Jack in the Box Inc (JACK) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Jack Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Earnings Call. I would now like to welcome Chris Brandon, Vice President of Investor Relations to begin the call. Chris, over to you.

感謝您的耐心等待，歡迎參加 Jack 第四季和 2023 年全年財報電話會議。我現在歡迎投資者關係副總裁克里斯布蘭登開始電話會議。克里斯，交給你了。

Thanks, operator, and good afternoon, everyone. We appreciate you joining today's conference call, highlighting results from our fourth quarter and fiscal year 2023. With me today are Chief Executive Officer, Darin Harris; and for his first earnings call since joining Jack in the Box in early August, our new Chief Financial Officer, Brian Scott. Following their prepared remarks, we will be happy to take questions from our covering sell-side analysts. Dawn Hooper, Jack in the Box Senior Vice President and Controller, will also be joining us for the Q&A portion of the call.

謝謝接線員，大家下午好。我們感謝您參加今天的電話會議，重點介紹我們第四季度和 2023 財年的業績。今天與我在一起的有首席執行官達林·哈里斯 (Darin Harris)；我們的新任財務長 Brian Scott 也參加了自 8 月初加入 Jack in the Box 以來的首次財報電話會議。在他們準備好的發言之後，我們將很樂意回答我們的賣方分析師的問題。 Jack in the Box 資深副總裁兼財務長 Dawn Hooper 也將參加我們電話會議的問答部分。

Note that during both our discussion and Q&A, we may refer to non-GAAP items. Please refer to the non-GAAP reconciliations provided in the earnings release, which is available on our Investor Relations website at jackinthebox.com. We will also be making forward-looking statements based on current information and judgments that reflect management's outlook for the future. However, actual results may differ materially from these expectations because of business risks. We, therefore, consider the safe harbor statement in the earnings release and the cautionary statements in our most recent 10-K to be part of our discussion. Material risk factors as well as information relating to company operations are detailed in our most recent 10-K, 10-Q and other public documents filed with the SEC and are all available on our Investor Relations website.

請注意，在我們的討論和問答中，我們可能會提及非 GAAP 項目。請參閱收益報告中提供的非 GAAP 調節表，可在我們的投資者關係網站 jackinthebox.com 上找到。我們也將根據當前資訊和判斷做出前瞻性陳述，反映管理階層對未來的展望。然而，由於商業風險，實際結果可能與這些預期有重大差異。因此，我們認為收益發布中的安全港聲明和我們最近的 10-K 中的警示聲明是我們討論的一部分。我們向 SEC 提交的最新 10-K、10-Q 和其他公開文件詳細介紹了重大風險因素以及與公司運營相關的信息，並且均可在我們的投資者關係網站上獲取。

Lastly, I'd like to provide an update on some upcoming conferences and events. We will be attending the Barclays Conference in New York City on Wednesday, November 29, as well as the Wolfe Research and Truist events during the first week of December. In addition to the ICR Conference in early January, we also recently announced our 2024 Investor Day, which will take place Wednesday, January 24. We hope you will be available to attend our live webcast and, for those attending in person, we look forward to hosting you at our Restaurant Support Center Headquarters in San Diego.

最後，我想提供一些即將舉行的會議和活動的最新情況。我們將參加 11 月 29 日星期三在紐約市舉行的巴克萊會議，以及 12 月第一周的 Wolfe Research 和 Truist 活動。除了 1 月初的 ICR 會議外，我們最近還宣布了 2024 年投資者日，將於 1 月 24 日星期三舉行。我們希望您能夠參加我們的網絡直播，對於親自參加的人，我們期待您的參與我們位於聖地牙哥的餐廳支援中心總部接待您。

And with that, I would like to turn the call over to our Chief Executive Officer, Darin Harris.

接下來，我想將電話轉給我們的執行長達林·哈里斯 (Darin Harris)。

Thank you, Chris. Before I recap our fourth quarter and full year, I want to take a moment to welcome Brian Scott to Jack in the Box and Del Taco. In just his first couple of months on the job, Brian has proven his ability to get up to speed quickly on both our business and the industry, as well as earn the respect of our team and franchisees. He is an outstanding addition to our leadership team, and I am excited for you to get to know Brian more in the coming weeks and months and learn about how he will enhance our strategy and support our growth ambition.

謝謝你，克里斯。在回顧我們的第四季和全年業績之前，我想花點時間歡迎 Brian Scott 加入 Jack in the Box 和 Del Taco。在上任的頭幾個月裡，布萊恩證明了他有能力快速了解我們的業務和產業，並贏得我們團隊和加盟商的尊重。他是我們領導團隊的傑出補充，我很高興您能在未來幾週和幾個月內更多地了解布萊恩，並了解他將如何增強我們的策略並支持我們的成長雄心。

During the quarter, I was thrilled to announce the hiring of Tom Rose as the new Brand President of Del Taco, and we look forward to having him participate in our Investor Day in late January. Tom and I have known each other for over 20 years, and we have a deep level of trust. We have shared experiences and backgrounds as former franchisees. Tom's operational expertise and his ability to connect with franchisees is something that will benefit both brands and our culture greatly. He has already made an impact by advancing our strategic initiatives and identifying new opportunities for operational execution, sales growth and profitability for Del Taco.

在本季度，我很高興地宣布聘請 Tom Rose 擔任 Del Taco 的新品牌總裁，我們期待他參加 1 月底的投資者日活動。湯姆和我相識已有 20 多年，我們有著深厚的信任。作為前特許經營商，我們擁有共同的經驗和背景。湯姆的營運專業知識以及與特許經營商聯繫的能力將使品牌和我們的文化受益匪淺。他已經透過推進我們的策略計劃並為 Del Taco 的營運執行、銷售成長和盈利能力尋找新機會而產生了影響。

We also made some recent and notable changes to the marketing function at Del, highlighted by the addition of Sarah McAloon, who will join our executive leadership team as Senior VP and Chief Administrative Officer, where she will lead marketing and support the shared services teams. Sarah was a trusted partner of mine while we worked together to turn around CiCi's Pizza. I had the pleasure to witness her ability to drive 17 straight quarters of same-store sales growth, clarify the brand position and connect with franchisees.

最近，我們也對Del 的行銷職能做出了一些顯著的改變，其中最突出的是Sarah McAloon 的加入，她將加入我們的執行領導團隊，擔任高級副總裁兼首席行政官，負責領導行銷並為共享服務團隊提供支援。當我們共同努力扭轉 CiCi’s Pizza 的局面時，Sarah 是我值得信賴的合作夥伴。我很高興見證她有能力推動同店銷售連續 17 個季度成長、明確品牌定位並與加盟商建立聯繫。

Part of the new approach will also include increased involvement of Jack's CMO and Chief Digital Officer, Ryan Ostrom, who will now support Tom and Sarah with the Del Taco brand strategy, in addition to his regular role leading Jack marketing and digital for both brands. Having this type of strategic leadership now supporting Del Taco will immediately accelerate our business and support our combined growth strategy.

新方法的一部分還包括傑克的首席行銷長兼首席數位長瑞安·奧斯特羅姆(Ryan Ostrom)的更多參與，他現在除了領導傑克兩個品牌的營銷和數位化工作之外，還將支持湯姆和莎拉的Del Taco品牌策略。現在擁有這種類型的策略領導力來支持 Del Taco 將立即加速我們的業務並支持我們的全面成長策略。

Shifting to our fourth quarter and full year performance, we achieved several important milestones in 2023, starting with positive net new unit growth, a growing new restaurant pipeline, strong new restaurant sales, fantastic early success in opening 2 new markets, and significant improvements in franchisee profitability and 4-wall economics. We also made great progress refranchising Del Taco restaurants, as we move assertively to an asset-light model. Entering 2024, I am more encouraged than ever that we have the right people and strategy in place to continue driving meaningful results and shareholder value.

轉向我們第四季度和全年的業績，我們在2023 年實現了幾個重要的里程碑，首先是新單位淨增長、新餐廳管道不斷增加、新餐廳銷售強勁、在開拓2 個新市場方面取得了巨大的早期成功，以及在加盟商盈利能力和四壁經濟。隨著我們堅定地轉向輕資產模式，我們在 Del Taco 餐廳的重新特許經營方面也取得了巨大進展。進入 2024 年，我比以往任何時候都更加受到鼓舞，因為我們擁有合適的人員和適當的策略來繼續推動有意義的成果和股東價值。

We continue to strike a good balance between premium value and add-on offers that have strengthened our performance in the last few years. As we look into 2024, we will continue to find the right offers for our guests on a limited budget, especially through our digital offers. While we see strength from our higher income guest, this lower income segment remains pressured and an opportunity for us to find the right value in breakfast offering.

我們繼續在超值和附加優惠之間取得良好的平衡，這增強了我們過去幾年的業績。展望 2024 年，我們將繼續在有限的預算內為客人找到合適的優惠，特別是透過我們的數位優惠。雖然我們看到了高收入客人的實力，但這個低收入群體仍然面臨壓力，這也是我們在早餐供應中找到合適價值的機會。

Our focus on employing culturally relevant messaging at Jack through fiscal 2023 led us to team up with personalities such as Mark Hamill and Ryan Reynolds earlier in the year, and more recently, Snoop Dogg. We marked the 10-year anniversary of the Munchie Meal platform by introducing the limited addition, Snoop's Munchie Meal, a very successful platform that drove sales and generated plenty of positive buzz for the brand.

到 2023 財年，我們一直致力於在 Jack 中運用與文化相關的信息，這促使我們在今年早些時候與 Mark Hamill 和 Ryan Reynolds 等名人合作，最近又與 Snoop Dogg 合作。為了紀念 Munchie Meal 平台成立 10 週年，我們推出了限量版產品 Snoop's Munchie Meal，這是一個非常成功的平台，推動了銷售並為該品牌帶來了大量積極的關注。

As part of Jack's CRAVED marketing strategy, we will continue to focus on relevant partnerships where they make sense, as well as showcasing Jack Box as his own celebrity. And on that note, some of you might have seen last week that Jack Box was included in PEOPLE's famed Sexiest Man Alive issue. Now with his own inaugural category, which is the Classic Jack Box, he has claimed PEOPLE's Sexiest Jack award, becoming the first restaurant mascot to join this prestigious group, thanks to his many loyal fans who launched a petition to get him nominated. Needless to say, it's been a lot of fun.

作為傑克渴望的營銷策略的一部分，我們將繼續關注有意義的相關合作夥伴關係，並將傑克·博克斯展示為他自己的名人。就這一點而言，你們中的一些人可能已經看到上週《人物》雜誌著名的“最性感男人”特刊收錄了傑克·博克斯。現在，憑藉他自己的首個類別“經典傑克盒”，他獲得了《人物》雜誌最性感傑克獎，成為第一個加入這個享有盛譽的團體的餐廳吉祥物，這要感謝他的許多忠實粉絲發起請願活動，要求他獲得提名。不用說，這很有趣。

During the quarter, we promoted new and returning fan-favorite menu items at Jack, including a Double Bacon Sourdough Jack, Sauced and Loaded Potato Wedges, a Breakfast Taco, updated combinations of the Fan Favs Box, as well as the addition of 3 new Iced Creamaccinos. We experienced positive sales in all dayparts except breakfast. And while much of the comp growth was price-related, our late-night daypart had its fourth consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year transactions. Breakfast continues to represent an opportunity for us as customer behaviors, promotional rollovers and aggressive competitive discounting has presented challenges.

