Kura Sushi USA Inc (KRUS) 2025 Q3 法說會逐字稿

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

女士們、先生們，下午好，感謝你們的到來。歡迎參加 Kura Sushi USA Incorporated 2025 財年第三季財報電話會議。（操作員指示）請注意，此通話正在錄音。

On the call today we have Hajime Jimmy Uba, President and CEO; Jeff Uttz, Chief Financial Officer; and Benjamin Porten, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations and System Development. And now, I would like to turn the call over to Mr. Porten.

參加今天電話會議的有總裁兼執行長 Hajime Jimmy Uba、財務長 Jeff Uttz 和投資者關係與系統開發資深副總裁 Benjamin Porten。現在，我想把電話轉給波滕先生。

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you all for joining. By now, everyone should have access to our fiscal third-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 we submitted to the SEC.

謝謝您，接線生。大家下午好，感謝大家的參與。現在，每個人都應該可以看到我們 2025 財年第三季的收益報告。您可以在 www.kurasushi.com 的投資者關係部分找到它。我們向美國證券交易委員會 (SEC) 提交的 8-K 文件中也包含了一份收益報告副本。

Before we begin our formal remarks, I need to remind everyone that 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, you should not put undue reliance on them.

在我們開始正式發言之前，我需要提醒大家，我們今天的討論內容將包括 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》所定義的前瞻性陳述。這些前瞻性陳述並非對未來績效的保證，因此，您不應過度依賴它們。

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 condition. Also during today's call, we will discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures, which we believe can be useful in evaluating our performance.

這些聲明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。我們請大家參閱我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件，以便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。此外，在今天的電話會議中，我們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。

The presentation of this additional information should not be considered in isolation nor as a substitute for results prepared in accordance with GAAP and the reconciliations to comparable GAAP measures are available in our earnings release.

這些附加資訊的呈現不應被孤立地看待，也不應將其視為按照 GAAP 編制的結果的替代，並且與可比 GAAP 指標的對帳可在我們的收益報告中提供。

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

好了，現在我想把電話轉給吉米。

Thanks, Ben, and thank you to everyone for joining us today. The last quarter has been a busy one for us between loading up the new reservation system, instigating new market opportunities and building out our IP pipeline and strategizing on how to get most out of our collaborations.

謝謝，本，也謝謝大家今天加入我們。上個季度對我們來說是忙碌的，我們需要加載新的預訂系統、開拓新的市場機會、建立我們的 IP 管道，並製定如何從合作中獲得最大收益的策略。

We completed a system-wide rollout of the reservation system ahead of schedule. We made a meaningful progress on building a different pipeline. The leveraging is the opportunities demonstrated by Bakersfield and have built our busiest marketing calendar yet for the upcoming fiscal year. I'm extremely pleased with the results on all three fronts, and very proud of the efforts by our team members to maximize ourselves and set ourselves up for a great fiscal '26.

我們提前完成了全系統預訂系統的推廣。我們在建造不同的管道方面取得了有意義的進展。我們利用貝克斯菲爾德所展示的機會，為即將到來的財政年度製定了迄今為止最繁忙的行銷日程。我對這三個面向所取得的成果感到非常滿意，並對我們的團隊成員為最大限度地發揮自己、為 26 財年取得圓滿成功所做的努力感到非常自豪。

Total sales for the fiscal third quarter was $74 million, representing comparable sales growth of negative 2.1% with price and the mix of 0.8%, offset by negative traffic of 2.9%. We are pleased that we see the business moving in the right direction with sequential improvement in comp performance each month of the quarter.

第三財季總銷售額為 7,400 萬美元，可比銷售額成長 2.1%，其中價格和產品組合成長 0.8%，但客流量下降 2.9%。我們很高興看到業務朝著正確的方向發展，本季每個月的業績持續改善。

Cost of goods sold as a percentage of sales were 28.3%, representing an improvement of 90 basis points over the prior year quarter, 29.3% due to pricing and ongoing effort by a supply chain team. Labor as a percentage of sales increased by 50 basis points due to high single-digit rate inflation, partially offset by pricing and incremental operational efficiencies. Restaurant level operating profit margin was 18.2% as compared to 20% in the prior year due to higher lever occupancy and other costs.

銷售成本佔銷售額的百分比為 28.3%，比去年同期提高了 90 個基點，其中 29.3% 得益於定價和供應鏈團隊的持續努力。由於高個位數通膨率，勞動力佔銷售額的百分比增加了 50 個基點，但部分被定價和增量營運效率所抵消。由於門市入住率和其他成本的提高，餐廳層面的營業利潤率為 18.2%，而前一年為 20%。

During the third quarter, we opened three new restaurants, North Scottsdale Arizona, Lynnwood, Washington State and the McKinney, Texas. Subsequent to quarter end, we opened two more units, one in Woodlands, Texas and one in Salt Lake City, Utah.

第三季度，我們開設了三家新餐廳，分別位於亞利桑那州北斯科茨代爾、華盛頓州林伍德和德克薩斯州麥金尼。本季末之後，我們又開了兩個分店，一個位於德州伍德蘭茲，另一個位於猶他州鹽湖城。

We are very pleased with the class of 2025 with many of our restaurant openings exceeding our expectations. Lynnwood during our top 5 restaurants shortly after opening, underscoring a tremendous opportunity we see in the Pacific Northwest.

我們對 2025 年開業的許多餐廳感到非常滿意，其業績超出了我們的預期。林伍德餐廳開業後不久就躋身我們的前五名餐廳之列，這凸顯了我們在太平洋西北地區看到的巨大機會。

At the beginning of the fiscal year, we provided unit development guidance of 14 new reference which we achieved with last week for Salt Lake City opening. I'll leave it to Jeff to share our thoughts on guidance for the remainder of the year, but I will mention that we have currently five units under construction.

在財政年度開始時，我們為鹽湖城的開幕提供了 14 個新參考的單位發展指導，並在上週實現了這一目標。我會讓傑夫分享我們對今年剩餘時間指導的想法，但我要提到，我們目前有五個單位正在建設中。

Over the last several calls, we have been discussing the opportunity in smaller DMAs as demonstrated by the success of this year opening in Bakersfield, California and has greater optionality created by these smaller markets can not only expand our white space potential, but also saves as a functional competitive win by reducing the number of openings in markets that can cannibalize ourselves.

在過去的幾次電話會議中，我們一直在討論較小 DMA 中的機會，正如今年在加利福尼亞州貝克斯菲爾德的成功開業所證明的那樣，這些較小市場創造的更多選擇性不僅可以擴大我們的空白潛力，而且可以通過減少可能蠶食我們市場份額的市場開業數量來節省功能性競爭勝利。

We have mentioned that we hope to get back to a 50/50 split between new and existing markets by fiscal 2027 as that being harder to work developing previously and export DMAs like Des Moines, Richmond and Tulsa. I'm very plus to say that we now have properties under negotiation at each of these markets.

我們曾提到，我們希望在 2027 財年將新市場和現有市場的比例恢復到 50/50，因為以前開發和出口 DMA（如得梅因、里士滿和塔爾薩）會更加困難。我很高興地說，我們現在在每個市場上都有正在談判的房產。

Turning to marketing. We have 7 to 8 IP collaborations lined up for fiscal 2026, which as we mentioned in the previous call, is a record for us. Fiscal 2026, we have no interruptions between IP campaigns, and we're redoing this fiscal year, which included a four to five month stretch without IP collaborations.

轉向行銷。我們已經為 2026 財年安排了 7 到 8 個 IP 合作，正如我們在上次電話會議中提到的那樣，這對我們來說是一個記錄。2026 財年，我們的 IP 活動沒有中斷，我們正在重新制定本財年，其中包括四到五個月沒有 IP 合作的時間。

We have a renewed appreciation for the roles that collaborations play in our sales and have made investments to better utilize this opportunity that is unique to Kura. In addition to creating a new role in our marketing team, which will be fully dedicated to researching and negotiating with the new licenses. We have also established an intellectual property committee to facilitate the development of longer-term strategy related to our IP collaborations.

我們重新認識到合作在我們的銷售中所扮演的角色，並進行了投資以更好地利用 Kura 獨有的機會。除了在我們的行銷團隊中創建一個新角色之外，還將全力致力於研究和談判新的授權。我們也成立了智慧財產權委員會，以促進與智慧財產權合作相關的長期策略的發展。

For growth, I'd like to provide an update on our system development efforts. While we had originally expected to complete the implementation of the reservation system by the end of the fiscal year, we were able to roll out reservations across all restaurants by a region.

為了發展，我想提供有關我們系統開發工作的最新資訊。雖然我們原本預計在財政年度結束前完成預訂系統的實施，但我們能夠按地區在所有餐廳推出預訂服務。

The response from guests and the team members have been uniformly positive. While it's too early for us to quantify the impact of the reservation system, we believe we have great potential by the comp driver and have identified system improvement opportunities, which we believe could drive operational efficiencies as well.

