Kura Sushi USA Inc (KRUS) 2025 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Kurasushi USA, Inc., fiscal first-quarter 2025 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please note that this call is being recorded.

下午好，女士們先生們，感謝你們的支持。歡迎參加 Kurasushi USA, Inc. 2025 財年第一季財報電話會議。（操作員說明）請注意，此通話正在錄音。

On the call today, we have Hajime Jimmy Uba, President and Chief Executive Officer; Jeff Uttz, Chief Financial Officer; and Benjamin Porten, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and System Development.

今天的電話會議由總裁兼執行長 Hajime Jimmy Uba 主持。傑夫‧烏茨，財務長； Benjamin Porten，投資者關係和系統開發資深副總裁。

And now, I would like to turn the call over to Mr. Porten. Please go ahead.

現在，我想把電話轉給波滕先生。請繼續。

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you all for joining. By now, everyone can have access to our fiscal first quarter 2025 earnings release. It can be found at www.kurasushi.com in the Investor Relations section. A copy of the earnings release has also been included in the 8-K can be submitted to the SEC.

謝謝你，接線生。大家下午好，感謝大家的加入。到目前為止，每個人都可以訪問我們 2025 年第一財季的收益發布。您可以在 www.kurasushi.com 的投資者關係部分找到資訊。收益發布的副本也已包含在 8-K 中，可以提交給 SEC。

Before we begin our formal remarks, I need to remind you that the part of our discussion today will include forward-looking statements as defined under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and therefore, should not put undue reliance on them. These statements are also subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from what we expect. We refer all of you to our SEC filings for a more detailed discussion of the risks that could impact our future operating results and financial conditions.

在我們開始正式發言之前，我需要提醒您，我們今天討論的部分將包括 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》中定義的前瞻性陳述。這些前瞻性陳述並不是對未來績效的保證，因此不應過度依賴它們。這些陳述也受到許多風險和不確定性的影響，可能導致實際結果與我們的預期有重大差異。我們建議大家參閱我們向 SEC 提交的文件，以更詳細地討論可能影響我們未來經營業績和財務狀況的風險。

Also during today's call, we will discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures, which we believe can be useful in evaluating our performance. The presentation of this additional information should not be considered in isolation or some substitute for results prepared in accordance with GAAP and the reconciliations to comparable of GAAP measures are available in our earnings release.

此外，在今天的電話會議中，我們還將討論某些非公認會計準則財務指標，我們認為這些指標有助於評估我們的績效。這些附加資訊的呈現不應被孤立地考慮，也不應被視為替代根據 GAAP 準備的結果，並且我們的收益報告中提供了與可比較 GAAP 指標的對帳。

With that out of the way, I would like to turn the call over to Jimmy.

既然這樣，我想把電話轉給吉米。

Thanks, Ben, and thank you to everyone for joining us today. We are very pleased to link in the new year by reporting our strong Q1 results, including positive comps of 1.8% and the six exceptional new unit openings. I'm especially proud to be able to amount from adjusted EBITDA margin of 5.5%, representing a 210-basis-point improvement year over year.

謝謝本，也謝謝大家今天加入我們。我們很高興在新的一年報告我們強勁的第一季業績，包括 1.8% 的積極業績和 6 個出色的新單位開業。我特別自豪的是，調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率為 5.5%，年比提高了 210 個基點。

I can't think of a better demonstration of controlling what we can control and the significant year-over-year growth in corporate profitability. I'm extremely proud of our entire team and the work that we put into making it possible, which has effectively even if I had to start the leverage we expect as we continue to scale our base.

我想不出更好的方式來證明控制我們可以控制的事情以及企業盈利能力的同比顯著增長。我為我們的整個團隊以及我們為實現這一目標而付出的努力感到非常自豪，即使我必須在我們繼續擴大我們的基礎時發揮我們所期望的影響力，這仍然有效。

Total sales for the fiscal first quarter was $64.5 million, representing comparable sales growth of 1.8%, with spreads on the mix of 4.1%, offset by 2.3% of negative traffic. Our cost of goods sold as a percentage of sales improved by 80 basis points year over year to 29% due to pricing and the ongoing efforts of our supply chain department.

第一財季的總銷售額為 6,450 萬美元，可比銷售額成長 1.8%，混合差價為 4.1%，被 2.3% 的負流量所抵銷。由於定價和我們供應鏈部門的持續努力，我們的銷售成本佔銷售額的百分比比去年同期提高了 80 個基點，達到 29%。

Labor as a percentage of sales increased to 32.9% as compared to the prior year quarter of 31.9%, driven by wet inflation, including the fact result, the maturity of fiscal '24 restaurant openings were high labor custom market and partially offset by operational streamlining efforts.

勞動力佔銷售額的百分比從去年同期的31.9% 上升至32.9%，這是受濕通膨推動的，包括事實結果，即24 財年餐廳開業的成熟度是勞動力定制市場的高水平，並被運營精簡所部分抵銷努力。

The restaurant operating profit margin was 18.2%, as compared to 19.5% in the prior-year quarter due mainly to wet inflation.

餐廳營業利益率為 18.2%，而去年同期為 19.5%，主要原因是通膨。

Onto to development. We opened six new units in the fiscal first quarter: Beaverton, Oregon; Tacoma, Washington; Rockville, Maryland; Shelly Hill, New Jersey; Bakersfield, California; and Fishers, Indiana. We currently have six units under construction, but continue to expect the majority of this year's remaining openings to be back half rated.

走向發展。我們在第一財季開了六個新單位：俄勒岡州比佛頓；華盛頓州塔科馬；馬裡蘭州羅克維爾；新澤西州雪莉山；加州貝克斯菲爾德；和印第安納州費希爾斯。我們目前有六個單位正在建設中，但仍預計今年剩餘空缺的大部分單位將獲得一半的評級。

In our last call, we have discussed how we're excited to be part by our recent openings, and we are pleased to share that the subsequent performance has been excellent and supports our belief on new market opportunities.

在我們上次的電話會議中，我們討論了我們對參與最近的空缺感到興奮，並且我們很高興地分享，隨後的表現非常出色，並支持了我們對新市場機會的信念。

We have discussed the two markets, in particular, the Pacific Northwest and our Bakersfield, California opening, which highlights the opportunity in DMAs that were smaller than our typical markets. Beaverton and Tacoma continued to outperform our expectations, with Beaverton on track to become a top five store.

我們已經討論了這兩個市場，特別是太平洋西北地區和我們在加州貝克斯菲爾德的開業，這凸顯了比我們典型市場規模小的 DMA 中的機會。比佛頓和塔科馬的表現繼續超出我們的預期，比佛頓有望成為前五名商店。

I'm very pleased to say that Bakersfield's performance is as strong as ever, too. As a reminder, Bakersfield is a critical test to market for us as it presents an entry into a significantly smaller market than any of our previous openings. Historically, our site section has focused on the top 40 or 50 lag for the DMAs in the US, and Bakersfield is around the top around the 120th [largest].

我很高興地說貝克斯菲爾德的表現也一如既往地強勁。提醒一下，貝克斯菲爾德對我們來說是一個關鍵的市場考驗，因為它代表我們進入一個比我們之前任何一個空缺市場都要小得多的市場。從歷史上看，我們的網站部分主要關注美國 DMA 的前 40 名或 50 名滯後，而貝克斯菲爾德在第 120 名（最大）左右名列前茅。

While we have always been confident about doing well in Bakersfield, it demonstrated success after opening has given us so much more confidence in pursuing smaller high-potential markets. We see the potential long-term impact on growing our overall white space potential, opening in smaller DMAs will allow us to better manage conserve headings rather than in filling existing market while maintaining historical cash on cash returns.

雖然我們一直對在貝克斯菲爾德的表現充滿信心，但開業後的成功讓我們更有信心追求較小的高潛力市場。我們看到了對增加我們的整體空白潛力的潛在長期影響，開設較小的 DMA 將使我們能夠更好地管理保守的標題，而不是填補現有市場，同時保持歷史現金回報。

Our goal is to come 50/50 pipeline split between new and existing markets over the coming years to manage comp waterfall and opening up of smaller DMAs, will make it meaningfully easier to fit some new market proportion of the 50/50 equation.

我們的目標是在未來幾年中在新市場和現有市場之間實現50/50 的通路分配，以管理競爭瀑布並開放較小的DMA，這將使適應50/50 方程式中的一些新市場比例變得更容易。

Moving to new initiatives. I'm pleased to share that new reservation and self-seating system is progressing as scheduled, with our fast investment test expected in February. This will be a very significant improvement to the guest experience as we currently do not offer reservations.

轉向新的舉措。我很高興地告訴大家，新的預訂和自助入座系統正在按計劃進行，我們預計將在二月進行快速投資測試。由於我們目前不提供預訂服務，這將對賓客體驗帶來非常顯著的改善。

Today, yes, you can [ultimately] check into different waitlist, but cannot give us specific time to dine. With the liberation system is coupled with a seating system, and we believe the implementation of these systems will eliminated the need for a dedicated cost operation, as well as (inaudible)

今天，是的，您[最終]可以查看不同的候補名單，但不能給我們具體的用餐時間。由於解放系統與座位系統結合，我們相信這些系統的實施將消除對專門成本操作的需要，以及（聽不清楚）

Additionally, in conjunction with the new reservation and the self-seating system, I'm very happy to share for the first time that we are nearing the rollout of updated table-side ordering panels, along with the redesigned to push button [Mr. Fresh 2.0], which is much easier to use.

