Lancaster Colony Corp (LANC) 2025 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. My name is Gerald, 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 2025 first-quarter conference call. Conducting today's call will be Dave Ciesinski, President and CEO; and Tom Pigott, CFO.

早安.我叫傑拉德，今天我將擔任你們的電話會議主持人。此時此刻，我歡迎大家參加蘭開斯特殖民地公司 2025 財年第一季電話會議。今天的電話會議將由總裁兼執行長 Dave Ciesinski 主持。和財務長湯姆皮戈特。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

And now to begin the conference call, here is here is Dale Ganobsik, Vice President of Corporate Finance and Investor Relations for Lancaster Colony Corporation. The floor is yours.

現在開始電話會議，請來蘭卡斯特殖民地公司企業財務和投資者關係副總裁 Dale Ganobsik。地板是你的。

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for Lancaster Colony's fiscal year 2025 first-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.

大家早安，感謝您今天參加蘭開斯特殖民地 2025 財年第一季電話會議。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。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，公司不承擔根據後續事件更新這些陳述的義務。

A detailed discussion of these risks and uncertainties is contained in the company's filings with the SEC. Also note that the audio replay of this call will be archived and available on our company's website, lancastercolony.com, later this afternoon.

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。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.

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。

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.

在我們準備好的演講結束時，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。

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 first-quarter results for fiscal year 2025. In our fiscal first quarter, which ended September 30, consolidated net sales increased 1.1% to a first-quarter record $467 million, while gross profit increased 1.9% to a record $111 million.

謝謝戴爾，大家早安。今天很高興能與大家一起回顧 2025 財年第一季的業績。在截至 9 月 30 日的第一財季，綜合淨銷售額成長 1.1%，達到創紀錄的 4.67 億美元，毛利成長 1.9%，達到創紀錄的 1.11 億美元。

In our retail segment, net sales declined 1.1%. Excluding the perimeter of the store bakery lines we exited this past March segment net sales increased 1.4%. And volume, measured in pounds shipped, grew 1.9%.

在我們的零售部門，淨銷售額下降了 1.1%。不包括我們今年 3 月退出的商店週邊麵包店生產線，淨銷售額增加了 1.4%。以出貨磅數計算的銷量成長了 1.9%。

Our licensing program continue to remain an important source of growth for this segment. Led by Subway sauces, which we launched this past spring.

我們的授權計劃仍然是該領域成長的重要來源。以賽百味醬為首，我們在去年春天推出了這個產品。

During our fiscal first quarter, we were pleased to also begin the national launch for Texas Roadhouse dinner rolls. While it's early days for this proposition, we are highly encouraged by both the consumer excitement and the sales velocity for these great tasting rolls.

在第一個財季，我們很高興開始在全國推出 Texas Roadhouse 晚餐卷。雖然這個提案還處於早期階段，但消費者的興奮和這些美味卷的銷售速度讓我們深受鼓舞。

Given the magnitude of the demand for this item, we will be executing a phased expansion for this launch, similar to the one we executed for Chick-fil-A sauce a few years ago.

考慮到對該產品的需求量，我們將針對此次推出進行分階段擴張，類似於我們幾年前對福來雞醬進行的擴張。

During the quarter, Circana scanner data showed that most of our brands continued to perform well.

本季度，Circana 掃描器數據顯示，我們的大多數品牌繼續表現良好。

In the produce dressing category, our Marzetti brand grew sales 2.4% and increased market share about 25 basis points. When combined with Chick-fil-A dressings, our sales in the category increased 2.6% with market share up about 40 basis points. Sales of our Marzetti brand produce dips advanced 1.7% with a market share gain of about 150 basis points.

在農產品調味品類別中，我們的 Marzetti 品牌銷售額成長了 2.4%，市佔率增加了約 25 個基點。與 Chick-fil-A 敷料結合使用時，我們該類別的銷售額成長了 2.6%，市佔率提高了約 40 個基點。我們的 Marzetti 品牌產品銷量下降 1.7%，市佔率增加約 150 個基點。

In the frozen dinner roll category, sales of our category-leading Sister Schubert's brand advanced 5.3%. When combined with the new Texas Roadhouse, dinner roll sales were up 17.9% and our market share grew an impressive 420 basis points to 60%.

在冷凍餐卷類別中，我們類別領先的 Sister Schubert's 品牌的銷售額成長了 5.3%。與新的 Texas Roadhouse 相結合，餐卷銷量成長了 17.9%，我們的市佔率也成長了 420 個基點，達到 60%。

In the shelf-stable dressings category, sales of Olive Garden dressings were up 3.3%, adding 10 basis points of market share. In the shelf-stable sauces and condiments category, sales for Chick-fil-A sauces grew 3.4%, while Buffalo Wild Wings sauces were up 5%.

在耐儲存調味料類別中，橄欖園調味料的銷售額成長了 3.3%，市佔率增加了 10 個基點。在耐儲存醬汁和調味品類別中，福來雞醬汁的銷售額增長了 3.4%，而 Buffalo Wild Wings 醬汁的銷售額增長了 5%。

In the foodservice segment, net sales grew 3.5% on increased demand from several national chain restaurant accounts, in addition to strong sales growth for our branded foodservice products. Foodservice segment volume measured in pounds shipped advanced 3.1% despite industry wide slowing traffic trends.

在餐飲服務領域，除了我們品牌餐飲服務產品的強勁銷售成長外，由於多家全國連鎖餐廳客戶的需求增加，淨銷售額成長了 3.5%。儘管整個行業的客流量趨勢放緩，但餐飲服務領域的運輸量（以磅計算）增加了 3.1%。

Despite the challenging external environment, we are pleased to report record first quarter gross profit of $111 million and a sequential improvement of gross margin of 220 basis points compared to the fourth quarter.

儘管外部環境充滿挑戰，但我們很高興地報告第一季毛利達到創紀錄的 1.11 億美元，毛利率比第四季連續提高 220 個基點。

Gross profit margin increased 20 basis points when compared to last year's first quarter as we benefited from higher sales volume and our ongoing cost savings initiatives. Our focus on supply chain productivity, value engineering, and revenue management, remain core elements to further improve our financial performance.

與去年第一季相比，毛利率成長了 20 個基點，這得益於銷售量的增加和持續的成本節約措施。我們對供應鏈生產力、價值工程和收入管理的關注仍然是進一步改善我們財務表現的核心要素。

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

現在我將把電話轉給我們的財務長湯姆·皮戈特（Tom Pigott），請他對我們第一季的業績發表評論。

Tom?

湯姆？

Thanks, Dave.

謝謝，戴夫。

The results for the quarter reflect continued top-line growth and improved gross margin performance.

本季的業績反映了營收的持續成長和毛利率的改善。

First quarter consolidated net sales increased by 1.1% to $466.6 million.

第一季綜合淨銷售額成長 1.1%，達到 4.666 億美元。

Breaking down the revenue performance, higher volume and product mix contributed 380 basis points of core growth. This growth was offset by a lower net pricing impact of 140 basis points and by the exit of our perimeter-of-the-store bakery product lines, which reduced revenue by 130 basis points.

從營收表現來看，銷售量和產品組合的增加貢獻了 380 個基點的核心成長。這一增長被淨定價下降 140 個基點的影響以及我們店外烘焙產品線的退出所抵消，這導致收入減少了 130 個基點。

The lower level of net pricing was consistent across our two segments. In our retail segment, the lower net pricing reflected a higher level promotional activity versus the prior year first quarter. This spending level is consistent with the second half of the last fiscal year when we activated additional programs to address consumer trends. In our foodservice segment the lower net pricing reflects the pass through of lower commodity costs to our customers.

我們兩個部門的淨定價較低水準是一致的。在我們的零售部門，較低的淨定價反映了與去年第一季相比更高水準的促銷活動。這一支出水準與上一財年下半年一致，當時我們啟動了額外計畫來應對消費者趨勢。在我們的餐飲服務部門，較低的淨定價反映了傳遞給顧客的商品成本較低。

Consolidated gross profit increased by $2.1 million or 1.9% versus the prior year quarter to $110.8 million and gross margins expanded by 20 basis points. The gross profit growth was driven by higher volumes and our cost savings initiatives.