客人和團隊成員的反應一致正面。雖然現在量化預訂系統的影響還為時過早，但我們相信，我們在競爭驅動方面具有巨大潛力，並且已經確定了系統改進機會，我們相信這也可以提高營運效率。

Although the implementation of these improvements will take some time, we're pleased with a strong start and we look forward to being able to share more quantified expectations in future course regarding potential traffic lift and labor improvement through the reservation system.

雖然這些改進的實施需要一些時間，但我們對良好的開端感到滿意，並期待在未來能夠透過預訂系統分享更多關於潛在交通提升和勞動力改善的量化預期。

As a final note, I'm pleased that you also announced the introduction of our new night life option, which will give guests even more control of how they experience Kura by introducing the option to order sushi with smaller portion of rice.

最後要說的是，我很高興你們也宣布推出我們的新夜生活選擇，透過引入訂購米飯份量較少的壽司的選項，客人將能夠更好地控制他們如何體驗 Kura。

The third quarter has been a very busy for us, and it's exciting that you see so many of our initiatives come online or cross the finish line. All our team members, both at our reference and our chief support center have been doing incredible work to make this happen. Thank you, everyone. I'll hand it over to Jeff to discuss our financial results and liquidity.

第三季對我們來說非常忙碌，但看到我們的許多計劃都上線或取得了進展，我們感到非常興奮。我們團隊的所有成員，無論是在參考中心還是在首席支援中心，都為實現這一目標做出了令人難以置信的努力。謝謝大家。我將把它交給傑夫來討論我們的財務結果和流動性。

Thank you, Jimmy. For the third quarter, total sales were $74 million as compared to $63.1 million in the prior year period. Comparable restaurant sales performance compared to the prior year period was negative 2.1%, with traffic at negative 2.9% and price and mix positive 0.8%. Effective pricing for the quarter was 4.3%. On June 1, we took a 1% menu price increase and after lapping prior year increases, our effective price for the fourth quarter will be 3.5%.

謝謝你，吉米。第三季總銷售額為 7,400 萬美元，去年同期為 6,310 萬美元。與去年同期相比，可比較餐廳的銷售業績為負 2.1%，客流量為負 2.9%，價格和組合為正 0.8%。本季有效定價為 4.3%。6 月 1 日，我們將菜單價格上調了 1%，在疊加去年的漲幅後，第四季的實際價格將為 3.5%。

Comparable sales in our West Coast market were flat and comparable sales in our Southwest market were negative 2.5%. As we've been discussing for the last several months, we were looking forward to our third quarter, where our comp comparison eased and that optimism was met with an encouraging sequential monthly results, as Jimmy mentioned earlier.

我們西海岸市場的可比銷售額持平，西南市場的可比銷售額為負 2.5%。正如我們過去幾個月一直在討論的那樣，我們期待著第三季度的到來，正如 Jimmy 之前提到的那樣，我們的同店銷售額將有所下降，而這種樂觀情緒也得到了令人鼓舞的連續月度業績的滿足。

Turning now to costs. Food and beverage costs as a percentage of sales were 28.3% compared to 29.2% in the prior year quarter, largely due to pricing and supply chain initiatives. We continue to be fortunate that tariffs have not caused a meaningful negative impact to our food and beverage costs, and we are continuing to work with our suppliers to minimize any future impacts. Labor and related costs as a percentage of sales were 33.1% as compared to 32.6% in the prior year quarter. This increase was largely due to wage inflation partially offset by pricing and operational efficiencies.

現在談談成本。食品和飲料成本佔銷售額的百分比為 28.3%，而去年同期為 29.2%，主要歸因於定價和供應鏈措施。我們很幸運，關稅沒有對我們的食品和飲料成本造成重大負面影響，我們將繼續與供應商合作，盡量減少未來的影響。勞動力及相關成本佔銷售額的百分比為 33.1%，去年同期為 32.6%。這一增長主要是由於工資上漲，但被定價和營運效率部分抵消。

Occupancy and related expenses as a percentage of sales were 7.5% compared to the prior year quarter's 6.8% due to sales deleverage. Depreciation and amortization expenses as a percentage of sales were 4.7% as compared to the prior year quarter's 5%. Other costs as a percentage of sales were 14.7% as compared to the prior year quarter's 14.1% due to sales deleverage.

由於銷售去槓桿，入住率及相關費用佔銷售額的百分比為 7.5%，而去年同期為 6.8%。折舊和攤銷費用佔銷售額的百分比為 4.7%，而去年同期為 5%。由於銷售去槓桿，其他成本佔銷售額的百分比為 14.7%，而去年同期為 14.1%。

General and administrative expenses as a percentage of sales were 11.8% as compared to 14% in the prior year quarter due to sales leverage lower public company costs as we lapped the first year of 404(b) SOX compliance and lower litigation-related costs.

一般及行政開支佔銷售額的百分比為 11.8%，而去年同期為 14%，這是由於我們完成了 404(b) SOX 合規的第一年，從而降低了上市公司成本，並降低了訴訟相關成本。

In just a moment, I will be discussing our updated guidance for our full-year G&A expense. Operating loss was $162,000 compared to operating loss of $1.2 million in the prior year quarter due to the lower G&A expenses discussed previously. Income tax expense was $55,000 compared to $60,000 in the prior year quarter. Net income was $565,000 or $0.05 per share compared to a net loss of $558,000 or negative $0.05 per share in the prior year quarter.

稍後我將討論我們全年一般及行政費用的最新指引。由於前面討論過的一般及行政費用較低，本季營業虧損為 162,000 美元，而去年同期的營業虧損為 120 萬美元。所得稅費用為 55,000 美元，去年同期為 60,000 美元。淨收入為 565,000 美元，即每股 0.05 美元，而去年同期的淨虧損為 558,000 美元，即每股虧損 0.05 美元。

Restaurant-level operating profit as a percentage of sales was 18.2% compared to 20% in the prior year quarter, largely due to sales deleveraging, increased labor expense and higher other costs. Adjusted EBITDA was $5.4 million as compared to $4.5 million in the prior year quarter. We're particularly pleased of being able to increase our adjusted EBITDA by 20% even with higher restaurant operating costs.

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 20%，這主要是由於銷售去槓桿、勞動力費用增加以及其他成本增加。調整後的 EBITDA 為 540 萬美元，而去年同期為 450 萬美元。我們特別高興的是，即使餐廳營運成本增加，我們的調整後 EBITDA 仍能提高 20%。

Turning now to our cash and investments. At the end of the fiscal third quarter, we had $93 million in cash, cash equivalents and investments and no debt. And then lastly, I am pleased to update our guidance for the full fiscal-year 2025.

現在談談我們的現金和投資。截至第三財季末，我們擁有 9,300 萬美元的現金、現金等價物和投資，且沒有債務。最後，我很高興更新我們對 2025 財年全年的指導。

We expect total sales to be approximately $281 million. We expect to open 15 new units maintaining an annual unit growth rate above 20% with average net capital expenditures per unit of approximately $2.5 million. And, we now expect general and administrative expenses as a percentage of sales to be below 13%, exclusive of any legal settlements. And now, I will turn it back over to Jimmy.

我們預計總銷售額約為 2.81 億美元。我們預計開設 15 家新店，維持年增率 20% 以上，每家店平均淨資本支出約 250 萬美元。而且，我們現在預計，不包括任何法律和解費用，一般和行政費用佔銷售額的百分比將低於 13%。現在，我將把發言權交還給吉米。

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。我們的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，請打開熱線以回答問題。提醒一下，在問答環節，我可能會先用日文回答，然後我的回答才會被翻譯成英文。

Thank you. We'll now be conducting a question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions)

謝謝。我們現在將進行問答環節。（操作員指示）

Jeremy Hamblin, Craig Hallum.

傑里米·漢布林、克雷格·哈勒姆。

Thanks so much, and congrats on the strong results. I wanted to see if we might be able to dive in a little bit to the commentary around the new reservation system initiative and kind of -- the timing of that, along with the timing of bringing your latest IP collaboration back kind of lends itself, I wanted to see if you might unpack the same-store sales trends, cadence during the quarter a little bit more for us to get a sense for how May performed as you brought that IP collab back versus the first two months of the quarter. And then a sense for -- you had a pretty big raise in your sales guidance for the year, how things have started out here in June.

