Freshpet Inc (FRPT) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Greetings. Welcome to Freshpet's First Quarter 2024 Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note this conference is being recorded.

問候。歡迎參加 Freshpet 2024 年第一季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，本次會議正在錄製中。

At this time, I'll now turn the conference over to Rachel Ulsh, Vice President of Investor Relations. Rachel, you may now begin.

現在，我將把會議交給投資者關係副總裁 Rachel Ulsh。雷切爾，你現在可以開始了。

Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to Freshpet's First Quarter 2024 Earnings Call and Webcast. On today's call are Billy Cyr, Chief Executive Officer; and Todd Cunfer, Chief Financial Officer, Scott Morris, President and Chief Operating Officer, will also be available for Q&A.

謝謝。早安，歡迎參加 Freshpet 2024 年第一季財報電話會議和網路廣播。執行長比利·西爾 (Billy Cyr) 出席了今天的電話會議；財務長 Todd Cunfer、總裁兼營運長 Scott Morris 也將出席問答環節。

Before we begin, please remember that during the course of this call, management may make forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These include statements related to our long-term strategy, focus 2027 goals, pace in achieving these goals, prospects for growth, and new technologies and 2024 guidance. Words such as believe, could, estimate, expect, guidance, intend, may, project, will or similar conditional expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements.

在我們開始之前，請記住，在本次電話會議期間，管理階層可能會做出1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》含義內的前瞻性聲明。 、步伐相關的聲明。相信、可能、估計、期望、指導、打算、可能、項目、意願或類似條件表達等詞語旨在識別前瞻性陳述。

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, including those associated with such statements and inaccuracies and third-party data.

這些陳述是基於管理層目前的預期和信念，涉及風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與這些前瞻性陳述中描述的結果有重大差異，包括與此類陳述以及不準確和第三方數據相關的結果。

Please refer to the company's annual report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the company's press release issued today for a detailed discussion of risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements made today.

請參閱該公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的 10-K 表格年度報告以及該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發表的聲明。

Please note on today's call, management will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures, such as EBITDA and 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.

請注意，在今天的電話會議上，管理階層將參考某些非公認會計準則財務指標，例如 EBITDA 和調整後 EBITDA 等。雖然公司認為這些非公認會計原則財務指標為投資者提供了有用的信息，但這些信息的呈現並不旨在被孤立地考慮或作為根據公認會計原則呈現的財務信息的替代品。

Please refer to today's press release for how management defines such non-GAAP measures, why management believes such non-GAAP measures are useful, 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.

請參閱今天的新聞稿，了解管理階層如何定義此類非GAAP 衡量標準、為何管理階層認為此類非GAAP 衡量標準有用、非GAAP 財務衡量標準與根據GAAP 制定的最具可比性衡量標準的調節表以及與相關限制相關的資訊。

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, rather it is a summary of the results and guidance they'll discuss today.

最後，該公司製作了一份演示文稿，其中包含本次電話會議將討論的許多關鍵指標。該演示文稿可以在該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，而是對他們今天將討論的結果和指導的總結。

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

說到這裡，我想將電話轉給執行長比利·西爾 (Billy Cyr)。

Thank you, Rachel, and good morning, everyone. The message I'd like you to take away from today's call is that these strong quarterly results proved that some of the most critical financial metrics in our 2027 goals are achievable. Now we must prove to you that we can deliver them consistently over time. These results did not happen by accident. They were the result of a disciplined focus on the key drivers of profit improvement and the changes we've made as an organization and we're determined to continue those disciplined efforts until these results become a long-term trend.

謝謝你，雷切爾，大家早安。我希望大家從今天的電話會議中傳達的訊息是，這些強勁的季度業績證明我們 2027 年目標中的一些最關鍵的財務指標是可以實現的。現在我們必須向您證明我們可以隨著時間的推移一致地交付它們。這些結果並非偶然發生。它們是對利潤改善的關鍵驅動因素和我們作為一個組織所做的變革的嚴格關注的結果，我們決心繼續這些嚴格的努力，直到這些結果成為長期趨勢。

Further, these results demonstrated that with increased scale comes increased profitability, which was the basis of our Fresh Future plan that we announced in early 2023. It was then that we pivoted to a more balanced approach to growth and profitability versus our previous single-minded focus on growth alone. We were able to deliver these results because of the strength of the Freshpet business model and consumer proposition, and strong improvement in the key fundamentals that drive our business.

此外，這些結果表明，隨著規模的擴大，獲利能力也隨之提高，這是我們在2023 年初宣布的Fresh Future 計劃的基礎。方法，而不是之前一心一意的方法只專注於成長。我們之所以能夠取得這些成果，是因為 Freshpet 商業模式和消費者主張的優勢，以及推動我們業務的關鍵基本面的強勁改進。

There are several important points I'd like you to take away from these results: First, our growth model continues to deliver. We've successfully absorbed the most significant pricing we've ever faced, delivered strong volume-based growth in the quarter and return to the greater than 20% household penetration growth rate embedded in our long-term targets. Further, we added those households at a customer acquisition cost or CAC, that is comparable to the levels we experienced prior to the price increases of the last 2 years. This demonstrates the strength of the Freshpet growth model, the power of our marketing and also provides the confidence that the model can continue to deliver the 25% net sales growth embedded in our fiscal year 2027 goals.

我希望您從這些結果中得到幾個重要的觀點：首先，我們的成長模式繼續發揮作用。我們成功地消化了有史以來最重要的定價，在本季度實現了強勁的銷售成長，並恢復了我們長期目標中超過 20% 的家庭滲透率成長率。此外，我們還以客戶獲取成本（CAC）添加了這些家庭，這與過去兩年價格上漲之前的水平相當。這證明了 Freshpet 成長模式的優勢和我們行銷的力量，也讓我們相信該模式能夠繼續實現我們 2027 財年目標中包含的 25% 的淨銷售額成長。

Second, we've improved our operational effectiveness. We're now delivering significant year-on-year improvements in our quality, input and logistics costs, the costs that we've been intensely focusing on, and that has resulted in a step change in our adjusted gross margin and adjusted EBITDA margin. Our operational achievements stem from our efforts to build strong organizational capability at all levels, beginning with our Freshpet Academy that has strengthened our production workforce and also including some of the senior leaders we've hired in the past 1.5 years. And while these operational improvements are significant, we believe we're just getting started and that our team is capable of delivering this type of operational excellence more consistently over time and, potentially, doing even better.

其次，我們提高了營運效率。我們現在在品質、投入和物流成本以及我們一直密切關注的成本方面實現了同比顯著改善，這導致我們的調整後毛利率和調整後 EBITDA 利潤率發生了階躍變化。我們的營運成就源於我們在各個層面建立強大的組織能力的努力，首先是我們的 Freshpet 學院，該學院增強了我們的生產隊伍，還包括我們在過去 1.5 年中聘用的一些高級領導者。雖然這些營運改進意義重大，但我們相信我們才剛剛開始，我們的團隊有能力隨著時間的推移更加一致地提供這種卓越的運營，並且有可能做得更好。

Finally, we're demonstrating the capability and operating discipline needed to balance capacity and demand at such a high rate of growth. We're adding capacity on budget and on time and at a pace that enables us to keep up with our high growth rate without carrying too much excess capacity. This enables us to deliver strong fill rates to our customers while simultaneously improving our margins and is the result of the rigor and discipline that we've put in place around our growth planning.

最後，我們展示了在如此高的成長率下平衡產能和需求所需的能力和營運紀律。我們正在按預算按時增加產能，其速度使我們能夠跟上高成長率，而不會承受過多的過剩產能。這使我們能夠為客戶提供強勁的填充率，同時提高利潤率，這是我們圍繞成長規劃制定的嚴格和紀律的結果。

This is the balancing act between growth and capital investment that we've described to you previously, and we're increasingly mastering it at a high rate of growth. While we're pleased with the performance we delivered, we're not satisfied. We need to deliver this level of performance consistently over time. And once we've proven our ability to do that, we'd consider revising our long-term targets. But right now, we're focused on maintaining momentum in each of the remaining 3 quarters of this year.

這就是我們之前向您描述過的成長與資本投資之間的平衡行為，並且我們越來越多地以高成長率掌握它。雖然我們對所交付的性能感到滿意，但我們並不滿意。我們需要隨著時間的推移始終如一地提供這種水平的性能。一旦我們證明了我們有能力做到這一點，我們就會考慮修改我們的長期目標。但目前，我們的重點是在今年剩餘的三個季度中保持成長勢頭。

As we've mentioned many times before, the manufacturing systems to make fresh pet food are still in their infancy. We're investing heavily in organizational capability and technology to make those systems more reliable, consistent and efficient and are making good progress on many aspects of the process. But we also know that we're still in the early days of the fresh pet food category and the opportunities for improvement are sizable. We fully intend to realize those opportunities over time and have numerous initiatives underway to do that.

正如我們之前多次提到的，新鮮寵物食品的製造系統仍處於起步階段。我們在組織能力和技術方面進行了大量投資，以使這些系統更加可靠、一致和高效，並且在流程的許多方面都取得了良好進展。但我們也知道，我們仍處於新鮮寵物食品類別的早期階段，改進的機會很大。我們完全打算隨著時間的推移實現這些機會，並採取許多措施來實現這一目標。

Now let me walk through some of the highlights of the first quarter. We had strong momentum in the first quarter and made tremendous progress against our long-term plan, and you can see that in our financial results. First, we started the year with very strong net sales growth, with first quarter net sales of $223.8 million, up 34% year-over-year, driven primarily by volume growth of 31% and 3% price/mix. Second, we saw significant improvement in adjusted gross margin as well as adjusted EBITDA. First quarter adjusted gross margin was 45.3% compared to 41.1% in the fourth quarter and 38.5% in the prior year period.

現在讓我來回顧一下第一季的一些亮點。我們在第一季勢頭強勁，並在長期計劃方面取得了巨大進展，這一點您可以在我們的財務業績中看到。首先，今年伊始，我們的淨銷售額成長非常強勁，第一季淨銷售額為 2.238 億美元，年成長 34%，這主要是由銷量成長 31% 和價格/組合成長 3% 推動的。其次，我們看到調整後毛利率和調整後 EBITDA 顯著改善。第一季調整後毛利率為 45.3%，第四季為 41.1%，去年同期為 38.5%。

First quarter adjusted EBITDA was $30.6 million, an increase of approximately $28 million year-over-year. Our diluted earnings per share was $0.37 excluding a markup in the value of our equity investment, EPS was $0.17 per share. I've been looking forward to the data that I could say those words for a very long time, and I expect that to become a habit going forward.

第一季調整後 EBITDA 為 3,060 萬美元，年增約 2,800 萬美元。我們的稀釋每股收益為 0.37 美元，不包括股權投資價值的加價，每股收益為 0.17 美元。我很長一段時間以來一直期待著能夠說出這些話的數據，我希望這會成為一種習慣。

In addition to those financial highlights, we made progress on our retail availability and visibility as well. We placed 617 fridges in the first quarter, including new stores, upgrades and second/third fridges bringing us to a total of 34,812 fridges at retail, or more than 1.7 million cubic feet of retail space. As of March 31, 2024, Freshpet could be found in 27,097 stores, 23% of which now have multiple fridges in the U.S. Fridge placements and store growth were supported by continued strong fill rates that ended the quarter in the high 90s again.

除了這些財務亮點之外，我們在零售可用性和知名度方面也取得了進展。我們在第一季放置了 617 台冰箱，包括新店、升級和第二/第三台冰箱，使我們的零售冰箱總數達到 34,812 台，即零售空間超過 170 萬立方英尺。截至2024 年3 月31 日，Freshpet 已遍布27,097 家商店，其中23% 目前在美國擁有多台冰箱。多歲的高位。

We've rallied the organization around our Mainstream, Main Meal, More Profitable plans, what we refer to as Main & More. We're making the Freshpet brand more mainstream and getting people to use it as a main meal component and this creates intensity and concentration of the business that we believe will allow us to be more profitable. Focusing on the idea of Mainstream, according to Nielsen Omnichannel data, which includes e-commerce and direct-to-consumer, as of March 30, 2024, total U.S. pet food is a $53 billion category. We only have a 3% market share within the $37 billion dog food segment, which the majority of our business is today, leaving a vast runway for growth. Within the fresh/frozen subcategory in measured channels, which continues to outperform the broader pet food category, Freshpet has a 96% market share. The idea of the humanization of pets is becoming more and more mainstream, appealing to every income group and demographic, and it is our goal to make fresh food the standard way to feed your pets.