本季度，我們在 Jack 推廣了新的和回歸的粉絲最喜歡的菜單項目，包括雙培根酸麵團傑克、醬裝薯角、早餐玉米卷、粉絲最愛盒的更新組合，以及添加 3 個新菜單冰淇淋。除早餐外，我們在所有時段都經歷了積極的銷售。雖然大部分的同比增長與價格相關，但我們的深夜時段連續第四個季度實現同比交易量增長。早餐對我們來說仍然是一個機會，但客戶行為、促銷展期和激進的競爭性折扣給我們帶來了挑戰。

For 2024, our promotions at Jack will continue to focus on innovation plus beverage and snack attachment to support the hook and build strategy, while continuing the success we have had with premium products and balancing it with value messaging to drive frequency. Jack's digital orders continue to increase materially, currently at 12% of sales. We will continue to support our restaurants and franchisees to grow their digital business, eventually reaching our next goal of 20%. Digital carryout continued its momentum, surpassing digital delivery growth for the third straight quarter. Our first-party channels, which include app and web ordering, outpaced third-party and rose 36% higher than a year ago. We are gaining traction, which allows us to both capture important guest data and utilize an efficient method of providing compelling offers to guests. Our Jack Pack rewards program, another avenue to collect data and guest insights, increased membership by 23% versus quarter 3 and achieved plus 90% growth rate in 2023 versus 2022.

2024 年，我們在Jack 的促銷活動將繼續專注於創新以及飲料和零食附件，以支持吸引和構建策略，同時繼續我們在優質產品方面取得的成功，並將其與價值信息相平衡，以提高頻率。 Jack 的數位訂單持續大幅成長，目前佔銷售額的 12%。我們將繼續支持我們的餐廳和特許經營商發展他們的數位業務，最終實現我們下一個 20% 的目標。數位結轉持續保持成長勢頭，連續第三個季度超過數位交付成長。我們的第一方通路（包括應用程式和網路訂購）的表現超過了第三方，比一年前成長了 36%。我們正在獲得吸引力，這使我們能夠捕獲重要的客人數據並利用有效的方法為客人提供有吸引力的優惠。我們的 Jack Pack 獎勵計劃是收集數據和賓客見解的另一個途徑，會員數量較第三季度增加了 23%，2023 年較 2022 年實現了 90% 以上的增長率。

For Del Taco, during the first half of Q4, we promoted Chicken Taco Packs plus Carnitas. And during the last 6 weeks, we promoted Barbecue Brisket, a premium platform which was well received by guests for its taste and quality. We were also encouraged by the outperformance of the breakfast daypart. Digital grew to 12% of sales and operating hours improved yet again but still have more opportunity to regain their pre-COVID levels. New sign-ups for our Del Yes! rewards program increased 11% in Q4, ending the year with over 1.6 million members. Sales contribution from the loyalty program continues to improve, increasing 5.8% from the prior quarter. And through our newly launched member engagement features, guests can now redeem faster, with improved point level tiers to help retention and frequency.

對於 Del Taco，在第四季度上半年，我們推廣了雞肉炸玉米餅包和卡尼塔。在過去的六週裡，我們推廣了燒烤牛胸肉，這是一個優質平台，因其口味和品質而受到客人的好評。早餐時段的出色表現也讓我們感到鼓舞。數位化銷售額成長至 12%，營業時間再次改善，但仍有更多機會恢復新冠疫情前的水準。我們的 Del Yes! 的新註冊！獎勵計劃在第四季度增長了 11%，截至年底會員人數超過 160 萬人。忠誠度計畫的銷售貢獻持續改善，較上一季成長 5.8%。透過我們新推出的會員參與功能，客人現在可以更快地兌換，並透過改進的積分等級來幫助保留和頻率。

We have made significant progress on our CRAVED marketing strategy in 2023. And I'm excited about what the new leadership at Del Taco will bring to aggressively compete in the QSR and Mexican category, while we continue to execute on proven sales fundamentals at Jack. I'm impressed with our operators' ability to consistently deliver a better and faster guest experience since launching initiatives to support our strategic pillar of driving operational excellence. We have seen notable improvement in staffing our restaurants with the right people, training team members to execute against elevated standards, and simplifying our operating systems. As a result, I was particularly pleased to see that all dayparts improved speed of service with Jack delivering the fifth consecutive quarter of at least 10 seconds of year-over-year improvement. Service alerts for Jack in the Box also improved compared to Q3, and we were particularly encouraged to see improvement in our digital execution as we prioritize reducing friction for our guests via this channel.

我們在 2023 年所渴望的行銷策略上取得了重大進展。我很高興 Del Taco 的新領導層將在 QSR 和墨西哥類別中積極競爭，同時我們將繼續執行 Jack 成熟的銷售基礎。自從推出支持我們推動卓越營運的策略支柱的舉措以來，我們的營運商始終如一地提供更好、更快的賓客體驗的能力給我留下了深刻的印象。我們在為餐廳配備合適的人員、培訓團隊成員按照更高的標準執行任務以及簡化我們的操作系統方面取得了顯著的進步。因此，我特別高興地看到所有時段的服務速度都得到了提高，Jack 連續第五個季度比去年同期提高了至少 10 秒。與第三季相比，Jack in the Box 的服務提醒也得到了改善，我們特別高興地看到我們的數位執行力有所改善，因為我們優先考慮透過此管道減少客人的摩擦。

We are very close to announcing Jack's new POS provider, with implementation set to begin shortly and system-wide completion still slated to take place by the end of fiscal 2025. By modernizing our restaurant tech stack, it will facilitate cost savings, improve back office systems, support automation and help us achieve our digital objectives. We believe this technology is the center of our ability to deploy applications that can have a meaningful impact on the guest experience and drive increased sales and profitability.

我們即將宣布 Jack 的新 POS 供應商，實施工作將於短期內開始，整個系統的完成工作仍計劃在 2025 財年末完成。透過實現我們餐廳技術堆疊的現代化，將有助於節省成本、改善後台辦公系統，支援自動化並幫助我們實現數字目標。我們相信，這項技術是我們部署應用程式的能力的核心，這些應用程式可以對賓客體驗產生有意義的影響，並推動銷售和盈利能力的提高。

Our growth potential correlates to our ability to continue growing restaurant profits, which showed significant improvement in fiscal 2023. During the quarter, Jack improved restaurant-level margin by 450 basis points compared to last year, extending our trend of margin improvement to 4 straight quarters. Our initiatives to improve margins are making an impact. We have rolled out 60% of the initiatives which, as you recall, should result in annualized savings of approximately $55,000 per restaurant and 200 basis points of restaurant-level margin improvement at Jack. And on that note, franchisee profitability improved each quarter throughout the entirety of fiscal 2023. Part of the improvement was a result of our enhanced internal pricing competency and capability, initiatives that we will also look to implement on the Del Taco side. Our approach has been surgical and data-driven to enhance profitability and identify areas of opportunity to be competitive.

我們的成長潛力與我們持續成長餐廳利潤的能力相關，這在2023 財年顯示出顯著改善。在本季度，Jack 將餐廳層面的利潤率比去年提高了450 個基點，將我們的利潤率改善趨勢延長至連續4 季。我們提高利潤率的舉措正在產生影響。我們已經推出了 60% 的舉措，正如您所記得的那樣，這些舉措將使每家餐廳每年節省約 55,000 美元，並使 Jack 餐廳的利潤率提高 200 個基點。就這一點而言，在整個 2023 財年，加盟商盈利能力每個季度都有所改善。部分改善是由於我們增強的內部定價能力和能力，我們也將尋求在 Del Taco 方面實施這些舉措。我們的方法是外科手術和數據驅動的，以提高盈利能力並確定具有競爭力的機會領域。

With that, let me spend a moment on AB1228, which will certainly affect labor competition within the entire restaurant and retail industry in California. We are confident in our ability to manage through this, helped by our unique franchisees scale and decades-long experience operating within the state. We will rely on pricing, margin improvement initiatives and unique guest loyalty in California where both brands have been beloved for over 60 years.

那麼，讓我花點時間談談AB1228，這肯定會影響加州整個餐飲和零售業的勞動力競爭。由於我們獨特的特許經營規模和在該州數十年的營運經驗，我們對管理這一問題的能力充滿信心。我們將依靠加州的定價、利潤改善計劃和獨特的客戶忠誠度，這兩個品牌在加州深受人們喜愛 60 多年。

Switching focus to expanding our reach, 2023 was a big year for building our restaurant pipeline, which is critical to our story. Since launching our Jack development program in mid-2021, we have signed a total of 90 agreements for 389 restaurants at Jack. This includes our market entry into Mexico in mid-2024, as well as Florida, Arkansas, Montana and Wyoming thereafter. The latter 2 markets also include Del Taco commitments and were part of refranchising transactions completed earlier this year. Sentiment for growth remains positive from both existing and new franchisees despite increasing costs, permitting and construction delays.

2023 年是我們餐廳管道建設的重要一年，這對我們的故事至關重要。自 2021 年中啟動 Jack 發展計畫以來，我們已為 Jack 的 389 家餐廳簽署了總共 90 份協議。這包括我們於 2024 年中期進入墨西哥市場，以及此後進入佛羅裡達州、阿肯色州、蒙大拿州和懷俄明州的市場。後兩個市場還包括 Del Taco 的承諾，並且是今年稍早完成的再特許經營交易的一部分。儘管成本增加、許可和施工延誤，但現有和新加盟商的成長情緒仍然樂觀。

Let me briefly discuss our 2 newest Jack markets, Salt Lake City and Louisville, which were the first new market openings at Jack in the Box in over a decade. We view both of them as indicative of how we are approaching development related to prototype design and building brand awareness before and after entering the market. We have a strong playbook for how to open new markets so that the brand thrives. In fact, I am pleased to report that the 4 restaurants opened throughout 2023 in Salt Lake and Louisville with our new CRAVED image prototypes have outperformed expectations. These 4 restaurants have averaged over $100,000 in weekly sales per restaurant since opening. While we are already focused on sustaining this performance for the long term, this certainly confirms that our approach to successful new market openings is seeing very strong results.

讓我簡單討論一下我們的兩個最新的傑克市場：鹽湖城和路易斯維爾，這是十多年來 Jack in the Box 開設的第一個新市場。我們認為它們都表明我們在進入市場之前和之後如何進行與原型設計相關的開發以及建立品牌知名度。我們有一本強而有力的手冊來指導如何開拓新市場，使品牌蓬勃發展。事實上，我很高興地報告，2023 年在鹽湖城和路易斯維爾開業的 4 家餐廳採用了我們新的 CRAVED 圖像原型，其表現超出了預期。自開業以來，這 4 家餐廳的平均每週銷售額超過 10 萬美元。雖然我們已經致力於長期維持這一業績，但這無疑證實了我們成功開拓新市場的方法正在取得非常強勁的成果。

We now have 3 locations open in Salt Lake City, including a drive-thru-only prototype, and plan to have 15 total restaurants by the end of fiscal 2025. We previously discussed our record-setting sales and are seeing sustained performance even with the digital channels and late-night not yet fully activated, as will be the common practice for the first few months of restaurant openings. In Louisville, our first foray into the true whitespace territory in many years, we have 1 restaurant open, another opening within the next 2 weeks and plan to have 5 total restaurants by the end of fiscal 2025. I am pleased to report that the restaurant is outperforming our expectations. We also recently announced that an experienced franchisee within our system has already committed to enter Louisville, which will follow a similar strategy in executing a blend of company-owned and franchise restaurants as we assertively build out the markets.

目前，我們在鹽湖城開設了 3 家餐廳，其中包括一家得來速餐廳原型店，併計劃到 2025 財年末開設 15 家餐廳。我們之前討論過我們創紀錄的銷售額，並且看到即使在數字頻道和深夜頻道尚未完全啟動，這將是餐廳開業頭幾個月的常見做法。在路易斯維爾，我們多年來首次涉足真正的空白領域，我們開設了1 家餐廳，並在接下來的兩週內開設另一家餐廳，併計劃到2025 財年末開設5 家餐廳。我很高興地報告，該餐廳超出了我們的預期。我們最近還宣布，我們系統內的一位經驗豐富的特許經營商已經承諾進入路易斯維爾，在我們堅定地開拓市場時，路易斯維爾將遵循類似的策略，執行公司自營餐廳和特許經營餐廳的混合。

The strength of new restaurant performance isn't only limited to those 2 markets. In fact, outside of Salt Lake and Louisville, new restaurants opened in fiscal 2023 averaged $2 million in AUVs. While new markets are certainly a focus, the outperformance of all new restaurants, including those opened in current territories, is key to our overall growth potential.