此外，結合新的預訂和自助就座系統，我很高興第一次分享我們即將推出更新的桌邊點餐面板，以及重新設計的按鈕[Mr. Fresh 2.0]，使用起來更方便。

(inaudible) can spend up to three minutes explaining how to use the existing Mr. Fresh (inaudible) to first-time guests. And so, this is an opportunity for a labor tailwind as well as an improvement to the guest experience. The Mr. Fresh 2.0 is complete, and we expect to begin US rollout in February as well.

（聽不清楚）可以花最多三分鐘的時間向首次來訪的客人解釋如何使用現有的 Mr. Fresh（聽不清楚）。因此，這是一個推動勞動力順風的機會，也是改善賓客體驗的機會。Mr. Fresh 2.0 已完成，我們預計也將於二月開始在美國推出。

In terms of promotions and the marketing, our positive comps in Q1 were supported by the successful One Piece and Pikmin IP collaboration campaigns. Due to the timing of license of promotional schedule, we do not have any IP collaborations from the fourth fiscal second quarter, but we're extremely excited for the collaborations. We have great for the back half of the fiscal year.

在促銷和行銷方面，我們第一季的積極業績得益於海賊王和皮克敏 IP 合作活動的成功支持。由於促銷計劃許可的時間安排，我們從第四財季第二季度開始沒有任何智慧財產權合作，但我們對這些合作感到非常興奮。我們本財年後半段的業績非常好。

In place of high collaboration for the fiscal second quarter, we are doubling down on the full customer efforts we have discussed in the last earnings call. Our history is off to an excellent start, and we are very encouraged to see that. Our comps have returned to [political territory]. Our new openings exceeding expected and have us even more excited about Kura's ultimate opportunity in the US.

為了取代第二財季的高度合作，我們將加倍努力，在上一次財報電話會議中討論過的全面客戶工作。我們的歷史有了一個良好的開端，看到這一點我們感到非常鼓舞。我們的比賽已經回到[政治領土]。我們的新開幕超出了預期，讓我們對 Kura 在美國的最終機會更加興奮。

Adjusted EBITDA margins have hit an all-time high for our fiscal first quarter, thanks to company-wide efforts to control costs. Technological initiatives are progressing smoothly, and we expect that to share the results of our first step-side in-restaurant tests during our next earnings call.

由於全公司範圍內控製成本的努力，第一財季調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率創下歷史新高。技術舉措進展順利，我們預計將在下一次財報電話會議上分享我們首次餐廳內測試的結果。

I would like to reiterate my thanks to the entire Kura team, both at the restaurant and our support center, for the amazing work they've done in positioning us (inaudible) on all cylinders. The speed and the comprehensiveness of everyone's efforts have been nothing short of remarkable. Thank you.

我想再次感謝餐廳和支援中心的整個 Kura 團隊，感謝他們為我們（聽不清楚）全力以赴所做的出色工作。每個人努力的速度和全面性都是令人驚嘆的。謝謝。

With this, I'll turn it over to you to discuss the financial results and the liquidity.

有了這個，我將把它交給你來討論財務結果和流動性。

Thanks, Jimmy. For the first quarter, total sales were $6.5 million as compared to $51.5 million in the prior-year period. Comparable restaurant sales performance compared to the prior year period was positive 1.8%, and with regional comps of post 7.8% in our West Coast market and negative 0.3% in our Southwest market.

謝謝，吉米。第一季總銷售額為 650 萬美元，而去年同期為 5,150 萬美元。與去年同期相比，餐廳銷售業績成長了 1.8%，西海岸市場的區域銷售業績成長了 7.8%，西南市場的區域銷售業績成長了 0.3%。

Turning now to costs. Food and beverage costs as a percentage of sales were 29% compared to 29.8% in the prior year quarter, largely due to pricing and supply chain initiatives. Labor and related costs as a percentage of sales were 32.9% compared to 31.9% in the prior year quarter. This increase was largely due to wage increases and restaurant openings and higher labor cost markets. Occupancy and related expenses as a percentage of sales were 7.4% compared to the prior-year quarter's 7.6%.

現在轉向成本。食品和飲料成本佔銷售額的比例為 29%，而去年同期為 29.8%，主要是由於定價和供應鏈措施。勞動力及相關成本佔銷售額的百分比為 32.9%，去年同期為 31.9%。這一增長主要是由於工資上漲、餐廳開業以及勞動力成本市場上漲。入住率及相關費用佔銷售額的百分比為 7.4%，去年同期為 7.6%。

Depreciation and amortization expenses as a percentage of sales remained flat year-over-year at 4.8%. Other costs as a percent of sales were flat year-over-year at 14.5%.

折舊和攤銷費用佔銷售額的百分比與去年同期持平，為 4.8%。其他成本佔銷售額的百分比與去年同期持平，為 14.5%。

General and administrative expenses as a percentage of sales decreased to 13.5% as compared to 16.7% in the prior year quarter due to significant leveraging of corporate costs against a growing unit base. Operating loss was $1.5 million compared to an operating loss of $2.8 million in the prior year quarter due to the previously mentioned G&A leverage. Income tax expense was $39,000 compared to $38,000 in the prior year quarter.

由於公司成本與不斷增長的單位基礎的顯著槓桿作用，一般及管理費用佔銷售額的百分比從去年同期的 16.7% 下降至 13.5%。由於前面提到的 G&A 槓桿，營運損失為 150 萬美元，而去年同期的營運損失為 280 萬美元。所得稅費用為 39,000 美元，去年同期為 38,000 美元。

Net loss was $1 million or a loss of $0.08 per share compared to a loss of $2 million or a loss of $0.18 per share in the prior year quarter. Restaurant-level operating profit as a percentage of sales was 18.2% compared to 9.5% in the prior year quarter, largely due to higher labor-related costs. Adjusted EBITDA was $3.6 million compared to $1.8 million in the prior year quarter, largely due to greater G&A leverage.

淨虧損為 100 萬美元，即每股虧損 0.08 美元，而去年同期淨虧損為 200 萬美元，即每股虧損 0.18 美元。餐廳層級的營業利潤佔銷售額的百分比為 18.2%，而去年同期為 9.5%，主要是由於勞動相關成本上升。調整後 EBITDA 為 360 萬美元，而去年同期為 180 萬美元，主要是由於 G&A 槓桿增加。

Turning now to our cash and liquidity, at the end of the fiscal first quarter, we had [$107 million] cash and cash equivalents and no debt. This increase in our cash balance is due to the follow-on offering that we closed in November.

現在談談我們的現金和流動性，在第一財季末，我們擁有[1.07億美元]現金和現金等價物，沒有債務。我們現金餘額的增加是由於我們在 11 月完成的後續發行。

And lastly, I'd let to reiterate our guidance for fiscal year 2025. We expect total sales to be between $275 million and $279 million. We expect to open four units maintaining an annual unit growth rate above 20% with average net capital expenditure unit of approximately $2.5 million.

最後，我想重申我們對 2025 財年的指導。我們預計總銷售額將在 2.75 億美元至 2.79 億美元之間。我們預計將開設四個單位，維持年度單位成長率超過 20%，單位平均淨資本支出約為 250 萬美元。

And lastly, we expect general and administrative expense of percentage of sales intimately of 13.5%.

最後，我們預期一般和管理費用佔銷售額的比例接近 13.5%。

And with that, I'll turn it back over to Jimmy.

有了這個，我會把它轉回給吉米。

Thanks, Jeff. This concludes our prepared remarks. We are now happy to answer any questions you have. Operator, please open the line for questions. As a reminder, during the Q&A session, I may answer in Japanese before my response is translated into English.

謝謝，傑夫。我們準備好的演講到此結束。我們現在很樂意回答您的任何問題。接線員，請開通提問線。提醒一下，在問答環節中，我可能會先用日文回答，然後再將我的回答翻譯成英文。

(Operator Instructions) Jeremy Hamblin, Craig Hallum.

（操作員說明）Jeremy Hamblin、Craig Hallum。

Thanks, and congratulations on the strong results. I wanted to just dive into what you've seen in terms of trends here. It looks like you've got, mid single digit improvement on your comps in both of your key markets and wanted to just get a sense for what was driving that it appears as though your mix was a little bit better in the quarter. I think menu pricing was not significantly different from your your last quarter. So wanted to just see if you could provide a little bit of color of that and then maybe a little bit of color on the cadence throughout Q1.

謝謝，並祝賀取得了優異的成績。我想深入了解您所看到的趨勢。看起來您在兩個主要市場的比較都取得了中等個位數的改進，並且想要了解是什麼推動了您的組合在本季度似乎有所改善。我認為菜單定價與上一季沒有太大不同。所以想看看你是否可以提供一點顏色，然後也許在整個第一季的節奏上提供一點顏色。

Sure. Thank you for your first question, Jeremy. But please allow me to answer your question in Japanese. Ben is going to translate. (spoken in Japanese)

當然。謝謝你的第一個問題，傑瑞米。但請容許我用日文回答你的問題。本要去翻譯。（用日文說）

(interpreted) In terms of the improvement that we saw in Q1 over Q4, certainly 11 of the major tailwinds that we had with the successes of the IP collaborations we had with one piece and picked in those were very successful campaigns in terms of price mix. As you've mentioned, price was largely, effective pricing is largely flat quarter over quarter. And so we did see meaningful improvement in mix. We've been talking about having more food focused marketing efforts and this would be an example of one of the fruits of those labors. We've been really talking up the quality of our udon the way that we make it from scratch every morning. And we had a follow-up campaign called The Perfect Pair, which was a combo of an udon bowl and a and that led to significant improvements in mix attached inside menu attachment without any reductions to per person plate consumption. And so this is some of the best mix we've seen in recent memory, really pleased to see it.