我們圍繞著我們的主流、主餐、更有利可圖的計劃，即我們所謂的「主要及更多」計劃，團結了整個組織。我們正在使 Freshpet 品牌變得更加主流，並讓人們將其用作主要膳食成分，這創造了業務的強度和集中度，我們相信這將使我們能夠獲得更多利潤。著眼於主流理念，根據尼爾森全通路數據（包括電子商務和直接面向消費者），截至 2024 年 3 月 30 日，美國寵物食品總額為 530 億美元。在價值 370 億美元的狗糧領域，我們只佔 3% 的市場份額，而目前我們的大部分業務都集中在該領域，這為成長留下了廣闊的空間。在已測通路的新鮮/冷凍子類別中，Freshpet 的市場份額繼續優於更廣泛的寵物食品類別，佔據了 96% 的市場份額。寵物人性化的概念正變得越來越主流，對每個收入群體和人群都有吸引力，我們的目標是讓新鮮食品成為餵養寵物的標準方式。

Our household penetration at the end of the first quarter was 12.367 million households, up 24% year-over-year and growing. Our high-profit pet owning households or HIPPOHs for short, are growing even faster, up 34% versus the prior year period. We remain on track to meet our target of 20 million households by 2027.

一季末我們的家庭滲透率為1,236.7萬戶，較去年同期成長24%，且仍在持續成長中。我們的高利潤寵物飼養家庭（簡稱 HIPPOH）的成長速度更快，比去年同期成長了 34%。我們仍有望實現 2027 年擁有 2,000 萬戶家庭的目標。

Overall, retail availability continued to grow, with ACV of almost 65%, and we continue to see upside in continued distribution gains going forward. We'll continue to focus on increasing the percentage of stores with second and third fridges.

總體而言，零售供應量持續成長，ACV 接近 65%，我們繼續看到未來分銷持續成長的上行空間。我們將繼續致力於增加擁有第二台和第三台冰箱的商店的比例。

Turning to the concept of Main Meal. We use our advertising to educate consumers on the benefits of fresh food for their pets and that is the key driver to convert more consumers to use Freshpet as a main meal. Today, 48% of Freshpet buyers use the product as the main component of their pet's meal and there is a significant opportunity to increase this percentage even with our heavy users. 37% of Freshpet's users are HIPPOHs and they represented 89% of our sales in the first quarter. By focusing on fresh, healthy food, offering a wide range of price points and expanding our recipes, we believe consumers will naturally convert from using Freshpet as a topper to more of a main meal item, centering the plate around fresh. This concept of converting toppers into main meal users will, in turn, increase buy-rate too, which was $96.84 at quarter end, up 5% versus a year ago.

轉向主餐的概念。我們利用廣告來教育消費者新鮮食品對其寵物的好處，這是促使更多消費者使用 Freshpet 作為主餐的關鍵驅動力。如今，48% 的 Freshpet 買家將該產品用作寵物餐點的主要成分，即使對於我們的重度用戶來說，提高這一比例的機會也很大。 Freshpet 37% 的用戶是 HIPPOH，他們占我們第一季銷售額的 89%。透過專注於新鮮、健康的食品，提供廣泛的價位並擴大我們的食譜，我們相信消費者自然會從使用 Freshpet 作為配料轉變為更多的主餐項目，以新鮮為中心。這種將禮賓轉化為主餐用戶的概念反過來也提高購買率，季度末購買率達到 96.84 美元，比去年同期增長 5%。

Based on MegaChannel data, we currently have an average of 18.9 SKUs per point of distribution, up from 16.4 SKUs 1 year ago. We plan to increase the number of SKUs available at each retailer by adding second and third fridges, which amplifies our marketing spend and drives visibility for the brand, while also allowing us to showcase a wider range of our portfolio.

根據 MegaChannel 數據，我們目前每個分銷點平均有 18.9 個 SKU，高於一年前的 16.4 個 SKU。我們計劃透過增加第二台和第三台冰箱來增加每個零售商的可用 SKU 數量，這會擴大我們的行銷支出並提高品牌知名度，同時也使我們能夠展示更廣泛的產品組合。

Turning to the more part of Main & More, More Profitable. As I mentioned earlier, we significantly improved margins this quarter, with solid operating performance, thanks to the work of our team. Quality, yield, input costs and throughput all drove the over-delivery. Last quarter, I suggested that we had reached an inflection point and we're turning a corner on profitability because we're now at a point where we can leverage our scale, increase business intensity and concentration. We're now seeing those benefits of scale play out, and they're driving increased profitability.

轉向主要部分，更多，更有利可圖。正如我之前提到的，由於我們團隊的工作，我們本季的利潤率顯著提高，營運績效穩定。品質、產量、投入成本和吞吐量都導致了超額交付。上個季度，我表示我們已經達到了一個拐點，我們正在扭轉獲利能力，因為我們現在正處於可以利用我們的規模、提高業務強度和集中度的階段。我們現在看到規模效益正在發揮作用，並且正在推動獲利能力的提高。

First quarter adjusted gross margin increased 680 basis points year-over-year to 45.3%, and adjusted EBITDA as a percent of net sales was 13.7% compared to 1.8% in the prior year period. Logistics has been a key area of focus for us, and it was only 6.4% of net sales in the first quarter, improving 290 basis points year-over-year and coming in below our long-term target of 7.5%. We're greatly encouraged by these results and believe there is a significant opportunity to drive further profit improvement going forward, with our Ennis facility still ramping up production, and our continued work on OEE to increase yield and throughput.

第一季調整後毛利率年增 680 個基點至 45.3%，調整後 EBITDA 佔淨銷售額的百分比為 13.7%，而去年同期為 1.8%。物流一直是我們重點關注的領域，第一季僅佔淨銷售額的 6.4%，年增 290 個基點，低於我們 7.5% 的長期目標。我們對這些結果感到非常鼓舞，並相信，我們的恩尼斯工廠仍在提高產量，我們將繼續致力於 OEE 來提高產量和吞吐量，因此未來有推動利潤進一步提高的重要機會。

That leads me to an update on our capacity. We feel confident in our expansion and efficiency projects, which are all on budget. Ennis currently has 3 lines operating today, 1 roll line and 2 bag lines, and this facility is producing approximately 25% of our total production volume. Our fourth line in Ennis is slightly ahead of schedule and expected to start up by the end of the third quarter. This additional line kicks off Phase 2 in Ennis and will alleviate some complexity of changeovers and SKU assortment since it will be our second roll line in this facility.

這讓我了解了我們產能的最新情況。我們對我們的擴張和效率項目充滿信心，這些項目都在預算之內。 Ennis 目前擁有 3 條生產線，其中 1 條卷材生產線和 2 條袋裝生產線，該工廠的產量約占我們總產量的 25%。我們在恩尼斯的第四條生產線稍微提前了一些，預計將在第三季末啟動。這條額外的生產線啟動了恩尼斯的第二階段，並將減輕轉換和 SKU 分類的一些複雜性，因為它將是我們在工廠的第二條軋製生產線。

We've continued to evolve our capacity expansion plans to drive greater capital efficiency. We're intently focused on: First, maximizing the throughput of our existing lines by investing in an operational excellence program designed to increase our OEE. We've seen steady progress on this, particularly in Bethlehem, where the program has been underway for more than a year. Second, maximizing the capacity of our 3 existing sites so that we can avoid the high cost of incremental infrastructure and overhead. For example, in Bethlehem, we're converting storage space to add a seventh line; in Kitchens South, we believe there is room to add 1 or 2 more lines in the existing building; and, in Ennis, we're looking at ways to add more lines as well.

我們不斷完善產能擴張計劃，以提高資本效率。我們專注於：首先，透過投資旨在提高 OEE 的卓越營運計劃，最大限度地提高現有生產線的吞吐量。我們已經看到這方面的穩定進展，特別是在伯利恆，該計劃已經實施了一年多。其次，最大限度地提高我們 3 個現有站點的容量，這樣我們就可以避免增量基礎設施和管理費用的高成本。例如，在伯利恆，我們正在轉換儲存空間以添加第七條線；在Kitchens South，我們相信現有建築物還有空間再增加1或2條生產線；在恩尼斯，我們也在尋找增加更多線路的方法。

Third, developing and implementing new technologies that generate more throughput per line and improve the yield and quality. We've developed one technology that has shown great promise, and others are in earlier stages of development. It's still too early to tell when these might impact our capacity or P&L, but we believe these technology investments are important because our need for capacity will only grow as time progresses and we continue to believe that our manufacturing expertise will be a key strategic advantage over the long haul. Scott, who successfully pioneered the development of our existing products and processes is leading our efforts to develop and commercialize these potentially breakthrough technologies.

第三，開發和實施新技術，提高每條生產線的產量並提高產量和品質。我們開發了一項已顯示出巨大前景的技術，而其他技術則處於早期開發階段。現在判斷這些何時會影響我們的產能或損益還為時過早，但我們相信這些技術投資很重要，因為我們對產能的需求只會隨著時間的推移而增長，而且我們仍然相信我們的製造專業知識將成為我們的關鍵策略優勢長遠來看。斯科特成功地開創了我們現有產品和工藝的開發，正在領導我們努力開發這些潛在的突破性技術並將其商業化。

As I said earlier, our first quarter results demonstrate that scale leads to improved profitability. Todd will walk through our updated guidance, but I'd like to provide an update of our results versus our long-term targets. We're clearly ahead of the pace required to deliver our original 2027 goals, which gives us increased confidence in our ability to either meet or exceed those goals, but we need to show we can deliver these results consistently. Albeit encouraging, it is still early in the year, and we want to be measured in our forecast for the balance of the year. We knew the first quarter sales were going to be strong because of our sizable media investment in Q4 of 2023 and the momentum that generated and the 34% first quarter net sales growth still exceeded our own forecast.

正如我之前所說，我們第一季的業績顯示規模可以提高獲利能力。托德將詳細介紹我們更新的指導，但我想提供我們的結果與長期目標的更新。我們明顯領先於實現 2027 年最初目標所需的速度，這讓我們對實現或超越這些目標的能力更有信心，但我們需要證明我們能夠始終如一地實現這些結果。儘管令人鼓舞，但現在還處於今年年初，我們希望在今年剩餘時間的預測中進行衡量。我們知道第一季的銷售將會強勁，因為我們在 2023 年第四季進行了大量的媒體投資，並且所產生的勢頭以及第一季 34% 的淨銷售成長仍然超出了我們自己的預測。

We plan to carefully manage our top line growth for the remainder of the year so that we do not get ahead of our installed capacity or organizational capability. We believe our model works very well at approximately 25% growth, generating the right balance of growth, capital investment and cash generation. Adjusted gross margin of 45.3% in the first quarter was above our 2027 target of 45%, giving us even more reason to believe we can deliver our long-term goals. We're able to deliver this despite the fact that Ennis is still subscale and in startup mode and we've not implemented any of the new technologies we're working on yet.

我們計劃在今年剩餘時間內謹慎管理我們的收入成長，以免我們的裝置容量或組織能力超前。我們相信，我們的模型運作良好，成長率約為 25%，在成長、資本投資和現金產生之間實現了適當的平衡。第一季調整後毛利率為 45.3%，高於我們 2027 年 45% 的目標，讓我們更有理由相信我們能夠實現長期目標。儘管 Ennis 仍處於規模較小且處於啟動模式，而且我們尚未實施我們正在開發的任何新技術，但我們仍然能夠實現這一目標。

Further, our Freshpet Operational Excellence program is still in the early innings and we believe there is lots of upside as we implement that program. But, as I mentioned earlier, we want to demonstrate consistent performance at this level before we commit to anything beyond that. Adjusted EBITDA margin of 13.7% in the first quarter is tracking ahead of plan to achieve our goal of 18% adjusted EBITDA margin in 2027.