綜合毛利較去年同期增加 210 萬美元，或 1.9%，達到 1.108 億美元，毛利率擴大 20 個基點。毛利的成長是由產量增加和我們的成本節約措施所推動的。

Pricing net of commodities was not a significant driver of performance as commodities were slightly deflationary and our pricing was as well.

扣除大宗商品的淨定價並不是業績的重要驅動因素，因為大宗商品略有通貨緊縮，而我們的定價也是如此。

Selling, general, and administrative expenses increased 5.8% or $3 million. The increase reflects investments in personnel and IT to support the growth of our business as well as higher legal expenses. These increases were partially offset by the reduction in Project Ascent costs, our successful SAP implementation project.

銷售、一般和管理費用增加 5.8%，即 300 萬美元。這一成長反映了為支持業務成長而對人員和 IT 的投資以及法律費用的增加。這些成長部分被我們成功的 SAP 實施專案 Project Ascent 成本的降低所抵銷。

Consolidated operating income decreased $911,000 or 1.6% as the gross profit improvement was offset by higher SG&A expenses.

綜合營業收入減少 911,000 美元，即 1.6%，因為毛利的成長被銷售、一般管理費用的增加所抵銷。

Our tax rate for the quarter was 22.8% versus 23.7% in the prior year quarter. We estimate our tax rate for the remainder of fiscal '24 to be 23%.

我們本季的稅率為 22.8%，而去年同期為 23.7%。我們預計 24 財年剩餘時間的稅率為 23%。

First quarter diluted earnings per share increased $0.03 or 1.9% to $1.62 as the decline in operating income was more than offset by a return on invested cash and a lower tax rate.

第一季攤薄每股收益成長 0.03 美元，即 1.9%，達到 1.62 美元，因為投資現金回報率和較低的稅率足以抵消營業收入下降的影響。

With regard to capital expenditures, our payments for property additions totaled $17.6 million. For fiscal '25 we're forecasting total capital expenditures of between $70 million and $80 million. We continue to continue to invest in both cost savings projects and other manufacturing improvements.

在資本支出方面，我們用於增加財產的支出總計 1,760 萬美元。我們預計 25 財年的總資本支出將在 7,000 萬至 8,000 萬美元之間。我們將繼續投資於成本節約項目和其他製造改進。

In addition to investing in our business, we also returned funds to shareholders. Our quarterly cash dividend of $0.90 per share paid on September 30 represented a 6% increase from the prior year's amount.

除了投資我們的業務外，我們還向股東返還資金。我們在 9 月 30 日支付的季度現金股利為每股 0.90 美元，比前一年增加了 6%。

Our enduring streak of annual dividend increases now stands at 61 years. Our financial position remains strong with a debt free balance sheet and $135.1 million in cash.

我們連續 61 年連續增加年度股利。我們的財務狀況依然強勁，資產負債表無債務，現金為 1.351 億美元。

So to wrap up my commentary, our first quarter results reflected continued top-line increases, improved gross profit performance, and investments to support further growth.

因此，為了總結我的評論，我們第一季的業績反映了營收的持續成長、毛利表現的改善以及支持進一步成長的投資。

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

現在我將把它轉回給戴夫，讓他作結束語。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thanks, Tom.

謝謝，湯姆。

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 three 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, expand our core with focused M&A and strategic licensing.

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：一是加速核心業務成長；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我們的核心。

Looking ahead to our fiscal second quarter and the remainder of our fiscal year, we anticipate retail segment sales will continue to benefit from our growing licensing program, driven by new product introductions such as Subway sauces and Texas Roadhouse dinner rolls. Our newly launched New York Bakery brand, gluten-free garlic bread will also add to the retail segment sales.

展望第二財季和本財年剩餘時間，我們預計零售部門的銷售將繼續受益於我們不斷增長的許可計劃，在賽百味醬和德克薩斯路屋餐卷等新產品推出的推動下。我們新推出的紐約麵包店品牌無麩質大蒜麵包也將增加零售部門的銷售量。

In the foodservice segment, we anticipate continued volume gains from select customers and our mix of national chain accounts. We also believe external factors, including US economic performance in consumer behavior will likely continue to moderate foodservice industry demand overall.

在餐飲服務領域，我們預計精選客戶和我們的全國連鎖客戶組合的銷售將持續成長。我們也認為，包括美國消費者行為經濟表現在內的外部因素可能會持續抑制餐飲服務業的整體需求。

With respect to our input costs, we expect both commodities and inflation overall to be neutral for the remainder of the year.

就我們的投入成本而言，我們預計今年剩餘時間內大宗商品和通膨總體上將保持中性。

In closing, I'd like to thank the entire Lancaster Colony team for all their hard work this past quarter and their ongoing commitment to our business.

最後，我要感謝整個 Lancaster Colony 團隊在上個季度的辛勤工作以及對我們業務的持續承諾。

This concludes our prepared remarks for today, and we'd be happy to answer any questions you might have.

我們今天準備的演講到此結束，我們很樂意回答您可能提出的任何問題。

Operator?

操作員？

Thank you.

謝謝。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Jim Salera.

吉姆·薩萊拉.

I wanted to maybe start by drilling down on foodservice, just given the outperformance there relative to expectations. And I think really relative to what we would consider a softer backdrop across QSR in general. Is that just because it's football season and chicken's popular around football season and that's kind of a lift? Or is it the national accounts that you guys are working with? I know there's some that have really prominent chicken and sauce-y related products promo in the channel right now.

考慮到餐飲服務的表現優於預期，我可能想從深入研究餐飲服務開始。我認為這確實與我們所認為的整個 QSR 的軟背景有關。這只是因為現在是足球賽季，而雞肉在足球賽季期間很受歡迎，這有點提升？還是你們正在處理的國民帳戶？我知道現在有一些頻道中有非常突出的雞肉和醬汁相關產品促銷。

Just any color on what's driving that outperformance and kind of thoughts as we progress through the year.

隨著我們在這一年中取得進展，任何關於推動卓越表現的因素和想法的顏色都可以。

We'd be happy to Jim, and good morning.

我們很高興吉姆，早安。

So if you look -- maybe we'll start externally and then we'll drill in on our company. During the period, if you look at it, full restaurant traffic was running in July up 2 points, in August up 2 points, and by September it had improve modestly to being off 1 point. QSR traffic finished the quarter off 1 point.

所以如果你看的話——也許我們會從外部開始，然後深入我們公司。在此期間，如果你觀察一下，7 月份餐廳客流量增加了 2 個百分點，8 月份增長了 2 個百分點，到 9 月份略有改善，下降了 1 個百分點。本季 QSR 流量下降 1 個百分點。

And then correspondingly, sales were modestly positive, low single-digit positive because of prior pricing. But then if you come in and you look at us, I would ascribe really our outperformance -- modest outperformance relative to the external factors to a couple of things.

相應地，由於先前的定價，銷售額呈現適度正成長，低個位數正成長。但如果你進來看看我們，我會把我們的優異表現——相對於外部因素而言適度的優異表現歸因於以下幾件事。

One is, as you pointed out, our mix of national chain customers, the fact that we play heavily in chicken and sauces to an important part of that. And then the other contributor is we do have a piece of our business we call branded where we work with operators up and down the street and in colleges and secondary education and stuff like that. And that business performed well in the period.

一是，正如您所指出的，我們的全國連鎖客戶組合，事實上，我們在雞肉和醬汁方面發揮著重要作用，這是其中的重要組成部分。另一個貢獻者是，我們確實有一項我們稱之為品牌的業務，我們與街頭巷尾、大學和中等教育等領域的營運商合作。該業務在此期間表現良好。

Also, as we look forward, our view is we're going to continue to see some consumer headwinds that are going to put modest downward pressure on traffic until we finally lap this.

此外，展望未來，我們的觀點是，我們將繼續看到一些消費者逆風，這將對流量造成適度的下行壓力，直到我們最終實現這一點。

But we continue to believe that we're in a position based on our book of business and the innovation work we do to deliver low single-digit growth volume -- volumetric growth.