非常感謝，並祝賀您取得如此優異的成績。我想看看我們是否可以深入了解有關新預訂系統計劃的評論，以及該計劃的時機，以及您重新推出最新 IP 合作的時機，我想看看您是否可以分析一下本季度同店銷售趨勢和節奏，以便我們了解在您重新推出該 IP 合作後，5 月份的表現與本季度前兩個月相比如何。然後感覺——你們今年的銷售預期有了相當大的提高，六月的情況就已經開始改變了。

Yeah. Jeremy, this is Ben. Thanks for the question. Great to hear from you. We're really happy with the reservation system. As Jimmy mentioned, we did see sequential improvement throughout the quarter with each month being better than the last through March, April and May.

是的。傑里米，這是本。謝謝你的提問。很高興收到你的來信。我們對預訂系統非常滿意。正如 Jimmy 所提到的，我們確實看到整個季度的連續改善，三月、四月和五月的每個月都比上個月更好。

We began rollout of the reservation system in late February, but I'd say like it really began in earnest in April and we were largely done by May. And so you can sort of see that benefit rolling along as well. And we began the PDUS campaign in very late April, and had it running through May and June. And that the two of those combined has been really one of the big reasons that we're so happy with how the last quarter shook out.

我們從二月底開始推出預訂系統，但我想說它實際上是在四月開始認真實施的，到五月基本上就完成了。因此，您也可以看到這種好處不斷湧現。我們在四月底就開始了 PDUS 活動，並持續了整個五月和六月。而這兩者結合起來確實是我們對上一季業績感到如此滿意的重要原因之一。

One other thing to keep in mind is that the reservation system, just given that we've been -- the rollout has overlapped with the time-limited things like the Peanuts campaign and now the Hollow Live campaign. We haven't had dedicated advertisements just for the reservation system and the messaging that we have done is largely focused just towards our rewards numbers. And so we're very pleased to see the results that we're seeing right now, and believe that there is additional upside as we communicate this further to our tests.

還有一件事要記住，那就是預訂系統，考慮到我們已經推出的東西——推出的時間與限時活動重疊，例如花生活動和現在的 Hollow Live 活動。我們沒有專門針對預訂系統的廣告，我們所做的訊息傳遞主要集中在我們的獎勵數字上。因此，我們很高興看到我們現在看到的結果，並相信隨著我們在測試中進一步傳達這一點，將會有額外的好處。

Jimmy, I have a comment about questions for comp sales, but please allow me to speaking in Japanese. Ben is going to translate. (spoken in foreign language)

吉米，我對公司銷售的問題有一些評論，但請允許我用日語發言。本將負責翻譯。（用外語說）

Going back to the monthly cadence that we've seen in Q3, may coincided with the introduction of our first IP campaigns really four, five months and that is also when our comps turned positive. And so it was really great to see not just positive comps -- positive traffic as well as May. And we have those IP collaborations continuing through the current quarter and we're very pleased with how the current quarter is performed as well.

回顧我們在第三季度看到的月度節奏，可能與我們推出第一個 IP 活動的時間相吻合，實際上是四、五個月，這也是我們的同店銷售額轉為正值的時候。因此，看到 5 月的流量不僅呈現正成長，而且呈現正成長，真是令人欣喜。我們的 IP 合作將持續到本季度，我們對本季的表現也非常滿意。

And then, Jeremy, on your last question about the guidance raise to $281 million. Last quarter, we were pretty certain that we would be close to there as well, but we've been really gun shy about raising our guidance too early just based on what happened last year about this time.

然後，傑里米，關於你最後一個問題，關於指導金額提高到 2.81 億美元。上個季度，我們非常確定我們也會接近這個目標，但根據去年此時發生的事情，我們真的不敢過早提高我們的預期。

This wasn't a great call for us in July last year. So we wanted to be certain that we felt really good about that before we told everybody that we thought we were going to be higher than our previous range of $275 million to $279 million.

對於去年 7 月的我們來說，這並不是一個好主意。因此，在告訴所有人我們認為我們的收入將高於先前 2.75 億美元至 2.79 億美元的範圍之前，我們希望確定我們對此確實感到滿意。

Totally understandable, especially when you guys were reporting in early April. Just one follow-up question. I wanted to ask on labor. And so, you had about 50 basis points of deleverage in the quarter. Obviously, the negative comp doesn't help on that.

完全可以理解，尤其是當你們在四月初進行報告的時候。僅一個後續問題。我想問一下有關勞動的問題。因此，本季的去槓桿率約為 50 個基點。顯然，負面的補償對此沒有幫助。

But I wanted to get a sense for where your what your wage rates are on a year-over-year basis currently? And then in terms of looking at Q4, where you would need to comp to see a positive leverage on that labor line item?

但我想了解您目前的工資率與去年同期相比是多少？然後就第四季而言，您需要在哪裡進行比較才能看到勞動力專案的正槓桿率？

(spoken in foreign language)

（用外語說）

For Q4, our expectation is that we'll see mid- to low single-digit labor inflation, which would be an improvement from what we've seen in Q2 and Q3.

對於第四季度，我們預計勞動力通膨率將達到中低個位數，這將比第二季和第三季的情況有所改善。

(spoken in foreign language)

（用外語說）

It goes without saying then a positive comp makes it easier to lever labor year over year. And without giving really any commentary on quarter-to-date comps, we're very pleased with how the quarter is progressing -- and sorry, go ahead, Jimmy.

毋庸置疑，積極的薪資使得逐年提升勞動力變得更加容易。雖然我們不會就本季度迄今為止的業績發表任何評論，但我們對本季度的進展感到非常滿意——抱歉，請繼續，吉米。

(spoken in foreign language)

（用外語說）

One thing that we've been seeing unfold over the last couple of months is all the initiatives that we've been working on over the last year and really going as far back into last year, with the operational streamlining. And then this was supplemented by the new Mr. Fresh, the new touch panels and the reservation system. Do you see the benefit of those labor initiatives trend along with sales leverage. And we're seeing really everything blossom now. And so that's been a real pleasure to watch.

過去幾個月我們看到的一件事是，我們在過去一年中一直在努力實施的所有舉措，實際上可以追溯到去年，包括營運精簡。然後又增加了新的 Mr. Fresh、新的觸控面板和預訂系統。您是否看到了這些勞動力措施趨勢以及銷售槓桿的好處？現在我們看到一切都在蓬勃發展。觀看這樣的表演真是一件令人愉快的事。

Thanks so much for all the color, and taking the questions, and best wishes the remainder of the year.

非常感謝您提供的所有資訊和回答的問題，並祝您今年餘下的時間一切順利。

Thanks you, Jeremy.

謝謝你，傑瑞米。

Thank you. Jeff Bernstein, Barclays.

謝謝。巴克萊銀行的傑夫伯恩斯坦。

Great, thank you very much. A couple of questions. The first one, just going to clarify your comments on the tariff implications. It seems like you guys report shortly after tariff discussions. So I know last quarter, there was tariff rollout kind of right before you guys reported.

太好了，非常感謝。有幾個問題。第一個問題，我只是想澄清一下您對關稅影響的評論。看起來你們是在關稅討論後不久就做出報告的。我知道上個季度，在你們報告之前就推出了關稅。

And then I know there's been some Japan headlines around tariffs just in the past day or two, so I know it's difficult for you, but it sounds like you're fairly confident that there's no material impact. I'm just wondering if you could share any incremental color, especially now that we do have some specifics in terms of at least what's tariffs related to Japan. So any color you could provide in terms of the impact on the cost structure or any pricing you might take would be very helpful. And then I have a follow-up.

然後我知道過去一兩天日本有一些關於關稅的頭條新聞，所以我知道這對你來說很難，但聽起來你相當有信心不會產生實質影響。我只是想知道您是否可以分享任何增量信息，特別是現在我們至少在與日本相關的關稅方面有一些具體信息。因此，您就成本結構的影響或可能採取的任何定價提供的任何資訊都將非常有幫助。然後我有一個後續問題。

Sure, Jeff, this is Jeff. We knew this question was coming. So to be honest, I prerecorded last week -- late last week, and that's the tariff are commentary in there was related to last week. Obviously, this new news came out yesterday. So -- but what I can tell you is while there's -- we don't -- just because I spend 24 hours, I don't have a monetary impact yet based on the projected tariff.

當然，傑夫，我是傑夫。我們知道這個問題會出現。所以說實話，我上週（上週晚些時候）預先錄製了有關關稅的評論，與上週有關。顯然，這個新消息是昨天才傳出來的。所以——但我可以告訴你的是，雖然——我們不會——只是因為我花了 24 個小時，但根據預期的關稅，我還沒有產生金錢影響。

But I can tell you that about 45% of our basket comes from Japan, Korea and Vietnam. And so, we'll be able to calculate an impact later. As I mentioned in previous calls, our Japanese suppliers have been very eager to sit with us and say, look, we'll share some of this impact.