（解釋）就我們在第一季看到的相對於第四季度的改進而言，我們與Onepiece 進行的IP 合作取得成功，並在價格組合方面選擇了非常成功的活動，這無疑是我們所獲得的11 個主要推動因素。正如您所提到的，價格在很大程度上，有效定價在季度與季度之間基本持平。因此，我們確實看到了組合方面的有意義的改進。我們一直在談論進行更多以食品為重點的行銷工作，這將是這些努力的成果之一。我們一直在真正談論烏龍麵的質量，就像我們每天早上從頭開始製作烏龍麵一樣。我們開展了一項名為「完美配對」的後續活動，該活動是烏冬麵碗和烏龍麵的組合，從而顯著改進了菜單附件內的組合，而沒有減少每個人的盤子消耗。這是我們最近記憶中見過的最好的組合，很高興看到它。

(spoken in Japanese)

（用日文說）

(interpreted) And then in terms of the monthly cadence that we saw, we saw largely the same as the rest of the industry. November was the strongest month for us.

（解釋）然後就我們看到的每月節奏而言，我們看到的與行業其他公司基本相同。十一月是我們最強勁的月份。

Got it. And then just you noted a little bit of change here in your collaboration kind of packages you're thinking about fiscal '25. You're lapping, kind of snoopy peanuts from last year in December and January timeframe, and you really don't have that same kind of collaboration going on right now. As you noted, you've, you focused on kind of food marketing. And I think you've got some, some premium items coming here in the next couple of weeks, but just wanted to get a sense for how consumers were responding to that. And then just kind of a tangent related question whether or not kind of the shift in calendar this year is having kind of any impact on results.

知道了。然後，您注意到您正在考慮的 25 財年的合作類型包中發生了一些變化。你正在研磨，有點像去年 12 月和 1 月時間範圍內的史努比花生，而你現在確實沒有進行同樣類型的合作。正如您所指出的，您專注於食品行銷。我認為你們將在接下來的幾週內推出一些優質商品，但只是想了解消費者對此有何反應。然後是一個與切線相關的問題，今年日曆的變化是否會對結果產生任何影響。

Sure. Well, let me -- I'll speak to the first question in terms of the it collaborations. It's, it's, it's certainly true that Q2 is a more difficult comparison. Q1 to your point, we are lapping peanuts, which is one of the most successful campaigns we've had and we are not running an IT collaboration in Q2. This is and so it is going to be a more difficult comp from that perspective in Q1, knowing that our focus is going to be on cost control and delivering profitability regardless of that headwind. And so that, that's really what we're focused on in terms of Q2 specifically, but looking to the full year and to future years, this is I would characterize Q2 is really just a sort of hiccup growing pain as we pivot to our new strategy, a big part of why we don't have a collaboration in Q2 is simply the timing of different licenses. There wasn't one that we felt really checked all of our boxes. So, sort of the same thinking as how we pruned our lo I going into fiscal '25. And so well, we won't have a collaboration for Q2 seeing the results in future quarters and just how strong the IP S are. I think everybody will, will really be quite pleased with what we have in the store.

當然。好吧，讓我——我將談談 IT 合作的第一個問題。確實，第二季度是一個更困難的比較。對於您的觀點，第一季我們正在努力，這是我們開展過的最成功的活動之一，我們在第二季度沒有進行 IT 協作。因此，從第一季的角度來看，這將是一個更困難的競爭，因為我們知道，無論逆風如何，我們的重點將是成本控制和提供獲利能力。因此，這確實是我們在第二季度特別關注的重點，但展望全年和未來幾年，我認為第二季度實際上只是我們轉向新產品時的一種成長過程中的陣痛。在第二季沒有合作的一個重要原因是不同許可證的時間安排。我們覺得沒有一個真正滿足了我們所有的要求。因此，這與我們在進入 25 財年時如何精簡業務的想法有些相同。好吧，我們不會在第二季合作，看看未來幾季的結果以及 IP S 有多強大。我想每個人都會對我們店裡的東西非常滿意。

Got it. And then, and then just the question the impact, there's a shift in the kind of the timing of the holidays this year in December into January and wanted to get a sense for whether or not that's, having any impact, good or bad, you know, on what you would expect.

知道了。然後，然後就是影響問題，今年 12 月到 1 月的假期時間發生了變化，我想了解一下這是否會對您產生任何影響，無論是好還是壞，您知道你會期待什麼。

Ben, can I answer the question?

本，我可以回答這個問題嗎？

Yes.

是的。

(spoken in Japanese)

（用日文說）

(interpreted) I assume this is the case for pretty much everybody else in the industry, but just looking at the calendar shift, the fact that Thanksgiving came so late into November, we're looking at December and January really as a combined month sort of along the lines of how you treat March and April as a combined month, just given the calendar shifts that are so typical of those months.

（解釋）我認為業內幾乎所有其他人都是這種情況，但只要看看日曆的變化，事實上感恩節到了十一月這麼晚，我們實際上將十二月和一月視為一個合併的每月排序與您如何將三月和四月視為一個合併月份一樣，只是考慮到這些月份的典型日曆變化。

Got it. Thanks for taking the questions, and best wishes in 2025.

知道了。感謝您提出問題，並祝福您 2025 年一切順利。

Thanks, Jeremy.

謝謝，傑里米。

Thank you, Jeremy.

謝謝你，傑瑞米。

Jeffrey Bernstein, Barclays.

傑弗裡·伯恩斯坦，巴克萊銀行。

Great. Thank you very much. A couple of questions. The first one just following from a comp perspective, I think one quarter ago you had guided to, loosely positive comps for fiscal '25 but you noted that you were still kind of in recovery mode. So it was difficult to forecast.

偉大的。非常感謝。有幾個問題。第一個只是從比較的角度來看，我認為一個季度前您已經指導了 25 財年的鬆散積極的比較，但您指出您仍處於復甦模式。所以很難預測。

It seems like you have some better visibility. Now, I'm just trying to clarify. It sounds like you're saying for fiscal two Q, it's possible that the comp reverts to perhaps a modest negative with the collaboration mismatch. But your focus is on protecting profitability and then you'd expect with the stronger collabs in the back half, you'd return to positive comps in the second half of fiscal '25. Is that, is that a fair assessment of your outlook for the next few quarters in terms of how the, how the comp plays out?

看來你的能見度更好了。現在，我只是想澄清一下。聽起來你好像在說，對於第二財季，由於合作不匹配，比較可能會恢復到適度的負值。但你的重點是保護獲利能力，然後你會期望隨著下半年更強勁的合作，你會在 25 財年下半年恢復正值。這是對你對未來幾季的前景的公平評估嗎？

(spoken in Japanese)

（用日文說）

(interpreted) Jeff, thanks for the question. In terms of IP collaborations. Our Q1 performance is certainly buoyed by the success of One piece and Pin, which we are very pleased with to your point Q2, we're lapping peanuts without an IP collaboration. And so thinking about the comp relative to Q1 is it, it's certainly more difficult.

（翻譯）傑夫，謝謝你的提問。在智慧財產權合作方面。我們第一季的業績無疑受到了 Onepiece 和 Pin 的成功的推動，我們對您的觀點感到非常滿意。因此，考慮相對於第一季的比較，這肯定更困難。

(spoken in Japanese)

（用日文說）

(interpreted) And the guidance that we gave at the beginning of the year contemplated this, this is not a surprise to us. And so it was always our plan to focus on operations and driving profitability in Q2. And it's the reason that when we talked about comps, we always talked about it in the full year context. The back half is, is really where the major opportunity lies both in terms of the easier comparisons, the implementation of our new technologies and the IP collaborations that we have in store.

（解釋）我們年初給的指導就考慮到了這一點，這對我們來說並不奇怪。因此，我們始終計劃在第二季專注於營運和提高獲利能力。這就是為什麼當我們談論比較時，我們總是在全年背景下談論它。後半部確實是主要機會所在，無論是在更容易的比較、我們新技術的實施或我們現有的智慧財產權合作方面。

Got it. Very helpful.

知道了。非常有幫助。

Add to the other thing that in the in the past was that we have our Q1 competent, we get sequentially better throughout the year. I don't think we anticipated a 1.8% comp for Q1. So you know, that may not necessarily be the case, but like Jimmy and Ben just talked about for the year, we do anticipate that our comp will be a positive number for the full year.

再加上過去的另一件事是我們有第一季的能力，我們全年都在不斷進步。我認為我們預計第一季的成長率不會達到 1.8%。所以你知道，情況可能不一定如此，但就像吉米和本剛剛談到的今年一樣，我們確實預計我們全年的收入將是正數。

Understood. And then just following up from the cost side of things, again, you focused on profitability in the short term, but inflation can you update us on the food and labor inflation that you saw in the first quarter and what your outlook is for the second quarter and the full year, just wondering whether you're able to leverage those line items as we think about the full year.

