Freshpet Inc (FRPT) 2022 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to Freshpet's Second Quarter 2022 Earnings Call and Webcast. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

您好，歡迎來到 Freshpet 的 2022 年第二季度財報電話會議和網絡直播。 （操作員說明）作為提醒，本次會議正在錄製中。

It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Jeff Sonnek, Investor Relations at ICR. Thank you. You may begin.

現在我很高興向您介紹您的主持人，ICR 投資者關係部的 Jeff Sonnek。謝謝你。你可以開始了。

Thank you. Good afternoon, and welcome to Freshpet's Second Quarter 2022 Earnings Call and Webcast. On today's call are Billy Cyr, Chief Executive Officer; and Heather Pomerantz, Chief Financial Officer. Scott Morris, Chief Operating Officer, will also be available for Q&A.

謝謝你。下午好，歡迎來到 Freshpet 的 2022 年第二季度財報電話會議和網絡直播。今天的電話會議是首席執行官 Billy Cyr；和首席財務官Heather Pomerantz。首席運營官 Scott Morris 也將參加問答環節。

Before we begin, please remember that during the course of this call, management may make forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These statements are based on management's current expectations and beliefs and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in these forward-looking statements. Please refer to the company's annual report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC and the company's press release issued today for a detailed discussion of the risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements made today.

在我們開始之前，請記住，在本次電話會議期間，管理層可能會做出聯邦證券法含義內的前瞻性陳述。這些陳述基於管理層當前的預期和信念，涉及可能導致實際結果與這些前瞻性陳述中描述的結果大不相同的風險和不確定性。請參閱公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的 10-K 表格年度報告和公司今天發布的新聞稿，詳細討論可能導致實際結果與任何前瞻性陳述中明示或暗示的結果存在重大差異的風險今天。

Please note that on today's call, management will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures such as EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, among others. While the company believes these non-GAAP financial measures provide useful information for investors, the presentation of this information is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the financial information presented in accordance with GAAP. Please refer to today's press release for how management defines such non-GAAP measures. A reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial measures to the most comparable measures prepared in accordance with GAAP and limitations associated with such non-GAAP measures.

請注意，在今天的電話會議上，管理層將參考某些非公認會計準則財務指標，例如 EBITDA、調整後的 EBITDA 等。雖然公司認為這些非公認會計原則財務措施為投資者提供了有用的信息，但這些信息的呈現並不旨在孤立地考慮或替代根據公認會計原則呈現的財務信息。請參閱今天的新聞稿，了解管理層如何定義此類非公認會計原則措施。非 GAAP 財務措施與根據 GAAP 編制的最具可比性的措施以及與此類非 GAAP 措施相關的限制的對賬。

Finally, the company has produced a presentation that contains many of the key metrics that will be discussed on this call. That presentation can be found on the company's investor website. Management's commentary will not specifically walk through the presentation on the call, but rather it's a summary of the results and guidance that we'll discuss today.

最後，該公司製作了一份演示文稿，其中包含將在本次電話會議上討論的許多關鍵指標。該演示文稿可以在公司的投資者網站上找到。管理層的評論不會具體介紹電話會議的演示文稿，而是對我們今天將討論的結果和指導的總結。

With that, I'd now like to turn the call over to Billy Cyr, Chief Executive Officer.

有了這個，我現在想把電話轉給首席執行官比利·西爾。

Thank you, Jeff, and good afternoon, everyone. The message I would like you to take away from today's call is that the dual challenges of inflation and economic slowdown, which have resulted in unwelcomed volatility in our results have not derailed our ability to deliver our long-term goals, including significant margin expansion.

謝謝你，傑夫，大家下午好。我希望您從今天的電話會議中得到的信息是，通脹和經濟放緩的雙重挑戰導致我們的業績出現不受歡迎的波動，但並未影響我們實現長期目標的能力，包括大幅擴大利潤率。

During this call, you will learn that, first, net sales are strong and growing in line with our expectations, price sensitivity is modest and also in line with our expectations and household penetration growth has accelerated and is more consistent with our long-term goals. In fact, our net sales growth is outpacing our long-term plan, which only requires a 28% compound annual growth rate to achieve our 2025 goal.

在本次電話會議中，您將了解到，首先，淨銷售額強勁且增長符合我們的預期，價格敏感度適中，也符合我們的預期，家庭滲透率增長加快，更符合我們的長期目標.事實上，我們的淨銷售額增長超過了我們的長期計劃，該計劃只需要 28% 的複合年增長率即可實現我們的 2025 年目標。

Second, adjusted EBITDA was below expectations in the quarter due to media investment timing, inflation, logistics challenges and the quality issue we had in June. We have already taken the necessary actions to adjust for the critical issues, including announcing a third price increase. However, the cost of the quality issue and the new timing gap on inflation versus our pricing require us to lower our adjusted EBITDA guidance for the year to $48 million from $55 million.

其次，由於媒體投資時機、通貨膨脹、物流挑戰和我們在 6 月份遇到的質量問題，本季度調整後的 EBITDA 低於預期。我們已經採取了必要的行動來調整關鍵問題，包括宣布第三次漲價。然而，質量問題的成本以及通貨膨脹與我們定價的新時間差距要求我們將今年調整後的 EBITDA 指導從 5500 萬美元下調至 4800 萬美元。

Third, we are updating our CapEx expectations to reflect our current best estimate of the actual timing we will experience with our various capacity addition and fridge expansion projects. Our initial estimates were very conservative and designed to give us significant flexibility. But now that we are more than halfway through the year, we have much greater visibility and expect that we will spend approximately $80 million less this year than the $400 million previously projected. The impact on our available capacity will be minimal and still leave ample room to grow at or above the rates we had projected.

第三，我們正在更新我們的資本支出預期，以反映我們目前對各種產能增加和冰箱擴建項目實際時間的最佳估計。我們最初的估計非常保守，旨在為我們提供很大的靈活性。但現在我們已經過半年了，我們的知名度要高得多，預計今年的支出將比之前預計的 4 億美元少約 8000 萬美元。對我們可用容量的影響將是最小的，並且仍然有足夠的空間以達到或高於我們預計的速度增長。

And fourth, the underlying health of the business both its growth potential and the underlying margin structure remains sound. Despite the litany of new obstacles and our own admitted missteps, we deeply believe that Freshpet remains 1 of the best growth opportunities in the CPG space, if not the broader consumer sector. We have consistently demonstrated an ability to grow the business at very strong rates and have now done it at higher prices, improving the pricing power of the brand.

第四，業務的基本健康，其增長潛力和基本利潤率結構仍然良好。儘管存在一連串的新障礙和我們自己承認的失誤，但我們堅信，即使不是更廣泛的消費領域，Freshpet 仍然是 CPG 領域最好的增長機會之一。我們一直表現出以非常強勁的速度發展業務的能力，現在已經以更高的價格實現了這一目標，從而提高了品牌的定價能力。

Importantly, our growth is the result of very solid and sustainable consumer fundamentals, including strong increases in the size of our consumer franchise at steadily increasing buying rates. This combination is only made possible by strong satisfaction and high customer retention. Retailers are responding to that strong consumer interest and now realize that Freshpet is the future of pet food. So they are increasing their placements of Freshpet fridges and the number of stores with double and triple fridges is expected to grow dramatically in the next year.

重要的是，我們的增長是非常穩固和可持續的消費者基本面的結果，包括我們的消費者特許經營規模的強勁增長以及購買率的穩步提高。只有通過強烈的滿意度和較高的客戶保留率才能實現這種組合。零售商正在響應消費者強烈的興趣，現在意識到 Freshpet 是寵物食品的未來。因此，他們正在增加 Freshpet 冰箱的擺放位置，預計擁有雙冰箱和三冰箱的商店數量將在明年大幅增長。

We already have more than 27,000 fridges in stores and retailer interest is growing, not shrinking. But the strength of our competitive moat goes beyond our retail presence as we are now building increasingly efficient manufacturing facilities that are unlike any others in the world. Our existing Freshpet Kitchen in Bethlehem is operating at full capacity and producing strong cash flow, and we are about to open an even larger and more efficient facility in Ennis, Texas.

我們的商店裡已經有超過 27,000 台冰箱，零售商的興趣正在增長，而不是在減少。但是，我們競爭護城河的力量超越了我們的零售業務，因為我們現在正在建設越來越高效的製造設施，這些設施與世界上任何其他公司都不同。我們在伯利恆現有的 Freshpet Kitchen 正在滿負荷運轉並產生強勁的現金流，我們即將在德克薩斯州的恩尼斯開設一個更大、更高效的設施。

We have consistently demonstrated an ability to capture the benefits of increasing scale in our G&A costs, and we aim to demonstrate our ability to deliver consistent gross margins as well, regardless of the operating environment.

我們一直表現出能夠從 G&A 成本規模擴大中獲益，我們的目標是展示我們提供一致毛利率的能力，無論運營環境如何。

Finally, with a strong balance sheet, in combination with the cash generation of the business and our credit agreement, we can support our long-term growth ambitions without the need for additional capital. There are very few businesses that can say all that.

最後，憑藉強大的資產負債表，再加上業務產生的現金和我們的信貸協議，我們可以支持我們的長期增長目標，而無需額外資本。很少有企業能說出這一切。

While the past 2 years have presented some very unusual and difficult challenges, we have worked diligently to ensure that Freshpet can achieve its potential and change the way people nurse their pets forever. For much of that time, we did not have enough capacity to meet demand. We outgrew our ERP system and labor shortages plagued the business regularly, but we've solved those problems. Today, we have enough capacity to meet demand with more coming online soon. The stores are in much better shape with steady improvement in fill rates and better in-stock conditions.

雖然過去 2 年提出了一些非常不尋常和困難的挑戰，但我們一直在努力確保 Freshpet 能夠發揮其潛力並永遠改變人們護理寵物的方式。在那段時間的大部分時間裡，我們沒有足夠的能力來滿足需求。我們的 ERP 系統超出了我們的規模，勞動力短缺經常困擾業務，但我們已經解決了這些問題。今天，我們有足夠的容量來滿足需求，即將上線更多。這些商店的狀況要好得多，填充率穩步提高，庫存狀況也更好。

We have implemented a new ERP system to enable greater efficiencies and our proactive Freshpet academy approach to labor has turned a weakness into a strength. But it goes without saying that the backdrop we are facing today is very different than what we have experienced over the past several years, making it hard to see and appreciate those accomplishments and the potential of the business.

我們實施了新的 ERP 系統以提高效率，我們積極的 Freshpet 學院勞動力方法已將弱點轉化為優勢。但毋庸置疑，我們今天面臨的背景與過去幾年所經歷的大不相同，因此很難看到和欣賞這些成就和業務潛力。

We have replaced a pandemic with inflation, yet we've unfortunately kept the supply chain problems that came with the pandemic. And now we are facing a potential recession. We recognize the desire and need to stay aligned with, if not ahead of the shifting macroeconomic forces. Ramp in inflation and higher interest rates necessitate strengthening our focus on the cash-generating capability of the business while simultaneously delivering the long-term 11 million household prize.

我們已經用通貨膨脹取代了大流行，但不幸的是，我們仍然保留了大流行帶來的供應鏈問題。現在我們正面臨著潛在的衰退。我們認識到，即使不能領先於不斷變化的宏觀經濟力量，也希望和需要保持一致。通貨膨脹率上升和利率上升需要我們加強對業務現金產生能力的關注，同時提供長期的 1100 萬家庭獎勵。

While the recent challenges have caused inconsistency in our margin delivery performance, we are in a much stronger position today than we have been over the past 2 years with a more formidable organization that provides greater control and confidence in the long-term opportunity that Freshpet presents. The new capacity plan that we outlined in May provided some early hints of how we might make better use of our cash, including a realignment of where we build various incremental capacity, the use of leases for nonstrategic assets and a focus on more space-efficient technology, but the current environment requires that we go further.

雖然最近的挑戰導致我們的保證金交付表現不一致，但與過去 2 年相比，我們現在處於更強大的地位，擁有一個更強大的組織，為 Freshpet 提供的長期機會提供更大的控制和信心.我們在 5 月概述的新產能計劃提供了一些關於我們如何更好地利用現金的早期提示，包括重新調整我們建立各種增量產能的地點、對非戰略資產使用租賃以及專注於提高空間效率技術，但當前的環境要求我們走得更遠。

There are 3 areas in particular that we need to focus on: capital spending; start-up expenses; and working capital. Each of these is the necessary use of cash to support our rapid growth but we have significant opportunities to improve our capital efficiency and prove to investors that Freshpet can at scale and as we scale, generate significant operating cash flow and ultimately, free cash flow.

