US Foods Holding Corp. (USFD) 2026 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to US Foods' second-quarter 2026 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions)

早安，歡迎參加 US Foods 2026 會計年度第二季財報電話會議。(接線員指示)

I will now turn the conference over to Mike Neese, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

現在我將把會議交給投資人關係資深副總裁 Mike Neese。請開始。

Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to US Foods' second-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings call. On today's call, we have Dave Flitman, Chair of the Board and CEO; and Dirk Locascio, our CFO. We will take your questions after our prepared remarks conclude. (Event Instructions)

謝謝。各位早安，歡迎參加 US Foods 2026 會計年度第二季財報電話會議。今天的電話會議由董事會主席兼執行長 Dave Flitman，以及財務長 Dirk Locascio 出席。在我們的準備發言結束後，將開放提問。(活動指示)

Our earnings release issued earlier this morning and today's presentation can be found on the Investor Relations page of our website at ir.usfoods.com. During today's call, and unless otherwise stated, we're comparing our second-quarter fiscal 2026 results to the same period in fiscal year 2025.

我們今早較早發布的財報新聞稿以及今天的簡報，可在我們網站的投資人關係頁面 ir.usfoods.com 查閱。在今天的電話會議中，除非另有說明，我們將把 2026 會計年度第二季的結果與 2025 會計年度同期進行比較。

In addition to historical information, certain statements made during today's call are considered forward-looking statements. Please review the risk factors in our Form 10-K for a detailed discussion of the potential factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements.

除歷史資訊外，今天電話會議中的某些陳述屬於前瞻性陳述。請查閱我們 Form 10-K 中的風險因素，以了解可能導致實際結果與前瞻性陳述所預期結果出現重大差異的潛在因素之詳細討論。

Lastly, during today's call, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. All reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP financial measures are included in the schedules on our earnings press release, as well as in the presentation slides posted on our website. We are not providing reconciliations to forward-looking non-GAAP financial measures.

最後，在今天的電話會議中，我們將提及若干非 GAAP 財務衡量指標。所有與最可比 GAAP 財務衡量指標的調節表，均載於我們的財報新聞稿附表，以及發布於網站的簡報投影片中。我們不提供前瞻性非 GAAP 財務衡量指標的調節表。

Thank you. I'd like to turn the call over to Dave.

謝謝。我想把電話會議交給 Dave。

Thanks, Mike. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Before we begin, our thoughts are with our associates, customers and communities impacted by the devastating wildfires in Spokane, Washington. While our operating facilities were thankfully not impacted, we have 3 associates who tragically lost all or a portion of their homes. The US Foods family is rallying to support them, our customers, the affected communities and the brave firefighters and first responders serving on the front lines.

謝謝，Mike。各位早安，感謝各位加入我們。在開始之前，我們的心與受到華盛頓州斯波坎（Spokane）毀滅性野火影響的同仁、客戶與社區同在。所幸我們的營運設施未受影響，但有 3 位同仁不幸失去全部或部分住所。US Foods 大家庭正動員起來，支援他們、我們的客戶、受影響的社區，以及在第一線服務的英勇消防人員與第一線應變人員。

At the same time, we remain focused on the safety of our associates while actively supporting our customers through our business continuity plans.

同時，我們仍專注於同仁的安全，並透過我們的營運持續計畫積極支援客戶。

With that, let me turn to our second quarter performance. Starting on Slide 3. We delivered a strong quarter with record adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin and another quarter of double-digit adjusted EPS growth. Importantly, independent restaurant case growth of 5.1% was the strongest since the fourth quarter of 2023 and marks our fifth consecutive quarter of acceleration despite persistent pressure on industry foot traffic. Additionally, health care grew 3.5% and hospitality grew 4.4%.

接著，我來談談我們第二季的表現。請看投影片第 3 頁。我們交出強勁的一季，調整後 EBITDA 與調整後 EBITDA 利潤率創下新高，且調整後 EPS 再度實現雙位數成長。重要的是，獨立餐廳的箱數成長 5.1%，為 2023 年第四季以來最強，並且在產業來客數持續承壓的情況下，連續第五季加速成長。此外，醫療保健成長 3.5%，旅宿餐飲（hospitality）成長 4.4%。

We also gained share with our target customer types, marking our 21st consecutive quarter of share gains with independent restaurants and our 23rd consecutive quarter of share gains with health care.

我們也在目標客群中提升市占：對獨立餐廳連續第 21 季市占成長，對醫療保健連續第 23 季市占成長。

Within independent restaurants, our momentum is strengthening, supported by healthy new account growth and improved penetration with existing customers. This top line momentum translated into strong financial performance. We grew adjusted EBITDA 10% and adjusted diluted EPS 21% through a combination of volume growth and 29 basis points of margin expansion to a record 5.7%. Our strong and accelerating cash flow generation provides substantial financial flexibility. And during the quarter, we invested in key growth initiatives while repurchasing more than $370 million of shares, underscoring our commitment to creating long-term shareholder value.

在獨立餐廳方面，我們的動能持續增強，受惠於健康的新客戶成長，以及對既有客戶的滲透率提升。這股營收動能轉化為強勁的財務表現。我們透過銷量成長與利潤率擴張 29 個基點（bp）至創紀錄的 5.7% 的組合，推動調整後 EBITDA 成長 10%，調整後稀釋 EPS 成長 21%。我們強勁且加速的現金流創造能力，提供了可觀的財務彈性。本季我們在投資關鍵成長計畫的同時，也回購超過 3.7 億美元的股票，彰顯我們致力於創造長期股東價值。

Just as important as our financial results is how we are achieving them.

與財務成果同樣重要的是，我們是如何達成這些成果的。

Across the business -- our teams are applying a continuous improvement mindset while leveraging investments in technology, including artificial intelligence to raise customer service levels, improve productivity and create a stronger foundation for sustainable long-term growth. These efforts are strengthening our competitive position and creating additional opportunities to deliver value. I'll provide more details on our AI capabilities a bit later. This quarter represents one of our strongest since I joined US Foods 3.5 years ago. As we navigated a dynamic and volatile environment during the second quarter, our team stayed focused on controlling what we could control while acting decisively in response to what we could not.

在整個業務中——我們的團隊以持續改善的思維運作，同時運用對科技的投資（包括人工智慧），以提升客戶服務水準、改善生產力，並為可持續的長期成長奠定更強的基礎。這些努力正在強化我們的競爭地位，並創造更多交付價值的機會。稍後我會提供更多關於我們 AI 能力的細節。本季是我加入 US Foods 3.5 年來表現最強的季度之一。在第二季面對動態且波動的環境時，我們的團隊專注於掌控可控之事，並對不可控之事果斷應對。

I am incredibly proud of our team for delivering these results through outstanding execution in what remains a challenging operating environment. As we look to the balance of 2026, we will remain grounded in disciplined execution and focused on the actions that will strengthen our business. We are also committed to further strengthening the competitive advantages that differentiate our business while delivering consistent volume growth, double-digit earnings growth and long-term value creation for our shareholders. I thank our 30,000 associates for their unwavering commitment to delivering excellence in serving our customers and to pursuing our ambition to become the undisputed best in our industry. The strength of our team is what reinforces my confidence in our continued success.

我為我們的團隊感到無比自豪，能在仍然充滿挑戰的營運環境中，憑藉卓越的執行力交出這些成果。展望 2026 年剩餘期間，我們將持續以紀律執行為本，並專注於能強化我們業務的行動。我們也致力於進一步強化使我們業務脫穎而出的競爭優勢，同時實現穩健的銷量成長、雙位數獲利成長，以及為股東創造長期價值。我感謝我們 30,000 名同仁堅定不移地致力於以卓越服務客戶，並追求成為本產業無可爭議的最佳者之雄心。團隊的力量讓我對我們持續成功更具信心。

I'll now highlight the progress we made in the second quarter under each of our 4 strategic pillars. Dirk will then provide additional detail on our second quarter financial performance and full year guidance. Turning to Slide 4. Our strong culture is a competitive differentiator. We remain focused on keeping our people safe, investing in their development and building an empowered workforce that supports our long-term growth.

接下來我將重點說明第二季在我們四大策略支柱下所取得的進展。之後 Dirk 會就第二季財務表現與全年財測提供更多細節。請看投影片第 4 頁。我們強大的文化是競爭差異化因素。我們仍專注於確保同仁安全、投資其發展，並打造一支具備授權與自主性的團隊，以支持我們的長期成長。

Safety remains our top priority, and we are making meaningful progress in protecting our associates while strengthening our operations. In fact, we have improved our injury and accident rates by over 50% over the last 3.5 years. Aiding this improvement is the deployment of approximately 2,500 center-ride pallet jacks across our distribution network.

安全仍是我們的首要任務，我們在保護同仁並強化營運方面取得了實質進展。事實上，在過去 3.5 年中，我們的受傷與事故率已改善超過 50%。促成此改善的因素之一，是在我們的配送網路中部署約 2,500 台中置式站駕電動托盤車（center-ride pallet jacks）。

Our rollout is now 87% complete, and we anticipate full deployment by the end of this year. This investment is reducing exposure to one of our most serious workplace hazards and reflects our ongoing commitment to providing a safer work environment for our associates. Where we have converted to center-ride pallet jacks, the most serious injuries associated with this type of equipment have essentially been eliminated. Our commitment to building a strong culture also extends to talent acquisition and development. During the second quarter, we launched our VALOR campaign to advance our Mission 2030 goal of hiring 3,000 military veterans by the end of the decade.