但我們仍然相信，根據我們的業務記錄和我們所做的創新工作，我們能夠實現低個位數的成長量——體積成長。

Great. And maybe if I could actually get a higher-level question on the consumer at as we progress through or enter, I guess, calendar 2025. Can you just give us some ideas around what you would see in the consumer that would have you be kind of incrementally positive about some of those consumption trends in the new year?

偉大的。也許當我們進入或進入 2025 年時，我是否真的可以向消費者提出更高層次的問題。您能否給我們一些關於您在消費者身上看到的想法，讓您對新的一年中的一些消費趨勢逐漸持正面態度？

Is it just getting past the election? Is it interest rate cuts? Is it -- just anything that you think would yield kind of modestly positive improvements on the consumer.

是不是剛剛過了大選？是降息嗎？是不是——任何你認為會為消費者帶來適度正面改善的東西。

So -- and I wouldn't, I mean, maybe to clarify, I don't know if I see a lot of things out there in the consumer environment that give me reason to be positive.

所以——我不會，我的意思是，也許要澄清一下，我不知道我是否在消費者環境中看到了很多讓我有理由持正面態度的事情。

As we've talked about some of these calls before, I think a lot of this ties all the way back to an error-free money and the fact that consumers were spending and then when rates started to climb and inflation started to bite, these consumers had to start to make some pretty tough trade-offs.

正如我們之前討論過其中一些呼籲一樣，我認為其中許多都與無差錯貨幣以及消費者支出這一事實有關，然後當利率開始攀升且通貨膨脹開始加劇時，這些消費者必須開始做出一些相當艱難的權衡。

I think we're in a point now where maybe over the last 16, 18 months, we've seen wage growth exceed inflation. But I think that part of it is going to take time. So I don't think there's necessarily a quick fix.

我認為我們現在正處於這樣一個階段：也許在過去 16、18 個月裡，我們已經看到薪資成長超過了通貨膨脹。但我認為這部分需要時間。所以我認為不一定有快速解決方案。

I think what I was pointing to is the fact that we're going to start to lap these declines. And what I don't necessarily believe is that the declines are going to compound and continue to spiral inward.

我想我所指的是我們將開始經歷這些下降的事實。我不一定相信下降會加劇並繼續向內螺旋上升。

My own personal belief is that consumers and households around the country are balancing sources and uses of cash and eventually they're going to hit a point of equilibrium. I would distinguish that necessarily from being more optimistic and plenty to growth.

我個人的信念是，全國各地的消費者和家庭正在平衡現金的來源和使用，最終他們將達到平衡點。我認為這必然與更樂觀和充足的成長區分開來。

Okay. Great. Appreciate the color. I'll hop back in queue.

好的。偉大的。欣賞顏色。我會跳回隊列。

Of course.

當然。

Thank you for the question.

謝謝你的提問。

Andrew Wolf, C.L. King.

安德魯沃爾夫，C.L.國王。

Great. Thank you, and good morning. (multiple speakers)

偉大的。謝謝你，早安。（多個發言者）

On the kind of the profitability divergence in the second quarter in a row where, you know, foodservice is down and retail is up, where the volumes are better at foodservice. And obviously, there's some pricing.

關於連續第二季的獲利能力差異，你知道，餐飲服務下降，零售上升，其中餐飲服務的銷售量更好。顯然，有一些定價。

I think, sequentially, the foodservice profitability improved. So is there just some kind of stickiness in your input costs that you have to -- is there some contractual just sort of lag going on versus something structural?

我認為，餐飲服務的獲利能力依序提高。那麼，你的投入成本中是否存在某種必須的黏性──是否存在某種合約性的滯後與結構性的滯後？

Just -- can you help us sort of understand that maybe if you're willing to give us a sense of when you think the foodservice profitability, if it's just contractual or market related, when that could improve or continue to improve and match the volume?

只是 - 您能否幫助我們了解一下，也許您願意讓我們了解一下您認為餐飲服務盈利能力的時間，如果它只是合同或市場相關的，什麼時候可以改善或繼續改善並與數量相匹配？

Yes. So fair question.

是的。這麼公平的問題。

Foodservice operating income declined slightly this quarter. Really, despite the volume performance driven by some higher labor and benefits, some supply chain investments we're making to improve performance, some incremental outsourcing.

本季餐飲服務營業收入略為下降。實際上，儘管產量績效是由一些更高的勞動力和福利推動的，但我們正在為提高績效而進行一些供應鏈投資，以及一些增量外包。

We've invested in a new foodservice trade system. We had some higher customer programming costs. And overall, the cost savings initiatives that we benefited from favored the retail segment a little bit more in the foodservice segment this quarter.

我們投資了一個新的餐飲服務貿易系統。我們的客戶編程成本較高。整體而言，本季我們受益的成本節約措施對餐飲服務領域的零售領域更加有利。

Overall, we have some nice plans to improve performance there. We do expect to get improved efficiencies going forward. Certainly, the outsourcing we expect that will be reduced in the coming quarters and we have some network optimization in place.

總的來說，我們有一些很好的計劃來提高效能。我們確實希望未來能夠提高效率。當然，我們預計未來幾季的外包將會減少，並且我們已經進行了一些網路優化。

So you know, in total, we feel fine about foodservice operating income prospects.

所以你知道，總的來說，我們對餐飲服務的營業收入前景感到滿意。

I think this quarter reflected some investments we're making, as well as really the cost savings that we experienced this particular quarter favored retail a little bit more.

我認為本季反映了我們正在進行的一些投資，以及我們在這個特定季度所經歷的成本節省實際上對零售業更加有利。

And Dave, if you want to add anything?

戴夫，你想補充什麼嗎？

No, I -- Tommy, you talked about the system that we'd put into the business as well. That's going to help -- it sits on top of SAP. It's going help us manage trade, which I think it's going to be important, both to facilitate our growth and manage our spend on trade in that part of the business as well.

不，我 - 湯米，你也談到了我們投入業務的系統。這會有所幫助——它位於 SAP 之上。它將幫助我們管理貿易，我認為這很重要，既可以促進我們的成長，也可以管理我們在該業務部分的貿易支出。

Got it. That's helpful.

知道了。這很有幫助。

So it's not a PNOC thing, it's more

所以這不是 PNOC 的事，而是更多

No.

不。

some investments, the IT investment that I guess you had to allocate to that or into this segment and the other one.

一些投資，我猜你必須分配給這個部門或這個部門以及另一個部門的IT投資。

Yeah.

是的。

Okay. Good. When does that begin to reflect in, you know -- is that going to reflect more in sales productivity?

好的。好的。這什麼時候開始反映出來——這會更反映在銷售生產力上嗎？

We react and improvement.

我們做出反應並改進。

I think I think we'll start to see the benefits in the back half of the fiscal for sure. We feel very -- some of -- a lot of the initiatives are going in now and both on the manufacturing and the system side and the rest throughout the year, we'll continue to see that play through.

我想我們肯定會在本財年後半段開始看到好處。我們覺得現在正在實施許多舉措，無論是在製造方面還是在系統方面以及全年的其他方面，我們將繼續看到這些舉措的實施。

Thank you.

謝謝。

And then just one other question, if I might. On the Texas Roadhouse, the rolls. It sounds like -- I don't know your budget, it just sounds like pretty really -- I know you guys were bullish, but it sounds quite like you've had some pretty good numbers.

如果可以的話，還有一個問題。在德克薩斯州路屋，麵包卷。聽起來——我不知道你們的預算，聽起來真的很——我知道你們很樂觀，但聽起來你們有一些相當不錯的數字。

So first of all, can you just talk about it versus what you had hoped you would get in terms of distribution, follow through, consumer trial, and whether there's repeat at this point? And I think you also put out the idea that there's going to be line expansion. So just a sense of the near-term numbers, how they're trending and what this [count], what the launch could mean down the road?

首先，您能否談談它與您希望在分銷、跟進、消費者試用以及目前是否有重複方面獲得的效果？我認為您也提出了要擴大生產線的想法。那麼，只要了解一下近期的數字，它們的趨勢如何，這[重要]，發布對未來意味著什麼？

Yeah. So great question.

