Lancaster Colony Corp (LANC) 2022 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. My name is Carmen, and I will be your conference call facilitator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Lancaster Colony Corporation Fiscal Year 2022 Second Quarter Conference Call. Conducting today's call will be Dave Ciesinski, President and CEO; and Tom Pigott, CFO. (Operator Instructions) And now to begin the conference call, here is Dale Ganobsik, Vice President of Corporate Finance and Investor Relations for Lancaster Colony Corporation.

早安.我叫卡門，今天我將擔任你們的電話會議主持人。此時此刻，我謹歡迎大家參加蘭卡斯特殖民地公司 2022 財年第二季電話會議。總裁兼執行長戴夫·西辛斯基 (Dave Ciesinski) 主持今天的電話會議；和財務長湯姆皮戈特。 （操作員指示）現在開始電話會議，蘭開斯特殖民地公司企業財務和投資者關係副總裁 Dale Ganobsik 發言。

Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for Lancaster Colony's Fiscal Year 2022 Second Quarter Conference Call. Our discussion this morning may include forward-looking statements, which are subject to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and the company undertakes no obligation to update these statements based upon subsequent events. A detailed discussion of these risks and uncertainties is contained in the company's filings with the SEC.

謝謝。大家早安，感謝您今天參加蘭卡斯特殖民地 2022 財年第二季電話會議。我們今天早上的討論可能包括前瞻性陳述，這些陳述受到1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》安全港條款的約束。差異。該公司向 SEC 提交的文件中詳細討論了這些風險和不確定性。

Also note that the audio replay of this call will be archived and available at our company's website, lancastercolony.com, later this afternoon.

另請注意，本次通話的音訊重播將被存檔並於今天下午晚些時候在我們公司的網站 lancastercolony.com 上提供。

For today's call, Dave Ciesinski, our President and CEO, will begin with the business update and highlights for the quarter. Tom Pigott, our CFO, will then provide an overview of the financial results. Dave will then share some comments regarding our current strategy and outlook. At the conclusion of our prepared remarks, we'll be happy to respond to any questions you may have. Once again, we appreciate your participation this morning.

在今天的電話會議中，我們的總裁兼執行長 Dave Ciesinski 將首先介紹本季的業務更新和亮點。我們的財務長 Tom Pigott 隨後將概述財務表現。然後戴夫將分享一些關於我們當前策略和前景的評論。在我們準備好的演講結束時，我們將很樂意回答您可能提出的任何問題。我們再次感謝您今天早上的參與。

I'll now turn the call over to Lancaster Colony's President and CEO, Dave Ciesinski. Dave?

現在我將把電話轉給 Lancaster Colony 的總裁兼執行長 Dave Ciesinski。戴夫？

Thanks, Dale, and good morning, everyone. It's a pleasure to be here with you today as we review our second quarter results for fiscal year 2022. In our fiscal second quarter, which ended December 31, consolidated net sales grew 14.2% to a record $428 million, with Retail net sales up 10.1% and Foodservice net sales up 20.3%.

謝謝戴爾，大家早安。今天很高興與大家一起回顧 2022 財年第二季業績。 %，餐飲服務淨銷售額成長20.3%。

Retail net sales growth of 10% was driven by pricing across the portfolio and volume led by the expansion of our licensing program and strong performance on Sister Schubert's frozen dinner rolls. This compares to very strong Retail sales growth of 19.5% during the same period last year. Retail sales volumes measured in pounds advanced 4% on top of the 12% volume growth last year.

零售淨銷售額成長 10% 是由於我們的授權計畫擴大以及 Sister Schubert 冷凍餐卷的強勁表現帶動了整個產品組合的定價和銷量。相比之下，去年同期零售額成長 19.5%，非常強勁。以英鎊計算的零售額在去年 12% 的基礎上成長了 4%。

Notably, our licensing program continued to perform well in the period, led by distribution gains for Buffalo Wild Wings sauces and increased household penetration and strong repeat rates for Chick-fil-A sauces. In the aggregate, these 2 licensed sauces combined for over 10% of our net sales growth in the quarter.

值得注意的是，我們的許可計劃在此期間繼續表現良好，主要得益於 Buffalo Wild Wings 醬料的分銷收益以及 Chick-fil-A 醬料的家庭滲透率的提高和強勁的重複率。總的來說，這兩種授權醬料合計占我們本季淨銷售額成長的 10% 以上。

For the quarter versus prior year, IRI data showed strong share gains for our frozen breads with Sister Schubert dinner rolls up 150 basis points to 54.1% and New York Bakery garlic bread up 230 basis points to 42.5%. With sales of $61.6 million, Q2 was Sister Schubert’s strongest holiday performance ever, thanks to great retail execution in a difficult environment.

與去年同期相比，IRI 數據顯示，我們的冷凍麵包市場份額強勁增長，Sister Schubert 晚餐卷增長了150 個基點，達到54.1%，New York Ba​​​​kery 大蒜麵包增長了230 個基點，達到42.5% 。第二季銷售額達到 6,160 萬美元，是舒伯特姐妹有史以來最強勁的假日表現，這要歸功於在困難環境下出色的零售執行力。

On a 2-year stack basis for the quarter, IRI retail scanner data shows strong sales growth and share gains for several of our branded products, including Marzetti produce dressings, Sister Schubert's frozen dinner rolls, New York Bakery garlic bread and Reams frozen noodles. Of particular note, during the same 2-year stack period, our licensed sauce platform has grown from $22 million in sales to $78 million in sales, an increase of 250%.

以本季的2 年堆疊為基礎，IRI 零售掃描器數據顯示我們的多種品牌產品的強勁銷售增長和份額增長，包括Marzetti 生產調味品、Sister Schubert 冷凍餐卷、New York Ba​​kery 大蒜麵包和Reams 冷凍麵條。特別值得注意的是，在同一 2 年疊加期內，我們的授權醬料平台銷售額從 2,200 萬美元成長到 7,800 萬美元，成長了 250%。

Based on the aforementioned growth, I'm pleased to share that in January, IRI named Lancaster Colony Marzetti one of a handful of CPG growth leaders for calendar year 2021. Credit to our Retail and R&D teams for all their efforts in this achievement. In summary, our Retail top line performance in the quarter was driven by pass-through pricing and volume growth driven by consumer-relevant brands and great store level execution.

基於上述成長，我很高興在1 月與大家分享，IRI 將Lancaster Colony Marzetti 評為2021 日曆年少數消費品成長領導者之一。一切努力。總而言之，我們本季的零售營收績效是由直通定價和銷售成長所推動的，而銷售成長則是由消費者相關品牌和出色的商店執行力推動的。

In our Foodservice segment, net sales growth of 20% was driven by inflationary pricing, volume growth with our quick-service restaurant, or QSR customers, and a rebound in demand for our branded products. Foodservice volumes measured in pounds advanced 7%. Per NPD CREST, our sales to the QSR channel continue to pace well ahead of the industry, driven by our strong relationships with national account customers and our outstanding culinary team.

在我們的餐飲服務部門，淨銷售額成長了 20%，這是由於通膨定價、我們的快餐店或 QSR 客戶的銷售成長以及對我們品牌產品的需求反彈所推動的。以磅計算的餐飲服務量增加了 7%。根據 NPD CREST 的數據，在我們與全國客戶的牢固關係和出色的烹飪團隊的推動下，我們對 QSR 管道的銷售繼續遠遠領先於該行業。

Turning to our margin performance. Our gross margin decline in the second quarter reflects unprecedented inflation, costs incurred to support the shifting and growing demands of our business and a wide array of supply chain disruptions. During the period, we made significant investments in labor and warehousing to improve customer service levels. And while pricing actions served to offset significant commodity cost inflation and higher freight rates, we were not able to fully recover the other industry-wide cost pressures such as elevated wage rates in the periods.

轉向我們的利潤率表現。我們第二季的毛利率下降反映了前所未有的通貨膨脹、支持我們業務需求變化和不斷增長而產生的成本以及廣泛的供應鏈中斷。期內，我們在勞動力和倉儲方面進行了大量投資，以提高客戶服務水準。儘管定價行動抵消了商品成本大幅上漲和運費上漲的影響，但我們無法完全恢復整個行業的其他成本壓力，例如同期薪資上漲。

Finally, our margins were also adversely impacted by our decision to significantly increase our utilization of co-manufacturers in the period to help satisfy the growing demand of our bottled sauces business. While costly in the short term, the decision to outsource production has not only enabled the strong retail growth we delivered, but also eliminated the immediate need for us to look at acquiring a dressing and sauce manufacturer to support this rapid growth.