此外，我們的 Freshpet 卓越營運計劃仍處於早期階段，我們相信在實施該計劃時會有很多好處。但是，正如我之前提到的，我們希望在做出超出此級別的任何事情之前先展示出在此級別上的一致性能。第一季調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 13.7%，提前實現了 2027 年調整後 EBITDA 利潤率 18% 的目標。

As you know, we tend to front-load our media investment. Q1 media investment as a percent of net sales was more than 300 basis points higher than it will average for the year, so when you adjust for that media spending cadence, Q1's adjusted EBITDA margin was closer to 17%, very close to our 2027 goal. We believe that if we can consistently deliver the adjusted gross margin we delivered in Q1, that we can deliver the remaining building blocks of our adjusted EBITDA margin target of 18% through effectively leveraging the added scale that comes with our growth. Operating cash generation of $5.4 million was ahead of our plan, further increasing our confidence we can self-fund our growth with no need for additional equity and potentially not even needing any new debt.

如您所知，我們傾向於提前進行媒體投資。第一季媒體投資佔淨銷售額的百分比比全年平均高出300 個基點以上，因此當您根據媒體支出節奏進行調整時，第一季調整後EBITDA 利潤率接近17%，非常接近我們2027年的目標。我們相信，如果我們能夠持續實現第一季的調整後毛利率，那麼我們就可以透過有效利用成長帶來的規模擴大，實現 18% 的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率目標的剩餘組成部分。營運現金產生量達到 540 萬美元，超出了我們的計劃，這進一步增強了我們的信心，我們可以自行為增長提供資金，而無需額外股本，甚至可能不需要任何新債務。

In summary, we're off to a fast start this year. We've more work to do to prove to our shareholders that we can maintain or exceed this level of performance, but we're confident in our ability to execute based on what we know today and what is within our control.

總而言之，我們今年開局很快。我們還有更多工作要做，才能向股東證明我們能夠保持或超越這一業績水平，但我們對根據我們今天所知道的和我們控制範圍內的執行能力充滿信心。

Now let me turn it over to Todd to walk you through the details of the Q1 results and our updated guidance. Todd?

現在讓我將其交給托德，帶您了解第一季結果的詳細資訊和我們更新的指導。托德？

Thank you, Billy, and good morning, everyone. As Billy mentioned, we had an excellent first quarter. Now I'll give you some more color on our financials and updated guidance for the year.

謝謝你，比利，大家早安。正如比利所提到的，我們第一季表現出色。現在，我將向您介紹我們今年的財務狀況和最新指導。

First quarter net sales were $223.8 million, up 34% year-over-year. Nielsen measured dollar growth was 26% versus prior year period with broad-based consumption growth across channels. We saw 28% growth in XAOC, 25% in U.S. food, 13% growth in pet specialty and over 100% growth in the unmeasured channels.

第一季淨銷售額為 2.238 億美元，較去年同期成長 34%。尼爾森測算，與去年同期相比，美元成長率為 26%，各通路的消費成長基礎廣泛。我們看到 XAOC 成長了 28%，美國食品成長了 25%，寵物專業成長了 13%，未衡量通路成長了 100% 以上。

First quarter adjusted gross margin was 45.3%, up 680 basis points year-over-year. This was driven by improvements in input costs, quality, yield and throughput. Specifically, input costs as a percent of net sales improved 390 basis points, reflecting a small amount of pricing from last year's price increase, improving yields in our manufacturing operation and lower commodity costs. Quality costs improved by 240 basis points and plant costs improved by 60 basis points, both driven by strong operating performance across all 3 manufacturing sites. Within plant costs, we were able to build much needed inventory, which contributed about 100 basis points in the quarter.

第一季調整後毛利率為45.3%，較去年成長680個基點。這是由投入成本、品質、產量和吞吐量的改善所推動的。具體來說，投入成本佔淨銷售額的百分比提高了 390 個基點，反映出去年價格上漲的小幅定價，提高了我們製造業務的產量並降低了商品成本。品質成本降低了 240 個基點，工廠成本降低了 60 個基點，這兩者均受到所有 3 個製造基地強勁營運績效的推動。在工廠成本範圍內，我們能夠建立急需的庫存，這在本季度貢獻了約 100 個基點。

First quarter adjusted SG&A was 31.7% of net sales compared to 36.7% in the prior year period. We spent 14.3% of net sales on media in the quarter, down from 15.5% of net sales in the prior year period. Total media investment was up 23% year-over-year, in line with our plan to have our media spending a bit less front-loaded this year. Logistics costs continued to improve and were 6.4% of net sales in the first quarter, a decrease of 290 basis points compared to the prior year period. We believe that about 1/3 of this improvement was due to market conditions such as lane rates and diesel costs, and the remainder was due to deliberate actions we took to increase fill rates, reduce miles and other efficiency-focused efforts. In fact, our logistics costs in the quarter were $1.3 million lower than in the year ago period despite shipping 31% more pounds of finished product.

第一季調整後的 SG&A 佔淨銷售額的 31.7%，去年同期為 36.7%。本季我們將淨銷售額的 14.3% 花在了媒體上，低於去年同期淨銷售額的 15.5%。媒體總投資年增 23%，符合我們今年減少前期媒體支出的計畫。物流成本持續改善，第一季佔淨銷售額的6.4%，較去年同期下降290個基點。我們認為，這項改善的大約1/3 歸因於車道費率和柴油成本等市場條件，其餘的歸因於我們為提高填充率、減少里程和其他以效率為重點的努力而採取的刻意行動。事實上，儘管成品運輸量增加了 31%，但本季的物流成本比去年同期低了 130 萬美元。

First quarter adjusted EBITDA was $30.6 million, or 13.7% of net sales, compared to $3 million, or 1.8% of net sales in the prior year period. This sharp increase was driven by better-than-expected net sales and improvement across input, quality, logistics and plant costs.

第一季調整後 EBITDA 為 3,060 萬美元，佔淨銷售額的 13.7%，而去年同期為 300 萬美元，佔淨銷售額的 1.8%。這一大幅成長是由好於預期的淨銷售額以及投入、品質、物流和工廠成本的改善所推動的。

Capital spending for the first quarter was $46.5 million, in line with our expectations. Operating cash flow was $5.4 million, and we had cash on hand of $258 million at the end of the quarter. We continue to believe that we've adequate cash to fully fund our growth through 2024, and we'll be free cash flow positive in 2026. We also believe that we'll have access to traditional non-dilutive forms of capital to bridge a gap in 2025, if it occurs.

第一季資本支出為 4,650 萬美元，符合我們的預期。營運現金流為 540 萬美元，本季末我們手頭現金為 2.58 億美元。我們仍然相信，我們有足夠的現金來為我們的成長提供充足的資金，直到2024 年，並且我們將在2026 年實現正自由現金流。來彌補如果 2025 年出現差距的話。

Now turning to guidance for 2024. We're maintaining our net sales guidance of at least $950 million until we've greater confidence that we'll have adequate rolls capacity to meet a higher level of demand later this year. This will also allow us to manage our growth to deliver the right balance between growth and capital investment. As we've said, we're carefully managing our growth to live within our capacity plans. If we do find that our production performance from existing lines and facilities exceeds our plan, we'd be comfortable letting the growth drift a bit higher this year. However, we also need to be mindful that we need to have adequate capacity to meet demand for next year as we exit the year. So, we're managing this closely, and we'll not commit to a higher level of growth until we're sure that we can supply it reliably, both this year and next year. Even if that means our growth rate later in the year is below our long-term rate of 25%. And we can reaccelerate as capacity becomes available.

現在轉向 2024 年的指導。這也將使我們能夠管理我們的成長，以在成長和資本投資之間實現適當的平衡。正如我們所說，我們正在謹慎管理我們的成長，以使其符合我們的產能計劃。如果我們確實發現現有生產線和設施的生產績效超出了我們的計劃，我們會很樂意讓今年的成長稍微提高一些。然而，我們也需要注意，我們需要有足夠的能力來滿足明年的需求。因此，我們正在密切管理這個問題，在我們確定今年和明年都能可靠地供應之前，我們不會承諾更高的成長水準。即使這意味著我們今年稍後的成長率低於 25% 的長期成長率。當容量可用時，我們可以重新加速。

In terms of cadence, we still expect the first quarter to have the highest percent net sales growth year-over-year and expect sequentially lower percent growth throughout the remainder of the year. We may pull back media to control growth in line with the long-term algorithm. Not because demand is slowing, we're just managing the pace of growth as we expand capacity.

就節奏而言，我們仍然預計第一季的淨銷售額年增率最高，並預計今年剩餘時間的成長率將依次下降。我們可能會撤回媒體以控製成長，以符合長期演算法。並不是因為需求放緩，我們只是在擴大產能的同時控製成長速度。

We're raising our adjusted EBITDA outlook from our previous guidance of $100 million to $110 million, to now at least $120 million to reflect the over-delivery in Q1. While our performance to date has been very encouraging, we'll not commit to a higher level of profitability for the balance of the year until we've proven that we can repeat Q1's performance reliably. As such, our revised guidance adds the Q1 over-delivery to our target for the year, but has not changed our expectations for the remaining quarters yet. We now expect adjusted gross margin to expand by at least 300 basis points for the full year, compared to 100 basis points previously and expect commodity deflation in 2024. Capital expenditures will be approximately $210 million to support the installation of capacity to meet demand in 2025, consistent with our previous guidance.

我們將調整後的 EBITDA 預期從先前的 1 億美元上調至 1.1 億美元，目前至少提高到 1.2 億美元，以反映第一季的超額交付。雖然我們迄今為止的業績非常令人鼓舞，但在我們證明我們可以可靠地重複第一季的業績之前，我們不會承諾在今年剩餘時間實現更高的盈利水平。因此，我們修訂後的指引將第一季的超額交付添加到我們的今年目標中，但尚未改變我們對剩餘季度的預期。我們現在預計全年調整後毛利率將至少增長300 個基點，而之前為100 個基點，並預計2024 年將出現大宗商品通貨緊縮。年的需求，與我們先前的指導一致。

In summary, we're encouraged by the first quarter results; however, it is still early and given the potential for the environment to change as we progress throughout the year, and the unforeseen issues that arise from time to time, especially for high-growth businesses, we're going to be prudent in our forecasting. We said last quarter that we're at an inflection point and believe we've turned the corner on profitability. We've gained scale and are beginning to see the benefits of that. Like Billy mentioned, there is more upside longer term as we continue to work on operational efficiencies and bring more capacity online across our facilities, especially in Ennis.

總而言之，我們對第一季的業績感到鼓舞；然而，現在還為時過早，考慮到隨著我們全年的進展，環境可能會發生變化，以及不時出現的不可預見的問題，特別是對於高成長企業而言，我們將謹慎進行預測。我們上個季度表示，我們正處於一個拐點，並相信我們已經扭轉了獲利能力的困境。我們已經擴大了規模，並開始看到其帶來的好處。正如比利所提到的那樣，隨著我們繼續努力提高營運效率並在我們的設施（尤其是恩尼斯）提高線上容量，長期來看會有更多的好處。

For now, though, we feel comfortable maintaining our long-term targets of 45% adjusted gross margin and 18% adjusted EBITDA margin because we want to prove we can consistently deliver on our profitability metrics over time before we commit to new targets.

不過，就目前而言，我們願意維持45% 調整後毛利率和18% 調整後EBITDA 利潤率的長期目標，因為我們希望在承諾新目標之前證明，我們能夠隨著時間的推移始終如一地實現我們的獲利指標。

Finally, this step change in our profitability adds to our confidence that we'll be able to fulfill our mission of elevating the way we feed our pets with fresh food that nourishes all. We're building Freshpet into an iconic market-leading brand that is redefining what pet food is and that we believe is better for pets, people and the planet.

最後，我們獲利能力的這一階段性變化增強了我們的信心，我們將能夠履行我們的使命，即透過滋養所有人的新鮮食物來提升我們餵養寵物的方式。我們正在將 Freshpet 打造成一個標誌性的市場領導品牌，該品牌正在重新定義寵物食品，我們相信它對寵物、人類和地球都更好。

That concludes our overview. We will now be glad to answer your questions. As a reminder, we ask that you please focus your questions on the quarter, guidance and the company's operations. Operator?

