出應該有哪些預期？

Yes. Maybe let me touch on the first part of your question, and Stacie can address kind of anticipated spend. As I had said earlier, we kind of had 2 things happened in the quarter. One is this less frequent guests begin to pull back late August and into September. So we did increase digital ad spend to try to drive reservations from all of our guest cohorts -- the second thing that happened is we had an execution miss intermediate portfolio. This was impacted by an isolated technical error that generated fewer reservations than what we had planned for. I'll follow up on that. So what are we doing about it? Well, we've engaged a new agency that was onboarded in the last couple of weeks, and we anticipate really positive impact on transactions over time, but I do want to highlight our guidance for this year does not assume a change from our current transaction trends. Stacie, if you want to touch on kind of timing of the spend, that would be great.

是的。也許讓我談談你問題的第一部分，史黛西可以解決預期支出的問題。正如我之前所說，本季發生了兩件事。其中之一是，不太常來的客人開始從八月底到九月減少。因此，我們確實增加了數位廣告支出，試圖吸引所有賓客群體的預訂——發生的第二件事是我們的中間投資組合執行失誤。這是受到一個孤立的技術錯誤的影響，該錯誤產生的預訂數量少於我們的計劃。我會跟進此事。那我們正在做什麼呢？好吧，我們已經聘請了一家在過去幾週內加入的新機構，我們預計隨著時間的推移會對交易產生真正積極的影響，但我確實想強調我們今年的指導並不假設我們當前的交易發生變化趨勢。 Stacie，如果您想談談支出的時間安排，那就太好了。

Yes. So 2 things, right? The $1 million -- or the 100 basis points that we called out in SG&A that was marketing, that's what David just spoke to, the timing is the advertising, which is basically what the what we call our fund where our centers are paying into us. It's just a timing difference between Q3 and Q4. So it's not that we're changing what we're doing or anything like that. Other than, obviously, we've changed media agencies and optimizing -- continuing to optimize that spend. But it's really just a timing piece on that. But there are 2 different buckets if that makes sense.

是的。所以有兩件事，對吧？ 100 萬美元——或者我們在SG&A 中提到的100 個基點是行銷，這就是David 剛才談到的，時機就是廣告，這基本上就是我們所說的我們的基金，我們的中心向我們支付的費用。這只是第三季和第四季之間的時間差異。所以這並不是說我們正在改變我們正在做的事情或類似的事情。除此之外，顯然我們已經改變了媒體機構並優化——繼續優化支出。但這其實只是一個時間片。但如果有意義的話，有兩個不同的桶子。

Thank you.

謝謝。

[Operation's Instructions)

【操作說明】

Our next question comes from Jonathan Komp with Baird.

我們的下一個問題來自 Jonathan Komp 和 Baird。

[Operation's Instructions)

【操作說明】

There are no further questions at this time. I'd like to turn the call back over to David Willis for any further remarks.

目前沒有其他問題。我想將電話轉回給大衛威利斯，徵求進一步意見。

Thanks, Michelle. Well, we really appreciate the questions and your participation on today's call. We really appreciate your time. We look forward to speaking with you in the days and the weeks to come. Thanks so much for joining us.

謝謝，米歇爾。好的，我們非常感謝您提出的問題以及您參與今天的電話會議。我們非常感謝您的寶貴時間。我們期待在未來幾天和幾週內與您交談。非常感謝您加入我們。

Thank you for your participation. This does conclude the program, and you may now disconnect. Everyone, have a great day.

感謝您的參與。這確實結束了程序，您現在可以斷開連接。大家，祝你有美好的一天。