目前推行已完成 87%，我們預期在今年年底前全面部署完成。這項投資正在降低我們面對最嚴重職場危害之一的暴露風險，並反映我們持續致力於為同仁提供更安全的工作環境。在已轉換為中置式站駕電動托盤車的據點，與此類設備相關的最嚴重傷害基本上已被消除。我們對打造強大文化的承諾，也延伸至人才招募與發展。第二季期間，我們啟動 VALOR 活動，以推進 Mission 2030 目標：在本十年結束前聘用 3,000 名退伍軍人。

Through VALOR, we are expanding our veteran recruiting efforts with a dedicated web page, new strategic partnerships and ongoing investments to recognize and support the more than 1,500 and growing number of veteran associates already contributing to our business.

透過 VALOR，我們以專屬網頁、新的策略夥伴關係，以及持續投入資源來表揚並支持目前已超過 1,500 名且持續增加、正在為公司貢獻的退伍軍人同仁，從而擴大我們的退伍軍人招募工作。

Veterans bring proven leadership, a strong work ethic, discipline and teamwork to US Foods, and we are honored to support those who have served while strengthening our workforce for the future. Our focus on people is also reflected in our recently published 2025 sustainability report, which highlights our progress across key focus areas and our commitment to building a stronger and more sustainable business. In 2025, we invested 1.2 million hours in training to build critical skills, develop leaders and equip our teams to execute at a high level. I encourage you to read the report on our website to learn more about our sustainability journey and the initiatives we have underway across the business.

退伍軍人為 US Foods 帶來經驗證的領導力、強烈的工作倫理、紀律與團隊合作精神；我們很榮幸能在強化未來人力的同時，支持曾服役的人員。我們對人才的重視，也反映在近期發布的 2025 年永續報告中；該報告重點呈現我們在關鍵聚焦領域的進展，以及我們致力於打造更強大且更永續企業的承諾。2025 年，我們投入 120 萬小時的訓練，以建立關鍵技能、培育領導人才，並讓團隊具備高水準執行力。我鼓勵各位到我們網站閱讀該報告，以進一步了解我們的永續旅程，以及我們在全公司推動中的各項計畫。

Moving to Slide 5 and our service pillar. We strive to deliver a best-in-class customer experience by continuously improving the consistency of our service reliability across our network. A key measure of that progress is Operations Quality Composite or Ops QC, which tracks our ability to deliver accurate error-free orders to customers. In the second quarter, Ops QC improved 13% compared to the prior year. And over the last 2 years, it has improved 37%, reflecting disciplined execution and ongoing improvement work in this important customer experience metric.

接著看第 5 張投影片與我們的服務支柱。我們致力於透過持續提升全網路服務可靠性的一致性，提供同級最佳的客戶體驗。衡量該進展的一項關鍵指標是營運品質綜合指標（Operations Quality Composite，簡稱 Ops QC），用以追蹤我們向客戶交付正確、無錯誤訂單的能力。第二季，Ops QC 較去年同期提升 13%。而在過去 2 年中，該指標提升了 37%，反映出在這項重要客戶體驗指標上，我們嚴謹的執行力與持續改善的工作成果。

Additionally, earlier this year, we began testing autonomous inventory scanning robotics in one of our warehouses and the early results have been encouraging. We believe this technology will help to further improve inventory accuracy and warehouse efficiency. Based upon the results of the pilot, we plan to expand testing to 6 additional locations by year-end. Our focus on operating discipline is improving our efficiency and strengthening our customer value proposition by helping us deliver the reliable, consistent service our customers count on and deserve every day.

此外，今年稍早我們開始在其中一座倉庫測試自主盤點掃描機器人，初步結果令人鼓舞。我們相信這項技術將有助於進一步提升庫存準確度與倉儲效率。根據試點結果，我們計畫在年底前將測試擴大至另外 6 個據點。我們對營運紀律的專注正在提升效率，並透過協助我們提供客戶每天仰賴且應得的可靠、一致服務，強化我們的客戶價值主張。

Now let's turn to our growth pillar on Slide 6. We are consistently accelerating profitable growth and gaining market share across our target customer types, highlighting the durability of our model during times of macro uncertainty. I'm very pleased with the progress we've made over the last 5 quarters in accelerating our independent restaurant case volume growth. Pronto, our small truck delivery service is a key enabler of that growth and remains a powerful competitive differentiator. Through Pronto, we provide customers with greater convenience and flexibility, including later cutoff times, smaller order sizes and more frequent deliveries.

現在讓我們看第 6 張投影片的成長支柱。我們持續加速獲利性成長，並在目標客群中擴大市占，凸顯在總體環境不確定時期，我們商業模式的韌性。我對我們在過去 5 個季度加速獨立餐廳箱數（case volume）成長所取得的進展感到非常滿意。Pronto（我們的小型卡車配送服務）是推動該成長的關鍵助力，並持續是強而有力的競爭差異化因素。透過 Pronto，我們為客戶提供更高的便利性與彈性，包括更晚的截單時間、更小的訂單量以及更頻繁的配送。

This opens up our addressable market by enabling us to compete more effectively with local and specialty distributors. We're expanding the reach of Pronto, which is now live in 52 markets. At the same time, Pronto Next Day, which extends the service to our existing independent customers is now live in 35 markets with plans to add an additional 8 markets this year. The overall Pronto program is growing at strong double-digit rates. After delivering $1 billion in sales in 2025, we estimate Pronto will deliver approximately $1.3 billion in sales this year.

這使我們能更有效與在地及專業型經銷商競爭，從而擴大我們的可服務市場。我們正在擴大 Pronto 的覆蓋範圍，目前已在 52 個市場上線。同時，將服務延伸至既有獨立客戶的 Pronto Next Day 目前已在 35 個市場上線，並計畫今年再新增 8 個市場。整體 Pronto 計畫正以強勁的雙位數成長率擴張。在 2025 年達成 10 億美元銷售額後，我們估計 Pronto 今年將帶來約 13 億美元的銷售額。

Based on our recent success, we now believe Pronto can generate more than $1.7 billion in sales in 2027, up from our prior estimate of $1.5 billion.

基於我們近期的成功，我們現在認為 Pronto 在 2027 年可創造超過 17 億美元的銷售額，高於先前估計的 15 億美元。

Moving now to our sales compensation change. Our new seller compensation plan successfully went live across the company in June, an important milestone to further align our sales force incentives with our business strategy and long-term growth objectives. Early results are very encouraging, and we are already seeing positive indicators in seller engagement that are consistent with our strategy and key growth priorities. Sellers understand how to maximize their earnings, have confidence in the plan and their leaders and are moving quickly to align their actions and behaviors in ways that will accelerate long-term profitable growth.

接著談我們的銷售薪酬變更。我們新的業務人員薪酬方案已於 6 月在全公司成功上線，這是一項重要里程碑，可進一步使銷售團隊的激勵與我們的業務策略及長期成長目標一致。初步結果非常令人鼓舞，我們已在業務人員投入度方面看到與我們策略及關鍵成長優先事項一致的正向指標。業務人員了解如何將收入最大化，對方案及其主管團隊有信心，並正迅速調整其行動與行為，以加速長期的獲利性成長。

Year-over-year attrition remains flat, which we believe reflects our robust investment in seller training, sales leader preparation and clear ongoing communication and support over the last year and throughout implementation. As we have previously discussed, we've taken a very thoughtful approach to this transition, and it may take 2 to 3 years for the majority of our local sales force to fully transition to 100% variable compensation. Together, Pronto and our seller compensation change underscore our confidence in our ability to accelerate profitable growth and drive further share gains with independent restaurants.

年對年離職率維持持平，我們認為這反映了過去一年以及導入期間，我們在業務訓練、銷售主管準備，以及清楚且持續的溝通與支持上的強力投入。如我們先前所討論，我們以非常審慎的方式推動這次轉換，而多數在地銷售團隊要完全轉為 100% 變動薪酬，可能需要 2 到 3 年。Pronto 與我們的銷售薪酬變更共同凸顯我們對加速獲利性成長、並在獨立餐廳客群進一步提升市占能力的信心。

Finally, our health care and hospitality businesses, which represent over 25% of total sales, continue to deliver strong performance. Backed by a strong pipeline and the success of our vitals and signature programs, we see meaningful opportunities to drive growth through the remainder of 2026 and into the years ahead.

最後，我們的醫療照護與餐旅（hospitality）業務合計占總銷售額超過 25%，持續展現強勁表現。在強勁的商機管線，以及我們 vitals 與 signature 計畫成功的支持下，我們看到在 2026 年剩餘期間及未來數年推動成長的重大機會。

Now let's move to our profit pillar on Slide 7. Our disciplined execution and self-help initiatives drove another quarter of profitable growth and margin expansion. Adjusted EBITDA grew over 10% to a record $604 million and EBITDA margin expanded by 29 basis points to a record 5.7%. Strategic vendor management remains a key contributor to margin expansion and a clear example of our self-help initiatives delivering measurable value. During the first half of the year, we generated more than $50 million in additional cost of goods savings, and we are highly confident in our ability to deliver more than $300 million over the 3-year long-range plan ending in 2027.