我們需要特別關註三個領域：資本支出；啟動費用；和營運資金。這些都是現金的必要用途，以支持我們的快速增長，但我們有很大的機會來提高我們的資本效率，並向投資者證明，Freshpet 可以在規模上以及隨著我們規模的擴大，產生大量的經營現金流，並最終產生自由現金流。

Key to accomplishing that will be to continue strengthening our organizational capability and processes. For example, our new ERP system is operating and supporting our day-to-day operations, but we are not getting full value for its expanded functionality. That has led to inventories that are larger than we need, less efficient use of freight and higher accounts receivable balances.

實現這一目標的關鍵是繼續加強我們的組織能力和流程。例如，我們的新 ERP 系統正在運行並支持我們的日常運營，但我們並未因其擴展的功能而獲得全部價值。這導致庫存比我們需要的多，運費使用效率低下，應收賬款餘額增加。

We've put in place a highly focused team designed to capture those benefits ASAP. Encouragingly, since the quarter ended, we have implemented a more timely billing process, which will dramatically reduce our accounts receivable by the end of this month. Additionally, we have focused on getting new capacity online as fast as possible and that has come at a cost. That was necessary because we are so far behind on customer orders, but stores are in much better shape today, thanks to our significant inventory improvements. As a result, we are finally in a position where we could be more prudent with our planned start-up expenses.

我們已經建立了一個高度專注的團隊，旨在盡快獲得這些好處。令人鼓舞的是，自本季度結束以來，我們實施了更及時的計費流程，這將在本月底之前大幅減少我們的應收賬款。此外，我們專注於盡快讓新容量上線，這是有代價的。這是必要的，因為我們在客戶訂單方面遠遠落後，但由於我們顯著改善庫存，今天商店的狀況要好得多。因此，我們終於可以更加謹慎地處理計劃的啟動費用。

The same could be said for capital expenses. The intense focus on getting plants built and lines installed quickly often came at the expense of efficiency. We are adding an intense focus on adding capacity in the most efficient manner while maintaining our commitment to speed and quality. Those efforts will not compromise our ability to grow, but rather they will provide added focus on the cost of that growth, ensuring that we get full value for every dollar we spend and that we time our investments to maximize the impact they can have.

資本支出也是如此。對快速建造工廠和安裝生產線的強烈關注往往以犧牲效率為代價。我們更加註重以最有效的方式增加容量，同時保持我們對速度和質量的承諾。這些努力不會損害我們的增長能力，而是會更加關注增長的成本，確保我們花費的每一美元都能獲得全部價值，並確保我們的投資時機能夠最大限度地發揮它們可能產生的影響。

As part of this renewed focus on capital efficiency, you will see us change how we report adjusted EBITDA. Beginning with Q3, we will no longer add back plant startup expenses for the new store marketing investment. That will provide greater clarity on our path toward generating positive net income as the business scales further following our planned capacity additions.

作為重新關注資本效率的一部分，您將看到我們改變我們報告調整後 EBITDA 的方式。從第三季度開始，我們將不再為新店營銷投資加回工廠啟動費用。隨著我們計劃的產能增加後業務進一步擴展，這將為我們產生正淨收入的道路提供更清晰的信息。

We will provide updated guidance using this new definition at that time, and we'll also provide historical data that shows both approaches. This will create a seamless transition from the old measure to the new measure. To be clear, there are no new disclosures and our transparency will remain intact. This is simply providing greater visibility on the cash usage and generation of the business to meet the shifting needs of the marketplace, while we fully realize this approach will create much lumpier adjusted gross margin and EBITDA results. We also believe that it will allow us to demonstrate the emerging profitability of the business with greater clarity and more easily compare it to other high-growth businesses.

屆時，我們將使用這個新定義提供更新的指導，我們還將提供顯示這兩種方法的歷史數據。這將創建從舊度量到新度量的無縫過渡。需要明確的是，沒有新的披露，我們的透明度將保持不變。這只是在現金使用和業務生成方面提供了更大的可見性，以滿足市場不斷變化的需求，而我們完全意識到這種方法將產生更大的調整後毛利率和 EBITDA 結果。我們還相信，這將使我們能夠更清晰地展示業務的新興盈利能力，並更容易地將其與其他高增長業務進行比較。

Looking ahead, we are keenly aware that our net sales are running well ahead of the pace needed to deliver our 2025 goal and that the price increases are driving up the buying rate, making that goal much easier to achieve. We intend to revise our long-term goals by year-end to capture the impacts of the price inflation, including any impact on our ability to attract new users, any loss of users due to higher pricing and the full benefit of higher buying rates.

展望未來，我們敏銳地意識到，我們的淨銷售額遠遠超過了實現 2025 年目標所需的速度，而且價格上漲正在推高購買率，使該目標更容易實現。我們打算在年底前修改我們的長期目標，以捕捉價格上漲的影響，包括對我們吸引新用戶的能力的任何影響、由於更高的定價而導致的任何用戶流失以及更高購買率的全部好處。

We will also need to adjust for the updated methodology that Nielsen is using due to determine household penetration. That new methodology is now in place, and it indicates that we have even more users than we previously reported, about 500,000 more users. The new method also indicates that we've been adding users over the past 2 years at a faster rate than Nielsen previously projected, adding an incremental 220,000 users over the past 2 years and with more balanced growth over time. I've included a comparison of the old and new data sources in the investor presentation so that you can see those changes.

我們還需要根據尼爾森用於確定家庭滲透率的更新方法進行調整。這種新方法現在已經到位，它表明我們的用戶比我們之前報告的還要多，大約多了 500,000 個用戶。新方法還表明，我們在過去 2 年中增加用戶的速度比 Nielsen 之前預計的要快，在過去 2 年中增加了 220,000 個用戶，並且隨著時間的推移增長更加平衡。我在投資者演示文稿中包含了新舊數據源的比較，以便您可以看到這些變化。

Before I turn the call over to Heather to discuss the Q2 results and our guidance for the year, I also want to make a comment on the planned start-up of the Ennis facility and how we think Freshpet will perform in a recession. We are in the final countdown to lift off in Ennis. We remain on track to start up our role line there next month and produce saleable products by the end of the month. That will not turn into meaningful shipments until October, but it's very exciting to reach this milestone for such a pivotal project.

在我將電話轉給 Heather 討論第二季度業績和我們今年的指導之前，我還想對 Ennis 設施的計劃啟動以及我們認為 Freshpet 在經濟衰退中的表現發表評論。我們正處於在恩尼斯起飛的最後倒計時。我們仍有望在下個月在那裡啟動我們的角色線，並在月底前生產出可銷售的產品。這要到 10 月才會變成有意義的出貨量，但對於這樣一個關鍵項目來說，達到這個里程碑是非常令人興奮的。

We have begun sending the highly trained production staff back to Texas from Pennsylvania, and they are ready to go. All the role line equipment is installed, and we are going through our start-up checklist. Additionally, much of the equipment for the first guideline has already been installed, and we remain very confident that we will be able to start that line up in Q4. Once that start-up happens, it will unlock significant potential for Freshpet. In addition to the significant increase in production capacity, it is designed to be our most cost-efficient, most sustainable, highest quality facility with room to grow and support an even larger business.

我們已經開始將訓練有素的生產人員從賓夕法尼亞州送回德克薩斯州，他們已經做好了出發的準備。所有角色線設備都已安裝，我們正在檢查啟動清單。此外，第一個指南的大部分設備已經安裝，我們仍然非常有信心能夠在第四季度啟動該系列。一旦啟動，它將釋放 Freshpet 的巨大潛力。除了顯著提高生產能力外，它還旨在成為我們最具成本效益、最可持續、最高質量的設施，具有發展空間並支持更大的業務。

With the first phase of that facility opened next year, we will have more than $1.1 billion in capacity available to us, enough to support almost double the volume we have guided to this year, thus ensuring our ability to continue our rapid growth next year and beyond. We've already spent the cash to create most of that capability, and we will finally be able to generate returns on those investments.

隨著該設施的第一階段於明年啟用，我們將擁有超過 11 億美元的可用產能，足以支持我們今年指導的幾乎兩倍的容量，從而確保我們有能力在明年繼續快速增長，並超過。我們已經花費現金來創造大部分能力，我們最終將能夠從這些投資中產生回報。

Turning to the impact of a potential recession on the business. I think it is safe to say that pet food is a category and Freshpet as a brand should perform very well in a recession. History has shown that pet food is 1 of the most recession-resistant businesses as consumers are unlikely to stop eating their pet and the number of dogs in households has grown consistently through each of the recessions of the past 20 years. While Freshpet was in its infancy during many of those recessions, our track record of growth has been extremely consistent, doubling the business at every 3 years since its founding in 2006.

談到潛在衰退對業務的影響。我認為可以肯定地說寵物食品是一個類別，Freshpet 作為一個品牌應該在經濟衰退中表現出色。歷史表明，寵物食品是最能抵禦經濟衰退的企業之一，因為消費者不太可能停止食用他們的寵物，而且在過去 20 年的每次經濟衰退中，家庭中的狗數量都在持續增長。雖然 Freshpet 在許多經濟衰退期間還處於起步階段，但我們的增長記錄非常穩定，自 2006 年成立以來，業務每 3 年翻一番。

Further, as we have studied the household penetration and buying rate data for Freshpet versus the entire pet food category during the recent period of rapid price increases, we've seen that the Freshpet user base has been more committed to maintaining the Freshpet habit than the pet food category overall. While this is not the same as weathering a recession, it does speak volumes about the overall loyalty of the Freshpet franchise even under economic duress. That leaves us confident that we will be able to continue our rapid rate of growth even if we experience a recession.

此外，我們研究了近期價格快速上漲期間 Freshpet 與整個寵物食品類別的家庭滲透率和購買率數據，我們發現 Freshpet 用戶群比寵物食品類總體。雖然這與經受住經濟衰退不同，但它確實充分說明了即使在經濟壓力下，Freshpet 特許經營權的整體忠誠度。這讓我們相信，即使我們經歷經濟衰退，我們也將能夠繼續保持快速增長。

There's also a positive side to a recession. We believe that a short and not very deep recession could better align supply and demand for the various ingredients and equipment we buy, lowering cost, shortening lead times and improving availability of the materials we depend on. That could lead to greater capital efficiency and better margins.

經濟衰退也有積極的一面。我們認為，短暫且不是很嚴重的衰退可以更好地調整我們購買的各種原料和設備的供需，降低成本，縮短交貨時間並提高我們所依賴的材料的可用性。這可能會帶來更高的資本效率和更高的利潤。

In summary, the underlying health of the business is strong, and we are more focused than ever on ensuring that the business will generate the margins, cash and profitability that you would expect of a company that is leading and defining the future of pet food. We are navigating through difficult times with the ramp in inflation that the entire industry is facing, but we are engaged, we are reacting, and we are improving. And once we find equilibrium with cost and price, we will deliver the gross margin that we know this business is capable of delivering.

總而言之，該業務的基本健康狀況良好，我們比以往任何時候都更加專注於確保該業務將產生您對一家引領和定義寵物食品未來的公司所期望的利潤、現金和盈利能力。隨著整個行業面臨的通貨膨脹率上升，我們正在度過困難時期，但我們正在參與，我們正在做出反應，我們正在改進。一旦我們找到成本和價格的平衡點，我們將提供我們知道該業務能夠提供的毛利率。

In combination with the leverage from scale that we get on our G&A costs, we believe we are on track to deliver our 25% adjusted EBITDA goal by 2025. Now let me turn it over to Heather to take you through the highlights of the quarter.

結合我們對 G&A 成本的規模影響，我們相信我們有望在 2025 年之前實現 25% 的調整後 EBITDA 目標。現在讓我把它交給 Heather，帶您了解本季度的亮點。

Thank you, Billy, and good afternoon, everyone. We had strong net sales in the quarter, in line with our guidance, but the adjusted EBITDA was below our expectations. A meaningful portion of this shortfall was timing of marketing spend and will correct itself by year-end. Some of it was due to the cost of the quality issue we had in the quarter. Some of it was due to some logistics challenges we had in June and which we think we can overcome in the back half of the year. And some of it was due to incremental inflation that exceeded our plan and for which we are taking pricing.

謝謝你，比利，大家下午好。本季度我們的淨銷售額強勁，符合我們的預期，但調整後的 EBITDA 低於我們的預期。這種短缺的一個重要部分是營銷支出的時機，並將在年底前自行糾正。其中一些是由於我們在本季度遇到的質量問題的成本。其中一些是由於我們在 6 月份遇到的一些物流挑戰，我們認為我們可以在下半年克服這些挑戰。其中一些是由於通貨膨脹超出了我們的計劃並且我們正在為此定價。

Let me take you through each element 1 piece at a time. Net sales were $146 million in the quarter, up 34.4% versus a year ago. Nielsen measured consumption in the quarter was up 41%. The difference between Nielsen measured growth rate and the net sales growth rate is the size of the trade inventory refill that occurred in the year ago period versus what we did this year. The consumption growth rate consisted of approximately 21% unit growth and 20 points of pricing growth.