最後，我們決定在此期間大幅增加對聯合製造商的利用率，以幫助滿足我們瓶裝醬料業務不斷增長的需求，這也對我們的利潤率產生了不利影響。雖然短期內成本高昂，但外包生產的決定不僅使我們實現了強勁的零售成長，而且還消除了我們立即考慮收購調味品和醬汁製造商以支持這種快速成長的需要。

In response to these operating and cost pressures, we're implementing discrete actions that should help us improve our margin profile. First, leveraging our recently completed sauce capacity expansion project at one of our Columbus-based facilities to better optimize throughput and reduce cost. Second, adding a new Columbus-based warehouse location and pursuing other initiatives to reduce material handling costs, decreased transportation costs, minimize third party warehouse needs and improve inventory management throughout our distribution network. Third, leveraging productivity improvements to enable us to increase the utilization of our own facilities while moderating our reliance on co-manufacturing. And finally, implementing the next phase of our revenue growth management strategy to recover increased labor cost.

為了應對這些營運和成本壓力，我們正在實施離散行動，這將有助於我們改善利潤狀況。首先，利用我們最近在哥倫布工廠完成的醬料產能擴建項目，更好地優化吞吐量並降低成本。其次，增加一個位於哥倫布的新倉庫地點，並採取其他措施來降低物料搬運成本、運輸成本、最大限度地減少第三方倉庫需求並改善整個分銷網絡的庫存管理。第三，利用生產力的提高，使我們能夠提高自有設施的利用率，同時減少對聯合製造的依賴。最後，實施下一階段的收入成長管理策略，以收回增加的勞動成本。

I'll now turn the call over to Tom Pigott, our CFO, for his commentary on our second quarter financial results.

現在我將把電話轉給我們的財務長湯姆‧皮戈特 (Tom Pigott)，請他對我們第二季的財務表現發表評論。

Thanks, Dave. Overall, the results for the quarter reflected strong top line performance, offset by higher costs resulting from significant inflationary impacts, several supply chain challenges and investments made to facilitate growth. Second quarter consolidated net sales increased by 14.2% to $428.4 million. This growth was driven by consolidated volume growth of approximately 6% in pricing actions taken in both segments.

謝謝，戴夫。總體而言，本季的業績反映了強勁的營收業績，但被嚴重通膨影響、多項供應鏈挑戰和促進成長投資導致的成本上升所抵消。第二季綜合淨銷售額成長 14.2%，達到 4.284 億美元。這一增長是由兩個細分市場採取的定價行動帶來的綜合銷售增長約 6% 推動的。

Consolidated gross profit decreased by $10.2 million to $96.6 million. Gross margins declined by 600 basis points. The key drivers of the gross profit decline were the high commodity inflation and increased supply chain costs.

綜合毛利減少 1,020 萬美元，至 9,660 萬美元。毛利率下降了 600 個基點。毛利下降的主要驅動因素是商品通膨高企和供應鏈成本增加。

Inflation for commodities and packaging materials was approximately 23%, consistent with our expectations. The majority of the commodities we utilized were priced at or near 10-year highs. Our significant exposure to soybean oil, which was up notably, drove our inflationary impact higher than many of our peers.

大宗商品和包裝材料的通貨膨脹約為 23%，符合我們的預期。我們使用的大多數商品的價格都處於或接近 10 年高點。我們對豆油的曝險顯著上升，導致我們的通膨影響高於許多同行。

The increase in supply chain costs resulted from a number of factors. First, we experienced a high level of inflation on our factory labor and other manufacturing costs. The labor inflation was driven by our decision to raise wages to ensure we had adequate staffing to serve our customers in this tight labor market. Other indirect input costs on things like pallets and supplies were also highly inflationary. Second, our manufacturing costs were also up due to operational challenges in this environment, including supply disruptions at our facilities, lower overhead absorption at some facilities, additional personnel and other costs we incurred to support growth. Third, we had higher freight and warehousing costs due to wage and fuel inflation and higher levels of inventory we've built to improve service. Last, our co-manufacturing costs were up as we outsourced production to meet our growing demand.

供應鏈成本增加是由多種因素造成的。首先，我們的工廠勞動力和其他製造成本經歷了高通膨。勞動力通膨是由於我們決定提高薪資，以確保我們有足夠的員工在這個緊張的勞動力市場上為客戶服務。托盤和供應品等其他間接投入成本也很高。其次，由於這種環境下的營運挑戰，我們的製造成本也有所上升，包括我們設施的供應中斷、某些設施的管理費用吸收降低、額外的人員以及我們為支持增長而產生的其他成本。第三，由於工資和燃料通膨以及我們為改善服務而建立的更高水準的庫存，我們的貨運和倉儲成本更高。最後，由於我們外包生產以滿足不斷增長的需求，我們的聯合製造成本上升了。

As Dave highlighted, we are taking several actions to address these increases and improve our operations. As a result to pricing, we continue to execute against our revenue growth management program. We benefited from a second round of pricing in our Foodservice segment that was effective at the beginning of the quarter and our first Retail pricing action that was effective at the end of the first quarter. Those actions to serve to offset the vast majority of the commodity and freight cost inflation we experienced during the quarter on a dollar basis. Additional actions are planned or have been implemented in an effort to recover the remainder of the commodity and freight cost increases as well as the higher labor inflation.

正如戴夫所強調的那樣，我們正在採取多項行動來解決這些成長問題並改善我們的營運。由於定價，我們繼續執行我們的收入成長管理計劃。我們受惠於本季度初生效的餐飲服務部門的第二輪定價以及於第一季末生效的首次零售定價行動。這些行動旨在抵銷本季我們經歷的以美元計的絕大多數商品和貨運成本通膨。計劃或已經實施了額外的行動，以彌補剩餘的商品和貨運成本增加以及較高的勞動力通膨。

We also benefited from strong volume growth in both segments, with Retail shipments growing 4% and Foodservice growing 7% behind the programs Dave discussed.

我們也受惠於這兩個領域銷量的強勁成長，零售出貨量成長了 4%，餐飲服務成長了 7%，落後於 Dave 討論的計畫。

Selling, general and administrative expenses increased 6.8% or $3.3 million. This increase was driven by a higher level of investments to support the continued growth of our business. These investments included a supply chain optimization study, higher brokerage costs attributed to the increased sales, a modest resumption of consumer spending and IT infrastructure improvements. Expenditures for Project Ascent, our ERP initiative, totaled $8.6 million in the current year quarter versus $8.5 million in the prior year quarter.

銷售、一般和管理費用增加 6.8%，即 330 萬美元。這一成長是由更高水準的投資推動的，以支持我們業務的持續成長。這些投資包括供應鏈優化研究、銷售增加導致的經紀成本上升、消費者支出的適度恢復以及 IT 基礎設施的改善。我們的 ERP 計畫 Ascent 的支出在本季總計為 860 萬美元，而去年同期為 850 萬美元。

The company recorded 2 special items this quarter related to the Bantam Bagels business. First, we revalued the contingent consideration liability to the sellers using fair value accounting. Based on that analysis, we reduced the current value of the projected payout by $2.2 million, creating the income you see on the contingent consideration line of the P&L. We recorded $1.3 million of this adjustment in our Foodservice segment and $0.9 million of this adjustment in our Retail segment. Second, we revalued the intangible assets on the balance sheet for this business, which resulted in an impairment charge of $0.9 million. This item was recorded in our Retail segment.

該公司本季記錄了 2 個與 Bantam Bagels 業務相關的特殊項目。首先，我們使用公允價值會計重估了賣方的或有對價負債。根據該分析，我們將預計支出的當前值減少了 220 萬美元，從而創造了您在損益表的或有對價線上看到的收入。我們在餐飲服務部門記錄了 130 萬美元的調整，在零售部門記錄了 90 萬美元的調整。其次，我們重新評估了該業務資產負債表上的無形資產，導致減損費用為 90 萬美元。該項目記錄在我們的零售部門。

In addition, the company announced its plans to close our frozen garlic bread facility in Baldwin Park, California. Production at the facility ceased in January of 2022 and the Mamma Bella brand frozen garlic bread product line was discontinued based on its small size and low profitability. We recorded restructuring impairment charges of $1 million related to this closure. This adjustment was not allocated to 2 reportable segments.

此外，該公司還宣布計劃關閉位於加州鮑德溫公園的冷凍大蒜麵包工廠。該工廠於 2022 年 1 月停止生產，Mamma Bella 品牌冷凍大蒜麵包產品線因尺寸小、盈利能力低而停產。我們記錄了與此次關閉相關的 100 萬美元重組減損費用。此調整並未分配至2個可報告分部。

Consolidated operating income declined $13.3 million or 22.7% versus the prior year to $45.3 million. Operating income declined primarily due to the inflationary impacts and supply chain challenges I described. These items were partially offset by the pricing actions taken and the volume growth the company achieved.

綜合營業收入較前一年下降 1,330 萬美元，或 22.7%，至 4,530 萬美元。營業收入下降主要是由於我所描述的通貨膨脹影響和供應鏈挑戰。這些項目被採取的定價行動和公司實現的銷售成長部分抵消。

Our effective tax rate was 24.3% this quarter versus a tax rate of 23.8% in the second quarter of fiscal '21. We estimate that the tax rate for fiscal '22 will be 24%.