現在讓我們看第 7 張投影片的獲利支柱。我們嚴謹的執行與自助式改善（self-help）措施，帶動本季再度實現獲利性成長與利潤率擴張。調整後 EBITDA 成長逾 10%，達到創紀錄的 6.04 億美元，EBITDA 利潤率亦擴張 29 個基點至創紀錄的 5.7%。策略性供應商管理仍是利潤率擴張的關鍵貢獻者，也是我們自助式改善措施創造可衡量價值的明確例證。今年上半年，我們額外創造超過 5,000 萬美元的銷貨成本節省，且我們對在 2027 年結束的 3 年長期計畫期間實現超過 3 億美元節省的能力高度有信心。

We are also driving measurable value from our initiatives in inventory management and indirect spend. For inventory management, we expect to generate an additional $10 million of gross profit benefit in 2026, building on the $35 million realized last year. Importantly, this work is also improving in-stock performance, product quality and service levels for our customers. In the area of indirect spend, we completed the baseline deployment of our new indirect procurement system during the first half of this year, creating a stronger platform to capture additional savings. Year-to-date, we generated more than $20 million in incremental savings, and we expect this initiative to deliver more than $75 million of benefit this year.

我們也正透過庫存管理與間接支出（indirect spend）相關措施創造可衡量的價值。就庫存管理而言，我們預期 2026 年可額外帶來 1,000 萬美元的毛利效益，延續去年已實現的 3,500 萬美元成果。重要的是，這項工作也在提升客戶的到貨率（in-stock）表現、產品品質與服務水準。在間接支出方面，我們於今年上半年完成新間接採購系統的基礎部署，建立更強的平台以擷取更多節省。截至目前，我們已創造超過 2,000 萬美元的增量節省，並預期該措施今年將帶來超過 7,500 萬美元的效益。

We remain on track for over $100 million of savings in 2027.

我們仍按計畫在 2027 年實現超過 1 億美元的節省。

Next on Slide 8, I'll highlight the ways we are leveraging AI to further widen our competitive moat. AI is embedded in the way we serve our customers, enable our sales force, optimize our supply chain and manage core enterprise functions. Our approach remains focused on deploying AI against the highest return opportunities and tying those initiatives to measurable business outcomes. A key area of focus is sales force productivity. Visit Assistant insights is an internally developed AI-enabled tool that provides sellers with customer-specific insights to identify priority opportunities, improve sales call preparation and make those visits more productive.

接著看第 8 張投影片，我將重點說明我們如何運用 AI 進一步擴大競爭護城河。AI 已嵌入我們服務客戶、賦能銷售團隊、優化供應鏈以及管理核心企業職能的方式之中。我們的方法仍聚焦於在最高報酬的機會上部署 AI，並將這些措施與可衡量的業務成果連結。其中一個關鍵聚焦領域是銷售團隊生產力。Visit Assistant insights 是我們內部開發、具 AI 功能的工具，可為業務人員提供客戶專屬洞察，以辨識優先機會、改善拜訪準備，並提升拜訪成效。

By streamlining the preparation work that sellers would otherwise do on their own, Visit Assistant allows them to spend more time engaging with customers. In the first 6 weeks, the tool delivered more than 700,000 actionable insights to our sellers across independent restaurant accounts.

透過簡化原本需要業務人員自行完成的準備工作，Visit Assistant 讓他們能把更多時間投入與客戶互動。在前 6 週內，該工具已為我們的業務人員在獨立餐廳客戶中提供超過 70 萬則可採取行動的洞察。

As the AI model continues to learn and scale, we expect these insights to become increasingly valuable, supporting stronger sales execution, deeper customer engagement and sustained growth over time. In parallel, we are piloting our AI sales assistant, known internally as Su AI Assistant, which is a generative AI-powered Chatbot that enables sellers to ask questions and receive real-time answers, insights and recommendations directly within their daily workflow. We are also applying AI across our supply chain. AI-driven product demand forecasting, labor planning and Descartes routing are helping improve service and productivity while reducing working capital.

隨著 AI 模型持續學習並擴大規模，我們預期這些洞察將愈發有價值，支持更強的銷售執行、更深的客戶互動，以及隨時間推進的持續成長。同時，我們正在試行 AI 銷售助理，內部稱為 Su AI Assistant；這是一個由生成式 AI 驅動的聊天機器人，使業務人員能在日常工作流程中直接提問並即時獲得答案、洞察與建議。我們也正將 AI 應用於供應鏈各環節。AI 驅動的產品需求預測、人力規劃與 Descartes 路線規劃，正協助提升服務與生產力，同時降低營運資金。

Better forecasting supports stronger in-stock performance and less waste, while more efficient routing enables better delivery execution and fewer miles driven. When we talk about AI, we are talking about practical capabilities embedded in our core business processes that are already improving how we operate. While we are still in the early innings, we see meaningful opportunities to deepen our differentiation, accelerate volume growth and improve our supply chain productivity. Of course, technology and stronger processes only create value when paired with talented associates who bring them to life every day. I saw that firsthand at my third annual CEO Award ceremony where we celebrate associates who ignited excellence across US Foods while exemplifying our cultural beliefs.

更佳的預測可支持更強的到貨率表現並減少浪費，而更有效率的路線規劃則可提升配送執行並降低行駛里程。當我們談 AI 時，我們指的是嵌入核心業務流程中的實用能力，且已在改善我們的營運方式。雖然我們仍處於早期階段，但我們看到深化差異化、加速出貨量成長並提升供應鏈生產力的重大機會。當然，科技與更強的流程只有在與每天將其落地的優秀同仁相結合時，才能創造價值。我在第三屆年度 CEO Award 頒獎典禮上親眼見證了這一點；我們在典禮中表揚那些在 US Foods 點燃卓越、並展現我們文化信念的同仁。

One of those outstanding associates was Lori Miracle, who is the Manager of Inventory Control in Tampa and received a CEO Award. Lori and her team streamlined South Florida's inventory tracking efforts by getting to the root cause of overshipment occurrences and building a new system for tracking inventory discrepancies that enables real-time selector coaching to stop future errors. Her work optimized product recovery, reduced excess stock and improved receiving accuracy, generating $4 million in annual inventory adjustment savings in her area. Her processes have been scaled company-wide and are now used across all markets. Thank you, Lori, for your commitment to embracing our cultural beliefs of deliver excellence and stop waste to drive meaningful cost savings.

其中一位傑出的同仁是 Lori Miracle，她是坦帕的庫存控制經理，並獲得了 CEO 獎。Lori 與她的團隊透過追溯超量出貨事件的根本原因，並建立一套新的庫存差異追蹤系統，讓揀貨員能即時接受指導以阻止未來錯誤，從而精簡了南佛羅里達的庫存追蹤工作。她的工作最佳化了產品回收、降低了過剩庫存並提升了收貨準確性，為其負責區域每年帶來 400 萬美元的庫存調整節省。她的流程已在全公司範圍內擴大推行，並已在所有市場使用。謝謝你，Lori，感謝你致力於實踐我們「追求卓越交付」與「杜絕浪費」的文化信念，以推動具意義的成本節省。

With that, let me now turn the call over to Dirk to discuss our second quarter financial performance and 2026 guidance.

接下來，讓我把電話會議交給 Dirk，請他說明我們第二季的財務表現以及 2026 年展望。

Thank you, Dave, and good morning, everyone. Our second quarter results demonstrate the financial benefits of disciplined execution, continued progress on our self-help initiatives and effective capital allocation. We delivered profitable volume growth, expanded adjusted EBITDA margin to a record level and generated adjusted diluted EPS growth that significantly outpaced adjusted EBITDA growth.

謝謝你，Dave，各位早安。我們第二季的結果展現了嚴謹執行所帶來的財務效益、我們自助改善計畫的持續進展，以及有效的資本配置。我們實現了具獲利性的量增成長，將調整後 EBITDA 利潤率擴大至創紀錄水準，並帶動調整後稀釋每股盈餘（EPS）成長，顯著超越調整後 EBITDA 的成長。

Starting on Slide 10 with our financial results. Second quarter net sales increased 4.5% to $10.5 billion from total case volume growth of 1.9% plus food cost inflation and mix impact of 2.6%. Total and independent restaurant case growth both accelerated this quarter. Independent restaurant volume grew 5.1%, while health care increased 3.5% and hospitality grew 4.4%. Chain restaurant volume declined 1.5%, 30 basis points better than industry traffic as reported by Black Box.

從投影片 10 開始看我們的財務結果。第二季淨銷售額成長 4.5% 至 105 億美元，主要來自總箱量（case volume）成長 1.9%，加上食品成本通膨與組合影響 2.6%。本季總體與獨立餐廳的箱量成長皆加速。獨立餐廳量增 5.1%，醫療保健成長 3.5%，而飯店與餐旅（hospitality）成長 4.4%。連鎖餐廳量下滑 1.5%，較 Black Box 所報告的產業客流量表現好 30 個基點。

Turning to profitability. Second quarter adjusted EBITDA grew 10.2% to a record $604 million, driven by volume growth with our target customer types and progress on our continuous improvement efforts to increase gross profit and enhance operational efficiency. Finally, adjusted diluted EPS increased 21% to $1.44, meaningfully outpacing adjusted EBITDA growth. We expect adjusted EPS to grow faster than adjusted EBITDA over time as it has for the past several years, supported by earnings growth and the disciplined deployment of our strong cash flow towards share repurchases.

