Marzetti Co (MZTI) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. My name is Towanda, 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 2024 Third Quarter Conference Call.

早安.我叫托旺達，今天我將擔任你們的電話會議主持人。此時此刻，我謹歡迎大家參加蘭卡斯特殖民地公司 2024 財年第三季電話會議。

Conducting today's call will be Dave Ciesinski, President and CEO; and Tom Pigott, CFO. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers have completed their prepared remarks, there will be a question-and-answer period. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press -- if you would like to withdraw your question, start again. Thank you.

總裁兼執行長戴夫·西辛斯基 (Dave Ciesinski) 主持今天的電話會議；和財務長湯姆皮戈特。所有線路均已靜音，以防止任何背景噪音。演講者完成準備好的發言後，將進入問答環節。如果您想在此期間提出問題，只需按 - 如果您想撤回問題，請重新開始。謝謝。

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.

現在，蘭卡斯特殖民地公司 (Lancaster Colony Corporation) 企業財務與投資者關係副總裁 Dale Ganobsik 開始電話會議。你可以開始了。

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for Lancaster Colony's Fiscal Year 2024 Third 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. Also note that the audio replay of this call will be archived and available at our company's website, lancastercolony.com, later this afternoon.

大家早安，感謝您今天參加蘭卡斯特殖民地 2024 財年第三季電話會議。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。本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。另請注意，本次通話的音訊重播將被存檔並於今天下午晚些時候在我們公司的網站 lancastercolony.com 上提供。

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

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

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

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

Thanks, Dale, and good morning, everyone. It's a pleasure to be here with you today, as we review our third quarter results for fiscal year 2024. In our fiscal third quarter, which ended March 31, we were pleased to report record net sales and gross profit as consolidated net sales increased 1.4% to $471.4 million, and gross profit grew 10.9% to $104.5 million.

謝謝戴爾，大家早安。很高興今天與大家一起回顧 2024 財年第三季業績。至4.714 億美元，毛利成長10.9% 至1.045 億美元。

Operating income increased 19.5% to $35.1 million, driven by solid growth in the underlying performance of the business. This was partially offset by the impact of charges arising from the decision to exit our perimeter-of-the-store product lines, specifically Flatout and Angelic Bakehouse, which reduced operating income by $14.7 million. In our retail segment, net sales growth of 30 basis points was driven by volume gains for our successful licensing program, led by Chick-fil-A sauces and dressings, Olive Garden dressings and our newly introduced Subway sandwich sauces and Texas Roadhouse steak sauces.

在業務基礎績效穩健成長的推動下，營業收入成長 19.5% 至 3,510 萬美元。這部分被我們決定退出店外產品線（特別是 Flatout 和 Angelic Bakehouse）所產生的費用所抵消，這導致營業收入減少了 1,470 萬美元。在我們的零售部門，淨銷售額增長了30 個基點，這得益於我們成功的授權計劃的銷量增長，其中以Chick-fil-A 醬料和調味料、Olive Garden 調味料以及我們新推出的Subway 三明治醬料和Texas Roadhouse 牛排醬料為主。

Retail segment volume measured in pounds shipped increased 1.5%, driven by the growth from licensed items and investments in trade spending that drove household penetration gains across our portfolio.

零售部門的出貨量（以英鎊計算）增加了 1.5%，這是由於授權商品和貿易支出投資的成長推動了我們整個投資組合的家庭滲透率成長。

Excluding the impact of product down weighting initiatives and sales attributed to Flatout and Angelic Bakehouse product lines that we exited, Q3 retail sales volume increased 2.8%.

剔除產品權重降低措施以及我們退出的 Flatout 和 Angelic Bakehouse 產品線的銷售影響，第三季零售額成長 2.8%。

Circana retail scanner data for the 13-week period ending March 31 shows our brands, including license items, performed very well, with consumption measured in pounds growing 5.6%. The increased consumption was driven by 3 primary factors. First, we successfully invested in promotional activity to drive trial and household penetration across the range of our brands. Second, our consumer-relevant licensed brands continued to deliver strong consumption behind notable gains for Chick-fil-A dressings and sauces, Olive Garden dressings, in addition to new contributions from the launches of Subway and Texas Roadhouse sauces. And finally, we experienced a modest benefit in retail consumption attributed to the shift and Easter timing for holiday favorites such as Sister Schubert rolls and Marzetti dips.

截至 3 月 31 日的 13 週期間，Circana 零售掃描器數據顯示，我們的品牌（包括授權商品）表現非常出色，以英鎊計算的消費量增長了 5.6%。消費增加是由三個主要因素推動的。首先，我們成功地投資於促銷活動，以推動我們品牌的試用和家庭滲透。其次，除了 Subway 和 Texas Roadhouse 醬料的推出帶來的新貢獻外，我們的消費者相關授權品牌繼續帶來強勁的消費，導致福來雞調味品和醬料、橄欖園醬料的顯著增長。最後，由於舒伯特姐妹捲和馬澤蒂醬等節日美食的轉變和復活節時間的推移，我們在零售消費方面經歷了適度的好處。

Circana's retail scanner data for the quarter showed Chick-fil-A sauces up 8.3% to $42.8 million. Olive Garden dressings up 7.5% to $41.3 million. Buffalo Wild Wings sauces were down 2.6% to $26.1 million, but compared to a strong quarter last year when sales increased 47.9%. New York Bakery garlic bread was up 5.8% to $94.7 million, resulting in a category-leading market share of 44.3%. The Sister Schubert's brand was up 13% to $35 million and extended its leading share to 55.5% in the frozen general category.

Circana 本季的零售掃描數據顯示 Chick-fil-A 醬料上漲 8.3%，達到 4,280 萬美元。橄欖園調味料上漲 7.5%，達到 4,130 萬美元。 Buffalo Wild Wings 醬料下降 2.6%，至 2,610 萬美元，但與去年強勁的季度銷售額增長 47.9% 相比。 New York Ba​​kery 大蒜麵包上漲 5.8%，達到 9,470 萬美元，市佔率達 44.3%，處於同類產品領先地位。 Sister Schubert's 品牌上漲 13%，達到 3,500 萬美元，並將其在冷凍普通品類中的領先份額擴大至 55.5%。

And finally, we were pleased to share that Chick-fil-A refrigerated salad dressings, which we launched nationally last May, continue to perform well with Circana's data showing sales of $10.8 million and a 7.9% share of the category. When combined with the sales of our Marzetti brand salad dressings, our refrigerated addressing market share has grown over 5 percentage points to a category-leading 28.7%.

最後，我們很高興地告訴大家，我們去年 5 月在全國推出的 Chick-fil-A 冷藏沙拉醬繼續表現良好，Circana 的數據顯示銷售額為 1080 萬美元，佔該類別的 7.9% 份額。與我們的 Marzetti 品牌沙拉醬的銷售量相結合，我們的冷藏解決方案市佔率已成長超過 5 個百分點，達到類別領先的 28.7%。

In the Foodservice segment, net sales growth of 2.6% was led higher by demand from several of our national chain restaurant accounts and volume gains for our branded foodservice products. Foodservice sales volume measured in pounds shipped increased 3.9%. As anticipated, the Foodservice segment net sales growth was adversely impacted by pass-through price decreases during the quarter due to commodity cost deflation.

在餐飲服務領域，我們的幾個全國連鎖餐廳客戶的需求以及我們品牌餐飲服務產品的銷售成長帶動了 2.6% 的淨銷售額成長。以出貨磅數計算的餐飲服務銷量成長了 3.9%。正如預期的那樣，食品服務部門的淨銷售額成長受到本季商品成本通貨緊縮導致的轉嫁價格下降的不利影響。

During Q3, we were pleased to deliver record gross profit of $104.5 million and a gross margin increase of 190 basis points versus last year. This increase was driven by favorability in our pricing net of commodities, or PNOC, following 2 years of unprecedented inflation as well as the beneficial impacts of our cost saving initiatives and volume growth.

第三季度，我們很高興實現了創紀錄的毛利 1.045 億美元，毛利率比去年增長了 190 個基點。這一增長是由於我們在經歷了兩年前所未有的通貨膨脹後對商品淨定價（PNOC）的青睞以及我們的成本節約舉措和銷量增長的有利影響推動的。

Our focus on supply chain productivity, value engineering and revenue management all remain core elements to further improve our financial performance.

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。

Before I turn it over to Tom, I would like to share a few additional comments regarding Lancaster Colony's recent decision to exit our perimeter-of-the-store bakery lines, specifically Flatout and Angelic Bakehouse. Both brands were typically sold in the deli section of the grocery store. Unfortunately, due to a lack of scale and direct-to-store distribution capabilities, we were not able to achieve the required operational or financial performance for these product lines, and subsequent efforts to sell these product lines were unsuccessful.