本季我們的有效稅率為 24.3%，而 2021 財年第二季的稅率為 23.8%。我們預計 22 財年的稅率將為 24%。

Second quarter diluted earnings per share decreased $0.37 to $1.25. The decrease was primarily driven by the operating income decline. The EPS benefit for the change in contingent consideration of $0.06 per share was nearly offset by the restructuring impairment charge of $0.05 per share. Costs related to Project Ascent reduced EPS by $0.24 per share this quarter and $0.23 in the prior year quarter.

第二季攤薄每股收益下降 0.37 美元至 1.25 美元。下降的主要原因是營業收入下降。每股 0.06 美元的或有對價變動帶來的 EPS 收益幾乎被每股 0.05 美元的重組減損費用所抵銷。與 Project Ascent 相關的成本使本季每股收益減少 0.24 美元，比去年同期減少 0.23 美元。

With regard to capital expenditures, second quarter payments for property additions totaled $36.5 million. For our fiscal year '22, we are forecasting total capital expenditures between $170 million and $190 million. This forecasting includes approximately $105 million for the Horse Cave expansion project that will help meet the growing -- increasing demand for our dressing and sauce products.

在資本支出方面，第二季用於新增財產的付款總額為 3,650 萬美元。對於 22 財年，我們預計總資本支出在 1.7 億美元至 1.9 億美元之間。這項預測包括用於 Horse Cave 擴建項目的約 1.05 億美元，該項目將有助於滿足對我們的調味品和醬料產品日益增長的需求。

In addition to investing in our business, we also returned funds to shareholders. Our quarterly cash dividend of $0.80 per share paid on December 31 represented a 7% increase from the prior year amount. Our enduring streak of annual dividend increases currently stands at 59 years. Our financial position remains very strong as we finished the quarter debt-free with $114 million of cash on the balance sheet.

除了投資我們的業務外，我們還向股東返還資金。我們在 12 月 31 日支付的季度現金股利為每股 0.80 美元，比前一年增加了 7%。目前，我們連續 59 年持續增加年股股利。我們的財務狀況仍然非常強勁，本季我們沒有負債，資產負債表上有 1.14 億美元的現金。

So to wrap up my commentary, this quarter featured strong top line growth as well as the unfavorable impacts from significant inflation, supply chain challenges and investments. We are addressing the inflationary cost increases with our revenue growth management program. And as Dave has shared, we have other discrete action plans in place to address the supply chain issues. In addition, we're continuing to invest in the long-term potential of the business.

因此，總結我的評論，本季的營收成長強勁，但也面臨嚴重通膨、供應鏈挑戰和投資的不利影響。我們正在透過收入成長管理計劃來解決通貨膨脹成本增加的問題。正如戴夫所分享的，我們也制定了其他單獨的行動計畫來解決供應鏈問題。此外，我們也將繼續投資於業務的長期潛力。

I'll now turn it back over to Dave for his closing remarks. Thank you.

現在我將把它轉回給戴夫，讓他作結束語。謝謝。

Thanks, Tom. As we look ahead, Lancaster Colony will continue to leverage the combined strength of our team, our operating strategy, and our balance sheet in support of the 3 simple pillars of our growth plan: number one, accelerate our core business growth; number two, simplify our supply chain to reduce our cost and grow our margins; and number three, to expand the core with focused M&A and strategic licensing.

謝謝，湯姆。展望未來，蘭卡斯特殖民地將繼續利用我們團隊的綜合實力、我們的營運策略和我們的資產負債表來支持我們成長計畫的三個簡單支柱：第一，加速我們的核心業務成長；第二，簡化我們的供應鏈，以降低成本並增加利潤；第三，透過集中併購和策略許可來擴大核心。

Looking ahead to our fiscal third quarter, sales volume drivers are expected to remain our licensing program in Retail and our QSR customers and branded products and Foodservice. Pricing actions will continue to add to total net sales in the face of commodity and packaging cost inflation and higher freight costs.

展望第三財季，預計銷售驅動因素仍將是我們在零售、快餐客戶、品牌產品和餐飲服務領域的授權計畫。面對商品和包裝成本上漲以及運費上漲，定價行動將繼續增加總淨銷售量。

We also expect cost pressures attributed to higher warehousing cost, supply chain disruptions, increased labor costs and higher manufacturing costs to remain a headwind to our fiscal third quarter results. As a reminder, our future financial results and expectations remain subject to the impacts of COVID-19, including shifts in consumer demand between Retail and Foodservice, ongoing supply chain challenges and disruptions and increased cost to produce our products and service our customers.

我們也預計，倉儲成本上升、供應鏈中斷、勞動成本增加和製造成本上升造成的成本壓力仍將是我們第三季業績的阻力。謹此提醒，我們未來的財務表現和預期仍然受到COVID-19 的影響，包括零售和餐飲服務之間消費者需求的變化、持續的供應鏈挑戰和中斷以及生產產品和服務客戶的成本增加。

Beyond the discrete actions I shared with you earlier that are underway to improve operations, we also made the decision to engage an outside consultant to assist us with planning for our supply chain network. While it's too early to share any of the preliminary findings of the study, we are very encouraged about the potential opportunities that have been identified. These opportunities are fully aligned with the first and second pillars of our growth plan.

除了我之前與您分享的旨在改善營運的離散行動之外，我們還決定聘請外部顧問來協助我們規劃供應鏈網路。雖然現在分享研究的任何初步結果還為時過早，但我們對已發現的潛在機會感到非常鼓舞。這些機會與我們成長計畫的第一和第二支柱完全一致。

I'd also like to update you on 2 important initiatives currently in progress. First, our significant investment in production capacity at our dressing and sauce facility in Horse Cave is going well with the target completion time frame in the first half of fiscal 2023. Second, the implementation phase of our ERP initiative, Project Ascent, remains on track to begin in the first quarter of fiscal year 2023.

我還想向您介紹目前正在進行的兩項重要舉措的最新情況。首先，我們對 Horse Cave 調味品和醬料工廠產能的重大投資進展順利，符合 2023 財年上半年的目標完成時間框架。財年第一季開始。

Turning to growth. I'm excited to announce that we will be adding barbecue sauce to the exciting and consumer-relevant Chick-fil-A platform. As with other Chick-fil-A sauces, we will plan by executing a small regional pilot in the March and April time frame that will inform our broader rollout plans.

轉向增長。我很高興地宣布，我們將在令人興奮且與消費者相關的 Chick-fil-A 平台上添加燒烤醬。與其他福來雞醬一樣，我們將在三月和四月的時間範圍內執行一個小型區域試點，這將為我們更廣泛的推廣計劃提供資訊。

Taking a step back, while our second quarter financial performance fell short of our expectations, actions are underway to help us overcome the many challenges of the current supply chain environment. Longer term, I'm confident that our business remains very well positioned for the future with category-leading retail brands, a rapidly growing in consumer-centric Retail licensing program and a Foodservice business that supplies many of the leading and fastest-growing national chain restaurants across the country. When combined with the investments in capacity and infrastructure, we have a strong and unique platform to deliver profitable growth for years to come.

退一步來說，雖然我們第二季的財務表現未達到我們的預期，但我們正在採取行動幫助我們克服當前供應鏈環境的許多挑戰。從長遠來看，我相信我們的業務在未來仍處於有利地位，擁有類別領先的零售品牌、快速增長的以消費者為中心的零售許可計劃以及為許多領先且增長最快的全國連鎖店提供服務的餐飲服務業務全國各地的餐廳。與產能和基礎設施投資相結合，我們擁有強大而獨特的平台，可以在未來幾年實現盈利成長。

In closing, I'd like to express my sincere thanks for the ongoing efforts of the entire Lancaster Colony team as we've navigated through unprecedented cost inflation, demand fluctuations and supply disruptions. Our focus remains on the health, safety and welfare of our employees, continuing to play our role in the country's vital food supply chain and preparing our business for the future.

最後，我要對整個蘭卡斯特殖民地團隊在經歷前所未有的成本通膨、需求波動和供應中斷期間所做的持續努力表示誠摯的感謝。我們的重點仍然是員工的健康、安全和福利，繼續在國家重要的食品供應鏈中發揮作用，並為未來的業務做好準備。

This concludes our prepared remarks for today, and we'd be happy to answer any of your questions.

我們今天準備的演講到此結束，我們很樂意回答您的任何問題。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question is from Todd Brooks with The Benchmark Company.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 The Benchmark Company 的 Todd Brooks。

A few questions, if I may. Leading off just with the top line strength that we saw in the quarter, can we talk through where the strength was in Foodservice to see that type of increase in pounds? You talked about maybe some of the branded products coming back, but also strength in with your QSR and pizza customers, and I know that plays into your customer mix. So if we could talk through the strength there, that would be great.