接著看獲利能力。第二季調整後 EBITDA 成長 10.2% 至創紀錄的 6.04 億美元，主要由我們目標客群的量增成長所帶動，並受惠於持續改善工作在提升毛利與強化營運效率方面的進展。最後，調整後稀釋 EPS 成長 21% 至 1.44 美元，明顯超越調整後 EBITDA 的成長。我們預期隨時間推進，調整後 EPS 的成長速度將快於調整後 EBITDA，正如過去數年一樣，並將在獲利成長與我們以嚴謹方式運用強勁現金流進行庫藏股回購的支持下持續。

Turning to Slide 11. We again drove operating leverage with adjusted gross profit per case growing faster than adjusted operating expenses per case and resulting in strong adjusted EBITDA per case growth. Adjusted gross profit per case increased $0.41 or 5% compared to the prior year, supported by profitable volume growth and our self-help initiatives, including strategic vendor management and improved inventory management. Adjusted gross profit per case was higher this quarter, primarily due to timing of strategic vendor management gains and higher customer fuel surcharges to offset the higher fuel expense we incurred. Adjusted operating expenses per case increased $0.21 or 3.7%.

接著看投影片 11。我們再次推動營運槓桿，調整後每箱毛利的成長快於調整後每箱營運費用的成長，因而帶來強勁的調整後每箱 EBITDA 成長。調整後每箱毛利較去年增加 0.41 美元或 5%，受惠於具獲利性的量增成長與我們的自助改善計畫，包括策略性供應商管理與改善的庫存管理。本季調整後每箱毛利較高，主要因策略性供應商管理收益的時點因素，以及為抵銷我們承擔的較高燃料費用而提高的客戶燃料附加費。調整後每箱營運費用增加 0.21 美元或 3.7%。

We continue to offset a portion of operating cost inflation through productivity improvements across the business, including warehouse productivity gains, process standardization, labor planning and disciplined expense management.

我們持續透過全公司範圍的生產力提升來抵銷部分營運成本通膨，包括倉儲生產力提升、流程標準化、人力規劃以及嚴謹的費用管理。

Our adjusted operating expenses were also higher this quarter, with roughly 1/3 of the increase versus prior year from higher fuel costs, combined with the higher sales cost related to the compensation plan transition. As a result, adjusted EBITDA per case increased $0.21 or 8.3% to $2.73. Importantly, adjusted gross profit per case grew 130 basis points faster than adjusted operating expenses per case, demonstrating our consistent ability to drive operating leverage through profitable growth and disciplined cost management.

本季我們的調整後營運費用也較高，其中約 1/3 的年增幅來自較高的燃料成本，再加上與薪酬方案轉換相關的較高銷售成本。因此，調整後每箱 EBITDA 增加 0.21 美元或 8.3% 至 2.73 美元。重要的是，調整後每箱毛利的成長比調整後每箱營運費用快 130 個基點，展現我們透過具獲利性的成長與嚴謹的成本管理，持續推動營運槓桿的能力。

As you can see on Slide 12, our strong cash flow generation and balance sheet provides significant flexibility and support our balanced capital allocation priorities. Year-to-date, we generated $725 million of operating cash flow from strong earnings and effective working capital management. This performance enables us to invest in the business to drive growth, return capital to shareholders through share repurchases and pursue accretive tuck-in M&A.

如投影片 12 所示，我們強勁的現金流創造能力與資產負債表，提供了顯著的彈性，並支持我們均衡的資本配置優先事項。年初至今，我們憑藉強勁獲利與有效的營運資金管理，創造了 7.25 億美元的營運現金流。這樣的表現使我們能投資於業務以推動成長、透過股票回購向股東返還資本，並尋求具增益性的補強型併購（tuck-in M&A）。

During the second quarter, we repurchased $374 million of shares, bringing year-to-date repurchases to approximately $500 million. We ended the quarter with net leverage of 2.6x, well within our 2 to 3x target range and our leverage profile remains among the strongest in the industry.

第二季期間，我們回購了 3.74 億美元的股票，使年初至今的回購金額約達 5 億美元。我們在季末的淨槓桿為 2.6 倍，仍在我們 2 至 3 倍的目標區間之內，且我們的槓桿概況仍屬業界最強之一。

Finally, we successfully refinanced our ABL facility during the quarter, extending the maturity to 2031 and modestly increasing the size of the facility to $2.5 billion. Our debt structure is strong, and we have no long-term debt maturities until 2028. Together, our cash flow generation, disciplined capital allocation and industry-leading leverage position demonstrate the financial strength of our business and support further investment in our growth.

最後，我們在本季成功為 ABL 融資安排完成再融資，將到期日延長至 2031 年，並小幅將額度提高至 25 億美元。我們的債務結構穩健，且在 2028 年之前沒有任何長期債務到期。綜合而言，我們的現金流創造能力、嚴謹的資本配置以及業界領先的槓桿水準，展現了我們業務的財務實力，並支持我們進一步投資於成長。

Now turning to our guidance on Slide 13. Given our year-to-date performance and outlook for the balance of the year, we are reaffirming our fiscal year 2026 guidance. We expect net sales growth of 4% to 6%, adjusted EBITDA growth of 9% to 13% and adjusted EPS growth of 18% to 24%, driven by total case volume growth of 2.5% to 4.5%. As a reminder, our full year guidance includes the impact of a 53rd week, which we expect to add approximately 1% to total case growth and adjusted EBITDA growth. While there is a range of potential outcomes depending on how macro conditions evolve, including restaurant industry traffic, inflation and fuel prices, the midpoint of our guidance represents our best estimate for 2026, and we are confident in our ability to deliver within our reaffirmed guidance range.

接著看投影片 13 的財測指引。基於我們年初至今的表現以及對今年剩餘期間的展望，我們重申 2026 財年的指引。我們預期淨銷售額成長 4% 至 6%，調整後 EBITDA 成長 9% 至 13%，以及調整後 EPS 成長 18% 至 24%，主要由總箱量成長 2.5% 至 4.5% 所帶動。提醒一下，我們的全年指引包含第 53 週的影響，我們預期這將使總箱量成長與調整後 EBITDA 成長各增加約 1%。雖然依宏觀環境的演變（包括餐飲產業客流量、通膨與燃料價格）可能出現不同結果，但我們指引區間的中點代表我們對 2026 年的最佳估計，我們也有信心能在重申的指引範圍內達成。

The business is positioned for consistent double-digit adjusted EPS growth over time as we focus on achieving our long-range plan.

隨著我們專注於達成長期計畫，公司的定位可望在時間推進下持續實現穩定的雙位數調整後 EPS 成長。

With that, I'll now pass it back to Dave for his closing remarks.

接下來，我把時間交回給 Dave，請他做結語。

Thanks, Dirk. Reflecting on the second quarter, I am encouraged by the strength of our performance and the momentum we are building across the business. We are gaining profitable share and strengthening our competitive position because our model is working, supported by greater alignment throughout our sales force, growth initiatives like Pronto and continued productivity improvements, all increasingly enabled through the application of AI. Our strong cash flow and balance sheet provides significant flexibility to invest in growth, return capital to shareholders and pursue accretive tuck-in acquisitions that strengthen our local market presence. I have never been more confident in our ability to deliver our long-range plan and sustain our momentum well beyond next year.

謝謝你，Dirk。回顧第二季，我對我們表現的強勁以及我們在整個業務中建立的動能感到振奮。我們正在取得具獲利性的市占並強化競爭地位，因為我們的商業模式正在發揮作用；這得益於我們整個銷售團隊更高的一致性、像 Pronto 這樣的成長計畫，以及持續的生產力改善，而這些也愈來愈多地透過 AI 的應用得以實現。我們強勁的現金流與資產負債表提供了顯著彈性，使我們能投資於成長、向股東返還資本，並進行具增益性的補強型收購，以強化我們在當地市場的布局。我從未像現在這樣有信心，我們能交付長期計畫，並在明年之後很長一段時間持續維持動能。

That confidence is grounded in the quality of our team and the durable competitive advantages that we continue to strengthen.

這份信心建立在我們團隊的品質，以及我們持續強化的持久競爭優勢之上。

As a reminder, US Foods maintains a unique position in the industry as the only pure-play U.S.-focused foodservice distributor with national scale. That focus allows us to go deep on broadline distribution and concentrate our resources on the 3 fastest-growing and most profitable customer types in the industry, independent restaurants, health care and hospitality, where our differentiated service model, digital capabilities and track record of share gains position us to win in any environment. We are also the industry leader in digital innovation with an ecosystem increasingly enhanced by AI that makes it easier for customers to do business with us, improve seller productivity and strengthens our supply chain.

提醒一下，US Foods 在產業中擁有獨特定位：作為唯一一家專注於美國市場、且具全國規模的純粹型（pure-play）餐飲服務（foodservice）經銷商。這樣的聚焦使我們能在綜合型配送（broadline distribution）上深耕，並將資源集中於產業中成長最快且最具獲利性的三類客戶：獨立餐廳、醫療保健與飯店餐旅；在這些領域，我們差異化的服務模式、數位能力與市占提升的實績，使我們在任何環境下都具備勝出的條件。我們同時也是數位創新的產業領導者，擁有一個日益由 AI 強化的生態系，讓客戶更容易與我們往來、提升業務人員生產力，並強化我們的供應鏈。

At the same time, we continue to advance our operational excellence initiatives and see a meaningful opportunity to gain further share, improve productivity and expand margins over the long-term. We are also just beginning to unlock the benefits of AI and automation, which we believe will further enhance the customer experience, drive efficiencies across our operations and support profitable growth for years to come.