讓我一次帶您了解每個元素。本季度淨銷售額為 1.46 億美元，同比增長 34.4%。尼爾森測量該季度的消費增長了 41%。尼爾森測量的增長率和淨銷售額增長率之間的差異是一年前發生的貿易庫存補充量與我們今年所做的量。消費增長率包括約 21% 的單位增長和 20 個價格增長點。

While we still only have about 4 months of data with full pricing in effect, this balance between pricing growth and unit growth is in line with our expectations and represents very modest price sensitivity compared to other CPG businesses. For perspective, our unit growth of 21% in the quarter can be compared to unit growth in Q4 of 19%, which was prior to the price increases and 28% in Q1 when we had strong distribution and advertising and the smaller of our 2 price increases was in effect. You should expect that we will always have price growth due to innovation and consumers moving into our higher-value items over time.

雖然我們仍然只有大約 4 個月的數據有效，但定價增長和單位增長之間的這種平衡符合我們的預期，並且與其他 CPG 業務相比，價格敏感性非常溫和。從角度來看，我們本季度 21% 的單位增長可以與第四季度 19% 的單位增長相比，這是在價格上漲之前和第一季度的 28%，當時我們有強大的分銷和廣告以及我們的 2 價格中的較小者增加是有效的。您應該期望，隨著時間的推移，由於創新和消費者轉向我們的高價值商品，我們將始終保持價格增長。

So our total Nielsen measured sales growth should always be a few points higher than our unit growth. Driving the net sales growth was a return to household penetration gains closer to what we would expect over the long haul. Over the past 12 weeks, our household penetration has increased by 19% versus a year ago. As Billy indicated, Nielsen is now reporting that the size of our consumer franchise is larger than we had previously reported, and it is growing more quickly. Our consumer data and the feedback we get from retailers would support that.

所以我們尼爾森測量的總銷售額增長應該總是比我們的單位增長高幾個點。推動淨銷售額增長的是家庭滲透率回歸接近我們長期預期的水平。在過去的 12 周里，我們的家庭普及率比一年前增加了 19%。正如比利所說，尼爾森現在報告說，我們的消費者特許經營規模比我們以前報告的要大，而且增長得更快。我們的消費者數據和我們從零售商那裡得到的反饋將支持這一點。

We did see both a downturn in retail foot traffic and household penetration gains in June, when gas prices hit a national average of $5, but we are seeing a strong bounce back as gas prices are dropping again. That did have a modest impact on the net sales in Q2 as consumers seem to consolidate or defer trips in June, but our shipments in July have been strong as have consumption and household penetration gains.

我們確實看到了 6 月份零售客流量和家庭滲透率的下降，當時汽油價格達到了 5 美元的全國平均水平，但隨著汽油價格再次下跌，我們看到了強勁的反彈。這確實對第二季度的淨銷售額產生了適度的影響，因為消費者似乎在 6 月份合併或推遲旅行，但我們 7 月份的出貨量一直很強勁，消費和家庭滲透率也有所提高。

It is also interesting to note that the seasonal consumption patterns we are seeing this year are in line with those we saw in the pre-pandemic era, with consumption going flat during the summer months due to established seasonal feeding patterns and then growth resuming in late August. We expect to see that again this year. This suggests that consumers have returned to more normalized pre-pandemic lifestyle.

值得注意的是，我們今年看到的季節性消費模式與我們在大流行前時期看到的一致，由於建立了季節性餵養模式，夏季消費量持平，然後在後期恢復增長八月。我們希望今年能再次看到這種情況。這表明消費者已經恢復到更正常的大流行前生活方式。

You can see this on the 3-year stacked growth rate chart in the accompanying presentation, which helps smooth the volatility of the last 2 years and compares our performance to the pre-pandemic period. That shows our growth rate by week when compared to 2019 is extremely consistent, reinforcing the strong and steady growth of the Freshpet business.

您可以在隨附演示文稿中的 3 年疊加增長率圖表中看到這一點，該圖表有助於平滑過去 2 年的波動，並將我們的表現與大流行前時期進行比較。這表明與 2019 年相比，我們的每週增長率非常一致，加強了 Freshpet 業務的強勁和穩定增長。

We continue to get strong interest from retailers in placing additional Freshpet fridges. Our focus and the focus of many retailers has turned towards multi-fridge placement in the highest volume stores so that we can both expand the assortment and improve holding power. Many retailers have been waiting for us to increase our supply before they replace those fridges.

我們繼續獲得零售商對放置更多 Freshpet 冰箱的濃厚興趣。我們和許多零售商的重點已經轉向在銷量最大的商店中放置多台冰箱，這樣我們既可以擴大產品種類，又可以提高持有能力。許多零售商在更換這些冰箱之前一直在等待我們增加供應。

That is now happening, but many retailers are running into either labor issues or budget issues that will prevent some of the more major renovations of their pet food sections that are necessary to accommodate the significant increase in space that they are planning for Freshpet. That will push some of the bigger launches of multi-fridge sets into next year, so we will likely come in light on the number of upgrades and second, third fridges this year, but will over deliver by quite a bit on the net new stores because those installations require less labor and can be managed within existing retailer budget. Those deferred upgrades and second fridges will likely result in a very strong first half of the year next year. All of this has us feeling very bullish about our prospects at retail over the next 12 months or so.

這種情況正在發生，但許多零售商都遇到了勞動力問題或預算問題，這將阻止他們的寵物食品部分進行一些更重大的翻新，以適應他們為 Freshpet 計劃的空間的顯著增加。這將把一些更大的多冰箱套裝的推出推遲到明年，所以我們可能會在今年了解升級和第二、第三冰箱的數量，但在網上新店的交付量將大大增加因為這些安裝需要較少的勞動力，並且可以在現有的零售商預算範圍內進行管理。這些延期升級和第二台冰箱可能會導致明年上半年非常強勁。所有這一切都讓我們對未來 12 個月左右的零售前景感到非常樂觀。

The adjusted EBITDA was $3.9 million in the quarter, below our expectations. Part of this shortfall was timing with the marketing investment in the quarter coming in at almost $24 million. This spending was not incremental to the year. It simply reflected a timing adjustment. We made this investment to help sell through the 12% price increase that went into effect in mid-March, which is when consumers were most sensitive to the price increase.

本季度調整後的 EBITDA 為 390 萬美元，低於我們的預期。這種短缺的部分原因是本季度的營銷投資接近 2400 萬美元。這一支出並沒有在當年增加。它只是反映了時間調整。我們進行這項投資是為了幫助銷售通過 3 月中旬生效的 12% 的價格上漲，這是消費者對價格上漲最敏感的時候。

Based on the unit movement and household penetration gains that follows, we are pleased with the strategy and the limited price sensitivity that we encountered. Adjusted gross margin was 42.4% for the quarter and was 42.1% for the year-to-date. This is up sequentially from the 41.9% we generated in Q1 but does not reflect the magnitude of the improvement we had expected our price increase to produce given our quality issues.

基於隨後的單位變動和家庭滲透率的提高，我們對我們遇到的策略和有限的價格敏感性感到滿意。本季度調整後毛利率為 42.4%，年初至今為 42.1%。這比我們在第一季度產生的 41.9% 連續上升，但並未反映我們預期價格上漲將產生的質量問題的改善幅度。

However, when you exclude those costs, the adjusted gross margin would have been approximately 43.8% or about 140 basis points higher. The amount of affected products that got into the market and had to be retrieved was very small. But the cost of the product disposals related to the underlying production issue, some additional lab work and testing and some supplemental processing was much bigger than anticipated.

但是，如果排除這些成本，調整後的毛利率將約為 43.8% 或高出約 140 個基點。進入市場並需要回收的受影響產品數量非常少。但與潛在生產問題、一些額外的實驗室工作和測試以及一些補充處理相關的產品處置成本比預期的要高得多。

We experienced increased inflation in some input costs, mainly due to labor and energy as well as transportation cost increases at our suppliers and expect them to continue for the balance of the year. Further, our cost for diesel and natural gas is well in excess of the cost we estimated when we gave our initial guidance. And while diesel has moderated recently, it is still well above where it was when we set our budget at the beginning of this year.

我們經歷了一些投入成本的通貨膨脹增加，主要是由於我們供應商的勞動力和能源以及運輸成本的增加，並預計它們將在今年餘下時間繼續存在。此外，我們的柴油和天然氣成本遠遠超過了我們在給出初步指導時估計的成本。雖然柴油最近有所放緩，但仍遠高於我們在今年年初制定預算時的水平。

Our third price increase, which will be 2.6% and goes into effect in late September, is designed to protect our margins in the face of those higher costs, and we expect to end the year with much stronger margins and position ourselves with a much more balanced set of costs and pricing as we enter 2023. However, the timing of the increase will create another mismatch between our cost increases and our pricing in the third quarter.

我們的第三次提價幅度為 2.6%，將於 9 月下旬生效，旨在在更高的成本面前保護我們的利潤率，我們預計年底時利潤率將大幅提升，並為自己定位更多隨著我們進入 2023 年，成本和定價保持平衡。但是，增加的時間將在我們的成本增加和第三季度的定價之間造成另一個不匹配。

In simple terms, the cost increases we have seen since we set our budget are in the range of approximately $10 million to $11 million or about $15 million on an annualized basis, and our price increase will cover less than half of that this year primarily because it won't be effective until the beginning of Q4.

簡單來說，自我們制定預算以來，我們所看到的成本增長大約在 1000 萬美元到 1100 萬美元之間，或者按年計算大約 1500 萬美元，而我們今年的價格增長將不到其中的一半，主要是因為直到第四季度開始才會生效。

We promised you that we would plan more conservatively this year and we did. But while we are absorbing some of the incremental costs, we cannot absorb all of them, so we are lowering our adjusted EBITDA guidance to reflect that mismatch. We are encouraged by some emerging cost trends that suggest that inflation in the materials that most impact us may be moderating.

我們向你保證，今年我們會更保守地計劃，我們做到了。但是，雖然我們正在吸收一些增量成本，但我們無法吸收所有這些成本，因此我們正在降低調整後的 EBITDA 指導以反映這種不匹配。我們對一些新興的成本趨勢感到鼓舞，這些趨勢表明，對我們影響最大的材料的通脹可能正在放緩。

This may be the result of the economic slowdown we have been hearing about and an early indication of the potential cost benefit we might get if we have a mild recession. Spot freight rates have declined over the past 3 months, and we have gotten a rate reduction that begins in the third quarter. Diesel costs have dropped significantly since peaking in mid-June.

這可能是我們一直聽說的經濟放緩的結果，也是我們在輕度衰退時可能獲得的潛在成本收益的早期跡象。過去 3 個月現貨運費有所下降，我們從第三季度開始降價。自 6 月中旬見頂以來，柴油成本已大幅下降。

While many of our key ingredients and their key inputs continue to move up, the cost of our proteins has stabilized, and there was some suggestion that they might actually provide some relief next year versus the cost we are paying this year. The underlying cost of the materials used in construction and equipment such as steel, nickel, zinc and copper have also dropped considerably.

雖然我們的許多關鍵成分及其關鍵投入繼續上漲，但我們的蛋白質成本已經穩定下來，並且有一些建議表明，與我們今年支付的成本相比，明年它們實際上可能會減輕一些負擔。鋼、鎳、鋅和銅等建築和設備所用材料的基本成本也大幅下降。

While none of these declines will help us in the short term, they are positive indications that much of the inflation that has plagued us for the past 18 months may have peaked and that will enable us to restore our margins and complete our capacity projects with less pain. I think it is important to be cautious on this because it only takes 1 Gulf hurricane to drive up energy and diesel cost further or another outbreak of disease to impact the bird block, offsetting the otherwise positive momentum we are seeing. But the underlying supply and demand characteristics are improving, so I am optimistic that we will finally be able to reap the margin benefits of our price increases, or at least narrow the gap.

雖然這些下降在短期內不會對我們有幫助，但它們是積極的跡象，表明過去 18 個月困擾我們的大部分通貨膨脹可能已經達到頂峰，這將使我們能夠恢復我們的利潤並以更少的成本完成我們的產能項目疼痛。我認為對此保持謹慎很重要，因為只需要 1 次海灣颶風就可以進一步推高能源和柴油成本，或者再次爆發疾病來影響鳥群，抵消了我們所看到的其他積極勢頭。但潛在的供需特徵正在改善，所以我樂觀地認為，我們最終能夠從價格上漲中獲得利潤，或者至少縮小差距。

Our production performance in the quarter was strong, with increasing throughput during the quarter, which puts us in a much better position on retail availability. We achieved the highest number of total distribution points in our history during the quarter and have maintained them. As Billy indicated, labor has gone up for being an issue for us to be in a real strength. We have successfully increased the talent of our recruits, invested in their training and are now seeing significant reductions in turnover and much higher productivity.