但我可以告訴你，我們籃子裡的大約45%來自日本、韓國和越南。因此，我們稍後就能計算出影響。正如我在之前的電話會議中提到的，我們的日本供應商非常渴望與我們坐在一起說，看，我們將分擔一些影響。

We don't know if that's 50/50, 60/40. We don't know those numbers yet. As soon as we get clarity on those numbers, and we'll be able to calculate more of a monetary impact of what it might do to our COGS, and we'll be able to share that at a future conference or in a future call. We also are hopeful that 25% is not the final number.

我們不知道這是 50/50 還是 60/40。我們還不知道這些數字。一旦我們明確了這些數字，我們就能計算出它對我們的 COGS 可能產生的更多貨幣影響，並且我們將能夠在未來的會議或電話會議上分享這一點。我們也希望 25% 不是最終的數字。

As you know, these things have bounced around. Trump uses these things as leverage, a lot of times as we know. And where it ends up by August 1, we will see, but we're in a good place in our COGS number right now in the low 28s.

正如你所知，這些事情已經反覆發生。我們知道，川普很多時候都會利用這些事情作為籌碼。我們將拭目以待 8 月 1 日的結果，但目前我們的 COGS 數字處於良好水平，在 28% 出頭。

And if we do have an impact, we feel pretty good about the fact that, that impact shouldn't throw us north of 30%, even if it were really high. So it's a -- we're in a much better place than that our cost of goods sold, let's say, at 30.5% or 31%. So we're optimistic about what's going to happen over the next three to four weeks in terms of the negotiations, and we'll be able to have further color the next time we get in front of investors.

如果我們確實產生了影響，我們會感到非常高興，因為即使影響真的很高，也不會超過 30%。因此，我們的狀況比銷售成本（比如說 30.5% 或 31%）好得多。因此，我們對未來三到四周的談判進展持樂觀態度，下次與投資者見面時，我們將能夠獲得進一步的資訊。

Understood. Thank you. And then just on the restaurant margin. I know in past quarters you've talked about your, I guess, longer-term confidence sustaining the 20%-plus, and I think you had been confident in achieving that in fiscal '25. Though it looks like we're running more in the 17% to 18% range year-to-date. So I'm assuming it's going to be difficult to get to 20% in fiscal '25.

明白了。謝謝。然後就在餐廳邊緣。我知道在過去的幾個季度中，您曾談到您對維持 20% 以上的長期信心，我認為您對在 2025 財年實現這一目標充滿信心。不過看起來今年迄今為止我們的成長率在 17% 到 18% 之間。因此我認為在 25 財年達到 20% 將會很困難。

I know you guys don't chase the margin, but I'm just wondering your perspective on the outlook for the margin in the fourth quarter and/or whether or not fiscal '26 in a more normalized environment, you'd be confident to suggest we could be back north of 20% again. Thank you.

我知道你們並不追求利潤，但我只是想知道你們對第四季度利潤前景的看法，以及/或在 26 財年更加正常化的環境下，你們是否有信心我們能夠再次回到 20% 以上。謝謝。

(spoken in foreign language)

（用外語說）

Speaking to the current year, we're already more than nine months into fiscal '25 and with the quarter-to-date -- I'm sorry, the year-to-date number, bringing that to a 20%-plus number is difficult. But we don't think there's anything that has structurally changed out our margins. And absolutely, 20%-plus is our target for fiscal '26.

說到今年，我們已經進入 25 財年九個多月了，從本季度迄今為止的數字來看——抱歉，是年初至今的數字來看，要將這一數字提高到 20% 以上是困難的。但我們認為，沒有任何東西從結構上改變我們的利潤率。當然，20% 以上是我們 26 財年的目標。

(spoken in foreign language)

（用外語說）

Looking at fiscal '26, we're feeling very good about our position as it relates to comps, we're lapping fiscal '25, which had a four to five month stretch without IP campaigns. And next year, we have the most IP campaigns we've ever had.

放眼 26 財年，我們對自己的地位感到非常滿意，因為它與同類產品有關，我們正在與 25 財年接軌，25 財年有四到五個月沒有進行 IP 活動。明年，我們將開展有史以來最多的智慧財產權活動。

We also have the reservation for the full year. And so we -- just coming into the year, we're in a very strong position and we see no reason that we wouldn't be able to achieve positive comps and had that flow through to a 20%-plus threshold over operating cost margin.

我們也有全年的預訂。因此，在進入新的一年之際，我們處於非常有利的地位，我們認為沒有理由不能實現正增長，並且使這一增長達到營業成本利潤率的 20% 以上的門檻。

(spoken in foreign language)

（用外語說）

With positive comps, that would naturally allow us better leverage on labor occupancy other costs, depreciation and that would drive our margin expansion or really a return to marching normalcy.

有了積極的比較，這自然會讓我們更好地利用勞動力佔用、其他成本、折舊，這將推動我們的利潤率擴大或真正恢復到正常水平。

Got it. If I could just slip one more in. Jeff, I know you like to talk about the G&A leverage, which lowering your target for this fiscal year, obviously, very impressive. I'm just wondering that further reduction. Any color you can share in terms of the biggest buckets of these incremental savings and whether or not you think -- I know you took long term about being sub-10%, but should we continue assuming a path trajectory the way we've been seeing recently in terms of how we should think about fiscal '26 versus that sub 13% in fiscal '25. Thank you.

知道了。如果我可以再放一個進去就好了。傑夫，我知道你喜歡談論 G&A 槓桿，這降低了你本財年的目標，顯然非常令人印象深刻。我只是想知道是否會進一步減少。您可以分享這些增量儲蓄的最大部分，以及您是否認為——我知道您長期致力於低於 10% 的目標，但我們是否應該繼續假設我們最近看到的路徑軌跡，即我們應該如何看待 26 財年與 25 財年低於 13% 的目標。謝謝。

Yeah. The biggest basket is really headcount. And team and leadership in the support center and in field operations has done a really good job of figuring out how to better allocate work to everybody rather than just adding people when things get backed up. So it's really been a group effort, and salaries is the biggest piece of that G&A. So with everybody's focus, that's how we were able to get there.

是的。最大的籃子實際上是人數。支援中心和現場運營的團隊和領導層已經做了非常出色的工作，他們找到瞭如何更好地將工作分配給每個人，而不是在出現問題時才增加人員。所以這確實是集體的努力，而薪水是一般及行政費用中最大的一塊。所以在每個人的努力下，我們才能夠實現這個目標。

Now that leverage that we got this year was much higher than I expected, clearly, with the guidance raised from where we were at the beginning of the year in the mid-13s. So going forward, I do expect additional leverage. In the past, I think I had said the 50 to 60 basis points a year.

現在，我們今年獲得的槓桿率遠高於我的預期，顯然，指導值比年初的 13 月中旬有所提高。因此，展望未來，我確實期望獲得額外的槓桿。過去，我想我曾說過每年50到60個基點。

Next year, honestly, Jeff, I don't know if it will be quite that high just because of how much we got this year. I do expect leverage next year, but maybe not to that 50 to 60 basis point. But I do believe that in the future years, we might be able to get back there after we get through fiscal '26.

傑夫，說實話，我不知道明年的收入是否會那麼高，因為我們今年的收入就那麼多。我確實預計明年會出現槓桿，但可能不會達到 50 到 60 個基點。但我確實相信，在未來幾年，我們或許能夠在度過 26 財年之後回到那個水準。

Understood. Thank you.

明白了。謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thank you. Andrew Charles, TD Cowen.

謝謝。安德魯查爾斯 (Andrew Charles)，TD Cowen。

Thank you. This is Zack Ogden on for Andrew. Just based on our math, it looks like the new store productivity has improved so far in 2025 relative to 2024. So are you seeing the class of 2025 opening stronger than the class of 2024? And if so, what's that driven by?

謝謝。我是紮克‧奧格登，代替安德魯。根據我們的計算，2025 年新店生產力似乎比 2024 年有所提升。那麼，您是否認為 2025 屆的開局會比 2024 屆更強？如果是的話，其驅動力是什麼？

(spoken in foreign language)

（用外語說）

Yeah, fiscal '25 is certainly stronger than fiscal '24. It's one of the strongest classes we've had in recent memory, we're really, really pleased. A big part of that would be our opening up of the Pacific Northwest, as Jimmy mentioned in his prepared remarks, Lynnwood pretty much immediately entered our top 5. And so that's been a great tailwind for us.

是的，25財年肯定比24財年強勁。這是我們近年來最出色的課程之一，我們真的非常高興。其中很大一部分是我們開放太平洋西北地區，正如吉米在準備好的演講中提到的那樣，林伍德幾乎立即進入了我們的前五名。這對我們來說是一個巨大的順風。

(spoken in foreign language)

（用外語說）

And besides building out one of the most promising markets that we've had, we've also been exploring new DMAs. So Fishers in Indiana would be an example. Bakersfield is another example that we've returned to over the past couple of earnings calls, but all of them are doing very well.