在我把它交給湯姆之前，我想分享一些關於蘭開斯特殖民地最近決定退出我們的商店週邊麵包店系列的額外評論，特別是 Flatout 和 Angelic Bakehouse。這兩個品牌通常在雜貨店的熟食區出售。不幸的是，由於缺乏規模和直接到商店的分銷能力，我們無法實現這些產品線所需的營運或財務業績，並且隨後銷售這些產品線的努力也沒有成功。

I can assure you this was a very difficult decision with 80 of our employees impacted by the closures of our Flatout facility in Saline, Michigan, and the Angelic Bakehouse facility in Cudahy, Wisconsin. Since the announcement of the plant closures on March 12, we've provided financial assistance and outplacement support for the impacted employees. I extend my sincere thanks to all of them for their dedication and commitment to our business during their time with us.

我可以向您保證，這是一個非常艱難的決定，因為我們的 80 名員工受到密西根州 Saline 的 Flatout 工廠和威斯康辛州 Cudahy 的 Angelic Bakehouse 工廠關閉的影響。自 3 月 12 日宣布關閉工廠以來，我們為受影響的員工提供了財務援助和再就業支援。我衷心感謝他們在與我們共事期間對我們業務的奉獻和承諾。

With our exit from these product lines, now complete, we intend to direct even greater focus towards categories where we believe we have strategic scale such as dressings and sauces and focused scale such as frozen bakery.

隨著我們退出這些產品線現已完成，我們打算將更多的注意力集中在我們認為具有戰略規模的類別上，例如調味品和醬汁，以及冷凍麵包店等重點規模。

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

現在我將把電話轉給我們的財務長湯姆·皮戈特（Tom Pigott），請他對我們第三季的業績發表評論。湯姆？

Thanks, Dave. This quarter, the company was able to achieve top line growth, improved gross margin performance and higher operating income despite the impacts of the product line discontinuations, that Dave mentioned.

謝謝，戴夫。戴夫提到，儘管受到產品線停產的影響，本季該公司仍實現了營收成長，提高了毛利率，並提高了營業收入。

The net sales and gross profit results set fiscal third quarter records. Third quarter consolidated net sales increased by 1.4% to $471.4 million, decomposing the revenue performance, approximately 2.9 percentage points was driven by volume mix. This growth was partially offset by deflationary pricing in our Foodservice segment and promotional trade spending investments in our Retail segments. These reductions in revenue were funded through commodity input cost favorability.

淨銷售額和毛利潤結果創下了第三財季的記錄。第三季合併淨銷售額成長 1.4%，達到 4.714 億美元，分解營收表現，銷售組合推動約 2.9 個百分點。這一增長被我們的餐飲服務部門的通貨緊縮定價和零售部門的促銷貿易支出投資部分抵消。這些收入的減少是透過商品投入成本優惠來資助的。

Consolidated gross profit increased by $10.3 million or 10.9% versus the prior year quarter to $104.5 million. Gross margins expanded by 190 basis points to 22.2%. The gross profit growth was primarily driven by favorable PNOC performance, the company's cost savings initiatives, and volume growth. These drivers were partially offset by a $2.6 million inventory write-down recorded in our cost of goods sold resulting from our decision to exit the Flatout and Angelic product lines.

綜合毛利較去年同期增加 1,030 萬美元，或 10.9%，達到 1.045 億美元。毛利率成長 190 個基點，達到 22.2%。毛利成長主要得益於 PNOC 良好的業績、公司的成本節約計劃以及銷量成長。由於我們決定退出 Flatout 和 Angelic 產品線，我們的銷售成本中記錄了 260 萬美元的庫存減記，部分抵消了這些驅動因素。

Commodity costs were deflationary versus the prior year but remained elevated versus historical levels.

與前一年相比，大宗商品成本出現通貨緊縮，但與歷史水準相比仍處於較高水準。

Selling, general and administrative expenses decreased 11.8% or $7.6 million to $57.2 million. The decrease reflects reduced expenditures for Project Ascent, our ERP initiative. Costs related to the project continued to wind down totaling $1.9 million in the current year quarter versus $7.6 million in the prior year quarter. In addition, we had lower legal expenditures this quarter versus a heightened level in the prior year quarter.

銷售、一般和管理費用下降 11.8%，或 760 萬美元，降至 5,720 萬美元。這一減少反映了我們的 ERP 計劃 Project Ascent 支出的減少。本季與該項目相關的成本持續減少，總計 190 萬美元，而去年同期為 760 萬美元。此外，與去年同期相比，我們本季的法律支出有所下降。

As Dave mentioned, the company chose to exit the Flatout and Angelic product lines during the quarter. As a result, we recorded restructuring impairment charges of $12.1 million related to these exits as well as the $2.6 million write-down of inventories recorded in our cost of sales.

正如 Dave 所提到的，該公司選擇在本季度退出 Flatout 和 Angelic 產品線。因此，我們記錄了與這些退出相關的 1,210 萬美元的重組減損費用，以及記錄在銷售成本中的 260 萬美元的庫存減記。

The restructuring impairment charges, which consisted of impairment charges for fixed assets and intangible assets, onetime termination benefits and other closing costs were not allocated to our 2 reportable segments due to their unusual nature, whereas the $2.6 million write-down of inventories was recorded in our retail segment. The noncash portion of these charges totaled $10.7 million.

重組減損費用（包括固定資產和無形資產減損費用、一次性終止福利和其他結算成本）由於其特殊性而未分配給我們的兩個可報告分部，而260 萬美元的存貨減記則記錄在我們的零售部門。這些費用的非現金部分總計 1,070 萬美元。

The Flatout and Angelic product lines combined reported $15.5 million in net sales through the first 3 quarters of the year and did not have a significant impact on profitability. Consolidated operating income increased $5.7 million or 19.5% due to the gross profit improvement and the SG&A reduction, partially offset by the exit costs I previously mentioned, which totaled $14.7 million. Our tax rate for the quarter was 23.2%. We estimate our fiscal Q4 tax rate to be at 23%.

Flatout 和 Angelic 產品線今年前 3 季的淨銷售額合計為 1,550 萬美元，並未對獲利能力產生重大影響。由於毛利的提高和銷售管理費用的減少，合併營業收入增加了 570 萬美元，即 19.5%，部分被我之前提到的退出成本（總計 1,470 萬美元）所抵銷。我們本季的稅率為 23.2%。我們預計第四季的稅率為 23%。

Third quarter diluted earnings per share increased $0.14 or 15.7% to $1.03. The exit costs drove a $0.41 decline in EPS, $0.34 of which was charged to restructuring impairment and the remaining $0.07 was charged to cost of goods sold. The reduction in Project Ascent costs drove a $0.16 increase in EPS. The remaining $0.39 of EPS growth was driven by the underlying performance of the business.

第三季攤薄每股收益增加 0.14 美元，或 15.7%，達到 1.03 美元。退出成本導致 EPS 下降 0.41 美元，其中 0.34 美元計入重組減值，其餘 0.07 美元計入銷售成本。 Project Ascent 成本的降低推動每股收益增加 0.16 美元。剩餘 0.39 美元的 EPS 成長是由業務的基本業績推動的。

With regard to capital expenditures, our year-to-date payments for property additions totaled $52 million. For fiscal '24, our forecasted total capital expenditures are estimated to be approximately $65 million. This forecast reflects a decline versus the previous year spending with the Horse Cave expansion now complete.

在資本支出方面，我們年初至今為物業擴建支付的款項總額為 5,200 萬美元。對於 24 財年，我們預計總資本支出約為 6,500 萬美元。這項預測反映了隨著 Horse Cave 擴建現已完成，支出與前一年相比有所下降。

In addition to investing in our business, we also returned funds to shareholders. Our quarterly cash dividend of $0.90 per share paid on March 29, represented a 6% increase from the prior year's amount. Our enduring streak of annual dividend increases stands at 61 years.

除了投資我們的業務外，我們還向股東返還資金。我們在 3 月 29 日支付了每股 0.90 美元的季度現金股息，比前一年增加了 6%。我們連續 61 年連續增加年度股利。

Net cash provided by operating activities for the third quarter was $75.9 million, a $32.2 million increase versus the prior year quarter. Our financial position remains strong with a debt-free balance sheet and $164.8 million in cash.

第三季經營活動提供的淨現金為 7,590 萬美元，比去年同期增加 3,220 萬美元。我們的財務狀況依然強勁，擁有無債務的資產負債表和 1.648 億美元的現金。

So to wrap up my commentary, our third quarter results reflected record top line and gross profit performance. Operating income also grew nicely despite the charges I mentioned, and we took action to streamline our product offerings to provide more focus for future growth.

因此，為了結束我的評論，我們的第三季業績反映了創紀錄的營收和毛利表現。儘管有我提到的費用，營業收入也實現了良好成長，並且我們採取了行動來簡化我們的產品供應，以便為未來的成長提供更多關注。

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

現在我將把它轉回給戴夫，讓他作結束語。謝謝。

Thanks, Tom. As we look ahead, Lancaster Colony will continue to leverage the combined strength of our team, our operating strategy and our balance sheet in support of 3 simple pillars of our growth plan: one, accelerate core business growth; two, to 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.