明白了。然後，從成本方面進行跟進，您再次關注短期盈利能力，但是通貨膨脹，您能否向我們介紹您在第一季度看到的食品和勞動力通脹以及您對第二季度的前景的最新情況季度和全年，只是想知道您是否能夠在我們考慮全年時利用這些行項目。

So I want to know.

所以我想知道。

(spoken in Japanese)

（用日文說）

(interpreted) So just sort of start with the conclusion. Our expectations for the labor for Q2 are to be largely in line with the prior year percentage of sales and for Q3 and Q4 for fiscal '25 to be superior to fiscal '20 four's percentage of a labor of sales. I'm sorry, labor as a percentage of sales.

（解釋）那就從結論開始吧。我們對第二季度勞動力銷售百分比的預期將在很大程度上與上年同期一致，而對25 財年第三季和第四季銷售勞動力百分比的預期將優於20 財年第四季的銷售勞動力百分比。抱歉，勞動力佔銷售額的百分比。

And so for the full year, we expect labor leverage as well. If you look at our historical earnings calls, you can see that our general experience has been that we, we've seen labor inflation of mid single digits, low single digits, the most recent quarter, we actually experienced high single digits. And so that was a little bit unexpected but the operational implementations, the streamlining that we've put in place, we've already seen very meaningful improvements in sales per man hours and these sorts of waiver initiatives.

因此，對於全年而言，我們預期勞動力槓桿率也是如此。如果你看看我們歷史上的財報電話會議，你會發現我們的整體經驗是，我們看到了中個位數、低個位數的勞動力通膨，最近一個季度，我們實際上經歷了高個位數。因此，這有點出乎意料，但在營運實施、我們實施的精簡方面，我們已經看到了人均銷售額和此類豁免舉措的非常有意義的改進。

The upside is really, it's it tracks along with our seasonality tracks, along with general sales of sales and labor leverage. And so the opportunity presented by the operational streamlining as well as the additional initiatives that we have coming up later in the year, but they really come live in the latter half, the busier half of the fiscal year. So for labor, we're, we're, we're, we continue to be bullish.

真正的好處是，它與我們的季節性軌跡以及銷售和勞動力槓桿的整體銷售額保持一致。因此，營運精簡以及我們在今年稍後提出的其他措施帶來了機會，但它們真正在下半年，即本財年最繁忙的一半中發揮作用。因此，對勞工來說，我們、我們、我們、我們繼續看漲。

And then on quality stuff inflation for, but inflation for this quarter on COGP was basically flat. In fact, it was just inflationary year over year. So we're very happy where that is. And I don't expect significant increases or any significant inflation for the remainder of the year for COGS and would expect that line as percentage of sales to remain where it is or even turn down somewhat for the remainder of the year. If you look year over year, last year, we were at 29.8 and this year we're at 29. So that's a big improvement over last year and I expect it to potentially, it'll stay the same or potentially get a little better if we have some stars aligned and things go our way.

然後是優質商品通膨，但本季 COGP 通膨基本持平。事實上，這只是逐年通貨膨脹。所以我們對此感到非常高興。我預計今年剩餘時間內銷貨成本不會大幅成長或任何顯著通膨，並且預計該線佔銷售額的百分比將保持在原位，甚至在今年剩餘時間內有所下降。如果逐年比較，去年我們是 29.8，今年是 29。因此，這比去年有了很大的進步，我希望它有可能保持不變，或者如果我們有一些明星對齊並且事情按照我們的方式發展，它可能會變得更好。

Got it. And my last question was just on the labor initiatives. I think you guys previously talked about how you already achieved maybe 100 basis points from back of house initiatives. And I think you were talking about how maybe the reservation system and the self seating system had potential for another 50 basis points of opportunity. I'm just wondering how that's tracking and maybe what, key performance indicators you'll be able to share with us over the next few quarters to kind of see. It sounds like your first one is in February where you're going to be rolling that out. So just what kind of expectations do you have over the next few quarters in terms of the initial impact? Thank you.

知道了。我的最後一個問題是關於勞工倡議的。我想你們之前談過你們如何透過後台計畫實現了大約 100 個基點。我認為您正在談論預訂系統和自助座位系統如何有可能帶來另外 50 個基點的機會。我只是想知道這是如何追蹤的，也許您將能夠在接下來的幾季與我們分享關鍵績效指標，以便了解。聽起來你的第一個計劃是在二月份，你將在那裡推出它。那麼，您對未來幾季的初步影響有何預期？謝謝。

Yeah. So we're really pleased with the operational improvements. We mentioned that we started them in fiscal '24 rollout was complete by September. And so they're, they're live in pretty much every restaurant, in terms of the productivity beyond a doubt, we've seen very meaningful improvements. We're very, very happy with the results that being said, we didn't see, you know, labors and percentage of sales improved year over year. Just given that the high single digit wage inflation was more than we'd expected. That being said, the nature of the improvements is it's a station consolidation and so you can go from five people to four people or four people to three people, but you can't really go smaller than that. And so the opportunities where you can go from 4 to 5 or I'm sorry, 5 to 44 to 3, those become much more frequent as we approach the summer and we enter the summer. And so the upside from those that 100 basis points is you're really just see that in the back half of the year in terms of the 50 basis points that we expect from self seating and the reservation system that that remains unchanged.

是的。因此，我們對營運方面的改進感到非常滿意。我們提到我們在 24 財年開始實施，並於 9 月完成。因此，它們幾乎存在於每家餐廳中，毫無疑問，就生產力而言，我們已經看到了非常有意義的改進。我們對所取得的結果非常非常滿意，但我們沒有看到勞動力和銷售百分比逐年提高。只是考慮到高個位數的薪資通膨超出了我們的預期。話雖如此，改進的本質是車站整合，因此您可以從五個人增加到四個人，或者從四個人增加到三個人，但實際上不能比這個更小。因此，你可以從 4 到 5 的機會，或者對不起，從 5 到 44 再到 3，隨著夏天的臨近和進入夏天，這些機會變得更加頻繁。因此，100 個基點的好處是，在今年下半年，我們預計自助座位和預訂系統將保持 50 個基點的成長，這一點保持不變。

Thank you very much.

非常感謝。

Thank you, Jeff.

謝謝你，傑夫。

Jon Tower, Citi.

喬恩塔，花旗銀行。

Great. Thanks for taking the questions, guys, and Happy New Year to you. So maybe just, I guess a couple of nuances on the quarter itself, the fiscal second quarter. Just to on the modeling side, I believe in January, you traditionally take so a round of pricing and it didn't sound like you spoke to that yet. So, did you take any pricing? Number one and number two, last year there was Leak day. I can't recall whether or not that was included in your same store sales number or if it wasn't. But could you speak to both?

偉大的。謝謝你們提出問題，夥伴們，祝你們新年快樂。因此，我認為本季（即第二財季）可能存在一些細微差別。就建模方面而言，我相信在一月份，您通常會進行一輪定價，但聽起來您還沒有談到這一點。那麼，你們有定價嗎？第一和第二，去年有洩漏日。我不記得這是否包含在您同一家商店的銷售數字中。但你能和兩個人談談嗎？

In terms of the leap day, we adjusted for it, so it was not included in our same-store sales.

對於閏日，我們進行了調整，因此沒有計入我們的同店銷售額。

Okay.

好的。

And then on the job on pricing, we took about 2% price the first week of November.

然後在定價方面，我們在 11 月的第一周採取了大約 2% 的價格。

And so the effect of pricing for Q1 that just ended is about 4.5%.

因此，剛結束的第一季定價的影響約為 4.5%。

Okay. And similar. Okay. So we'll have a little bit closer to 5% say in the fiscal second quarter because I don't think anything is rolling off unless there is.

好的。且相似。好的。因此，我們在第二財季的成長率將接近 5%，因為我認為除非有任何進展，否則不會有任何進展。

There is a little bit rolling off on January 1, just rolled off. But you, your number around 5% for effective pricing for Q2 is about right. A little bit over five. And then in terms of additional pricing, price increases, we typically take them as you know, beginning of the year and in the middle of the year, we took the beginning of the year one early as I mentioned the first week of November. And right now, we don't have any additional plans to take anything in the summertime, but we typically do, but that is to be determined as we continue throughout the year. And I think we all hope that we have to continue to provide the great value for our guests.

1 月 1 日有一點滾動，剛剛滾動。但是，您的第二季有效定價約為 5% 左右的數字是正確的。五點多一點。然後，就額外定價、價格上漲而言，我們通常將其視為年初和年中，正如我提到的 11 月第一周，我們提前將年初視為年初。目前，我們沒有任何額外的計劃在夏季採取任何措施，但我們通常會這樣做，但這將在我們全年繼續進行時確定。我想我們都希望我們能夠繼續為我們的客人提供巨大的價值。

Got it. Cool. Thank you for that. Maybe just zooming out a little bit. I'm a little surprised how conservative your guidance appears on revenue for the year again. I mean, just based on where you guys came in the fiscal first quarter on the you know, obviously same store sales and aggregate revenue front of 25% year over year. The guidance itself would imply a fairly aggressive slowdown in the back half. So I'm just curious, I know you have some tough comparisons and some IP collabs that you're not this year. But is there anything else we should think about with respect to new store productivity perhaps opening in markets that are maybe more challenging or you're expecting a higher level of cannibalization that might be weighing on the revenue growth on a year over year basis.