是的。很好的問題。

And it's one that we're really excited to be monitoring. I think as you guys know, this is an item in their restaurants that has a near cult following. And so we had it in a test in three markets, Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky, and it performed there -- well there.

我們非常高興能夠對其進行監控。我想你們都知道，這是他們餐廳裡近乎狂熱的追隨者的一道菜。因此，我們在俄亥俄州、印第安納州和肯塔基州這三個市場進行了測試，結果在那裡表現良好。

But it's hard to project data on how that's going to work across all retailers. So during the quarter, we expanded full distribution into all of Walmart. And really, we had one month, September, where we had all Walmart stores, and that's where we saw the performance of this thing really start to take off.

但很難預測這將如何在所有零售商中發揮作用的數據。因此，在本季度，我們將全面分銷擴展到整個沃爾瑪。事實上，我們在 9 月的一個月裡，所有的沃爾瑪商店都開業了，就在那時我們看到了這個東西的表現真正開始起飛。

Now, you ask a great question about repeat. We only have about four weeks of data, so it's hard to see. But the early indications are that we are seeing two-time buyers coming back. But it's really, it's hard to say.

現在，你問了一個關於重複的好問題。我們只有大約四個星期的數據，所以很難看到。但早期跡象表明，我們看到兩次購屋者正在回歸。但真的很難說。

What I would tell you, Andrew, just dimensionalizing this thing, we really didn't have a good sense of how big it could be. But if -- put it this way, if we translate that trial we're seeing today into repeat, I think this is something that obviously won't probably get to the size of a Chick-fil-A, but it could rival something like a Buffalo Wild Wings.

我要告訴你的是，安德魯，只是對這個東西進行維度化，我們真的不太清楚它有多大。但是，如果 - 這麼說，如果我們將今天看到的試驗轉化為重複，我認為這顯然可能不會達到福來雞的大小，但它可以與某些東西相媲美就像水牛野翼一樣。

So it remains to be seen. It's a really powerful item. It's a great brand. It's a great platform. We're able to run it in our own factories, and we're excited.

所以還有待觀察。這是一個非常強大的物品。這是一個很棒的品牌。這是一個很棒的平台。我們能夠在自己的工廠運作它，我們很興奮。

During the call, you heard us mention the fact that given the strength of the demand, we've had to go back and look at a regional rollout plan or a sort of a customer-by-customer rollout plan here. We've also added to add incremental labor to our factories. We've added another shift to keep up with this demand.

在電話會議中，您聽到我們提到這樣一個事實，即考慮到需求的強勁，我們必須回去查看區域推出計劃或逐個客戶的推出計劃。我們也為我們的工廠增加了增量勞動力。我們增加了另一個轉變來滿足這項需求。

So I mean, all of this just give me a couple of proof points that it's exceeded our expectations in terms of its strength. We're adding the labor, we're adding the incremental capacity, and the hard to roll out through the rest of retail will begin in the in Q3 in Q4.

所以我的意思是，所有這些只是給了我一些證據，證明它的強度超出了我們的預期。我們正在增加勞動力，我們正在增加增量產能，而在其他零售領域推廣的困難將在第三季和第四季開始。

So it will be a contributor to this fiscal year, but we believe it will even be a bigger contributor in fiscal year '26. But it's just a great example of how this licensing strategy is extensible beyond sauces to really anywhere we have an iconic product away from home that consumers want to be able to enjoy every day.

因此，它將為本財年做出貢獻，但我們相信它將在 26 財年做出更大的貢獻。但這只是一個很好的例子，說明了這種授權策略如何擴展到醬料之外的任何地方，我們擁有消費者希望每天都能享用的標誌性產品。

Well, good. That's good to hear. Thank you.

嗯，很好。很高興聽到這個消息。謝謝。

Of course, thank you.

當然，謝謝。

Brian Holland, D.A. Davidson.

布萊恩·霍蘭德，D.A.戴維森。

Thanks. Good morning, gentlemen.

謝謝。早安，先生們。

First question, I guess. Just trying to triangulate the downward pricing pressure in retail, which has gone on for a few quarters now, and you talked about one of the sources of that being some of the new product launches in support of that.

第一個問題，我猜。只是試圖對零售業的價格下行壓力進行三角測量，這種壓力已經持續了幾個季度，您談到了這種壓力的來源之一是支持這一壓力的一些新產品的發布。

Presuming that obviously continues as some of these launches build over the coming months, can you knock kind of net neutral and -- but you do have some cost saves. Just bringing that altogether, how do we think about the shape of gross margin from here over the balance of fiscal '25?

假設這種情況顯然會持續下去，隨著其中一些產品在未來幾個月內推出，您是否可以實現網路中立，並且確實可以節省一些成本。總而言之，我們如何看待 25 財年餘額中的毛利率形狀？

Yeah. So overall, we grew our gross margin 20 basis points in the quarter.

是的。總體而言，本季我們的毛利率成長了 20 個基點。

And I think from an overall standpoint, we feel on the balance of the year, we can grow beyond that number, from a from a tailwind standpoint, you're right, we don't have a big PNOC tailwind that we had from last year. But at the same time, we have a nice productivity pipeline, value engineering, factory automation, SAP benefits, that we think will help the retail and the overall company gross margin improvement.

我認為從整體角度來看，我們感覺今年的平衡，我們可以超越這個數字，從順風的角度來看，你是對的，我們沒有像去年那樣有很大的 PNOC 順風年。但同時，我們擁有良好的生產力管道、價值工程、工廠自動化、SAP 優勢，我們認為這將有助於零售業和整個公司毛利率的提高。

From a headwind standpoint, the things we're watching -- now on the trade, I want to be clear, we activated additional trade spending in the second half of last year. And we continued when we saw consumer trends start to slow in the first quarter, we continued that. So over the year over year that was a bit of a headwind.

從逆風的角度來看，我們正在關注的事情——現在在貿易方面，我想明確的是，我們在去年下半年啟動了額外的貿易支出。當我們看到第一季消費者趨勢開始放緩時，我們繼續這樣做。因此，年復一年，這有點逆風。

We expect that to kind of neutralize in the back half. So that won't be a headwind for margins as we get in the second half. But the things we're watching really is if we do see further consumer pullback, we might have to activate some additional spending, but that's not currently in our plans.

我們預計這種情況會在後半段抵消。因此，這不會像下半年那樣成為利潤率的阻力。但我們真正關注的是，如果我們確實看到消費者進一步減少，我們可能必須啟動一些額外支出，但這不在我們目前的計劃中。

And then the other thing we're monitoring from a headwind standpoint is the foodservice traffic that Dave talked about in -- if we do see further slowdowns there, that could be a headwind in terms of factory absorption in the volume impact.

然後，我們從逆風的角度監控的另一件事是戴夫談到的餐飲服務流量——如果我們確實看到那裡進一步放緩，那麼就工廠吸收數量影響而言，這可能是一個逆風。

But overall, we're -- the increase in gross margin that we experienced in the quarter was in line with our expectations, and we expect to do better as the year progresses.

但總體而言，我們在本季經歷的毛利率成長符合我們的預期，隨著時間的推移，我們預計會做得更好。

Appreciate the color, Tom. And then, coming out of the quarter, looking at the scanner data. Pretty nice acceleration in the business. Does not appear to be storm-related, seems to be focused on the breads and rolls products, which I don't think are now necessarily just Texas Roadhouse, just given how recent that launch is.

欣賞這個顏色，湯姆。然後，季度結束後，查看掃描器資料。業務上的加速相當不錯。似乎與風暴無關，似乎專注於麵包和麵包卷產品，我認為現在不一定只是德克薩斯州路屋，只是考慮到該產品的推出是最近的。

So Dave, maybe you could just remind us some of the moving parts because I know that there are few within that category and what might be helping sort of catalyze the acceleration in performance and in breads and rolls that we're seeing maybe in the last two months or so? And maybe how sustainable that is?

