Lancaster Colony Corp (LANC) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. My name is Tanya, 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 2023 Fourth Quarter Conference Call. Conducting today's call will be Dave Ciesinski, President and CEO; and Tom Pigott, CFO.

早上好。我叫 Tanya，今天我將擔任你們的電話會議主持人。此時此刻，我歡迎大家參加蘭卡斯特殖民地公司 2023 財年第四季度電話會議。總裁兼首席執行官戴夫·西辛斯基 (Dave Ciesinski) 主持今天的電話會議；和首席財務官湯姆皮戈特。

(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. You may begin.

（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。你可以開始了。

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for Lancaster Colony's Fiscal Year 2023 Fourth 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.

大家早上好，感謝您今天參加蘭開斯特殖民地 2023 財年第四季度電話會議。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。這些陳述受到許多風險和不確定性的影響，可能導致實際結果出現重大差異，並且公司不承擔根據後續事件更新這些聲明的義務。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. 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 for fiscal 2024. At the conclusion of our prepared remarks, we'll be happy to respond to any of your questions. Once again, we appreciate your participation this morning. I'll now turn the call over to Lancaster Colony's President and CEO, Dave Ciesinski. Dave?

另請注意，本次通話的音頻重播將於今天下午晚些時候在我們公司的網站 lancastercolony.com 上存檔並提供。在今天的電話會議中，我們的總裁兼首席執行官 Dave Ciesinski 將首先介紹本季度的業務更新和亮點。我們的首席財務官 Tom Pigott 隨後將概述財務業績。然後，戴夫將分享一些有關我們當前戰略和 2024 財年展望的評論。在我們準備好的發言結束時，我們將很樂意回答您的任何問題。我們再次感謝您今天早上的參與。現在我將把電話轉給 Lancaster Colony 的總裁兼首席執行官 Dave Ciesinski。戴夫？

Thanks, Dale, and good morning, everyone.

謝謝戴爾，大家早上好。

It's a pleasure to be here with you today as we review our fourth quarter results for fiscal year 2023. In our fiscal fourth quarter, which ended June 30, consolidated net sales increased 50 basis points to a fourth quarter record $455 million, while gross profit declined $5.2 million to $93.2 million. As a reminder, last year's fourth quarter included an estimated $25 million in incremental net sales or 6% of the total, which were attributed to advanced orders ahead of our ERP go-live on July 1, 2022. These incremental sales added about $5 million to last year's Q4 gross profit.

今天很高興與大家一起回顧 2023 財年第四季度業績。在截至 6 月 30 日的第四財季，合併淨銷售額增長 50 個基點，達到創紀錄的 4.55 億美元，而毛利潤下降520 萬美元至9,320 萬美元。提醒一下，去年第四季度的淨銷售額增量預計為2500 萬美元，佔總銷售額的6%，這歸因於2022 年7 月1 日我們的ERP 上線之前的提前訂單。這些增量銷售額增加了約500 萬美元到去年第四季度的毛利潤。

In our retail segment, net sales increased 1.3%, driven by the favorable impact of pricing actions to offset inflation and continued growth from our licensing program. Excluding the prior year advanced ordering ahead of our ERP go-live, retail sales volumes measured in pounds shipped increased 1.7%. Given these period-on-period shifts, it's informative to look at retailer scanner data as a barometer of our retail business.

在我們的零售部門，淨銷售額增長了 1.3%，這得益於抵消通貨膨脹的定價行動的有​​利影響以及我們的許可計劃的持續增長。不包括上一年 ERP 上線前的提前訂購，以發貨磅數計算的零售量增長了 1.7%。考慮到這些週期性變化，將零售商掃描儀數據視為我們零售業務的晴雨表是非常有用的。

During the quarter ending June 30, retailer consumption for our branded products measured in pounds was up 4.7%, led by growth in our licensing program. Circana data, formerly IRI, showed notable share gains in the quarter for our category-leading New York Bakery and Sister Schubert brands. New York Bakery's leading share of the frozen garlic bread category grew 180 basis points to 42.3%, and Sister Schubert's leading share of the frozen dinner roll category increased 200 basis points to 56.1%. Our licensed products also continued to perform very well during the quarter as Chick-fil-A sauces were up 28% to $43.7 million, Olive Garden dressings were up 15.8% to $42.6 million, and Buffalo Wild Wings sauces were up 43.1% to $20.7 million.

在截至 6 月 30 日的季度中，在我們的許可計劃增長的帶動下，零售商對我們品牌產品的消費（以英鎊計算）增長了 4.7%。 Circana 數據（原 IRI）顯示，我們類別領先的 New York Ba​​kery 和 Sister Schubert 品牌在本季度的份額增長顯著。 New York Ba​​kery 在冷凍大蒜麵包類別中的領先份額增長了 180 個基點，達到 42.3%，Sister Schubert 在冷凍餐卷類別中的領先份額增長了 200 個基點，達到 56.1%。我們的授權產品在本季度也繼續表現出色，福來雞醬料增長28%，達到4,370 萬美元，橄欖園醬料增長15.8%，達到4,260 萬美元，Buffalo Wild Wings 醬料增長43.1%，達到2,070 萬美元。 。

I'm also happy to report that Chick-fil-A sauces were recently recognized by Circana as a new product paysetter. In calendar year 2022, Chick-fil-A sauces were the fastest-growing retail food item in the food and mass channels, generating more than $140 million in retail sales.

我還很高興地報告，Chick-fil-A 醬料最近被 Circana 認可為新產品支付者。 2022 年，福來雞醬是食品和大眾渠道中增長最快的零售食品，零售額超過 1.4 億美元。

In the Foodservice segment, net sales were essentially flat at $218 million and compared with a significant increase of 28% in last year's fourth quarter. In addition to the impact of last year's advanced ordering, which comprised about 8%, Foodservice sales also reflect a modest slowdown in traffic for some of our national chain customers. During Q4, we continued to experience high levels of inflation for raw materials and packaging. Although we did note a considerable decline in the rate of inflation compared to the first 3 quarters of fiscal year 2023.

在餐飲服務領域，淨銷售額基本持平，為 2.18 億美元，而去年第四季度則大幅增長 28%。除了去年提前訂購（約佔 8%）的影響外，餐飲服務銷售還反映出我們一些全國連鎖客戶的客流量略有放緩。第四季度，我們繼續經歷原材料和包裝的高通脹。儘管我們確實注意到，與 2023 財年前 3 季度相比，通脹率大幅下降。

Through the benefit of our pricing actions, our Q4 PNOC, or Pricing Net Of Commodities was favorable versus the prior year. This is a continuation of the trend that began in Q1 of fiscal year 2023, whereby we are recovering some of the prior year's negative PNOC.

得益於我們的定價行動，我們第四季度的 PNOC（商品淨定價）比上一年有利。這是 2023 財年第一季度開始的趨勢的延續，我們正在恢復一些上一年的負 PNOC。

Q4 gross profit fell short of our expectations as we incurred some temporary costs associated with our long-term strategic investments in production capacity and our ERP network. These issues have since been resolved, and we look forward to the many benefits these investments will provide our business in the years ahead. Our focus on supply chain productivity, value engineering and revenue management will also remain core elements to improve our financial performance during fiscal year 2024 and beyond.