我們的概述到此結束。我們現在很高興回答您的問題。提醒一下，我們要求您將問題集中在季度、指導和公司營運上。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Ken Goldman with JPMorgan.

（操作員指示）我們的第一個問題來自摩根大通的肯‧戈德曼（Ken Goldman）。

In speaking with investors this morning, I think there's a general feeling, you guys have addressed this a little bit that your outlook maybe remains conservative. And I understand there's still uncertainty about production capacity toward the end of the year. But just going beyond that, in addition to those capacity questions, I guess, is it reasonable to think that, there is still a little bit of prudence as well, in your top and bottom line guidance outside that? Well, I'm just trying to think of areas where you might be a little more circumspect. Just looking forward than what maybe current conditions might indicate?

今天早上與投資者交談時，我認為大家普遍感覺，你們已經解決了這個問題，你們的前景可能仍然保守。據我了解，到年底產能仍有不確定性。但除此之外，除了這些能力問題之外，我想，在您的頂線和底線指導中，是否還有一點謹慎的想法？嗯，我只是想想想在哪些方面你可以更加謹慎。只是期待目前的情況可能顯示什麼？

Yes. Thanks for the question, Ken. I'll take the top line part of that, and then Todd will give you our view on the bottom line part of that. But as you know, we're very thrilled with the Q1 performance. And it was a real good confidence confirming point that set our -- our volume-based growth is back. And we've our household penetration growth, is back to where we want them to be. I mean, demonstrated consistent strong performance on that level. And it's also proving that the media is driving our growth.

是的。謝謝你的提問，肯。我將介紹其中的頂線部分，然後托德將向您提供我們對底線部分的看法。但如您所知，我們對第一季的表現感到非常興奮。這是一個真正良好的信心確認點，使我們基於數量的增長又回來了。我們的家庭滲透率成長，回到了我們希望的水平。我的意思是，在這個水平上表現出了一貫的強勁表現。這也證明媒體正在推動我們的成長。

We've really strong Q4 media that drove the growth in Q1. But as you acknowledge, the reality is that we've to be very mindful of the balance between demand, capacity and the cash that it takes, to deliver the capacity. And we're trying to find that fine line. We're not particularly concerned based on what we see about the macro market, although we're hearing everybody else's reports on it. We're not seeing it in the environment we're operating in. We're seeing the strong household penetration growth across a variety of income groups. We're seeing very good pull across a variety of classes of trade. So, we feel very good about that.

我們第四季的媒體非常強大，推動了第一季的成長。但正如您所承認的，現實是我們必須非常注意需求、產能和交付產能所需的現金之間的平衡。我們正在努力找到那條細線。儘管我們聽到了其他人的報告，但根據我們對宏觀市場的看法，我們並不特別擔心。我們在我們營運的環境中沒有看到這一點。我們看到各種貿易類別都具有良好的吸引力。所以，我們對此感覺非常好。

Our concern is really based on capacity available this year and capacity next year. And if we get too far ahead of ourselves, our fill rates go down and we start needing to pull forward more capacity addition. The counter to all that and the anecdote to that for us, is if we continue to see very strong operating performance, meaning throughput on our existing lines, it will give us license to lean in a little bit more than what we're already doing. But we're really going to be focused on managing the growth to fit within that very tight band that we've outlined because that's where we operate best.

我們的擔憂實際上是基於今年可用的產能和明年的產能。如果我們超前太多，我們的填充率就會下降，我們就開始需要增加更多的產能。與這一切相反以及對我們來說的軼事是，如果我們繼續看到非常強勁的營運業績，這意味著我們現有生產線的吞吐量，這將使我們獲得比我們已經在做的更多的努力。但我們確實將專注於管理成長，以適應我們所概述的非常嚴格的範圍，因為這是我們營運最好的領域。

Now, Todd can give you a little bit of view on the bottom line.

現在，托德可以給你一些關於底線的看法。

Yes. I mean, obviously the big variable from an EBITDA perspective, is the gross margin line. So obviously terrific Q1, a little bit over 45%. We've given guidance of at least 43%. So kind of -- what are some of the issues that could bring that down for the rest of the year? So first and foremost is, as we had in the opening remarks, we built much needed inventory, particularly on rolls in Q1.

是的。我的意思是，從 EBITDA 的角度來看，顯然最大的變數是毛利率。第一季的表現顯然非常出色，略高於 45%。我們給的指導是至少 43%。那麼，哪些問題可能會導致今年剩餘時間的業績下滑呢？因此，首先也是最重要的是，正如我們在開場白中所說，我們建立了急需的庫存，特別是第一季的捲材庫存。

That helped us by about 100 basis points from a fixed cost leverage perspective. That will not repeat later in the year, and in fact will likely unwind. So that will put a little bit of a headwind on gross margin for the remainder of the year. We had a great quality quarter. As you know, that can move around. So we're being a little cautious on, can we continue to be at that less than 3% rate on quality?

從固定成本槓桿的角度來看，這幫助我們提高了約 100 個基點。這種情況在今年稍後不會重演，事實上可能會緩解。因此，這將對今年剩餘時間的毛利率造成一些不利影響。我們度過了一個高品質的季度。如您所知，它可以四處移動。所以我們有點謹慎，我們能否繼續保持低於 3% 的品質率？

So, we're a little more conservative there. We do have our annual wage increase in the plants coming in June. Not a huge impact, but will put a little pressure on gross margins. And then there's the fourth line in Ennis will be starting up in the third quarter. We've done a much better job of bringing up lines, not as big of an impact on the P&L as in the previous years.

所以，我們在這方面比較保守一點。我們確實會在六月增加工廠的年度薪資。影響不大，但會對毛利率造成一點壓力。然後恩尼斯的第四條線將在第三節啟動。我們在提線方面做得更好，對損益表的影響不像前幾年那麼大。

But there will be, an increase in fixed cost on the balance sheet at the end of Q3 going into Q4. So, feel great about the start. We do have some pressures, but, if some things go our way, obviously we can do a bit better.

但從第三季末到第四季，資產負債表上的固定成本將會增加。所以，一開始就感覺很好。我們確實有一些壓力，但是，如果有些事情進展順利，顯然我們可以做得更好。

That's helpful. And then a quick follow-up. As we think about modeling the upcoming quarter, 2Q, are there any particular factors we should consider, either positive or negative? I'm just thinking about areas like the timing of media spending, bridge placements and I guess the timing of that inventory unwind you mentioned?

這很有幫助。然後快速跟進。當我們考慮對即將到來的第二季度進行建模時，我們是否應該考慮任何特定因素，無論是積極的還是消極的？我只是在考慮媒體支出的時機、橋樑佈局等領域，我猜你提到的庫存釋放的時機是什麼？

Yes, obviously a sequential build in revenue, not a huge one, but we'll have a sequential build in revenue in Q2. A fairly strong media spend for the quarter. We're still working through a couple of things that could change a little bit, but we'll have a fair amount of spend as we always do in the second quarter.

是的，顯然收入是連續成長的，雖然不是很大，但我們將在第二季實現收入的連續成長。本季的媒體支出相當強勁。我們仍在努力解決一些可能會發生一些變化的事情，但我們將像第二季度一樣有相當數量的支出。

I don't -- we may unwind some of the inventory in Q2. More of it might be in Q3. That is still a variable, but it will unwind, later in the year. But those are the big areas, and logistics, continue to be favorable for us.

我不認為——我們可能會在第二季釋放一些庫存。更多可能會出現在第三季。這仍然是一個變量，但它會在今年晚些時候緩解。但這些都是大領域，物流仍然對我們有利。

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

下一個問題來自 Mark Astrachan 和 Stifel 的對話。

I guess maybe a big picture question. If you look at this, the expanded scanner data that we now get, Freshpet's driving, I don't know, 50% of the dog food category growth year-to-date, 60% since March. It certainly seems like the category acceptances has increased amongst consumers. I guess, how do you think about that, as it relates to discussions with retailers regarding expanding existing fridges, adding second and third fridges, going into some of those places where you're under penetrated in retailers where you don't exist like Sam's? And just maybe talk big picture about kind of how you're approaching that today, versus where you were 12 or 18 months ago, particularly as you come out of that period of capacity constraints?

我想這可能是一個大問題。如果你看一下我們現在得到的擴展掃描器數據，Freshpet 的推動，我不知道，今年迄今為止狗糧類別增長了 50%，自 3 月以來增長了 60%。消費者對此類別的接受度似乎確實有所提升。我想，你對此有何看法，因為這涉及到與零售商討論擴大現有冰箱、增加第二台和第三台冰箱、進入一些你在零售商中滲透不足的地方，而你在這些地方並不像山姆那樣存在。也許可以談談您今天如何實現這一目標，以及 12 或 18 個月前的情況，特別是當您擺脫那段產能限制的時期？

Hey, Mark. So, look, I feel like this is the work we've been doing for a very, very long period of time. We're really confident we're offering a superior product, and I think it's increasingly recognized not only by consumers, but I think just generally the marketplace. We're seeing retailers, kind of just, really kind of reassess what's going on in the category and be more and more comfortable, with adding more fridges deeper into their distribution. So, I think what we'll start to see is we'll continue to see second and third fridges added over time.

嘿，馬克。所以，我覺得這是我們已經做了很長一段時間的工作。我們非常有信心能夠提供優質的產品，而且我認為它不僅得到了消費者的認可，而且還得到了整個市場的認可。我們看到零售商正在重新評估該類別中正在發生的事情，並且越來越放心，在其分銷中增加了更多的冰箱。所以，我認為我們將開始看到隨著時間的推移，我們將繼續看到第二個和第三個冰箱的增加。

Got it. That's helpful. And then maybe another question just on capacity. So, you haven't formally updated kind of where we're going beyond this year. You've talked, obviously, about the efficiency programs and existing facilities and those added to Ennis ramping. You also talked about all these added lines. I guess any way to frame, just how much incremental capacity all of this stuff together collectively, can be as we sit here today?

知道了。這很有幫助。也許還有一個關於容量的問題。所以，你們還沒有正式更新我們今年的目標。顯然，您已經談到了效率計劃和現有設施以及恩尼斯斜坡增加的設施。您還談到了所有這些添加的行。我想，就像我們今天坐在這裡一樣，可以用任何方式來框架，所有這些東西加起來能增加多少容量？

Yes, Mark. It is a little bit of a complex board, because there is capacity additions that come from our existing lines as we get the higher throughput, additional lines in the existing facilities. And then obviously, the new technologies that we've talked about. I think what we'd prefer to do is just have people think about us as tightly managing the capacity additions to be consistent with the net sales growth that we're projecting.

是的，馬克。這是一個有點複雜的電路板，因為隨著我們在現有設施中獲得更高的吞吐量和額外的生產線，我們現有的生產線會增加產能。顯然，還有我們討論過的新技術。我認為我們更願意做的只是讓人們認為我們嚴格管理新增產能，以與我們預期的淨銷售額成長保持一致。

We're -- we've gotten really good and really tight at projecting our volume and net sales out over extended periods of time and then building a capital spending plan and an operational improvement plan that is able to supply that.

我們在長期預測銷售和淨銷售額方面做得非常好，非常嚴格，然後制定了能夠滿足這項要求的資本支出計劃和營運改善計劃。

We're really guided by getting to fill rates that are very high fill rate because what we've seen over time is, if we've a high fill rate, that's a really good indicator that we've a lot of good performance on the operations side, whether it's the quality part, whether it's the freight cost.

我們確實以達到非常高的填充率為指導，因為隨著時間的推移，我們看到的是，如果我們有很高的填充率，那就是一個很好的指標，表明我們在這方面有很多很好的表現運作方面，無論是品質部分，或是運費成本。

But getting a high fill rate becomes a very good marker for operational effectiveness, or operational performance. So, I'd look at the net sales line and say that we'll build capacity to adequately supply that over an extended period of time. And if there's variations in the growth rate, we'll find a way to match it, but we'd really like to manage the growth rate to live within our long-term guidance.

但獲得高填充率成為營運效率或營運績效的一個非常好的指標。因此，我會專注於淨銷售線，並表示我們將建立產能，以便在較長時間內充分供應。如果成長率有變化，我們會找到一種方法來匹配它，但我們真的希望將成長率控制在我們的長期指導範圍內。

Our next question is from the line of Peter Benedict with Baird.