所以，戴夫，也許你可以提醒我們一些活動部件，因為我知道該類別中幾乎沒有什麼，以及什麼可能有助於催化性能以及我們可能在過去看到的麵包和麵包卷的加速兩個月左右？也許這有多可持續？

Yeah. So, Brian, I think I would point to -- we felt like there was relative strength across the whole portfolio, both licensing and some of our own brands, as far as our consumption goes. And as you've pointed out, we felt like when you looked at the five week versus the third week --13 week, it in fact got a little bit stronger. And we think that based on the strength of the ideas we have, that we should continue to perform relatively well.

是的。所以，布萊恩，我想我會指出——就我們的消費而言，我們覺得整個產品組合（包括授權品牌和我們的一些自有品牌）都具有相對優勢。正如您所指出的，我們覺得當您比較第五週與第三週（第 13 週）時，它實際上變得更強了一點。我們認為，基於我們擁有的想法的力量，我們應該繼續表現相對較好。

Now moving in closer to what we have going on in the bakery part of the business, we have won one relative headwind in it's New York Texas Toast, where we saw the volume there in pounds drop down a little bit in the 13 week, and I want to clarify maybe why.

現在更接近我們在麵包店業務中所發生的情況，我們在紐約德克薩斯吐司中贏得了一個相對的逆風，我們看到該地區的銷量（以磅為單位）在第13 週內略有下降，我想澄清一下原因。

Last year at this time, a very big private label supplier that supplies both Kroger and Walmart was having supply issues. So we were able to see our share jump from, I don't know, it was maybe 40 points up to 44 points as we captured a lot of incremental pounds.

去年的這個時候，一家為克羅格和沃爾瑪供貨的大型自有品牌供應商遇到了供應問題。所以我們能夠看到我們的份額從，我不知道，可能是 40 點上升到 44 點，因為我們獲得了很多增量磅。

Now that private label supplier is back online and we're seeing that we're giving back a little bit of that business. But overall, our New York Texas Toast proposition continues to be healthy, and we are excited about that gluten-free item that we're going to be building distribution on throughout the remainder of the year.

現在，自有品牌供應商已重新上線，我們看到我們正在回饋部分業務。但總體而言，我們的紐約德州吐司主張仍然是健康的，我們對無麩質產品感到興奮，我們將在今年剩餘時間內進行分銷。

On Sister Schubert, here's another business where we're seeing sales growth. And in the more recent period, we're seeing pound growth. One of the noted features last year on this business was, as you recall, we downsized the weight of the rolls, so if you're tracking our volume in terms of pounds, you saw it was different than our value -- our volume in terms of units, we've cycled all that now and the underline proposition continues to be strong.

關於《舒伯特修女》，我們看到了另一項銷售成長的業務。在最近一段時間，我們看到英鎊的增長。正如您所記得的那樣，去年這項業務的一個顯著特點是，我們減輕了卷的重量，因此，如果您以磅為單位跟踪我們的體積，您會發現它與我們的價值不同- 我們的體積就單位而言，我們現在已經循環了所有這些，並且下線主張仍然很強勁。

We're expecting a good performance during the upcoming holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas. And we're also seeing some distribution builds on things like our cinnamon rolls. So that part of the business is strong.

我們期待在即將到來的假期、感恩節和聖誕節期間有良好的表現。我們也看到一些發行版是建立在肉桂捲之類的基礎上的。所以這部分業務很強。

And now finally on Texas Toast, that really only impacted in any notable way the five week. As I said, we expanded from being in just a couple of states to all Walmart's, let's call it, roughly 4,000 stores. And if you look at scanner data there, you can really see that item moving pretty rapidly. So I think its strength end to end.

現在最後是德克薩斯吐司，這實際上只在五週內以任何顯著的方式產生了影響。正如我所說，我們的業務範圍從僅在幾個州擴展到所有沃爾瑪（我們可以這樣稱呼它），大約有 4,000 家商店。如果您查看那裡的掃描器數據，您確實可以看到該物品移動得非常快。所以我認為它的力量是端到端的。

What's interesting done on Texas Toast is -- and you guys are smart enough, you are going to be asking this at some point of probably sooner rather than later, how cannibalistic is this going to be towards Sister Schubert and we're pleased to report at least so far it seems to be incremental.

《德州吐司》上有趣的事情是——你們夠聰明，你們會在某個時候（可能是遲早的事）問這個問題，這對舒伯特修女來說會是多麼的同類相食，我們很高興地報告至少到目前為止，它似乎是漸進的。

We are seeing some very modest cannibalism, but generally, this is bringing new consumers to the category. We also believe this brand platform is going to allow us to expand more rapidly into areas out west, where the Sister Schubert's brand just hasn't traveled quite as well. So we're optimistic about that.

我們看到了一些非常溫和的同類相食行為，但總的來說，這為該類別帶來了新的消費者。我們也相信，這個品牌平台將使我們能夠更快地擴展到西部地區，而舒伯特修女的品牌在這些地區的傳播還不夠深入。所以我們對此持樂觀態度。

Appreciate the color.

欣賞顏色。

Maybe last one, just thinking about kind of the dual levers that at least theoretically exist between, you know, continuing to build the licensing pipeline and potentially acquisitions. Just wondering from a buy versus build standpoint?

也許是最後一個，只是考慮至少在理論上存在於繼續建立授權管道和潛在收購之間的雙重槓桿。只是想從購買與建造的角度來看？

Maybe there you're mutually exclusive. Maybe we do both simultaneously. But obviously, just getting back to the foodservice backdrop and the softening at a high level, what we're seeing across the industry, I think I would at least theorize that that should maybe or that could help drive conversations with you all as they would need to the foodservice players diversify their sources of revenue.

也許你們是互相排斥的。也許我們同時做這兩件事。但顯然，回到餐飲服務的背景和高水平的疲軟，我們在整個行業中看到的情況，我想我至少會理論上認為這應該或可以幫助推動與你們所有人的對話，因為他們會這樣做做餐飲服務企業需要多元化收入來源。

So maybe just kind of an update on what the licensing pipeline looks like, if there's any impact from softening foodservice traffic and whether that impacts how you think about your willingness to acquire an asset versus, you know, continue to kind of leaning on building the pipeline or if you could do both simultaneously.

因此，也許只是對許可管道的情況進行更新，餐飲服務流量的疲軟是否會產生任何影響，以及這是否會影響您對購買資產的意願的看法，而不是繼續傾向於建立資產管道或者如果你可以同時進行這兩項工作。

Yeah. Well, maybe I'll start first with the latter, Brian and say, we believe that we're in a position where we could do both at the same time, right? With SAP behind us and the capacity expansion projects behind us, we feel -- and a clean balance sheet. We are in a position to make an acquisition if the value's right.

是的。好吧，也許我會先從後者開始，布萊恩說，我們相信我們可以同時做到這兩點，對嗎？有了 SAP 的支持和產能擴張項目的支持，我們感覺資產負債表乾淨了。如果價值合適，我們就可以進行收購。

We have an active M&A process where we're constantly screening. But for us, it's going to come down to discounted cash flows and IRRs, NPVs, and just looking at is this going to be accretive to our business and create value for our shareholders.

我們有一個積極的併購流程，不斷進行篩選。但對我們來說，這將歸結為貼現現金流、IRR、NPV，只要看看這是否會增加我們的業務並為我們的股東創造價值。

Now to the second question on licensing, you've been following us long enough to know that it almost feels like this has built with every passing period.

現在關於許可的第二個問題，您已經關注我們足夠長的時間了，知道它幾乎感覺就像是隨著每個時期的過去而建立的。

We have more proof points in the marketplace that licensing can coexist in a complementary way with a restaurant's own business. If you go back to the earliest days, some of the restaurant tours were concerned that it would cannibalize. But I think we've all learned now that that's not the case. And that it's an incremental source of revenue and it's an incremental way for consumers to engage with our brand.

我們在市場上有更多的證據表明許可可以與餐廳自己的業務以互補的方式共存。如果你回到最早的日子，一些餐廳旅遊擔心它會蠶食。但我想我們現在都知道事實並非如此。這是一種增量收入來源，也是消費者與我們品牌互動的一種增量方式。

So with that backdrop, I would say our discussions with prospective license partners and with existing license partners are as exciting as I've seen in the last five years, gives us a lot of optimism to move into new areas where we haven't played. So we're bullish about that. also.