謝謝，湯姆。展望未來，蘭卡斯特殖民地將繼續利用我們團隊的綜合實力、我們的營運策略和我們的資產負債表來支持我們成長計畫的三個簡單支柱：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 fourth quarter, we project retail net sales will continue to benefit from our expanding licensing program, including incremental growth from the recent additions of Subway and Texas Roadhouse sauces. In the Foodservice segment, we expect continued volume growth from select QSR customers and our branded foodservice products. Deflationary pricing is projected to remain a headwind for Foodservice segment net sales.

展望第四財季，我們預計零售淨銷售額將繼續受益於我們不斷擴大的許可計劃，包括最近添加的 Subway 和 Texas Roadhouse 醬料帶來的增量增長。在餐飲服務領域，我們預期特定 QSR 客戶和我們的品牌餐飲服務產品的銷售將持續成長。預計通貨緊縮定價仍將是餐飲服務部門淨銷售額的阻力。

With respect to our gross profit, we anticipate reduced PNOC favorability in fiscal Q4 when compared sequentially to Q3 and as commodity deflation becomes less pronounced. Gross profit will continue to benefit from our ongoing cost savings program.

就我們的毛利而言，我們預計第四財季的 PNOC 優惠度將比第三季連續下降，並且大宗商品通貨緊縮變得不那麼明顯。毛利將繼續受益於我們正在進行的成本節約計劃。

In closing, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to the entire Lancaster Colony team for their ongoing commitment and contributions to our improved operational and financial performance this past quarter.

最後，我謹向整個 Lancaster Colony 團隊致以誠摯的謝意，感謝他們在上個季度為我們改善營運和財務表現所做的持續承諾和貢獻。

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 Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Brian Holland with D.A. Davidson.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Brian Holland 和 D.A. 的線路。戴維森。

Dave, typically in the press release, you made reference to kind of below the top line, whether that's PNOC and the favorability there or just commodity costs inflation. So forgive me if I missed that somewhere. But if not, maybe just an update on kind of where you see that going into 4Q? And maybe more broadly, the balance of calendar year '24.

戴夫，通常在新聞稿中，您提到了低於頂線的內容，無論是 PNOC 和那裡的優惠，還是只是大宗商品成本通膨。所以如果我在某個地方錯過了，請原諒我。但如果沒有，也許只是更新一下您認為第四季度會發生什麼？也許更廣泛地說，是 24 日曆年的餘額。

Okay. So I want to make sure I understand your question, Brian. Are you asking just for our view on PNOC through Q4 and then the remainder of the calendar year?

好的。所以我想確保我理解你的問題，布萊恩。您只是想了解我們對 PNOC 到第四季度以及今年剩餘時間的看法嗎？

Yes, yes.

是的是的。

Yes. So as you noticed in the most recent quarter, PNOC was an important contributor in Q3, and we expect PNOC to be a contributor into Q4, but it's ultimately going to be diminishing as we're lapping more and more of those price increases, and we're seeing commodities flatten out.

是的。正如您在最近一個季度注意到的那樣，PNOC 是第三季度的重要貢獻者，我們預計PNOC 也將成為第四季度的貢獻者，但隨著我們接受越來越多的價格上漲，它最終會減少，並且我們看到大宗商品價格趨於平緩。

Tom, I don't know if you want to provide (inaudible) on that?

湯姆，我不知道您是否願意提供（聽不清楚）這一點？

I think that -- so Brian, our -- this quarter, we saw some nice deflation as you get into Q4. We don't expect as much PNOC favorability.

我認為，布萊恩，我們的，本季度，進入第四季度時，我們看到了一些不錯的通貨緊縮。我們預計 PNOC 不會有那麼多好感。

That said, we do expect nice contributions from our cost savings initiatives, which is also driving the margin growth you saw in the quarter, and we expect that to be continue to help us drive margin as we get out into the future.

也就是說，我們確實預計我們的成本節約計畫會做出不錯的貢獻，這也將推動本季利潤率的成長，並且我們預計這將繼續幫助我們在未來邁向利潤率。

Okay. That's helpful. And then maybe skipping right into kind of a bigger picture question, but if I pair the perimeter bakery exit that you disclosed this morning, and you're coming out of this period of heavy capital investment. I mean, we talked about refocusing, reallocating resources, increased focused elsewhere.

好的。這很有幫助。然後也許會直接跳到一個更大的問題，但如果我將你今天早上披露的周邊麵包店出口配對，你就會擺脫這段大量資本投資的時期。我的意思是，我們討論了重新聚焦、重新分配資源、更加關注其他地方。

Maybe an update on kind of what the pipeline looks like from an M&A standpoint? I guess one thing that I would sort of take from this is, are these guys clearing the deck to do something, which I understand you can't announce beforehand. But just kind of curious -- and that's my takeaway. So I don't know if that's something you want to throw cold water on, it's not possibly related or maybe just a sense of what the M&A backdrop and pipeline look like for you all? And what is obviously a challenging environment for food right now.

或許從併購的角度來看管道的最新情況？我想我想從中得到的一件事是，這些人是否正在清理準備做某事，我知道你不能提前宣布。但只是有點好奇——這就是我的收穫。所以我不知道這是否是你想要潑冷水的事情，它可能沒有相關性，或者可能只是對你們所有人來說併購背景和管道的感覺？目前的食品環境顯然充滿挑戰。

Yes. So maybe, Brian, I appreciate that question. I'll start by just providing a little bit more texture about the decision regarding Angelic Bakehouse and Flatout. So those two businesses were purchased in 2015 and 2016, respectively, predicated on assumptions of growth in the perimeter store.

是的。所以也許，布萊恩，我很欣賞這個問題。首先，我將提供有關 Angelic Bakehouse 和 Flatout 的決定的更多細節。因此，基於週邊商店成長的假設，分別於 2015 年和 2016 年收購了這兩項業務。

The reality is, as we worked our way through those businesses, what we found is that; one, they lack scale. And two, we lack the capabilities that we believe you really need to win in that part of the store, which is direct-to-store distribution capabilities. And as it sort of played out from period to period, in spite of our very best efforts, one day, you're on display exactly where you're supposed to be, and it looks awesome. And the next day, some of your items are near the cat litter.

現實情況是，當我們在這些業務中開展工作時，我們發現：第一，他們缺乏規模。第二，我們缺乏我們認為您真正需要贏得商店這一部分的能力，即直接到商店的分銷能力。隨著它從一個時期到另一個時期的上演，儘管我們盡了最大的努力，有一天，你完全展示在你應該在的地方，而且看起來棒極了。第二天，你的一些物品就在貓砂附近。

So as we looked at those businesses versus a lot of our others, for example, that are more tightly planogram in frozen or in dry grocery or even in produce, the combination of the fact that they lack the right scale, we didn't have the right capabilities just made it a really tough situation. And our view was discretion is the better part of valor. We've given it a good trial. Let's back away from this and let's move on and really focus on our core.

因此，當我們將這些企業與我們的許多其他企業進行比較時，例如，冷凍或乾雜貨甚至農產品的貨架圖更緊密，加上它們缺乏適當的規模，我們沒有正確的能力只會讓情況變得非常艱難。我們的觀點是，謹慎是勇氣的重要組成部分。我們已經對其進行了很好的嘗試。讓我們拋開這個話題，繼續前進，真正專注於我們的核心。

What this wasn't was a grand review of our whole portfolio as much as it was us just looking at these two businesses that we liked a lot, but we just couldn't get to work. and we moved on.

這不是對我們整個投資組合的重大審查，而是我們只是專注於我們非常喜歡的這兩項業務，但我們就是無法開始工作。然後我們繼續前進。

So as far as our view on M&A, maybe I'll turn it over to Tom. Tom, if you want to talk about where we intend to focus on a go-forward basis.

至於我們對併購的看法，也許我會把它交給湯姆。湯姆，如果你想談談我們未來打算重點關注的領域。

Absolutely. So Brian, I think over the last few years, we've evolved our M&A strategy to really focus in on our core competencies in dressings and sauces. So certainly, we feel like we've got good culinary expertise in that space, really good manufacturing with the Horse Cave expansion and then a strong retail selling arm to enable us to really -- to do better in that space on M&A should the right opportunities to come to us.

絕對地。所以布萊恩，我認為在過去的幾年裡，我們已經發展了我們的併購策略，真正專注於我們在調味品和醬汁方面的核心能力。因此，當然，我們覺得我們在該領域擁有良好的烹飪專業知識，透過 Horse Cave 擴張實現了真正良好的製造，然後是強大的零售銷售部門，使我們能夠真正在併購領域做得更好。找我們。

In addition, from a deployment of capital, we continue to look at cost savings initiatives, things that can reduce our reliance on labor as well as opportunistically how can we continue to support the growth algorithm. With Horse Cave behind us, we're starting to look at kind of the next phase of expansion. And could there be potential brownfield sites or other opportunities for us to support continued growth, providing good returns to shareholders.