新餐廳業績的強勁不僅限於這兩個市場。事實上，在鹽湖城和路易斯維爾之外，2023 財年新開業的餐廳平均 AUV 為 200 萬美元。雖然新市場肯定是一個焦點，但所有新餐廳（包括在當前地區開設的餐廳）的出色表現是我們整體成長潛力的關鍵。

Del Taco development, aided by re-franchising, also had a historical year of commitments, generating 138 total in 2023, while closing the year with net positive unit growth, led by 14 restaurant openings. We made outstanding progress toward Del Taco becoming asset-light, refranchising 111 restaurants last year. There is a clear demand-driven path to refranchise approximately 120 restaurants over the next 3 years, which would get Del Taco to over 90% franchised by the end of 2026. We will continue to utilize refranchising proceeds to create shareholder value via share buybacks, debt reduction, or other high-return investments.

Del Taco 開發案在再特許經營的幫助下，也迎來了歷史性的一年，到2023 年，其承諾總數達到138 家，並以14 家餐廳新開業為主導，以單位淨正增長結束了這一年。去年，我們在 Del Taco 輕資產化方面取得了顯著進展，並對 111 家餐廳進行了重新特許經營。未來3 年內，有一條明確的需求驅動路徑將重新特許經營約120 家餐廳，這將使Del Taco 到2026 年底獲得超過90% 的特許經營權。我們將繼續利用重新特許經營收益，透過股票回購創造股東價值，減少債務或其他高回報投資。

To sum up Q4 and fiscal 2023, we had very solid results, and I'm proud of our team for how they executed against our strategy and plan for growth. I want to sincerely thank our restaurant-level team members, franchisees, corporate teams at Jack and Del Taco, for helping make this possible. There is still plenty of work to do, but I am more confident than ever in our strategy and the outstanding people we have to help us reach our growth ambition.

總結第四季和 2023 財年，我們取得了非常紮實的業績，我為我們的團隊如何執行我們的策略和成長計畫感到自豪。我要衷心感謝 Jack and Del Taco 的餐廳級團隊成員、特許經營商、公司團隊，感謝他們幫助實現了這一目標。雖然仍有大量工作要做，但我對我們的策略以及幫助我們實現成長目標的優秀人才比以往任何時候都更有信心。

I will now turn the call over to Brian.

我現在將把電話轉給布萊恩。

Thanks, Darin, and good afternoon, everyone. I am very excited to be part of this outstanding company and working with such a talented and passionate team. My time here thus far has only enhanced my confidence that we have a tremendous growth opportunity, and I look forward to working with Darin and the team to clearly articulate our strategy to deliver meaningful and sustained shareholder value. And I look forward to working with our investment community and seeing some of you at upcoming conferences and events, most notably, ICR and our 2024 Investor Day taking place in late January.

謝謝達林，大家下午好。我很高興能成為這家傑出公司的一員，並與這樣一個才華橫溢、充滿熱情的團隊一起工作。到目前為止，我在這裡度過的時光增強了我的信心，讓我相信我們擁有巨大的成長機會，我期待與達林和團隊合作，明確闡明我們的策略，以提供有意義和持續的股東價值。我期待與我們的投資界合作，並在即將舉行的會議和活動中見到你們，尤其是 ICR 和 1 月底舉行的 2024 年投資者日。

I'll begin by reviewing each of our 2 brands individually, followed by details on our 2023 consolidated performance and 2024 guidance. Beginning with Jack in the Box, our fourth quarter system same-store sales growth was 3.9%, consisting of company-owned comps of 4.4% and franchise comps of 3.8%. This included a 7.6% increase in pricing, partially offset by a decrease in transactions and negative mix due to fewer drink attachments and items per check.

首先，我將分別回顧我們的 2 個品牌，然後詳細介紹我們 2023 年的綜合業績和 2024 年的指導。從 Jack in the Box 開始，我們第四季的系統同店銷售成長率為 3.9%，其中公司自有銷售額成長 4.4%，特許經營銷售額成長 3.8%。其中包括價格上漲 7.6%，但部分被交易量減少以及飲料附件和每張支票上的物品減少導致的負面組合所抵消。

Turning to restaurant count, for the full year, there were 20 Jack restaurant openings with 15 closures, resulting in Jack delivering positive net restaurant growth for the first time since 2019. We ended the year with 2,186 restaurants and have started off 2024 strong with 6 openings since the start of the quarter. There are currently 77 restaurants in the design, permitting and construction phases, and we anticipate approximately 25 to 35 restaurants to open in fiscal 2024.

就餐廳數量而言，全年有 20 家 Jack 餐廳開業，15 家關閉，這使得 Jack 自 2019 年以來首次實現餐廳淨增長。年底，我們擁有 2,186 家餐廳，2024 年開局強勁，有 6 家餐廳自本季度初以來的空缺職位。目前有 77 家餐廳處於設計、許可和施工階段，我們預計 2024 財年將開設約 25 至 35 家餐廳。

Jack restaurant-level margin expanded year-over-year by 450 basis points from 16.2% up to 20.7%, driven by menu price increases as well as a change in the mix of restaurants. This was partially offset by increases in commodities, wage inflation and utilities. Food and packaging cost as a percentage of company-owned sales declined 180 basis points to 30.8%, driven by menu price increases and a positive shift in sales mix, partially offset by an increase in ingredient cost.

受菜單價格上漲以及餐廳組合變化的推動，Jack 餐廳層面的利潤率年增 450 個基點，從 16.2% 上升至 20.7%。這部分被大宗商品、薪資通膨和公用事業的成長所抵銷。受菜單價格上漲和銷售組合積極轉變的推動，食品和包裝成本占公司自有銷售額的百分比下降了 180 個基點，至 30.8%，但部分被原料成本的增加所抵消。

Commodity inflation was 3.4% for the quarter. Labor cost as a percentage of company-owned sales decreased 200 basis points to 30.9% due to sales leverage and the benefit of refranchising Oregon and Nashville. This was partially offset by wage inflation of 3.8%. Occupancy and other operating costs as a percentage of company-owned sales decreased 70 basis points to 17.6%. Franchise-level margin was $71.1 million or 39.9% of franchise revenues, compared to $74.6 million or 42.4% a year ago. The decrease was mainly driven by fewer early termination fees in the current year, as well as higher franchise costs for technology investments, partially offset by franchise same-store sales growth.

該季度商品通膨率為 3.4%。由於銷售槓桿以及俄勒岡州和納許維爾重新特許經營的好處，勞動成本占公司自有銷售額的百分比下降了 200 個基點至 30.9%。這被 3.8% 的薪資通膨部分抵消。入住率和其他營運成本占公司自有銷售額的百分比下降了 70 個基點，至 17.6%。特許經營層利潤率為 7,110 萬美元，佔特許經營收入的 39.9%，而一年前為 7,460 萬美元，佔特許經營收入的 42.4%。這一下降主要是由於本年度提前終止費用減少以及技術投資的特許經營成本較高，但部分被特許經營同店銷售成長所抵消。

Now, turning to Del Taco, system same-store sales declined 1.5%, consisting of company-owned comps down 1.4% and franchise comps down 1.5%. This was driven by declines in both transactions and mix more than offsetting a 6.6% price increase. We anticipated a tough year-over-year comp in the quarter with a heavy media spend in the prior year supporting the Tortas promotion, and that proved to be true. Although this negative trend continued through October, we've had meaningful improvement in November with consistently positive comps. This more recent trend, along with the announced changes to our Del leadership and revised marketing strategy, gives us confidence in our ability to drive positive same-store sales growth this year and unlock sustained long-term growth for this strong brand that serves an expanding market.

現在，轉向 Del Taco，系統同店銷售額下降 1.5%，其中公司自營銷售額下降 1.4%，特許經營銷售額下降 1.5%。這是由於交易和混合交易的下降抵消了 6.6% 的價格上漲。我們預計本季的同比業績會很艱難，前一年為支持 Tortas 促銷而投入了大量媒體費用，事實證明這是事實。儘管這種負面趨勢一直持續到 10 月份，但我們在 11 月份取得了有意義的進步，並且持續保持積極的表現。這一最新趨勢，加上我們宣布的德爾領導層變動和修訂的營銷策略，使我們對今年推動同店銷售積極增長的能力充滿信心，並為這個服務於不斷擴張的強大品牌帶來持續的長期增長。市場。

Del Taco's average check amount was up year-over-year and the average check number of items per check were down slightly. Staffing improvements resulted in operating hours running above the prior year with more opportunity remaining on the franchise side running a full hour below pre-COVID levels. For the full year, there were 14 restaurant openings and 13 restaurant closures. Del Taco ended the year with a restaurant count of 592.

Del Taco 的平均支票金額較去年同期上升，而每張支票的平均支票項目數則略有下降。人員配置的改善導致營業時間高於上一年，特許經營方面的剩餘時間比新冠疫情前的水平低了整整一個小時。全年有 14 家餐廳開業，13 家餐廳關閉。截至年底，Del Taco 餐廳數量達到 592 家。

Del Taco restaurant-level margin was 14.8% compared to 15.9% in the prior year. Food and packaging costs decreased 220 basis points to 27.2%, due primarily to commodity deflation of 2.2% as well as menu price increases. Labor costs increased 210 basis points to 34.7%, primarily due to 3.4% wage inflation. Occupancy and other costs increased 110 basis points to 23.3%, driven primarily by higher utility and property insurance costs. Franchise-level margin was $6.3 million or 32.5% of franchise revenues, compared to $5.2 million or 42.5% in the prior year. The decrease as a percentage of revenue was driven by the impact of increased pass-through rent and marketing in connection with the refranchising transactions.

Del Taco 餐廳層面的利潤率為 14.8%，而前一年為 15.9%。食品和包裝成本下降 220 個基點至 27.2%，主要是由於商品通貨緊縮 2.2% 以及菜單價格上漲。勞動成本增加 210 個基點至 34.7%，主要由於 3.4% 的薪資通膨。入住率和其他成本增加 110 個基點，達到 23.3%，主要是由於公用事業和財產保險成本上升。特許經營層利潤率為 630 萬美元，佔特許經營收入的 32.5%，而前一年為 520 萬美元，佔特許經營收入的 42.5%。佔收入百分比的下降是由於與再特許經營交易相關的轉嫁租金和行銷增加的影響。

Shifting now to our consolidated results, SG&A for the fourth quarter was $43.7 million or 11.7% of revenues, as compared to $37.5 million or 9.3% a year ago. The biggest drivers of the expense increase were higher incentive compensation and litigation accruals, along with a prior-year benefit from the chicken settlement.

現在轉向我們的合併業績，第四季的銷售、管理及行政費用為 4,370 萬美元，佔營收的 11.7%，而去年同期為 3,750 萬美元，佔營收的 9.3%。費用增加的最大驅動因素是更高的激勵補償和訴訟應計費用，以及去年從雞肉和解中獲得的收益。

Consolidated adjusted EBITDA was $68.4 million, down from $81.9 million in the prior year, due primarily to the impact of Del Taco refranchising, higher SG&A and the lower Jack franchise-level margin.

合併調整後 EBITDA 為 6,840 萬美元，低於上一年的 8,190 萬美元，這主要是由於 Del Taco 重新特許經營、SG&A 較高以及 Jack 特許經營利潤率較低的影響。

GAAP diluted earnings per share was $1.08 for the quarter compared to $2.17 in the prior year. Operating earnings per share, which includes certain adjustments, was $1.09 for the quarter versus $1.33 in the prior year. Our effective tax rate for the quarter was 33.1% compared to 29.1% in the prior year quarter. The primary drivers of the higher rate was the impact of nondeductible goodwill on the sale of the company-operated restaurants. The non-GAAP operating EPS tax rate was 29.7% for the fourth quarter and 27.2% for the fiscal year 2023.