我們在本季度的生產表現強勁，本季度的吞吐量增加，這使我們在零售可用性方面處於更好的位置。我們在本季度實現了歷史上最高數量的總分銷點，並且一直保持不變。正如比利所說，勞動力已經成為我們真正實力的一個問題。我們已經成功地增加了新員工的才能，對他們的培訓進行了投資，現在我們看到營業額顯著減少，生產力大大提高。

Logistics costs, including warehousing, diesel and lane rates, drove approximately $2.4 million of incremental cost in the quarter. This was most pronounced in June when diesel soared to $5.81 and we also incurred higher warehousing costs, including those needed to segregate the products affected by the quality issue and the cost of starting up our new warehouse in Dallas. Diesel prices and lean rates have dropped considerably since then, and we should return to more normal logistics costs in Q3.

物流成本，包括倉儲、柴油和車道費率，在本季度推動了約 240 萬美元的增量成本。這在 6 月份最為明顯，當時柴油飆升至 5.81 美元，我們還產生了更高的倉儲成本，包括隔離受質量問題影響的產品所需的成本以及在達拉斯開設新倉庫的成本。自那以來，柴油價格和精益率大幅下降，我們應該在第三季度恢復到更正常的物流成本。

Additionally, our inability to start up our inventory allocation tool prevented us from filling trucks as we had intended. While our natural order fill rate continued to improve, our inability to fill trucks completely cost us about $1 million. We expect to continue improving our fill rate and hope to have our inventory allocation tool turned on later this year, but we will get the bulk of the benefit as our fill rates continue to improve naturally.

此外，我們無法啟動庫存分配工具，這使我們無法按預期填充卡車。雖然我們的自然訂單填充率繼續提高，但我們無法完全填充卡車使我們損失了大約 100 萬美元。我們希望繼續提高我們的填充率，並希望在今年晚些時候啟用我們的庫存分配工具，但隨著我們的填充率繼續自然提高，我們將獲得大部分收益。

For perspective, our most recent week fill rate was over 80% and growing. We are continuing to deliver the leverage benefits in SG&A that our plan requires. Year-to-date, our SG&A as a percent of net sales has dropped by 150 basis points, and we believe it will continue to improve as the year goes along. Capital spending in the quarter totaled $39 million. As Billy noted, we are expecting this year's total CapEx spending to be approximately $320 million instead of the $400 million we previously projected.

從長遠來看，我們最近一周的填充率超過 80% 並且還在增長。我們將繼續提供我們計劃所需的 SG&A 槓桿效益。年初至今，我們的 SG&A 占淨銷售額的百分比下降了 150 個基點，我們相信隨著時間的推移它將繼續改善。本季度的資本支出總額為 3900 萬美元。正如比利所指出的，我們預計今年的總資本支出約為 3.2 億美元，而不是我們之前預測的 4 億美元。

The delay in the multi-fridge expansion, less maintenance CapEx and both efficiencies and timing adjustments on our larger capacity projects will free up about $80 million in cash. We are also expecting the same delays to push back some of the CapEx previously planned for the next year, so will not increase next year's CapEx, but will instead push the spending back into 2024 or later. We can do this and still deliver our capacity and fridge expansion plans without the need for additional equity.

多冰箱擴建的延遲、更少的維護資本支出以及我們更大容量項目的效率和時間調整將釋放約 8000 萬美元的現金。我們還預計同樣的延遲會推遲之前計劃在明年進行的部分資本支出，因此不會增加明年的資本支出，而是會將支出推遲到 2024 年或更晚。我們可以做到這一點，並且仍然提供我們的容量和冰箱擴展計劃，而無需額外的股權。

Operating cash flow used in the first 2 quarters was $62.4 million, which was driven by inflated receivables and inventory levels, which were the result of delays in invoicing and some inventory reporting challenges in our new ERP system. And I'm pleased to say that we worked through those issues since the second quarter end.

前兩個季度使用的經營現金流為 6240 萬美元，這是由於應收賬款和庫存水平虛增，這是由於發票延遲和我們新的 ERP 系統中的一些庫存報告挑戰造成的。我很高興地說，我們自第二季度末以來就解決了這些問題。

We are also addressing the inventory issues, which was caused in part by the need to hold and have a large amount of product due to the quality issue and expect to see a significant improvement in Q3. That is offset in part by the start-up of our second distribution center in Dallas. We drew $27 million on our borrowing facilities in the quarter. At the end of the quarter, we had gross availability of $272 million on our credit line, subject to various women.

我們還在解決庫存問題，部分原因是由於質量問題需要持有大量產品，預計第三季度會有顯著改善。這部分被我們在達拉斯的第二個配送中心的啟動所抵消。我們在本季度的借貸便利中提取了 2700 萬美元。在本季度末，我們的信貸額度為 2.72 億美元，受各種女性的影響。

Looking forward, we continue to believe we are on track for our net sales guidance for the year. Our net sales are up 38% to date. Q2 was our toughest year-on-year comparison, but we feel comfortable that we could achieve our net sales guidance for the year. We are also lowering our adjusted EBITDA guidance to account for the cost of the quality issue and the incremental inflation we are incurring prior to our increased pricing going into effect. Thus, we are lowering our adjusted EBITDA guidance to greater than $48 million from greater than $55 million.

展望未來，我們仍然相信我們今年的淨銷售額指引正在走上正軌。迄今為止，我們的淨銷售額增長了 38%。第二季度是我們最艱難的同比比較，但我們對能夠實現今年的淨銷售額指導感到滿意。我們還降低了調整後的 EBITDA 指導，以考慮質量問題的成本以及在我們提高定價生效之前我們所產生的增量通脹。因此，我們將調整後的 EBITDA 指引從超過 5500 萬美元下調至超過 4800 萬美元。

In closing, as you have undoubtedly heard from us and others, this is a turbulent time, but the infrastructure and organizational capability we have built and the underlying strength of the Freshpet brand have enabled us to continue our rapid growth, and we are very optimistic about the future.

最後，正如您無疑從我們和其他人那裡聽到的那樣，這是一個動蕩的時期，但我們建立的基礎設施和組織能力以及 Freshpet 品牌的底層實力使我們能夠繼續快速增長，我們非常樂觀關於未來。

While we continue to experience short-term hiccups, we learn from each of them, and they become less significant, and this makes us stronger as we pursue our long-term goals. We are motivated by our mission to change the way people notice their pets forever, and we believe we are on track to delivering that goal. That concludes our overview.

雖然我們繼續經歷短期的打嗝，但我們會從每一個問題中學習，它們會變得不那麼重要，這使我們在追求長期目標時變得更加強大。我們的使命是永遠改變人們注意寵物的方式，我們相信我們正在實現這一目標。我們的概述到此結束。

We will now be glad to take your questions. Operator?

我們現在很樂意回答您的問題。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Steph Wissink with Jefferies.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Steph Wissink。

I would like to spend a little bit more time on the EBITDA revision for the year. And maybe Heather and Billy, if you could both talk about this, but how much of the burden occurred already in the second quarter versus what do you expect that timing mismatch to account for in the balance of the year? If I just look at that, I think it's on Slide 8, that EBITDA bridge, just help us break down what's already been resolved and what's still to come? And then also related to the CapEx to settle along the same lines, how much of the deferral has already occurred versus how much is yet to come in terms of the overall revision.

我想花更多的時間在今年的 EBITDA 修訂上。也許希瑟和比利，如果你們都可以談論這個問題，但有多少負擔已經發生在第二季度，而您預計時間不匹配會在今年餘下時間中造成什麼影響？如果我只看一下，我認為它在幻燈片 8 上，即 EBITDA 橋，只是幫助我們分解已經解決的問題和即將解決的問題？然後還與資本支出相關，以同樣的方式解決，就整體修訂而言，已經發生了多少延期，而尚未發生多少延期。

Heather, do you want to take that?

希瑟，你想拿那個嗎？

So I'll start with, of course, the -- on the EBITDA guide. So the reduction is approximately $7 million. The quality issue is $2.2 million. So of course, that already has already occurred in June. The balance of the change coming from the [missed maximum] inflation versus price about $1 million of that has incurred in the first half, with the expectation and the balance of that comes in the second half.

因此，我當然會從 EBITDA 指南中的 - 開始。因此，減少的金額約為 700 萬美元。質量問題是 220 萬美元。當然，這已經在六月發生了。來自[錯過的最大]通貨膨脹與價格的變化的平衡發生在上半年，其中大約 100 萬美元，預期和平衡出現在下半年。

Steph, can you just state one more time the CapEx question?

斯蒂芬，你能再說一次資本支出問題嗎？

Yes. Just the revision lower in CapEx. I'm wondering how much of that has already occurred versus how much is yet to occur. So the CapEx for the quarter, did it come in below, meaning what's left to be realized is also below? Or is all of the deferral in the revision of the year in the back half?

是的。只是資本支出的修訂較低。我想知道其中有多少已經發生，而有多少尚未發生。那麼本季度的資本支出，它是否在下方，這意味著還有什麼要實現的也在下方？還是下半年的年度修訂全部延期？

Got it. Yes. Yes. So a portion of -- about 1/4 of it occurred already in the first half and then the balance is reductions in the second half. The main driver of the second half shift is around the phasing of spend that we'll have around the innovation kitchen. That's the biggest driver of the shift in the second half.

知道了。是的。是的。因此，其中一部分——大約 1/4 已經發生在上半年，然後餘額是下半年的減少。下半年轉變的主要驅動力是圍繞創新廚房的支出分階段進行。這是下半年轉變的最大驅動力。

Okay. So that innovation kitchen is now going to be a 2023 event?

好的。那麼創新廚房現在將成為 2023 年的活動嗎？

Most of it. Yes, there'll be a small spend in the second half, but the majority will be in 2023. That's correct.

大部分。是的，下半年會有少量支出，但大部分將在 2023 年。這是正確的。

Our next question comes from the line of Peter Benedict with Robert W. Baird.

我們的下一個問題來自 Peter Benedict 和 Robert W. Baird。

First question, just can you give us a sense of what we should expect plant start-up costs and the launch expenses could be for the full year? I think there were around $11 million in the first half. What should we think about for the full year? And maybe just a sense for what it should look like next year?

第一個問題，您能否讓我們了解一下我們應該預計的工廠啟動成本以及全年的啟動費用？我認為上半年大約有 1100 萬美元。全年我們應該考慮什麼？也許只是對明年應該是什麼樣子的感覺？

Sure. So Peter, the -- well, first of all, we'll provide a very sharp clarity when we issued the revised view for Q3. But for now, the best assumption is that the second half is going to be largely in line with the first half. So you could sort of double it. What you have going on there is with the Ennis start-up you have increase in costs, as you would expect, as we ramp up to start up. But then, of course, then starting up, we stopped adding back largely in Q4. And so there's sort of the increased costs offset by that cost would have come into the cost structure anyway.

當然。所以彼得，首先，當我們發布第三季度的修訂視圖時，我們將提供一個非常清晰的說明。但就目前而言，最好的假設是下半年與上半年基本持平。所以你可以加倍。正如您所期望的那樣，隨著 Ennis 的啟動，您所要做的就是增加成本，因為我們正在加速啟動。但是，當然，然後開始，我們在第四季度基本停止了添加。因此，無論如何，被該成本抵消的增加的成本都會進入成本結構。

For next year, it's -- we will have less start-up. I mean we have -- we have the last line in Phase 1 of Ennis starting up. At some point next year, again, we'll provide a revised phasing of exactly when we plan to start that up. But that's the main start-up for next year that you should expect. So a much less significant start-up impact given that Ennis is really fully operational. It's just adding 1 last line next year.

明年，我們將減少啟動。我的意思是我們有 - 我們有 Ennis 第一階段的最後一行啟動。在明年的某個時候，我們將再次提供修訂後的階段，以確定我們計劃啟動的確切時間。但這是你應該期待的明年的主要初創企業。因此，鑑於 Ennis 已經完全投入運營，因此對啟動的影響要小得多。它只是在明年添加最後一行。

Got it. Okay. That's helpful. And then just I mean maybe -- I don't know it can help us here. Like just how you're thinking about kind of the EBITDA margin flow through, kind of incremental margins on sales growth using this new method and then maybe getting past some of the noise that's out there right now in terms of just what's going on with -- in the business. Is there a way to think about that? Or what does your model tell you in terms of the incrementals as we continue to kind of grow sales over the next several years?

知道了。好的。這很有幫助。然後我的意思是也許——我不知道它可以幫助我們。就像您如何考慮 EBITDA 利潤率的流動，使用這種新方法對銷售增長的增量利潤率，然後可能會克服目前正在發生的一些噪音 - - 在業務中。有沒有辦法考慮這個？或者，隨著我們在未來幾年內繼續增長銷售額，您的模型在增量方面告訴您什麼？

Yes. So Peter, I mean, I think -- I mean, we said it in the prepared remarks that certainly, there will still be some lumpiness to this. So as we have years of a larger start-up like this year, just using -- let's just use premiering in the first half, so $20 million as a proxy. It's a big impact in plant startup. As you look at next year, you're going to get a really nice pickup on the gross margin coming from -- and it's being started up and running. And again, just to reinforce our most efficient and profitable facility.