此外，從資本部署的角度，我們繼續關注成本節約舉措、可以減少我們對勞動力依賴的措施，以及如何繼續支援成長演算法。隨著馬洞的建成，我們開始考慮下一階段的擴張。是否有潛在的棕地或其他機會讓我們支持持續成長，為股東提供良好的回報。

Our next question comes from the line of Alton Stump with Loop Capital.

我們的下一個問題來自 Alton Stump 與 Loop Capital 的對話。

I guess the first, I want to ask, and I apologize if I missed this time, but did you mention what your overall basket as far as commodities, how much they were down during the quarter?

我想問的是第一個，如果我錯過了這次，我很抱歉，但是您是否提到了您的大宗商品總體籃子，本季度下跌了多少？

Yes, they were -- I didn't mention it, but they were down in the mid- to high single digits on a percentage basis.

是的，他們是——我沒有提到，但他們的百分比下降了中高個位數。

Okay. Great. And then I guess, I kind of look ahead to fourth quarter or even into next year, I mean, any kind of ballpark range as far as where you think that your overall commodity that still go?

好的。偉大的。然後我想，我有點展望第四季度甚至明年，我的意思是，就您認為您的整體商品仍然會走向的任何大致範圍而言？

Yes. So right now, in Q4, we don't -- we do expect it to be deflationary but not as deflationary as it was in Q3. So as we mentioned, we don't expect as big a PNOC contribution in Q4. That said, into the future, we continue to focus on driving margins through our productivity initiatives, and we feel good about the pipeline there. From a fiscal '25 commodity outlook, we're right now looking at a flattish profile.

是的。所以現在，在第四季度，我們確實預計會出現通貨緊縮，但不會像第三季度那麼嚴重。正如我們所提到的，我們預計 PNOC 在第四季度的貢獻不會那麼大。也就是說，未來，我們將繼續專注於透過生產力計劃來提高利潤，我們對那裡的管道感到滿意。從 25 財年的大宗商品前景來看，我們現在看到的是持平的狀況。

Okay. Great. And then I just want to ask about the Horse Cave facility -- plant, obviously, it's open up and running now, I guess, here for the last 8, 9 months. So that now that you -- further along in that process -- how are things going there? Are you up to full kind of operational capabilities yet? Or just kind of what has been your learning curve over the last couple of quarters since opening that facility.

好的。偉大的。然後我只想問一下馬洞設施——顯然，它現在已經開放並運行了，我猜，在過去的八、九個月裡。那麼現在你──在這個過程中進一步前進──事情進展得怎麼樣了？您具備完整的營運能力了嗎？或者只是自開設該設施以來過去幾個季度的學習曲線。

Yes. So Alton, really two things. If you go back to a little more than a year ago, not only did we stand up at the facility, but we also installed SAP, as you remember. So we really put that facility, our flagship through an intense period of change, and we're pleased to report that the factory is running very well, that we're seeing the volumes run through there that we would like to see. We're seeing very high engagement from the employees. It continues to be a big area of focus from our supply chain leadership team just because of the magnitude of the promise that, that facility affords us.

是的。所以奧爾頓，確實有兩件事。如果你回到一年多前，我們不僅在工廠站立，而且還安裝了 SAP，正如你所記得的那樣。因此，我們確實讓我們的旗艦工廠經歷了一段激烈的變革時期，我們很高興地報告說，工廠運作得非常好，我們看到那裡的產量達到了我們希望看到的水平。我們看到員工的參與度非常高。它仍然是我們供應鏈領導團隊關注的重要領域，因為該設施為我們提供了巨大的承諾。

In some of my earlier comments during the script, I mentioned the idea that by exiting the perimeter-of-the-store, it allowed us to focus in a couple of areas. One, our center-of-the-store bakery business where we have focused scale, particularly around ginger rolls and things like garlic toast. But also focus on areas where we believe we have strategic scale, where I would put our capabilities, our ability to source and manufacture and ship against many of the very biggest players in CPG. So we can't compete against them across the board, obviously.

在我之前在劇本中的一些評論中，我提到了這樣的想法：透過退出商店的周邊，它使我們能夠專注於幾個區域。一是我們的店中心麵包店業務，我們專注於規模，特別是薑捲和大蒜吐司等產品。但也要專注於我們認為具有策略規模的領域，我將在這些領域發揮我們的能力，我們的採購、製造和運輸能力，與消費品行業中許多最大的參與者競爭。因此，顯然我們無法與他們全面競爭。

But when you talk about those categories, dressings and sauces, which for lots of reasons we could talk about maybe a little bit later in the call, we believe are really relevant today and into the future. That plant is really a cornerstone of our ability to deliver on that strategic scale, and it's coming along very much in line with our expectations.

但是，當你談論這些類別、調味料和醬汁時，出於許多原因，我們可能稍後會在電話會議中討論這些類別，我們相信它們在今天和未來都非常相關。該工廠確實是我們實現戰略規模的能力的基石，而且它的進展非常符合我們的預期。

Our next question comes from the line of Connor Rattigan with Consumer Edge.

我們的下一個問題來自 Connor Rattigan 與 Consumer Edge 的對話。

Yes. So I guess -- I'm curious what you're seeing as it relates to foodservice traffic. So we've heard commentary of your peers and even the restaurant reporters. It just seems like traffic was really down across the board. I guess, are you guys seeing the same thing in your business? And if no, I suppose that may be driven by your Chick-fil-A exposure? And if you are, I guess, what gives you the confidence that you can continue to deliver that volume growth in foodservice over the coming quarters?

是的。所以我想 - 我很好奇你所看到的與餐飲服務流量有關的情況。所以我們聽到了您的同行甚至餐廳記者的評論。看起來交通真的全面下降了。我想，你們在自己的行業中也看到同樣的情況嗎？如果不是，我想這可能是因為你接觸了福來雞？如果您是，我猜是什麼讓您有信心在未來幾季繼續實現餐飲服務量的成長？

I'm glad you asked this, Connor. It's an important question. So we subscribe to a range of different syndicated data sources. And when you look at the whole industry broadly, and you look at it 52 weeks, 12 weeks, 4 weeks, you can see a very modest slowdown. And it's across the board. You see full service restaurants have pulled back modestly. QSR has pulled back modestly. These are single-digit pullbacks that we're looking at here. And it's really impacting all of our customers. Everybody in the mix is being impacted by this. It's kind of step back and say, what is it that's driving this?

我很高興你問這個問題，康納。這是一個重要的問題。因此，我們訂閱了一系列不同的聯合資料來源。當你廣泛地觀察整個產業時，你會看到 52 週、12 週、4 週，你可以看到非常溫和的放緩。這是全面的。你會看到全方位服務的餐廳已經適度收縮。 QSR 已小幅回落。我們在這裡看到的是個位數的回檔。這確實影響了我們所有的客戶。每個人都受到這種影響。這有點像是退後一步問，是什麼推動了這一切？

Our view is that consumers are continuing to work their way through a period of transition, not an inflection but period of transition driven by the combined effects of higher interest rates, but importantly, inflation, which is continuing to bite.

我們的觀點是，消費者正在繼續努力度過一個過渡期，這不是拐點，而是由利率上升的綜合影響推動的過渡期，但更重要的是，通膨仍在繼續加劇。

And whether you're talking retail or food service. What really happens in these times is consumers are really -- they go off autopilot, instead of just going to the store and grabbing what they've always bought because they've always bought that or pulling into the restaurant because that's the place that they've always gone. They start to think about these choices. And consequently, sometimes they might buy and sometimes they might consider buying somebody else.

無論您談論的是零售還是餐飲服務。在這個時代真正發生的事情是，消費者真的——他們不再是自動駕駛，而不是只是去商店買他們經常買的東西，因為他們總是買那個東西，或者走進餐館，因為那是他們喜歡的地方。他們開始思考這些選擇。因此，有時他們可能會購買，有時他們可能會考慮購買其他人。

So if you look at it very, very broadly, we are seeing that modest single-digit slowdown across the portfolio. Foods -- full service impacted more than quick service, but across the board.

因此，如果你從非常、非常廣泛的角度來看，我們會發現整個投資組合出現了個位數的小幅放緩。食品－全方位服務的影響不僅是快速服務，而是全面的。

Now as far as our view, what we've seen in these times is our business has really two hedges built in. One is, as consumers become concerned about away-from-home dining and they eat at home, it typically inures to the benefit of our portfolio. As we look at what's happening away from home, though importantly, as traffic starts to moderate at any one of our concepts or really any operators concept period, they typically will back off and say, what do we need to do to drive traffic back into the stores. And it really creates an intense period of innovation for a lot of these operators.

現在，就我們的觀點而言，我們在這些時期所看到的是，我們的業務實際上有兩個內置的對沖。會傾向於我們的投資組合的好處。當我們觀察遠離家鄉時發生的情況時，重要的是，隨著流量在我們的任何一個概念或實際上任何運營商概念期間開始放緩，他們通常會後退並說，我們需要做什麼才能將流量恢復到正常水平商店。這確實為許多營運商創造了一個激烈的創新時期。

And if past is prologue, we get those calls and we work with them on signature items, signature sauces that they can advertise to drive traffic back into the store. What I would share with you, Connor, is that we're already starting to see that activity happen and we're already engaged in those sorts of discussions with our operators.