本季 GAAP 攤薄後每股收益為 1.08 美元，去年同期為 2.17 美元。本季每股營業利潤（包括某些調整）為 1.09 美元，去年同期為 1.33 美元。我們本季的有效稅率為 33.1%，而去年同期為 29.1%。較高稅率的主要驅動因素是不可扣除商譽對公司經營餐廳銷售的影響。第四季非 GAAP 營運 EPS 稅率為 29.7%，2023 財年為 27.2%。

During Q4, we repurchased 400,000 shares as part of our ongoing share repurchase program. For the full year, we repurchased 1.1 million shares for $90 million. With the recent expiration of our prior share repurchase authorization, the Board of Directors has authorized a new share repurchase program for up to $250 million of the company's common stock.

第四季度，我們回購了 400,000 股股票，作為我們正在進行的股票回購計劃的一部分。全年，我們以 9,000 萬美元回購了 110 萬股股票。隨著我們先前的股票回購授權最近到期，董事會已授權一項新的股票回購計劃，回購金額高達 2.5 億美元的公司普通股。

We generated $215 million of operating cash in the fiscal year and ended the year with an unrestricted cash balance of $157.7 million. These amounts were favorably impacted by a federal and state tax payment deadline extension, which shifted fiscal 2023 income tax payments of approximately $50 million into fiscal 2024. Correspondingly, our uses of cash flow in the first quarter of fiscal year 2024 include the $50 million of tax payments and a $25 million final payment for a previously announced litigation settlement. As of quarter end, we had available borrowing capacity of $175.5 million net of letters of credit. Our total debt at year-end was at $1.75 billion, with our net debt to adjusted EBITDA leverage ratio at 4.6x.

我們在本財年產生了 2.15 億美元的營運現金，年底無限制現金餘額為 1.577 億美元。這些金額受到聯邦和州納稅期限延長的有利影響，該期限將 2023 財年約 5000 萬美元的所得稅支付轉移到 2024 財年。相應地，我們在 2024 財年第一季的現金流量使用包括稅款以及先前宣布的訴訟和解的2500 萬美元最終付款。截至季末，我們的可用借貸能力（扣除信用狀後）為 1.755 億美元。截至年底，我們的總債務為 17.5 億美元，淨債務與調整後 EBITDA 的槓桿率為 4.6 倍。

Our capital allocation plan includes investing in our growth strategy and technology initiatives, along with opportunistic share repurchases, while also returning cash to shareholders through dividends. To that end, last week, our Board of Directors declared a cash dividend of $0.44 per share to be paid on December 28, 2023.

我們的資本配置計劃包括投資於我們的成長策略和技術計劃，以及機會性股票回購，同時也透過股息向股東返還現金。為此，上週，我們的董事會宣布將於 2023 年 12 月 28 日支付每股 0.44 美元的現金股利。

Lastly, I'll cover our current outlook for 2024. On a consolidated basis, we are expecting the following: capital expenditures and other capitalized investments of $110 million to $120 million, which includes investments in new restaurant openings, our reimage/remodel program, franchise TI allowances and incentives, and increased investments in technology initiatives such as our new POS and enhancing our digital platforms. SG&A for the full year of $165 million to $175 million. This SG&A guidance excludes any potential impact from COLI gains or losses and any Del Taco refranchising that occur in 2024. G&A, which excludes our selling and advertising costs, is expected to be 2.3% to 2.5% of system-wide sales.

最後，我將介紹我們目前對2024 年的展望。在綜合基礎上，我們預計如下：資本支出和其他資本投資為1.1 億至1.2 億美元，其中包括對新餐廳開業、我們的重新形象/改造計劃的投資，特許經營 TI 津貼和激勵措施，以及增加對技術計劃的投資，例如我們的新 POS 和增強我們的數位平台。全年SG&A 為1.65 億至1.75 億美元。本 SG&A 指引不包括 COLI 收益或虧損以及 2024 年發生的任何 Del Taco 重新特許經營的任何潛在影響。G&A（不包括我們的銷售和廣告成本）預計將佔全系統銷售額的 2.3% 至 2.5%。

Company-owned commodity costs are expected to be higher than prior year by 1% to 3%. Company-owned wage rates are expected to increase by 10% to 12% versus 2023 and are impacted by California's new minimum wage law, AB1228, effective in April 2024. Excluding the impact of AB1228, we anticipate wage rates will be higher by 3 % to 5%. Depreciation and Amortization is expected to be in the range of $61 million to $63 million. This D&A guidance also excludes the impact of any Del Taco refranchising that could occur during the year.

公司自有商品成本預計將比上年增加 1% 至 3%。公司自有工資率預計將比 2023 年增加 10% 至 12%，並受到 2024 年 4 月生效的加州新最低工資法 AB1228 的影響。排除 AB1228 的影響，我們預計工資率將上漲 3%至5% 。折舊和攤銷預計在 6,100 萬美元至 6,300 萬美元之間。本 D&A 指南還排除了年內可能發生的任何 Del Taco 重新特許經營的影響。

Our adjusted tax rate is expected to be approximately 27%. We are currently assuming share repurchases during the year of $70 million to $80 million. Adjusted EBITDA for the year is expected to be $325 million to $335 million, and operating EPS is expected to be $6.25 to $6.50 and excludes any dilutive impact from refranchising Del Taco restaurants.

我們調整後的稅率預計約為27%。我們目前假設年內回購股票金額為 7,000 萬至 8,000 萬美元。今年調整後的 EBITDA 預計為 3.25 億至 3.35 億美元，營業每股收益預計為 6.25 至 6.50 美元，不包括重新特許經營 Del Taco 餐廳的任何攤薄影響。

At the brand level, Jack in the Box expectations include: same-store sales growth in the low-to-mid single-digits; 25 to 35 gross new restaurant openings with net positive unit growth for the full year; company-owned restaurant level margin of 21% to 23%. This assumes price increases of 6% to 8% over prior year, which includes additional price take needed to offset the impacts from AB1228. Without the impact of AB1228, we expect price increases of 3% to 4%. And we expect Jack franchise-level margin of 40% to 42%.

在品牌層面，Jack in the Box 的預期包括：同店銷售成長在中低個位數；全年新增餐廳總數為 25 至 35 家，單位淨成長；公司自有餐廳層面的利潤率為21%至23%。假設價格比前一年上漲 6% 至 8%，其中包括抵銷 AB1228 影響所需的額外價格。如果沒有AB1228的影響，我們預期價格上漲3%至4%。我們預計 Jack 的特許經營利潤率為 40% 至 42%。

For Del Taco, we are expecting same-store sales growth in the low-to-mid single-digits; gross new restaurant openings of 10 to 15, with net positive unit growth for the full year; company-owned restaurant level margin of 14% to 16%. This includes price increases of 6% to 8% over prior year, and without the impact of AB1228, price increases would be 4% to 5%. And finally, we expect Del Taco franchise-level margin of 29% to 31%.

對於 Del Taco，我們預計同店銷售額將實現中低個位數成長；新開餐廳總數為 10 至 15 家，全年單位淨增長為正；公司自有餐廳層面的利潤率為14%至16%。這包括比上一年價格上漲 6% 至 8%，如果沒有 AB1228 的影響，價格上漲將為 4% 至 5%。最後，我們預期 Del Taco 特許經營層面的利潤率為 29% 至 31%。

In summary, we are very pleased to have delivered another quarter of positive performance and made meaningful progress in our strategic pillars.

總之，我們很高興又一個季度取得了積極的業績，並在我們的策略支柱方面取得了有意義的進展。

And with that, we'd be happy to take some questions. Operator, please feel free to open up the line for Q&A.

因此，我們很樂意回答一些問題。接線員，請隨時開通問答線。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Brian Bittner with Oppenheimer & Co.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Brian Bittner 和 Oppenheimer & Co. 的線路。

I have a question on Jack and Del Taco. So can I ask 2 quick ones, and hopefully you can take them. On Jack, your 2 new markets in Salt Lake and Louisville are trending at over $5 million AUVs, which is very impressive, and I guess, surpassing your expectations. So how does this potentially reshape the near-term strategy on powering into new markets for the Jack in the Box brand?

我有一個關於傑克和德爾塔科的問題。那我可以問兩個快速的問題嗎，希望你能接受。關於傑克，鹽湖城和路易斯維爾的兩個新市場的 AUV 趨勢超過 500 萬美元，這非常令人印象深刻，我想，超出了您的預期。那麼，這可能會如何重塑 Jack in the Box 品牌進軍新市場的近期策略呢？

And on Del Taco, the business clearly seems to have hit a soft patch, and it's happening at a time, Darin, where you're reshaping the management team at Del Taco with trusted partners that you've worked with in the past and Tom and Sarah. Can you just unpack these changes a little bit more for us and how quickly you expect these changes could impact brand performance?

在 Del Taco 上，業務顯然似乎遇到了疲軟的時期，而且這種情況發生在達林，你正在與你過去合作過的值得信賴的合作夥伴以及湯姆一起重塑 Del Taco 的管理團隊。和莎拉。您能否為我們詳細解釋一下這些變化以及您預期這些變化對品牌績效的影響有多快？

Brian, good to hear from you. Overall, in Salt Lake City -- let me just start there. We're incredibly happy with the performance in Salt Lake and in Louisville. As we've said on the call, we've averaged over $100,000 in weekly sales amongst those 4 restaurants, and on average, they've been open 11 weeks for those 4 restaurants, so we -- some open longer than others, but it is over -- outperforming our anticipation. In Salt Lake City, we have 15 locations that we should open by fiscal year '25. So we're aggressively going in and developing the market alongside with 2 other franchisees. And in Louisville, we're opening 5 by fiscal year '25. And that's just the start of the pipeline as we've recently signed one of our existing franchisees at Jack to partner with us to also develop that market.

布萊恩，很高興收到你的來信。總的來說，在鹽湖城——讓我從這裡開始。我們對鹽湖城和路易斯維爾的表現非常滿意。正如我們在電話中所說，這 4 家餐廳的平均每週銷售額超過 100,000 美元，這 4 家餐廳平均營業時間為 11 週，所以我們——有些餐廳的營業時間比其他餐廳長，但一切都結束了——超出了我們的預期。在鹽湖城，我們應該在 25 財年之前開設 15 家門市。因此，我們正在與另外兩家特許經營商一起積極進入並開發市場。在路易斯維爾，我們將在 25 財年開設 5 家。這只是管道的開始，因為我們最近與 Jack 的現有特許經營商之一簽約，與我們合作開發該市場。

And so what we like is, we've put together a specific playbook of how to enter the market, everything from operations, how we're going to build awareness before and after coming to the market, how we want to ramp up into digital sales and late night sales and without any LTOs. And so recently, one of the first stores that we opened in Salt Lake City that has been one of our highest volumes, we recently turned on digital, and overnight, sales went up 16%. So we're going to pace ourselves into these markets, but we're very, very excited about the way we've entered it. We are excited about the playbook that we've used to enter the markets, and we're going to continue to look for new opportunities like this.

因此，我們喜歡的是，我們整理了一本具體的劇本，內容涉及如何進入市場，從運營到運營的各個方面，我們將如何在進入市場之前和之後建立意識，我們希望如何進入數位化領域銷​​售和深夜銷售，且沒有任何LTO。最近，我們在鹽湖城開設的首批商店之一，也是我們銷量最高的商店之一，最近開啟了數位化，一夜之間，銷售額成長了 16%。因此，我們將加快進入這些市場的步伐，但我們對進入這些市場的方式感到非常非常興奮。我們對進入市場所採用的策略感到興奮，我們將繼續尋找這樣的新機會。

And so let me transition now to your question on leadership. Let me talk about our business at Del Taco. We saw it becoming soft in our guidance last year in this fourth quarter. We knew that we were overcoming a Torta promotion late last year that was -- basically we overspent on marketing to promote a new product line, and that marketing carried over into this year. So we almost doubled the marketing we would normally spend on a window on a new product introduction. So we knew we had a very tough lap in our comp, so we weren't surprised by the negative comp. Now, what I would say is, the good news here, and then I'll talk about our leadership team, is that we are now in a place of positive same-store sales and transactions at Del Taco in November. So we are seeing, with the new product, Birria, the way we've ended -- the way we've lapped now that double spend in marketing, that we're having positive same-store sales and transactions with some of the moves that we've made at Del Taco.