知道了。涼爽的。謝謝你。也許只是縮小一點。我有點驚訝你們對今年收入的指導再次顯得如此保守。我的意思是，根據你們在第一財季的表現，顯然同店銷售額和總收入同比增長了 25%。該指引本身就意味著下半年將出現相當大的放緩。所以我只是很好奇，我知道你們今年有一些艱難的比較和一些 IP 合作。但是，關於新店的生產力，我們還應該考慮什麼，也許是在更具挑戰性的市場中開設的，或者您預計更高水平的蠶食可能會影響收入的同比增長。

Yeah. So Jon, the reason behind the guys and we have made in the last call that it was conservative. The [$2.75] to [$2.79] is conservative. I think we're all very bullish that that can be beat some point. But if you take the clock back to last April in our call, which when we raise our guidance and then in July, we had to lower the guidance. We want to be very careful about being in a position of that happening and want to make sure that when we do a guidance raise, that we do see a trend and we don't jump the gun too quickly on a raise and it really has nothing to do with worried about productivity, productivity, restaurants or any additional cannibalization that we're not already experiencing. We've already talked about in the past. So there's no out there that are causing that number to be where it is. It's because we would all like to make sure that we're seeing a trend before we put it out there and raise our guidance and want to be, we do raise our guidance. We can keep our promise to the street and not have to reduce three months later.

是的。所以喬恩，這些人和我們在上次通話中表示這是保守的原因。[2.75 美元] 至 [2.79 美元] 是保守的。我認為我們都非常樂觀地認為這可以在某個時候被擊敗。但如果你把時間拉回去年四月的電話會議，當時我們提高了指導意見，然後在七月份，我們不得不降低指導意見。我們希望非常小心地避免發生這種情況，並希望確保當我們進行指導性加薪時，我們確實看到了一種趨勢，並且我們不會在加薪時操之過急，而且它確實有與擔心生產力、生產力、餐廳或任何其他我們尚未經歷的蠶食無關。我們過去已經討論過。所以沒有任何因素導致這個數字達到現在的水準。這是因為我們都希望在發布趨勢並提高指導之前確保我們看到了趨勢，並且我們確實提高了指導。我們可以信守對街道的承諾，不必在三個月後減少。

Got it. Makes sense. And I appreciate that. Can you maybe then just pivot a little bit to marketing? It sounds like obviously fewer IP collaborations in the future, perhaps more potent than ones you've done in the past. Maybe could you speak to the differential and spend expected on those versus, at least year over year in the back half. Number one and the number two, your approach to marketing in general, it does sound like you're focusing a little bit more on the food side. I know you, Ben, you mentioned earlier, the perfect pairing promotion that you did that helped drive mix during the period. So, as consumers and frankly as investors is that how we should think about some of the marketing going forward as more of these perfect pair promo or something like that running through and being promoted through social media rather than these IP S going forward for these.

知道了。有道理。我很欣賞這一點。那你可以稍微轉向行銷嗎？聽起來未來的智慧財產權合作顯然會更少，但可能比你們過去所做的更有效。也許您能談談差異以及這些方面的預期支出，至少與去年同期相比。第一和第二，您的整體行銷方法，聽起來確實像是您更加關注食品方面。我認識你，Ben，你之前提到過，你所做的完美配對促銷活動有助於推動這段時期的混合。因此，作為消費者，坦白說，作為投資者，我們應該如何考慮未來的一些行銷活動，例如更多的完美配對促銷或類似的東西，透過社群媒體進行推廣，而不是這些 IP S。

You can assume that when we don't have an it, we're always going to have some sort of alternative going on whether it's something like a perfect pair or 15th anniversary campaign or holiday Strat you know, are, are, are pivoting from a constantly packed calendar from of it. Collaborations doesn't mean that we're not going to continue to have a packed marketing calendar.

你可以假設，當我們沒有它時，我們總是會有某種替代方案，無論是完美的一雙還是 15 週年紀念活動或節日 Strat，你知道、現在、正在、正在轉向一份不斷塞滿的日曆。合作並不意味著我們不會繼續擁有排滿的行銷日曆。

Got it.

知道了。

(spoken in Japanese)

（用日文說）

(interpreted) And then in terms of the cost difference between say something like the perfect pair or another food, food focused campaign versus an it collaboration. The difference would be about $150,000, $200,000.

（解釋）然後就完美搭配或另一種食物、以食物為中心的活動與 IT 合作之間的成本差異而言。差價約 15 萬美元、20 萬美元。

To the better --

為了更好--

$200,000. $200,000.

20萬美元。20萬美元。

$200,000. It's $200,000 more expensive when we collaborate with an IP.

20萬美元。當我們與 IP 合作時，會貴 20 萬美元。

Okay. Makes sense. Cool. All right. That's it for me for now. So I appreciate you taking the questions.

好的。有道理。涼爽的。好的。現在我就這樣了。所以我很感謝你提出問題。

Thanks, Jon. Happy New Year to you, too.

謝謝，喬恩。也祝你新年快樂。

Thank you, Jon.

謝謝你，喬恩。

Brian Mullan, Piper Sandler.

布萊恩·穆蘭，派珀·桑德勒。

Thank you. Just a question development in the prepared marks. You know, I think you spoke to continuing to move into smaller D MA S over time. I'm just wondering if you could speak to the targeted volumes of those stores, does the D MA dictate what the volume of a store can be or is it really just a function of the size of the box? And it really doesn't have to do with the location?

謝謝。只是在準備好的分數中提出一個問題。您知道，我認為您談到了隨著時間的推移繼續轉向更小的 DMA S。我只是想知道您是否可以談談這些商店的目標銷量，DMA 是否規定了商店的銷量，或者它實際上只是盒子大小的函數？而且這真的跟地點無關嗎？

So -- go ahead, Jimmy.

所以——繼續吧，吉米。

(spoken in Japanese)

（用日文說）

(interpreted) Brian, when we do site selection, our focus really is on cash on cash returns. We don't have a target AUD and so that remains unchanged in terms of how we approach smaller DNAs. We're focused on cash on cash returns. And our standards for the smaller DNAs are the same as all of our other DNAs.

（解釋）布萊恩，當我們選擇地點時，我們的重點實際上是現金回報。我們沒有目標澳元，因此我們處理較小 DNA 的方式保持不變。我們專注於現金回報。我們對較小 DNA 的標準與所有其他 DNA 相同。

Okay. Thank you. And then just to follow up. Just a clarification item, you gave the menu price for the quarter. Can you just let us know what traffic was? And I apologize if I missed it.

好的。謝謝。然後只是跟進。只是澄清一下，您給出了該季度的菜單價格。您能告訴我們流量是多少嗎？如果我錯過了，我深表歉意。

Traffic --

交通--

The traffic was down 2.3%, and price and mix was 4.1%.

流量下降 2.3%，價格和組合下降 4.1%。

Okay. Thank you very much.

好的。非常感謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thanks, Brian.

謝謝，布萊恩。

Sharon Zackfia, William Blair.

莎朗·扎克菲亞，威廉·布萊爾。

Hey. Thanks for taking the question, and Happy New Year.

嘿。感謝您提出問題，新年快樂。

Happy New Year.

新年快樂。

Thanks. It was really nice to see the improvement in mix and I know you touched on earlier, some of some of the drivers there. I guess I'm curious on your thoughts on the sustainability of mix becoming a more neutralized part of comps going forward.

謝謝。很高興看到混音方面的改進，我知道您之前提到過一些驅動程式。我想我很好奇你對混合的可持續性成為未來競爭中更中立的一部分的想法。

(spoken in Japanese)

（用日文說）

(interpreted) Given that this is relatively recent without giving, too much forward expectations. We think the days of negative high single digit mix are behind us. We're, we're really pleased with the efforts that the marketing team has made typically when we have a two month campaign, you see deceleration the effectiveness in the second half. But we're continuing to see success in December with the most recent Weon campaign. And so without commenting about the long term sustainability of, the flattish mix that we have, we think that we're in a much, much better position than before and we've got all these levers that we never even considered to pull in the past. And so this is great, great progress.

（解釋）鑑於這是相對較新的，沒有給出太多的前瞻性期望。我們認為負高個位數混合的日子已經過去了。我們對行銷團隊通常在為期兩個月的行銷活動中所做的努力感到非常滿意，你會看到下半年的有效性減速。但我們在 12 月繼續看到最近的 Weon 活動取得了成功。因此，在不評論我們所擁有的扁平組合的長期可持續性的情況下，我們認為我們處於比以前更好的位置，並且我們擁有所有這些我們從未考慮過的槓桿過去的。所以這是一個偉大的進步。

Okay. Can you talk a little bit about -- sorry, go ahead.

好的。你能談談——抱歉，請繼續。

In addition to the great efforts by the marketing team, the other -- one of the other reasons why mix is improving it for the past year to year and a half. When we've taken menu price increases, we haven't touched the side menu items at all. So we're lapping the increase the menu price increases on side menus, which you know, when you take the menu price increase on things, it does impact mix to, to some extent and because we're lapping the price increase on side menu, I think that's also why mix is coming in line a little bit as well as the previously mentioned.