是的。所以彼得，我的意思是，我認為 - 我的意思是，我們在準備好的評論中說過，當然，這仍然會有一些混亂。因此，由於我們有多年像今年這樣的大型初創公司，只是使用 - 讓我們在上半年使用首映式，所以 2000 萬美元作為代理。這對工廠啟動有很大影響。當您展望明年時，您將在毛利率上獲得非常不錯的回升——而且它正在啟動和運行。再次，只是為了加強我們最有效和最有利可圖的設施。

You're going to get a really nice benefit next year. But then the following -- and that'll flow through on the higher revenue. But then on the following year, we will be starting up things like the Innovation Kitchen, which will have, again, volatility that will come with that. We will, of course, provide as much visibility and foresight to that as we move through it, we'll be extremely transparent as we always are. But it will be a little bit lumpier.

明年你會得到非常好的福利。但接下來是——這將帶來更高的收入。但在接下來的一年裡，我們將啟動創新廚房之類的東西，這將再次帶來隨之而來的波動。當然，我們將提供盡可能多的可見性和遠見，因為我們將通過它，我們將像往常一樣非常透明。但它會有點笨拙。

The longer-term road map and flow-through doesn't change. The expectations of Ennis as we bring on not only Phase 1, but Phase I and II with even greater efficiency continues to be a key driver in terms of the margin improvement, and then the continued benefits from the SG&A leverage benefits around both logistics and G&A leverage will continue and should continue to be a more consistent part of that flow through.

長期路線圖和流程不會改變。 Ennis 的期望不僅是第一階段，而且在第一階段和第二階段效率更高，這仍然是提高利潤率的關鍵驅動力，然後從 SG&A 中繼續受益，在物流和 G&A 方面發揮槓桿作用槓桿作用將繼續存在，並且應該繼續成為這種流動中更加一致的一部分。

Okay. And then maybe if I could, just a follow-up kind of on price. And you kind of talked about how some of the cost pressures may be peaking here. We'll see if that's the case. But how do you think about price in an environment where, let's say, the costs are starting to moderate and come down. Do you expect prices will hold in this category? I know -- or do you think you're rolling back a bit? What's -- how do you maybe think about that right now?

好的。然後，如果可以的話，也許只是價格上的一種跟進。您還談到了一些成本壓力如何在這里達到頂峰。我們會看看是不是這樣。但是，您如何看待在成本開始緩和並下降的環境中的價格。你預計價格會在這個類別中保持不變嗎？我知道——或者你認為你有點退縮了？什麼——你現在怎麼想？

Scott, do you want to take that one?

斯科特，你想拿那個嗎？

Yes. Hi, Peter. So we've been trying to -- as we've done pricing, we've been trying to be really thoughtful as to how this is all going to land eventually. And it's one of the reasons that it's put us behind in a couple of quarters where we've been 30 or 60 days, a little bit slower to take some pricing action. Because when this is all said and done, and it's leveled out, we want to end up in a really good place. What we anticipate is many others in the category in just dry and wet food, we'll use significant amounts of promotion dollars to adjust prices, both kind of in the near term and in the mid and longer term.

是的。嗨，彼得。所以我們一直在努力——在我們完成定價的同時，我們一直在努力考慮這一切最終將如何落地。這也是它讓我們落後於我們已經 30 或 60 天的幾個季度的原因之一，採取一些定價行動要慢一些。因為當這一切都說了又做了，並且它被拉平了，我們希望最終在一個非常好的地方。我們預計該類別中的許多其他乾濕食品，我們將使用大量促銷資金來調整價格，無論是在短期內還是在中長期內。

We don't do any promotion as you know. So we really don't want to -- we want to be very careful of how our approach to the pricing where we end up in making sure that we create a portfolio of products that has really, really wide appeal to 11 million plus consumers. And that's kind of how we've been thinking about it.

如您所知，我們不做任何促銷活動。所以我們真的不想 - 我們希望非常小心我們的定價方法，最終確保我們創建的產品組合對超過 1100 萬消費者俱有非常非常廣泛的吸引力。這就是我們一直在考慮的方式。

Our next question comes from the line of Bill Chappell with Truist.

我們的下一個問題來自Truist 的Bill Chappell。

Billy, Scott, I guess, I know you are waist deep at least in the analytics and the customer. And I think -- the concern I hear or see most is not your existing consumer base trading down because they're highly loyal and obviously they don't want to change what their dog is eating. But it's that new consumer trading up and the worry that, that will -- the pace will slow with the higher prices than just that you're at the super premium as we go into a potential recession.

比利，斯科特，我想，我知道你至少在分析和客戶方面是齊腰深的。而且我認為 - 我聽到或看到的最擔心的不是你現有的消費者群下降，因為他們非常忠誠，顯然他們不想改變他們的狗吃的東西。但正是新消費者的交易量增加，並且擔心隨著價格的上漲，步伐將會放緩，而不僅僅是因為我們進入潛在的衰退時你處於超高溢價。

So I guess are you seeing anything from that new consumer slowing down, except for the small little spikes where you've seen some unevenness? Or do you think you can hold up really well and -- you talked about growing through past recessions, but you're obviously a much smaller base at that point. So just trying to -- any color or any fact you have to back that would be great.

所以我猜你是否看到新消費者放緩的任何事情，除了你看到一些不均勻的小尖峰？或者你認為你能堅持得很好而且——你談到在過去的經濟衰退中成長，但那時你的基數顯然要小得多。所以只要嘗試——任何顏色或任何你必須支持的事實都會很棒。

Yes, Bill, this is a topic we've been spending a lot of time thinking about and watching the data very closely. We included in the presentation today a few slides that give you a little bit -- a bit of a glimpse of what we're seeing. We did see a little bit of a slowdown in June when gasoline hit $5, as Heather said in the prepared remarks.

是的，比爾，這是一個我們一直在花費大量時間思考和密切關注數據的話題。我們在今天的演示文稿中包含了幾張幻燈片，這些幻燈片可以讓您了解一些情況——讓您大致了解一下我們所看到的。正如希瑟在準備好的評論中所說，當汽油達到 5 美元時，我們確實看到了一些放緩。

But since then, we've seen it bounce back up. The number that we saw in the last 12 weeks, the household penetration gains have been up 19% versus a year ago. When we look at it across a variety of demographics, we look at it, small dog households, large dog households, both up, we look at it by generation. We've seen virtually all the generations are moving up.

但從那以後，我們看到它反彈了。我們在過去 12 週看到的數字是，家庭滲透率比一年前增長了 19%。當我們在各種人口統計數據中查看它時，我們會查看它，小型犬家庭，大型犬家庭，無論是向上，我們都會逐代查看。我們已經看到幾乎所有世代都在向上發展。

The millennials, actually, we're moving up the most. We're getting the most traction in that group, and we look at across income groups. And across income groups, we are not seeing any significant differences in their willingness to buy Freshpet or join the Freshpet franchise. There were little bits and dips in June. I don't want to gloss over that June was a little bit lumpier than we would like, but it came right back in July.

實際上，千禧一代的進步最大。我們在該群體中獲得了最大的牽引力，我們著眼於各個收入群體。在各個收入群體中，我們沒有看到他們購買 Freshpet 或加入 Freshpet 特許經營權的意願有任何顯著差異。六月有小跌。我不想掩飾六月比我們想要的更笨重，但它在七月又回來了。

So we're feeling pretty good about the ability to attract new users to the franchise because the proposition is pretty darn attractive. But that's what our data is saying so far, and it's in line with where we'd expect to be or would hope to be.

因此，我們對吸引新用戶加入特許經營權的能力感到非常滿意，因為這個提議非常有吸引力。但這就是迄今為止我們的數據所說的，它與我們期望或希望的情況一致。

Okay. And then just kind of a minor question. I guess I'm a little surprised that diesel prices kind of impacted you intra-quarter. I thought you had done some diesel hedges or maybe just educate me on what is hedged and what is not hedged?

好的。然後只是一個小問題。我想我有點驚訝柴油價格在季度內影響了你。我以為你已經做了一些柴油對沖，或者只是教育我什麼是對沖的，什麼不是對沖的？

We don't hedge any diesel, but we do have some hedges on natural gas for a portion of our production facility. But even those will roll off by the end of November, so we're going to face that challenge at the end of the year. But we don't hedge -- we currently don't hedge any of our diesel exposure. And that's certainly something as we get a little bit larger in scale in our distribution that we ought to consider, but so far we have not.

我們不對沖任何柴油，但我們對部分生產設施的天然氣進行了一些對沖。但即使是這些也將在 11 月底推出，因此我們將在年底面臨這一挑戰。但我們不對沖——我們目前不對沖任何柴油敞口。這當然是我們應該考慮的分佈規模擴大一點的事情，但到目前為止我們還沒有。

Our next question comes from the line of Anoori Naughton with JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的 Anoori Naughton。

Thanks for the question. A quick clarification and apologies if you said this on the call, but how does your new household penetration target or your metric of $4.9 million compared versus the first quarter of this year? And then my question is, what does the shape of the trajectory look like for Freshpet to get that back on track with its longer-term household penetration goal of 11 million households? I believe the additional plan when you set it out was closer to 7.6% in '23, which is still sizable 50% jump from where you are today. So I guess the cost of the question is, will Freshpet need to spend more than 12% on ad spending for the next couple of years to catch up, so to speak.

謝謝你的問題。如果您在電話會議上這麼說，請快速澄清和道歉，但是您的新家庭滲透目標或 490 萬美元的指標與今年第一季度相比如何？然後我的問題是，Freshpet 的軌跡形狀是什麼樣的，以使其重回正軌，實現其 1100 萬家庭的長期家庭滲透目標？我相信您制定的附加計劃在 23 年接近 7.6%，與您今天的情況相比仍然有 50% 的可觀增長。所以我想問題的成本是，可以這麼說，Freshpet 是否需要在未來幾年的廣告支出上花費超過 12% 才能趕上。

Yes. First of all, we provided a comparison in the deck of the June data from the old method to the new method. So you can see the difference. I don't have the new method for the period at the end of Q1. So it's hard to say. But in total, it's like 186,000 more users in the new method and the old method. And the rate of gain over the last couple of years has been 200,000 more than what the old method would have shown.

是的。首先，我們在 6 月數據的卡片組中提供了舊方法與新方法的比較。所以你可以看到區別。我沒有第一季度末的新方法。所以很難說。但總的來說，新方法和舊方法的用戶增加了 186,000 個。過去幾年的收益率比舊方法顯示的高出 200,000 倍。

What was most intriguing about the way in which the data has come out, and we've also seen a similar piece of data from Numerator. So it kind of validates it -- is that our rate of growth has been more in households has been more consistent over the last 2 years than what they had previously projected.

數據的輸出方式最有趣的是，我們還看到了來自 Numerator 的類似數據。所以它有點證實了這一點——在過去的兩年裡，我們家庭的增長率比他們之前的預測更加一致。

And it gets to your second part of your question is, what do we need to do to get to that 11 million households? The answer is we need to get household penetration growth going back up into the mid-20s, which is where we've been in the past. And the last 12 weeks were up 19%, and that includes a little bit of a dip that occurred in June. So I'm expecting as we go further towards the end of the year, you're going to see that number continue to go up and will move into the 20s. Numerator, which provides similar data with a larger panel is already showing us moving into the low 20s with their more recent data. So I'm feeling pretty good about we're moving back up into the 20% plus growth rate, and we need to stay there. We need to get into the mid-20s and stay there.

你的問題的第二部分是，我們需要做些什麼才能到達那 1100 萬個家庭？答案是我們需要讓家庭滲透率增長回到 20 年代中期，這也是我們過去的水平。過去 12 週上漲了 19%，其中包括 6 月份的小幅下跌。所以我預計，隨著我們在今年年底更進一步，你會看到這個數字繼續上升，並將進入 20 年代。 Numerator 以更大的面板提供了類似的數據，它已經向我們展示了他們最近的數據正在進入 20 年代低點。所以我感覺很好，我們正在回到 20% 以上的增長率，我們需要保持在那裡。我們需要進入 20 多歲並留在那裡。

One other thing to just take into consideration is as the business gets bigger, obviously, this is a simple math that you can do. But the 12%, it starts to be -- the dollars start to be tremendous, and it allows us to basically drive more and more consumers in. If we can keep our CAC in a similar range, we should be able to achieve that 11 million number fairly easily.