現在讓我轉向你關於領導力的問題。讓我談談我們在 Del Taco 的業務。我們在去年第四季的指導中看到它變得疲軟。我們知道我們正在克服去年年底的 Torta 促銷，基本上我們在行銷上花了過多的錢來推廣新產品線，而行銷延續到了今年。因此，我們在新產品介紹窗口上的行銷費用幾乎增加了一倍。所以我們知道我們在比賽中度過了非常艱難的一圈，所以我們對負面比賽並不感到驚訝。現在，我要說的是，這裡的好消息，然後我將談論我們的領導團隊，是我們現在在 Del Taco 11 月的同店銷售和交易都處於積極的狀態。因此，我們看到，隨著新產品 Birria 的推出，我們已經結束了行銷雙花的方式，我們透過一些舉措實現了積極的同店銷售和交易我們在 Del Taco 所做的。

Now, I'm excited about the team we've put in place at Del Taco. We went through our integration. Tom is a long trusted partner that I've known in this industry for years, who comes in and is an operator by heart, rolls up his sleeves, and he was one of the -- he was, at one point, one of the largest KFC franchisee, so he knows this business inside and out. And I called on Tom when I knew this opportunity existed and said, you are the first person, the only person I want in this role, and he accepted, thankfully. And so I'm confident in his leadership in engaging with franchisees and driving operational performance, fixing the menu that we have at Del Taco to be even more profitable.

現在，我對我們在 Del Taco 組建的團隊感到興奮。我們經歷了整合。湯姆是我在這個行業認識多年的一位長期值得信賴的合作夥伴，他進來時是一名內心的運營商，捲起袖子，他是其中之一——他曾經是其中之一最大的肯德基加盟商，所以他對這個行業瞭如指掌。當我知道這個機會存在時，我打電話給湯姆說，你是第一個人，也是我想要擔任這個角色的唯一人選，謝天謝地，他接受了。因此，我對他在與特許經營商互動和推動營運績效方面的領導能力充滿信心，並改進了 Del Taco 的菜單，使其利潤更高。

And then, I wanted to partner him with 2 outstanding marketers, and same thing, a person I have immense trust in, Sarah McAloon, who came from Pizza Hut, and my days at CiCi's, where we worked together. I made that call, and she quickly accepted. Again, 2 calls, and they both accepted. So I was very grateful and thankful that they did. And partnering Sarah with Tom, a marketer and a great operator, and then putting Ryan in touch with them to help execute what we've done at Jack from a brand strategy point, I think we've got a really strong team now to focus on sophisticating the Del Taco business, simplifying it, and really driving a marketing calendar that can be effective like we've done at Jack.

然後，我想與他和兩位傑出的營銷人員合作，同樣，我非常信任一個人，來自必勝客的莎拉·麥卡隆，以及我在 CiCi's 的日子，我們在那裡一起工作。我打了電話，她很快就接了。又打了2通電話，他們都接了。所以我非常感激並感謝他們這樣做。讓莎拉與行銷人員和出色的運營商湯姆合作，然後讓瑞安與他們聯繫，從品牌策略的角度幫助執行我們在傑克所做的事情，我認為我們現在有一個非常強大的團隊來專注於使Del Taco 業務更加複雜化、簡化，並真正推動行銷日程的製定，就像我們在Jack 所做的那樣，非常有效。

Last thing I would say about it is, the segmentation study is the first one we've done in over 5 years at Del. So we're really starting to understand our customers like we did at Jack. And we think that we have an opportunity to position ourselves with high-quality food in the QSR Mexican space where we can compete effectively.

我要說的最後一件事是，細分研究是我們 5 年來在 Del 所做的第一項研究。因此，我們真正開始了解我們的客戶，就像我們在 Jack 所做的那樣。我們認為，我們有機會在墨西哥 QSR 領域以高品質食品定位自己，從而進行有效競爭。

Our next question comes from the line of Lauren Silberman with Deutsche Bank.

我們的下一個問題來自德意志銀行的 Lauren Silberman。

I wanted to ask about traffic. So the guide for next year for low-single to mid single-digit comp seems to imply negative traffic in '24. Can you just talk about how you're thinking about traffic next year and what you're seeing in the environment? And any additional color on what you're seeing with consumer and check management would be helpful.

我想問一下交通狀況。因此，明年低個位數到中個位數比較的指南似乎意味著 24 年的流量為負數。您能談談您對明年交通的看法以及您對環境的看法嗎？您在消費者和支票管理中看到的任何其他顏色都會有所幫助。

Yes. Good question, Lauren. This is one that we really contemplated, do we provide guidance here on price or not? Because what we did is we decided to guide price for company only, and the same-store sales guide is for the system. And as you know, we wanted to try to give some better visibility on what the company impact would be because we have such a large presence in California with AB1228. And the reality of it is, and I think most in the industry are not exactly sure how it's going to perform. So although we're guiding 6% to 8% pricing for the company because majority is California, what we're sharing is, we need that to overcome the wage inflation. That's really the story there. And so how transactions respond, we'll continue to keep you updated if we think there'll be some transaction decline, but when we're guiding system sales, it's more for the system versus just for the company.

是的。好問題，勞倫。這是我們真正考慮過的問題，我們是否在這裡提供價格指導？因為我們所做的是我們決定只對公司進行指導價格，而同店銷售指導是針對系統的。如您所知，我們希望更了解公司的影響，因為我們在加州擁有 AB1228 的大量業務。現實情況是，我認為業內大多數人都不確定它的表現如何。因此，儘管我們指導公司定價 6% 到 8%，因為大多數公司位於加州，但我們分享的是，我們需要它來克服薪資通膨。這就是那裡的故事。那麼交易如何反應，如果我們認為交易會下降，我們將繼續向您通報最新情況，但當我們指導系統銷售時，更多的是為了系統而不是僅僅為了公司。

Our next question comes from the line of Gregory Francfort with Guggenheim Securities.

我們的下一個問題來自古根漢證券公司的格雷戈里·弗蘭克福特（Gregory Francfort）。

Maybe just a follow-up to that. Darin, can you talk a little bit about what price elasticity has looked like more recently? My understanding is, you've taken 4 points or 5 points less versus 2019 compared to McDonald's, and so you've underpriced them pretty substantially. But looking at even ex the California increase, 3% to 5% next year, what gives you confidence that consumer is maybe not pushing back to that? Or how would you adjust if the environment changes at all?

也許只是後續行動。 Darin，可以談談最近的價格彈性是什麼樣的嗎？我的理解是，與 2019 年相比，你們比麥當勞少了 4 點或 5 點，所以你們對它們的定價相當低。但即使考慮到明年加州的增幅（3% 到 5%），是什麼讓你相信消費者可能不會抵制這一增長？或者如果環境改變你會如何調整？

We've really invested in our pricing team over the last 1.5 years in our tools and technology to go in and be surgical and data-driven in how we price. So I think we at Del and Jack -- Del will also take on this in 2024, the same tool book and tool and playbook. But the bottom line is, we've proven that we can surgically take price and find out where there's opportunities by store, by market and really try to find how do we reach our guests in the right way. And so it's challenging in an environment that's unknown. We definitely have seen some softness at Del Taco in the lower-income consumer. We are still performing on the higher-income consumer. At Jack, we're also seeing more of an even performance across all deciles of income. And so overall, what we believe is that with the AB1228 and what's happening in California, that's where the real price elasticity concern comes in. And we believe that our loyal guests in our home base state will continue to come back to Jack and Del, and we believe that to be the case.

在過去 1.5 年裡，我們確實對定價團隊進行了工具和技術方面的投資，以深入了解並以數據為導向的定價方式。所以我認為我們 Del 和 Jack - Del 也將在 2024 年承擔這個任務，同樣的工具書、工具和劇本。但最重要的是，我們已經證明我們可以透過外科手術來確定價格，並按商店、按市場找出哪裡有機會，並真正嘗試找到如何以正確的方式接觸客戶。因此，在未知的環境中這是具有挑戰性的。我們確實在 Del Taco 看到了低收入消費者的一些疲軟情緒。我們仍然在高收入消費者身上表現出色。在傑克，我們也看到所有收入十分之一的表現更加均衡。總的來說，我們相信，隨著 AB1228 以及加州發生的事情，這就是真正的價格彈性問題所在。我們相信，我們家鄉州的忠實客人將繼續回到 Jack and Del，我們相信情況確​​實如此。

Our next question comes from the line of Andrew Charles with TD Cowen.

我們的下一個問題來自 Andrew Charles 和 TD Cowen 的對話。

I wanted to learn a little bit more about one of the missing pieces around the refranchising activity for Del Taco that's expected next year. I know you guys are on track to get 120 more stores refranchised to return to 90% franchise mix by 2026. Can you help shape up what next year will look or this year will look like relative to what you did in 2023? Or just any other guideposts as we think about the cadence of refranchising for Del Taco?

我想更多地了解 Del Taco 預計明年進行的再特許經營活動中缺少的部分。我知道你們正計劃在 2026 年之前重新授權 120 家商店，以恢復到 90% 的特許經營組合。相對於 2023 年的做法，您能幫助制定明年或今年的情況嗎？或者當我們思考 Del Taco 重新特許經營的節奏時，只是任何其他路標？

Yes. We guided to 120 over the next 2 years because right now, we have very strong demand even with the external environment with interest rates and AB1228. Jack franchisees and even outside franchisees have shown real interest in Del. And so we feel really good about that. And we're going to continue to update you just like we did this year. We'll use our proceeds accordingly, as we've laid out, for share repurchase or debt repayment. But we believe, at a minimum, there's somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 to 40 that we'll do this year. And the real lever here is, do we find the right operator that's well capitalized, that wants to develop? And as you saw us do last year, if we find that, we'll go faster. If not, we've given you guidance that we'll pace it out over time and keep you updated along the way as we did in 2023.

是的。我們將未來 2 年的目標定為 120，因為目前，即使在利率和 AB1228 的外部環境下，我們的需求也非常強勁。傑克特許經營商甚至外部特許經營商都對德爾表現出了真正的興趣。因此我們對此感到非常滿意。我們將像今年一樣繼續向您通報最新情況。正如我們所計劃的，我們將相應地使用我們的收益來回購股票或償還債務。但我們相信，今年我們至少會做 30 到 40 個左右的事情。這裡真正的槓桿是，我們是否找到了適當資本、想要發展的合適業者？正如您去年看到的那樣，如果我們發現這一點，我們就會走得更快。如果沒有，我們已經向您提供了指導，我們將隨著時間的推移調整進度，並像 2023 年那樣隨時向您通報最新情況。

Our next question comes from the line of Dennis Geiger with UBS.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的丹尼斯蓋革 (Dennis Geiger)。

Darin and Brian, thanks for the commentary and the details on development and how the pipeline looks right now. Just wondering if you could talk a little bit more about the development growth plans, latest on franchisee development sentiment, which I think you said was favorable. Anything on sort of how it's trended through the year? And I guess, importantly, anything on sort of timing updates as it relates to pressures on development? Has that done anything from a timeline perspective over the next couple of years as you think about that growth trajectory? And so I've so many, but just the last point, anything on closures next year so we have a better sense to think about what net development looks like in '24?

Darin 和 Brian，感謝您的評論和有關開發的詳細資訊以及管道目前的情況。只是想知道您是否可以多談談發展增長計劃，以及特許經營商發展情緒的最新情況，我認為您說的是有利的。有什麼關於全年趨勢的資訊嗎？我想，重要的是，有什麼關於時間更新的事情，因為它與開發壓力有關？當你考慮成長軌跡時，從時間軸的角度來看，這對未來幾年有什麼影響嗎？所以我有很多，但只是最後一點，關於明年關閉的任何事情，這樣我們就可以更好地思考 24 年的網頁開發是什麼樣子？

Yes. So let me start with the last question on closures. We're not providing guidance there. What I would do, if I'm in your shoes, is look back over history, and I think Jack has been pretty consistent over time at the number of closures. We limited some of those in 2023. But overall, I think that's a fair estimate as we try to anticipate future closers, as you look, somewhere in that 14 to 20 range.