因此，在這種背景下，我想說，我們與潛在許可合作夥伴和現有許可合作夥伴的討論與我在過去五年中所看到的一樣令人興奮，這讓我們對進入我們尚未涉足的新領域充滿了樂觀情緒。所以我們對此持樂觀態度。也.

The good news is we don't have to worry about overpaying to pursue that business. It's a way to create value and keep our eye on the ball in terms of how we're spending shareholder money.

好消息是我們不必擔心為開展這項業務而支付過高的費用。這是一種創造價值的方式，讓我們能夠密切關注股東資金的使用。

That's great. I'll leave it there. Thanks, Dave.

那太棒了。我會把它留在那裡。謝謝，戴夫。

Alton Stump, Loop Capital.

奧爾頓·斯坦普（Alton Stump），Loop Capital。

Great, thank you. Good morning.

太好了，謝謝。早安.

Just wan to ask first on QSR side of things, there's obviously been a lot of talk about how the pricing that has driven your comparable sales last couple of years is certainly drying up. But because of that, we're hearing a lot of news that there's going to be an increased focus on driving value, especially through new products as we move into calendar 2025

只是想先問 QSR 方面的問題，顯然有很多關於過去幾年推動可比銷售的定價肯定會枯竭的討論。但正因為如此，我們聽到很多消息稱，隨著我們進入 2025 年，我們將更加重視推動價值，特別是透過新產品

And one, are you hearing that as well from the customers? And two, could that be a potential driver from your major accounts if we do you see more of a focus on traffic versus pricing over the course of next year?

第一，您是否也從客戶那裡聽到了這一點？第二，如果我們認為明年您會更專注於流量而不是定價，這可能會成為您主要客戶的潛在驅動力嗎？

Yeah, Alton, that's a terrific question, and the answer is yes. For a lot of customers as they look to drive traffic into stores, lever 1 is they focus on value and lever 2 to they focus on hero items that they can advertise. We're finding that the inbound calls to develop hero items has increased for us.

是的，奧爾頓，這是一個很棒的問題，答案是肯定的。對於許多希望增加商店客流量的顧客來說，槓桿 1 是他們專注於價值，槓桿 2 是他們專注於可以做廣告的英雄商品。我們發現開發英雄物品的呼入電話增加。

So we have a lot of work that's in flight right now to develop sauces in particular that we can place on nuggets, and strips, and all sort -- wings, and all sorts of different chicken items.

因此，我們現在正在進行大量工作來開發醬汁，特別是我們可以將其放在雞塊、條狀以及各種雞翅和各種不同的雞肉製品上。

So I do think that even in a -- in the midst of challenging industry headwinds, we have in our business a bit of an offset because of our culinary ability, and the ability to scale those to some of the biggest restaurant chains in the country. So we won't defy gravity. We're going to still be held to some of the same macro trends as everybody else. But I think it allows us to demonstrate a level of let's call it relative outperformance usually.

因此，我確實認為，即使在充滿挑戰的行業逆風中，由於我們的烹飪能力以及將其擴展到該國一些最大的連鎖餐廳的能力，我們的業務也有一些抵消。所以我們不會反抗地心引力。我們仍將與其他人一樣堅持一些相同的宏觀趨勢。但我認為它讓我們能夠展現出某種程度的表現，我們通常稱之為相對優異表現。

That makes sense, David.

這是有道理的，大衛。

And then I guess just on the licensing side, I think probably the most impressive number that you gave with your -- all of these new things going on, which are certainly very interesting and exciting, but what's the fact that Olive Garden, which I think has been I think in place since 2012 was up over 3% for the quarter.

然後我想在許可方面，我認為可能是您提供的最令人印象深刻的數字 - 所有這些新事物正在發生，這當然非常有趣和令人興奮，但事實是橄欖園，我認為自2012 年以來，本季成長超過3%。

How much of the role as you're talking to whether it is existing and/or potential licensing, saying, well, not only are we driving great growth short term for some of these new brands we have signed on. But we have anything Olive Garden that has been in place for well over a decade with our license business, but it is still growing. How much does that play into the attractiveness you think of potential partners to sign up with you?

您所談論的角色有多少是現有的和/或潛在的許可，好吧，我們不僅在短期內推動我們簽約的一些新品牌的巨大增長。但我們擁有橄欖園的任何東西，這些都已經在我們的授權業務中存在了十多年，但它仍在成長。這對您認為與您簽約的潛在合作夥伴的吸引力有多大？

I think very much so. And it's a great observation on your part. It's -- I think there was a fear that we first that we would launch the item and it cannibalized the restaurant. We got to the other side of that and then we'd launched the item and then where do you go from there?

我也這麼認為。這對你來說是一個很好的觀察。我認為人們擔心我們首先會推出該產品，然後它會蠶食餐廳。我們到達了另一邊，然後我們推出了該項目，然後您將何去何從？

But in this case, I want to give a lot of credit to the team at Olive Garden that we regularly meet with their marketing team. Their head of supply chain that oversees this initiative, their head of menu development, and we're constantly looking at new items.

但在這種情況下，我想對 Olive Garden 的團隊給予很大的信任，我們定期與他們的行銷團隊會面。他們的供應鏈負責人負責監督這項舉措，他們的菜單開發負責人，我們一直在尋找新專案。

In the early days it was items that were on the menu. And now I would tell you one of the most exciting features of this as they recognize that their brand has really big shoulders. So we're bringing into the market now dressings that are outside of what they serve and their restaurants like Caesar and some of the others that we've launched.

在早期，菜單上有這些項目。現在我要告訴你最令人興奮的特點之一，因為他們認識到他們的品牌有非常大的肩膀。因此，我們現在將一些調味料引入市場，這些調味料超出了他們所提供的服務以及他們的餐廳（例如凱撒）和我們推出的其他一些餐廳的範圍。

So I continue to believe that there's a lot more we can do to mutually grow with our partners at Olive Garden. They're just -- they are the case study that I think a lot of other people point to.

因此，我仍然相信，我們可以做更多的事情來與 Olive Garden 的合作夥伴共同成長。我認為很多其他人都指出了這些案例研究。

Sure, makes sense. Thanks so much. I'll hop back in the queue.

當然，有道理。非常感謝。我會跳回到隊列中。

Of course.

當然。

Todd Brooks, The Benchmark Company.

托德·布魯克斯，基準公司。

Hey, thanks. Good morning, everyone.

嘿，謝謝。大家早安。

I wanted to loop back on the foodservice side Dave, if we could.

如果可以的話，我想回到餐飲服務部門戴夫。

Please.

請。

Obviously strong trends in the quarter relative to what we're seeing in the industry.

與我們在行業中看到的情況相比，本季的趨勢顯然很強勁。

You talked last quarter about some deferred limited time offers, that slide out of your fiscal fourth quarter and into the fiscal first quarter.

您上個季度談到了一些延期限時優惠，這些優惠從第四財季滑入第一財季。

So is there any element of actually an overabundance of LTOs in this quarter? Or as you look at the forward calendar with your restaurant partners, do you see a maintenance of this level of the LTO activity so that we shouldn't expect a little bit of a dip off of the volumes that we saw in this quarter?

那麼，本季是否存在 LTO 過多的因素呢？或者，當您與餐廳合作夥伴一起查看遠期日曆時，您是否認為 LTO 活動會維持在這一水平，因此我們不應預期本季度的銷量會略有下降？

I mean maybe going right to the question. We expect to continue to deliver low single-digit growth even in this challenging environment on the business.

我的意思是也許可以直接回答問題。即使在這種充滿挑戰的業務環境中，我們預計仍將繼續實現低個位數成長。

And some of that's going to come by way of base where we have customers like Domino's, which I think are focused on value and they're continuing to outperform. We have customers like Chick-fil-A, which albeit are seeing a little bit more challenging traffic, they're continuing to invest through this environment with new store openings. And then a fair amount of new item activity with customers.