除了打造我們最有前景的市場之一之外，我們還一直在探索新的 DMA。印第安納州的費雪就是一個例子。貝克斯菲爾德是我們在過去幾次財報電話會議中回顧的另一個例子，但它們都表現得非常好。

And what's critical about Fishers and Bakersfield is that they provide data points for us in terms of our pipeline building in the future gives us that much more optionality in terms of how we build our pipeline. And that's really going to be the biggest part of us getting back to a 50/50 split for fiscal '27, and so we're very pleased across the board with the performance, not just in infilling existing markets where we knew that we do well, but having positive surprises in new markets as well.

費雪和貝克斯菲爾德的關鍵之處在於，它們為我們未來的管道建設提供了數據點，為我們建造管道的方式提供了更多的選擇。這確實是我們在 2027 財年恢復 50/50 分成最重要的部分，因此，我們對整體表現非常滿意，不僅在填補我們知道自己做得好的現有市場，而且在新市場也獲得了積極的驚喜。

Got it. And then just last call, you had called out a $300,000 to $400,000 impact to new store build costs from tariffs. Has that expectation changed at all since the last call based on the different tariff rates?

知道了。就在上次通話中，您指出關稅將對新店建設成本造成 30 萬至 40 萬美元的影響。自上次基於不同關稅稅率的通話以來，這種預期有任何變化嗎？

No, that $300,000 to $400,000 is still our expectation at worst-case scenario, given the current tariff situation.

不，考慮到目前的關稅情況，30 萬至 40 萬美元仍然是我們對最壞情況的預期。

Okay. Got it, thank you.

好的。知道了，謝謝。

Thanks, Zach.

謝謝，扎克。

Thank you. Todd Brooks, The Benchmark Company.

謝謝。托德布魯克斯 (Todd Brooks)，基準公司。

Hey, thanks and congratulations on the results this quarter. Great to see. Two quick questions. One following up on reservation. I know we're a little ways away from getting quantifiable data. But just from what you're seeing in the early experience with the platforms in place, are you seeing those larger boosts around lunch and maybe late night kind of those -- where you knew you had capacity if you could unlock it with the surety of being able to get a seat.

嘿，謝謝並祝賀本季的業績。很高興看到。兩個簡單的問題。跟進預訂的人。我知道我們距離獲得可量化的數據還有一段距離。但是，僅從您在早期使用這些平台的體驗來看，您是否看到午餐時間以及深夜時段客流量有較大成長？在這些時段，如果您能確保您有座位，您就知道有足夠的容量。

And then another follow-up on the reservation side. I know that we've really, I think, just started promoting it to loyalty program members recently. Thoughts on the ability to take it to non-loyalty and message it more broadly, and draw some new people to the brand to try the restaurant. Or do we need to leg into that just to handle the capacity that we'd get in a pickup from loyalty program members alone?

然後是預訂方面的另一個後續行動。我知道我們確實最近才開始向忠誠度計劃會員推廣它。思考如何將其推廣到非忠誠度領域並進行更廣泛的傳播，從而吸引一些新人來嘗試該品牌的餐廳。或者我們需要介入其中，僅僅為了處理我們從忠誠度計劃會員那裡獲得的容量？

No, absolutely. To answer your second question first, that is absolutely the next thing that's on the docket for us. Right now, our guests have been organically discovering it -- I'm sorry, our rewards members have been organically discovering it as reservation button is exactly where the old waitlist button was. And so there's really no change to the guest flow and people discover pretty naturally. Otherwise, it's been secondary messaging in our marketing e-mails.

不，絕對不是。先回答你的第二個問題，這絕對是我們接下來要處理的事情。現在，我們的客人已經自然而然地發現了它——很抱歉，我們的獎勵會員已經自然而然地發現了它，因為預訂按鈕正好位於舊的候補名單按鈕的位置。因此，客流實際上沒有變化，人們的發現非常自然。否則，它就只是我們行銷電子郵件中的次要訊息了。

But we do believe that this is a massive catalyst for rewards member registrations. And so certainly, we want to capture that. In terms of what we've seen in the early days, just given that our last restaurant rolled out in mid-June, I don't want to see any numbers that you're going to be basing your modeling off.

但我們確實相信，這對獎勵會員註冊來說是一個巨大的催化劑。因此，我們當然希望抓住這一點。就我們早期看到的情況而言，考慮到我們的最後一家餐廳是在六月中旬開業的，我不希望看到任何可以作為建模依據的數字。

But one really important point that we've been able to cooperate for statistical analysis is that half of our -- or half -- more than half of our debt with reservations are being ceded within two minutes of arrival, which -- I mean, that's night and day from what guest were used to. And so I can get a pretty clear idea of the massive opportunity there is here.

但我們能夠合作進行統計分析的一個真正重要的一點是，我們的一半——或者說一半——超過一半的預訂債務是在客人抵達後的兩分鐘內被轉讓的，這意味著這與客人過去習慣的情況完全不同。因此我可以非常清楚地了解這裡存在的巨大機會。

That's fantastic. And then a final question, and I'll jump back in queue. You've talked about the IP partnership and the strength that you're seeing and the coverage that you're seeing. I think there was a comment that you'll be covered for all the weeks of fiscal '26 versus being dark on IP partnerships for four to five months here in fiscal '25. I know we're not going to get details on what's making up the pipeline.

太棒了。然後是最後一個問題，我將回到隊列中。您談到了 IP 合作夥伴關係以及您所看到的實力和覆蓋範圍。我認為有一條評論說，你們將在 26 財年的所有幾週內得到保障，而不是在 25 財年有四到五個月的時間沒有 IP 合作夥伴關係。我知道我們不會得到有關管道組成的詳細資訊。

But can you talk qualitatively about the quality of the pipeline and maybe the magnitude of the partners? Because it sounds like there's that much more internal effort against it as well with the new committee and just really a focus on extracting more return out of these efforts? Thanks.

但是您能否定性地談論一下頻道的品質以及合作夥伴的規模？因為這聽起來好像新委員會內部也在做更多努力來反對它，而且真正關注的是從這些努力中獲得更多回報？謝謝。

Yeah. I mean, speaking in terms of -- if you just look at our pipeline from past years, it's pretty clear that the properties just get bigger and better every year. I think one thing that's really key to our new strategy is that while we have been able to get consistently bigger partners, they haven't necessarily translated to bigger sales. And just by having more partnerships per year that gives us more at bats, that many more opportunities to discover really what's going to be successful. Let's build our portfolio based off of that.

是的。我的意思是，如果你看我們過去幾年的管道，你會發現很明顯，我們的資產每年都在變得更大、更好。我認為，我們新策略的一個關鍵點是，雖然我們能夠持續獲得更大的合作夥伴，但他們並不一定能帶來更大的銷售額。每年建立更多的合作關係會為我們帶來更多的機會，讓我們有更多的機會去發現真正成功的秘訣。讓我們以此為基礎來建構我們的投資組合。

And so the upcoming several campaigns that we have are Demon Slayer and One Piece, which are two of the best -- two of the best properties we've partnered with. Following that, we have Kirby, which is the biggest Nintendo property that we've ever partnered with. We're very pleased that the new -- the renewed focus on the IP collaborations, I think, is going to be a very key part of our discussions as it relates to fiscal '26. We're being a little bit more experimental.

我們即將推出的幾部作品是《鬼滅之刃》和《海賊王》，這兩部作品是我們合作過的最好的作品之一。接下來，我們有了《星之卡比》，這是我們合作過的最大的任天堂作品。我們非常高興，重新關注知識產權合作，我認為，這將成為我們與 26 財年相關的討論中非常關鍵的一部分。我們正在進行一些實驗。

So for instance, with the current alliance -- we don't have associated bigger upon giveaways, but it's still been a massive traffic driver because of the intensity of the fandom. So we've got these cups for sale and we have food collaborations, but that's still been a very meaningful traffic driver. And having these campaigns without -- that are relatively sort of investment light, lets us be out much more experimental, let's us have that any more campaigns per year, which will get us closer to that ideal portfolio that much faster.

舉例來說，在目前的聯盟下，我們並沒有在贈品方面做出更大的貢獻，但由於粉絲的熱情，它仍然是一個巨大的流量驅動因素。因此，我們出售這些杯子，並與食品公司合作，但這仍然是一個非常有意義的流量驅動因素。透過這些無需太多投資的活動，我們可以進行更多的實驗，每年可以進行更多的活動，這將使我們更快地接近理想的投資組合。

That's great. Thanks, Ben. Congrats, everyone.

那太棒了。謝謝，本。恭喜大家。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thank you. Mark Smith, Lake Street Capital.

謝謝。馬克史密斯 (Mark Smith)，Lake Street Capital。

Hi guys. Just as we look at restaurant level expenses here, I just wanted to dig in on other costs, is this purely utilities or other things that drove that a little bit higher here during the quarter?