是的。那麼讓我從關於閉包的最後一個問題開始。我們不在那裡提供指導。如果我處於你的處境，我會做的就是回顧歷史，而且我認為傑克在關閉數量上一直保持著相當穩定的水平。我們在 2023 年限制了其中一些。但總的來說，我認為這是一個合理的估計，因為我們試圖預測未來的關閉，正如你所看到的，在 14 到 20 範圍內的某個地方。

As you think about historical closures, it's always ranged somewhere in that neighborhood. And so that's not a guide. That's just to tell you that's just history. And then, as we look at our guide into next year, we're guiding to 25 to 35 Jack openings and 10 to 15 Del openings. And we now have a pipeline, 90 development agreements with 389 commitments at Jack, 77 of those in design and permitting. And they're actually -- we can actually see the pipeline now on what's in design and permitting versus 3 years ago.

當您考慮歷史上的關閉時，它總是位於該附近的某個地方。所以這不是一個指南。這只是想告訴你，這只是歷史。然後，當我們查看明年的指南時，我們將指導 25 至 35 個 Jack 空缺和 10 至 15 個 Del 空缺。我們現在擁有一條管道、90 份開發協議以及 Jack 的 389 項承諾，其中 77 項處於設計和許可階段。事實上，我們現在可以看到與 3 年前相比，目前的設計和授權。

So we're actually able to manage a pipeline. And now at Del, with the number of refranchising transactions, we added 109 commitments just from that alone. And now, we have 138 commitments at Del for future development. That also helps us build a pipeline and get visibility into it for 47 locations now in design or permitting and construction phases. So we feel good that we have a pipeline now that we can actually manage, and we will continue to build that over the next year.

所以我們實際上能夠管理管道。現在，在 Del，隨著再特許經營交易的數量，僅此一項我們就增加了 109 項承諾。現在，我們在德爾對未來發展做出了 138 項承諾。這也有助於我們建造一條管道，並了解目前處於設計或許可和施工階段的 47 個地點的情況。因此，我們感到很高興，因為我們現在擁有了一條可以實際管理的管道，並且我們將在明年繼續建造它。

I think you -- the last thing I would add is, I think the entire industry has been pretty consistent in the statement that we have seen cost rise. So we have a value engineering program in place to reduce the 20 or 30% that we saw increases, some of that's from size of the building. And then also, we've got to figure out ways to take and make this process more efficient because we've definitely seen, through COVID and post-COVID, that some of the delays and some of our miss this quarter on the guide, those stores just got delayed from supplier labor and pushed into this year. So we definitely saw that happen, and we've opened quite a few at the first month of this year.

我想我要補充的最後一件事是，我認為整個行業在我們看到成本上升的聲明中非常一致。因此，我們制定了一項價值工程計劃，以減少 20% 或 30% 的成長，其中一些成長來自於建築物的規模。然後，我們還必須找出採取並使這一過程更加高效的方法，因為透過新冠疫情和後新冠疫情，我們確實看到了本季度指南中的一些延誤和一些錯過，這些商店只是因為供應商勞動力的原因而推遲，並延後到了今年。所以我們確實看到了這種情況的發生，並且我們在今年第一個月就開設了很多店。

Our next question comes from the line of Sara Senatore with the Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自薩拉參議員與美國銀行的對話。

I just wanted to ask about the investments that you're making in terms of improvement allowances and incentives. So I was just wondering if you could quantify, I guess, in terms of the amount, the total $110 million to $120 million, if the difference between 2024 guide and the CapEx from 2023 is those incentives? And then, maybe talk about the impact on franchisee returns. Are you targeting like a specific payback period or you have thoughts on maybe like what growth would look like if you didn't offer the incentives? Just trying to sort of understand the philosophy behind that.

我只是想問一下你們在改進津貼和激勵方面所做的投資。所以我想知道您是否可以量化，我想，就金額而言，總金額為 1.1 億至 1.2 億美元，2024 年指南與 2023 年資本支出之間的差異是否是這些激勵措施？然後，或許可以談談對加盟商回報的影響。您的目標是否是特定的投資回收期，或者您是否想過如果不提供激勵措施，成長會是什麼樣子？只是想了解背後的哲學。

Yes. This is Brian. On the increase in our guide for kind of overall CapEx and investments, it's across a few different areas. As we looked at that new store opening guidance for '24, part of it is driven by our investment in new stores. And so as that's ramping up, both with our own operators internally and as well with our franchisees, that's an increase. As I -- we also mentioned that we're investing more in technology with our new POS expected to start rolling out in '24, continued investments in digital, rolling out our ERP. So there is a variety of different really important technology investments that we think will generate mature returns over time. That's stepping up. And then, there is some increase in the TI allowance incentives, but it's not the bulk of that increase. But we do think those are important to be able to keep our franchisees not only investing in remodels, but also keeping them focused on development as quickly as possible.

是的。這是布萊恩。關於整體資本支出和投資類型的指南的增加，它涉及幾個不同的領域。當我們查看 24 年新店開幕指導時，我們發現其中一部分是由我們對新店的投資所推動的。隨著這種情況的增加，無論是我們自己的內部經營者還是我們的特許經營商，這都是一個成長。正如我所提到的，我們正在加大對科技的投資，我們的新 POS 預計將於 24 年開始推出，繼續對數位化進行投資，推出我們的 ERP。因此，我們認為，隨著時間的推移，各種不同的、真正重要的技術投資將產生成熟的回報。這就是加緊步伐。然後，TI 津貼激勵措施有所增加，但這並不是增加的大部分。但我們確實認為這些對於讓我們的特許經營者不僅投資於改造，而且讓他們盡快專注於開發非常重要。

To add to your question about payback, what we're seeing right now in our build cost, we want to get our build cost to around $1.8 million to $1.9 million with some of the value engineering we anticipate that occurring in 2024. And so from a payback standpoint, our target is always to try to stay under 5 years. And it's really going to be dependent, as you know, on sales and what it costs to build. And we've seen some of that escalate cost-wise, and we've brought that down into 2024. So we think that'll help our returns. And then, with what we've performed in, say, Salt Lake and Louisville and the sales outperforming, we've seen outperformance in all of our openings, not just in Salt Lake and Louisville. We've seen it north of $2 million in the stores that we've opened. So we've had successful openings as well. So we think we're in a place to have continued to attract franchisees to grow even in this environment as we navigate last '22's inflationary environment that we're still working through.

為了補充您關於投資回收期的問題，我們現在在建造成本中所看到的情況，我們希望透過我們預計在2024 年發生的一些價值工程，將我們的建造成本控制在180 萬至190 萬美元左右。從投資回收期的角度來看，我們的目標始終是盡量保持在 5 年以內。如你所知，它實際上取決於銷售和建造成本。我們已經看到其中一些成本正在上升，我們將其降低到 2024 年。所以我們認為這將有助於我們的回報。然後，根據我們在鹽湖城和路易斯維爾的表現以及銷售表現，我們在所有新開業的酒店中都表現出色，而不僅僅是在鹽湖城和路易斯維爾。在我們開設的商店中，我們看到它的銷售額已超過 200 萬美元。所以我們也有成功的開幕。因此，我們認為，即使在這種環境下，我們也能繼續吸引特許經營者實現成長，因為我們正在應對 22 世紀的通膨環境，而我們仍在努力應對這一環境。

Our next question comes from the line of Alton Stump with Loop Capital.

我們的下一個問題來自 Alton Stump 與 Loop Capital 的對話。

I was pretty encouraged by your guidance for low-to-mid single-digit Jack in the Box comparable sales for this year, given the fact that obviously, you'd be up against some pretty tough compares. How much of that confidence is coming from the fact that you obviously are going to have to take higher pricing, mainly in California with AB1228, versus underlying transactional improvements in your business?

我對你對今年中低個位數的《Jack in the Box》可比銷售額的指導感到非常鼓舞，因為顯然，你將面臨一些相當艱難的比較。這種信心在多大程度上來自於這樣一個事實：您顯然將不得不接受更高的定價（主要是在加州的 AB1228），而不是業務中潛在的交易改進？

Yes. I think for us, what we've really focused on is, do we have the right calendar in place? Do we know how to reach our customers in the right way? And because right now, with what's going on in California, it's really hard to predict what really will happen with sales. So we are focused on how do we reach our customers? How do we provide them service in the way that we need to? And really, that's about we've seen things like speed improve year-over-year by 9 seconds. That helps sales. Our alerts are down since Q3. All of that will help us.

是的。我認為對我們來說，我們真正關注的是，我們是否有合適的日曆？我們知道如何以正確的方式接觸客戶嗎？因為目前加州正在發生的事情，很難預測銷售到底會發生什麼事。所以我們關注的是如何接觸客戶？我們如何以我們需要的方式為他們提供服務？事實上，我們已經看到速度比去年同期提高了 9 秒。這有助於銷售。自第三季以來，我們的警報有所下降。所有這些都會對我們有幫助。

Now, to add color, what I would say is, we think we have a good pipeline of products coming in this year. To get better, what we have to do is, be able to reach our breakfast customers better. That's a little bit of the category this quarter that we struggled in, both breakfast and value. So we'll make sure that we have the right offers for those that are looking for checks under $8, and we'll have the right offers to drive some transactions there, in addition to really focusing on how do we continue to bring back breakfast? And breakfast was our slowest daypart, I'll add some color here, in this last quarter, mostly because we deleted items, we were simplifying the menu and -- but although it was good for margins, it hurt sales, and it helps simplicity in margins, which we wanted to do for our franchisees. But by removing biscuits, a burrito, a sourdough sandwich and some salads, we definitely -- we impacted sales this quarter.

現在，為了增添色彩，我想說的是，我們認為今年我們將推出一系列良好的產品。為了變得更好，我們要做的是，能夠更好地接觸我們的早餐顧客。這是我們本季陷入困境的類別，無論是早餐還是價值。因此，我們將確保為那些尋找 8 美元以下支票的人提供合適的優惠，並且除了真正關注如何繼續帶回早餐之外，我們還將提供合適的優惠來推動那裡的一些交易？早餐是我們一天中最慢的部分，我會在這裡添加一些顏色，在上個季度，主要是因為我們刪除了項目，我們簡化了菜單，而且——雖然這對利潤有好處，但它損害了銷售，並有助於簡化利潤率，這是我們希望為特許經營商做到的。但通過去掉餅乾、墨西哥捲餅、酵母三明治和一些沙拉，我們肯定影響了本季的銷售。

Our next question comes from the line of David Tarantino with Baird.

我們的下一個問題來自大衛·塔倫蒂諾和貝爾德的台詞。

My question is, coming back to the pricing philosophy that you have, I know, Darin, you mentioned that the price increase you're assuming for this year is what you need to cover the inflation. But I guess, with traffic running negative, I wonder if you could just share your philosophy on your thoughts on protecting the traffic versus covering the inflation. I know it's a tricky balance, but why not, for example, take less pricing in order to protect the traffic in maybe the long-term business model? I guess, could you just kind of walk us through your thought process on that?

我的問題是，回到你的定價理念，我知道，達林，你提到你假設今年的價格上漲是你需要彌補通貨膨脹的。但我想，在流量為負的情況下，我想知道您是否可以分享您對保護流量和應對通貨膨脹的想法的理念。我知道這是一個棘手的平衡，但為什麼不採取較低的定價來保護長期商業模式中的流量呢？我想，您能向我們介紹一下您對此的思考過程嗎？

Yes. I think the real answer is it's balanced. So we wanted to provide you a guide on what we need to just purely cover the cost of the wage inflation in California, and that's what we tried to guide to. We will be watching it, as I said, with our pricing discipline, to understand where is the right place to take price at the right time so that we can limit as much as possible any traffic declines.