除了行銷團隊的巨大努力之外，另一個原因是混合在過去的一年到一年半中不斷改進。當我們提高菜單價格時，我們根本沒有觸及副菜單項目。因此，我們正在增加側菜單上的菜單價格上漲，您知道，當您對某些東西進行菜單價格上漲時，它確實會在某種程度上影響組合，因為我們正在將側菜單上的價格上漲考慮在內，我認為這也是混合與前面提到的有點一致的原因。

And then I'm sorry if you talked about this, my cell cut out and I had to redial back in, but on delivery, I know that's, more nascent part of your business. And I understand there's obviously some operational tension just given how busy the restaurants are. I mean, where, where are you on delivery at this point? Is it fully kind of turned on all of the time at all locations? How are you handling that? Is that proving to be incremental or bring in out of new people to the brand?

如果你談到這件事，我很抱歉，我的手機斷了，我不得不重撥回來，但在交付時，我知道這是你業務中更新生的部分。據我所知，鑑於餐廳的繁忙程度，顯然存在一些營運緊張。我的意思是，現在你在哪裡交貨？它是否在所有地點始終處於完全開啟狀態？你是怎麼處理的？這是否證明是漸進式的，或者為該品牌引入了新人？

Yeah, so I think it's definitely incremental. I think, as soon as somebody opens up their doordash shop, they're basically committed to eating inside. So that guest wouldn't have been coming into our restaurants anyway. And so any sale we do believe is incremental. I'd say in terms of where we are on that journey. It doordash has been live at all of our restaurants for almost a year now or yeah, almost a year. And it's, it is a pro is the, is the issue. We, we're constantly hitting ceilings just because our restaurants are so busy, which is a great problem to have. But we're always going to be prioritizing the guests that have got into trouble coming to our restaurants. And so as we infill markets and we're able to use the incremental restaurants as sort of pressure release valve for the kitchens. That's when we really see the off premise opportunity becoming more meaningful. But at this point, we're happy where it is especially given that it's incremental and we don't want to distract ourselves from the major opportunity, which is the tremendous white space of the United States.

是的，所以我認為這絕對是增量的。我認為，一旦有人打開他們的門板商店，他們基本上就會致力於在裡面吃飯。這樣那個客人無論如何也不會進入我們的餐廳。因此，我們認為任何銷售都是增量的。我想說的是我們在這段旅程中所處的位置。Doordash 已經在我們所有的餐廳上線了將近一年了，或者是的，快一年了。這是，這是一個專業，這是一個問題。我們不斷地觸及天花板，只是因為我們的餐廳太忙了，這是一個很大的問題。但我們始終會優先考慮那些在光臨我們餐廳時遇到麻煩的客人。因此，當我們填充市場時，我們能夠使用增量餐廳作為廚房的壓力釋放閥。那時我們才真正看到場外機會變得更有意義。但在這一點上，我們很高興，特別是考慮到它是漸進的，我們不想分散自己對重大機會的注意力，這就是美國巨大的空白空間。

Great. Thank you.

偉大的。謝謝。

Thanks, Sharon.

謝謝，莎倫。

Thank you, Sharon.

謝謝你，莎倫。

Mark Smith, Lake Street Capital.

馬克史密斯，湖街資本。

Hi guys. First question for me is really on the cost side on corporate kind of G&A, really solid leverage during the quarter. You know, curious, if the guidance is maybe conservative as well as it kind of doesn't bake in any more additional leverage throughout the remainder of the year. But any insight you can give us on the guidance and if there's any costs coming in here later this year that maybe we should be watching for.

嗨，大家好。對我來說，第一個問題實際上是在企業一般管理費用方面的成本方面，本季的槓桿率非常穩定。你知道，好奇的是，如果指導可能是保守的，並且在今年剩餘時間內不會產生更多額外的槓桿作用。但是，您可以向我們提供有關指導的任何見解，以及今年晚些時候是否會產生任何成本，也許我們應該關注。

No, there's no more, there's no more costs coming in and where the guidance is implies a 60-basis-point improvement year over year and I'm still comfortable with that number. I do believe that after having 80 bps two years ago and 90 bps last year in leverage that, that it's hard to keep that trend of 80 to 90 points a year. So I'm comfortable with the 60 bps. However, if sales trends do pick up and, and come in higher than where we expect them to be, then there additional leverage there. So when we get into April, I'm happy to give an update on that if we're at the point where we can, but I do want to get through a couple more months mark before. I increase the guidance on G&A because I still think that the 60-basis-point improvement for the year is pretty good.

不，沒有更多了，沒有更多的成本了，指導意味著逐年提高 60 個基點，我仍然對這個數字感到滿意。我確實相信，在槓桿率兩年前達到 80 個基點、去年達到 90 個基點之後，很難再維持每年 80 到 90 點的趨勢。所以我對 60 bps 感到滿意。然而，如果銷售趨勢確實回升，並且高於我們的預期，那麼就會有額外的槓桿作用。因此，當我們進入四月時，如果我們可以的話，我很樂意提供最新消息，但我確實想提前幾個月。我增加了 G&A 的指引，因為我仍然認為今年 60 個基點的改善相當不錯。

Absolutely. Other question for me is, is just around kind of preopening expenses you came in a little lower than we'd expected during the quarter. You know, was that a function of just kind of the timing of some of the openings earlier in the quarter or are you getting more efficiencies and lower cost kind of as we think about preopening expenses, maybe even in some of the smaller markets.

絕對地。對我來說，另一個問題是，您的開業前費用略低於我們本季的預期。您知道，這只是本季早些時候某些開業時間的函數，或者當我們考慮開業前費用時，您是否會獲得更高的效率和更低的成本，甚至可能在一些較小的市場中。

(spoken in Japanese)

（用日文說）

(interpreted) So there are two major things that worked in our favor in terms of pre opening. The first is last year we had nine units under construction versus the six units we had under construction during the same period this year. This, we have four managers for any new restaurant. And so you can, that's 12 managers across the three restaurant difference that we had in training. So that's an incremental labor costs that we incurred in fiscal '24 that we didn't have this year.

（解釋）因此，在開業前有兩件事對我們有利。首先是去年我們有九個在建單元，而今年同期我們有六個在建單元。對於任何新餐廳，我們都有四位經理。所以你可以，我們在培訓中涉及三家餐廳的 12 位經理。因此，這是我們在 24 財年發生的增量勞動成本，而今年我們沒有。

The other major change is the shift in our opening team structure. Now that we established the head largely across the country. We don't need the right now. We and a half or historically, we've had 2.5 opening teams. Now that we've established a geographic presence in enough markets, we've been able to pair back to 1.5 teams by reassigning the other members to become store managers at local restaurants and that has meaningfully reduced our training costs as well. And so that's helped with labor. It's also helped with our G&A.

另一個重大變化是我們開放團隊結構的轉變。現在我們已經在全國範圍內基本上建立了負責人。我們現在不需要。從歷史上看，我們有 2.5 支開局球隊。現在我們已經在足夠的市場建立了地理影響力，我們已經能夠透過重新分配其他成員成為當地餐廳的商店經理來重新組成 1.5 個團隊，這也顯著降低了我們的培訓成本。這對分娩有幫助。這也對我們的一般管理費用有所幫助。

Excellent. Thank you.

出色的。謝謝。

Thanks, Mark.

謝謝，馬克。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Jim Sanderson, Northcoast Research.

吉姆桑德森，北海岸研究中心。

Hey, thanks for the question. I wanted to follow on to some of the conversations about mix and the shift from mid single digit negative to flattish. Have you built similar promotions to drive items per check? Similar to I think what happened in the first quarter if I understood the benefit of the pair combo, is that the right way to think of it.

嘿，謝謝你的提問。我想繼續討論一些關於混合以及從中個位數負向平轉變的對話。您是否曾經進行過類似的促銷活動來推動每張支票上的商品數量？類似於我認為第一季發生的事情，如果我理解了配對組合的好處，那就是正確的思考方式。

(spoken in Japanese)

（用日文說）

(interpreted) No, we were really pleased with The Perfect Pair campaign. It's the first time we've done something like that. And so I'd be very surprised if it was the last time we've done something, we'll do something like that. I think it's going to be a, a useful tool in our food focused marketing box. Jimmy, I'm sorry, what was the second part?

（解釋）不，我們對 The Perfect Pair 活動感到非常滿意。這是我們第一次做這樣的事情。因此，如果這是我們最後一次做某事，我會感到非常驚訝，我們會做類似的事情。我認為這將成為我們以食品為中心的行銷盒中的有用工具。吉米，對不起，第二部是什麼？

(spoken in Japanese)

（用日文說）

(interpreted) And the other part of mix is that we haven't taken pricing on side menu up to the last year. And the reason that's important in terms of mix headwinds is that there's less attachment on side menu items. And so you get less flow through on pricing that you take on side menu versus pricing that you take on plates. And so that was a mixed pressure now that we've lapped that that's less of a mix pressure.

（解釋）混合的另一部分是，直到去年我們還沒有對副菜單進行定價。就混合逆風而言，重要的原因是側面選單項目的附件較少。因此，與在盤子上採取的定價相比，在側邊菜單上採取的定價方式獲得的流量更少。所以這是一個混合壓力，現在我們已經完成了，這是一個較小的混合壓力。

(spoken in Japanese)

（用日文說）

(interpreted) Another thing that we're doing support mix is leading into our LTOs with some more premium items. We've seen that if we have the right LTOs, we can just increase attachment. It's not really a trade so much as just, a tech growth opportunity. And so that's another lever that we have for our mix.