嗨，大家好。正如我們在這裡查看餐廳級別的費用一樣，我只是想深入了解其他成本，這是純粹的公用事業費用還是其他因素導致本季度該成本略有上漲？

(spoken in foreign language)

（用外語說）

Hi, In terms of what's really the major components of are other costs growing as compared to, say, a couple of years ago. It's really just minor growth across the board. So slight increases in R&M cost slight increases in utilities. Really, the way that we think about it is the other cost numbers for Q2 were abnormally low. And so you can sort of take the 14.7% we had for Q3 as a bounce back. Year-to-date, our other costs as a percentage of sales is 14.3%, which is exactly where it was for the full-year fiscal '24. We think that 14%-ish is where we're going to be running for the foreseeable future.

你好，就主要組成部分而言，與幾年前相比，其他成本有所增長。這實際上只是總體上的小幅增長。因此，研發和維護成本略有增加，公用事業成本也略有增加。實際上，我們認為第二季的其他成本數字異常低。因此，你可以將第三季的 14.7% 視為反彈。年初至今，我們的其他成本佔銷售額的百分比為 14.3%，與 24 財年全年的水平完全相同。我們認為，在可預見的未來，我們的成長率將保持在 14% 左右。

Perfect. And then just similar as we think about G&A, I know that, Jeff, you just talked a little bit about kind of people and salaries and things that are in there. It's great seeing that guidance come down. Has there been -- have there been cuts? Or are you continuing to add people.

完美的。然後就像我們考慮 G&A 一樣，我知道，傑夫，你剛才談到了那裡面的人員、薪水和事情。看到這樣的指導意見真是令人欣慰。有沒有——有削減嗎？還是你還在繼續加人嗎？

I'd just love more insight into kind of how you're managing G&A, and if it's purposeful kind of keeping the belt tight? Or if it's just kind of the sales growth that's keeping that down and relating to the guidance that we saw here today?

我只是想更深入地了解您如何管理 G&A，以及是否有意勒緊褲腰帶？或者只是某種銷售成長導致這個數字下降，並且與我們今天看到的指導有關？

It's purposeful, keeping it down. We -- it's not due to cuts. We have not cut people, and we do not plan to cut people. This is more of slowing down the hiring. And I think it's a change in mindset. We several years ago, maybe we're a little quick to hire people when things got a little rough and rather than thinking about alternative ways to do things, how we allocate work how we can see who has some bandwidth to take on some more things.

這是有目的的，保持低調。我們——這不是由於削減。我們沒有裁員，也不打算裁員。這實際上會減緩招聘速度。我認為這是一種思維方式的轉變。幾年前，當事情變得有點困難時，我們可能會很快地僱用人員，而不是考慮其他的做事方式，我們如何分配工作，如何知道誰有足夠的頻寬來承擔更多的事情。

And everybody has done just a good job of doing that. So when there is a new hire request, it gets a lot more scrutiny now than when I first started with the company. And people are just thinking about different ways of doing things and the approval process for new hires goes through a lot more people than previously. And I challenge it quite a bit as a financial officer.

每個人都出色地完成了這項工作。因此，當有新的招聘請求時，與我剛加入公司時相比，現在會受到更嚴格的審查。人們正在思考不同的做事方式，新進員工的審批流程比以前需要更多的人。身為財務主管，我對此提出了不少質疑。

To give a good example, when I joined the company, we were able to cut the number of requested new hires in the budget in half or more than one half. I was like from like 21 requested new hires, I think we went down to six or seven and that was three years ago, and it's worked out.

舉個很好的例子，當我加入公司時，我們能夠將預算中要求的新員工人數削減一半或一半以上。我當時要求招募的新員工人數從 21 人減少到了 6 到 7 人，那是三年前的事了，而且這個計劃已經成功了。

So with that change in mindset, I think that it's the way that we will be doing things in the foreseeable future, which is why I'm very optimistic about that. And north of 300 basis points of leverage over three years is something that we are very proud of as a management team.

因此，隨著思維方式的轉變，我認為這是我們在可預見的未來做事的方式，這就是我對此非常樂觀的原因。作為管理團隊，我們對三年內槓桿率超過 300 個基點感到非常自豪。

Excellent. And if I can squeeze in one more. As we think about the success as you moved into maybe some smaller markets, does that change your outlook on kind of your total pipeline, and how many units do you think you can build across the US over time?

出色的。如果我能再擠一點的話。當我們想到您在進入一些較小市場時所取得的成功時，這是否會改變您對整體通路的看法？您認為隨著時間的推移，您可以在美國建造多少個單位？

(spoken in foreign language)

（用外語說）

Of course. We're happy for you to fill in whatever that number you think will be.

當然。我們很高興您能填寫您認為的數字。

Okay. Perfect. Thank you guys.

好的。完美的。謝謝你們。

Thank you, Mark.

謝謝你，馬克。

Thanks, Mark.

謝謝，馬克。

Thank you. Jon Tower, Citi.

謝謝。花旗銀行的喬恩‧陶爾 (Jon Tower)。

Great, thanks for taking the questions. Maybe, Jeff, following up to the comment you made earlier on tariffs and the idea of COGS, maybe moving north of 30% or maybe not hitting north of 30%. So I guess the implication there is that you guys would absorb all the impact of any sort of tariffs rolling through, even if you're negotiating with your suppliers there? Like -- or better said, you're not going to necessarily take pricing to offset the impact of tariffs on COGS. Is that the best way to interpret that?

太好了，感謝您回答這些問題。傑夫，也許，根據你之前對關稅和 COGS 想法的評論，也許會超過 30%，也可能不會超過 30%。所以我猜這意味著你們會承擔任何關稅帶來的所有影響，即使你們正在與供應商談判？就像——或者更確切地說，你不一定會採取定價來抵消關稅對 COGS 的影響。這是最好的解釋方式嗎？

Well, we would take on the portion that we agreed to with the vendors, we wherever that ends up in was 50/50 or whatever. Yes, pricing is the last resort. But I will tell you that our effective pricing in November goes down to 1%. So when that happens, we do have some pricing power if we need to do that, but we want to leave that as a last option. Certainly, but we could do that.

好吧，我們會承擔與供應商商定的份額，無論最終比例是多少，都是 50/50 或其他。是的，定價是最後的手段。但我會告訴你，我們11月份的有效定價下降到了1%。因此，當這種情況發生時，如果需要的話，我們確實有一些定價權，但我們希望將其作為最後的選擇。當然，但我們可以這樣做。

We're just hopeful that the 25% number that's currently out there will end up being much lower. And that's where -- what the hope is going to be. And again, it's been 24 hours. And I think as Jeff Bernstein said earlier, unfortunately, we get to deal with these things within a day or two after they happen on the last two calls. So we will have more color on this as we get further in, but that's our current thought process.

我們只是希望，目前的 25% 這個數字最終會變得更低。這就是我們所希望的。又過了 24 小時。我認為，正如傑夫伯恩斯坦之前所說，不幸的是，我們必須在最後兩次通話中發生這些事情後的一兩天內處理它們。因此，隨著我們進一步深入，我們將對此有更多的了解，但這是我們目前的思考過程。

And just to add on that, as it relates to COGS, I think we have a massive opportunity in fiscal '26 through the light rice program that Jimmy had mentioned. I had the opportunity to try for the first time last week. And typically, I'll talk about it five or six plates.

另外，由於它與 COGS 相關，我認為透過 Jimmy 提到的輕米計劃，我們在 26 財年有巨大的機會。上週我有機會第一次嘗試。通常，我會談論五到六個板塊。

I ate at least 10 plates without thinking about it. And I'm sure that there are going to be tons of other guests that are just as enthusiastic about this. And so if we can really -- yeah -- get what we expect from the light rice, that's a big lever for us for fiscal '26. And as Jeff mentioned, we want to pull every other lever before we pull pricing.

我毫不猶豫地吃了至少10盤。我相信還有很多其他的嘉賓也同樣對此充滿熱情。所以，如果我們真的能夠——是的——從輕米中獲得我們所期望的結果，那麼對於我們 26 財年來說，這將是一個很大的槓桿。正如傑夫所提到的，在調整價格之前，我們要先考慮所有其他因素。

Got it. And can you just speak to what that light rice is? I just haven't heard of it before.

知道了。您能說說那種淡米飯是什麼嗎？我只是之前沒聽過。

Yeah. So it's for most of our nigri options, when you order on the touch panel, you'll have an option like regular rice or light rice and the light rice is just -- it's a smaller portion of rice.

是的。因此，對於我們的大多數米飯選項，當您在觸控螢幕上訂購時，您會有一個選項，例如普通米飯或白米飯，而白米飯只是——一小份米飯。

Okay. So lower COGS -- so the same price point, lower COGS?