如果可以的話，有幾個問題。從我們在本季看到的營收實力開始，我們能否談談餐飲服務業的實力在哪裡，以看到磅數的這種成長？您談到了一些品牌產品可能會回歸，但也談到了與 QSR 和披薩客戶的合作，我知道這會影響您的客戶組合。所以如果我們能談談那裡的實力，那就太好了。

Yes. Absolutely, Todd, first of all, again, good morning. On the branded side, as you remember, same time ago last year, we were pretty deeply in the throes of COVID and that part of the business was soft. And as we rolled through Q1 and Q2, that segment of the business, which supports concepts up and down the street, but also, to a lesser degree, K-12 education and higher education started to post sequential strength. So that was a material contributor to that growth. The other side, though, was really we continue to see our QSR customers, some of them by name Chick-fil-A, Domino's and others really continue to perform well, all the way through the majority of that December time frame.

是的。當然，托德，首先，再說一遍，早安。在品牌方面，正如你所記得的，去年同一時間，我們深陷新冠疫情的陣痛之中，而這部分業務卻很疲軟。當我們經歷第一季和第二季時，該業務領域不僅支持街頭巷尾的概念，而且在較小程度上，K-12 教育和高等教育開始連續走強。所以這是對成長的物質貢獻。但另一方面，我們確實繼續看到我們的 QSR 客戶，其中一些名為 Chick-fil-A、Domino's 和其他人，在 12 月的大部分時間內都繼續表現良好。

Once we got to the very last week of December, we did start to see a pullback because of Omicron that we've seen really continue through the remainder of January, and we can talk about that in a separate context. But really, to summarize, we were winning with winners on the Foodservice side in terms of concepts and then the brands.

到了 12 月的最後一周，我們確實開始看到由於 Omicron 的影響而出現的回調，我們看到這種回調確實持續到 1 月的剩餘時間，我們可以在單獨的背景下討論這一點。但實際上，總而言之，我們在餐飲服務方面贏得了概念和品牌的勝利。

That's great. And why don't we tackle Omicron now? And I want to do it from a higher level. If you look at kind of what the margin pressures were running on the business kind of through that, let's say, even middle of December before we really saw the spike in Omicron, how much did the inflation reality change for you with the onset of the variant? And any way you can size what margin pressures were running versus what they -- what you saw once the variant really took hold?

那太棒了。我們為什麼不現在就解決 Omicron 呢？我想從更高的層面來做這件事。如果你看看業務上的利潤壓力是怎樣的，比如說，甚至在我們真正看到 Omicron 飆升之前的 12 月中旬，隨著經濟衰退的開始，通脹現實對你來說有多大變化？您可以透過任何方式來衡量正在運行的利潤壓力與它們的情況——一旦變體真正佔據主導地位，您會看到什麼？

Sure. Well, I would tell you, Todd, in Q2, I don't think that we could really point to Omicron as a contributor to our margins per se. When we go in and we look at NPD CREST data, for example, what I can tell you is that QSR as a whole, when we look at transaction data, was probably this is all QSR was running depending on the week to up 1 point to down 1 point or so. I can tell you, once we got into the January time frame, though, that started to slow down where these concepts and transactions. Now this isn't sales. This is transactions where we're down in the mid-single digits.

當然。托德，我想告訴你，在第二季度，我認為我們不能真正將 Omicron 視為我們利潤率的貢獻者。例如，當我們查看 NPD CREST 資料時，我可以告訴您的是，當我們查看交易資料時，QSR 作為一個整體可能是 QSR 運行的全部內容，具體取決於一周上漲 1 個點下降1個點左右。我可以告訴你，一旦我們進入一月份的時間框架，這些概念和交易就開始放緩。現在這不是銷售。這是我們的交易額下降到中個位數的情況。

When you look at all Foodservice in the aggregate, that same thing is true, obviously, because of the size of QSR, where the concepts across the board were, let's say, up 1 point on the aggregate to down 1 point sort of vacillating there. We've seen a pullback of about 600 basis points in January. So really, I can't point to Omicron as a contributor on the margin side as we look at our Q2 results.

當你從總體上看所有餐飲服務時，顯然，由於 QSR 的規模，同樣的情況也是如此，其中全面的概念是，比方說，總體上上升 1 個點到下降 1 個點有點搖擺不定。 1 月我們看到了約 600 個基點的回檔。因此，實際上，當我們查看第二季的業績時，我不能將 Omicron 視為利潤方面的貢獻者。

Yes, Dave, let me follow up because I might not have been clear in how I asked the question. I was talking more at an overall Lancaster level. If you looked at the cost of doing business in the latter parts of December, how did that change with Omicron whether it was employee call-outs, friction in your distribution and just additional costs there?

是的，戴夫，讓我跟進，因為我可能不清楚我是如何提出這個問題的。我更多是在蘭開斯特的整體層面上談論的。如果您查看 12 月下旬的業務成本，您會發現 Omicron 的情況有何變化，無論是員工離職、分銷中的摩擦還是額外成本？

Yes. So we did -- really it was the week ending December 28 is probably where we started to see the biggest spike. And I can tell you it like every place else in the country, it took off. By the first week or so of January, we were seeing case rates that were as high as we had seen at any other point in time during the course of the pandemic. We were seeing call-offs, but I can tell you, we continue to operate without really a lot of disruptions because of either leaning into overtime or by virtue of the fact that the pressure that you've seen in our margins, we were carrying a little bit heavier labor going into the fall because of not only in anticipation of a spike in COVID, but the fact that we were seeing a fair -- a higher level of resignations on the hourly side.

是的。所以我們做到了——實際上，截至 12 月 28 日的那一周，我們可能開始看到最大的峰值。我可以告訴你，就像全國其他地方一樣，它開始起飛。到一月份左右的第一周，我們看到的病例率與疫情期間任何其他時間點的病例率一樣高。我們看到了取消，但我可以告訴你，我們繼續運營，沒有真正受到太多幹擾，因為要么傾向於加班，要么由於你在我們的利潤中看到的壓力，我們承受著進入秋季，勞動力量會有所增加，這不僅是因為預計新冠疫情會激增，而且事實上我們看到每小時的辭職人數會更高。

So as far as our ability to produce, not a lot of pressure, maybe a small uptick that we're going to see in overtime cost, and then other -- December had some other noise in it. For example, we didn't get into it, but there was the tragic tornado that struck across all of Kentucky. Fortunately, it didn't impact our facility in a material way, but it did impact the number of our employees and it resulted in a bit of a slowdown in December, but not enough for us to call off and mention by name.

因此，就我們的生產能力而言，壓力不大，也許我們會看到加班費略有上升，然後是其他 - 12 月還有一些其他噪音。例如，我們沒有參與其中，但悲慘的龍捲風席捲了整個肯塔基州。幸運的是，這並沒有對我們的設施產生實質影響，但它確實影響了我們的員工數量，並導致 12 月的成長放緩，但還不足以讓我們取消並點名提及。

Yes, Todd, some of the other impacts beyond Omicron, we did see a number of supply disruptions in our start supply, packaging material disruptions and some of our suppliers had difficulty staffing in this environment to provide us with the raw materials. So there was a number of disruptions, not necessarily specific to Omicron that did impact our margins in the quarter.

是的，托德，除了Omicron 之外的一些其他影響，我們確實看到我們的起始供應中出現了一些供應中斷、包裝材料中斷，而且我們的一些供應商在這種環境下很難配備人員來為我們提供原料。因此，出現了許多中斷，這些中斷不一定是 Omicron 特有的，但確實影響了我們本季的利潤率。

Yes. If you want to talk more broadly about interruptions, Tom's exactly right. Starches and gums as a particular category of supply were a challenge for us. Liting for Foodservice was a particular challenge for us. Transportation, inbound from our suppliers, with truckers calling off continue to be a problem for us. I mean it's really the usual suspects that you're seeing in a range of our other partners. I think the ones that were unique pressure points to us were probably more a function of the products that we make. So starches and gums that go into sauces and dressings, probably highest among the list and then some of the packaging items that are unique.

是的。如果你想更廣泛地談論打擾，湯姆是完全正確的。澱粉和口香糖作為一種特殊的供應類別對我們來說是一個挑戰。餐飲服務照明對我們來說是一個特殊的挑戰。從我們的供應商進口的運輸以及卡車司機的取消仍然是我們面臨的問題。我的意思是，這確實是您在我們的其他合作夥伴中看到的常見嫌疑犯。我認為對我們來說獨特的壓力點可能更多的是我們生產的產品的功能。因此，用於醬汁和調味料的澱粉和口香糖可能位居榜首，然後是一些獨特的包裝物品。

Okay. Great. And then one more, and I'll jump back in queue. If you look at the realities that you just talked about dealing with kind of Q4 and then some of the Omicron realities into Q1, but you did highlight revenue management actions that you're taking. We are seeing favorable trends with Omicron and kind of the speed of this normalizing seems to be encouraging, knock wood. Just can we look at this gross margin performance in this quarter and think of this as a kind of a basing of where gross margin should kind of settle out from these pressures in the near term because we do have these positive levers that you're pulling against it going forward?