其中一些將透過我們擁有像達美樂這樣的客戶的基地來實現，我認為這些客戶專注於價值，並且他們將繼續表現出色。我們有像 Chick-fil-A 這樣的客戶，儘管他們面臨更具挑戰性的客流量，但他們仍在繼續透過開設新店來利用這種環境進行投資。然後與客戶進行大量的新產品活動。

So I -- we don't see anything at least right now, Todd, that leads us to believe we need to revise our view on low single-digit growth. I think if the economy was a little more optimistic we might be talking about mid-single digit. But we feel like it's prudent to advise, low single-digit growth today.

所以我——托德，至少現在我們沒有看到任何東西讓我們相信我們需要修改我們對低個位數成長的看法。我認為，如果經濟更加樂觀一點，我們可能會談論中個位數。但我們認為，今天的低個位數成長是謹慎的建議。

Okay, fair enough. Thank you.

好吧，很公平。謝謝。

If I look at the retail operating margin, we're inflecting higher here. I think we're seeing kind of some of the best margins that we've seen since pre-pandemic for this segment. What's driving that? Is it mix within the business? And can you remind us or maybe discuss what the license branded products as that kind of revenue mix on those products mix is higher. Is that what's dragging the retail segment margins up?

如果我看一下零售營業利潤率，我們會發現這裡的轉折點更高。我認為我們正在看到自大流行前以來該細分市場的一些最佳利潤率。是什麼推動了這一點？業務內部是否混合？您能否提醒我們或討論授權品牌產品是什麼，因為這些產品組合的收入組合更高。這是拉動零售業務利潤率上升的原因嗎？

Maybe I'll first and just say our strategy on licensing is that the items need to be at or better than our line average. So when we enter into these agreements and we look at them, we sort of lay a target out there that we need to get to that. And so really, it's not necessarily that.

也許我首先要說的是，我們的授權策略是，這些產品需要達到或優於我們的產品線平均值。因此，當我們簽訂這些協議並審視它們時，我們就設定了一個我們需要實現的目標。事實上，事實並非如此。

Tom, I'll let you (inaudible) some of the activity.

湯姆，我會讓你（聽不清楚）一些活動。

Yeah, you know, within the retail segment, I think there's a couple things that are helping. One, the broader cost savings initiatives programs, the value engineering, factory automation, SAP benefits, have been skewing more to retail.

是的，你知道，在零售領域，我認為有幾件事是有幫助的。第一，更廣泛的成本節約計畫、價值工程、工廠自動化、SAP 優勢，已經更向零售業傾斜。

We also, from a margin standpoint, we've exited a few businesses over the years that were not as profitable, and that's helping the margins as well. So it's a combination of some of the portfolio choices in the overall supply chain efforts that we're making to improve those margins that have helped retail.

從利潤率的角度來看，我們也退出了一些獲利能力不佳的業務，這也有助於提高利潤率。因此，這是我們為提高有助於零售業的利潤而做出的整體供應鏈努力中的一些投資組合選擇的組合。

And Tom, would it be fair to add on this one, too, that the pricing in this business lags a little bit versus foodservice, where mark to market, quarter to quarter.

湯姆，公平地說，這個行業的定價比餐飲服務稍微落後一點，餐飲服務是按市場定價，按季度計算的。

Yes, sure.

是的，當然。

And so once pricing did in fact catch up on that business, we saw the margins return. And then as cost in areas have moderated, unlike foodservice, where you give it back, that the cost sticks. So that's been a modest contributor to this overall margin improvement as well.

因此，一旦定價確實趕上了該業務，我們就看到了利潤率的回升。然後，隨著地區成本的下降，與餐飲服務不同的是，你可以將其返還，成本就會保持不變。因此，這對整體利潤率的改善也做出了適度的貢獻。

Okay. Great. And my final one. Just I know we kind of touched on acquisition pipeline on the brand side. But you've talked about a second leg or maybe the next use of capital is for an acquired facility that keeps you from maybe necessarily building something greenfield or really helps to optimize the current production footprint.

好的。偉大的。還有我的最後一張。據我所知，我們有點觸及了品牌方面的收購管道。但你已經談到了第二條腿，或者資金的下一個用途可能是收購設施，這可能使你不必建造一些綠地或真正有助於優化當前的生產足跡。

Anything to update us on that front as far as targets or progress that you've made there? Thanks.

關於您在這方面取得的目標或進展，有什麼可以向我們介紹的嗎？謝謝。

Yeah, Todd, what I would say is we're working on both fronts.

是的，托德，我想說的是我們正在兩個方面努力。

I think on the factory side, we broadly see ourselves well positioned to continue to grow, both with our existing customers and new customers. While we're seeing some current softness in foodservice traffic, we don't see that as a longer-term trend. And we think we're well positioned with our sauce portfolio to continue to expand and grow.

我認為在工廠方面，我們普遍認為自己處於有利位置，可以與現有客戶和新客戶一起繼續發展。雖然我們看到目前餐飲服務流量有些疲軟，但我們不認為這是長期趨勢。我們認為我們的醬料產品組合處於有利位置，可以繼續擴大和成長。

So we're definitely working both ends of the equation for retail looking at some of the brands that fit into our core competencies. And as Dave said, we have an active screening effort. And then certainly, on the network side, we think there's probably an opportunity out there for us there as well.

因此，我們肯定會在零售業的兩端努力尋找一些符合我們核心競爭力的品牌。正如戴夫所說，我們正在積極進行篩檢工作。當然，在網路方面，我們認為我們也可能有機會。

Maybe I'll just add to that (multiple speakers) we're just trying to constantly balance the long term and the short term. One of the things that we've done over the last handful of years working together is we've laid out a longer-term strategy in terms of the categories we want to be in, the margins we want to achieve, the growth rates we want to deliver.

也許我會補充一點（多個發言者），我們只是試著不斷平衡長期和短期。過去幾年我們合作所做的事情之一是，我們根據我們想要進入的類別、我們想要實現的利潤率、我們想要的成長率制定了長期策略。

And we've had to go back at points in time and invest in capabilities or prune pieces of the portfolio. And Tom pointed to plants, in particular, we do feel like there's an opportunity for us just to continue to strengthen our manufacturing network to improve our delivered cost and our service to our customers and set the business up long term.

我們不得不回顧過去，對能力進行投資或削減投資組合的各個部分。湯姆特別指出了工廠，我們確實覺得我們有機會繼續加強我們的製造網絡，以改善我們的交付成本和對客戶的服務，並建立長期業務。

So this is very much, I think, in keeping with our priority to think long term, execute short term and continue to balance between the two.

因此，我認為，這非常符合我們長期思考、短期執行並繼續在兩者之間取得平衡的優先事項。

Okay, great. Thank you.

好的，太好了。謝謝。

Robert Dickerson, Jefferies.

羅伯特·迪克森，傑弗里斯。

Great. Thanks so much. I have two pretty quick clarifying questions. So I think I heard you say QSR traffic was up in the quarter. So I guess, first, I wasn't -- I just might not have heard it. If that was for the kind of industry overall or for your customers. And then you also kind of spoke to increased demand from some of those national chains.

偉大的。非常感謝。我有兩個非常快速的澄清問題。所以我想我聽到你說 QSR 流量在本季度有所增加。所以我想，首先，我沒有——我只是可能沒有聽到。如果這是針對整個行業或您的客戶。然後您還談到了一些全國性連鎖店的需求增加。

So I'm just trying to get a better sense of like --

所以我只是想獲得更好的喜歡感--

Yeah.

是的。

Is your volume performance, I mean clearly, it's being driven by some of the new items and your success with those customers. But is it also -- are you kind of implying that kind of your weighted foodservice customer base maybe was doing a little bit better, a little bit more advantaged relative to the industry?

我的意思是，你的銷售表現顯然是由一些新產品以及你在這些客戶中取得的成功所推動的。但你是否也在暗示，相對於業界而言，你的加權餐飲服務客戶群可能做得更好一點，更有優勢一點？

That's first question.

這是第一個問題。

Yeah so, thanks for raising the question, Rob.

是的，謝謝你提出這個問題，羅布。

Yes. So thanks for raising the question, Rob.