（解釋）我們正在做的支援組合的另一件事是在我們的 LTO 中引入一些更優質的項目。我們已經看到，如果我們有正確的 LTO，我們就可以增加依戀。與其說這是一次真正的交易，不如說這是一個技術成長機會。這是我們進行組合的另一個槓桿。

All right. Thank you for that. Just a follow-up question that. I think you had a promotion in the current quarter that is related to a contest for average check higher than $70. Is that the type of promotion that could help improve mix going forward? Is that the way to think of it?

好的。謝謝你。只是一個後續問題。我認為您在當前季度進行了促銷活動，該促銷活動與平均支票高於 70 美元的競賽有關。這種促銷類型是否有助於改善未來的組合？是這樣想的嗎？

Absolutely. So this is the first time we've done like a holiday scratcher or any sort of scratch card, but this is not the first time that we've tied a marketing campaign to a spending threshold in the past when we've had it collaborations, we've had giveaways where you can get say like a T shirt or something. If you spend more than $70 and these sorts of efforts have have, yeah, you can really see the impact in check size and mix attachment.

絕對地。因此，這是我們第一次像假日刮刮卡或任何類型的刮刮卡那樣進行，但這並不是我們第一次在過去合作時將行銷活動與支出門檻聯繫起來，我們有贈品，您可以在其中獲得T 卹之類的東西。如果您花費超過 70 美元，而這些努力已經產生了效果，是的，您確實可以看到支票大小和混合配件的影響。

All right. Thank you for that quick question traffic trend. I think on a two-year stack basis, you saw a deceleration in traffic trend. Is that where we are today? Is that a good run rate? The low-single-digit positive traffic on a two year stack?

好的。感謝您快速提出流量趨勢問題。我認為在兩年堆疊的基礎上，您會看到流量趨勢減速。這就是我們今天的處境嗎？這是一個好的運行率嗎？兩年堆疊中的低個位數正流量？

Yeah. I mean, the thing -- the number I want you guys to focus on is the improvement from Q4, the minus 6.1% to minus 2.3% in this quarter. I think that's what's important because, we had some bumps in the road last year when we in July in summertime and we talked about that in some of our previous calls and where the number came out for this quarter at 1.8%. We're very happy with that. And quite H1stly, even though we don't give quarterly guidance, I don't have a problem telling you it's higher than I thought it would be for Q1. And I think it's higher than any of us thought it would be. So I'm, I'm happy with that number and, and I think it most important to look at it that way just of the summertime. So, like I said, some of the bumps in the road during the summertime and then also some of the weird things happening in November with the election. I think there's a lot of noise to look at it on a two year stack. So I'd rather focus on the quarter over quarter from Q4 to Q1 improve.

是的。我的意思是，我希望你們關注的數字是第四季度的改善，即本季的負 6.1% 到負 2.3%。我認為這很重要，因為去年 7 月的夏季，我們在道路上遇到了一些坎坷，我們在之前的一些電話會議中談到了這一點，本季度的數字為 1.8%。我們對此感到非常高興。就第一季而言，儘管我們不提供季度指導，但我可以毫不猶豫地告訴你，第一季的指導值高於我的預期。我認為它比我們任何人想像的都要高。所以我對這個數字很滿意，而且我認為在夏季以這種方式看待它是最重要的。所以，就像我說的，夏季的道路上會遇到一些坎坷，而且十一月的選舉也會發生一些奇怪的事情。我認為在兩年的堆疊中查看它有很多噪音。因此，我寧願關注從第四季到第一季的逐季改善。

All right. Last question for me. Could you just briefly review the shares outstanding to be used for the second quarter in fiscal '25 based on the follow on?

好的。對我來說最後一個問題。您能否根據以下內容簡要回顧一下 25 財年第二季所使用的已發行股票？

Yeah, I have that number. Why don't we go to the net? I'll get you that, Jim. I don't have in front of me, but I'll get that.

是的，我有那個號碼。我們為什麼不上網呢？我會給你的，吉姆。我面前沒有，但我會得到的。

I believe it's 12,000 -- I'm sorry, 12 million shares.

我相信是 12,000 股——抱歉，是 1200 萬股。

Yeah. Understood.

是的。明白了。

I think now that it's probably 06 or something like that.

我現在想可能是06年或類似的事情。

Understood. Okay. Very good. Thank you. I get it.

明白了。好的。非常好。謝謝。我得到它。

George Kelly, Roth Capital Partners.

喬治凱利，羅斯資本合夥人。

Hey, everybody. Thanks for taking the questions. First one. I think you mentioned in your prepared remarks that there's a new Mr. Fresh Dome launching in February. And I was just curious, kind of surprised to hear that. What, what's the opportunity there? Is it, maybe more kind of labor intensive than I would have thought or just what, what's the reasoning behind that, that launch?

嘿，大家。感謝您提出問題。第一個。我想您在準備好的演講中提到，新的 Mr. Fresh Dome 將在二月份推出。我只是很好奇，聽到這個消息有點驚訝。什麼，那裡有什麼機會？是不是，也許比我想像的更加勞動密集型，或者只是什麼，發射背後的原因是什麼？

Do you remember the first time you went to a Kura Sushi? And you tried to open one of those Mr brushes? They're, they're not intuitive. You sort of need somebody to explain them because it's, you need to go under and lift it and pretty much if you go to one of our restaurants, you, I pretty much every time I go, I see somebody trying to pry it open like it's, they're like an otter with a clam and it's, it's just, it, it's confusing because most things aren't open like that.

你還記得第一次去Kura Sushi是什麼時候嗎？你試著打開其中一支先生的畫筆嗎？他們，他們不直覺。你需要有人來解釋它們，因為它是，你需要走到下面並抬起它，如果你去我們的一家餐館，你，我幾乎每次去，我都會看到有人試圖撬開它，就像他們就像一隻水獺和一隻蛤蜊，這，這只是，這，這很令人困惑，因為大多數事情都不是這樣開放的。

And because it's not intuitive, our servers will spend 23 minutes explaining this. They'll even bring a Mres to the table so that guests can actually practice it to get accustomed to that. And so it's, it's not very guest friendly. It eats up our servers time and the newest refresh is just, it's a, it's a push button. It's, it works exactly as it, as you'd expect it to work and we're really excited. It's just, it's a lot friendlier. It can be intimidating to come into a restaurant and not know how to, order, not know how to take things off the belt. And this, you know, I think this just makes it a fun experience for everybody.

由於它不直觀，我們的伺服器將花費 23 分鐘來解釋這一點。他們甚至會把一位夫人帶到餐桌上，以便客人可以實際練習以適應這一點。所以，它對客人不太友善。它佔用了我們伺服器的時間，而最新的刷新只是，它是一個按鈕。它的工作原理與您所期望的完全一樣，我們真的很興奮。只是，它更加友好。走進一家餐館，不知道如何點菜，不知道如何把東西拿走，這可能會讓人感到害怕。你知道，我認為這對每個人來說都是一種有趣的體驗。

(spoken in Japanese)

（用日文說）

(interpreted) There are a lot of things that are unique to our restaurant, that need to be explained if you're coming for the first time, such as how our plate slos work, the fact that we pick up on where you can win prizes. And so for first time guests, you need to go through spiel and explain all of these different things. But in tandem with this fresh 2.0 we're actually we're releasing a new order, an update to the order panel software that on its landing page. We have a button asking for your first time guest and if you click that, it'll play a video that will basically teach you how to enjoy Kura. And so that meaningfully reduces server work as well. Having, having to do dozens of those during like a weekend peak hour is just, it's a meaningful drain on productivity. And so being able to streamline, this is something that we're really excited about.

（解釋）我們餐廳有很多獨特之處，如果您是第一次來，則需要向您解釋一下，例如我們的盤子如何運作，我們會了解您可以在哪裡獲勝獎品。因此，對於第一次來的客人，您需要仔細講解並解釋所有這些不同的事情。但與這個新的 2.0 一起，我們實際上正在發布一個新訂單，即其登陸頁面上的訂單面板軟體的更新。我們有一個按鈕詢問您的第一次來訪者，如果您單擊該按鈕，它會播放一個視頻，基本上教您如何享受 Kura。因此，這也有意義地減少了伺服器工作。在周末高峰時間不得不做幾十個這樣的事情，這對生產力來說是一種有意義的消耗。因此，能夠簡化流程，這是我們真正感到興奮的事情。

Okay, excellent. That's helpful. Thank you. And then second question for me is or maybe a couple of questions on the reservation system. Most of the conversation in this call with respect to the reservation system has been about the opportunity for for cost savings but I'm curious if you could also discuss the opportunity to drive comp growth and what, what I'm unclear on, I guess is sort of how much you talked about it. And I think improving comp performance for a bunch of different reasons in the back half, is the reservation system? Is that a big factor in that sort of accelerating comp as well? And just how is it going to work? Are, are you going to open up a lot of inventory to the system or is it really just kind of shoulder periods or if you could just give more detail there too, that would, that would be helpful? Thank you.