第四季度毛利潤低於我們的預期，因為我們產生了一些與產能和 ERP 網絡的長期戰略投資相關的臨時成本。這些問題現已得到解決，我們期待這些投資將在未來幾年為我們的業務帶來諸多好處。我們對供應鏈生產力、價值工程和收入管理的關注也將仍然是提高 2024 財年及以後財務業績的核心要素。

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

現在我將把電話轉給我們的首席財務官湯姆·皮戈特（Tom Pigott），請他對我們第四季度的業績發表評論。

Thanks, Dave. The results for the quarter reflected continued top line growth and favorable pricing net of commodities performance versus the prior year quarter. These positive contributions were offset by 3 items: comping to the prior year quarter's customer pull forward of shipments in advance of our SAP go-live, short-term challenges we experienced in our gross profit performance that Dave mentioned and a noncash impairment charge we recorded in our flat-out business.

謝謝，戴夫。該季度的業績反映了與去年同期相比持續的營收增長和扣除大宗商品表現後的有利定價。這些積極的貢獻被3 個項目所抵消：與上一季度客戶在SAP 上線之前提前發貨相比，我們在毛利潤表現方面遇到了短期挑戰（戴夫提到），以及我們記錄的非現金減值費用在我們全力以赴的業務中。

Fourth quarter consolidated net sales increased by 50 basis points to $454.7 million. Decomposing the revenue performance, revenue was unfavorably impacted by approximately 5.9 percentage points from the pull forward, while higher pricing contributed 6.4 percentage points of growth. Consolidated gross profit declined by $5.2 million or 5.3% to $93.2 million versus the prior year quarter.

第四季度合併淨銷售額增長 50 個基點，達到 4.547 億美元。分解收入表現來看，收入受到了約 5.9 個百分點的不利影響，而較高的定價則貢獻了 6.4 個百分點的增長。與去年同期相比，綜合毛利潤下降 520 萬美元，即 5.3%，至 9,320 萬美元。

The gross profit decline was driven by comping to the prior year's pull forward of customer orders, which we estimate to have been an approximate $5 million headwind, start-up costs at our recently expanded Horse Cave dressings and sauce facility, interim inefficiencies at facilities we recently added to our SAP network and costs related to a discontinued product line. These unfavorable impacts were partially offset by favorable pricing net of commodity performance.

毛利潤下降的原因是與上一年客戶訂單的提前相比，我們估計這大約是500 萬美元的逆風，我們最近擴建的Horse Cave 調料和醬料工廠的啟動成本，我們的工廠的臨時效率低下。最近添加到我們的 SAP 網絡以及與停產產品線相關的成本。這些不利影響被扣除商品表現後的有利定價部分抵消。

Our commodity inflation was approximately 9% this quarter, reflecting some moderation in the level of year-over-year inflation we experienced.

本季度我們的商品通脹約為 9%，反映出我們經歷的同比通脹水平有所放緩。

Selling, general and administrative expenses increased 4.7% or $2.6 million. The increase reflects investments to support the growth of the business as well as higher IT and personnel costs. The investments to support the growth of the business included higher consumer spending and increased brokerage costs.

銷售、一般和管理費用增加 4.7%，即 260 萬美元。這一增長反映了支持業務增長的投資以及更高的 IT 和人員成本。支持業務增長的投資包括更高的消費者支出和增加的經紀成本。

Consumer spending increased in the second half as our product supply position has improved. Expenditures for Project Ascent, our ERP initiative, were down, partially offsetting these increases. Costs related to the project totaled $5.6 million in the current year quarter versus $11 million in the prior year quarter.

由於我們的產品供應狀況有所改善，下半年消費者支出有所增加。我們的 ERP 計劃 Ascent 的支出有所下降，部分抵消了這些增長。本季度與該項目相關的成本總計為 560 萬美元，而去年同期為 1100 萬美元。

During the quarter, we recorded a $25 million noncash impairment charge to reduce the carrying value of our Flatout flatbread business and tangible assets. The impairment charge was reflected in our Retail segment. In the prior year quarter, restructuring and impairment charges totaled $10.5 million. Consolidated operating income decreased $22.2 million to $11.5 million due to the impact of the impairment charge as well as the lower gross profit and higher SG&A costs I mentioned.

本季度，我們記錄了 2500 萬美元的非現金減值費用，以減少 Flatout 扁麵包業務和有形資產的賬面價值。減值費用反映在我們的零售部門。去年同期，重組和減值費用總計 1,050 萬美元。由於減值費用的影響以及我提到的毛利潤下降和銷售管理費用上升，合併營業收入減少了 2220 萬美元，至 1150 萬美元。

Our tax rate for the quarter was 26.4%, the tax rate was impacted by lower pretax income due to the impairment charge. We estimate our tax rate for fiscal '24 to be 23%. Fourth quarter diluted earnings per share decreased $0.73 to $0.33. The year-over-year impact of the restructuring and impairment charges was unfavorable by $0.41 per share. The net impact of the reduction in project Ascent expenses was favorable at $0.15.

我們本季度的稅率為 26.4%，稅率受到減值費用導致稅前收入較低的影響。我們預計 24 財年的稅率為 23%。第四季度攤薄每股收益下降 0.73 美元至 0.33 美元。重組和減值費用的同比影響為每股 0.41 美元。項目 Ascent 費用減少的淨影響有利，為 0.15 美元。

With regard to capital expenditures, our full year payments for property additions totaled $90.2 million. For fiscal '24, we are forecasting total capital expenditures of $70 million to $80 million. This forecast reflects a decline versus the prior 2-year spending with the Horse Cave expansion now substantially complete.

在資本支出方面，我們全年支付的財產增加費用總計 9,020 萬美元。對於 24 財年，我們預計總資本支出為 7000 萬至 8000 萬美元。這一預測反映了隨著 Horse Cave 擴建現已基本完成，與前兩年支出相比有所下降。

In addition to investing in our business, we also returned funds to shareholders. Our quarterly cash dividend of $0.85 per share paid on June 30 represented a 6% increase from the prior year's amount. Our full year dividend payments were $92.4 million and our enduring streak of annual dividend increases stands at 60 years. The company was able to fund the capital investments and dividend payments through its operating cash flow generating ability.

除了投資我們的業務外，我們還向股東返還資金。我們於 6 月 30 日支付的季度現金股息為每股 0.85 美元，比上一年增加了 6%。我們的全年股息支付額為 9,240 萬美元，年度股息連續增加已長達 60 年。該公司能夠通過其經營現金流產生能力為資本投資和股息支付提供資金。

Operating cash flow totaled $226 million on the year. Our financial position remains strong with a debt-free balance sheet and $88.5 million in cash.

全年運營現金流總計 2.26 億美元。我們的財務狀況依然強勁，擁有無債務的資產負債表和 8,850 萬美元的現金。

So to wrap up my commentary, our fourth quarter results reflect a continued investment in the company as well as some short-term challenges we incurred as we position the company for future growth. I'll now turn it back over to Dave for his closing remarks. Thank you.

因此，為了結束我的評論，我們第四季度的業績反映了對公司的持續投資，以及我們在為公司未來增長定位時遇到的一些短期挑戰。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 to: one, accelerate core business growth; two, simplify our supply chain to reduce our cost and grow our margins; and three, to expand our core with focused M&A and strategic licensing. In fiscal year 2024, we anticipate retail segment sales will continue to benefit from volume growth led by our licensing program, including incremental growth from new products, flavors and sizes we introduced in fiscal year 2023. We're also very excited to share our plans to add Texas Roadhouse steak sauces to our licensing program with a spring launch date.

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、運營戰略和資產負債表來支持我們增長計劃的三個簡單支柱：一是加速核心業務增長；第二，簡化我們的供應鏈以降低成本並增加利潤；第三，通過集中併購和戰略許可來擴大我們的核心。在2024 財年，我們預計零售部門的銷售將繼續受益於我們的許可計劃帶來的銷量增長，包括我們在2023 財年推出的新產品、口味和尺寸的增量增長。我們也非常高興分享我們的計劃將 Texas Roadhouse 牛排醬添加到我們的許可計劃中，並於春季推出。

Finally, we foresee continued positive momentum for our New York Bakery frozen garlic bread, which is a tasty complement to everyday meal occasions.