好的。偉大的。然後再來一張，我就會插回隊列。如果你看看你剛才談到的處理第四季度的現實，然後是第一季的一些 Omicron 現實，但你確實強調了你正在採取的收入管理行動。我們看到 Omicron 的有利趨勢，這種正常化的速度似乎令人鼓舞，敲木頭。我們能否看看本季的毛利率表現，並將其視為毛利率在短期內擺脫這些壓力的基礎，因為我們確實擁有這些積極的槓桿反對繼續前進嗎？

So maybe I'll comment on Omicron first. I'm pleased to report that even I looked at the data today, we're seeing things return back to normal in terms of our cases in our plants. They're down substantially and the number of call-offs that we're seeing are down substantially as well. So Omicron itself, I think, should begin to normalize across the country. As far as the other pressures are concerned on margins, maybe, Tom, I'll turn it over to you to give an outlook.

所以也許我會先評論 Omicron。我很高興地報告，即使我今天查看了數據，我們也看到我們工廠的情況恢復正常。它們大幅下降，我們看到的取消數量也大幅下降。因此，我認為 Omicron 本身應該開始在全國範圍內實現正常化。至於利潤率方面的其他壓力，也許，湯姆，我會把它交給你來給予展望。

Yes. So yes. And Todd, I will start by saying it's difficult to give specific guidance given some of the disruptive impacts we experienced in the quarter. As you look at some of the headwinds, we do -- we had over 200 basis points of dilution due to the commodity impacts on our raw materials and certainly, we price to cover a lot of that. But naturally as you raise prices and have higher costs, you have a natural dilution that's going to hit your P&L. And that we expect to continue 200 -- a little over 200 basis points going forward.

是的。所以是的。托德，我首先要說的是，鑑於我們在本季經歷的一些破壞性影響，很難提供具體的指導。當你看到一些不利因素時，我們確實 - 由於大宗商品對我們原材料的影響，我們的稀釋度超過了 200 個基點，當然，我們的定價涵蓋了其中很大一部分。但自然地，當你提高價格並增加成本時，你就會自然稀釋，這會影響你的損益。我們預計未來將繼續上漲 200 個基點，略高於 200 個基點。

Some of the other headwinds we're expecting is continued labor and other inflation. We do expect some of these disruptions to continue. Now in terms of tailwinds, the Retail segment took another pricing action on the [dough-based] products recently and the Foodservice segment took another pricing. And the goal from a dollar basis is to offset the inflationary impacts.

我們預計的其他一些不利因素是持續的勞動力和其他通貨膨脹。我們確實預計其中一些幹擾將會持續下去。現在就順風而言，零售部門最近對[基於麵團的]產品採取了另一次定價行動，而餐飲服務部門也採取了另一次定價。以美元為基礎的目標是抵消通貨膨脹的影響。

And then in terms of the supply chain, challenges we experienced, as Dave highlighted, we have some discrete actions in place. So a lot of headwinds and some tailwinds. Difficult to give you a specific kind of ongoing impact. But certainly, that commodity inflation piece, we expect to stay with us, that 250 basis points of dilution given the natural higher prices and higher costs that will flow through the P&L.

然後就供應鏈而言，正如戴夫所強調的那樣，我們遇到了挑戰，我們採取了一些離散的行動。所以有很多逆風和一些順風。很難帶給你特定的持續影響。但可以肯定的是，考慮到自然上漲的價格和更高的成本將流經損益表，我們預計大宗商品通膨因素將繼續存在，即 250 個基點的稀釋。

Our next question comes from Ryan Bell with Consumer Edge Research.

我們的下一個問題來自 Consumer Edge Research 的 Ryan Bell。

So just trying to touch a little bit more on the Foodservice industry trends, it seems like from your commentary was that you're gaining share, growing ahead of the category overall. Maybe could you touch a little bit more on the category growth and then sort of your relative performance? It seems some of the drivers are what your mix is. But outside of that, I just wanted to see maybe if you could provide any additional context.

因此，只是想更多地了解餐飲服務業的趨勢，從您的評論來看，您似乎正在獲得份額，並且領先於整個類別。也許您可以多談談品類成長，然後談談您的相對錶現嗎？看來有些驅動程式就是你的組合。但除此之外，我只是想看看您是否可以提供任何其他背景資訊。

Sure. If we were maybe to take a real wide angle look at this, if you go back to the summer through the middle of January and you look at all Foodservice, all concepts, I mean, what we would see is that the industry overall in transactions is just down modestly. If you then click in and you look at the QSR space, what you would have seen on transactions, again, is that the QSR space would have been, let's say, up 50 basis points. So modest growth in transactions with their sales growth supported more by pricing overall, right? But in transactions, they would have been up modestly.

當然。如果我們可以從一個真正的廣角角度來看待這個問題，如果你回到一月中旬的夏天，看看所有的餐飲服務，所有的概念，我的意思是，我們會看到整個行業的交易只是謙虛地下降了。如果您然後點擊並查看 QSR 空間，您會在交易中再次看到 QSR 空間將上漲 50 個基點。交易量成長如此溫和，而銷售成長更受到整體定價的支持，對嗎？但在交易方面，它們會小幅上漲。

If you look at our business then and you click into that, Ryan, what you're going to find is that within that mix, there are a handful of customers that are outperforming the rest. Some of the QSRs, Chick-fil-A is one that we mentioned by name. And then Pizza QSR is another area subset that's performed well. So when you look at our performance versus the industry as a whole, typically, we're performing to the tune of -- historically, it was a couple of hundred basis points better than the industry. We're performing even better than that just because of the strength of the concepts that we're aligned with.

如果你看看我們的業務，然後點擊進入，瑞安，你會發現在這個組合中，有少數客戶的表現優於其他客戶。我們提到了一些 QSR，例如 Chick-fil-A。 Pizza QSR 是另一個表現良好的區域子集。因此，當你將我們的表現與整個行業相比時，通常情況下，我們的表現符合——從歷史上看，它比行業好幾百個基點。僅僅因為我們所遵循的理念的力量，我們的表現甚至比這更好。

Now what I wouldn't tell you is that we're gaining share with the concepts that we're working with. But we're positioned with the concepts that are growing in the market that when you compare our business versus the market, it's going to show that we're growing faster.

現在我不會告訴你的是，我們正在獲得我們正在研究的概念的份額。但我們的定位是市場中不斷成長的概念，當你將我們的業務與市場進行比較時，就會顯示我們的成長速度更快。

That's helpful. Could you also touch a little bit more on the details behind the capacity expansion efforts and what sort of the impact would be from the increase in co-manufacturing usage? And I'm not sure if I picked up on this correctly, but in terms of the co-manufacturing increase and uptick, the duration of that and when can some of that be brought in-house and sort of the margin implications?

這很有幫助。您能否進一步談談產能擴張背後的細節以及聯合製造使用量的增加會產生什麼樣的影響？我不確定我是否正確地理解了這一點，但就聯合製造的增加和上升而言，其持續時間以及何時可以將其中的一些引入內部以及對利潤率的影響？

No. I think this is -- you take all of the challenges associated with COVID, and if it's possible, you move them aside for a second. One of the things that's happened in the last 2 years is that we've grown our business by almost 25% when you look at consolidated net sales. When you look at our Retail business, it's grown by almost 1/3 over that same period of time. And then really, you kind of screw in 2 clicks deeper, as I mentioned in my transcript, when you look at our licensed sauces in Q2 of fiscal year '20, we did $22 million in sales roughly. In Q2 of this year, we did almost $80 million of sales. right?

不，我認為這是——你應對與新冠病毒相關的所有挑戰，如果可能的話，你把它們暫時放在一邊。過去 2 年發生的事情之一是，如果考慮合併淨銷售額，我們的業務成長了近 25%。當您查看我們的零售業務時，您會發現它在同一時期增長了近 1/3。然後真的，你可以再點擊兩下，正如我在記錄中提到的，當你查看我們在 20 財年第二季度的許可醬料時，我們的銷售額大約為 2200 萬美元。今年第二季度，我們的銷售額接近 8,000 萬美元。正確的？

So if you think this is -- during COVID, we've taken a business that might have been operating at a run rate of about $90 million or so. And we've taken it up to a run rate now that's closer to $320 million, right? So -- and that's the sort of order of magnitude of growth that we're talking on a run rate with these license sauces. And we've done it with continued growth on Olive Garden. But with the growth now of Chick-fil-A, which on a run rate, and this is a scanner data, this is all the stuff that's publicly available, Chick-fil-A is bigger than Olive Garden already, and it hasn't been in the market in a year yet, right?