同時，我們持續推進營運卓越計畫，並看到一個具實質意義的機會，可在長期內進一步提升市占、改善生產力並擴大利潤率。我們也才剛開始釋放 AI 與自動化的效益；我們相信這將進一步提升客戶體驗、推動我們營運各環節的效率，並在未來多年支持獲利性成長。

Let me close with one final point highlighted on Slide 14. Since 2023, we have consistently delivered volume growth and double-digit adjusted EPS growth, creating meaningful shareholder returns through the combination of compounded earnings growth and accretive share repurchases. Importantly, our earnings growth over that period has significantly outpaced our foodservice distribution peers, industrial distributors and consumer staples companies. Yet, we do not believe our current valuation fully recognizes our track record of execution, sustained margin expansion, disciplined capital allocation and the substantial runway we see for continued earnings growth and shareholder value creation.

最後我想以投影片 14 上強調的一點作結。自 2023 年以來，我們持續交出銷量成長與經調整 EPS 的雙位數成長，透過複利式獲利成長與具增益效果的庫藏股回購相結合，為股東創造了可觀的報酬。重要的是，在此期間，我們的獲利成長顯著超越餐飲服務配送同業、工業分銷商以及民生必需品公司。然而，我們認為目前的估值尚未充分反映我們的執行紀錄、持續的利潤率擴張、嚴謹的資本配置，以及我們所看到的持續獲利成長與股東價值創造的龐大跑道。

Our strategy is working. Our strong execution is delivering results and our competitive position continues to strengthen. We are building a more differentiated, profitable and durable US Foods, and I am confident in our ability to create compelling long-term value for our associates, customers, suppliers and shareholders. Thank you for your continued interest in US Foods.

我們的策略正在奏效。我們強勁的執行力正在帶來成果，而我們的競爭地位也持續強化。我們正在打造一家更具差異化、更高獲利且更具韌性的 US Foods，我對我們為同仁、客戶、供應商與股東創造具吸引力的長期價值的能力充滿信心。感謝各位持續關注 US Foods。

With that, operator, please open up the line for questions.

接下來，請接線員開放提問。

(Operator Instructions) Lauren Silberman, Deutsche Bank.

(接線員指示) 德意志銀行 Lauren Silberman。

Hey, thanks so much and congrats on the great quarter. I guess I'll just start on the independent case growth, real strong, I think best in over two years. Can you talk about the cadence you saw throughout the quarter? And given traffic has been pretty steady in the industry, it seems like you're accelerating your pace of share gains there. So what's driving that? And as the sales compensation transition happens, do you think you can help further accelerate share gains over the next few years?

嗨，非常感謝，也恭喜本季表現出色。我想先從獨立客戶的箱數成長談起，表現非常強勁，我認為是兩年多來最佳。你能談談你們在整個季度中看到的節奏嗎？而且在產業客流量相當穩定的情況下，看起來你們在那裡的市占提升速度正在加快。所以是什麼在驅動？另外，隨著銷售薪酬轉換的推進，你認為未來幾年能否進一步加速市占提升？

Good morning, Lauren. Thanks for the question. I think we saw a fairly consistent case growth throughout the quarter. I feel really good to your point, the strongest since second quarter of 2023, lots of good momentum, consistent with what we've been accelerating over the past four or five quarters here.

早安，Lauren。謝謝你的提問。我認為我們在整個季度看到相當一致的箱數成長。如你所說，我感覺非常好，這是自 2023 年第二季以來最強勁的一次，動能很不錯，也與我們過去四到五個季度持續加速的趨勢一致。

So feel really good about that. At the heart of it is our net new account generation, which has always been the lifeblood of our growth. Our teams have really focused on that over the past couple of years, and you're seeing that continue to gain traction. Really confident that we're going to continue to lean into independence and expect that volume to continue to accelerate.

所以對此感到非常振奮。其核心在於我們的淨新增客戶開發，這一直是我們成長的命脈。過去幾年我們的團隊確實把重心放在這上面，而你也看到這項工作持續取得進展。我們非常有信心會持續加碼獨立客群，並預期該部分的量能將持續加速。

Importantly, the sales comp change will be a long-term growth driver, really pleased with the startup here, I think Randy Taylor and the team have been working on that for a year and a half, did a really good job of leading up to the implementation here in June, pleased with the start. That will definitely impact our growth going forward, but as I said, it's going to take a lot to get everybody up to that full commission rate, early returns are exciting, importantly, our turnover remain flat, as I said in the prepared remarks, and we're off to the races and excited about the future.

重要的是，銷售薪酬變更將成為長期成長動能；我們對目前的啟動情況非常滿意。我認為 Randy Taylor 與團隊為此準備了一年半，在 6 月導入前做了非常好的規劃與帶領，對起步表現感到滿意。這肯定會影響我們未來的成長，但如我所說，要讓所有人都達到完整的佣金比率還需要一些時間；初步回饋令人振奮。更重要的是，如我在事先準備的發言中提到，我們的離職率維持持平；我們已經全速前進，對未來感到興奮。

Great. You guys originally guided in Q2 to missing the upper single-digit I believe EBITDA growth. You beat that with 10% despite elevated fuel. What drove the upside relative to your expectations? And Dirk, what are you embedding for fuel costs in the back half of the year?

很好。你們在第二季最初的指引，我記得是 EBITDA 成長會低於高個位數。但即使燃油成本偏高，你們仍以 10% 超出預期。相較你們原先的預期，超出部分是由什麼驅動？另外，Dirk，你們在下半年對燃油成本的假設是什麼？

Good morning, Lauren. So there's a couple of main things that drove the beat. One is our fuel recovery was higher and better than we expected. So we expected, as we commented before, about a 2% headwind from fuel and ended up being less than half of that.

早安，Lauren。主要有幾個因素帶來超預期表現。第一是我們的燃油回收高於、也優於我們的預期。如同先前所說，我們原本預期燃油會帶來約 2% 的逆風，但實際上不到一半。

And it really relates to just the discipline and making sure that we were enforcing the surcharges that we have and also with fuel getting to higher levels, some of the surcharges for some of our larger customers that don't kick in until higher prices did go into effect. And so our recovery rate instead of our typical 30%, 40% was more like 70% for the quarter, so pleased with the execution of the team there. And then the second piece was some of the strategic vendor management negotiations and outcomes that we expected to be completed in the second-half of the year were completed sooner and so that team delivered some incremental value. Otherwise, the business performed largely as we expected and our outlook for the year of the.

這主要與我們的紀律有關，確保我們確實執行既有的燃油附加費；同時，隨著燃油價格升至較高水準，部分大型客戶的附加費（在價格達到更高門檻才會啟動）也開始生效。因此，本季我們的回收率從以往典型的 30% 到 40%，提升到約 70%；對團隊在這方面的執行感到滿意。第二個因素是一些策略性供應商管理的談判與成果，原本預期在下半年完成，但更早完成，因此該團隊帶來了額外價值。除此之外，業務表現大致符合我們的預期，而我們對全年展望的…

The range and then my comments in there about the midpoint being our best estimate assumes fuel stays around where it's at currently. So we feel very good about coming out of Q2, where we are and the balance of the year and thus the strong confidence in delivering the guidance.

區間，以及我在其中提到以中位數作為我們最佳估計，皆假設燃油維持在目前大致水準。因此，我們對第二季結束後的現況、以及今年剩餘期間的表現都感到非常有信心，也因此對達成指引抱持高度信心。

Jacob Aiken-Phillips, Melius Research.

Melius Research 的 Jacob Aiken-Phillips。

Good morning. Thanks so much for taking our question. This is Sam Barton on for Jacob. You described the other results from the new sales compensation plan as encouraging. I'm just wondering if you could double-click on that a little bit. What behaviors or results specifically changed, if there's anything results-wise that you could provide for us? And how do you distinguish the early impact of the compensation plan from the independent momentum that was already building before the rollout?

早安。非常感謝讓我們提問。我是代替 Jacob 的 Sam Barton。你提到新的銷售薪酬方案帶來的其他結果令人鼓舞。我想請你再更深入說明一下。具體而言，有哪些行為或結果發生了改變？如果在結果面有任何可以提供的數據也請分享。另外，你們如何區分薪酬方案的早期影響，與在方案上線前就已經在累積的獨立客群動能？

Yeah, I think it's early to comment on a lot of that, but I would just say that the early behaviors that we've seen around growth and as you'll recall, we aligned specifically this compensation plan exactly with our strategy. So things around our brands, independent restaurants, growth, importantly in sending pronto, we're starting to see some early returns and the focus that we like to see in those areas. It will take a while for that to impact our growth in a big way. But I said, we just started this a month or so ago and turnover is flat. Our teams are excited and we're starting to see good behaviors.

是的，我認為現在要評論其中很多細節還為時過早，但我會說，我們已看到一些與成長相關的早期行為變化；如你所記得的，我們將這套薪酬方案與我們的策略做了非常明確的對齊。因此，像是自有品牌、獨立餐廳、成長，以及重要的 Pronto 配送等面向，我們開始看到一些早期回饋，也看到我們希望在這些領域出現的聚焦。要讓這些在成長上產生顯著影響還需要一段時間。但如我所說，我們大約一個月前才開始推行，離職率維持持平。團隊很興奮，我們也開始看到良好的行為表現。

Alex Slagle, Jefferies.