我們的下一個問題來自彼得·本尼迪克特和​​貝爾德。

Yes. My first is just on, there was a comment around kind of adding organizational capacity to support the growth. Maybe talk about your views on that, both short-term and longer-term, just as you think about kind of cadence growth of the business, and what's going on just from an organizational capacity, where are you focused?

是的。我的第一個評論剛剛開始，有關於增加組織能力以支持成長的評論。也許可以談談您對此的看法，無論是短期還是長期，就像您思考業務的節奏增長一樣，以及組織能力方面發生了什麼，您關注的重點在哪裡？

Yes. I mean, obviously, we've added quite a bit of talent in the last 18 months. We added a Head of Manufacturing. We added a Head of Quality. We added a General Counsel. We added Rachel and her role in Investor Relations. And I think it's fair to say that if we're a company that's guided to $950 million in sales this year, and will be $1.8 billion in 2027, there will be fairly sizable increases in the overall organizational capability.

是的。我的意思是，顯然，我們在過去 18 個月增加了相當多的人才。我們增加了一名製造主管。我們增加了一名品質主管。我們增加了一名總法律顧問。我們加入了 Rachel 及其在投資者關係中的角色。我認為可以公平地說，如果我們公司今年的銷售額目標為 9.5 億美元，到 2027 年將達到 18 億美元，那麼整體組織能力將會有相當大的成長。

But we've filled in many of the most critical top roles. That doesn't mean we won't add any other top roles as we kind of expand the footprint of the company, and develop high-level sophistication in several of the areas. And it's something we're always doing. We're always looking for what's next and just like we plan the capacity out over a longer period of time, we're now planning the organizational capability.

但我們已經填補了許多最關鍵的高階職位。這並不意味著我們不會增加任何其他高階職位，因為我們會擴大公司的業務範圍，並在幾個領域發展高水準的複雜性。這是我們一直在做的事情。我們一直在尋找下一步，就像我們在較長一段時間內規劃容量一樣，我們現在正在規劃組織能力。

If there's one learning that we've had over the last couple of years, is that during the pandemic, we probably got a little bit behind in building organizational capability, and we're not going to let that happen again.

如果說我們在過去幾年中學到了什麼的話，那就是在大流行期間，我們在組織能力建設方面可能有點落後，我們不會讓這種情況再次發生。

No, that makes sense. And then just maybe, Todd, just as you think about the 18% target in 2027, the gross margin number already kind of getting to that 45%. As you think about upside to that, do you think that is more opportunity in gross margin if that were to potentially come through? I'm just trying to think about how -- or understand how you're thinking about some of the upside opportunities within the operating margin profile for the business longer term?

不，這是有道理的。托德，也許正如您考慮 2027 年 18% 的目標一樣，毛利率數字已經達到了 45%。當您考慮到這一點的好處時，您認為如果有可能實現的話，毛利率是否會有更多機會？我只是想思考一下，或者理解您如何考慮業務長期營運利潤狀況中的一些上行機會？

Yes, sure. So obviously, we're not in a position right now to change our guidance. But where the upside could come from? Clearly, the biggest piece is gross margin. So we're ahead of schedule. We think we've a lot of projects and a lot of room to grow over the next few years. So, we're going to shoot, to try to beat the 45% at some point. But obviously, we're not changing that right now. The other piece, obviously, is logistics, which is below our definition of adjusted gross margin. We're already 100 basis points below that long-term target that we called out in CAGNY last year. So that's the other piece. But gross margin is the biggest component.

是的，當然。顯然，我們現在無法改變我們的指導。但好處從何而來呢？顯然，最大的部分是毛利率。所以我們提前了。我們認為未來幾年我們有很多項目和很大的成長空間。因此，我們將努力在某個時候擊敗 45%。但顯然，我們現在不會改變這一點。顯然，另一部分是物流，它低於我們對調整後毛利率的定義。我們已經比去年在 CAGNY 上提出的長期目標低了 100 個基點。這就是另一部分。但毛利率是最大的組成部分。

Our next questions are from the line of Rupesh Parikh with Oppenheimer.

我們的下一個問題來自魯佩什·帕里克（Rupesh Parikh）和奧本海默（Oppenheimer）。

So just going back to the unmeasured channels, so greater than 100% growth in consumption this quarter. How do you guys feel about the sustainability there? And then just curious what you're seeing in the online channel?

回到未測量的管道，本季消費成長超過 100%。你們覺得那裡的可持續性怎麼樣？然後只是好奇您在線上管道中看到了什麼？

So, Rupesh, how you doing? so look, we've so much opportunity to expand accessibility to this business and this brand. And it's not -- it's in all the unmeasured channel, especially through e-commerce. We talk about club. We talked about opportunities in mass. There is such tremendous opportunity and a long, long runway in front of us to continue, to kind of expand accessibility and make sure that we -- wherever consumers want to buy our products, we're as accessible as we possibly can be.

那麼，魯佩什，你好嗎？所以看，我們有很多機會來擴大這個業務和這個品牌的可及性。但事實並非如此——它存在於所有無法衡量的管道中，尤其是透過電子商務。我們談論俱樂部。我們集體談論了機會。我們面前有如此巨大的機會和一條很長很長的跑道，可以繼續擴大可及性，並確保我們——無論消費者想要購買我們的產品，無論在哪裡，都可以盡可能地方便地購買我們的產品。

So, we feel terrific about the runway there for the next several years. If you look at them, they're outpacing -- those unmeasured channels have been outpacing growth. We started talking about it over a year ago. We think we've several years where we've that opportunity. And then, there's several other growth levers that, we've behind that we'll continue to kind of press out and expand to. We'll talk about those, I think, more into the future.

因此，我們對未來幾年那裡的跑道感到非常滿意。如果你觀察它們，你會發現它們正在超越——那些無法衡量的管道已經超過了成長速度。我們一年多前就開始談論它。我們認為我們還有幾年的時間有這樣的機會。然後，還有其他幾個成長槓桿，我們將繼續推動和擴張。我想，我們將來會更多地討論這些。

Great. And then, maybe just one follow-up question. So to the extent that we continue seeing EBITDA upside, are there opportunities to pull forward investments into this fiscal year?

偉大的。然後，也許只是一個後續問題。那麼，如果我們繼續看到 EBITDA 上升，是否有機會將投資拉到本財年？

Yes, we're actually -- I mean, we're always assessing that. There are some opportunities. It's probably not as much traditionally from a marketing perspective, but there are some project work from a gross margin improvement that we're looking at right now that -- we're not talking huge amounts here, but like I said earlier, there's a number of projects that -- Scott is leading many of them to try to improve gross margin over the next couple of years. And we'd like to spend a little bit of money now into '25 to try to fast forward as many of those as possible.

是的，我們實際上——我的意思是，我們一直在評估這一點。有一些機會。從行銷的角度來看，這可能沒有傳統上那麼多，但是我們現在正在考慮一些來自毛利率改善的專案工作——我們在這裡談論的不是大量的，但就像我之前說的，有一個斯科特正在領導許多項目，試圖在未來幾年內提​​高毛利率。我們現在想在 25 世紀花一點錢來嘗試盡可能實現這些目標。

We've actively identified a whole bunch of work that's hoping to create a more, longer-term annuities and margin expansion over time. So, there's actually even 2 areas that we're working around.

我們積極開展了一系列工作，希望隨著時間的推移創造更多、更長期的年金和利潤成長。所以，實際上我們正在努力解決兩個領域。

I'd add to that, that we're also thinking about that from an organizational capability perspective, too. If there's places where we see an opportunity where increased organizational capability can accelerate our margin improvement, we'll make that investment as well.

我想補充一點，我們也在從組織能力的角度來考慮這一點。如果我們在某些​​地方看到提高組織能力可以加速我們利潤率提高的機會，我們也會進行投資。

It really -- we feel incredibly fortunate as a company and organization. And look, the work that team's done is extraordinary. Like -- but every single area of the organization is performing incredibly well. And what that leads us to is how do we think as far forward as we possibly can in every single area and kind of leverage the leadership position that we've and be as thoughtful about our business as possible.

確實，作為一家公司和組織，我們感到非常幸運。看，團隊所做的工作是非凡的。就像——但該組織的每個領域都表現得非常好。這引導我們思考的是，我們如何在每個領域盡可能向前思考，如何利用我們已經擁有的領導地位，並盡可能深思熟慮我們的業務。

Our next question is from the line of Brian Holland with D.A. Davidson.

我們的下一個問題來自 Brian Holland 和 D.A.戴維森。

Just if I triangulate the commentary about some of the throughput initiatives that we're working through, and as we get increasingly flexible with how we think about the existing manufacturing base and adding lines, et cetera. Are there any implications for that or ramifications that flow through the CapEx as we think about the next few years? And maybe with that, I haven't heard any commentary about the change in the free cash flow inflection timing. But, if the throughput initiatives are coming through, if we can add existing -- if we can add more capacity within the existing network, and we've this EBITDA margin upside. Can we get free cash flow positive in fiscal '25?

就像我對我們正在實施的一些吞吐量計劃的評論進行三角測量一樣，隨著我們對現有製造基地和增加生產線等的思考變得越來越靈活。當我們考慮未來幾年時，這是否會對資本支出產生任何影響或影響？也許因此，我還沒有聽到任何關於自由現金流拐點時間變化的評論。但是，如果吞吐量計劃得以實施，如果我們可以增加現有網路——如果我們可以在現有網路中增加更多容量，那麼我們的 EBITDA 利潤率就有上升空間。我們能否在 25 財年實現正自由現金流？

So look, everything that we're doing on that front is obviously starting to pay some huge dividends. And, my goal and the organization's goal is to push out those CapEx investments to the right as far as possible with obviously still maintaining enough capacity to grow the business around 25% rate. So, I think the organization is doing a really, really good job around that.

所以看，我們在這方面所做的一切顯然開始帶來巨大的紅利。而且，我的目標和組織的目標是盡可能將這些資本支出投資推向右側，顯然仍保持足夠的能力以 25% 左右的速度成長業務。所以，我認為該組織在這方面做得非常非常好。

Getting free cash flow positive in '25 would be challenging. We still feel great about '26. I'd say, obviously the operating cash flow has improved dramatically in the last 12 to 18 months. We're sitting on a fair amount of cash right now. As every day goes by, I feel more and more secure that we'll not have to go out and raise additional funds. We may have to, a little bit of a bridge term loan, or something or revolver.

在 25 年實現正自由現金流將具有挑戰性。我們仍然對 26 年感覺很好。我想說，很明顯，在過去 12 到 18 個月裡，營運現金流有了顯著改善。我們現在坐擁大量現金。隨著時間一天天過去，我越來越有安全感，因為我們不必出去籌集額外的資金。我們可能需要一點過渡性定期貸款，或其他東西或左輪手槍。

But that cash flow position, that liquidity position continues to improve. So everything that we're going on from a throughput yield is not only improving margins, but increasing free cash flow. But we continue to feel great about the forecast in that area that we put out.

但現金流狀況、流動性狀況持續改善。因此，我們在吞吐量方面所做的一切不僅是提高利潤率，而且是增加自由現金流。但我們仍然對我們在該領域發布的預測感到滿意。

Appreciate the color, Todd. And then just kind of stepping back and appreciate the appropriately conservative management of your guidance, both near and longer term. But, we talk about the inflection that we're seeing this morning and the earnings power of this model. But obviously, this is a culmination of, at least the past 5 quarters kind of building to this. So when you talk about sort of wanting to be careful here and watching kind of quarter-by-quarter, what particularly keeps you up at night right now with respect to like kind of what you see in Q1 and some sort of anxiety about, hey, we're not sure whether we can sustain this, because clearly we've, some points on the board now of sustained progress to this point.

欣賞這個顏色，托德。然後退後一步，欣賞您對近期和長期指導的適當保守管理。但是，我們討論今天早上看到的變化以及這種模式的盈利能力。但顯然，這是至少過去 5 個季度的努力的頂峰。因此，當您談到想要在這裡保持謹慎並觀看季度報告時，現在特別讓您徹夜難眠的原因是您在第一季度中看到的情況以及某種焦慮，嘿，我們不確定我們是否能夠維持這一點，因為顯然我們已經在董事會上提出了一些關於目前持續進展的觀點。

So I just want to make sure I understand what you were particularly focused on that would create some variability in the models, we look over the next 12 months and certainly beyond?