所以，如果你認為這是——在新冠疫情期間，我們已經採取了一項可能以約 9000 萬美元左右的運轉率運營的業務。我們現在已將其運行速度提高到接近 3.2 億美元，對嗎？所以——這就是我們談論的這些許可證的運行率的增長數量級。我們透過橄欖園的持續成長做到了這一點。但隨著現在福來雞的成長，從運行速度來看，這是掃描儀數據，這是所有公開的東西，福來雞已經比橄欖園更大了，而且還沒有」已經一年了還沒有進入市場，對嗎？

And then we've also been working to expand Buffalo Wild Wings. So part of what's happening here is that we've had to make some moves, pretty aggressive moves in order to bring online the capacity fast enough to facilitate this growth. And there is a strategic reason why we had to do it. When we go out, we talk to key partners like a Kroger or like a Walmart, and we say, hey, look, we want you to cut in 8 facings or 12 facings on a shelf for the product. If we're not there to deliver on the promise, the next time we come back with an opportunity to expand, they're going to say, talk to us next time, right?

然後我們也一直致力於擴大 Buffalo Wild Wings。因此，這裡發生的部分情況是，我們必須採取一些行動，非常積極的行動，以便足夠快地提供容量以促進這種增長。我們必須這樣做是有戰略原因的。當我們出去時，我們與克羅格或沃爾瑪等主要合作夥伴交談，我們說，嘿，看，我們希望您在產品的貨架上切割 8 個面或 12 個面。如果我們不能兌現承諾，那麼下次我們帶著擴張的機會回來時，他們會說，下次再和我們談談，對嗎？

So we have one chance to get it on the shelf and demonstrate that it works, and we wanted to make sure for the purposes of our long-term growth algorithm that we didn't miss that opportunity. Now to capitalize on that growth, it's coming at a cost. Not a price, we're not buying down the price in order to get it to turn on the shelf, quite contrary. But what we are having to do is pay a material upcharge based on the strength of the items to get co-packers to bring -- to allow us to rework our mix of business. And what I would tell you is we're pushing our -- a range of products out, a lot of our own products, like Simply Dressed, et cetera, to make room within our own capacity to meet the needs of the business.

因此，我們有一次機會將其上架並證明它有效，並且為了我們的長期成長演算法的目的，我們希望確保我們不會錯過這個機會。現在，要利用這種成長，就需要付出代價。不是價格，我們不是為了讓它上架而降價購買，恰恰相反。但我們要做的是根據物品的強度支付材料附加費，讓代加工商帶來——以便我們能夠重新調整我們的業務組合。我要告訴你的是，我們正在推出我們的一系列產品，很多我們自己的產品，例如 Simply Dressed 等等，以便在我們自己的能力範圍內騰出空間來滿足業務的需求。

Now flipping over to the capacity expansion, our biggest facility in our dressing network is our Horse Cave facility. It's about 250,000 square feet. And this expansion that we're bringing online is about another 200,000 square feet. So from a production perspective, it's going to be a material increase in the size of the facility with a couple of bottling lines and then also capacity to meet the needs of our Foodservice business. As I pointed out, that project is slated to be done in the first half of fiscal year '23. So within the next year, we expect that project to come online. And then sequentially, we're going to be starting up kitchens and lines to allow us to gradually rework the balance of what we have out in co-packers.

現在轉向產能擴張，我們的敷料網路中最大的設施是我們的 Horse Cave 設施。面積約250,000平方英尺。我們這次擴建的面積大約是 20 萬平方英尺。因此，從生產角度來看，設施規模將大幅增加，並配備幾條裝瓶生產線，產能也將滿足我們餐飲服務業務的需求。正如我所指出的，該項目預計在 23 財年上半年完成。因此，我們預計該項目將在明年上線。然後，我們將依序啟動廚房和生產線，以便我們能夠逐步重新調整代加工工廠的平衡。

Now maybe with the footnote, you heard one of the things that I mentioned in my comments today is that we were excited to announce that we're expanding our partnership with Chick-fil-A now to also include barbecue sauce. And so part of our decision to pull back versus leave out is going to be predicated on our ability to drive this growth, right?

現在也許透過腳註，您聽到我在今天的評論中提到的一件事是，我們很高興地宣布，我們現在正在擴大與 Chick-fil-A 的合作夥伴關係，其中還包括燒烤醬。因此，我們決定退出還是退出的部分原因將取決於我們推動這種成長的能力，對吧？

If we find that we continue to have more and faster opportunities, we will continue at least at some level to lean on these great co-pack partners, and they are great partners. They're helping us accommodate this growth in this environment. To the degree to which our growth rate starts to, let's say, moderate at some point in the future, obviously, we start to think about a different algorithm and, let's say, a strategy for using our co-manufacturers.

如果我們發現我們繼續擁有更多、更快的機會，我們將至少在某種程度上繼續依賴這些偉大的聯合包裝合作夥伴，他們是偉大的合作夥伴。他們正在幫助我們適應這種環境中的這種成長。顯然，我們的成長率在未來某個時候開始放緩，顯然，我們開始考慮不同的演算法，以及使用我們的聯合製造商的策略。

But really, what we're focusing on here is what we feel like is a really unique opportunity by virtue of our strategy around Foodservice to Retail licensing. And the speed of these things that's forced us to go out and lean hard into co-packers to capture the opportunity.

但實際上，我們在這裡關注的是我們認為憑藉我們圍繞餐飲服務到零售許可的策略，這是一個真正獨特的機會。這些事情的發展速度迫使我們走出去，大力依靠代加工商來抓住機會。

I appreciate the context on that and then some of the details about sort of the push out for to play barbecue product. And then just from a general sense, I understand it's a tough environment to try to predict what's going to happen in terms of pricing. But if you see the pricing environment overall or cost side overall sort of stabilized, what do you think about the cadence or the movement sequentially of your gross margins over the balance of the year? Is the pricing that's currently in effect and plans to go into effect enough to tip the scale so that might move upward on a year-over-year basis or at least the decrease starts to ameliorate somewhat?

我很欣賞這方面的背景，以及關於推動燒烤產品的一些細節。然後，從一般意義上講，我知道嘗試預測定價方面會發生什麼是一個艱難的環境。但是，如果您看到定價環境總體或成本方面總體趨於穩定，您對今年剩餘時間毛利率的節奏或連續變動有何看法？目前生效和計劃生效的定價是否足以擴大規模，以便可能同比上升，或至少下降幅度開始有所改善？

So maybe I'll hit it sequentially, and then I'll turn it over to Tom to cover the points that I don't make. Really, for the last handful of years, we've talked about our PNOC strategy, which is pricing net of commodities. And historically, when we launched it, we were just looking at commodities. Within about a year or so, we started to also include freight in our net PNOC conversation. And then most recently now with the labor changes, we started to track wages in that PNOC conversation.

所以也許我會依次點擊它，然後我會將其交給湯姆來涵蓋我沒有提出的觀點。事實上，在過去的幾年裡，我們一直在談論我們的 PNOC 策略，即扣除大宗商品的定價。從歷史上看，當我們推出它時，我們只是專注於商品。在大約一年左右的時間裡，我們開始將貨運納入我們的 PNOC 網路對話中。最近，隨著勞動力的變化，我們開始在 PNOC 對話中追蹤工資。

So what I would tell you, Ryan, to date, when we look at our PNOC, we -- with the pricing actions we've taken, we've largely recovered the commodity component and the freight component. Where we're lagging is in the wage rate adjustments that we've made. And we're in conversations on the Foodservice side to recover those, and we're -- we have pricing actions that are in flight in Retail to cover those. So I would expect from a PNOC perspective that as we go through Q3 and Q4, PNOC should become net neutral again, right? So that's how I would view that.

所以我要告訴你的是，瑞安，到目前為止，當我們審視我們的 PNOC 時，我們透過採取的定價行動，基本上已經恢復了商品部分和貨運部分。我們落後的地方在於我們所做的薪資調整。我們正在與餐飲服務方面進行對話，以恢復這些費用，我們正在零售業採取定價行動來涵蓋這些費用。因此，從 PNOC 的角度來看，我預計，當我們經歷第三季和第四季時，PNOC 應該會再次變得淨中立，對嗎？這就是我的看法。

And then what I would tell you is that there are other, let's just call them, temporary points of dislocation and supply chains that we're all facing, things like truck drivers and inbound supplier issues because of their own issues that I think we're just going to have to wait and see how they work their way through. What I would tell you is that what -- as Tom and I pointed out, we're taking a range of actions to creep into our suppliers where we have to, to make sure that we can ensure more stable supply, so we can make our factories run more predictably. And Tom, I don't know if there's anything else...