如果過去是序幕，我們會接到這些電話，並與他們合作開發招牌商品、招牌醬料，他們可以做廣告以吸引客流量回到商店。康納，我想與您分享的是，我們已經開始看到這種活動的發生，並且我們已經與我們的運營商進行了此類討論。

So what I would tell you, our view on the business is we believe that we're always going to be positioned to have the chance to perform in the top quartile of our peer group. And we continue to believe that, that's true 1.5 years ago, and we believe that it's true going forward.

所以我要告訴你的是，我們對業務的看法是，我們相信我們始終有機會在同行中名列前茅。我們仍然相信，這在 1.5 年前是正確的，我們相信未來也是如此。

Got it. And then I guess just changing gears to pricing. So it looks like pricing was down roughly the same in Foodservice and at Retail. So I understand Foodservice is primarily pass-through pricing and that is expected to be down year-over-year. But I guess, could you maybe give us some color on maybe what's going on in Retail drive, I think down so much? Because I mean, and the data that we're (inaudible) look like you're dialing up to too much promos. So I guess just trying to get a sense of where we should expect prices to trend in Foodservice and Retail over the coming quarters?

知道了。然後我想只是改變定價方式。因此，餐飲服務和零售的定價似乎大致相同。因此，我知道餐飲服務主要是轉嫁定價，預計會逐年下降。但我想，您能否給我們一些關於零售業正在發生的事情的信息，我認為如此？因為我的意思是，我們（聽不清楚）的數據看起來你正在撥入太多的促銷活動。所以我想只是想了解未來幾季餐飲服務和零售業的價格趨勢應該如何？

Yes. No, I'm glad you asked this question. They were down about the same amount, but it was more a coincidence, and it was necessarily a plan. We didn't say, okay, we're going to back them up.

是的。不，我很高興你問這個問題。他們的跌幅大致相同，但這更多的是巧合，而且必然是一個計劃。我們沒有說，好吧，我們會支持他們。

A couple of things that we'll share with you. Tom, I think nicely pointed out that we are seeing favorable PNOC as commodities have backed off. That's given us the incremental firepower to step into the consumer part of the business, the Retail business, and to do a couple of things. I mentioned the fact that in these times, consumers take themselves off autopilot and they start to look at more carefully what they're buying.

我們將與您分享一些事情。湯姆，我認為他很好地指出，隨著大宗商品價格回落，我們看到了有利的 PNOC。這為我們提供了進入消費者業務、零售業務的增量火力，並做一些事情。我提到過這樣一個事實，在這個時代，消費者不再自動駕駛，他們開始更仔細地審視他們所購買的東西。

In some cases, it's a price point. In other cases, it might be a gap versus private label or even a promoted price point. And what we're doing is using the benefit that we're seeing from the PNOC deflation to strategically invest back to make sure that as consumers come up autopilot and they're making these choices, we're still getting converted into the basket. So that was really one component of the spend.

在某些情況下，這是一個價格點。在其他情況下，這可能是與自有品牌的差距，甚至是促銷價格點。我們正在做的就是利用我們從 PNOC 通貨緊縮中看到的好處進行策略性投資，以確保當消費者自動駕駛並做出這些選擇時，我們仍然會被納入籃子中。所以這確實是支出的一部分。

But the other thing is really, as you look longer term, we have some great brands in our portfolio, both our own core brands and our licensed brands that we think have the opportunity to drive significantly more household penetration. So some of the investment that we're driving this period behind a range of brands to include things like Chick-fil-A and others were intended to help us drive household penetration because if we can get it into the basket, and we can get it at home and get consumers to try it. Our repeat rates on these products are extremely high. And we think it's in our strategic best interest to continue to drive that process.

但另一件事是，從長遠來看，我們的產品組合中有一些很棒的品牌，包括我們自己的核心品牌和我們的授權品牌，我們認為它們有機會顯著提高家庭滲透率。因此，我們這段時期對一系列品牌（包括福來雞等）進行的一些投資旨在幫助我們提高家庭滲透率，因為如果我們能夠將其納入購物籃，我們就能獲得在家中製作並讓消費者嘗試一下。我們對這些產品的重複率非常高。我們認為繼續推動這一進程符合我們的戰略最佳利益。

So really two components of what we're doing ultimately funded by PNOC deflation. One part is just being really (inaudible) about managing our price points. But the second is while we have the opportunity, let's invest to drive that penetration because we know once we get them converted, it becomes -- if we treat them right, it becomes an annuity.

因此，我們正在做的事情實際上有兩個部分最終是由 PNOC 通貨緊縮提供資金的。一方面是真正（聽不清楚）管理我們的價格點。但第二個是，當我們有機會時，讓我們投資來推動這種滲透，因為我們知道一旦我們將它們轉換，它就會變成——如果我們正確對待它們，它就會變成年金。

Our next question comes from the line of Andrew Wolf with CL King.

我們的下一個問題來自 Andrew Wolf 和 CL King 的對話。

Follow-ups here. On the Subway and the Texas Roadhouse distribution, is that fully distributed -- was it fully distributed in the quarter?

後續報道在這裡。在 Subway 和 Texas Roadhouse 的分發中，是否已完全分發——本季度是否已完全分發？

It was not.

不是。

Could you give us (inaudible) distribution?

您能給我們（聽不清楚）分配嗎？

It started to ship it early on in the quarter. So it's still building.

它在本季度初就開始發貨。所以它仍在建設中。

Okay. And is it going to get the similar ACV as the other licensed products like Chick-fil-A and Olive Garden or?

好的。它是否會獲得與 Chick-fil-A 和 Olive Garden 等其他授權產品類似的 ACV？

It really remains to be -- it's either they're different brands. There are different occasions, so it remains to be same. So I don't know if I can give you a firm answer there in that we don't necessarily -- Texas Roadhouse, for example, plays in a much more narrow occasion, steak sauces compared to, let's say, an all-purpose sauce, like some of the others that we have. So I think that will probably impact at some level. certainly, the TDPs that we're able to generate behind these items, but they'll be important.

確實是這樣——要么它們是不同的品牌。場合不同，所以還是一樣。所以我不知道我是否可以給你一個堅定的答案，因為我們不一定——例如，德克薩斯路德豪斯（Texas Roadhouse）在一個更狹窄的場合播放牛排醬，比方說，與萬能的相比醬汁，就像我們其他的一些醬汁一樣。所以我認為這可能會在某種程度上產生影響。當然，我們能夠在這些項目背後產生 TDP，但它們很重要。

And you've mentioned cost saves a couple of times. And I know in the past, you talked about value engineering and just sort of reviewing some of your other things. I think strategic procurement -- many companies, including yourselves, are focused on that. Could you just give us a sense how impactful cost savings -- these types of cost savings efforts were? Probably more importantly, what's the runway like for them going out.

您多次提到成本節省。我知道過去您談到了價值工程，並且只是回顧了一些其他事情。我認為策略採購——包括你們自己在內的許多公司都關注這一點。您能否讓我們了解這些類型的成本節約工作對成本節約的影響有多大？也許更重要的是，他們出去的跑道是什麼樣的。

So Tom, if you -- maybe if you can talk about the quarter, I can talk more broadly about the outlook and how we're thinking about it.

所以，湯姆，如果你——也許如果你可以談論這個季度，我可以更廣泛地談論前景以及我們如何看待它。

Sure. So as we look at the margin growth we experienced in the quarter. It was a fairly evenly split, maybe slightly more driven by PNOC, but the cost savings were a key driver as well.

當然。因此，當我們查看本季的利潤成長時。這是一個相當均勻的分配，可能稍微更多地是由 PNOC 推動的，但成本節約也是一個關鍵驅動因素。

And then I think I'll let Dave talk to the forward outlook.

然後我想我會讓戴夫談談未來的展望。

Yes. So as we look into the future, Andrew, we're focusing on a couple of areas. We continue to believe that there are big opportunities around automation. For those of you that have been following the stock for a while, you know that we went to a period of years where we invested behind the front of line and back of line automation on our dressing business. And we're in a season today where we're investing in the automation of our bakery business. So that's going to be an important contributor really for the next year and probably then some.

是的。因此，安德魯，當我們展望未來時，我們將重點放在幾個領域。我們仍然相信自動化存在巨大機會。對於那些已經關注該股票一段時間的人來說，您知道我們在過去的幾年中投資了我們的服裝業務的前線和後線自動化。今天，我們正處於投資烘焙業務自動化的時期。因此，這將成為明年乃至未來幾年的重要貢獻者。

As we move beyond other areas where we believe there are opportunities, we continue to be focused on primary and secondary packaging, where we think there are opportunities to drive savings as well. And then, I think, leveraging the power of SAP, which is fortunately sort of moving a little bit further into the rearview mirror. But SAP affords us with a lot of information to seek out cost savings opportunities in areas such as reducing waste and being more effective at utilizing our materials, but also looking at things like unplanned downtime and what we need to do to make sure that our plants are running more efficiently.