Jefferies 的 Alex Slagle。

Thanks, and good morning. I wanted to ask on Pronto, just the progress on the incremental investments you're making in the business this year and clearly seeing results on the top-line. Just curious where you're seeing the most success, if there are certain markets or customer types that really stand out and really like how the team is managing this growth, managing the margins as they continue to accelerate the growth?

謝謝，早安。我想問 Pronto 的部分，今年你們在業務上增加投資的進展如何？而且很明顯在營收端已看到成果。我好奇你們在哪些方面看到最顯著的成功？是否有某些市場或客戶類型特別突出？另外，我也很欣賞團隊在成長持續加速的同時，如何管理這些成長並兼顧利潤率。

Yeah, good morning, Alex. Thanks for the question. Just as you recall, this is a multi-year journey around Pronto. We did a lot of piloting work first as we were applying the new model to just looking for new customers.

是的，早安，Alex。謝謝你的提問。如你所記得的，Pronto 是一段多年的旅程。一開始我們先做了大量試點工作，當時是把新模式應用在尋找新客戶上。

We spent several years doing that and it was only a couple of years ago we actually started to pilot the work to our existing customers. And importantly, there were two pieces of work that we went slow to go fast around as we took it to our existing independent customers, that was exactly what you asked about. Was will we maintain the margins and the profitability to support the incremental costs of that service. And then secondly, importantly, we just didn't want to cannibalize our existing broadline business and just shift those volumes over to smaller, more inefficient deliveries, and we proved that.

我們花了好幾年在做這件事，而直到幾年前，我們才真正開始把這項工作以試點方式導入我們既有的客戶。而且很重要的是，當我們把它推向既有的獨立客戶時，我們有兩個工作面向採取了「慢下來、為了更快」的做法，正是你剛剛問到的。第一是，我們是否能維持毛利率與獲利能力，以支撐該服務所增加的成本。第二也同樣重要的是，我們不希望蠶食我們既有的綜合配送（broadline）業務，只是把那些量轉移到更小、效率更低的配送上，而我們也證明了我們做得到。

We're thoughtful as we take it into new markets to make sure that those two key pieces are performing as intended. But what you've seen us do then over the past few quarters is start to accelerate that penetration across our existing markets with our existing customers because we are confident in the model, so as I highlighted there, we're pleased with the performance last year, we're looking at $1.3 billion this year and we expect that model to continue to drive growth for the future.

當我們把它帶進新市場時，我們會審慎評估，確保這兩個關鍵面向都如預期運作。但你們在過去幾個季度看到我們做的，是因為我們對這個模式有信心，所以開始在既有市場、既有客戶中加速滲透；如我剛才強調的，我們對去年表現感到滿意，今年我們看的是13億美元，而且我們預期這個模式將持續推動未來成長。

Just to add, Alex, that so as you pointed out, the return on this investment is quite high and quite strong and we see a long runway, a lot of years of growth here and we've got good partnership across my team, Randy's team as we deploy more trucks into markets and being very thoughtful and like Dave said, speeding up the pace of deployment, but not lose the pragmatic approach we have to achieve such good outcomes on volume growth and margin growth overall. So there's nothing that we see that will slow our pace of investments in Pronto, and we continue to be as excited as ever on that.

再補充一下，Alex，正如你指出的，這項投資的報酬率相當高、相當強，我們也看到很長的成長跑道，未來很多年都有成長空間；在我們把更多卡車部署到各個市場時，我的團隊與Randy的團隊之間也有很好的合作夥伴關係。我們會非常審慎地、如Dave所說，加快部署節奏，但不會失去我們一貫務實的做法，以在整體出貨量成長與毛利成長上取得這麼好的成果。因此，我們沒有看到任何會放慢我們在Pronto投資步伐的因素，我們也一如既往地對此感到非常興奮。

Great. And a follow-up on the gross profit per case growth, which continues to be really strong, ramping year-over-year, and you explained the OpEx per case bump as well. And I realized going into the third quarter, we're going to be lapping the bump from Food Fanatics. I think that event was last year. Just curious if that's a recurring event that you expect to be able to sort of grow the gross profit per case on top of that and what the OpEx per case might look like. We should expect some sort of moderation.

很好。另外追問一下每箱毛利（gross profit per case）的成長，這項指標持續非常強勁、年對年加速，你也解釋了每箱營業費用（OpEx per case）的上升。我也理解進入第三季後，我們將會遇到Food Fanatics帶來的那個上升基期。我想那個活動是在去年。想請教那是否是你們預期會重複發生的活動，讓你們能在其上再進一步推升每箱毛利？以及每箱OpEx可能會呈現什麼樣貌。我們是否應該預期會有某種程度的趨緩。

Sure. So the increase last year from the event in the third quarter has been spread throughout this year. So this is not an every-year event. So you've seen gross profit gains and the OpEx happening throughout different quarters. So you're right, you will see a slowing of increase in gross profit per case and OpEx per case in the third quarter. Our expectation is that we will still grow GP per case meaningfully in the quarter, just expectation is not as strong as it's been. We feel very good about our ability to grow gross profit per case for the back half of the year and for a number of years to come because of the various initiatives we've talked about, two of which were mentioned today in strategic vendor management and the inventory adjustments work.

當然。去年第三季那個活動帶來的增幅，已經分散到今年各季反映。所以這不是每年都會有的活動。因此你看到的毛利提升與OpEx的變化，是分布在不同季度發生的。所以你說得對，第三季你會看到每箱毛利與每箱OpEx的增幅放緩。我們的預期是，本季每箱毛利仍會有顯著成長，只是強度不會像之前那麼高。我們對於今年下半年以及未來多年持續提升每箱毛利的能力感到非常有信心，原因在於我們談到的各項措施，其中今天提到的兩項是策略性供應商管理，以及庫存調整相關工作。

Edward Kelly, Wells Fargo.

Edward Kelly，富國銀行（Wells Fargo）。

Dave, I wanted to follow-up. You mentioned on independent case finds that you expect this business to continue to accelerate. Curious specifically what you saw in July and then your compares do get harder in the back half of the year, so I just want to parse out that comment about acceleration.

Dave，我想追問一下。你提到在獨立客戶的箱數（case）開發方面，你預期這塊業務會持續加速。我想具體了解你們在7月看到了什麼；另外下半年比較基期會變得更具挑戰，所以我想釐清你提到「加速」的意思。

Yeah, great question. Appreciate it, Ed. So I would say largely July was consistent with what we saw in the second quarter, so maintain that momentum. And my point around continued expectations, not only for the back half of this year, but going forward, when you combine the differentiation that we bring, the focus that we have on this segment, our continued ability to add high-quality sellers to our team. And importantly, just the deep focus that we have, not only on generating new business, but also penetrating our existing customers, gives me the confidence that momentum will continue. You overlay the sales comp change on top of that. And as I've said before, I believe that's going to be the key unlock for the future in this organization to accelerate growth. I couldn't feel better about the momentum and what the future looks like.

是的，問得很好。謝謝你，Ed。我會說7月的表現大致與第二季一致，因此動能得以維持。而我所說的持續預期，不只是今年下半年，也包括往後；當你把我們帶來的差異化、我們對這個客群的聚焦、以及我們持續為團隊加入高品質業務人員的能力結合起來看。更重要的是，我們不僅深度聚焦於開發新業務，也同樣聚焦於對既有客戶的滲透，這讓我有信心動能會延續。再把銷售薪酬制度的變更疊加進來。而且如我之前所說，我相信那將是這個組織未來加速成長的關鍵解鎖因素。我對目前的動能以及未來前景感覺再好不過。

Great. Just a follow-up on the AI. I mean, foodservice seems like a business where you could really generate some large benefits over time. You've been the tech leader, I think specifically as it relates to customer-facing stuff. How much of the opportunity are you capturing so far? I think you've kind of said you're in the early innings. And then if we zoom out, Dave, you captured a lot of opportunity and upside from better sort of like operational execution. Is the opportunity with the implementation of AI into the sales force and the supply chain as big as that over time, just kind of curious as to how you're thinking about sizing like the size of the prize long-term here?

很好。再追問一下AI。我的意思是，餐飲服務（foodservice）看起來是一個隨時間可以創造很大效益的產業。你們一直是科技領先者，我想特別是在面向客戶的部分。到目前為止，你們已經掌握了多少機會？我想你們有提到還在很早期的階段。如果我們拉遠一點看，Dave，你們過去透過更好的營運執行已經抓到很多機會與上行空間。那麼，隨著AI導入銷售團隊與供應鏈，長期來看機會是否也有那麼大？我只是好奇你們如何思考、如何衡量這個長期「獎賞」的規模？

Yeah, I mean, we've been working on this for quite some time in very practical applications for the business. And as we talked about there in the prepared remarks, it's touched supply chain, it's touched sales. You think about MOXē and some of the things that we've talked about over the last couple of years, anything from where's my truck to improving product recommendations for customers, did you forget something? Last quarter, I believe, we talked about our rollout of Menu IQ.