最後，我們預計紐約麵包店冷凍大蒜麵包將繼續保持積極勢頭，這是日常用餐場合的美味補充。

In Foodservice, we expect sales volumes to be led by growth from select QSR restaurant customers in our mix of national accounts. Suffice it to say, external factors, including U.S. economic performance and potential changes in consumer sentiment may impact Foodservice segment demand.

在餐飲服務方面，我們預計銷售額將由國民賬戶組合中精選 QSR 餐廳客戶的增長帶動。可以說，包括美國經濟表現和消費者信心潛在變化在內的外部因素可能會影響餐飲服務領域的需求。

Finally, consolidated net sales will also continue to benefit from pricing actions taken in fiscal year 2023. We project the impact of inflationary cost to subside notably in the coming year. The pricing actions we have implemented, along with our cost savings initiatives will help to offset remaining inflationary cost. With respect to our ERP initiative, Project Ascent, we are pleased to announce that as planned, we completed the final wave of implementation and we'll devote our attention to leveraging the capabilities of the new system to strengthen our execution in fiscal year 2024.

最後，合併淨銷售額也將繼續受益於 2023 財年採取的定價行動。我們預計通脹成本的影響將在來年顯著消退。我們實施的定價行動以及成本節約舉措將有助於抵消剩餘的通脹成本。關於我們的 ERP 計劃 Project Ascent，我們很高興地宣布，我們已按計劃完成了最後一波實施，我們將致力於利用新系統的功能來加強我們在 2024 財年的執行力。

Turning to our supply chain. We are very excited about the opportunities ahead under the leadership of Louis Viso, our new Chief Supply Chain Officer. Louis has built a long and successful career with nearly 40 years of experience in supply chain operations, innovation and R&D. His extensive experience in the food and beverage industry at Kraft Foods, Coca-Cola and Monster Beverage as well as his strong people-oriented leadership will benefit our organization tremendously as we continue to execute our growth strategy into fiscal year 2024 and beyond.

轉向我們的供應鏈。我們對新任首席供應鏈官 Louis Viso 領導下的未來機遇感到非常興奮。 Louis 在供應鏈運營、創新和研發方面擁有近 40 年的經驗，建立了長期而成功的職業生涯。他在卡夫食品、可口可樂和Monster Beverage 的食品和飲料行業擁有豐富的經驗，以及他以人為本的強大領導力，將使我們的組織受益匪淺，因為我們將繼續執行2024 財年及以後的增長戰略。

In closing, I'd like to thank the entire Lancaster Colony team for all their hard work and ongoing commitment to our business during fiscal year 2023. I look forward to working together with everyone in the coming year as we continue our journey to be the better food company.

最後，我要感謝整個 Lancaster Colony 團隊在 2023 財年的辛勤工作和對我們業務的持續承諾。我期待著在來年與大家合作，繼續我們的旅程，成為更好的食品公司。

This concludes our prepared remarks for the day, and we would be happy to answer any questions you might have.

我們今天準備的發言到此結束，我們很樂意回答您可能提出的任何問題。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Our first question is coming from Todd Brooks of The Benchmark Company.

我們的第一個問題來自基準公司的托德·布魯克斯。

Two quick questions, if I may, to start off. One, I think, Dave, at one point as we were thinking about Horse Cave and the incremental unlock that facility may have been for the licensed branded product. I think it has been sized in like the $100 million range, but that was over a couple year period. Can we maybe either speak to what the incremental unlock was in fiscal '23, so we can start to bake in, thinking for what the incremental potential is from licensed branded products, the capacity and the product line expansions in '24. And then maybe if we can lay over the top of it, the thinking about Texas Roadhouse and just talk more broadly about your thoughts for growth in the licensed branded products in fiscal '24.

首先，請先問兩個簡單的問題。一，我認為戴夫，在我們考慮馬洞和增量解鎖該設施的某一時刻可能是針對許可品牌產品的。我認為其規模約為 1 億美元，但那已經是幾年前的事了。我們能否談談 23 財年的增量解鎖是什麼，以便我們可以開始思考，思考 24 財年許可品牌產品、產能和產品線擴展的增量潛力是什麼。然後，也許我們可以將關於 Texas Roadhouse 的想法放在最上面，並更廣泛地談論您對 24 財年授權品牌產品增長的想法。

Sure. So Todd, when we talked about what Horse Cave have afforded us, we framed it in the context of we thought somewhere in the range of 3 to 5 and even upwards of 7 years of growth for both retail and Foodservice with 5 years of growth being sort of the target that we thought that it would afford us.

當然。因此，托德，當我們談論 Horse Cave 為我們帶來的好處時，我們認為零售業和餐飲服務業的增長將在 3 到 5 年甚至 7 年以上，其中 5 年的增長是我們認為它可以為我們實現這樣的目標。

So going back, so it would be definitely north of $100 million of capacity to grow in retail behind bottles. We won't go into exact numbers of that. But we'd love to take you down there to show you the facility to give you an appreciation for the scale and capabilities. But as you think about it, based on what we see and the way it's running today, it's definitely going to give us 5 years of growth, maybe a little bit longer, maybe a little bit shorter, but it definitely gives us capacity on bottles to grow.

回想起來，瓶裝零售業的增長能力肯定超過 1 億美元。我們不會透露具體數字。但我們很樂意帶您去那裡參觀設施，讓您欣賞到規模和功能。但正如你所想，根據我們所看到的以及它今天的運行方式，它肯定會給我們帶來5 年的增長，也許更長一點，也許更短一點，但它肯定會給我們帶來瓶子的容量成長。

Now how do we think about this platform going forward? If you -- you've been following us long enough to remember we saw it as literally billions of dollars of addressable opportunities if you put in dipping sauces, marinades, barbecue sauces, things like ranch dressing and other categories, you could size it somewhere between probably $6 billion and upwards of even $10 billion of addressable opportunity. So -- and you see us sort of sequentially working our way through that.

現在我們如何看待這個平台的未來？如果你——你已經關注我們足夠長的時間了，記得我們認為它實際上是數十億美元的可利用的機會，如果你加入蘸醬、醃料、燒烤醬、牧場調味品和其他類別的東西，你可以在某個地方計算它的大小價值大約 60 億美元甚至 100 億美元以上的可利用機會。所以——你會看到我們正在按順序完成這個任務。

First, in the pourable salad dressing category, which is north of several billion dollars in the center of the store, and we're adding to that, behind Olive Garden with our new addition in Caesar, which we couldn't be more excited about.

首先，在可倒入的沙拉醬類別中，該類別在商店中心價值數十億美元，我們在橄欖園後面添加了新的凱撒醬，對此我們感到非常興奮。

Then you move on to other areas, building on to the platform with new sauces behind Chick-fil-A, the barbecue and the sweet and spicy Sriracha, also in the period adding bigger sizes on Chick-fil-A, which we're thrilled to see how it's performing, and then finally, expanding behind Buffalo Wild Wings.

然後你轉向其他區域，在福來雞後面添加新醬料的平台上，燒烤和甜辣是拉差，也在這一時期為福來雞增加了更大的尺寸，我們正在很高興看到它的表現，最後，在Buffalo Wild Wings 後面擴展。

What Texas Roadhouse is going to give us is a solution for really the red meat occasion or if you look at the majority of our sauces right now, they tend to play around chicken and things like fish, but we really haven't had a red meat solution and what Texas Roadhouse is going to give us is, first of all, just an iconic restaurant brand that's been one of -- consistent and one of the fastest-growing restaurant brands out there that's kind of under the radar because of the way that they advertise and the ability to go after a couple of other entrenched competitors that are out there.