要考慮的另一件事是隨著業務的擴大，顯然，這是一個簡單的數學運算。但是 12%，它開始是 - 美元開始變得巨大，它使我們基本上能夠吸引越來越多的消費者。如果我們能夠將我們的 CAC 保持在相似的範圍內，我們應該能夠實現 11萬數相當容易。

Understood. And just to clarify though, you've accelerated some of your ad spending into the second quarter. So presumably, there would be very little incremental spending as move into the back half. So I guess I'm just trying to square how we'll see your household penetration start to accelerate from here if you're going to be spending less incremental dollars between move through the back half.

明白了。只是為了澄清一下，您已經加快了第二季度的一些廣告支出。因此，據推測，隨著進入後半部分，增量支出將非常少。所以我想我只是想弄清楚如果你在後半部分之間花費更少的增量美元，我們將如何看到你的家庭滲透率從這裡開始加速。

Yes, it's -- always remember the comparison, too. The year ago was pretty soft in this area.

是的，它——也永遠記住比較。一年前在這個領域相當軟弱。

Yes. We have a very healthy Q3 advertising wise. And then as Billy was mentioning, we have -- we typically have a very fairly soft Q4 in advertising. Look, the big thing is there is a tremendous amount of disruption in the marketplace with whether it's gas prices, fear of recession that I think the fear was may be as bad as the actual recession itself.

是的。我們有一個非常健康的第三季度廣告明智。然後正如比利所提到的，我們有 - 我們通常在廣告方面有一個非常相當軟的第四季度。看，重要的是市場存在巨大的破壞，無論是天然氣價格，還是對衰退的恐懼，我認為這種恐懼可能與實際的衰退本身一樣嚴重。

We can see consumers stabilizing in their behavior and their traffic into stores. And it looks like this next period, our prices are now stable, consumers are kind of calmed down, and we're going to see them go back into stores with fuller fridges than we've ever had, and we anticipate making some progress in this quarter.

我們可以看到消費者的行為和進入商店的流量趨於穩定。看起來像下一個時期，我們的價格現在穩定，消費者有點平靜，我們將看到他們帶著比以往任何時候都更滿的冰箱回到商店，我們預計會取得一些進展本季度。

Our next question comes from the line of Brian Holland with Cowen and Company.

我們的下一個問題來自 Cowen and Company 的 Brian Holland 的台詞。

So if I could ask first about maintaining the net sales guidance. Given prior year track volume compares get tougher in the second half, Pet Specialty appears to be a drag. I appreciate that part of that is comp driven. But I'm just curious how we get comfortable because it would seem that 1 or both of track volume will need to sequentially get better from here, assuming price stake why you get another little bump there in the fourth quarter. But that and/or Pet Specialties got to get better. So can you help us understand the volume path over the balance of the year and next?

因此，如果我可以先詢問有關維持淨銷售指導的問題。鑑於上一年的賽道量在下半年變得更加艱難，寵物專業似乎是一個拖累。我很欣賞這部分是comp驅動的。但我只是好奇我們是如何感到舒服的，因為假設價格賭注為什麼你在第四季度會再次出現小幅上漲，似乎需要從這裡開始依次改善 1 個或兩個軌道量。但那和/或寵物專長必須變得更好。那麼，您能幫助我們了解今年和明年餘額的交易量路徑嗎？

Yes. So the way I think about it is we're going to be in this summer horizontal period until probably the end of August. And then because of the media investment we made, because of the better in-stock conditions, because of the purge placements that we've done, I'd expect to see it start ramping up on the consumption as you went through the fourth quarter.

是的。所以我的想法是，我們將在這個夏天的水平時期，直到八月底。然後由於我們進行的媒體投資，由於更好的庫存條件，由於我們已經完成的清除放置，我希望看到它在您經歷第四季度時開始增加消費.

Remember that last year, again, I hate to go back and talk about lapping them last year. But last year, we had a disastrous July because of the warehouse issue that our third-party warehouse -- we fortunately survived this year's July and had a very strong July. And then on top of that, if you recall in the fourth quarter last year, we had the spare parts issue that impacted our ability to ship in the end of November, December.

請記住，去年，我再次討厭回去談論去年的研磨。但是去年，由於我們的第三方倉庫的倉庫問題，我們度過了災難性的 7 月——我們幸運地度過了今年的 7 月，並且度過了非常強勁的 7 月。最重要的是，如果您還記得去年第四季度的情況，我們遇到了影響我們在 11 月底、12 月底發貨的備件問題。

And so while we need to see good consumption numbers and expect to see strong consumption numbers, between now and the end of the year. There are some anomalies in the year ago that kind of give you a sense that the growth rate on a net sales basis as well as on a consumption basis where you're able to deliver the guidance. And frankly, it should give us a little bit of room.

因此，雖然我們需要看到良好的消費數據，並期望看到從現在到年底的強勁消費數據。一年前有一些異常情況讓你感覺到淨銷售額的增長率以及你能夠提供指導的消費基礎上的增長率。坦率地說，它應該給我們一點空間。

And then just as a follow-on to that, obviously, trade inventory, I think it was maybe like a 700 bps headwind or whatever it was in the quarter, forgive me them not looking at that site at this moment. But I'm curious if you can help remind us what that looks like in the second half of the year what you're lapping as far as impact there?

然後，顯然，作為交易庫存的後續行動，我認為這可能是一個 700 bps 的逆風或本季度的任何情況，請原諒我他們現在沒有看那個網站。但我很好奇你能否幫助提醒我們下半年的情況如何？

And then also on the elasticity side, I appreciate the data that you gave us, but you've also called out some nice distribution growth in the first half. So I'm wondering how you discern between kind of unit growth that's sort of apples-to-apples and what the distribution benefit is? Because if you had some distribution benefit in the first half, it was -- the logic would be you might have to keep that up to make the math look the same, but maybe you can walk us through that.

然後在彈性方面，我很欣賞你給我們的數據，但你也提到了上半年的一些不錯的分佈增長。所以我想知道你如何區分蘋果對蘋果的單位增長和分配收益是什麼？因為如果你在上半年有一些分配利益，那就是 - 邏輯是你可能必須保持這一點以使數學看起來相同，但也許你可以引導我們完成。

Yes. I'm probably going to get lost in some of your questions there. But the best way to neutralize, Brian, what you're talking about is velocity, measuring the velocity on the business. And the velocity on the businesses continue to do quite nicely even though we've been in this period where we had $5 gas and whatnot. So I don't know if you've seen that. We didn't include it in the deck this time. We have done in the past, but velocity in the business of dollars per point of distribution have been fairly healthy.

是的。我可能會迷失在那裡的一些問題。但是最好的中和方法，Brian，你所說的是速度，衡量業務的速度。即使我們一直處於這個時期，我們有 5 美元的汽油和諸如此類的東西，但業務的速度繼續做得很好。所以不知道你有沒有看到。這次我們沒有將它包含在套牌中。我們過去做過，但每個分銷點的美元業務速度相當健康。

So I think, yes, we've gotten distribution where we have more distribution coming in the back half of the year, and we're going to have velocity gains behind the advertising. So I think that all gets us to where we want to get to. I don't know if that addresses the question or not though.

所以我認為，是的，我們已經獲得了分銷，我們將在今年下半年有更多的分銷，並且我們將在廣告背後獲得速度提升。所以我認為這一切都讓我們到達了我們想要到達的地方。我不知道這是否解決了這個問題。

No, no, that's helpful and exactly what I was getting at. I was trying to be confusing, but you got it. Trade inventory was the other one there. Just help us understand what...

不，不，這很有幫助，正是我的意思。我試圖混淆，但你明白了。貿易庫存是另一個。只是幫助我們了解什麼...

Yes, there was trade inventory. There's fairly significant amount of trade inventory refill in the year ago. It was kind of odd. It was more skewed to the fourth quarter than the third quarter. But even in the end of the fourth quarter we had some drawdown when we had our supply problem. So it's going to be lumpy throughout the back half of the year. So we do need to have consumption in excess of our net sales growth to compensate for it. So there's going to have to be some over delivery, but it's not exactly clear how big that number is going to be because the trade inventory needs to grow year-on-year as well as we get more distribution and a bigger business, the customers hold 3 weeks of inventory and 3 weeks inventory is a bigger number on the 35% larger business than it was a year ago. So there will be some trade inventory build that happens this year as well.

是的，有貿易庫存。一年前有相當數量的貿易庫存補充。這有點奇怪。與第三季度相比，它更傾向於第四季度。但即使在第四季度末，當我們遇到供應問題時，我們也有一些縮編。因此，整個下半年都會變得崎嶇不平。所以我們確實需要讓消費超過我們的淨銷售額增長來彌補它。因此，必須有一些超額交付，但尚不清楚這個數字會有多大，因為貿易庫存需要逐年增長，以及我們獲得更多分銷和更大的業務，客戶持有 3 週的庫存和 3 週的庫存對於比一年前大 35% 的業務來說是一個更大的數字。因此，今年也會有一些貿易庫存增加。

Our next question comes from the line of Rupesh Parikh with Oppenheimer.

我們的下一個問題來自奧本海默的 Rupesh Parikh。

So I just wanted to go back to operating cash flow. So year-to-date you guys burned a little over $60 million. It looks like mainly due to AR and inventory. I just want to get a sense of how you're thinking about this cash burn by the end of the year on the -- at the OCF level?

所以我只想回到運營現金流。所以今年迄今為止，你們燒掉了超過 6000 萬美元。看起來主要是由於 AR 和庫存。我只是想了解一下您對今年年底在 OCF 級別的現金消耗有何看法？

Sure. So I think the first thing is the receivables. So it's significantly inflated or driven by the growing pains from our new ERP system. Basically, our inability to invoice on time has obviously caused delays in terms of our cash collection. We now, as you mentioned already on the call, we now have a solution in place that basically allows us to invoice real time with shipments as we had done previously. And so as we collect what was past due and are invoicing our clients, we expect to be back to our normal DSO run rate of about 25 days based on our customer payment terms. So that's the first piece.

當然。所以我認為第一件事是應收賬款。因此，它被我們新的 ERP 系統帶來的成長之痛大大夸大或推動了。基本上，我們無法按時開具發票顯然導致我們的現金收款出現延誤。我們現在，正如您在電話會議中提到的那樣，我們現在有了一個解決方案，基本上可以讓我們像以前一樣實時對貨物開具發票。因此，當我們收集逾期款項並為客戶開具發票時，我們預計根據我們的客戶付款條款，我們將恢復到大約 25 天的正常 DSO 運行率。所以這是第一塊。

The other piece on working capital. On the finished goods inventory side, that is sitting on a day that is largely in line with our objectives to be at around 4 to 5 weeks of inventory on hand, and we've needed to build inventory to improve customer service. But we did have -- we are sitting on inflated raw materials and packaging inventory. In Q2, that was about $5 million worth of an impact. And that also is attributable to ERP (inaudible), where we needed to hold on to some incremental inventory to ensure that from a planning perspective we have what we need as we work through.

關於營運資金的另一篇文章。在成品庫存方面，這一天基本上符合我們的目標，即手頭有大約 4 到 5 週的庫存，我們需要建立庫存以改善客戶服務。但我們確實有——我們坐在膨脹的原材料和包裝庫存上。在第二季度，這大約產生了 500 萬美元的影響。這也歸因於 ERP（聽不清），我們需要保留一些增量庫存，以確保從計劃的角度來看，我們在工作時擁有我們需要的東西。

Again, we have a very dedicated team in place now to finish up some of the needed post implementation solutions, but this should really turn around. And what you will see in working capital movement from here on will be driven by the growth in the business and not by the ERP impact.

同樣，我們現在有一個非常敬業的團隊來完成一些所需的後期實施解決方案，但這應該真的會好轉。從現在開始，您將看到的營運資金流動將由業務增長驅動，而不是由 ERP 影響。

Okay. Great. And then maybe just 1 additional question. Just on the guide. I'm just curious what you guys see now is a bigger risk for the guide for the remainder of the year.

好的。偉大的。然後可能只是 1 個額外的問題。就在指南上。我只是好奇你們現在看到的對於今年剩餘時間的指南來說是一個更大的風險。

We think we've -- Rupesh, I think we've captured -- we went through and looked at all of the inflation elements because that's the thing that caught us. I mean we're absorbing in our guidance, some of the conservatism that we built in at the beginning of the year, we absorbed it. We can't, as Heather said, absorb all of it.

我們認為我們已經 - Rupesh，我認為我們已經抓住了 - 我們經歷並查看了所有通貨膨脹因素，因為那是抓住我們的東西。我的意思是我們正在吸收我們的指導，我們在年初建立的一些保守主義，我們吸收了它。正如希瑟所說，我們不能吸收所有這些。

We think we've identified and captured all the inflation that we're going to get. But there are a few things like diesel and like natural gas that we don't have hedge positions. And if those things ran wild, that could be -- those could be remaining risks for us. Not enormous, but they could be risks for us. The flipside is the same thing that we've had and we keep trying to prevent is any supply interruptions, whether it's upstream for us or it's our ability to produce and supply to our customers.