然後我要告訴你的是，還有其他的，我們就這麼稱呼它們，我們都面臨著臨時的混亂點和供應鏈，比如卡車司機和入境供應商問題，因為他們自己的問題，我認為我們'我們只需要等待，看看他們如何度過難關。我要告訴你的是，正如湯姆和我所指出的，我們正在採取一系列行動，在我們必須這樣做的地方滲透到我們的供應商中，以確保我們能夠確保更穩定的供應，這樣我們就可以我們的工廠運作更加可預測。湯姆，我不知道是否還有其他事情...

Yes. No, I think you hit on it, Dave. I think there's one additional point to add in that our pricing has been well received by the retailers. I think the strength of our brands that we're seeing good reflection and the elasticity impacts are in line or lower than what we had originally projected. So we feel good about overall our ability to price to recover these costs. But it will take some time, as Dave outlined.

是的。不，我想你猜對了，戴夫。我認為還有一點需要補充，我們的定價受到了零售商的好評。我認為我們的品牌實力得到了良好的反映，彈性影響符合或低於我們最初的預期。因此，我們對我們收回這些成本的整體定價能力感到滿意。但這需要一些時間，正如戴夫概述的那樣。

One last one for me. Could you touch on some of the potential unlocks once you implement the Project Ascent program in the beginning of 2023, just in terms of general productivity? And then obviously, your balance sheet is quite flush. What that would mean in terms of your abilities to digest a larger acquisition?

最後一張給我。您能否談談在 2023 年初實施 Project Ascent 計劃後，在整體生產力方面的一些潛在的釋放？顯然，你的資產負債表非常充足。這對您消化更大收購的能力意味著什麼？

Yes. So we're on the forefront of some exciting times. If you remember, we did a pilot implementation of one of our factories that went into effect about a year ago now, and it's proven to be very helpful. And a lot of what we're seeing is just the speed to information that we wouldn't have had access to in the past that's helped us with things like staffing. We're within the next couple of months going to be taking the trade promotion management component live on the system.

是的。因此，我們正處於一些激動人心的時代的最前沿。如果您還記得，我們​​在一家工廠進行了試點實施，該實施大約在一年前生效，事實證明這是非常有幫助的。我們看到的許多資訊只是我們過去無法獲得的資訊的速度，這對我們在人員配置等方面有所幫助。我們將在接下來的幾個月內在系統上啟用貿易促銷管理元件。

And then finally, when we go live earlier in the next fiscal year with order to cash, procure to pay and the other components, I think that's where we would likely to see an even larger benefit. The benefits are likely to come in the usual places. Procurement is going to offer an opportunity. But the bigger area is just going to be the speed of information in our factories to make sure that we're staffing right, and that we're sourcing right and we're running right. And it's a little bit hard for us to estimate exactly what that's going to look like in a COVID environment.

最後，當我們在下一財年早些時候開始實施訂單到現金、採購到支付和其他組成部分時，我認為這就是我們可能會看到更大收益的地方。這些好處可能會出現在平常的地方。採購將提供一個機會。但更大的領域將是我們工廠的資訊傳播速度，以確保我們的人員配備正確，我們的採購正確，我們的營運正確。我們很難準確估計新冠疫情環境下的情況。

And then longer term, Ryan, what this is going to give us is the ability to do much more seamless acquisitions with cost synergies than we haven't been able to do in the past. If you go back to the underlying reason why we did this, our current ERP system was installed in 1995. The vendor went out of business. When we installed it, we didn't really cascade it through the supply chain in areas like MRP, which had resulted in a business today that's run pretty manually. And when we look at acquisitions, it really precludes us from looking at cost synergies and we focus more on growth.

從長遠來看，瑞安，這將使我們能夠進行更多具有成本協同效應的無縫收購，這是我們過去無法做到的。如果你回到我們這樣做的根本原因，我們目前的 ERP 系統是在 1995 年安裝的。當我們安裝它時，我們並沒有真正將其級聯到 MRP 等領域的供應鏈中，這導致了今天的業務完全靠手動運行。當我們考慮收​​購時，它確實使我們無法考慮成本協同效應，而我們更關注成長。

Not only is this going to give us a stable platform, but I think it's going to give us a scalable platform for us to look at in our acquisitions or, for example, bringing online licensing and other stuff where we can ramp up very quickly and very seamlessly in a way we can today.

這不僅將為我們提供一個穩定的平台，而且我認為這將為我們提供一個可擴展的平台，供我們在收購中考慮，或者例如，帶來在線許可和其他我們可以快速提升的東西，以我們今天可以做到的方式非常無縫地進行。

And we have a follow-up from the line of Todd Brooks from The Benchmark Company.

我們還有來自 Benchmark Company 的 Todd Brooks 的後續產品。

Thanks for the second crack here. Can we talk about Chick-fil-A barbecue? And I guess it seems like that probably hits on more categories at Retail competitively than Polynesian does. Just any commentary that you can give us out of the Foodservice side about barbecue popularity versus Polynesian popularity and kind of size where this falls between Chick-fil-A sauce and Polynesian from a revenue opportunity?

感謝這裡的第二次破解。我們可以談談福來雞燒烤嗎？我想，與波利尼西亞相比，它可能會在零售業競爭更多的類別。您能否從餐飲服務方面向我們提供有關燒烤受歡迎程度與波利尼西亞受歡迎程度以及福來雞醬和波利尼西亞醬汁之間收入機會的大小的任何評論？

Yes. So Chick-fil-A, the barbecue sauce as a category is about, if I remember right, $500 million category, maybe a little bit bigger than that. As you pointed out, there are a range of competitors that can play in the space. If you look at it within Chick-fil-A's lineup, it's probably one of their -- it's probably their #3 sauce. So it's a material contributor to what they do. And part of what this gives us, Todd, as we think about our longer-term brand, what we're looking to do ultimately is to create a bigger and more substantial brand block on the shelf.

是的。所以，福來雞（Chick-fil-A），如果我沒記錯的話，燒烤醬作為一個品類大約價值 5 億美元，也許比這個還要大一點。正如您所指出的，有許多競爭對手可以在這個領域發揮作用。如果你在福來雞的陣容中看看它，它可能是他們的其中之一——這可能是他們的第三號醬汁。所以這是他們所做的事情的物質貢獻者。托德，當我們考慮我們的長期品牌時，這給我們帶來的部分好處是，我們最終想要做的是在貨架上創建一個更大、更實質的品牌塊。

So if we were to sort of say leaping forward, what does the future look like here? I would say, obviously, Chick-fil-A original, Polynesian sauce, barbecue and then some players to be named later that are in the works. But the other thing that we're going to be focusing on is launching larger sizes that allow us to drive greater holding power on the shelf, greater holding power in the pantry. And it really creates a road map, for example, the way we grew ketchup when I was at Heinz and the way we thought about Mac & Cheese, when Tom and I were at Kraft together. It all becomes part of how you grow a really meaningful brand.

那麼，如果我們要說向前邁進，那麼未來會是什麼樣子呢？我想說的是，顯然，福來雞原創、波利尼西亞醬、燒烤，還有一些正在開發中的玩家（稍後將被命名）。但我們要關注的另一件事是推出更大的尺寸，使我們能夠在貨架上、食品儲藏室中提供更大的支撐力。它確實創建了一個路線圖，例如，當我在亨氏時我們種植番茄醬的方式，以及當我和湯姆一起在卡夫時我們思考通心粉和奶酪的方式。這一切都成為您如何發展一個真正有意義的品牌的一部分。

Encouragingly, when we look at the brand today, we continue to have extremely high velocities. Our trial is high. Our repeat is high. I believe even as of right now, it's our #2 brand or so in household penetration, really only trailing New York. But in due course, we expect to see that quite possibly past New York as well. So it continues to be a very, very exciting platform. All of our retailers are excited about it.

令人鼓舞的是，當我們今天審視這個品牌時，我們仍然保持著極高的速度。我們的審判很高。我們的重複率很高。我相信，即使是現在，它在家庭普及率方面也是我們的第二大品牌，實際上僅落後於紐約。但在適當的時候，我們預期紐約也很可能會看到這種情況。所以它仍然是一個非常非常令人興奮的平台。我們所有的零售商都對此感到興奮。

And maybe bringing you around to the last point is, as you recall, when we were trying to bracket this, we said that we thought it had the potential to be the same size as Olive Garden. And right now, what we have essentially is 2 SKUs. We have a Retail 16-ounce in original and a Retail 16-ounce that's in Polynesian. And those 2 SKUs are already generating sales -- net sales in -- or excuse me, Retail sales that are in excess of what we're doing out there with Olive Garden with a lot of room to run.

也許讓您想到最後一點是，正如您所記得的，當我們試圖將其括起來時，我們說我們認為它有可能與橄欖園的大小相同。現在，我們基本上擁有 2 個 SKU。我們有原味零售 16 盎司和波利尼西亞零售 16 盎司。這 2 個 SKU 已經產生了銷售額——淨銷售額——或者對不起，零售額超過了我們在 Olive Garden 上所做的，還有很大的運行空間。

So Dave, I'm drawing this kind of picture in my head of what Chick-fil-A will eventually look like as far as placement and breadth on the shelves at grocery. Can you kind of level set us how long after a Horse Cave opening does it take to fully realize the potential of Chick-fil-A at grocery retail, so not unlocking club or anything, but maximize that grocery potential?