當我們超越我們認為有機會的其他領域時，我們繼續關注初級和二級包裝，我們認為這些領域也有機會推動節約。然後，我認為，利用 SAP 的力量，幸運的是，這有點進一步進入後視鏡。但是 SAP 為我們提供了大量信息，幫助我們在減少浪費和更有效地利用材料等領域尋找節省成本的機會，同時還關注計劃外停機等問題以及我們需要採取哪些措施來確保我們的工廠運行效率更高。

So if you put those together, the combination of automation, the better utilization of resources and the better utilization of labor and plants, we continue to believe that. Really, there's a multiyear opportunity for us to go after cost savings in the business.

因此，如果把這些結合在一起，即自動化、更好地利用資源以及更好地利用勞動力和工廠，我們仍然相信這一點。確實，我們有一個多年的機會來追求業務成本節約。

Dave, and just a quick. I may have missed this, did you quantify the impact of the Easter shift, what it was for the quarter? And I assume it's going to be a bit of a drag for the fourth quarter there?

戴夫，快點。我可能錯過了這一點，您是否量化了復活節轉變的影響，該季度的影響是什麼？我認為第四季會受到一些拖累？

So for this fiscal, we had -- in the prior year fiscal, all the shipments in this quarter, and I think as we look -- as you look at the consumption, some of the consumption last year was in Q4 where we got all of it in Q3 this year. So from a shipment standpoint, we were neutral.

因此，對於本財年，我們在上一年財年中，本季度的所有出貨量，我認為，當我們觀察消費時，去年的一些消費是在第四季度，我們得到了所有今年第三季度。因此，從出貨的角度來看，我們保持中立。

Yes, as you know, it was a 1 week shift. So just wasn't going to be that big of a difference in terms of shipments more on the consumption side.

是的，如您所知，這是 1 週的輪班。因此，在消費方面，出貨量方面不會有那麼大的差異。

Our next question comes from the line of Jim Salera with Stephens.

我們的下一個問題來自吉姆·薩萊拉和史蒂芬斯的對話。

I wanted to drill down a little bit more on the Foodservice volume. I think all encouraged to see it up given the backdrop of restaurants. Can you just disaggregate how much of that is your exposure to best-in-class operators like Chick-fil-A versus maybe some share gains where you're servicing larger amounts of some of your existing customers?

我想更深入了解餐飲服務量。我認為考慮到餐廳的背景，所有人都被鼓勵去看它。您能否分解一下，您對福來雞等一流運營商的敞口與您為大量現有客戶提供服務時可能獲得的份額收益有多少？

Jim, I think -- how I would answer that question. Maybe I'll start by setting the context. About 75% of our business are large national chain restaurant accounts. And we enjoyed growth in the period, both on the branded side, which is our own products, where we are picking up share. This would be Marzetti items sold up and down the street.

吉姆，我想——我會如何回答這個問題。也許我會從設定上下文開始。我們約 75% 的業務是大型全國連鎖餐廳客戶。在此期間，我們在品牌方面享受了成長，即我們自己的產品，我們正在提升市場份額。這是街上賣的 Marzetti 商品。

As we look at what's happening on the restaurant side, what I can tell you is that we continue to believe that we have a favorable portfolio of customers that's allowing us to grow better than the average today. That's what's really driving it. As far as sort of an account-by-account basis, are we picking up share, are we not? There really haven't been many changes there.

當我們看看餐廳方面正在發生的事情時，我可以告訴你的是，我們仍然相信我們擁有有利的客戶組合，這使我們能夠比今天的平均水平增長得更好。這才是真正的推動力。就逐個帳戶而言，我們是否正在獲得份額，不是嗎？那裡確實沒有太多變化。

And I think, really, the bigger point that we're seeing and then, Jim, this is an important way to think about it going forward is that we continue to believe that chicken is having its moment. You look at the mix of growth that's happening in QSR today, it's really focused around concepts that are selling chicken and whether it's Chick-fil-A, which has been doing it enormously well since 1982 or any one of a number of other operators. That seems to be where the growth is.

我認為，實際上，我們看到的更重要的一點是，吉姆，這是思考未來的一個重要方式，那就是我們仍然相信雞肉正在迎來它的時刻。你看看今天 QSR 中發生的混合增長，它實際上集中在銷售雞肉的概念上，無論是自 1982 年以來一直做得非常好的 Chick-fil-A 還是其他運營商中的任何一家。這似乎就是增長所在。

If you sort of pull apart and you -- and we have the data, we looked at sort of the share of pizza and burgers and chicken, even if you look 52-week,12-week and 4-weeks, chicken continues to drive share even within the year. One of your reports, you did a nice job of pointing out the long-term trends towards chicken. We're seeing that even in a little bit more of a challenging environment, continuing to play out. And we believe that we sit in a good spot. We have the right capabilities, and those are capabilities we want to continue to leverage with those operators so they can offer consumer relevant items to their customers.

如果你分開看，我們有數據，我們研究了披薩、漢堡和雞肉的份額，即使你看 52 週、12 週和 4 週，雞肉仍然在推動甚至在一年內分享。在你的一份報告中，你很好地指出了雞肉的長期趨勢。我們看到，即使在更具挑戰性的環境中，這種情況仍然會繼續發生。我們相信我們處於一個有利的位置。我們擁有合適的能力，我們希望繼續與這些業者利用這些能力，以便他們能夠向客戶提供與消費者相關的商品。

Great. That's helpful. And then I think as it ties the environment and restaurants back to the licensed sauce business, given the, let's say, heightened uncertainty around the restaurant piece of the business. Do you find that your partners or potential partners are much more receptive to either new licensing offerings or expanding their license portfolio, given the reliability of that royalty check that they get in helping diversify some of their revenue streams given the uncertainty on the traffic side?

偉大的。這很有幫助。然後我認為，考慮到餐廳業務的不確定性增加，它將環境和餐廳與許可的醬料業務聯繫起來。您是否發現您的合作夥伴或潛在合作夥伴更容易接受新的授權產品或擴大其授權組合，因為考慮到流量方面的不確定性，他們獲得的特許權使用費支票可以幫助實現部分收入流多元化？

Well, I think -- I mean -- as much as I'd like to tell you, that was true. I don't know if I can necessarily say it because I think that our partners take a strategic view of decisions like this. So rather than focusing on the near-end pressure, they're going to take a longer-term view and figure out, is this going to help them diversify their business and grow their revenue. And what we've seen is pretty consistently, the answer to that is yes. I can't tell you that we've seen an uptick on that.

嗯，我想——我的意思是——儘管我很想告訴你，那是真的。我不知道我是否一定可以這麼說，因為我認為我們的合作夥伴對此類決策採取了策略觀點。因此，他們不會專注於近端壓力，而是採取更長遠的眼光，弄清楚這是否會幫助他們實現業務多元化並增加收入。我們所看到的情況非常一致，答案是肯定的。我不能告訴你我們已經看到了這一點的上升。

What I can tell you is, what usually happens in this season, and we've all been doing it a while here is as traffic starts to slow down, the operators come together, and it's usually the Chief Marketing Officer, the Head of menu development, maybe the head of the concept and others in the business. and they work together to figure out ideas, menu ideas that they can talk about in advertising to drive traffic in stores.

我可以告訴你的是，這個季節通常會發生什麼，我們都已經這樣做了一段時間了，當流量開始放緩時，運營商聚集在一起，通常是首席營銷官、菜單主管開發，可能是概念負責人和業務中的其他人。他們共同努力找出廣告中可以談論的創意、菜單創意，以增加商店的客流量。

And I think importantly for us, we're seeing that activity spin up, and we believe that (inaudible) to our benefit. We're seeing even concepts that haven't played in chicken start to talk more about chicken, like wings on their menu and wings, of course, the sauces.

我認為對我們來說重要的是，我們看到這種活動不斷增加，我們相信（聽不清楚）這對我們有利。我們看到，甚至沒有在雞肉中出現過的概念也開始更多地談論雞肉，例如菜單上的雞翅和雞翅，當然還有醬汁。

So as we think about sort of our overall algorithm, even our work with our license partners, I think the biggest driver to the Foodservice business is going to be activity around new sauces for new menu items. Licensing, we continue to be bullish that it's a big opportunity for us.

因此，當我們考慮我們的整體演算法，甚至我們與許可合作夥伴的合作時，我認為餐飲服務業務的最大驅動力將是圍繞新菜單項目的新醬汁的活動。許可方面，我們繼續看好這對我們來說是一個巨大的機會。

Our next question comes from the line of Todd Brooks with The Benchmark Company.