Texas Roadhouse 將為我們提供真正適合紅肉場合的解決方案，或者如果你看看我們現在的大多數醬汁，他們往往會圍繞雞肉和魚之類的東西，但我們真的還沒有紅肉。首先，Texas Roadhouse 將為我們提供的是一個標誌性的餐廳品牌，它一直是一致的，也是增長最快的餐廳品牌之一，但由於其方式，它是一種低調的餐廳品牌。他們做廣告，並且有能力追趕其他幾個根深蒂固的競爭對手。

So we couldn't be more excited. Texas Roadhouse has been a great partner to work with and we think this platform has nice big shoulders.

所以我們非常興奮。 Texas Roadhouse 是一個很好的合作夥伴，我們認為這個平台有很好的肩膀。

Tom, my second question, and I'll jump back in queue. If we look at and it may be an assumption on my part that there's not a lot of future pricing actions coming over the next 12 months. Can you walk through what the pricing waterfall looks like for each segment as prior increases lap, just so we need to -- so we can get a sense of the dynamic between volume and pricing as we go across fiscal '24?

湯姆，我的第二個問題，我會插回隊列。如果我們觀察一下，我可能會假設未來 12 個月內不會有太多定價行動。您能否介紹一下在之前的增長周期中每個細分市場的定價瀑布是什麼樣的，以便我們需要 - 這樣我們就可以在進入 24 財年時了解銷量和定價之間的動態？

Yes. Todd, great question. So your assumption is correct. As we look into fiscal '24, we really look at our top line primarily driven by volume. As you look at it by quarter, we do expect some pricing benefit to create in both businesses but modest and thereafter, we're really driving it by volume.

是的。托德，好問題。所以你的假設是正確的。當我們展望 24 財年時，我們確實看到了主要由銷量驅動的營收。當您按季度查看時，我們確實預計這兩項業務都會產生一些定價優勢，但幅度不大，此後，我們實際上是通過數量來推動它的。

And our next question will be coming from Andrew Wolf of CL King.

我們的下一個問題將來自 CL King 的 Andrew Wolf。

I wanted to ask about -- your update on your retail sales consumption was pretty positive at 4.7%.

我想問一下——你們的零售銷售消費更新情況非常樂觀，為 4.7%。

Yes.

是的。

Obviously, there's a gap there between what you shipped at [1.7%] but the prior quarter, you shipped [6.1%]. So it kind of seems at the end of commentary you had last quarter, it sounds like -- you've put a lot of new products into the channel in the March quarter had really good sell-through, frankly, this quarter. So as we're kind of trying to model out volume into the next year, it would strike me, obviously, at some point, it equates to the retail sell-through. So is that sort of how we should think about it? Is that how you're thinking about it? How would you sort of help us to sort of think about your volume trends sort of looking forward in the next quarter or 2 and through the full year.

顯然，您的出貨量 [1.7%] 與上一季度的出貨量 [6.1%] 之間存在差距。因此，在上個季度的評論結束時，聽起來好像——您在三月份的季度中將很多新產品放入了渠道，坦率地說，本季度的銷售情況非常好。因此，當我們試圖對明年的銷量進行建模時，我會驚訝地發現，顯然，在某種程度上，它等同於零售銷售量。那麼我們應該這樣思考嗎？你是這麼想的嗎？您如何幫助我們思考您的銷量趨勢，展望下一個季度或兩個季度以及全年。

Andrew, good morning, and second, you're exactly right. If you look at our consumption in pounds in the quarter, they were 4.7% they accelerated over the consumption in the prior period. And you're right, we overshipped consumption in the prior period as we were building the pipeline, so you're precisely right.

安德魯，早上好，第二，你說得完全正確。如果你看一下我們本季度以英鎊為單位的消費量，就會發現它們比上一時期的消費量增長了 4.7%。你是對的，在我們建設管道的過程中，我們在前期超額運輸了消費，所以你是完全正確的。

Now as we think about where this goes forward, what we're anticipating is volume growth to continue in the low-to-mid range based on what we're seeing throughout the year. That's the target that we're laying out. And you might expect that to see that even marginally stronger on the front end of that. And then as we begin to lap some of this stuff later on, you might see that soften. But across the arc of the period, we're expecting to see volumetric growth for retail in the low-to-mid range. And if you look at it versus our peers that are out there, we think it puts us in the best-in-class area.

現在，當我們思考未來的發展方向時，我們預計，根據全年的情況，銷量將繼續在中低範圍內增長。這就是我們制定的目標。你可能會期望在前端看到這一點甚至稍強一些。然後當我們稍後開始研磨這些東西時，你可能會發現它變軟了。但在此期間，我們預計零售量的增長將在中低範圍內。如果你將其與我們的同行進行比較，我們認為這使我們處於一流的領域。

What you can expect in terms of the drivers of that. As Tom pointed out, we don't have new pricing. We have some wraparound pricing that we're going to see in retail for the first half of the year and then no pricing plan thereafter. And this is really going to be an algorithm driven by volume through the year.

您可以期待什麼驅動因素。正如湯姆指出的，我們沒有新的定價。我們將在今年上半年的零售業中看到一些全面定價，此後就沒有定價計劃。這確實是一個由全年交易量驅動的算法。

Got it. And I did want to follow up. I understand you didn't want to give a dollar amount when Todd asked you about what Horse Cave means for kind of sales power and what have you. But can you give us a sense maybe in terms of capacity utilization? You built, put a lot of capital into the business and now sort of the payoff phase, how much of -- where is the capacity at? It's always a nice time to own certain stocks when the capacity utilization is going up.

知道了。我確實想跟進。我知道當托德詢問您 Horse Cave 對銷售能力意味著什麼以及您擁有什麼時，您不想透露一美元。但您能給我們介紹一下產能利用率嗎？你建立了公司，投入了大量資金，現在已經到了回報階段，產能在哪裡？當產能利用率上升時，總是持有某些股票的好時機。

Yes. So as you might imagine, we took up a building, a facility that was 225,000 square feet, essentially added on another 225,000 square feet. So we doubled the size of it and the plan there was to build a facility that would allow us to run for, like I shared with Todd on the front end, 5 years, call it, plus/minus. So the utilization overall in the factories is definitely north of 50%, approaching 60%. But bear in mind, when you build something that big, what you do is the boxes there. In some cases, you have the kitchens that are there, but you don't necessarily have line started up and stuff like that. So I don't know if I would necessarily say that's the right way to look at it, just because it's not like that capacity is available to run now just because we haven't staffed it with labor.

是的。正如您可能想像的那樣，我們佔用了一座 225,000 平方英尺的建築和設施，基本上又增加了另外 225,000 平方英尺。因此，我們將其規模擴大了一倍，併計劃建造一個設施，讓我們能夠運行，就像我在前端與托德分享的那樣，5年，稱之為加/減。所以工廠的整體利用率肯定超過50%，接近60%。但請記住，當你建造那麼大的東西時，你所做的只是那裡的盒子。在某些情況下，你有廚房，但不一定有啟動線之類的東西。所以我不知道我是否一定會說這是正確的看待它的方式，只是因為現在不能僅僅因為我們沒有為其配備勞動力而可以運行該能力。

I think the more -- maybe the way we're looking at this thing is we have something that's laid out that's going to allow us to incrementally step up, adding more labor to the lines, more staffing, adding more shifts as we run through the period and allow us to grow for that 5 years and that's both retail and food service because as you think about it in Foodservice, Chick-fil-A remains our biggest customer when you guys get a chance to dig into the K, you're going to see that they represent north of 40% of the business today in Foodservice. And their business in terms of sales continues to grow in double digits. And if you look at them in terms of traffic, which I know you track up that space as well. They're continuing to grow in the high single digits in terms of traffic, the mid- to high.