戴夫，我正在腦海中描繪福來雞最終在雜貨店貨架上的位置和寬度的樣子。您能否告訴我們，Horse Cave 開業後需要多長時間才能充分發揮福來雞在雜貨零售方面的潛力，因此不是解鎖俱樂部或其他任何東西，而是最大限度地發揮雜貨店的潛力？

Well, maybe going back to -- if you're thinking about how do we line this up sequentially. The factory is going to come online in the second half of the next fiscal year. So it's going to be coming online, really, let's call it, in the fall time period with kitchens in line starting up thereafter. That's going to allow us to really start to expand more aggressively.

好吧，也許回到——如果你正在考慮我們如何按順序排列它。該廠將於下一財年下半年投產。所以它會在秋天上線，真的，讓我們這麼稱呼它，廚房隨後就會開始排隊。這將使我們真正開始更積極地擴張。

There are 2 bottom lines there with the number of kitchens that we're going to be able to grow into. But based on the modeling, we have a base case and we have an upside case that we're looking at here. We think that factory gives us capacity for a handful of years. In the upside case, it's quite possible that we're going to be looking for another facility either to buy or build. And if you go back to the comments that were in the script, that was one of the things that we pointed out. We actually engaged a top-tier consultancy to look at our growth algorithm and overlay our capacity footprint and then also begin to give thoughts to regionality and transportation in this and to start to think about, okay, what not only do the next 2 years look like, but what are the next 4 or 6 years look like and how do we make sure that we grow, but we're also growing margin as we push our way through this.

我們能夠發展的廚房數量有兩條底線。但根據模型，我們有一個基本案例，也有一個我們正在研究的上行案例。我們認為這家工廠為我們提供了幾年的產能。在好的情況下，我們很可能會尋找另一個設施來購買或建造。如果你回到劇本中的評論，那就是我們指出的事情之一。我們實際上聘請了一家頂級顧問公司來研究我們的成長演算法並涵蓋我們的產能足跡，然後也開始考慮這方面的區域性和交通，並開始思考，好吧，未來兩年不僅會發生什麼就像，但未來4 或6 年會是什麼樣子，我們如何確保我們的成長，但在我們努力克服這個問題的過程中，我們的利潤率也在不斷增長。

So hopefully, that gives you some to think about. And then I would tell you, we continue conversations with other partners about other licenses that fit into this mix. So I would say another thing that continues to give us a measure of optimism in a complicated COVID environment is that our strategy around these licenses continues to hold and our own brands continue to perform well in the environment. We just need to make sure that it's translating to profit.

希望這能給你一些思考。然後我會告訴你，我們將繼續與其他合作夥伴就適合這種組合的其他許可證進行對話。因此，我想說，在複雜的新冠疫情環境中，另一件讓我們繼續保持樂觀的事情是，我們圍繞這些許可的策略繼續有效，我們自己的品牌在這種環境中繼續表現良好。我們只需要確保它轉化為利潤。

Yes. That's helpful. And then it dovetails into the next question. I think last call, you might have talked about the license branding strategy, and it's kind of evolved from a -- go deeper with the 3 existing partners at Retail or look at other partners who want to work with us that we may have Foodservice relationships with, and we could help them get to retail as well. I think the last call, you kind of debunked that a little bit and it's not as much of an either/or as a both. So if you can talk about maybe depth of that pipeline? Opportunities that might be outside of -- are there opportunities that are outside of bottled dressings and sauces where capacity may exist to unlock some more momentum on the licensed branded products? And I'll leave it there.

是的。這很有幫助。然後它與下一個問題相吻合。我認為上次通話中，您可能談到了許可品牌策略，它是從一種演變而來的——深入了解零售業的3 個現有合作夥伴，或者看看其他想要與我們合作的合作夥伴，我們可能有餐飲服務關係，我們也可以幫助他們進入零售業。我認為最後一次電話會議，你有點揭穿了這一點，這並不是非此即彼。那麼您是否可以談談該管道的深度？瓶裝調味品和醬汁之外的機會是否有能力釋放授權品牌產品的更多動力？我會把它留在那裡。

So another good question, Todd. And per earlier conversation, we don't view it as an either/or. We view it ultimately as an and. We are looking at adding other licensed partners against dressings and sauces. We'd be very interested. And we are exploring opportunities around dips, for example, and then also selectively in baked categories where we have the capabilities. So really, we're looking at anywhere where we have capabilities and the opportunity to move into licenses. And that's where we think this thing has literally a number of years of legs.

這是另一個好問題，托德。根據先前的談話，我們不認為這是一個非此即彼的問題。我們最終將其視為一個“和”。我們正在考慮增加其他針對調味品和醬汁的授權合作夥伴。我們會很有興趣。例如，我們正在探索逢低銷售的機會，然後也有選擇地在我們有能力的烘焙類別中探索機會。所以實際上，我們正​​在尋找任何我們有能力和機會獲得許可的地方。這就是我們認為這個東西確實有很多年腿的地方。

And it's -- if you look at the broader landscape, you look at the shelf and you look at the world that our consumers live in today, I think about when I started in marketing and consumer packaged goods at Heinz, I mean, typically, you generate an idea, you would test the idea, you would go out, you would put advertising behind the idea to try to break through to consumers and drive awareness and trial and get it on the shelf.

如果你看更廣闊的前景，你看貨架，你看我們消費者今天生活的世界，我想當我開始在亨氏從事營銷和消費包裝產品時，我的意思是，通常，你產生一個想法，你會測試這個想法，你會出去，你會在這個想法背後放廣告，試圖突破消費者，提高認知度和試用度，並將其上架。

When you think about that world then, it seems quite now in a world that's loaded with social media and all sorts of distractions that consumers have and our ability to penetrate that and to reach consumers' minds is increasingly difficult. And I think that's part of the reason why what you're starting to see our brands that have a different sort of a hook. So take BodyArmor, for example, who could have ever thought that somebody could have got on the other side of Gatorade, right? Well, BodyArmor with the backing of Kobe Bryant back in the day was strong enough, obviously, to penetrate that. You've seen the same thing play out with brands like Honest with Jessica Alba's backing. And you've seen it play out in the spirits industry with Tracy Migos and with Aviation Gin.

當你思考那個世界時，你會發現現在的世界充滿了社群媒體和消費者擁有的各種幹擾，而我們滲透到消費者心中並觸及消費者思想的能力變得越來越困難。我認為這就是為什麼您開始看到我們的品牌具有不同類型的吸引力的部分原因。以 BodyArmor 為例，誰能想到有人會站在佳得樂的另一邊，對吧？好吧，當時有科比布萊恩特支持的 BodyArmor 顯然足夠強大，可以穿透這一點。在傑西卡·阿爾芭 (Jessica Alba) 的支持下，Honest 等品牌也經歷過同樣的事情。您已經透過 Tracy Migos 和 Aviation Gin 在烈酒行業中看到了這一點。

And so our view is rather than tying up with a particular partner, we would prefer to use really what we view as a core competency, culinary skills and relationships with top-tier and relevant Foodservice partners to take their products on to the shelf. And in so doing it, it allows us to leverage their marketing muscle and their awareness in order to penetrate the consumer noise. And so I think that, that strategy seems to continue to hold at sort of a really high level. And when you bring it down to our little company here and the brands that we work at, we can work with, we continue to believe that it's highly relevant and a great pathway to create value for us and our licensing partners.

因此，我們的觀點是，我們不想與特定的合作夥伴捆綁在一起，而是更願意真正利用我們認為的核心能力、烹飪技能以及與頂級和相關餐飲服務合作夥伴的關係，將他們的產品帶到貨架上。透過這樣做，我們可以利用他們的行銷力量和意識來滲透消費者的噪音。所以我認為，該策略似乎繼續保持在相當高的水平。當你把它歸結為我們這裡的小公司和我們工作的品牌時，我們可以與之合作，我們仍然相信它是高度相關的，也是為我們和我們的授權合作夥伴創造價值的絕佳途徑。

And there is no further questions. I will turn the call back to Mr. Ciesinski for his concluding comments.

沒有其他問題了。我將把電話轉回給西辛斯基先生，請他發表結論性意見。

Thank you, everyone, for your participation this morning. We look forward to joining with you for our third quarter results early in May. And in the meantime, stay safe, and we'll look forward to talking with you then.

謝謝大家今天早上的參與。我們期待在五月初與您一起了解我們的第三季業績。同時，請保持安全，我們期待屆時與您交談。

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This concludes today's conference. You may now disconnect. Have a wonderful day.

謝謝你們，女士們、先生們。今天的會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開連線。祝你有美好的一天。