是的。我認為真正的答案是它是平衡的。因此，我們想為您提供一個指南，告訴您我們需要什麼來純粹彌補加州工資上漲的成本，這就是我們試圖提供的指導。正如我所說，我們將按照我們的定價紀律來觀察它，以了解在正確的時間在正確的地方定價，以便我們可以盡可能地限制流量下降。

Yes. And on top of that, we are aggressively continuing our efforts to drive other operational improvements. So anywhere we can create more efficiency within the stores, whether it's labor or food cost, that will also help reduce the need to increase price as well. And we're just really excited about the innovation in our menu and making sure we -- our consumers want to come to us. And so I think as we look at our calendar and some of the innovation we have coming out this year, we feel very confident we can continue to drive improved traffic as well.

是的。最重要的是，我們正在積極繼續努力推動其他營運改善。因此，我們可以在任何地方提高商店的效率，無論是勞動力還是食品成本，這也將有助於減少漲價的需要。我們對菜單的創新感到非常興奮，並確保我們的消費者願意來找我們。因此，我認為，當我們查看我們的日曆和今年推出的一些創新時，我們非常有信心能夠繼續推動流量的改善。

Yes, one of the things, Brian mentioned it, that I'm most proud of in this quarter is RLM. We improved it by 400 basis points. Our franchisees have seen 3 quarters straight of improved margins. So the initiatives we've been rolling out, the 200 basis point initiatives, have been starting to take hold in the stores. And so the next step is to continue with pricing, watch traffic, make sure we have the right calendar, but also help our franchisees make more money by following through with what we call our financial fundamentals plan. And now that Tom is at Del, he follows the same playbook that we follow at Jack in strategy, and he is putting in place the same initiatives that are particular to Del so that we can balance all aspects of this -- of the business, not just top line and transactions.

是的，Brian 提到，本季我最引以為傲的事情之一就是 RLM。我們將其改進了 400 個基點。我們的特許經營商的利潤率連續三個季度提高。因此，我們一直在推出的舉措，即 200 個基點舉措，已經開始在商店中紮根。因此，下一步是繼續定價，觀察流量，確保我們有正確的日曆，但也透過遵循我們所謂的財務基本計劃來幫助我們的特許經營商賺更多的錢。現在湯姆在德爾，他在戰略上遵循我們在傑克遵循的相同劇本，他正在實施德爾特有的相同舉措，以便我們能夠平衡業務的各個方面，不僅僅是營收和交易。

Our next question comes from the line of Chris O'Cull with Stifel.

我們的下一個問題來自 Chris O'Cull 和 Stifel 的對話。

Darin, you mentioned product innovation is going to play an important role again this year or next year, I guess. And I believe the company has indicated a new major product may be introduced next year. Is that still the case? And is there any kind of -- and if so, is there a prior new product that may be a good analog to think about for this product? And maybe help us understand what aspects of it make it a good comparison.

達林，你提到產品創新將在今年或明年再次發揮重要作用，我想。我相信該公司已經表示明年可能會推出新的主要產品。現在還是這樣嗎？是否有某種——如果有的話，是否有之前的新產品可以作為該產品的一個很好的類比？也許可以幫助我們了解它的哪些方面使其成為一個很好的比較。

Yes. The core of Jack historically is innovation, right? We were one of the first breakfast, first drive-thru. And so we've got a lot of things in test. We're getting closer to rolling out that product that I think is differentiated in the market, and we're excited about it coming, but we're not ready to announce it yet. But we have plenty of new items in our calendar coming for this year. And the first one I'll say is things like we just rolled out Boba this week, and I think we're the first QSR to roll out Boba. And it's a great product. We're excited about what it's done in test, and it just, over the weekend, was the first entry of Boba into our calendar. So we'll continue to do that, as well as introduce really good innovation to the marketplace on things that fit Jack specifically.

是的。歷史上傑克的核心是創新，對嗎？我們是最早吃早餐、第一次開車經過的人之一。所以我們有很多東西正在測試。我們越來越接近推出我認為在市場上與眾不同的產品，我們對此感到興奮，但我們還沒有準備好宣布它。但今年我們的日曆上有很多新項目。我要說的第一件事是我們本週剛剛推出了 Boba，我認為我們是第一個推出 Boba 的 QSR。這是一個很棒的產品。我們對它在測試中所做的事情感到很興奮，而這只是在周末，Boba 首次進入我們的日曆。因此，我們將繼續這樣做，並向市場推出真正適合傑克的創新產品。

Our next question comes from the line of Alex Slagle with Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題來自 Alex Slagle 和 Jefferies 的對話。

Wanted to ask a question on the operations side of things with the speed of service, which has always been a big driver of same-store sales for the brands, and you've made some good progress in recent quarters here. So trying to figure out kind of where you think you stand now versus peers, where you think it can go, and where the biggest catalysts could be to make that happen. I'm not sure if it's coming from lower tiers of stores where a bigger source of improvement could come from, or just broadly across the whole system.

想問一個關於服務速度的營運方面的問題，這一直是品牌同店銷售的一大推動力，最近幾個季度你們在這裡取得了一些良好的進展。因此，試著弄清楚你認為自己現在與同行相比處於什麼位置，你認為它可以走向何方，以及實現這一目標的最大催化劑可能在哪裡。我不確定它是否來自較低級別的商店，這些商店可以提供更大的改進來源，或者只是廣泛地遍及整個系統。

Yes. I think things like performance at the ops level. I think there's 2 key areas that we have still opportunity to improve, and it's with our staffing, which we're now at pre-COVID levels at Jack, almost there on the franchise side of the business. And really an area of late-night, make sure we're staffed appropriate at late-night so that we can drive out speed of service and at the right times.

是的。我認為諸如操作層面的性能之類的事情。我認為我們仍有兩個關鍵領域需要改進，那就是我們的人員配置，傑克現在的人員配置處於新冠疫情前的水平，幾乎在特許經營方面。而且確實是一個深夜區域，請確保我們在深夜配備適當的人員，以便我們能夠在正確的時間提高服務速度。

And then, it's how we balance our labor scheduling. We've got a new way that we're scheduling labor so that we can be most effective at the times where we need the labor so we can hit our speed of service numbers. And then, what I would say from an alert standpoint, both speed of service and alerts are things that are indicative of same-store sales performance.

然後，這就是我們平衡勞動力安排的方式。我們有一種新的方式來安排勞動力，這樣我們就可以在需要勞動力的時候發揮最大的效率，從而達到我們的服務速度。然後，從警報的角度來看，服務速度和警報都是同店銷售業績的指標。

We have an opportunity in our third-party and our online orders to get better at execution of our business model. And so we'll look to say how can we -- now that we're about 12% of sales in digital, 4 years ago, we were at 1%. So we've got to figure out better ways that we can execute on that digital business. And those 2 are the key areas from a performance standpoint that we can improve on.

我們有機會透過第三方和線上訂單更好地執行我們的業務模式。所以我們會說我們如何才能——現在我們的數位化銷售額約佔 12%，而 4 年前，我們只有 1%。因此，我們必須找出更好的方法來執行數位業務。從性能的角度來看，這兩個是我們可以改進的關鍵領域。

Our next question comes from the line of Jeff Bernstein with Barclays.

我們的下一個問題來自傑夫伯恩斯坦與巴克萊銀行的對話。

As we think about the initial fiscal '24 guidance, specifically on the earnings side, I'm just wondering where you see the greatest uncertainty. Darin, I think you mentioned the California pricing is kind of a big unknown from an elasticity perspective, but I'm just wondering where you think you're most conservative and maybe more aggressive, how you think about that guidance.

當我們思考 24 年最初的財務指引時，特別是在獲利方面，我只是想知道最大的不確定性在哪裡。達林，我想你提到從彈性角度來看，加州的定價是一個很大的未知數，但我只是想知道你認為你在哪裡最保守，也許更激進，你如何看待這一指導。

And then, just to clarify, I think you mentioned, Darin, that your franchisee profitability has improved consistently over the past number of quarters. I'm wondering whether you ever share -- now that we're starting a new fiscal year, whether you would share the annual franchise level profitability at each of your 2 brands for this year versus -- fiscal '23 versus fiscal '22, so we could have a gauge for expectations going into fiscal '24.

然後，為了澄清，我想你提到過，達林，你的加盟商獲利能力在過去幾季中持續提高。我想知道您是否願意分享 - 現在我們正在開始一個新的財政年度，您是否會分享您的 2 個品牌今年與 - 23 財年和 22 財年的年度特許經營水平盈利能力，因此我們可以對24財年的預期進行衡量。

Sure. I think -- from our standpoint, I think the thing that we have to look at is really focused on how do we support our franchisees in California during AB1228. And then, like Brian said, that's not only price. It's operational direction and how do we help them take margin opportunities and improve on their business. And so that's where I think, in our guidance, that gives us the most, I would say, to your question, discomfort or not as knowledgeable about what's truly the outcome. And then, from a standpoint of margins, at Investor Day, we'll consider exploring communicating our margins and what's happening with franchisees' P&L and what we anticipate new store returns to be. Especially after last year and '22, having so much inflation and not fully recouping all of that yet, we're still on pace to do that. But at both brands, we have not fully recovered from all the margin loss in 2022. And so -- but our franchisees' P&Ls have improved. They're making the same dollars that they were making 2 years ago, just not the same percentage yet. We want to be able to do both and actually improve their margins.

當然。我認為，從我們的角度來看，我認為我們必須關注的真正重點是我們如何在 AB1228 期間支持加州的特許經營商。然後，就像布萊恩所說，這不僅僅是價格。這是營運方向以及我們如何幫助他們抓住利潤機會並改善他們的業務。因此，我認為，在我們的指導中，我想說，對於你的問題，我們最感到不安或不了解真正的結果。然後，從利潤的角度來看，在投資者日，我們將考慮探索溝通我們的利潤、特許經營商損益表的情況以及我們預期新店回報的情況。特別是在去年和 22 年之後，通貨膨脹如此嚴重，但尚未完全收回所有這些，我們仍在努力做到這一點。但對於這兩個品牌，我們尚未完全從 2022 年的所有利潤損失中恢復過來。因此，我們的特許經營商的損益有所改善。他們的收入與兩年前相同，只是比例不同。我們希望能夠做到這兩點，並實際提高他們的利潤率。

Yes, I would agree. I'd just add, again, the top line is the one, obviously, that we'll continue to monitor in that price trends mix. Outside of that, we have really good line of sight on our G&A, got good controls there, and I feel like we've got a really good strategy as we continue to integrate Del Taco and gain more synergies in 2024. And on the commodity side, we've got good line of sight there, and same thing on the wage side. We have a good sense, an improving labor market. So kind of outside of AB1228, we're seeing improved ability to staff in the stores. And so I think we feel really good about our ability to control kind of everything below the top line. And then, we're going to obviously do what we can to make sure we maximize our sales.

是的，我同意。我想再次補充一下，顯然，我們將繼續監控價格趨勢組合的最上面一行。除此之外，我們對 G&A 有非常好的視野，在那裡得到了良好的控制，我覺得我們有一個非常好的策略，因為我們繼續整合 Del Taco 並在 2024 年獲得更多協同效應。另一方面，我們在那裡有很好的視野，在工資方面也是如此。我們有良好的判斷力，勞動市場正在改善。因此，在 AB1228 之外，我們看到商店員工的能力有所提高。所以我認為我們對自己控制營收以下一切的能力感到非常滿意。然後，我們顯然將盡我們所能確保我們的銷售額最大化。

Our next question comes from the line of Jake Bartlett with Truist Securities.

我們的下一個問題來自 Truist Securities 的 Jake Bartlett。

Mine is really a clarification on the guidance. And I believe -- and just correct me if I'm wrong here, but I believe the guidance specifically says excludes the impact of refranchising, so it assumes no Del Taco refranchising. But you do think there's going to be some refranchising. Darin, I think you mentioned a minimum of 30 to 40. Just to make sure I got that right, maybe if you could help us in terms of G&A per store per -- or D&A per store, how should we -- if we were to kind of build in the refranchising, any kind of guidelines or guide posts as we try to do that?