我們的下一個問題來自 The Benchmark Company 的 Todd Brooks。

Just a couple of follow-up questions. Digging in on licensing, it looks like kind of the capability and the bandwidth to introduce multiple products and support them as has expanded. I think this will be in conjunction with RVs on the 2 recent launches, kind of 3 launches in a year, 1.5 years window. Bandwidth to handle further new partners as you're supporting 2 rollouts simultaneously now?

只是幾個後續問題。深入研究許可，看起來像是引入多種產品並支援它們的能力和頻寬已經擴展。我認為這將與最近發布的 2 次房車結合起來，一年內發布 3 次，1.5 年的窗口期。由於您現在同時支援 2 個部署，因此需要足夠的頻寬來處理更多新合作夥伴？

And then the second question that I have is on the Horse Cave side. You hinted at a potential use of capital, maybe being a brownfield facility or figuring out what's next capacity wise with the growth that you've seen in your business? What's kind of the remaining kind of time frame until Horse Cave starts to get full again from a capacity standpoint?

我的第二個問題是關於馬洞一側的。您暗示了資本的潛在用途，也許是一個棕地設施，或者隨著您在業務中看到的增長，弄清楚下一步的產能是什麼？從容量的角度來看，距離 Horse Cave 再次滿員的剩餘時間範圍是多少？

Yes. So Tom, do you want to talk about maybe a view on the Horse Cave first?

是的。湯姆，你想先談談馬洞的景色嗎？

Yes. So from a capacity standpoint, on the Foodservice side, we're running it full out. Now what I would tell you is that we are -- what we have today, we are going to continue to focus on improving OEE and maybe adding some manufacturing to it on the Foodservice side.

是的。因此，從容量的角度來看，在餐飲服務方面，我們正在全力運作。現在我要告訴你的是，我們今天所擁有的，我們將繼續專注於提高 OEE，並可能在餐飲服務方面增加一些製造。

On the Retail side, we still have capacity to grow bottles. So we feel good about where we stand with Horse Cave. And certainly, we're focused on -- there's been a lot of change in Horse Cave with both SAP implementation and the expansion. And we think we can continue to drive more production out of that facility into the future.

在零售方面，我們仍然有能力種植瓶子。因此，我們對 Horse Cave 的立場感到滿意。當然，我們關注的是——隨著 SAP 的實施和擴展，Horse Cave 發生了很多變化。我們認為未來我們可以繼續提高該工廠的產量。

In terms of longer term, I think it's just prudent for us to begin to think about the next phase, given the tailwinds the business has. As Dave mentioned, certainly, we're in a sweet spot from a consumer standpoint and no specific plans at this stage, but we're starting a process on that front.

從長遠來看，考慮到業務的順風順水，我認為我們開始考慮下一階段是謹慎的。正如戴夫所提到的，當然，從消費者的角度來看，我們處於最佳位置，現階段沒有具體計劃，但我們正在這方面啟動一個流程。

I don't know, Dave, if you have anything to add (inaudible)?

我不知道，戴夫，您是否還有什麼要補充的（聽不清楚）？

Yes. And I'll go back -- and Todd, the first part of your question was how are we in terms of able to handle multiple partners? And I would tell you that we would have the/ 41pacity to take on incremental partners and products and the nature of the Horse Cave factory is that we make lots of different sauces there. So we would certainly have the manufacturing and the sourcing capability to do that.

是的。我會回去 - 托德，你問題的第一部分是我們如何能夠處理多個合作夥伴？我想告訴你，我們將有/ 41pacity 來接受增量合作夥伴和產品，而 Horse Cave 工廠的本質是我們在那裡生產許多不同的醬汁。因此，我們肯定有製造和採購能力來做到這一點。

And one of the areas where we think we're extremely strong in execution is in our sales team, both inside sales that handles price points in trade and outside sales that are calling on customers as we've added additional items and additional partners, it's really just giving us more and more scale.

我們認為我們執行力極其強大的領域之一是我們的銷售團隊，無論是處理貿易中價格點的內部銷售還是在我們添加其他商品和其他合作夥伴時吸引客戶的外部銷售，這是實際上只是讓我們的規模越來越大。

We're at a point now where we're having some of these big customers and come and meet with us here in Columbus because they view us as innovators and people driving excitement in these categories. So as we bring more items, it gives us more scale and more relevance with our retail partners. Our retail team has stepped up and they're executing well. So I think Tom and I and the rest of the leadership team would feel comfortable that, hey, if we had the right partner come in on board, we could support them and continue to focus on driving growth on our existing brands.

現在，我們有一些大客戶來到哥倫布與我們會面，因為他們認為我們是這些領域的創新者和推動者。因此，當我們帶來更多商品時，我們的規模就會更大，與零售合作夥伴的相關性也會更大。我們的零售團隊已經加強，他們執行得很好。因此，我認為湯姆和我以及領導團隊的其他成員會感到放心，嘿，如果我們有合適的合作夥伴加入，我們可以支持他們並繼續專注於推動我們現有品牌的成長。

I mean one of the milestones that we hit in this most recent period is that Chick-fil-A sauce entered into the top 10 of all SKUs in the sauces category. And when I'm talking the top 10, I'm talking Hellmann's Mayonnaise is on that list. Some of the Heinz ketchup items are on that list. And we still believe that, that brand, even though between dressings and sauces now and retail sales is about $200 million in sales, there's a lot of chicken (inaudible) on that one. There's a lot of room for us to continue to grow.

我的意思是，我們最近一段時期所達到的里程碑之一是福來雞醬進入了醬料類別中所有 SKU 的前 10 名。當我談論前 10 名時，我說的是 Hellmann’s 蛋黃醬就在名單上。亨氏番茄醬的一些產品就在這個清單上。我們仍然相信，這個品牌，儘管現在的調味品和醬汁與零售額之間的銷售額約為 2 億美元，但其中有很多雞肉（聽不清楚）。我們還有很大的空間可以繼續成長。

Well, just two quick follow-ups. Are -- is Subway or any of the partners selling product in restaurants? And is that -- would that -- if they were doing that show up in Foodservice? Or would you take that back to the retail side of the operation?

好吧，只有兩個快速跟進。 Subway 或任何合作夥伴是否在餐廳銷售產品？如果他們這樣做的話，會出現在餐飲服務嗎？或者你會把它帶回零售方面嗎？

And then Tom, where you talked about Horse Cave running pullout for Foodservice. Have we started to need to go back to kind of those co-manufacturer arrangements that we had leading up into Horse Cave to meet the demand on that side of the house.

然後是湯姆，您談到了 Horse Cave 為餐飲服務運營的退出。我們是否開始需要回到我們在 Horse Cave 中進行的聯合製造商安排，以滿足房子那一側的需求。

Yes. On the co-packer front, not really. What we're focused on here is, I think, the decisions when we're investing, I think what Tom was trying to share is, a brownfield or a greenfield decision is you're talking 2 or 3 years. These are long-term things, and it takes time to bring them to fruition. So just as a matter of keeping pace with the lead times that are required, you begin to think about these things earlier than you might think. And I think that's the point he's trying to make.

是的。在代加工方面，情況並非如此。我認為，我們在這裡關注的是我們投資時的決策，我認為湯姆試圖分享的是，棕地或綠地的決定是你所說的 2 或 3 年。這些都是長期的事情，需要時間才能實現。因此，就像跟上所需的交貨時間一樣，您開始比您想像的更早考慮這些事情。我認為這就是他想要表達的觀點。

So we're not trying to give the impression that we're pinched up capacity because that's not the case. These are -- they're just decisions that require time to make sure you get the right place, it's designed the right way. And if it's a new site, you work with the government on things like incentives and stuff like that.

因此，我們並不是試圖給人留下產能有限的印象，因為事實並非如此。這些都是——它們只是需要時間來確保你找到正確的地方、以正確的方式設計的決定。如果這是一個新網站，您需要與政府合作制定激勵措施等事宜。

So I think what Tom was trying to foreshadow is that as we continue to see growth in recent periods as we continue to project for growth, it's going to necessitate us to think about another site, but also kind of our network more broadly.

因此，我認為湯姆試圖預示的是，隨著我們繼續預測成長，近期我們將繼續看到成長，這將迫使我們考慮另一個網站，但也需要考慮更廣泛的網路。

In terms of where we want that site to be to make sure that it's maximizing utility and profit.

我們希望網站位於何處，以確保其效用和利潤最大化。

Our next question comes from the line of Scott Marx with Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題來自斯科特·馬克思和傑弗里斯的對話。

This is Scott (inaudible) here on for -- just wanted to come back to the Subway and Texas Roadhouse items you launched at retail. Just wondering how those are performing relative to your initial expectations?

我是斯科特（聽不清楚），我只是想回到你們在零售店推出的 Subway 和 Texas Roadhouse 商品。只是想知道這些相對於您最初的期望表現如何？

And then secondly to that, how some of the other licensed brands are performing relative to expectations for where they are in their life cycle.