所以我只是想確保我了解您特別關注的是什麼，這會在模型中產生一些變化，我們會展望未來 12 個月甚至更遠的時間？

Yes. I mean, Brian, I think you've to start with the fact that the, especially on the gross margin and the EBITDA margin, it was a very significant step-up from the trajectory that we had built, as you pointed out, over the last 5 quarters. And so what we want to be is appropriately conservative to say that, maybe not all of that will stick in the subsequent 3 quarters of this year.

是的。我的意思是，布萊恩，我認為你必須先考慮這樣一個事實，特別是在毛利率和EBITDA 利潤率方面，正如你所指出的，與我們建立的軌跡相比，這是一個非常顯著的進步。因此，我們希望採取適當保守的說法，也許並非所有這些都將在今年接下來的三個季度持續下去。

We hope it does and we're trying to plan to make that happen. But the reality is it was a very big step up and we just don't want to plan on everything happening right every quarter until we've demonstrated that over a much longer period of time. This is a new business. This is a completely new technology. Nobody else does what we do. And so, there's more variability in it than you'd normally see in a much more well-established business.

我們希望如此，並且我們正在努力計劃實現這一目標。但現實是，這是一個非常大的進步，我們只是不想計劃每季發生的所有事情，直到我們在更長的時間內證明這一點。這是一項新業務。這是一項全新的技術。沒有人做我們所做的事情。因此，它的可變性比您通常在成熟得多的企業中看到的要多。

But we're getting better and better at it. We're managing it better and better. The top line part of this is the part that, as you know, has been much, much more stable over a long period of time. We're able to predict that really well. In this case, the top line is being driven by our ability to supply it reliably. I'm going to go back to the comment I made earlier, we believe having a very good fill rate, is a very strong indicator of operational performance. And we do not want to get ourselves in a position where we don't have a high fill rate, because that will indicate that we're having some other issues.

但我們在這方面做得越來越好。我們管理得越來越好。如您所知，最上面的部分在很長一段時間內穩定得多。我們能夠很好地預測這一點。在這種情況下，收入是由我們可靠供應的能力所推動的。我要回到我之前發表的評論，我們相信擁有非常好的填充率是營運績效的一個非常強大的指標。我們不想讓自己陷入填充率不高的境地，因為這表明我們還有其他一些問題。

So, we're going to plan the growth to live within the capacity and deliver that strong fill rate.

因此，我們將計劃成長以適應容量並提供強勁的填充率。

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

我們的下一個問題來自 Bill Chappell 和 Truist 的對話。

First kind of question or maybe a little more color on the roll capacity issues that you might run into later this year. Maybe any sense of just -- I'm just trying to understand, as we're this early in the year, it seems, and roll production is fairly straightforward. I'm just trying to understand, one, have you seen a surge in kind of rolls versus bags as new customers have come in? Kind of what's the difference there?

第一類問題，或者可能是關於今年晚些時候您可能會遇到的捲筒容量問題的更多資訊。也許有任何感覺——我只是想理解，因為我們現在還處於今年年初，卷材生產相當簡單。我只是想了解，第一，隨著新客戶的到來，您是否看到卷裝與袋裝的數量激增？那裡有什麼區別？

And then two, do you see there being some other issue? I'm just trying to understand why roll capacity would be tough to do that, or if you're just trying to be conservative, let's move to the back half of the year, just in case?

第二，您認為還有其他問題嗎？我只是想理解為什麼滾動容量很難做到這一點，或者如果你只是想保守一點，讓我們推遲到今年下半年，以防萬一？

Bill, I think as we've said since the beginning, we knew that this is a little bit of a game of leapfrog. You bring up a line it gives you a big surge in the capacity for that particular product form, and you do fine, and then you've to think about bringing up the next line, which might be on bags. In this case, the one we'll bring up now is rolls. But after that, there will be bag lines.

比爾，我想正如我們從一開始就說過的那樣，我們知道這有點像蛙跳遊戲。你推出一條生產線，它可以大幅提高特定產品形式的產能，而且做得很好，然後你必須考慮推出下一條生產線，可能是在袋子上。在這種情況下，我們現在要提到的是卷。但在那之後，就會有人排隊。

And we haven't spaced out just right, or we believe it's just about right. But you're dependent upon bringing that line up at the rate you want on the timing that you want. That means construction has to be complete. You've to do all the line commissioning qualification, then you've to go through a ramp-up curve on the line. And we're at the point now where our growth has been very robust on both rolls and bags.

我們的間隔還沒有恰到好處，或者說我們認為這只是恰到好處。但是您依賴於以您想要的速度在您想要的時間安排該佇列。這意味著施工必須完成。您必須完成所有生產線調試鑑定，然後必須經歷生產線上的上升曲線。現在我們的捲裝和袋裝成長都非常強勁。

So, we're dependent upon the next roll line coming online, and we just don't want to get ahead of ourselves. There's always some variability in the start-up of the line, and we just don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves. The growth has been good on rolls. And we're at the point now where the operational improvements we've made in Bethlehem are helping us build inventory on rolls so that as the net -- as the consumption of rolls continues to grow in Q2 and Q3, we can supply it from the existing facilities in existing line, but we need that line to come on in Ennis. Otherwise, we'll get in a position where we'll start short shipping of rolls, or at a minimum drawing down our inventory and our fill rates will drop.

因此，我們依賴下一條上線的軋製生產線，只是不想超越自己。生產線的啟動過程中總是會存在一些變化，我們只是不想太過超前。卷材的成長勢頭良好。現在，我們在伯利恆所做的營運改善正在幫助我們建立捲材庫存，以便隨著第二季度和第三季度卷材消耗量的持續增長，我們可以從現有線路中的現有設施，但我們需要在恩尼斯開通該線路。否則，我們將陷入這樣的境地：我們將開始短缺卷的運輸，或至少減少我們的庫存，並且我們的填充率將會下降。

So -- it's what it was planned. It's built in the plan all along, it's the way we've been thinking about it.

所以——這就是計劃的。它一直是在計劃中建構的，這也是我們一直在思考的方式。

And I'd say, like you mentioned -- I think in the beginning of question, you mentioned an issue. There is no issue. We just want to make sure we stay within a band that we're comfortable with. And as Billy said, we're running actually slightly ahead from the standpoint of bringing capacity online.

我想說，就像你提到的——我認為在問題開始時，你提到了一個問題。沒有問題。我們只是想確保我們留在一個我們感到舒服的樂團內。正如比利所說，從容量在線的角度來看，我們實際上稍微領先了一些。

Got it. Okay. I'll follow up later on that. So, I guess, just on the second cooler initiative, I mean, certainly, I understand and you got more than enough metrics showing how. As you add a second cooler, you drive velocity. But -- at some point, do you need more SKUs? Do you need more forms or different products to fill those coolers to really keep the velocity going? Or are you fine with kind of the core 4 or 5 SKUs that you've in both coolers just to drive forward?

知道了。好的。稍後我會跟進此事。所以，我想，就第二個更酷的倡議而言，我的意思是，當然，我理解，並且您有足夠的指標來展示如何做到這一點。當您新增第二個冷卻器時，您會提高速度。但是，在某些時候，您是否需要更多 SKU？您是否需要更多的形式或不同的產品來填充這些冷卻器以真正保持速度？或者您同意在兩個冷卻器中放置核心 4 或 5 個 SKU 以推動前進？

Actually, Bill that is actually a really good question and something we've been doing a ton of work around and you're going to see over the next 12 to 18 months. You'll tend to see us basically looking through the portfolio and actually bringing down. We've actually been on a downward path on bringing down complexity and the number of SKUs we've across the portfolio, okay?

事實上，Bill，這確實是一個非常好的問題，我們已經做了很多工作來解決這個問題，您將在接下來的 12 到 18 個月內看到這一點。你往往會看到我們基本上瀏覽了投資組合併實際進行了削減。事實上，在降低整個產品組合的複雜性和 SKU 數量方面，我們一直在走下坡路，好嗎？

So you'll see simplification and you'll see products that are more suited to our kind of future state manufacturing. I want to say future state, it's like within the next 12 months. It will be literally optimized portfolio to make sure it works incredibly well within our overall manufacturing network while balancing out the demand that we need from a consumer standpoint.

因此，您會看到簡化，並且會看到更適合我們未來狀態製造的產品。我想說的是未來的狀態，就像未來12個月。它將是真正優化的產品組合，以確保它在我們的整個製造網路中運作得非常好，同時從消費者的角度平衡我們所需的需求。

So, we're really trying to optimize the entire portfolio to maximize our consumer demand and maximize on profitability. And that -- there's a huge piece of work that we're -- I was talking a little bit earlier about leaning forward and thinking forward on what we need to do with the company. That's exactly the work that we're embarking upon. Now all that being said, I'll say we're having incredible success as we're going into second coolers.

因此，我們確實在努力優化整個產品組合，以最大限度地提高消費者需求並最大限度地提高獲利能力。我們正在做一項艱鉅的工作，我早些時候曾談到向前傾斜並思考我們需要對公司做什麼。這正是我們正在進行的工作。話雖如此，我想說的是，當我們進入第二個冷卻器時，我們取得了令人難以置信的成功。

And one of the things we're doing in second coolers is we're spreading out on some core SKUs to make sure that we've holding capacity through the weekend because the reality is in stores with high velocity, we're still seeing some out of stocks and there's definitely potential for us to build out on some of the core SKUs. We're seeing core SKUs basis -- SKUs that have been around for 15 years, continue to grow at kind of mid-teens rates. That's like really good stuff. On the other piece of it, we're definitely seeing kind of the more specialized parts of the portfolio, some of the little more feature-oriented, benefit-oriented and actually most humanized and most expensive products, we've leading growth rates. So we're kind of seeing it across. And while we don't need many more, we need to optimize what we've. And again, that will go to the work that we're embarking upon.

我們在第二個冷卻器中所做的一件事是，我們正在分散一些核心 SKU，以確保我們在整個週末都能保持產能，因為現實是商店裡的流通量很高，我們仍然看到一些庫存不足，我們絕對有潛力在一些核心SKU 的基礎上進行擴展。我們看到核心 SKU 基礎——已經存在 15 年的 SKU 繼續以十幾歲左右的速度成長。這真是個好東西。另一方面，我們肯定會看到產品組合中更專業的部分，一些更以功能為導向、以利益為導向、實際上最人性化和最昂貴的產品，我們擁有領先的成長率。所以我們看到了這一點。雖然我們不需要更多，但我們需要優化現有的。再說一遍，這將涉及我們正在進行的工作。

Our next question is from the line of Bryan Spillane with Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Bryan Spillane。

I just had a follow-up on the questions around free cash flow and cash. So maybe, Todd, you were -- cash from operations positive this quarter. And it looks like a lot of it is just the profitability, but -- can you talk a little bit about the path to free cash flow, how much of it will be, just the increase in profits versus sourcing from working capital, or I guess, over time CapEx? But just trying to get an understanding of other things we should watch in terms of monitoring free cash flow other than CapEx and profits?

我剛剛對有關自由現金流和現金的問題進行了跟進。托德，也許您本季的營運現金為正。看起來很多只是盈利能力，但是——你能談談自由現金流的路徑嗎？會怎樣？但只是想了解除了資本支出和利潤之外我們在監控自由現金流方面應該關注的其他事情？

Yes. So look, we're trying to manage -- we're still growing obviously at an extraordinary rate. And so, we'll have to continue to spend a fairly heavy amount of CapEx to build out capacity over the next few years. We're trying to manage that in the kind of the 200 to 225 zone. We've done a nice job of doing that. And we're off to a good start this year. So I feel very comfortable that we can manage within that range.