我們認為我們已經識別並捕獲了我們將要獲得的所有通貨膨脹。但是有一些東西，比如柴油和天然氣，我們沒有對沖頭寸。如果這些事情變得瘋狂，那可能是 - 這些可能是我們的剩餘風險。不是很大，但對我們來說可能是風險。另一方面，我們也遇到過同樣的事情，我們一直在努力防止任何供應中斷，無論是我們的上游還是我們為客戶生產和供應的能力。

And I would include in that, we need a timely startup of our Ennis facility. We feel very good about where we are, we're ready to start it up. But we need that roll line to come on to produce the product to deliver our net sales for the year. So I don't want to make it sound like we don't think there are any risks because there are, and we have to go out and manage them, but they would come on the supply. Not on the demand side, it would come on the supply side, and it would come on inflation. Scott or Heather, I don't know if you see it any differently.

我會在其中包括，我們需要及時啟動我們的 Ennis 設施。我們對自己所處的位置感覺非常好，我們已經準備好啟動它。但我們需要那條生產線來生產產品，以實現我們今年的淨銷售額。所以我不想說我們不認為有任何風險，因為有，我們必須出去管理它們，但它們會隨著供應而來。不是在需求方面，它會來自供應方面，它會來自通貨膨脹。斯科特或希瑟，我不知道你是否有不同的看法。

Our next question comes from the line of Mark Astrachan with Stifel.

我們的下一個問題來自 Mark Astrachan 和 Stifel。

I wanted to ask about volumes. So they seem a little bit slower than at least I would have thought, inclusive of more ad spend that you said earlier in the second quarter. And if we take a look at just the scanner data of the 2-year volume CAGR has sequentially decelerated. I think each period since, call it, late March, early April. So I guess I'm curious how that has stacked up versus your expectations.

我想問一下體積。所以它們似乎比我想像的要慢一些，包括你在第二季度早些時候所說的更多廣告支出。如果我們只看一下 2 年量 CAGR 的掃描儀數據，它就會依次減速。我想從那以後的每個時期，都叫它，三月下旬，四月初。所以我想我很好奇這與你的期望相比是如何疊加的。

You touched on elasticity on the prepared remarks, but I don't think updated the actual elasticity. So if you could perhaps talk to that? And then how do you think about it if not potentially getting worse with the incremental pricing that you talked about today?

您在準備好的評論中談到了彈性，但我認為沒有更新實際的彈性。所以，如果你能談談呢？然後，如果您今天談到的增量定價可能不會變得更糟，您如何看待它？

Yes. We expected, I think, as we said in the prepared remarks, we expect to go flat during the summer because it looks like 2019, and that's why we provided the 3-year stack. So you could see from 2017 to 2019, we saw very consistently in the summer, consumption goes flat, whether it's people on vacation, dogs eating less.

是的。我認為，正如我們在準備好的評論中所說，我們預計夏季會持平，因為它看起來像 2019 年，這就是我們提供 3 年堆棧的原因。所以你可以看到，從 2017 年到 2019 年，我們看到夏天非常一致，消費持平，無論是人們度假，狗吃得少。

But you went flat and then you came back up again late August into early September. And we'd expect to see that continue. We did see in June, we saw some softness, so said it about $5 gas, but we frankly also saw come back in July and saw very, very strong shipments in July. We saw household penetration bouncing back up. So we feel pretty good about the trajectory of the balance of the year. I mean, we're all in uncharted waters, and we don't know whether there's a recession.

但是你表現平平，然後在 8 月底到 9 月初又回來了。我們希望看到這種情況繼續下去。我們在 6 月確實看到了，我們看到了一些疲軟，所以說它大約是 5 美元的汽油，但坦率地說，我們也看到了 7 月的回歸，並且看到了 7 月非常非常強勁的出貨量。我們看到家庭滲透率回升。所以我們對今年餘額的軌跡感覺很好。我的意思是，我們都處於未知領域，我們不知道是否存在經濟衰退。

We don't know if there's -- if the next price increase is going to be something that is the straw that breaks the camel's back. But the data we included in the deck and data that we have beyond that shows that pricing is pretty stable at this point. The sensitivity we have is about where it's going to be which is what you'd expect.

我們不知道是否有——如果下一次價格上漲會成為壓垮駱駝的最後一根稻草。但是我們包含在套牌中的數據以及我們擁有的數據表明，此時定價相當穩定。我們的敏感度是關於它會在哪裡，這就是你所期望的。

After about 4 or 5 months, you'd expect to get to a fairly stable place. And so we think we know what it looks like, and we think we know what the trends look like going forward. And our shipments and order rates match up pretty well with the projections and the guidance that we're giving.

大約 4 或 5 個月後，您會期望到達一個相當穩定的地方。所以我們認為我們知道它的樣子，我們認為我們知道未來的趨勢是什麼樣的。我們的出貨量和訂單率與我們提供的預測和指導非常吻合。

Okay. And maybe just sticking with that, thinking about just broader strokes on affordability. So with the new price increase, I think you'll be up something, call it, high teens versus where you were 12 months ago, I guess that's roughly consistent with what we're seeing across the pet food, dog/cat category. But to earlier points about potential for increased promotions coming out of this period of heightened inflation or potentially deflation at some point. You don't promote, you're not going to do that. But if others are doing it and they promote back half of it, then how do you think about the relative affordability for the product going forward at that point.

好的。也許只是堅持這一點，考慮更廣泛的可負擔性。因此，隨著新的價格上漲，我認為你會有所提高，稱之為青少年，與 12 個月前相比，我想這與我們在寵物食品、狗/貓類別中看到的情況大致一致。但早先關於在通貨膨脹加劇或在某個時候可能出現通縮的時期可能會增加促銷活動的觀點。你不宣傳，你就不會那樣做。但是，如果其他人正在這樣做並且他們推銷了一半，那麼您如何看待該產品在那時的相對可負擔性。

Scott, do you want to take that?

斯科特，你想接受嗎？

Yes. So Mark, so one of the things that we were really conscious about, and I touched on this a tiny bit with Peter, but not didn't get into the details. When we -- even this last price increase and all along, we made sure that we had a handful of items that were still as affordable for everyone as possible. And we were really conscious about that. We did it in a couple of different sizes and a couple of different product forms.

是的。所以馬克，這是我們真正意識到的事情之一，我和彼得談了一點，但不是沒有深入細節。當我們 - 即使是最後一次價格上漲以及一直以來，我們都確保我們擁有一些仍然盡可能讓每個人都能負擔得起的物品。我們真的很清楚這一點。我們做了幾個不同的尺寸和幾個不同的產品形式。

So no matter where the dust settles, those products will be available to people and they have seen modest price increases, but they have not bear the brunt. They're not carrying the biggest amount of the price increases.

所以無論塵埃落定在哪裡，這些產品都將提供給人們，他們看到了適度的價格上漲，但他們並沒有首當其衝。他們沒有承受最大的價格上漲。

So anyway, I think we tried to be mindful of that. We put those in place. It will be in our 6-pound chicken roll or some of our 1, 1.5 pound sizes. We've tried to make sure that they continue to remain accessible and affordable.

所以無論如何，我認為我們試圖注意這一點。我們把它們放在了適當的位置。它將在我們的 6 磅雞肉捲或我們的 1、1.5 磅大小的一些中。我們已嘗試確保它們繼續保持可訪問性和可負擔性。

Our next question comes from the line of Robert Moskow with Credit Suisse.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞士信貸的羅伯特莫斯科。

I guess I cover a lot of food companies, and I don't recall hearing any of them talk about a slowdown in consumption from $5 gas, except for maybe Impulse. So can you be a little more specific as to what type of products within your portfolio felt that impact? Are there some items that are more discretionary in your portfolio. That would make more sense to me than saying that people look at the price of gas and then reduce their -- the volume of consumption for their pets.

我想我涵蓋了很多食品公司，我不記得聽到他們中的任何人談論過 5 美元的汽油消費放緩，除了 Impulse。那麼，您能否更具體地說明一下您的產品組合中的哪些類型的產品會產生這種影響？您的投資組合中是否有一些項目更具自由裁量權。這對我來說比說人們看汽油價格然後減少他們的寵物消費量更有意義。

Yes. Rob, it's -- what we saw was foot traffic down and what people were doing was consolidating trips. And so what we were seeing was people were shopped less frequently, and they move to our bigger sizes. And so it was -- I think it was a temporary phenomenon because if you look -- if we look at our business in July, it bounced back. In fact, it looks like it's filling a hole that might have been created in June.

是的。 Rob，它是——我們看到的是客流量下降，而人們正在做的是整合旅行。所以我們看到的是人們購物的頻率降低了，他們轉向我們更大的尺寸。所以它是 - 我認為這是一個暫時的現象，因為如果你看 - 如果我們看一下我們 7 月份的業務，它會反彈。事實上，它看起來像是填補了一個可能在 6 月造成的漏洞。

And I can't put my finger on exactly how that happened or why that happened. But we look at the data on trip frequency and the size of the units that they're buying. It clearly suggests that people who are consolidating trips and buying larger sizes when they made the trips, but there was a little drawdown of pantry inventory that happened, and they're making up for it in July. Again, I don't know the psychology that works behind it, but that's what the data shows.

而且我無法確切說明這是如何發生的或為什麼會發生。但我們會查看有關出行頻率和他們購買的單位大小的數據。這清楚地表明，人們在旅行時正在整合旅行併購買更大的尺寸，但食品儲藏室的庫存發生了一點下降，他們正在 7 月份彌補這一點。同樣，我不知道其背後的心理學原理，但這就是數據所顯示的。

Okay. And then maybe one more follow-up. You said that you increased your media spend in order to sell through price increases. Is that for the benefit of the trade like do you increase the media spending to help the trade with this price increase? Or is it for the consumer? Because like I don't know why -- I'm not sure who is helping it sell through to.

好的。然後也許還有一個後續行動。您說您增加了媒體支出以通過價格上漲進行銷售。這是否是為了貿易的利益，就像您增加媒體支出以幫助貿易與這種價格上漲一樣？還是為了消費者？因為就像我不知道為什麼一樣——我不確定是誰在幫助它賣給別人。

It's to make sure that as you're seeing your prices rise that you're making sure that you're keeping your growth rate intact, right? And 1 of the things that we looked at when we look at growth rate is we're looking at units, we're looking at pounds, et cetera, because dollars are a little bit hard to kind of get a handle around right now. And we've been able to see units stay in the high teens, even in same-store sales, high teens into the early 20s and similar with volume.

這是為了確保當你看到你的價格上漲時，你要確保你保持你的增長率不變，對嗎？當我們查看增長率時，我們查看的其中一件事是我們正在查看單位，我們正在查看磅等，因為現在美元有點難以掌握。而且我們已經能夠看到單位保持在青少年時期，即使在同店銷售中，青少年時期也保持在 20 年代初，並且與銷量相似。

So if you look at it that way, through this period of taking a net 17% price increase, we've been able to keep our overall kind of velocity growth strong. And actually, I mean, I look at it and I go, that's pretty encouraging, especially with what we saw in the category. If you look at units across the category, everyone's kind of high-fiving across the type-2 category, celebrating that they're having growth. But if you remove the price increase growth that they have in place, units are -- look pretty bad or volume looks pretty bad for the majority of the category. So I think that we've come out of this in pretty good shape.

因此，如果你這樣看，在價格淨上漲 17% 的這段時間裡，我們已經能夠保持我們的整體速度增長強勁。實際上，我的意思是，我看了看就走了，這非常令人鼓舞，尤其是我們在該類別中看到的內容。如果您查看整個類別的單位，每個人都會在類型 2 類別中擊掌，慶祝他們正在增長。但是，如果您消除他們已經到位的價格增長增長，那麼對於大多數類別而言，單位看起來很糟糕或數量看起來很糟糕。所以我認為我們已經擺脫了這種狀況，情況非常好。

Okay. I don't know if you're making me more optimistic or less by saying that the pet food category is getting hurt, but -- okay, Scott. But here's the follow-up. Like you're raising pricing in the back half, so why is this just a pull forward in media? Would you have to do it again in the back half?

好的。我不知道你說寵物食品類別受到傷害是讓我更樂觀還是更不樂觀，但是——好吧，斯科特。但這是後續行動。就像你在後半部分提高定價一樣，為什麼這只是媒體的一個推動？你必須在後半區再做一次嗎？

It's literally we call -- we literally call it (inaudible) price increase, it's 2.7%. And is what we're seeing in the back of the year. It's literally rounding if we're at $5.79, we're going to $5.99 on items. I'm just using that as an example. So it's gap very much.