其次，其他一些授權品牌相對於其生命週期階段的預期的表現如何。

Yes. So maybe starting first with Subway and Texas Roadhouse, Scott, in the period, we had very modest sales in Q3. So I would tell you, it's certainly projecting off of Q3 results too early to say one way or another to look at the data. I would tell you that we're building distribution in line with our expectations, but it's a slow build from customer to customer. It doesn't happen, as you know. And one overnight tranche. So I would tell you, we're just taking an optimistic wait-and-see view and our sales team is aggressively working with our retail partners to make sure that we're getting the items and the right number of facings and the right place on the shelf.

是的。因此，也許首先從 Subway 和 Texas Roadhouse 開始，斯科特，在此期間，我們在第三季度的銷售額非常有限。所以我想告訴你，以某種方式來看待數據，預測第三季的結果肯定為時過早。我想告訴你，我們正在按照我們的預期建立分銷，但從客戶到客戶的建造過程很緩慢。正如你所知，這不會發生。還有一整夜的部分。所以我想告訴你，我們只是採取樂觀的觀望態度，我們的銷售團隊正在積極與我們的零售合作夥伴合作，以確保我們獲得正確數量的商品和正確的地點在架子上。

Now as you just asked a bigger question, which is around how do we feel about the performance of these items and the long-term opportunity we continue to be very bullish, really, across all of our license partners. I mentioned that if you look at Chick-fil-A, one of points we would point to.

現在，正如您剛剛提出的一個更大的問題，即我們對這些產品的性能和長期機會有何看法，我們實際上對所有授權合作夥伴仍然非常樂觀。我提到過，如果你看看福來雞，我們會指出這一點。

On a 52-week basis today, Chick-fil-A's household penetration is only 10.5% our own New York Bakery garlic bread is almost a 19% household penetration. So we feel like there continues to be a lot of opportunity to drive household penetration. If you look at the number of consumers that visit Chick-fil-A restaurants, I mean it's probably 3x what that number is, if not higher than that. So again, just taking that brand close in, we believe there's plenty of room to continue to build household penetration on the core.

以今天的 52 週為基礎，福來雞的家庭滲透率僅為 10.5%，而我們自己的紐約麵包店大蒜麵包的家庭滲透率幾乎為 19%。因此，我們認為仍然有很多機會來推動家庭滲透率。如果你看看參觀福來雞餐廳的消費者數量，我的意思是，它可能是這個數字的 3 倍，甚至更高。因此，再次強調，就該品牌而言，我們相信還有足夠的空間繼續在核心上建立家庭滲透率。

We think the Chick-fil-A brand has big shoulders and there are other sauces and dressings that we could launch behind that. You move around the portfolio and you talk about Olive Garden. Really early days. We launched into Italian then we moved into ranch as we entered into ranch, we were able to get more facings on the shelf, which improved velocity for all of the items. We came out behind that with Caesar which has performed very, very well and then most recently out with balsamic.

我們認為福來雞品牌有很大的優勢，我們可以在背後推出其他醬汁和調味料。你瀏覽作品集，談論橄欖園。確實很早。我們推出了義大利語，然後我們進入了牧場，當我們進入牧場時，我們能夠在貨架上獲得更多的飾面，這提高了所有物品的速度。我們的凱撒（Caesar）表現非常非常好，最近又推出了香醋（balsamic）。

So in some brands, it's just driving penetration and getting sizing right. I think that's the case with Chick-fil-A because that brand just has big shoulders like a Heinz ketchup, for example. In the case of an Olive Garden, the way you manage a brand like that is you drive assortment. And we think that the Olive Garden brand continues to have more room to continue to grow as well.

因此，在某些品牌中，這只是推動滲透率並確定合適的尺寸。我認為福來雞就是這種情況，因為該品牌的肩膀就像亨氏番茄醬一樣大。就橄欖園而言，管理這樣的品牌的方式就是推動品種。我們認為橄欖園品牌也將持續擁有更大的發展空間。

With Buffalo Wild Wings, it's kind of a combination of the two. We think there's more different flavor dimensions that we can go out with. But most recently, now we're taking some of their best-selling items, and we're converting those to larger sizes. So whether Tom or me or any one of the number of people on our team, we all grew up managing big brands. I spent time at Heinz and Kraft, and worked on Blue Box and Heinz ketchup. And most of our team comes from bigger companies like that.

Buffalo Wild Wings 是兩者的結合。我們認為我們可以推出更多不同的風味維度。但最近，我們正在採取一些他們最暢銷的商品，並將它們轉換為更大的尺寸。因此，無論是湯姆、我或是我們團隊中的任何一個人，我們都是在管理大品牌的過程中長大的。我曾在亨氏和卡夫工作過，並在 Blue Box 和亨氏番茄醬領域工作。我們的團隊大部分來自這樣的大公司。

And in essence, what we're doing is we're using the same sort of playbook tailored for each of these brands to help them uniquely grow. But with our existing partners, we think that there's plenty more room to continue to grow.

從本質上講，我們正在做的是使用為每個品牌量身定制的同一種策略來幫助他們實現獨特的成長。但與我們現有的合作夥伴一起，我們認為還有更多的空間繼續成長。

That's helpful. And then just as a second question, I know there's been a lot of discussion around foodservice and just general macro environment impacting obviously restaurants.

這很有幫助。作為第二個問題，我知道圍繞餐飲服務和一般宏觀環境明顯影響餐廳進行了許多討論。

Wondering if you could talk about your outlook maybe for the next 6 months for the balance of the year. I think we've heard from some others that they expect the consumer to improve a little, feel a little less pressure later in the year. Wondering if you guys kind of feel the same and any general thoughts you may have, that would be great.

想知道您是否可以談談您對今年剩餘時間的未來 6 個月的展望。我想我們已經從其他一些人那裡聽說，他們希望消費者在今年晚些時候能夠有所改善，並感受到一點壓力。想知道你們是否有同樣的感覺以及你們可能有的任何一般想法，那就太好了。

Yes. We expect our algorithm to remain essentially the same, with the ability to deliver both top line growth, sales growth and volumetric growth on both sides of the business.

是的。我們預計我們的演算法將基本保持不變，能夠實現業務雙方的營收成長、銷售成長和數量成長。

And Tom, I don't know if you want to provide any other texture to add?

湯姆，我不知道你是否想提供任何其他紋理來添加？

Yes. I think where we sit in the marketplace, as Dave hit on earlier, there's certainly some concern about the consumer. I think when we look at our broader portfolio, the QSR exposure we have particularly with Chick-fil-A, we feel very good about that.

是的。我認為，正如戴夫之前提到的那樣，我們在市場上的位置肯定對消費者有一些擔憂。我認為，當我們審視更廣泛的產品組合，尤其是福來雞的 QSR 業務時，我們對此感覺非常好。

And then on the retail side, as you saw this last quarter, we reinvested a bit of trade. We were able to drive more volume growth protect our position in the marketplace, grow penetration. And so I think overall, we're responding to the softness that a lot of folks see, and I think we're well positioned to continue to do it. So that's where I think Dave and I both feel we can continue the algorithm through Q4 and into next year.

然後在零售方面，正如您在上個季度看到的那樣，我們對一些貿易進行了再投資。我們能夠推動更多的銷售成長，保護我們在市場中的地位，提高滲透率。因此，我認為總體而言，我們正在回應許多人所看到的疲軟狀態，我認為我們已經做好了繼續這樣做的準備。因此，我認為戴夫和我都認為我們可以在第四季度和明年繼續使用該演算法。

Maybe the thing that I'll offer to that question is sort of how we're thinking about Q4 and the next fiscal year, it's really focusing on three key things. Consumer-relevant innovation because in a great economy, it's important and in an economy that's slightly more challenging, it's equally important. So consumer-relevant innovation. Second point is just smart cost management. And then finally, just good execution and avoiding unforced error.

也許我要回答這個問題的是我們如何看待第四季和下一個財年，它實際上專注於三個關鍵事情。與消費者相關的創新，因為在一個偉大的經濟體中，它很重要，在一個稍微更具挑戰性的經濟體中，它也同樣重要。因此，與消費者相關的創新。第二點是智慧成本管理。最後，良好的執行力並避免非受迫性失誤。

So the team is pretty narrowly focused on those three items. And if we can just continue to execute, we're bullish about the outlook.

因此，團隊非常專注於這三個項目。如果我們能夠繼續執行，我們對前景持樂觀態度。

Thank you. I'm showing no further questions in the queue. I would now like to turn the call back over to Dave for his closing comments.

謝謝。我在隊列中沒有顯示任何其他問題。我現在想將電話轉回給戴夫，聽聽他的結束語。

Very good. Well, thank you. And thank you to everybody that joined on the call. We look forward to being with you again in August where we take you through our Q4 results and talk a little bit about our outlook for the next fiscal year. We hope you guys have a great rest of the day.

非常好。嗯，謝謝。感謝所有參加電話會議的人。我們期待在八月再次與您見面，我們將向您介紹我們第四季度的業績，並談談我們對下一財年的展望。我們希望你們今天休息愉快。

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

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。