好的。因此 COGS 更低——那麼在相同的價格點下，COGS 更低嗎？

Lower COGS, but also -- it's not as filling. And so I ate twice as much as I usually do, when I was choosing light rice options.

降低銷售成本，但同時也較不充實。因此，當我選擇清淡的米飯時，我吃的量是平常的兩倍。

Okay. And then just on -- I know fiscal '27, you're pointing to getting back to a 50/50 split on new versus emerging markets -- or excuse me, new versus existing markets. Can you speak to that number for new stores in '26 -- I'm sorry, if I misspoke, I meant '27, you're talking about new stores, 50/50. What that looks like in '26? And then are you still anticipating, I think, roughly a 4% or so cannibalization number dragging on the business next year?

好的。然後就——我知道在 27 財年，您指的是將新興市場和新興市場的比例恢復到 50/50——或者不好意思，是新市場和現有市場的比例。可以說一下 26 年新店數量嗎？抱歉，如果我說錯了，我的意思是 27 年，你說的是新店數量，50/50。'26 年看起來是什麼樣子的？那麼，您是否仍預計，大約 4% 左右的蠶食率將拖累明年的業務？

(spoken in foreign language)

（用外語說）

In terms of our expectations for fiscal '26, we're looking at a pipeline where it's going to be about 70% existing markets, 30% new. In terms of the impact of the existing -- the new units in existing markets, we think it's going to be largely in line with the 400 basis point headwind that we saw in fiscal '25 and '24.

就我們對 26 財年的預期而言，我們預計 70% 的產品將來自現有市場，30% 來自新市場。就現有市場中新部門的影響而言，我們認為這將與我們在 2025 財年和 2024 財年看到的 400 個基點的逆風基本一致。

(spoken in foreign language)

（用外語說）

And then as it relates to fiscal '27, we expect to continue to maintain that 20% unit growth. We do think we'll be able to get back to that 50/50, which would naturally just cut that contact wind at half.

就 27 財年而言，我們預計將繼續保持 20% 的單位成長率。我們確實認為我們能夠回到 50/50 的比例，這自然會將接觸風減少一半。

Okay. And then just last piece for me. In terms of -- it's great to hear the IP collaboration stepping up next year, and it sounds like you're going to be on pretty much all year throughout the year in fiscal '26. In the past, I think you've kind of had some hit or misses when it comes to some of the IP tie-in. So can you speak to your confidence or how you're approaching it differently this time to ensure that the hit rates are higher than perhaps past initiatives or past IP tie-ins that you've had?

好的。這對我來說只是最後一件。就這一點而言——很高興聽到明年 IP 合作將會加強，聽起來你們將在 26 財年全年都保持這種合作。過去，我認為你們在涉及某些 IP 搭配時，曾經遇到過一些成功或失敗的情況。那麼，您能否談談您的信心，或者您這次將如何採用不同的方法來確保命中率高於過去的舉措或過去的 IP 搭配？

Yeah. Well, I think the biggest frustration in the past was really sort of opportunity cost where if you had a miss, it wasn't just that you had a miss. You had a miss that was eating up two months of your calendar that could be better spent with a better collaboration.

是的。嗯，我認為過去最大的挫折實際上是機會成本，如果你錯過了，那不僅僅是錯過了。您錯過了一個機會，浪費了您兩個月的時間，如果您能更好地合作，您原本可以更好地利用這兩個月的時間。

And just by having seven to eight, which is meaningfully more than we've had this year and it's the most that we've had of any year, we get that many more tries, so to speak, to find what the successful ones are and based off of those successes, we know what to repeat in future years.

只要有七到八次，這比我們今年的次數要多得多，也是我們歷年最多的一次，我們就可以進行更多的嘗試，可以這麼說，我們可以找到成功的案例，並根據這些成功案例，知道在未來幾年要重複什麼。

Got it. So it's effectively just, frankly, sprinkling in more throughout the year. So you have a better idea of what works and what you can repeat. Okay, cool. Awesome. Thanks for taking the questions.

知道了。因此，坦白說，這實際上只是在全年中增加更多。這樣您就可以更好地了解哪些方法有效以及哪些方法可以重複使用。好的，很酷。驚人的。感謝您回答這些問題。

Thank you, of course.

當然，謝謝你。

Thank you. Jim Sanderson, Northcoast Research.

謝謝。吉姆‧桑德森，Northcoast Research。

Hey, thanks for the question and congratulations on great quarter. I wanted to talk a little bit more about the mix component of same-store sales. How you expect that to progress going forward if that's related to how you're rolling out collaborations, and how we should look at that as you roll off pricing in November?

嘿，感謝您的提問，並祝賀本季取得如此出色的成績。我想進一步談談同店銷售額的混合成分。如果這與您合作的方式有關，您預計未來會如何發展？當您在 11 月推出定價時，我們應該如何看待這一點？

(spoken in foreign language)

（用外語說）

We're very excited to see where we can bring mix in fiscal '26. So over the last couple of years, our mix has gone from negative high single digits to hovering between negative low single digits to mid-single digits. Part of that from this fiscal year be the headwind from the -- the lack of IP collaborations.

我們非常高興地看到我們可以在 26 財年帶來哪些變化。因此，在過去的幾年裡，我們的組合已經從負高個位數變成徘徊在負低個位數和中個位數之間。本財年的部分不利因素是缺乏智慧財產權合作。

We have -- typically, with every IP collaboration, we'll have a giveaway that's associated with a certain spending threshold typically $70 or so or most the giveaway campaign that we have for hololive was actually at a higher dollar threshold because we saw there's that much guest interest for it. And so that naturally drives average ticket the light rice, we think is a big opportunity in terms of average check growth.

通常，對於每個 IP 合作，我們都會提供與特定消費門檻相關的贈品，通常為 70 美元左右，或者我們為 hololive 開展的大多數贈品活動實際上都設定了更高的消費門檻，因為我們看到有很多客人對此很感興趣。因此，這自然會推動平均票價的上漲，我們認為，就平均票價成長而言，這是一個巨大的機會。

I fully -- my personal expectation is that this will grow the number of plates per person. And I think that's really an opportunity that we're going to be leading into. The other is the 25th plate initiative, we're really pleased with the early results.

我完全——我個人的期望是這將增加每人的盤子數量。我認為這確實是我們將要抓住的一個機會。另一個是第 25 個板塊計劃，我們對早期結果非常滿意。

What we have seen is pretty much exactly what we expected is minor pressure on transactions above 30 plates, but more than enough growth in the 25 plate plus category to offset that. And so, we're really happy to see that.

我們看到的情況與我們預期的差不多，30 塊牌照以上的交易壓力較小，但 25 塊牌照以上的交易增長足以抵消這一壓力。所以，我們真的很高興看到這一點。

All right. Thank you for that. Just wanted to talk a little bit more about the res system as it's related to membership levels. Have you seen any notable increase in membership in the fourth quarter? Or could you update us on where that membership rate is?

好的。謝謝你。我只是想多談談與會員等級相關的 res 系統。您是否發現第四季會員數量有明顯增加？或者您能告訴我們會員費率是多少嗎？

So membership rates are -- the growth rate is pretty much the same as past quarters. And a big part of that is we haven't communicated a reservation system to non-rewards members yet. And so I expect in November, I'll be able to give you the answer you're looking for.

因此會員率－成長率與前幾季基本相同。其中很大一部分原因是我們還沒有向非獎勵會員傳達預訂系統。因此我預期在十一月我就能給你想要的答案。

Very good. Last question for me. Could you just update us on the various technology initiatives you've got in process? I think you've got the res system you're just finishing. I think you've got some point-of-sale issues to resolve. And then there's the robotic dishwasher, is there anything else out there that could have an impact, good or bad on operations going forward?

非常好。我的最後一個問題。您能否向我們介紹您正在進行的各種技術舉措？我認為你已經完成了 res 系統。我認為您需要解決一些銷售點問題。還有機器人洗碗機，還有其他東西會對未來的營運產生好或壞的影響嗎？

(spoken in foreign language)

（用外語說）

Yeah. One of the biggest things that we're excited for fiscal '26 would be the dish robot, our strong hope was to get it live in fiscal '25, but I'm not sure if we'll be able to do that, but it really does seem like we'll be able to get certification within a matter of months.

是的。我們對 26 財年最期待的事情之一就是洗碗機器人，我們強烈希望它能在 25 財年投入使用，但我不確定我們是否能夠做到這一點，但看起來我們確實能夠在幾個月內獲得認證。

The units that we're building in fiscal '26 are built from the blueprint stage, assuming the eventual installation of these robots. And so that's going to be a very meaningful opportunity should reduce headcount fully two to one.