我的其實是對指南的澄清。我相信——如果我錯了，請糾正我，但我相信該指南明確表示排除了重新特許經營的影響，因此它假設沒有 Del Taco 重新特許經營。但你確實認為將會有一些重新特許經營。 Darin，我認為您提到了至少30 到40 個。只是為了確保我的理解是正確的，也許您可以在每家商店的G&A 或每家商店的D&A 方面幫助我們，如果我們是的話，我們應該如何做在我們嘗試這樣做時，是否有任何類型的指導方針或指導柱來建立再特許經營權？

So I'll start and I'll let Brian finish. Our focus, as I said, is 120 restaurants with the right -- in 3 years and get to 90% franchise by the end of 2026. And so although we think this is not a guide, we think we'll do at a minimum 30 to 40. If we are not finding the right operator or the right deal, we'll slow it down. But the other thing is, like we did this year in 2023, we sped it up because we had great deals, great operators and the right prices, and these transactions were accretive. So I'll let Brian add to that.

所以我先開始，然後讓布萊恩完成。正如我所說，我們的重點是在3 年內讓120 家餐廳擁有特許經營權，並在2026 年底之前達到90% 的特許經營權。因此，儘管我們認為這不是一個指南，但我們認為我們至少會這樣做30 到 40。如果我們找不到合適的運營商或合適的交易，我們就會放慢速度。但另一件事是，就像我們今年 2023 年所做的那樣，我們加快了速度，因為我們有很棒的交易、優秀的運營商和合適的價格，而且這些交易是增值的。所以我會讓布萊恩補充一下。

Yes, we did not include it in the guide because we just don't have the perfect line of sight to the timing and the magnitude of the impact. So I need to get back to you on the D&A impact. So I'll make sure we try to circle back on that before we finish the call here so we can give you some color on how that may influence it. So what I -- as we've -- I think we've talked about in the past year, when you think about the refranchising, it's that trade-off of obviously [selling and] EBITDA. We pick up royalties. If we use the proceeds to repurchase shares, we pick up earnings benefit from that. We'll reduce our field G&A over time as well. And then, what's really important is that we have strong operators that we're refranchising with, whether existing or new, so that we can add more development agreements that we think is really important to driving long-term accretion to the business beyond the benefits of being asset-light. That's a really important strategy. So I'll circle back with you on a minute on the D&A. Just as an estimate, it obviously varies by store.

是的，我們沒有將其包含在指南中，因為我們對影響的時間和程度沒有完美的視野。所以我需要回覆您 D&A 的影響。因此，在我們完成這裡的通話之前，我將確保我們嘗試重新討論這一點，以便我們可以向您提供一些關於這可能如何影響它的資訊。所以我——就像我們——我想我們在過去的一年裡談論過，當你想到再特許經營時，顯然是[銷售和] EBITDA 之間的權衡。我們收取版稅。如果我們用所得款項回購股票，我們就會從中獲得收益。隨著時間的推移，我們也將減少現場管理費用。然後，真正重要的是，我們擁有強大的運營商，無論是現有的還是新的，我們都可以與之重新特許經營，這樣我們就可以添加更多的開發協議，我們認為這些協議對於推動業務的長期成長非常重要，而不僅僅是利益輕資產。這是一個非常重要的策略。那麼我將用一分鐘的時間與您討論 D&A。只是作為估計，它顯然因商店而異。

Great. And I know there's a little bit of guidance in terms of what you provided at ICR last year in terms of the first 120 stores, but I guess is that relevant for the next 100 stores? Or is that something we should kind of use as a guide?

偉大的。我知道您去年在 ICR 上提供的前 120 家商店的內容有一些指導，但我想這與接下來的 100 家商店相關嗎？或者我們應該將其用作指南？

Yes, we'll update it. I think that's the basic guide I would use until we update it at ICR.

是的，我們會更新它。我認為這是我將使用的基本指南，直到我們在 ICR 更新它為止。

Our next question comes from the line of Chris Carril with RBC Capital Markets.

我們的下一個問題來自加拿大皇家銀行資本市場部的克里斯·卡里爾 (Chris Carril)。

Brian, I think you briefly just referenced this, but could you provide any more insight on synergies from Del Taco? Is there anything you could point to with regard to opportunities around G&A, supply chain or any other areas you could point to?

Brian，我想您剛剛簡單地提到了這一點，但是您能否提供有關 Del Taco 協同效應的更多見解？關於一般管理費用、供應鏈或任何其他領域的機會，您有什麼可以指出的嗎？

Yes. On the G&A side, we are still working through some areas where we can consolidate. We'll get more operational efficiency through consolidating more of our systems. So there's a lot of work that's already been done in the back half of fiscal '23 that you'll see the flow-through into '24. So I'd say the biggest work efforts have already actually been accomplished. It's just it'll -- you'll see it in the full year '24 numbers. And then, (inaudible) Darin on the commodity side and other -- maybe you can cover that.

是的。在一般管理費用方面，我們仍在努力探索一些可以整合的領域。我們將透過整合更多系統來提高營運效率。因此，在 23 財年後半段已經完成了許多工作，您將看到這些工作將延續到 24 財年。所以我想說最大的工作實際上已經完成了。只是它會——你會在 24 年全年的數字中看到它。然後，（聽不清楚）達林在商品方面和其他方面 - 也許你可以涵蓋這一點。

Yes. What we've seen is, obviously, we've guided to commodity costs, and those commodity costs include some of the benefit from our purchasing and scale that we've received at both Jack and Del Taco. So those synergies numbers are in there. We will exceed our synergy numbers that we targeted when we made the Del Taco acquisition in 2024. We will be north of $15 million in EBITDA benefit as a result of that. And a lot of that has been picked up in commodity costs already, but some of it is in overhead and other areas like public company costs. And then, we still think there is a benefit as we finish our enterprise system in the IT area, and we get shared systems and POS over both brands over the next couple of years.

是的。顯然，我們所看到的是，我們已經指導了商品成本，這些成本包括我們在 Jack 和 Del Taco 獲得的採購和規模帶來的一些好處。所以這些協同效應的數字就在那裡。我們將超過 2024 年收購 Del Taco 時設定的綜效數字。因此，我們的 EBITDA 效益將超過 1,500 萬美元。其中很大一部分已經在商品成本中體現出來，但其中一些是在管理費用和上市公司成本等其他領域。然後，我們仍然認為，當我們在 IT 領域完成我們的企業系統時，這是有好處的，我們將在未來幾年內獲得兩個品牌的共享系統和 POS。

Yes. The one last thing I'd mention is, if you actually look at our G&A guide, we just gave the full year. We actually expect to exit '24 on a slightly lower run rate of G&A than we're starting. So it's just a good example of how we're still extracting more benefits from integrating the companies.

是的。我要提到的最後一件事是，如果你真的看看我們的一般管理費用指南，我們只給了全年。實際上，我們預計 24 年退出時的 G&A 運行率會比開始時略低。因此，這只是一個很好的例子，說明我們如何仍從公司整合中獲得更多利益。

Our next question comes from the line of Brian Harbour with Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自布萊恩哈伯 (Brian Harbor) 與摩根士丹利 (Morgan Stanley) 的對話。

I just had a clarification question on the pricing. I think that the number you said for Jack in the Box for the fourth quarter, I think it was similar to the prior quarter, if I heard that correctly. I thought there was kind of some pricing roll-offs. I guess my question was just did you already take kind of some -- a new layer of pricing? And then, as you think about that 6% to 8%, is that going to all come right when the wage change happens? Or how should we think about that from a timing perspective?

我剛剛有一個關於定價的澄清問題。我認為你所說的第四季度傑克在盒子裡的數字，如果我沒聽錯的話，我認為它與上一季相似。我認為價格有所下調。我想我的問題是，你們是否已經採取了某種新的定價方式？然後，當你想到 6% 到 8% 時，當薪資改變時，這一切都會好嗎？或者說我們該如何從時機的角度來思考這個問題？

Are you asking on the company-owned side or the franchise side, Brian?

布萊恩，你問的是公司自有方面還是特許經營方面？

I believe the number you gave was on the company-owned side.

我相信你提供的號碼是公司那邊的。

Just company. Okay.

只是公司。好的。

Yes. We balance it -- we typically balance it, and we've taken pricing throughout the year. And so we will continue to do that and take it over time. Except for in California, we'll ramp it up a little more aggressively prior to April. So we'll definitely -- we'll look at taking price at the right times across the board. During last year, we took price more frequently. Typically, we take it quarterly, but we'll take it when we need to, as we do that over the next year.

是的。我們會平衡它——我們通常會平衡它，並且我們全年都會進行定價。因此，我們將繼續這樣做，並隨著時間的推移。除加州外，我們將在四月之前更積極地提高這一速度。因此，我們肯定會考慮在正確的時間全面定價。去年，我們更頻繁地定價。通常，我們每季進行一次，但我們會在需要時進行，就像我們在明年這樣做的那樣。

Our final question comes from the line of Jon Tower with Citi.

我們的最後一個問題來自喬恩·塔爾（Jon Tower）與花旗集團的對話。

I guess, just going back to the breakfast conversation earlier, it does sound like, Darin, you're emphasizing the need for checks under $8 there. And it sounds like in the period, some items being removed hurt the sales. So one, was that specific to the fourth quarter, meaning it didn't happen in the prior periods, so it'll persist going forward? Then 2, how do you think about balancing the need to drive traffic at that daypart without compromising profits at that daypart? Is there something else you can do with respect to labor management during that time of day in order to ensure that profits don't continue to kind of sink during that daypart?

我想，回到之前的早餐談話，達林，你確實在強調需要 8 美元以下的支票。聽起來，在此期間，一些商品被移除影響了銷售。那麼第一，這是特定於第四季度的嗎？這意味著它在之前的時期沒有發生，所以它會持續下去嗎？那麼 2，您如何考慮在不影響該時段利潤的情況下平衡該時段增加流量的需求？在一天中的這個時段，您還可以在勞動力管理方面採取其他措施，以確保利潤不會在該時段繼續下降嗎？

Yes, I think that's one of the reasons why we removed items. We actually had a margin lift by removing some of those items, and even though we had a sales decline. So that's exactly part of the strategy we were looking at. I think we're taking a look at where are some other ways that we can increase value during that day part. I know often in times when the market gets tight economically, breakfast is one of the first things that may disappear quickly. And so we want to make sure we're offering the right value offers at the right time. And for us, we also saw -- last year at this time, we ran French Toast Sticks, which is always a hit for us. And we tried to do a new breakfast rollout with our Breakfast Taco, and quite frankly, it didn't -- it just did okay. It really didn't move the needle. And so between removing items, having the Breakfast Taco and some innovation there, we just didn't have the right offer at the right time. And so -- but margins did improve even though we were down -- or we were flat in sales at the breakfast daypart.

是的，我認為這就是我們刪除項目的原因之一。實際上，儘管我們的銷售額有所下降，但透過刪除其中一些產品，我們的利潤率有所提高。這正是我們正在考慮的戰略的一部分。我認為我們正在研究哪些其他方法可以在這一天增加價值。我知道，當市場經濟緊張時，早餐往往是最先消失的東西之一。因此，我們希望確保在正確的時間提供正確的價值優惠。對我們來說，我們也看到——去年的這個時候，我們經營了法式吐司棒，這對我們來說一直很受歡迎。我們嘗試用早餐玉米捲推出新的早餐，坦白說，它沒有——只是做得還不錯。它確實沒有起到任何作用。因此，在刪除物品、提供早餐玉米餅和一些創新之間，我們只是沒有在正確的時間提供正確的報價。因此，儘管我們的銷售額下降了，但利潤率確實有所提高，或者說我們早餐時段的銷售額持平。

I would like to thank our speakers for today's presentation, and thank you all for joining us. This now concludes today's call, and you may now disconnect.

我要感謝今天的演講者的演講，並感謝大家加入我們。今天的通話到此結束，您現在可以掛斷電話了。