我認為，也許我們看待這件事的方式是，我們已經制定了一些東西，這將使我們能夠逐步加強，在生產線上增加更多的勞動力，更多的人員配備，在我們運行時增加更多的輪班這段時期，讓我們在這5 年裡成長，這既是零售業，也是食品服務業，因為當你在食品服務業中思考時，福來雞仍然是我們最大的客戶，當你們有機會深入研究K 時，你們'我們將會看到他們佔當今餐飲服務業 40% 以上的業務。他們的業務在銷售額方面繼續以兩位數增長。如果你從流量的角度來看待它們，我知道你也會追踪這個空間。就流量而言，它們繼續以高個位數增長，處於中高水平。

Okay. And just I guess my last question is just on the macro, which you alluded to, more in reference to Foodservice. And obviously, you just highlighted Chick-fil-A, which is a great relationship in many ways, but certainly commercially. It seems like the rest of the portfolio, therefore, was the drag on the business. We don't have to point to any one of them, but just as a group, and that's not surprising as you mentioned, given the traffic issues in restaurants. So would it be fair to -- for us on the outside to think the Foodservice side, as you look at the year, maybe a little more subdued compared to in the volume side compared to what you expect in retail, given the innovation pipeline that's in retail?

好的。我想我的最後一個問題只是關於宏觀問題，您提到了這一點，更多地涉及餐飲服務。顯然，您剛剛強調了福來雞，這在很多方面都具有良好的關係，但在商業上也是如此。因此，投資組合的其餘部分似乎拖累了業務。我們不必指向他​​們中的任何一個，而只是作為一個群體，考慮到餐館的交通問題，這並不奇怪，正如你提到的。因此，對於我們局外人來說，考慮到今年的創新渠道，與您對零售業的預期相比，餐飲服務業的銷量可能會比零售業的預期低一些，這是否公平？在零售業？

No, I think you're exactly right. What we expect is first of all, the retail business to grow faster than the Foodservice business for the reasons that you described. I think if you look at now the macros take us out of the equation, look to macros, I think you're going to see Foodservice overall, this is quick service restaurant, full-service restaurants, everything across the board, probably to be somewhere between flat and down a couple of points in terms of traffic. I think you're going to see the pricing benefit that's been floating these concepts begin to subside.

不，我認為你是完全正確的。首先，我們期望零售業務的增長速度快於餐飲服務業務，原因如您所描述。我想，如果你現在看看宏，我們就脫離了等式，看看宏，我想你會看到整體的餐飲服務，這是快速服務餐廳，全方位服務餐廳，所有的一切，可能都是就流量而言，介於平坦和下降幾個點之間。我認為你會看到這些概念所帶來的定價優勢開始消退。

So I think you're going to see their sales begin to trail off again to that same sort of a reason -- same sort of area. The folks that are going to grow are going to be doing it behind traffic. Now if you bring it in, that's the macro, and you look at our mix of business, I think what you're going to see is, given the size of Chick-fil-A as long as Chick-fil-A continues to grow, and as long as some of our other QSR partners continue to grow, we expect to be outperforming the rest of the broader Foodservice group by probably several hundred, 300 basis points.

所以我認為你會看到他們的銷量再次開始下降，原因是同樣的——同樣的地區。那些想要成長的人將在流量背後做到這一點。現在，如果你把它引入，這就是宏觀，你看看我們的業務組合，我想你會看到的是，考慮到福來雞的規模，只要福來雞繼續只要我們的其他一些QSR 合作夥伴繼續增長，我們預計將比更廣泛的餐飲服務集團的其他公司高出數百、300 個基點。

So I think our business is probably in terms of volume closer to flat to maybe marginally up just based on the strength of Chick-fil-A, and that's where we are now. Things change with the consumer. We'll see what happens. If the outlook gets stronger, we may see that improve. If there's more pressure on the consumer, we could see that soften. But again, relative to the peer group, we feel like from a volume perspective in Foodservice, we're in a position to outperform.

因此，我認為我們的業務在銷量方面可能接近持平，甚至可能略有上升，這只是基於福來雞的實力，而這就是我們現在的處境。事情隨著消費者而改變。我們會看看會發生什麼。如果前景變得更加強勁，我們可能會看到情況有所改善。如果消費者面臨更大的壓力，我們可能會看到這種壓力有所減弱。但同樣，相對於同行，我們覺得從餐飲服務的數量角度來看，我們有能力表現出色。

The other thing that I would share just on Foodservice, maybe a couple of notables. We had the chance several weeks ago to invite the Chick-fil-A leadership team to our facility at Horse Cave, and they had a chance to see it end-to-end in full operations. And I think it was an important milestone for all of us. Parenthetically, when we were starting the project, Dan Cathy was the CEO, and he had a chance to walk through the plans with us.

我想在餐飲服務上分享的另一件事，也許是一些名人。幾週前，我們有機會邀請福來雞領導團隊來到我們位於 Horse Cave 的工廠，他們有機會親眼目睹了工廠的全面運營。我認為這對我們所有人來說都是一個重要的里程碑。順便說一句，當我們開始這個項目時，丹·凱西（Dan Cathy）是首席執行官，他有機會與我們一起完成這些計劃。

And now Andrew Cathy's assumed the role as the CEO, he had a chance to see it up and running. That continues to be a very important partnership, obviously. And we look forward to hosting other partners there in the weeks ahead. We have other similar sort of visits that are planned.

現在安德魯·凱西（Andrew Cathy）擔任首席執行官，他有機會親眼目睹該公司的啟動和運行。顯然，這仍然是一種非常重要的伙伴關係。我們期待在未來幾週內接待其他合作夥伴。我們還計劃進行其他類似的訪問。

Maybe the one thing that you guys haven't asked yet, and I want to get into in terms of how we think about Horse Cave is if you look at that plant, it continues to be our most cost advantaged plant to continue to operate and what we haven't set outside of our commentary is we had a rough quarter, particularly at Horse Cave behind that startup and behind SAP. And both of those conversions happen pretty closely to each other, which drove cost issues that were enumerated during the course of the call. we don't expect those to continue as we press forward.

也許你們還沒有問過一件事，我想談談我們對 Horse Cave 的看法，如果您看看那個工廠，它仍然是我們繼續運營最具成本優勢的工廠，並且我們在評論之外沒有提到的是，我們度過了一個艱難的季度，尤其是在該初創公司和SAP 背後的Horse Cave。而且這兩種轉換的發生時間非常接近，這導致了通話過程中列舉的成本問題。我們預計這些情況不會隨著我們的推進而繼續下去。

So as you're thinking about the cost structure, one of the things that I wanted to sort of steer you from is that those cost issues that we ran into associated with the SAP cutover and operating at full speed as well as the startup and those 2 things interacting together, we expect to be one-timers that's stung us in that quarter.

因此，當您考慮成本結構時，我想引導您避免的一件事是，我們遇到的與 SAP 切換和全速運營以及啟動和那些相關的成本問題兩件事相互作用在一起，我們預計將成為該季度刺痛我們的一次性產品。

Okay. I didn't want to hog the call, but I want to ask a follow-up since you brought it up. When you talk about cost advantage, I assume it's greater at Horse Cave for Foodservice, given the single item pack, and if you automate that at a greater scale. Just a relative sense is that where you get margin-wise, is that where the margin improvement is on a relative basis greater than versus retail, where even an older production facility can still scale up pretty -- there's just more relative scale even on an older facility at retail. Would I be thinking about it right is -- in other words, the Horse Cave is going to give more relative margin improvement to the Foodservice side than retail.