好的，非常好。這很有幫助。謝謝。對我來說，第二個問題可能是關於預訂系統的幾個問題。這次電話會議中有關預訂系統的大部分對話都是關於節省成本的機會，但我很好奇您是否也可以討論推動競爭增長的機會以及我猜想的我不清楚的內容就是你談論了多少。我認為在後半段由於一系列不同的原因而提高了比賽表現，是預訂系統嗎？這也是加速競爭的重要因素嗎？它將如何運作？是的，您是否要向系統開放大量庫存，或者這實際上只是一種平攤期，或者如果您也可以在那裡提供更多詳細信息，那會有幫助嗎？謝謝。

Yeah. So in terms of inventory, that's actually one of the most difficult parts of this project is figuring out the right number of tables to allocate for reservations. And that's actually we need to do that on a store by store basis. And so that's the operations team is hard at work on that in terms of the traffic opportunity. So, what Japan saw with its implementation is that the peak hours would fill up pretty much immediately. And people would realize that and rather than show up and wait for an hour and leave, they would make reservations for the shoulder periods, five o'clock, nine o'clock, 10 o'clock. And if they didn't want to do that, then they made reservations for the next day or the weekend. And so with our historical waitlist we've had about a 20% drop off where people will sign in and then not eat because the lines are too long. And so that 20% this is an opportunity to address that directly. I I'm by no means am I expecting a 20% traffic fall? But that is a massive opportunity for us. I'm really excited.

是的。因此，就庫存而言，實際上該項目最困難的部分之一是確定分配用於預訂的正確餐桌數量。實際上，我們需要逐家進行此操作。因此，營運團隊正在努力爭取流量機會。因此，日本在實施過程中看到的是，高峰時段幾乎會立即被填滿。人們會意識到，他們不會出現並等待一個小時然後離開，而是預訂平日時段，即五點鐘、九點鐘、十點鐘。如果他們不想這樣做，他們就會預訂第二天或週末的房間。因此，根據我們歷史上的候補名單，人們會簽到然後因為排隊太長而不吃飯，因此下降了約 20%。所以 20% 這是一個直接解決這個問題的機會。我絕對不會預期流量會下降 20%？但這對我們來說是一個巨大的機會。我真的很興奮。

Okay, understood. Thank you.

好的，明白了。謝謝。

Thanks, George.

謝謝，喬治。

Thank you, George.

謝謝你，喬治。

Todd Brooks, The Benchmark Company.

托德·布魯克斯，基準公司。

Hey, thanks and great start to the year. How about just a few tag in type of questions just following up on George's questioning there? How quickly does this turn on? Once you start the roll out of the reservation and self seating platform, then you said it, it's a store by store algorithm. But is this a start to turn on in Q2 and it takes a couple of months to turn the system on or is it a longer duration than that?

嘿，謝謝，今年有個美好的開始。緊接著喬治的提問，問幾個標籤類型的問題怎麼樣？這個開啟速度有多快？一旦你開始推出預訂和自助座位平台，你就會說，這是逐家商店的演算法。但這是第二季度開始啟動並需要幾個月才能啟動系統還是持續時間更長？

So the goal that I'm holding myself to which is ambitious is a full system wide rollout by the end of the fiscal year. And so everything so far has moved on track. It's been remarkably smooth. We have our first in restaurant test next month. I'm extremely pleased with all of our partners. Everybody's really coming together to, to make sure that this goes on schedule. After we have, well, we'll probably test in the first restaurant for about a month or so and then begin to roll out. In earnest. My, my expectation would be.

因此，我為自己設定的雄心勃勃的目標是在本財年結束前在整個系統範圍內進行全面部署。到目前為止，一切都已步入正​​軌。一切都非常順利。下個月我們將進行第一次餐廳測試。我對我們所有的合作夥伴都非常滿意。每個人都真正聚集在一起，以確保這一切按計劃進行。完成之後，我們可能會在第一家餐廳進行大約一個月的測試，然後開始推出。認真的。我的，我的期望是。

Okay, great. And you spoke to Japan's experience in rolling it out and picking up shoulder reservations and four day reservations.

好的，太好了。您談到了日本在推出該服務以及接受肩部預訂和四天預訂方面的經驗。

And you talked about the abandonment of the wait list here in the States. Can you talk to the experience in Japan from a traffic lift standpoint from having the system fully rolled out?

您談到了美國放棄等候名單的問題。能從交通提升的角度談談日本全面推出該系統的經驗嗎？

(spoken in Japanese)

（用日文說）

(interpreted) Given the current Japan is a separate publicly traded company, We can't speak to them in too much detail. Our understanding and what we've heard from them is that it did have a meaningful impact on traffic, but I, we're not able to quantify that right now. In terms of the sales lift, one thing that we're really excited about with the reservation system is that there is a guaranteed benefit in head count reduction as it is coupled with the self seating system. And it is a massive improvement to get satisfaction because we're introducing reservations for the first time. And our primary complaint is our wait times. And so this is a direct way to address that. And so we've got two things that we know for a fact are coming with this project. And so even if there isn't a sales list, there's still plenty of upside. We do expect the sales list, but in any case, we're we're still happy with this project.

（解釋）鑑於目前日本是一家獨立的上市公司，我們無法與他們談論太多細節。我們的理解以及我們從他們那裡聽到的是，它確實對流量產生了有意義的影響，但我們現在無法量化這一點。就銷售提升而言，我們對預訂系統真正感到興奮的一件事是，由於它與自助座位系統相結合，因此可以保證減少人員數量。由於我們首次引入預訂功能，因此獲得滿意度是一個巨大的進步。我們主要的抱怨是我們的等待時間。所以這是解決這個問題的直接方法。因此，我們確實知道這個項目會帶來兩件事。因此，即使沒有銷售清單，仍然有很大的上升空間。我們確實期待銷售清單，但無論如何，我們仍然對這個項目感到滿意。

That's great and, and the follow up different angle with the labor efficiency and you look at the initiatives around consolidating the stations down to three in the back of house. And you look at you look at upcoming self-seeding. If you look at what took to staff the restaurant two years ago versus what it should take to staff the restaurant post, the rollout of self-seeding, how much is that number dropped from a number of body standpoint.

這太棒了，接下來從不同的角度關注勞動效率，你會看到圍繞將後台網站合併到三個的舉措。你看看即將到來的自我播種。如果你看看兩年前餐廳的員工成本與餐廳職位的員工成本、自我播種的推出，從人數的角度來看，這個數字下降了多少。

(spoken in Japanese)

（用日文說）

(interpreted) Just to confirm, are you talking about historically or expectations going forward?

（解釋）只是為了確認一下，您是在談論歷史還是未來的期望？

I'm just trying to get an idea of the efficiency if you pick, I'm pulling the numbers out from memory, but if it was 22 people per shift and with what we saved with the consolidation and say, are we going to 18 people per shift once we get to the end of these improvements?

我只是想了解一下效率，如果你選擇的話，我會從記憶中提取數字，但如果每個班次有 22 人，加上我們透過整合節省下來的錢，那麼我們會增加到 18 人嗎？完成這些改進，每個班次的人數？

So if we're comparing like, say like pre-pandemic staffing, I'd say that the peak back of house and front of house has gone down by about two people each. And so it's been a pretty meaningful streamlining of the operations.

因此，如果我們進行比較，例如大流行前的人員配置，我會說後場和前場的高峰人數各減少了大約兩個人。因此，這是一次非常有意義的營運簡化。

(spoken in Japanese)

（用日文說）

(interpreted) And then in terms of the operational streamlining that we discussed in the past call about the station consolidation, that opportunity really does come from the restaurants being busy. And so the upside is just going to grow and grow as the seasonality kicks in as we progress through the year.

（解釋）然後就我們在過去關於車站整合的電話中討論的運營精簡而言，這個機會確實來自繁忙的餐廳。因此，隨著一年中的進展，隨著季節性的開始，上行空間將會越來越大。

Okay. And then the last one for me, you obviously have visibility into the IP partnerships for the back half. And I think we have two in Q1, we won't have one in Q2. How does the back half from a number of partnerships match up versus I think three last year? Is it 3 to 3 or are we stepping down a number of partnerships? But maybe making it up in the magnitude of, of who we're partnering with? Thank you.

好的。對我來說最後一個問題是，您顯然可以了解後半部分的智慧財產權合作夥伴關係。我認為第一季我們有兩個，第二季我們不會有一個。與去年我認為的三個合作夥伴相比，後半部的情況如何？是 3 對 3 還是我們要放棄一些合作關係？但也許可以彌補我們與誰合作的規模？謝謝。

(spoken in Japanese)

（用日文說）

(interpreted) So we have two lined up for the back half. They're very strong. We're really excited about them.

（解釋）所以我們有兩個人在後半場排隊。他們非常強大。我們對他們感到非常興奮。

Okay, perfect. Thank you.

好的，完美。謝謝。

Thank you. There are no further questions at this time and this will conclude today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time and enjoy the rest of your day.

謝謝。目前沒有其他問題，今天的會議將結束。此時您可以斷開線路並享受剩下的一天。

Portions of this transcript that are marked (interpreted) were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call. The interpreter was provided by the company sponsoring this event.

此文字記錄中標記（翻譯）的部分是由現場通話中的口譯員說出的。口譯員由贊助本次活動的公司提供。