是的。所以看，我們正在努力管理——我們顯然仍在以驚人的速度成長。因此，我們將不得不在未來幾年繼續花費相當大的資本支出來建立產能。我們正在嘗試在 200 到 225 區域內進行管理。我們在這方面做得很好。今年我們有了一個好的開始。所以我對我們能夠在這個範圍內進行管理感到非常放心。

Most -- almost all of where we're going to get to positive free cash flow, to your question, will come from profitability. So as the business expands, as the margins expand, the amount of EBITDA that we're going to throw off is obviously going to increase fairly substantially over the next couple of years, if we're able to execute our plan.

對於你的問題，大多數——幾乎所有我們將獲得正自由現金流的地方都將來自獲利能力。因此，隨著業務的擴展，隨著利潤的擴大，如果我們能夠執行我們的計劃，我們將在未來幾年內放棄的 EBITDA 金額顯然將大幅增加。

So nothing dramatic in working capital. We'll obviously try to manage that as closely as we can, but it really is just the profitability and the scale and the growth of this business that will drive all the vast majority of the operating cash flow.

因此，營運資金方面並沒有什麼戲劇性的改變。顯然，我們會盡力對其進行密切管理，但實際上，只有該業務的獲利能力、規模和成長才會推動絕大多數營運現金流。

All right. Cool. That's super simple. I can follow that. And then the second question just around the convert. Can you remind us just given the share price, just the mechanics, I think we're bumping up close in terms of it being convertible. But just -- could you just remind us all of just the mechanics and what should we be watching for in terms of the share price?

好的。涼爽的。這非常簡單。我可以遵循。然後是關於皈依者的第二個問題。你能提醒我們一下，只要考慮到股價和機制，我認為我們在可轉換方面已經接近尾聲了。但是，您能否提醒我們大家注意一下機制以及我們在股價方面應該關注什麼？

Yes. I mean, look, it's obviously a 5-year convert. We cannot force that conversion on our end for until year 3. So nothing to do from our side. We're at a point where someone actually could force they could convert -- the bondholders could force us to convert, but because of the optionality value of it, no one has any rationale to do it, they could trade out the bond and take a profit, but they'd leave money on the table if they'd force to convert. So that's highly, highly unlikely.

是的。我的意思是，看，這顯然是一個 5 年的轉變。直到第三年，我們才能強制進行這種轉換。我們正處於這樣一個階段：有人實際上可以強迫他們可以轉換——債券持有人可以強迫我們轉換，但由於它的選擇性價值，沒有人有任何理由這樣做，他們可以交易債券並獲得利潤，但如果他們強制轉換，他們就會留下錢。所以這是非常非常不可能的。

There will be no dilution from a GAAP perspective until we get net income well over $100 million. And then just don't forget, we've -- from an economic perspective, we've the CAP call that we put on that protects us economically to about to $120 a share. After that, it will become somewhat dilutive economically.

從 GAAP 角度來看，在我們的淨利潤遠超 1 億美元之前，不會稀釋。然後不要忘記，從經濟角度來看，我們提出了 CAP 呼籲，可以在經濟上保護我們每股 120 美元左右。在那之後，它在經濟上會變得有些稀釋。

But obviously, we're thrilled that we're going to -- look like we might be at the $120 today, if the price stays where it is, but we're sitting tight from our perspective for 2 more years until we kind decide at that point whether we want to force the conversion or not.

但顯然，我們很高興我們將 - 看起來，如果價格保持在現在的水平，我們今天可能會達到 120 美元，但從我們的角度來看，我們將在 2 年內保持冷靜，直到我們做出決定那時我們是否要強制轉換。

All right. Todd. And just maybe if I could sneak one last one in. Just -- are we -- do we have a comfortable level of cash on the balance sheet, just given how fast the business is growing, CapEx needs, just kind of your feeling of comfort level based with the cash you've on the balance sheet now?

好的。托德。也許我可以偷偷地加入最後一項。表上的現金是否舒適？

Yes. I feel really good. Obviously, we've got plenty of cash for this year. I think there's a very good chance -- we've a good chance of having enough cash for next year. And then obviously, we think we're going to be free cash flow positive in '26. And look, based on the amount of EBITDA we're driving right now, if we do need a small amount of capital in '25 or '26, clearly, we've enough profitability to borrow that pretty effectively.

是的。我感覺真的很好。顯然，我們今年有足夠的現金。我認為這是一個很好的機會——我們很有可能為明年擁有足夠的現金。顯然，我們認為 26 年自由現金流將會為正。看看，根據我們現在正在推動的 EBITDA 金額，如果我們在 25 年或 26 年確實需要少量資金，顯然，我們有足夠的盈利能力來非常有效地借入資金。

Our next question is from the line of Robert Moskow with TD Cowen.

我們的下一個問題來自 Robert Moskow 和 TD Cowen。

I think I've asked this question in a different way last quarter, but I'm going to try to do it this way this time. Do you've any data on what progress you're making on shifting your mix to main meal versus toppers. You said 48%, does that demonstrate any progress? And then, if you fast forward like a few years from now, what does success look like? Does it have to be significantly higher to 2027 goals, or -- to what extent does it matter?

我想上個季度我已經以不同的方式提出了這個問題，但這次我將嘗試這樣做。您是否有任何數據可以說明您在將組合改為主餐與食材方面取得了哪些進展？你說48%，這表示有進步嗎？然後，如果你快轉幾年後，成功會是什麼樣子？它是否必須顯著高於 2027 年的目標，或者——這有多重要？

So, hey Rob, so let me start with the way -- here's what we're seeing in the business, right? So from a penetration standpoint, we're very consistent on the penetration growth that we're consistently seeing. And the people that we're building the most with, that are outpacing, are basically those super heavy, heavy or the people that we refer to as the HIPPOHs, right? So that means that, that naturally basically pushing buy rate.

那麼，嘿，羅布，讓我從方式開始——這就是我們在行業中看到的，對吧？因此，從滲透率的角度來看，我們一直看到的滲透率成長非常一致。我們與之合作最多、超越的人基本上都是那些超重、重的人或我們所說的 HIPPOH 人，對嗎？這意味著，這自然基本上會推動購買率。

That group is really the one who pushes the buy rate forward. So, the way we've basically planned the majority of this is, it's going to be a penetration focus, but we want to make sure that the -- that within that penetration piece, we're getting a lot of those super heavy and heavy households. They're coming in and pushing the buy rate forward. We definitely have some expansion in buy rate. We're consistently seeing that.

該群體確實是推動購買率前進的人。所以，我們基本上計劃的大部分內容是，這將是一個滲透焦點，但我們希望確保——在那個滲透部分中，我們得到了很多超重型和重戶。他們進來並推高了購買率。我們肯定會擴大購買率。我們一直看到這一點。

And then we've so many data points now that are starting to show where people are not just buying ones, they're buying 2s and now they're starting to buy 6 packs, like we're looking at like where people are buying bulk packs of our products. And I think that clearly speaks to this ideology of this is not a topper. This is something that is a main meal for my dog. This is a replacement.

然後我們現在有很多數據點開始顯示人們不只是購買一個，他們購買 2 件，現在他們開始購買 6 件裝，就像我們正在研究人們在哪裡購買一樣我們的產品散裝。我認為這清楚地說明了這種意識形態，這不是一個禮帽。這是我的狗的主餐。這是一個替代品。

So you got the super heavy, heavy staff, you've got everything that we're doing around selling multipacks, and you're going to see more and more of these multipacks come out there. And we feel like that answers, like that demonstrates to consumers. And it really answers any questions that we've around how this is not a topper, it is a main meal.

因此，您擁有超級繁重的員工，您擁有我們圍繞銷售合裝包所做的一切，並且您將看到越來越多的合裝包上市。我們覺得這個答案就像是向消費者展示的。它確實回答了我們關於這不是一道禮帽而是一頓主餐的任何問題。

Okay. Scott, that explains the marketing. But like I guess my question is, quantifiably, does it -- does that number have to go higher to hit your 2027 goals? Or could you get there without it going higher?

好的。斯科特，這解釋了行銷。但就像我想的那樣，我的問題是，從數量上來說，這個數字是否必須更高才能實現您的 2027 年目標？或者你能在不升高的情況下到達那裡嗎？

Rob, we look at this pretty closely because, ultimately, if you're going to drive 25% growth in a simplistic form, a portion of it is going to come from penetration, a portion of it is going to come from buy rate. And the way we think the model works, is low 20% growth on the penetration. That gets us to our 20 million households. And you've to have, call it, low to mid-single digits growth in the buy rate in order for that to work.

Rob，我們非常仔細地研究這個問題，因為最終，如果你要以簡單的形式推動 25% 的成長，其中一部分將來自滲透率，一部分將來自購買率。我們認為該模型的運作方式是滲透率成長 20%。這讓我們了解了 2000 萬個家庭。購買率必須有低至中個位數的成長才能發揮作用。

So the sum of those 2 should be 25%, 26% kind of number. And the mix is not particularly important. Obviously, you want to have some of both, but we wanted really to be led by household penetration being in the low to mid-20s. That's the range that we're looking for. So the direct answer to your question is you do need to see buying rate continue to grow, but it needs to grow at a low to mid-single digits.

所以這兩者的總和應該是 25%、26% 之類的數字。而且混合並不是特別重要。顯然，你希望兩者兼得，但我們真正希望以 20 歲左右的家庭滲透率為主導。這就是我們正在尋找的範圍。因此，您問題的直接答案是您確實需要看到購買率繼續增長，但需要以低至中個位數的速度增長。

Our next question is from the line of Michael Lavery with Piper Sandler.

我們的下一個問題來自 Michael Lavery 和 Piper Sandler。

I just wanted to come back to some of the new technologies you've touched on, and I understand that they're in process and you probably don't want to be too specific. But can you just help us understand, is it more -- would it be retrofitting equipment or replacing it? Or is it like a software upgrade that can increase speeds? Or maybe just some way to have it in our heads the right way. And then a little bit of a sense of the magnitude of cost. And is that already contemplated in things like potentially, I don't know if the timing could be as soon as this year, but would it be in this year's CapEx? How do we think about just where it fits from a magnitude and timing of cost piece of that as well?

我只是想回顧一下您提到的一些新技術，我知道它們正在開發中，您可能不想說得太具體。但您能否幫助我們理解，是否更多－是改造設備還是更換設備？還是像軟體升級一樣可以提高速度？或者也許只是某種方式讓我們以正確的方式記住它。然後對成本的大小有一點認識。這是否已經在潛在的事情中考慮過，我不知道時間是否最早會在今年，但會在今年的資本支出中嗎？我們如何從成本的大小和時間角度考慮它的適合位置？

So Michael, I'll handle the first part and either Todd and/or Billy can touch on the second part from a capital standpoint. So -- the very first thing that we're doing and the single biggest focus is to optimize the current manufacturing footprint that we've and the lines that we've. And there is a lot of opportunity there, and we -- within the results that we're showing in this quarter and that we've planned over the next 12 to 18 months, you'll continue to see really nice progress in that area.

邁克爾，我將處理第一部分，托德和/或比利可以從資本的角度討論第二部分。因此，我們正在做的第一件事和最大的重點是優化我們目前的製造足跡和生產線。那裡有很多機會，我們在本季度展示的結果以及我們在未來 12 到 18 個月內計劃的結果中，您將繼續看到該領域取得了非常好的進展。

Secondarily, there are small retrofits to existing lines that we've, and we've done enough work on where we know that there can be increased productivity and throughput levels on those lines. And then third, there is a next generation of technology that we've touched on. We're 100% confident it is going to work. It's just a question of when.

其次，我們對現有生產線進行了小幅改造，並且我們已經做了足夠的工作，我們知道這些生產線可以提高生產力和吞吐量水準。第三，我們已經談到了下一代科技。我們 100% 相信它會發揮作用。這只是時間問題。

And we -- and I'll turn it over to Todd from a capital standpoint. But we're basically going to work this out over the next kind of periods of time here in the not distant future, where we'll look at what's happening on the throughput we're getting and then the new technologies. And we will layer these things in at the appropriate levels, but we've budgeted this very, very conservatively too.

我們——我將從資本的角度將其交給托德。但我們基本上會在不遠的將來的下一段時間解決這個問題，我們將看看我們所獲得的吞吐量以及新技術的情況。我們將把這些東西放在適當的水平上，但我們的預算也非常非常保守。

So from a CapEx perspective, this new technology, as you know, will be the seventh line that we've on the Bethlehem campus. We believe it will be ready to start producing product sometime in the first half of 2025. It absolutely -- we're spending money on it now. It's absolutely part of the $210 million capital guidance we've given the year. A big chunk of the spend on this new technology will be this year.