這就是我們所說的——我們實際上稱之為（聽不清）價格上漲，它是 2.7%。這就是我們在今年年底看到的。如果我們的價格是 5.79 美元，這實際上是四捨五入，我們的商品價格是 5.99 美元。我只是以此為例。所以差距很大。

One of the lessons that I've taken away from this experience is that we would -- we did one modest price increase than one enormous price increase and then another modest one. And the consumer could digest more smaller price increases rather than the size of the second price increase, which was pretty big because that creates sticker shock and could cause the consumer to reconsider or reevaluate, do I really need this. And as opposed to more frequent, but smaller. And for the next one, I don't think a lot of people are going to add an eyelash app, but they certainly noticed the second one.

我從這次經歷中學到的一個教訓是，我們會——我們做了一次適度的價格上漲，而不是一次大幅的價格上漲，然後是另一次適度的價格上漲。而且消費者可以消化更多較小的價格上漲，而不是第二次價格上漲的規模，這非常大，因為這會產生貼紙衝擊並可能導致消費者重新考慮或重新評估，我真的需要這個嗎？而相對於更頻繁，但更小。對於下一個，我認為不會有很多人會添加睫毛應用程序，但他們肯定注意到了第二個。

Our next question comes from the line of Jon Andersen with William Blair.

我們的下一個問題來自Jon Andersen 和William Blair 的台詞。

Yes. Thanks for the question. First question is, Billy, I think you referred to providing an update at some point in the future with respect to addressable households and the -- I guess, the underlying algorithm of household penetration and buy rate. Were you referring to that as being just kind of a mechanical exercise given the change in approach or methodology by Nielsen or something more fundamental based on price changes, a different kind of consumer behavior or both?

是的。謝謝你的問題。第一個問題是，比利，我認為你提到了在未來某個時候提供有關可尋址家庭的更新以及 - 我猜是家庭滲透率和購買率的基本算法。考慮到尼爾森方法或方法的變化，您是指這只是一種機械練習，還是基於價格變化、不同類型的消費者行為或兩者兼而有之的更基本的東西？

It's somewhere in between. I don't think we're going to go back and revisit the addressable market, at least we haven't committed to doing that yet, but we are looking at the driver. So for example, as Scott mentioned earlier, what is the customer acquisition cost with our current pricing in the market? Does that change in any appreciable way? What does the buying rate look like once consumers are digesting the pricing we've got?

它介於兩者之間。我認為我們不會回去重新審視目標市場，至少我們還沒有承諾這樣做，但我們正在研究驅動因素。例如，正如斯科特之前提到的，我們當前的市場定價下的客戶獲取成本是多少？這有什麼明顯的變化嗎？一旦消費者消化了我們的定價，購買率會是什麼樣子？

And just reconstruct the model that gets us from where we are to the 11 million households and the $1.25 billion in net sales because as I think I said when I framed it up, I framed it up and saying, we know we're running at a rate that's well in excess of what you need to get to the target.

只需重建模型，將我們從現在的位置帶到 1100 萬戶家庭和 12.5 億美元的淨銷售額，因為正如我在構建它時所說的那樣，我構建了它並說，我們知道我們正在運行遠遠超過達到目標所需的速度。

And the question now is, with the higher pricing and the higher buying rate, what is the composition of that going to look like? Do you make any changes because the CAC is higher or lower, the buying rate is higher or lower, the households are easier or harder to get. And that's the algorithm we need to put together, and we wanted to see the pricing stabilize before we made that decision.

現在的問題是，隨著更高的定價和更高的購買率，它的組成會是什麼樣子？您是否會因為 CAC 更高或更低、購買率更高或更低、家庭更容易或更難獲得而做出任何改變。這就是我們需要整合的算法，我們希望在做出決定之前看到定價穩定。

Okay. So no change to your level of confidence in the $1.25 billion or the 25% EBITDA margin. It's just kind of maybe the algorithm underneath that is what you're saying?

好的。因此，您對 12.5 億美元或 25% EBITDA 利潤率的信心水平沒有變化。你說的可能就是下面的算法？

Yes. That's probably the right way to think about it, Jon.

是的。喬恩，這可能是正確的思考方式。

Okay. And then I guess, just a follow-up. I just have a broad question on direct-to-consumer. You didn't really mentioned at least in the prepared comments, e-commerce growth this quarter. If you could give us an update on that? And then are you -- do you have broader plans for a direct-to-consumer offering? When might we hear about that? If so, I just want to get your perspective on that from a competitive standpoint, too.

好的。然後我想，只是一個後續行動。我只是對直接面向消費者有一個廣泛的問題。您至少在準備好的評論中沒有真正提到本季度的電子商務增長。如果你能給我們一個更新？然後你——你有更廣泛的直接面向消費者產品的計劃嗎？我們什麼時候可以聽到這個消息？如果是這樣，我也只是想從競爭的角度了解您對此的看法。

So we've continued to see really nice growth. It's actually -- what we consider e-commerce, which is any place someone can sit down in a computer and order our product. Some of that's directly delivered and some of that's click and collect. It's actually paid, I believe, 45 and 46 in the deck, Jon, and I know we provide a ton of materials to go through.

所以我們繼續看到非常好的增長。它實際上是我們認為的電子商務，即任何人可以坐在電腦前訂購我們產品的地方。其中一些是直接交付的，其中一些是點擊並收集的。實際上，我相信，甲板上的 45 和 46 已經付清了，喬恩，我知道我們提供了大量的材料。

But -- so that continues to grow. It's -- there's a couple of retailers that are doing like a really, really great job with this. And we're continuing to invest with them and work with them. And over time, we recognize that from a DTC standpoint, we don't believe that going direct to consumer is the right path for us, but we do believe that modifying our product portfolio and working with our existing partners is the right path.

但是 - 所以它繼續增長。這是 - 有幾個零售商在這方面做得非常非常好。我們將繼續與他們一起投資並與他們合作。隨著時間的推移，我們認識到，從 DTC 的角度來看，我們不認為直接面向消費者是我們的正確道路，但我們確實相信修改我們的產品組合併與我們現有的合作夥伴合作是正確的道路。

And we feel like we've come up with kind of a new and differentiated model that will be really helpful to kind of break into that piece of the market. And I think whether it's later this year or Q1, we'll be introducing some kind of a new product line in order to do that.

而且我們覺得我們已經提出了一種新的差異化模式，這將非常有助於打入該市場。而且我認為無論是今年晚些時候還是第一季度，我們都會推出某種新產品線來做到這一點。

Our next question comes from the line of Ben Bienvenu with Stephens.

我們的下一個問題來自 Ben Bienvenu 和 Stephens 的觀點。

Jim Salera on for Ben. I wanted to circle back to the CapEx guidance reduction. If we look at pushing the investment in the innovation center more into 2023, just given the overall inflation in building materials and things that go into setting up a new facility, does that $80 million add that into the CapEx, I would assume that if you shifted some of that goes into the new year, but it looks like the CapEx cadence outside of this year is still the same $300 million, $200 million, $100 million (inaudible).

吉姆·薩萊拉替補本。我想回到資本支出指導減少。如果我們著眼於將創新中心的投資更多地推到 2023 年，考慮到建築材料的總體通貨膨脹以及建立新設施所需的東西，這 8000 萬美元是否會將其添加到資本支出中，我假設如果你其中一些轉移到了新的一年，但看起來今年以外的資本支出節奏仍然是 3 億美元、2 億美元、1 億美元（聽不清）。

So with that innovation center, it literally is we were we can't get as much done as we would like to from a timing perspective. We actually think that can work to our advantage. So I think we touched on whether it's stainless steel, building materials, et cetera, standard deals, the amount of [strength] that we use in our equipment is pretty extraordinary.

因此，有了那個創新中心，從時間的角度來看，我們確實無法完成我們希望完成的工作。我們實際上認為這對我們有利。所以我認為我們談到了不銹鋼、建築材料等標準交易，我們在設備中使用的 [強度] 數量非常驚人。

So as we look at planning that out, we may have to put deposits down at the similar timing, but we anticipate that as the markets on some of those commodities, stainless steel, for example, or some of the other building materials cools off a little bit, we think there may be advantage in that innovation center and we're hoping that there's additional savings through that, too.

因此，當我們考慮計劃這一點時，我們可能不得不在類似的時間減少存款，但我們預計，隨著其中一些商品（例如不銹鋼或其他一些建築材料）的市場降溫一點點，我們認為那個創新中心可能有優勢，我們也希望通過它可以節省額外的費用。

So to be clear, that's in the $80 million. Is the assumption that some of those like core commodities come down?

所以要清楚，那是8000萬美元。是不是假設一些像核心商品這樣的商品會下降？

In that -- $80 million is the timing and a little bit of an efficiency. As we said, we had a conservative set of assumptions. As we get further along, we get more realistic assumptions on both timing and the actual cost, and we pushed some of the projects back. It's also -- you have to know that some of this is a cascading effect where one project leads to the next project.

在那——8000萬美元是時機和一點點的效率。正如我們所說，我們有一套保守的假設。隨著我們的進展，我們對時間和實際成本都有更現實的假設，我們推遲了一些項目。這也是 - 你必須知道其中一些是級聯效應，一個項目導致下一個項目。

And so what you're seeing is we showed you CapEx going out through 2025, but there's some stuff that is just kind of cascading will fall back into '26 in that case. So the $80 million is a total reduction in the horizon we're showing you. Some of it is efficiency, some of it is timing, but some of it is pushed out into the latter years.

因此，您所看到的是我們向您展示了到 2025 年的資本支出，但在這種情況下，有些東西只是一種級聯，會退回到 26 年。因此，8000 萬美元是我們向您展示的範圍內的總減少。其中一些是效率，一些是時間安排，但其中一些被推到了後期。

Got it. So also, I think it seems like a waterfall back out past '20. So the 2026 could contain some of that incremental spend of like, I think, the 100-ish that you talked about before?

知道了。同樣，我認為這似乎是 20 年過去的瀑布。所以 2026 年可能包含一些增量支出，我認為，你之前談到的 100 左右？

But I think importantly -- but importantly. The capital spending that we have planned out in this revision gives us plenty of head space to grow and meet the objectives that we have.

但我認為很重要——但很重要。我們在本次修訂中計劃的資本支出為我們提供了充足的發展空間並實現我們的目標。

And then just real quick on -- I know we got a lot of questions on the ad spending. But just given that there was such firm ad support in the first half of the year. If the economy continues to deteriorate into the back half of the year, would you guys feel okay turning some of the ad spending back on to support volumes? Or would that be something that you're more focused on margins in the back half of the year and so you'd rather take the volume hit and wait until the first quarter of next year starts to pick back up.

然後真的很快 - 我知道我們有很多關於廣告支出的問題。但只是考慮到上半年有如此堅定的廣告支持。如果經濟在今年下半年繼續惡化，你們是否可以將部分廣告支出重新用於支持銷量？或者那是你在下半年更關注利潤率的事情，所以你寧願承受銷量的打擊，等到明年第一季度開始回升。

I think that we're very committed to making sure we continue delivering on the top line and we feel very good about the plan that we've got. There's also lead times on media commitments that would make it hard to do that in an efficient manner. So we're pretty committed to delivering the net sales line, we said, but also delivering the EBITDA that we've committed to.

我認為我們非常致力於確保我們繼續在頂線上交付，我們對我們的計劃感覺非常好。媒體承諾也有提前準備時間，這使得很難以有效的方式做到這一點。因此，我們非常致力於提供淨銷售線，我們說，同時也提供我們承諾的 EBITDA。

So I don't want people to get the sense that we would erode the profitability because we want -- we do know, as we said in the call, we're very focused on generating cash and cash efficiency as we grow. And so we wanted to make sure we're very mindful of the investments we make and when we make them.

因此，我不希望人們認為我們會侵蝕盈利能力，因為我們想要 - 正如我們在電話會議中所說，我們確實知道，隨著我們的成長，我們非常專注於產生現金和現金效率。因此，我們希望確保我們非常注意我們所做的投資以及我們何時進行投資。

There are no further questions in the queue. I'd like to hand the call back over to Mr. Cyr for closing remarks.

隊列中沒有其他問題。我想把電話轉給 Cyr 先生做結束語。

Great. Well, thank you very much for your interest and your attention. I'd like to close with a statement in honor of Olivia Newton-John, who passed away earlier today. She said, "The only wait I left from my dogs to which I would add if she fed them Freshpet, they would be lean and the lift easier." Rest in Peace. Thank you very much.

偉大的。好的，非常感謝您的關注和關注。我想以今天早些時候去世的 Olivia Newton-John 的聲明作為結束。她說：“我從我的狗身上留下的唯一等待，如果她餵牠們 Freshpet，我會添加它們，它們會更瘦，電梯更容易。”安息。非常感謝。

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's teleconference. Thank you for your participation. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and have a wonderful day.

女士們，先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。你可以在這個時候斷開你的線路，並度過美好的一天。