好的。我不想霸占這個電話，但自從你提出這個問題以來我想詢問後續情況。當您談論成本優勢時，我認為考慮到單個項目包，並且如果您以更大的規模實現自動化，那麼 Horse Cave 的餐飲服務的成本優勢更大。只是一個相對的感覺是，在利潤方面，利潤率的改善在相對基礎上大於零售業，即使是較舊的生產設施仍然可以相當大地擴大規模——即使是在零售設施較舊。我的想法是對的嗎——換句話說，與零售相比，Horse Cave 將為餐飲服務方面帶來更多的相對利潤改善。

It's going to provide margin improvement on both facilities because if you look at it, take retail, for example, most of the bottle lines that we have in our other facilities are a little bit older, this facility operates at bottle speeds that are, in some cases, 2x or a little better than what we're running at other places. And it's more automated end-to-end in terms of reliance on labor. So in retail, it's going to give us an advantage because of the speed and the scale and the automation and the same thing is going to be true in Foodservice.

它將提高兩個設施的利潤率，因為如果你看一下，以零售業為例，我們其他設施中的大多數瓶裝生產線都有點舊，該設施的裝瓶速度為，在某些情況下，比我們在其他地方運行的要好兩倍或一點點。就對勞動力的依賴而言，它的端到端自動化程度更高。因此，在零售業，由於速度、規模和自動化，它將給我們帶來優勢，在餐飲服務領域也是如此。

Our next question is coming from Alton Stump of Loop Capital.

我們的下一個問題來自 Loop Capital 的 Alton Stump。

Great. Just wanted to ask you about the Texas Roadhouse deal, obviously, is coming out in the spring. So you probably can't share too much. But I guess how much of a role did the new capacity that you now have aligned with Horse Cave play in your ability to take on new partners such as Texas Roadhouse.

偉大的。只是想問一下有關德克薩斯州路屋的交易，顯然，該交易將於春季推出。所以你可能無法分享太多。但我猜想，你們現在與 Horse Cave 合作的新能力在你們與 Texas Roadhouse 等新合作夥伴的合作中發揮了多大作用。

Well, it's a great question. It's certainly a consideration. What I would tell you is that it didn't really factor into the discussions that we had with them. This is another one where as we've developed a reputation in the industry or for a competency around licensing, it's just developed into conversations. And this is one that came to us inbound. It was actually recommended the way it went was Texas Roadhouse talked to a customer expressing an interest in an idea and that customer referred them to us, and that sort of germinated into a conversation that went into -- that went on for a while as we explored how we thought we could go about this. So the capacity availability was a consideration, but not a very big one in this case. For us, it just allows us to do it far more profitably than it would have been otherwise.

嗯，這是一個很好的問題。這當然是一個考慮因素。我要告訴你的是，這並沒有真正納入我們與他們的討論中。這是另一種情況，隨著我們在行業中建立了聲譽或在許可方面的能力，它就發展成了對話。這是我們入境時收到的。實際上，推薦的方式是Texas Roadhouse 與一位對某個想法感興趣的客戶交談，該客戶將他們推薦給我們，這種對話就開始了——當我們這樣做時，這種對話持續了一段時間。探討了我們如何解決這個問題。因此，容量可用性是一個考慮因素，但在本例中並不是一個非常重要的因素。對我們來說，它只是讓我們能夠比其他方式獲得更多的利潤。

And then just as a follow-up to the end, you mentioned the word inbound, which I'm certainly not surprised everybody in Russian industry as, which you well know is watching what Chick-fil-A is doing, and I'm sure they've all taken note of the huge growth that they've seen with you guys with the licensed business. I mean, how much of an impact has that had on the number of inbound interest calls you're getting from other major operators in the QSR and/or casual sectors?

然後，作為最後的後續行動，你提到了“入站”這個詞，我對此並不感到驚訝，因為俄羅斯業界的每個人都知道，他們正在關注福來雞正在做什麼，我當然，他們都注意到了你們在擁有許可業務的情況下所看到的巨大增長。我的意思是，這對您從快餐和/或休閒行業的其他主要運營商接到的入站興趣電話數量有多大影響？

Well, I think a fair amount. And Alton, I would ladder back to Olive Garden where we started this. If you looked at it in the period, their retail sales in the quarter, so scanner sales were $42 million. And I think they were the original one that people started to look at. And it's a reflection of several things going on.

嗯，我認為相當多。奧爾頓，我會梯子回到我們開始這件事的橄欖園。如果你看看這一時期的零售額，那麼掃描儀銷售額為 4200 萬美元。我認為它們是人們最初開始關注的。這反映了正在發生的幾件事。

The blurring of lines between retail and Foodservice and food that's being consumed off-prem, right? And all of a sudden, these restaurant operators, I think, were less fixed on restaurant versus out of the restaurant and then just the size of the opportunity and how these brands play in retail, particularly after COVID, I think, presented an opportunity to diversify their revenue stream and connect with their consumers in different ways. So I think Olive Garden was the first of those. But Chick-fil-A was sort of the one that not only did it grow to the size, but as we talked about in the script, it was one of IRI's pay setters, which means one of their top 10 fastest-growing items in all the food and beverage during the calendar year 2022 and is the fastest-growing food item in 2022.

零售業、餐飲服務業和場外消費食品之間的界限越來越模糊，對嗎？我認為，突然之間，這些餐廳經營者不再那麼專注於餐廳，而不是餐廳外，然後只是機會的大小以及這些品牌如何在零售業中發揮作用，特別是在新冠疫情之後，我認為，這提供了一個機會實現收入來源多元化並以不同方式與消費者建立聯繫。所以我認為橄欖園是其中的第一個。但是 Chick-fil-A 不僅發展到了規模，而且正如我們在劇本中談到的，它是 IRI 的薪酬制定者之一，這意味著他們是該公司增長最快的 10 個項目之一。 2022 年所有食品和飲料，是2022 年增長最快的食品。

So I think that starts to get other restaurants' attention. So as we're looking at this, we continue to see this platform behind licensing and principally restaurant licensing as an opportunity where we can take this great capability that we have around innovation of sauces, dressings, condiments, flavor systems and take those to the marketplace. And we're not necessarily encumbered by just having a brand. It allows us to leverage a brand with strong awareness that already exists that's out there, put that great sauce behind the brand and then deliver it to consumers, and it allows us to overcome the barrier of awareness and trial and repeat more rapidly and get returns instead of betting on the come on marketing spending.

所以我認為這開始引起其他餐廳的注意。因此，當我們考慮這一點時，我們繼續將許可（主要是餐廳許可）背後的這個平台視為一個機會，我們可以利用我們在醬汁、調料、調味品、風味系統創新方面擁有的強大能力，並將這些帶到市場。我們不一定會因為擁有一個品牌而受到阻礙。它使我們能夠利用已經存在的具有強烈意識的品牌，將偉大的醬汁放在品牌背後，然後將其交付給消費者，它使我們能夠克服意識和嘗試的障礙，並更快地重複並獲得回報而不是押注於營銷支出的到來。

Our next question will be coming from Connor Rattigan of Consumer Edge.

我們的下一個問題將來自 Consumer Edge 的 Connor Rattigan。

And I guess it's worth mentioning, given the news I'm taking this call from a Texas Roadhouse parking lot, so definitely very timely. So I guess I just want to make sure. I'm not sure if I might have missed it, but just circling back to the top line, so obviously, results came in quite a bit below, I guess, our and consensus expectations. I guess can you sort of just kind of maybe walk us through sort of how we got here and maybe what the drag was. And I guess, how did results come in versus your internal expectations? I know you had the $25 million ERP pull-forward headwind. But I guess what exactly was the real top line headwind in the quarter?