因此，從資本支出的角度來看，如您所知，這項新技術將成為我們在伯利恆園區的第七條生產線。我們相信它將在 2025 年上半年的某個時候準備好開始生產產品。這絕對是我們今年給出的 2.1 億美元資本指引的一部分。這項新技術的大部分支出將在今年進行。

There will be some in next year as well, but a good chunk of it is this year. As we look forward, and if it proves to be successful, we'll use this technology on new lines in places like Ennis, as we build out bag capacity. And then potentially, depending on how big of a margin improvement, we've with this new technology, we'll look at potentially retrofitting existing lines as well, but that's kind of TBD.

明年也會有一些，但其中很大一部分是今年。展望未來，如果證明成功，我們將在恩尼斯等地的新生產線上使用這項技術，同時擴大袋子容量。然後，根據這項新技術的利潤率改善有多大，我們也會考慮對現有生產線進行改造，但這是一種待定。

Yes. I just want to amplify that we view manufacturing as a core competency for us and a significant competitive advantage. And so, both Scott and Todd referenced a significant investment in the new technology. But as Scott indicated, there are other pieces, too, that are less significant than the seventh line in Bethlehem that we're implementing as we go along. The ultimate goal of all of this, though, is to end up in a situation where we're delivering a significant improvement in the return on invested capital for our shareholders. And we're also delivering improvements in the quality that the consumer gets.

是的。我只是想強調，我們將製造視為我們的核心競爭力和顯著的競爭優勢。因此，斯科特和托德都提到了對新技術的重大投資。但正如斯科特所指出的，還有其他一些作品，沒有我們正在實施的伯利恆第七行那麼重要。然而，所有這一切的最終目標是最終實現我們為股東的投資資本回報率帶來顯著改善的情況。我們也不斷提高消費者獲得的品質。

And we think, if we do those things well, it will be very, very difficult for somebody to match our execution and our capability.

我們認為，如果我們把這些事情做得很好，那麼其他人將非常非常難以與我們的執行和能力相匹配。

Okay. That's great color. And just a quick follow-up on the commodity color. You had, I think, about almost a 400 basis point benefit there. Anything in particular driving that?

好的。那顏色真棒。並且只是對商品顏色進行快速跟進。我認為，你在那裡獲得了大約 400 個基點的收益。有什麼特別的推動力嗎？

And I think the chicken processing plant in Ennis -- not only is going to get more favorable as volumes build, but I think has pricing that's a little bit more stable. So would it be right to think chicken isn't a big swing factor there? Or is that favorable as well?

我認為恩尼斯的雞肉加工廠不僅會隨著產量的增加而變得更加有利，我認為定價也會更加穩定。那麼，認為雞肉不是重要的搖擺因素是正確的嗎？或者說這也是有利的？

Yes. So obviously, as we talked about on the call back in February, we do have some deflation. We're about 75% covered now. So obviously, we've got risk and opportunity for about 1/4 of our input costs at this point, but we feel very good about where we're from an input cost perspective. You mentioned chicken processing. It's going really, really well.

是的。顯然，正如我們在二月的電話會議上談到的那樣，我們確實存在一些通貨緊縮。現在我們的覆蓋率約為 75%。顯然，目前我們的投入成本約 1/4 存在風險和機遇，但從投入成本的角度來看，我們對自己所處的位置感覺非常好。你提到了雞肉加工。一切進展得非常非常順利。

I mean, it was a headwind last year as we were -- as we brought it up as there just was not enough volume going through that facility by design, as Ennis grows in volume over time. But with Ennis being close to 25% of our capacity this year. It's starting to -- the economics of that are improving greatly this year, and they'll continue to improve over the next couple of years. We obviously yield -- Billy in his comments has mentioned, what a fantastic start to the year we've had in yield.

我的意思是，去年這對我們來說是一個逆風——正如我們提出的那樣，因為設計時沒有足夠的流量通過該設施，而隨著時間的推移，恩尼斯的流量不斷增長。但今年 Ennis 已接近我們容量的 25%。今年，其經濟效益已經開始顯著改善，並且在未來幾年內將繼續改善。我們顯然有所收益——比利在他的評論中提到，今年我們的收益有一個多麼好的開始。

All the OEE projects we've, particularly in Bethlehem and also in Ennis have been tremendous. Our Kitchens South facility is operating really, really well right now. We're -- we could not be more pleased with what's going on there. And then we obviously had some a little bit of pricing in Q1 that has benefited. That's the last piece of that, that does not persist for the remainder of the years. But those are the components of it.

我們所有的 OEE 項目，特別是在伯利恆和恩尼斯的項目都是巨大的。我們的廚房南設施現在運作得非常非常好。我們對那裡發生的事情感到非常滿意。然後，我們顯然在第一季的一些定價方面受益匪淺。這是最後一部分，在接下來的幾年裡它不會持續存在。但這些是它的組成部分。

Our final question for today comes from the line of Jon Andersen with William Blair.

我們今天的最後一個問題來自喬恩·安徒生和威廉·布萊爾的台詞。

Mine is on -- I've a 2-parter on media. I think you mentioned in the prepared remarks that media was about 14% of sales in the quarter. Can you remind us what your kind of plan for the year is, and talk a little bit about the cadence there? And then I think I also heard maybe Billy mentioned that the customer acquisition costs have improved of late. Could you discuss a little bit how volatile that CAC figure is, has been in the past, and perhaps why you think you're seeing current improvement?

我的正在播放——我在媒體上有一個二人組。我想您在準備好的發言中提到媒體約佔本季銷售額的 14%。您能否提醒我們今年的計劃是什麼，並談談那裡的節奏？然後我想我可能也聽到比利提到客戶獲取成本最近有所改善。您能否討論一下過去 CAC 數字的波動程度，以及為什麼您認為目前有所改善？

Yes, I'll start off, and I'll let Scott talk about the CAC. Yes, about 14% of net sales this year grew about 23%, 24% year-over-year. That percent of net is down year-over-year. So, we're starting to get a little bit of leverage in the P&L from media. Our expectation is it will grow relatively with sales for the full year.

是的，我要開始了，我會讓 Scott 談談 CAC。是的，今年淨銷售額約成長14%，年增約23%、24%。該淨值百分比年減。因此，我們開始從媒體獲得一些損益表的槓桿作用。我們的預期是它將隨著全年銷售額的成長而相對成長。

So that last year, it was around 11%. We think it will be approximately 11% or slightly less this year as we've talked about, volume is too strong.

去年這個數字約為 11%。正如我們所討論的，我們認為今年的增幅約為 11% 或略少，因為成交量太強勁了。

We'll potentially look at pulling back a little bit of media spend to pull things off a bit, and we continue to monitor that very, very closely. From a cadence perspective, we'll spend fairly heavily in Q2. But from first half, second half, it will be a little bit more balanced than we normally have. So more in the first half, but less as a percentage of than we've historically had.

我們可能會考慮削減一點媒體支出，以實現一些目標，我們將繼續非常非常密切地監控這種情況。從節奏的角度來看，我們將在第二季投入相當多的資金。但從上半場、下半場來看，會比平常更平衡一些。上半場的數量更多，但所佔的百分比低於我們歷史上的水平。

I'll let Scott talk about the CAC.

我會讓 Scott 談談 CAC。

Yes. I'll start by saying when we plan this out over many years, we did not anticipate that we'd be able to keep CAC as stable as it has been. It's been really -- it's been pretty amazing to be able to like years and years in, to have a similar CAC level. Typically, the deeper you get into your TAM, your total addressable market, typically the higher your CAC go up.

是的。首先我要說的是，當我們多年來計劃這一點時，我們並沒有預料到我們能夠保持 CAC 如此穩定。多年來，能夠擁有類似的 CAC 水平，真是太棒了。通常，您對 TAM（您的總目標市場）的了解越深，您的 CAC 就越高。

Now it's -- to even start talking about CAC from a packaged goods organization, a little bit unusual. But we do think about it that way and track it that way. So we're getting further and further into our theoretical TAM, which we watch and continues to expand a little bit every year also. We see our CAC being incredibly stable. The only time we really saw volatility in our CAC, it's been very range-bound. The only time we really push towards the top, top of the range and stay there for a bit was during like kind of the unwinding of COVID, and along with the really significant price increases that we've put through.

現在，甚至從包裝商品組織開始談論 CAC，有點不尋常。但我們確實以這種方式思考並跟踪它。因此，我們對理論 TAM 的研究越來越深入，我們每年都會關注並繼續擴展一點。我們看到我們的 CAC 非常穩定。我們唯一一次真正看到 CAC 的波動，是在區間內波動。我們唯一一次真正推動價格範圍的頂部並在那裡停留一段時間是在新冠疫情解除期間，以及我們經歷的真正顯著的價格上漲期間。

It took a while for that to settle consumers to get comfortable and then for the CAC to return kind of into those normal levels. Now one piece on that, that I think is helpful. When we look at not only the communication and the advertising, the performance is extraordinary on the creative. But the other piece is on the media planning piece, there's incredible work that goes into that and we continue to press into some new areas. And some people -- I've people coming and go, "Oh, I saw one of your ads for the first time, you were on golf or you were on some type of sports."

消費者花了一段時間才適應，然後 CAC 才恢復到正常水平。現在我認為這是有幫助的一篇文章。當我們不僅專注於傳播和廣告時，創意方面的表現也是非凡的。但另一部分是關於媒體策劃部分，這方面有令人難以置信的工作，我們將繼續進入一些新領域。有些人——我有人來來去去，“哦，我第一次看到你的一個廣告，你在打高爾夫球，或者你在做某種類型的運動。”

We continue to kind of press into these new areas, and we're actually seeing in some of them better performance than we've in existing areas, which leads us to believe that as we continue to expand into these new media channels and using some of these new techniques and even technologies that we've a really nice runway ahead of us to continue to keep CAC within that range.

我們繼續向這些新領域進軍，我們實際上看到其中一些領域的表現比我們現有領域更好，這使我們相信，隨著我們繼續擴展到這些新媒體管道並使用一些憑藉這些新技術，甚至技術，我們前面有一條非常好的跑道，可以繼續將CAC 保持在這個範圍內。

And let me just add to that, Jon, is one of the things that we've seen is, as we've grown the visibility of our retail presence, meaning second fridges, larger fridges, end cap fridges and whatnot, it does help with the efficiency of the media, meaning advertising that you're spending against a business that has a very high level of retail visibility is much more efficient than if we were spending the media against small fridges in the middle of the aisle.

讓我補充一點，喬恩，我們看到的一件事是，隨著我們零售業務的知名度不斷提高，這意味著第二台冰箱、更大的冰箱、端蓋冰箱等等，它確實有幫助憑藉媒體的效率，這意味著您針對零售知名度非常高的企業投放廣告比我們針對過道中間的小冰箱投放媒體要有效得多。

And so, the significant improvement in second and third fridges and end caps and fridge islands and some retailers, is helping maintain that CAC at a very, very effective or efficient level.

因此，第二台和第三台冰箱、端蓋、冰箱島以及一些零售商的顯著改進正在幫助將 CAC 保持在非常非常有效或高效的水平。

Thank you. At this time, I'll turn the floor back to further remarks from management.

謝謝。這次，我將請管理層發表進一步的評論。

Great. Thank you. I'll leave you with one thought. This is from an unknown author. But if you want the best seat in the house, you'll have to move the dog. To which I'd add, all you have to do is make a move for the fridge where Freshpet is kept and the dog will gladly vacate the seat. Thank you very much for your interest.

偉大的。謝謝。我留給你一個想法。這是來自一位不知名的作者。但如果你想要家裡最好的座位，你就必須把狗搬走。我要補充的是，你所要做的就是移開存放 Freshpet 的冰箱，狗狗就會很高興地騰出座位。非常感謝您的關注。

This will conclude today's conference. You may now disconnect your lines at this time. We thank you for your participation.

今天的會議到此結束。此時您可以斷開線路。我們感謝您的參與。