是的，我們在這方面已經投入相當長一段時間，並以非常務實的方式把它用在業務上。如同我們在事先準備的發言中提到的，它涵蓋了供應鏈，也涵蓋了銷售。你想想MOXē以及我們過去幾年談過的一些事情，從「我的卡車在哪裡」到為客戶改善產品推薦、提醒「你是不是忘了什麼？」等。我記得上個季度我們也談到Menu IQ的推廣。

All of these applications are AI-based and very practically oriented around our customer, making it easier to do business with us. And then importantly, also our sales force productivity because to the extent the customers are helping themselves more, it gives our sellers more time to go find the next customer and importantly, drive penetration. And then more recently, things like Visit Assistant that we talked about this morning, all AI-based, helping our salespeople just be more productive. And you think about Descartes, which has AI embedded in it and how we do our routing, the labor planning tools we've developed there, some back office work that we've got going on.

這些應用都以AI為基礎，並且非常務實地以客戶為中心，讓與我們做生意變得更容易。同時也很重要的是提升我們銷售團隊的生產力，因為當客戶能更多自助處理時，我們的業務就能騰出更多時間去開發下一位客戶，並且更重要地推動滲透率。而最近像我們今天早上談到的Visit Assistant等，也都是以AI為基礎，協助我們的業務人員提升生產力。再想想Descartes，它內建AI，用於我們如何做路線規劃；以及我們在那裡開發的勞動力規劃工具、一些我們正在進行的後台作業。

So while I believe that. We're in the early innings. I do believe long-term, there will potentially be some transformational opportunities as we apply this more broadly across the business. But I think for the near term, what you can expect us to do is more of the same.

所以雖然我認為。我們仍在早期階段。但我確實相信，長期來看，當我們把它更廣泛地應用到整個業務時，可能會出現一些具變革性的機會。不過我認為短期內，你們可以期待我們做的，會是更多同樣的事情。

And all of this, I would point to helping to support our underlying performance and the strength of both our top-line and bottom line growth that you guys have come to expect from us.

而我也要指出，這一切都有助於支撐我們的基本面表現，以及你們一直以來對我們所期待的營收端與獲利端的強勁成長。

And I think the other thing, and when we talk about the early innings is although. Quite pleased with the progress that our team has made in the last few years of applying these and measuring the results where it's helped drive whether it's additional case growth, improved working capital management/customer service levels and productivity. We know the pace of change in the models and the capabilities for AI is rapidly advancing. And as we continue to take advantage of that, that's why we believe there's significant opportunity and that will continue to be across growth in the customer experience as well as productivity.

我想另外一點是，當我們談到還在早期階段時，雖然。我們對團隊在過去幾年應用這些工具、並衡量其成果所取得的進展感到相當滿意——不論是帶動額外的箱數成長、改善營運資金管理／客戶服務水準，以及提升生產力。我們也知道，AI模型與能力的變化速度正在快速前進。而隨著我們持續加以運用，這也是為什麼我們相信存在顯著機會，並且將持續體現在客戶體驗的成長以及生產力的提升上。

John Heinbockel, Guggenheim.

John Heinbockel，Guggenheim。

So, Dave, I want to start. I know that net account growth, right, is the biggest driver. Where do we stand now on drop size? I think we may be in positive territory. You think about penetration, right, versus cases per line. Maybe talk about that. And between the AI and the change in compensation, can penetration or we've been sort of waiting for penetration for all you guys really to move. Do you think we're on the cusp of that where that can be the biggest change in local case growth?

所以，Dave，我想先開始。我知道淨客戶數成長，對吧，是最大的驅動因素。我們目前在每次配送量（drop size）方面處於什麼狀況？我覺得我們可能已經轉為正向。你想想滲透率，對吧，相對於每條產品線的箱數（cases per line）。也許談談這點。另外在 AI 與薪酬變動之間，滲透率——或者我們一直在等你們大家的滲透率真正開始提升。你覺得我們是否正處在那個臨界點上，讓它成為本地箱數成長最大的變化來源？

Yes, I do, John, actually. And as I've commented, the past few quarters, our penetration, while still. Pressured has improved sequentially for several quarters in a row, including in the second quarter, that's continuing to show up based on all the good work that our teams are doing and some of the AI support that we've given our sellers, importantly lines per customer continues to improve consistent with that penetration. I think where you see the foot traffic pressure show up in penetration is those cases per line, which are still a little bit pressured and I think more reflective of the foot traffic challenges. But the things that we look at to say whether we're winning or losing continue to move in the right direction and they have been for several quarters and I expect that will continue.

是的，John，我確實這麼認為。而且如我在過去幾季所評論的，我們的滲透率雖然仍然。承壓，但已連續好幾季呈現逐季改善，包括第二季；這持續反映出我們團隊的努力，以及我們提供給業務人員的一些 AI 支援。重要的是，每位客戶的產品線數（lines per customer）也持續改善，與滲透率提升一致。我認為你會在滲透率中看到人流壓力的地方，是每條產品線的箱數（cases per line），這部分仍有些承壓，我覺得更反映人流方面的挑戰。但我們用來判斷我們是在贏還是在輸的那些指標，仍持續朝正確方向前進，且已經好幾季如此，我預期這會延續下去。

And maybe switching gears, the 3.5% productivity target. So where are we within that, I think Liz heard maybe it was between three and four, where are we and how are, when you think about differences between transportation, right and the warehouse, are there material differences today between those two buckets or no?

那也許換個話題，3.5% 的生產力目標。所以我們目前在那個目標中的位置如何？我想 Liz 聽到可能是在 3% 到 4% 之間，我們現在在哪裡？以及當你思考運輸（transportation），對吧，和倉儲（warehouse）之間的差異時，今天這兩個區塊之間是否存在實質差異，還是沒有？

So we're still in that 3% to 4% range and depending on the year, warehouse or delivery can be a little higher or a little lower, but every year we have activities and technology enablements that support both of those and I think that will continue to be the case going forward. I think as we think about. Some of the tools, whether we talk about AI and/or continued just process improvements, that will benefit both of those. One thing that is, as you were asking about same-store penetration, as the market stabilizes and those get back to positive, that will help that just broadly across the network as well.

所以我們仍在 3% 到 4% 的區間內；而且依年度不同，倉儲或配送（delivery）可能會略高或略低，但每一年我們都有一些活動與技術賦能來支援這兩者，我認為未來也會持續如此。我想當我們思考。一些工具時，不論是談 AI 和/或持續的流程改善，都會同時讓這兩者受益。另外一點是，正如你在問同店滲透率，當市場趨於穩定、這些指標回到正成長時，也會在整個網路層面帶來廣泛的幫助。

Kelly Bania, BMO Capital Markets.

Kelly Bania，BMO Capital Markets。

Hi, and congrats on a great quarter. I was wondering if we could go back to just the independent case growth, obviously quite strong, accelerating. You mentioned penetration, but also it sounds like maybe a little bit more from new account growth, maybe you can clarify that. But. I'm curious if there's any behavior changes that you're maybe already starting to see from the sales force in advance of the comp changes or at the start of the comp change that are working to incentivize the behaviors that you'd like. And if that's kind of already maybe starting to come through as the sales force has been aware of that and prepared for some of these changes coming through, if you feel like there's just more to come on that front?

嗨，恭喜你們交出很棒的一季。我想問我們是否可以回到獨立客戶箱數成長（independent case growth）這一塊，顯然非常強勁、而且在加速。你提到了滲透率，但聽起來也可能有一部分來自新客戶成長，你能否釐清一下。不過。我很好奇，在薪酬變更之前，或在薪酬變更開始時，你們是否已經開始看到銷售團隊的一些行為改變，這些改變正在激勵你們想要的行為。以及如果銷售團隊已經知道並為這些變更做準備，你是否覺得這些效果已經開始反映出來，且在這方面還有更多可期待的？

I'll take the first question first there. Really excited about the net new account generation. It's continued to accelerate for the past several quarters. In fact, this quarter, Kelly, our net new account generation was the strongest it's been in three years.

我先回答第一個問題。我們對淨新增客戶的開發非常振奮。它在過去幾季持續加速。事實上，Kelly，本季我們的淨新增客戶數是三年來最強的一季。

So really good momentum there. It continues to be the lifeblood of our growth. And as I commented earlier, we are starting to see some early green shoots around the reshaping of the comp plan, particularly around independent growth. Pronto, which gives us the confidence to put out the forecast that we did this morning around Pronto, importantly, our brand penetration.

所以那裡的動能非常好。它仍然是我們成長的命脈。而且如我先前提到的，我們開始看到薪酬方案重塑的一些早期正向跡象，特別是在獨立成長。Pronto 方面，這也讓我們有信心在今天早上針對 Pronto 提出我們所發布的預測；同樣重要的是，我們的品牌滲透率。

The things that we talked about previously that we embedded into this comp plan, we're starting to see early returns on that. Again, we're 30, 40 days into this, so a lot more to come in that regard. We'll continue to give color as time goes on. I think for me, we've launched this.

我們先前談到、並納入這個薪酬方案的那些事項，我們開始看到早期回報。再次強調，我們才推行 30、40 天，所以後續還有很多可期待。我們會隨著時間推進持續提供更多說明。我想對我而言，我們已經推出這個。

Quite successfully. I give our team a lot of credit, very thoughtful approach, change management was big, communication is ongoing. Importantly, we haven't seen an uptick in turnover. We continue to attract new sales talent to the company.

相當成功。我非常肯定我們的團隊，做法非常周全；變革管理很重要，溝通也仍在持續。重要的是，我們沒有看到離職率上升。我們也持續吸引新的銷售人才加入公司。

I feel really good, and I think we get an A-plus for execution on this one.