我想值得一提的是，考慮到我是從德克薩斯州路屋停車場接聽這個電話的消息，所以絕對非常及時。所以我想我只是想確定一下。我不確定我是否可能錯過了它，但只是回到了頂行，所以顯然，結果遠低於我們的預期和共識的預期。我想你能不能給我們介紹一下我們是如何到達這裡的，也許還有什麼阻力。我想，結果與你的內部預期相比如何？我知道您遇到了 2500 萬美元的 ERP 推進阻力。但我猜想本季度真正的頂線阻力到底是什麼？

Sure. I think we're all aware of the pull forward that we had in the prior period that made planning a little bit more challenging. The second biggest item beyond that, and this is targeted at retail, would have been that pipeline build that we had in Q3 that really elevated Q3 that we saw scan through in Q4, right? So I think that would have been the other one.

當然。我想我們都意識到上一時期的推進使規劃變得更具挑戰性。除此之外，第二大項目是針對零售業的，我們在第三季度建立的管道建設確實提升了第三季度的水平，我們在第四季度看到了這一點，對嗎？所以我認為那將是另一件事。

And then I think as we looked at what played out as the quarter went on, we do believe there was a bit of an Easter effect that was in Q3. Now it only shifted about a week this year, but it seemed to have been enough to create a little bit different order pattern between Q3 and Q4 on both our dressings and also on Sister Schubert. So I think those really were the items that created the gap between what you guys were calling for and what we were calling for.

然後我認為，當我們研究本季度的進展時，我們確實相信第三季度存在一些復活節效應。現在，今年只改變了大約一周，但這似乎足以在我們的敷料和舒伯特修女上在第三季度和第四季度之間創造出一點不同的訂單模式。所以我認為這些確實是造成你們所呼籲的和我們所呼籲的之間差距的項目。

I think it's also part of the reason why that as we want to think about what the outlook is, right? Some of this period-on-period noise because of SAP finally is going to be behind us. We implemented our last wave, so we're done. It's really focusing now on consumption and then shipping to consumption.

我認為這也是我們想要思考前景的部分原因，對嗎？ SAP 帶來的一些週期性噪音最終將成為過去。我們實施了最後一波，所以我們已經完成了。現在它真正關注的是消費，然後運送到消費。

Got it. Okay. That makes total sense. And then also, two, just on Foodservice as well, right? So I guess you guys noted a bit of a slowdown in Foodservice traffic, but it sounds like Chick-fil-A traffic is doing quite well. So I guess, I mean, the general slowdown in traffic kind of somewhat runs in contrast, what we've heard from peers. I mean, I guess, was this maybe more of a recent phenomenon? Or was it a pretty steady slowdown throughout the quarter? And I mean, I guess, maybe could you comment sort of was this more indexed to certain QSRs or maybe other channels?

知道了。好的。這完全有道理。然後還有兩個，也只是餐飲服務，對吧？所以我想你們注意到餐飲服務流量有所放緩，但聽起來福來雞流量表現得相當不錯。所以我想，我的意思是，流量的普遍放緩有點與我們從同行那裡聽到的情況形成鮮明對比。我的意思是，我想，這可能是最近才出現的現象嗎？或者整個季度經濟增速相當穩定？我的意思是，我想，也許您可​​以評論一下這是否更多地索引到某些 QSR 或者其他渠道？

Yes, it's a great question, and it's interesting. If you look at the 52-week traffic, the 12-week traffic and the 4-week, so for June, June was a slowdown for several of our customers that were in there. Chick-fil-A, it was not. Chick-fil-A was kind of flat through the period, but we had other customers that seen from a traffic perspective to slow down a little bit in June.

是的，這是一個很好的問題，而且很有趣。如果你看一下 52 週的流量、12 週的流量和 4 週的流量，那麼對於 6 月來說，6 月對於我們的一些客戶來說是一個放緩的時期。福來雞，事實並非如此。 Chick-fil-A 在此期間表現平淡，但我們有其他客戶從流量角度來看 6 月份的流量有所放緩。

Now ironically, we're looking at weekly data thereafter and into July, they seem to be doing a little bit better thereafter. So we think that also contributed to the gap between Foodservice.

現在具有諷刺意味的是，我們正在查看此後和進入七月的每週數據，他們似乎在此後做得更好一些。所以我們認為這也造成了餐飲服務之間的差距。

Got it. Okay. That was helpful. And then I guess just 1 more as well, right? So on the cost front, it sounds like you guys are seeing quite a bit of relief. I guess from -- what we've heard from other folks, too, is soybean oil and whatnot still tends to remain quite high. I mean, I guess, is your optimism on the cost environment just centered around maybe egg prices coming down? And also, as we sort of think about that as it relates to gross margins in 2024, with the carryover pricing you guys have and productivity in the mix as well, I mean, I guess, would it be fair to assume the expectation is returned to historical gross margin levels?

知道了。好的。這很有幫助。然後我猜還有 1 個，對吧？因此，在成本方面，聽起來你們已經看到了很大的緩解。我猜——我們也從其他人那裡聽到的是大豆油之類的東西仍然往往保持在相當高的水平。我的意思是，我猜，您對成本環境的樂觀態度是否只是圍繞雞蛋價格下降？而且，當我們考慮到這與 2024 年的毛利率有關時，考慮到你們擁有的結轉定價和混合生產力，我的意思是，我想，假設預期得到回報是否公平達到歷史毛利率水平？

Well, maybe I'll kind of walk through those -- that range of questions and start first with just an inflation outlook, and then I'll turn it over to Tom, and he'll take you through more depth. Part of our frame of reference here is the last 2 years, fiscal year '22 and '23, we saw 20% inflation. So on a relative basis, we're looking at a year, this year, where we're seeing inflation on a gross basis in the low single digits. Really eggs being most certainly a contributor to that, and then we're seeing an easing on some of our other commodity classes as well. So certainly not deflationary, but we're not expecting it to be nearly in the range of which it was. So I think that whole piece is really all about being relative. Maybe with that, Tom, I'll turn it over to you if you have want to help with some of the commodity cost.

好吧，也許我會逐步解決一系列問題，首先從通脹前景開始，然後我會將其交給湯姆，他將帶您進行更深入的了解。我們的參考框架的一部分是過去兩年，即 22 財年和 23 財年，我們看到了 20% 的通貨膨脹率。因此，相對而言，今年我們看到總體通脹率處於較低的個位數。確實，雞蛋肯定是其中的一個因素，然後我們也看到其他一些商品類別的寬鬆。所以當然不是通貨緊縮，但我們預計它不會接近原來的範圍。所以我認為整件事實際上都是關於相對的。也許這樣，湯姆，如果你想幫助支付一些商品成本，我會把它交給你。

Yes. So great question, Connor. So as we look at our commodity basket for next year, we still are slightly inflationary. I think our comments are more that the level of inflation has started to go down. Sweeteners, obviously, a key item for us. It's up considerably year-over-year. That's mitigating or offsetting some of the favorability we're seeing elsewhere.

是的。這是一個很好的問題，康納。因此，當我們審視明年的大宗商品籃子時，我們仍然存在輕微通脹。我認為我們的評論更多的是通脹水平已經開始下降。顯然，甜味劑對我們來說是一個關鍵項目。同比增長相當大。這減輕或抵消了我們在其他地方看到的一些好感度。

As you look at the broader margin profile as we enter fiscal year '24. From a PNOC standpoint, given that we're still looking at some level of inflation, we're not assuming that we're going to be -- get back some of that margin that you alluded to, we really need to get into more of a deflationary environment to assume that?