是的。感謝您提出問題，羅布。

We didn't, in fact, say that traffic is growing. What we pointed to is that if you looked across all restaurant traffic, it improved modestly in the period versus where it was. So it was up 200 basis points. Now it's off 100 basis points. So just a relative improvement, particularly in QSR, when you look at it. But we're still -- we still see industry-wide traffic being off 100 basis points.

事實上，我們並沒有說流量正在成長。我們指出的是，如果你觀察所有餐廳的客流量，你會發現這段期間的客流量與原來相比略有改善。所以漲了 200 個基點。現在已經下跌了100個基點。所以，當你觀察它時，只是相對改進，特別是在 QSR 方面。但我們仍然看到全行業的流量下降了 100 個基點。

If you look at our unique customers and our mix of business, I would say it's probably performing in line or

如果你看看我們獨特的客戶和我們的業務組合，我會說它的表現可能是一致的或

maybe slightly better. We have certain customers like a Taco Bell and a Domino's that might be performing a little bit better. And then some others that might be lagging. But generally, we're at or slightly ahead of the industry when you look at our book of business.

也許稍微好一點。我們有一些客戶，例如 Taco Bell 和 Domino's，它們的表現可能會更好一些。然後其他一些可能會滯後。但總的來說，當你查看我們的業務手冊時，我們處於行業領先地位或略領先於行業。

What's really driving our volume outperformance is a lot of the custom culinary work that we're doing with concepts that are out there that are heroing sauces to place on chicken.

真正推動我們的銷售表現出色的是我們正在做的許多客製化烹飪工作，這些工作所採用的概念是放在雞肉上的英雄醬料。

And that's really what's driving a lot of our business. And we have those items that are out there today, and we have a pipeline of activity that's in flight with restaurant concepts for new items that they intend to launch as we go through the year. And it's really predicated on that.

這確實是我們許多業務的推動力。我們今天已經有了這些產品，我們還有一系列活動正在與餐廳概念一起進行，他們打算在今年推出新產品。這確實是基於此。

Our book of business plus this activity that we have on LTOs that gives us a margin of comfort that we think we can continue to deliver low single-digit growth.

我們的業務記錄加上我們在 LTO 上進行的這項活動，讓我們感到放心，我們認為我們可以繼續實現較低的個位數成長。

Okay, great.

好的，太好了。

And just like as an example, if you talk about some of those customers and new items and sauces you're delivering. Is that like -- is that something like pimento chicken sandwich or Chick-Fil-A, like as an example?

舉個例子，如果您談論其中一些客戶以及您正在提供的新商品和醬汁。是不是像多椒雞肉三明治或福來雞之類的東西，例如？

Well, that's not one of ours, but that is a great idea. (laughter)

好吧，那不是我們的，但這是個好主意。（笑聲）

But that would be -- I think if you're watching football these days, you see a lot of chicken items that are being featured. There's a possibility that we might be supporting some of those folks. If you go back, Rob, over the years, we were really a salad dressing company first and a sauce company second, but we've morphed over the last five years, and we've become a sauce company first and a salad dressing company second.

但那是——我想如果你現在看足球比賽，你會看到很多雞肉製品。我們有可能支持其中一些。羅布，如果你回顧過去，這些年來，我們實際上首先是一家沙拉醬公司，其次是一家醬汁公司，但在過去五年裡我們已經發生了變化，我們首先成為一家醬汁公司，然後是一家沙拉醬公司第二。

And that activity, particularly with the growth of chicken and the need of chicken to have sauces has been a big part of what's powered our foodservice business.

這項活動，特別是隨著雞肉的生長和雞肉對醬汁的需求，一直是推動我們餐飲服務業務的重要組成部分。

Yeah. Okay. Fair enough.

是的。好的。很公平。

And then you're speaking still to low single-digit volume growth for the year. Volume compares, I guess, at least optically what I see, right? Should be a little bit easier for the rest of the year. And then you have your comments about retail benefits from licensing programs and foodservice customer gains.

然後你仍然談到今年的低個位數銷售成長。我想，至少在視覺上，體積與我所看到的相比，對吧？今年剩下的時間應該會比較容易。然後您對許可計劃帶來的零售收益和餐飲服務客戶收益發表評論。

So I'm just curious as we think for the rest of the year, Q2, Q4 kind of relative to Q1. If the traffic environment, let's just say, we're kind of steady for -- from here, like does that kind of imply that overall volumes all things considered should maybe accelerate a little bit, I mean, not a lot, but like maybe a little bit better sequentially relative to Q1? That's all. Thanks.

所以我很好奇，因為我們認為今年剩餘時間，第二季、第四季相對於第一季而言。如果交通環境，我們只是說，我們有點穩定——從這裡開始，這是否意味著所有考慮的事情的總體流量可能會加速一點，我的意思是，不是很多，但就像也許相對於Q1 來說，順序好一點嗎？就這樣。謝謝。

Yeah. I would love to tell you, yes, Rob. I think what I would point to is the mix of the volume may evolve a little bit, that I think we have a really strong stack of new items in retail. So you're going to see the retail part of the business start to deliver stronger numbers as we go through 2, 3 and into 4.

是的。我很想告訴你，是的，羅布。我想我要指出的是，銷售的組合可能會發生一些變化，我認為我們在零售業擁有非常強大的新產品組合。因此，當我們經歷 2、3 和 4 時，您將看到業務的零售部分開始提供更強勁的數字。

The foodservice business, it remains to be seen what happens externally. But I would say consistent low single-digit growth and expect more of that coming from retail than in foodservice than we've seen in the last couple of periods, is how we'll get there.

餐飲服務業，外部情況如何還有待觀察。但我想說的是，我們將如何實現這一目標，持續的低個位數成長，並預計零售業的成長將超過餐飲服務業，比我們在過去幾個時期看到的要多。

All right, super.

好吧，超級。

Maybe I'll -- since nobody has necessarily asked, Rob, and if you allow me, I'll just mention on the new item stack that we have in there. Obviously, continuing to build on that exciting item with Texas Roadhouse. We have a range of dips with Buffalo Wild Wings that we're launching into retail, and we're going to be doing a rotation of that at Costco as well.

也許我會——因為沒有人一定問過，羅布，如果你允許的話，我只會提到我們在那裡的新物品堆疊。顯然，我們將繼續在 Texas Roadhouse 的基礎上繼續開發這個令人興奮的項目。我們與 Buffalo Wild Wings 合作推出了一系列的蘸醬，並將其推向零售，我們也將在 Costco 進行輪換。

We have a big stack of new items that we're going to be introducing here before too long with Chick-Fil-A. We'll be excited to share that with you in due course. And other activity with Olive Garden and others. So again, we were looking at the stack of new items that we have. We think it's actually stronger than the stack that we had in our fiscal year '24, which again gives us a little bit of comfort seeing low-single digit and bucking some of the broader trends.

我們有一大堆新產品，不久之後我們將與 Chick-Fil-A 一起在這裡推出。我們將很高興在適當的時候與您分享這一點。以及與橄欖園和其他人一起進行的其他活動。再次，我們正在查看我們擁有的一堆新物品。我們認為它實際上比我們在 24 財年擁有的堆疊更強大，這再次讓我們對看到低個位數並逆向一些更廣泛的趨勢感到一點安慰。

Okay, very helpful. Thank you so much.

好的，非常有幫助。太感謝了。

Of course. Thank you.

當然。謝謝。

Thanks, Rob.

謝謝，羅布。

There are no further questions.

沒有其他問題了。

We will now turn the call back to Mr. Ciesinski for his concluding comments.

現在，我們將把電話轉回給切辛斯基先生，請他發表結論性意見。

Thank you, operator, and thank you, everybody, for participating in our call this morning. We look forward to sharing our fiscal '25 second-quarter results with you in early February.

謝謝接線員，也謝謝大家今天早上參加我們的電話會議。我們期待在 2 月初與您分享我們的 25 財年第二季業績。

In the meantime, we look forward to seeing you on the road and hope you have a great rest of the day. Bye now.

同時，我們期待在路上見到您，並希望您度過愉快的一天。再見了。

Thank you.

謝謝。

At this time, that does conclude our session.

至此，我們的會議就結束了。

You may now disconnect.

您現在可以斷開連線。