我們在 26 財年建造的單位是從藍圖階段開始建造的，假設最終安裝這些機器人。因此，這將是一個非常有意義的機會，可以將員工人數減少到原來的一半。

(spoken in foreign language)

（用外語說）

And then while the reservation system is at each of our restaurants, we still see lots of opportunity for improvement, especially as it relates to employee efficiency. We have -- we've got a list of about 70 different things that we're working on as it relates to the reservation system. And that, we think, is going to have a pretty meaningful upside opportunities as it relates to front-of-house efficiencies.

雖然我們的每家餐廳都配備了預訂系統，但我們仍然看到許多改進的機會，特別是在員工效率方面。我們有一份與預訂系統相關的、正在處理的約 70 項不同事項的清單。我們認為，這將為前台效率帶來相當有意義的上升機會。

All right, thank you very much.

好的，非常感謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

George Kelly, Roth Capital Partners.

喬治凱利（George Kelly），羅斯資本合夥公司。

Hey everybody, thanks for taking my questions. First, most of them have been asked and answered. But just a quick follow-up on the prior question. Can you be any more specific about the efficiency opportunity that you see available in 2026 from reservations?

大家好，感謝你們回答我的問題。首先，大多數問題都已經被問過並得到解答。但我只是對前面的問題做一個快速的跟進。能否更具體地談談您認為 2026 年預訂可獲得的效率機會？

Yeah. So just as a couple -- as a couple of examples, the seating process is meaningfully simplified before when the seater or the host who was seating a guest, they had to enter information on three different terminals, and we've cut that labor by two-thirds.

是的。舉幾個例子，座位安排流程得到了顯著簡化，以前，座位安排員或主人必須在三個不同的終端上輸入信息，而現在，我們將這項工作減少了三分之二。

So there's only one terminal that are touching in the process itself is simplified. One unexpected efficiency opportunity that we've seen is in bussing, and this really -- this hasn't occurred to me until you've actually seen this happen in the restaurants once we've implemented it, but there's an element of psychological pressure when you have reservation times, which was promised to somebody. Before we did it on a wait list and so you need like parties 26, 27, 28 were rating.

因此，只有一個終端在接觸，過程本身就簡化了。我們看到的一個意想不到的效率機會是在公車上，這真的 - 直到你真正看到我們在餐館實施後這種情況發生時我才想到這一點，但當你有預訂時間時，會有一定的心理壓力，這是對某人的承諾。之前我們在等候名單上做過這件事，所以你需要對第 26、27、28 方進行評級。

And that's a different feeling from being at 7:30, knowing that there are three parties that you promised to seat them at 7:00 are waiting for you. And so the busters are actually moving more quickly. And so that's opportunity, especially in the peak hours. And so I'm excited to see just how much we can get out of that.

這與你在 7:30 時知道有三個你答應在 7:00 安排座位的客人正在等你的感覺是不同的。因此，破壞者實際上行動得更快了。這就是機會，尤其是在高峰時段。因此我很高興看到我們能從中獲得多少收益。

Okay. That's helpful. Thanks. And then second question for me. Back to the light rice. Ben, you sound confident about either what you're seeing or what -- sort of how you expect the reception you expect to get from that?

好的。這很有幫助。謝謝。這是我的第二個問題。回到清淡的米飯。本，聽起來您對所看到的情況很有信心，或者您對預期會得到什麼樣的回饋很有信心？

Can you just give us a little more background on like why you have that level of confidence about the sort of plate opportunity, and maybe it's been tested at certain locations and when do you expect it to fully roll out? So just, I guess, added context of that would be great.

您能否向我們詳細介紹一下背景信息，例如為什麼您對這種車牌機會有如此大的信心，也許它已經在某些地方進行了測試，您預計它什麼時候會全面推出？所以，我想，添加一些背景資訊就好了。

(spoken in foreign language)

（用外語說）

The biggest thing that gives us confidence is that this is something that Kura's already been doing for years. And when they implemented this, they did see mix improvement, they did see ticket growth. We were able to implement this now because of the update to the new touch panel system, which gives us much more flexibility. And so just looking at the results from Japan business, a lot of confidence.

讓我們充滿信心的最大原因是 Kura 多年來一直在做這件事。當他們實施這項措施時，他們確實看到了組合改善，也看到了票房成長。由於新的觸控面板系統更新，我們現在能夠實現這一點，這為我們提供了更大的靈活性。因此，僅從日本業務的業績來看，我們就很有信心。

What I was speaking earlier was really just from my personal experience, I really loved it. I would strongly encourage you to try it and I think you'll feel as confident -- you'll understand my confidence once you try it that there really is a very big opportunity there.

我之前所說的只是我的個人經歷，我真的很喜歡它。我強烈鼓勵你嘗試一下，我想你會感到同樣自信——一旦你嘗試了，你就會理解我的信心，那裡確實有一個巨大的機會。

We've already got the said about 50 of our restaurants and yes, I'm really happy that we have this -- it's really something that our guests have been asking for, for a long time, whether it's explicitly in the guest surveys or just in the piles of untouched rice that we see in our restaurants. And so this is something that our guests have been asking for. And I think we've been doing a really good job in fiscal '25 just checking one issue after another in terms of points of friction for our guests.

我們已經在大約 50 家餐廳實現了這一點，是的，我很高興我們有這個服務——這是我們的客人長期以來一直要求的，無論是在客人調查中明確提出，還是在我們餐廳裡看到的一堆未動過的米飯中。這是我們的客人一直要求的。我認為我們在 25 財年做得非常好，我們針對客人遇到的摩擦點逐一進行了排查。

(spoken in foreign language)

（用外語說）

So just to give you some additional context in classic Kura speed style. We implemented this in our first restaurant about 10 days ago. We now have it in 50 restaurants. And so that speaks to our enthusiasm. But as you can imagine, we don't have a lot of data that we can share with you yet.

因此，我只是想給你一些經典 Kura 速度風格的額外背景資訊。大約 10 天前，我們在第一家餐廳實施了這項計劃。目前，我們的 50 家餐廳均有提供此服務。這體現了我們的熱情。但正如您所想像的，我們目前還沒有太多可以與您分享的數據。

Okay. That's helpful. Thank you.

好的。這很有幫助。謝謝。

Thank you very much.

非常感謝。

Thank you. And our final question comes from the line of Matt Curtis, William Blair.

謝謝。我們的最後一個問題來自馬特·柯蒂斯和威廉·布萊爾。

Hi, good afternoon. I apologize if I missed this in your commentary, but could you just give us the average ticket breakdown in the quarter between price and mix?

嗨，下午好。如果我在您的評論中遺漏了這一點，我深感抱歉，但您能否給我們提供本季價格和組合之間的平均票價明細？

(spoken in foreign language)

（用外語說）

Price/mix cumulatively was positive 0.8% and effective price was 4.3%. So mix was negative 3.5%.

價格/組合累計上漲 0.8%，有效價格為 4.3%。因此混合比為-3.5%。

(spoken in foreign language)

（用外語說）

And as we mentioned earlier, mix has been hovering around the negative high single digits for a very long time. We're really pleased to see it stabilize in this low to mid-single-digit range. With the initiatives that we have, like the light rice, the 25th plates, IP collaborations and giveaways, we're really excited to further drive that down, and we think there's even a possibility that we'll be able to see a positive number at some point.

正如我們之前提到的，混合比長期以來一直在負高個位數徘徊。我們非常高興地看到它穩定在這個低到中等個位數的範圍內。透過我們採取的舉措，例如輕米飯、25號餐盤、智慧財產權合作和贈品，我們非常高興能夠進一步降低這個數字，並且我們認為我們甚至有可能在某個時候看到一個正數。

Okay. Great. Thank you. And then, I know the addition of light rice is really recent. But just to be clear, could you tell us what the per plate consumption trends were like throughout the quarter?

好的。偉大的。謝謝。然後，我知道最近才添加了淡米飯。但為了清楚起見，您能告訴我們整個季度每盤的消費趨勢是怎麼樣的嗎？

(spoken in foreign language)

（用外語說）

Sorry. So the -- this was implemented after Q3, and so it wouldn't have any -- have had any impact on the plate per person consumption in the prior quarter.

對不起。因此，這項措施是在第三季之後實施的，因此不會對上一季的人均餐盤消費產生任何影響。

Yeah, but I meant what were the actual per plate consumption trends during the quarter relative to, say, the second quarter?

是的，但我的意思是，相對於第二季度，本季每盤的實際消費趨勢如何？

So for the last several years, it's been approximately six per person.

過去幾年裡，每人大約有六個。

Okay. Okay, great. Thanks very much.

好的。好的，太好了。非常感謝。

Thank you, Matt.

謝謝你，馬特。

Thank you. With that, this does conclude today's teleconference. We thank you for your participation. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Have a wonderful day.

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。我們感謝您的參與。現在您可以斷開線路。祝您有美好的一天。