當我們進入 24 財年時，您會看到更廣泛的利潤狀況。從 PNOC 的角度來看，鑑於我們仍在考慮一定程度的通脹，我們不會假設我們會——收回您提到的部分利潤，我們確實需要投入更多資金通貨緊縮環境的假設是什麼？

And then the second thing is, obviously, this consumer environment is something we're monitoring closely. And like other companies, we're concerned about the need to spend back and to reinvest in our retail business to continue to drive the outsized volume growth that we do. But last, I would end with, we feel -- in terms of a tailwind, we feel like we do have a robust productivity plan put into place for next year that will help us to offset some of these potential headwinds.

第二件事顯然是我們正在密切監控的消費者環境。與其他公司一樣，我們擔心需要對零售業務進行投資和再投資，以繼續推動我們的銷量大幅增長。但最後，我想說的是，我們認為，就順風而言，我們認為我們確實為明年制定了強有力的生產力計劃，這將幫助我們抵消一些潛在的不利因素。

And our next question will be coming from Todd Brooks of The Benchmark Company.

我們的下一個問題將來自基準公司的托德·布魯克斯。

Thanks for taking my followup. Boiling down kind of qualitative commentary, it sounds like maybe low-to-mid single-digit volume growth in the combined business, pricing waning over the course of the year. Tom, I just want to follow up on Connor's question. You talked about needing to be back to a deflationary environment to return to historical margins. But I guess there's an intermediate place where if we are seeing less inflation, you still have a little bit of effective pricing in the first half of next year. Do we expect to start that path back that this is a year where we're not just kind of operating to protect gross profit dollars, but we can actually see the margin rate start to work its way back towards historical levels, at least get that process going?

感謝您接受我的跟進。總結一下定性評論，聽起來合併後的業務量可能會出現低至中個位數的增長，而價格在這一年中不斷下降。湯姆，我只想跟進康納的問題。您談到需要回到通縮環境才能回到歷史邊緣。但我想，如果我們看到通貨膨脹減少，明年上半年仍然會有一些有效的定價。我們是否期望開始這條道路，今年我們不僅是為了保護毛利潤，而且我們實際上可以看到利潤率開始回到歷史水平，至少得到這一點流程進展如何？

Yes. Certainly, Todd, that is a goal of what we're trying to achieve in terms of both driving the productivity and the PNOC. Just in this environment, we're not necessarily seeing enough to really commit that to you in terms of a significant level of margin accretion as the year progresses. But certainly, that is our key focus in terms of driving for improved margin percentages.

是的。當然，托德，這是我們在提高生產率和 PNOC 方面努力實現的目標。就在這種環境下，隨著時間的推移，我們不一定會看到足夠多的信息來真正向您承諾大幅增加利潤。但當然，這是我們推動提高利潤率的重點。

Okay. Great. Secondary question. If we go to core SG&A spend and backing out project and the changes year-over-year. How much do you think core SG&A needs to grow, if any, in fiscal '24 for what you're trying to accomplish? And then can we walk through what the next step down in project expenses should be fiscal '24 versus fiscal '23?

好的。偉大的。次要問題。如果我們關注核心 SG&A 支出並取消項目以及逐年變化。您認為 24​​ 財年核心 SG&A 需要增長多少（如果有）才能實現您想要實現的目標？那麼我們能否詳細介紹一下 24 財年與 23 財年相比項目支出的下一步應該如何下降？

Yes, Todd, that -- so as we're looking at SG&A in fiscal '24, we're excluding Ascent, we're really just looking at inflationary impacts in terms of core SG&A. And then with Ascent, we're projecting that to be an approximate $20 million tailwind in the next fiscal year as that project winds down.

是的，托德，當我們考慮 24 財年的 SG&A 時，我們排除了 Ascent，我們實際上只是在考慮核心 SG&A 方面的通脹影響。然後，隨著 Ascent 項目的結束，我們預計下一財年該項目將帶來約 2000 萬美元的順風車。

Okay. So $10 million versus the $30 million this year?

好的。那麼 1000 萬美元與今年的 3000 萬美元相比呢？

Yes. Yes, roughly. That's correct. The absolute spend, about $10 million as we wind things up and optimize, yes.

是的。是的，大約。這是正確的。當我們結束並優化時，絕對支出約為 1000 萬美元，是的。

And our next question will be coming from Andrew Wolf of CL King.

我們的下一個問題將來自 CL King 的 Andrew Wolf。

I don't know if you mentioned anything regarding quantification of the 3 somewhat transitory or maybe fully transitory impacts to gross profit in terms of Horse Cave, both start-up and I guess, ERP there and the discontinuation of a retail brand. But could you just comment on them as a group and/or separately how much it was if you quantify it and what this data play us.

我不知道您是否提到過有關對 Horse Cave 毛利潤的 3 個有些短暫或可能完全短暫的影響進行量化的任何內容，包括初創公司和我猜的 ERP 以及零售品牌的終止。但是，您能否將它們作為一個整體和/或單獨評論一下，如果您對其進行量化，以及這些數據對我們有何影響。

Absolutely. So as we look at all 3 together, they combined to be about a $6 million item for us or 130 basis points of margin impact on the quarter. I think the overall state of play is, as you look at each one of them, certainly, the Horse Cave team has done a wonderful job, and we've seen that production output increase considerably in the most recent period. So we feel very good about that. In terms of the SAP inefficiencies, listen, this -- we've been working through many waves of go-lives, and we're very happy to say we're now complete and we don't expect that to be a driver going forward in the product discontinuation. Certainly we've taken the necessary charge, and we're ready to move on from that one as well.

絕對地。因此，當我們將所有 3 個項目放在一起時，它們加起來對我們來說約為 600 萬美元的項目，或者對本季度利潤率的影響為 130 個基點。我認為整體的表現是，當你看看他們每一個時，當然，Horse Cave 團隊做得非常出色，我們已經看到最近一段時間的產量大幅增加。所以我們對此感覺非常好。就 SAP 效率低下而言，聽著，我們已經經歷了許多次上線，我們很高興地說我們現在已經完成了，我們不希望這成為一個驅動因素推進產品停產。當然，我們已經承擔了必要的責任，並且我們也準備好繼續前進。

And on the SAP or the Ascent costs, the positive swing. Is that inclusive of the increased amortization charge? Is it net $20 million or is it a little less than that when you throw in the amortization charge?

SAP 或 Ascent 成本呈正向波動。這是否包括增加的攤銷費用？淨額是 2000 萬美元，還是比攤銷費用略少一些？

So when we look at it, it's $20 million as would be reported on the Ascent line in our P&L. We will incur a bit of a headwind on the amortization charge in the next fiscal year in the core SG&A, but that's built into my comments of just inflationary. So we're partially offsetting that with other items to get to that profile.

因此，當我們查看時，會發現它是 2000 萬美元，正如我們損益表中的 Ascent 行所報告的那樣。我們將在下一財年的核心SG&A攤銷費用上遇到一些阻力，但這已納入我對通脹的評論中。因此，我們用其他項目部分抵消了這一點，以達到該配置文件。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

And I'm showing no further questions. I'll now turn the call back to Dave Ciesinski for closing remarks.

我沒有再提出任何問題。現在我將把電話轉回給戴夫·西辛斯基（Dave Ciesinski），讓其致閉幕詞。

Thank you, everyone, for your participation this morning and your questions. We look forward to being back together with you in November as we take you through our Q1 results. Have a great rest of the morning.

謝謝大家今天早上的參與和提問。我們期待在 11 月份再次與您會面，為您介紹我們的第一季度業績。早上好好休息。

And ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect. Thank you for your participation.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開連接。感謝您的參與。