我感覺非常好，我認為在這件事的執行上我們拿到 A+。

Agreed. Thanks. Dave, if I could just ask one other one on AI, maybe a little bit different. Obviously, you guys have been. Ahead on the technology and digital front and maybe this is empowering that further. But how do you think AI impacts some of the smaller private distributors? As you talk about penetration improving, presumably that's coming at the cost of some of those. Smaller private regional distributors. And is this something that you think further widens the gap between some of these smaller competitors that may not have this level of technology?

同意。謝謝。Dave，如果我可以再問一個關於 AI 的問題，可能角度有點不同。顯然你們在。科技與數位化方面一直走在前面，而 AI 也許會進一步強化這點。但你認為 AI 會如何影響一些較小的民營經銷商（private distributors）？當你談到滲透率改善時，推測這可能是以其中一些的份額為代價。較小的民營區域型經銷商。而這是否會進一步拉大你們與這些較小競爭者之間的差距，因為他們可能沒有這種等級的科技能力？

I think over time it can for sure. I think we've commented in the past, Kelly, that the amount of investment that we make in this area of the business, consistent with the larger competitors out there who can afford do this work at scale like we are, it will be a competitive differentiator over time because I think it becomes increasingly more difficult for the smaller competitors to make those sort of investments overtime, not that there's not capability out there that they can't leverage, and I'm sure they are. But I just stay focused on the things that we can control and accelerating independent case growth, the momentum that we've seen here in the past five quarters, the team feels really good about and we expect that will continue over time.

我認為長期來看確實可能。我想我們過去也提過，Kelly，我們在這個業務領域的投資規模，與那些有能力像我們一樣以規模化方式投入的較大競爭者一致；隨著時間推移，這會成為競爭差異化因素，因為我認為對較小的競爭者而言，隨時間要做出這類投資會愈來愈困難；並不是說外面沒有他們不能運用的能力，我也相信他們正在運用。但我仍專注在我們能控制的事情上：加速獨立客戶箱數成長；我們在過去五季看到的動能讓團隊感覺非常好，我們也預期這會隨時間持續。

Mark Carden, UBS.

Mark Carden，UBS。

Good morning. Thanks so much for taking the questions. So how does headcount growth how does headcount growth. Play out for your sales force in 2Q? Any shifts to how you're approaching this in the back half of the year? And then you talked about continued success in attracting talent to your sales force. Do you guys think that the formal move to the more variable model impacted what you're seeing from a talent pool perspective?

早安。非常感謝讓我提問。所以銷售人力（headcount）成長在第二季如何。在你們的銷售團隊中展開？在今年下半年，你們在做法上有任何調整嗎？另外你提到持續成功吸引人才加入你們的銷售團隊。你們認為正式轉向更高變動性的模式（more variable model），是否影響你們在人才庫角度所看到的情況？

I appreciate the question on headcount. So I'll start with nothing has changed in terms of our expectations around what the right headcount growth number is for us, that's around the mid-single-digits. I will tell you in the second quarter, we're up 8% in seller headcount. As you might expect, in anticipation of any potential turnover uptick that we might have seen, we hired in advance of that. So again, another area that the team was very thoughtful about thinking about all eventualities. I think you'll see that settle out a bit to get right back into the normal range that we expect here as we go into the back half of this year. What was the second part of your question, Mark?

感謝你關於人力的提問。我先說，我們對於適合我們的人力成長幅度的預期沒有改變，大約是中個位數百分比。我可以告訴你，第二季我們的業務人員人數年增 8%。如你所預期，為了因應我們可能看到的任何離職率上升，我們提前招募。所以這也是團隊非常周全、把各種可能性都納入考量的另一個面向。我想你會看到這個數字稍微回落，隨著我們進入今年下半年，回到我們預期的正常區間。Mark，你問題的第二部分是什麼？

Just in terms of now that you guys have formally moved over to the more variable model, has that impacted what you're seeing from a talent pool perspective with respect to potential Salesforce candidates?

就目前而言，既然你們已正式轉向更具變動性的模式，從人才庫的角度來看，這是否影響你們在潛在 Salesforce 候選人方面所觀察到的情況？

Yeah, I think and I've commented previously on that, I think it will through the course of time. It's a bit early to have seen anything material there. I think it will attract a different type of seller to the company long-term who. Has thrived on and maybe in other industries or other businesses at 100% commission model, mostly, it's early days.

是的，我認為——而且我之前也評論過——我認為隨著時間推移會有影響。現在要看到任何實質性的變化還有點早。我認為長期來看，這會吸引一種不同類型的銷售人員加入公司，這類人員可能在其他產業或其他業務中以幾乎 100% 佣金制的模式表現出色；目前仍是早期階段。

Got you. That's great. Thanks. And then as my follow-up, just on the independent side of the business, have you seen much of a shift in demand between more value-oriented independent operators and some of the more premium concepts? Did your case growth performance stick up pretty consistently across concepts? Any cost from that front?

了解。很好。謝謝。接著作為追問，關於業務中的獨立客戶端，你們是否看到需求在較偏價值導向的獨立經營者與一些更高端的概念之間出現明顯轉移？你們的箱數（case）成長表現是否在各概念間都相當一致？那方面有任何成本影響嗎？

I wouldn't say there's anything material I'd call out in the second quarter where we've seen any significant meaningful shifts. And we've been in this foot traffic challenge for quite some time. I think I wouldn't i call the market. Pressured but stable, I didn't see anything change around that in the second quarter. So I think any of those shifts are already built in terms of what we've seen.

我不會說第二季有任何我會特別點出的重大事項，我們並未看到任何顯著且有意義的轉變。而且我們面臨這種來客數（foot traffic）挑戰已經有一段時間了。我想我不會說市場……是承壓但仍穩定；第二季我沒有看到這方面有任何變化。所以我認為任何這類轉移，就我們所見其實都已經反映在內了。

And just a reminder, as David commented earlier, that a big driver of our growth was the continued acceleration in net new accounts, and that's across the spectrum that we focused on in independence, despite for sales or penetration did continue to strengthen, but that net new machine continues to accelerate, and we feel very good about that.

另外提醒一下，如同 David 先前提到的，我們成長的一大驅動因素是淨新增客戶（net new accounts）持續加速，這涵蓋我們在獨立客群所聚焦的各個面向；儘管既有客戶的銷售或滲透率確實持續增強，但那台「淨新增機器」仍在持續加速，我們對此感到非常振奮。

Brian Harbour, Morgan Stanley.

Brian Harbour，摩根士丹利。

I was curious about healthcare and hospitality. How much of that is sort of being driven by account wins versus like, for example, I think hotels have actually had a pretty healthy run here year-to-date. Could you dig into that element?

我想了解醫療保健與餐旅（hospitality）。這在多大程度上是由贏得新客戶（account wins）所驅動，而不是例如我認為飯店今年迄今其實表現相當不錯所帶動的？你能否深入說明這一塊？

Some that's same store penetration, but a big part of it is the continued growth of the pipeline and converting that into new business and that team has done a really nice job of continuing to have a very robust pipeline, bring our value proposition to life with those customers and bring them on and continue to serve them. So to answer your question, the strength in hospitality has been a contributor, but the net new is still. Bigger driver and our expectation is both will continue over time and within healthcare and hospitality the tools for example around vitals and signature will both continue to be utilized widely and we expect will help us serve existing customers better and continue to convert the pipeline.

其中一部分來自同店滲透（same store penetration），但更大一部分是銷售管線（pipeline）持續成長並將其轉化為新業務；該團隊在維持非常強勁的管線、向這些客戶具體呈現我們的價值主張、把客戶導入並持續服務方面做得非常好。所以回答你的問題：餐旅業的強勁表現確實有所貢獻，但淨新增仍然是……更大的驅動因素；我們預期兩者都會隨時間持續。此外，在醫療保健與餐旅領域，例如生命徵象（vitals）與簽名（signature）相關工具都將持續被廣泛使用，我們預期這將幫助我們更好地服務既有客戶，並持續轉化管線。

Would you consider moving faster on the compensation change if. You've spoken positively about it so far. Would that influence the speed at which you do it?

如果……你們到目前為止對薪酬變更都給予正面評價，你們會考慮更快推進這項薪酬調整嗎？這會影響你們推進的速度嗎？

Well, I think so the comp change is fully implemented for all sellers. And just a recall here, Brian, there's a click-down process that supports that at the individual level. We're having very individualized conversations. There is a time period and expectation around that click-down for each individual. I think the team was thoughtful about that and we'll let that play out as it's been designed.

嗯，我想薪酬變更已對所有銷售人員全面實施。另外提醒一下，Brian，這裡有一個在個人層級支援的「點選下調」（click-down）流程。我們正在進行非常個別化的溝通。每位個人針對該 click-down 都有一段時間區間與相應期待。我認為團隊在設計上很周全，我們會讓它依照既定設計推進。

Peter Saleh, BTIG.

Peter Saleh，BTIG。

Great, thanks and congrats on the quarter. I wanted to ask about the EBITDA margin, really great performance this quarter. I know you guys are getting a lot of help from the cost of sales implementation that you guys have been doing, indirect cost savings as well. Do you see a cap here on this EBITDA margin? Or maybe ask another way, when you look at, are there parts of the country or regions of the country that are operating at a much higher level than the current system that you can act as a North Star? Good.

很好，謝謝，也恭喜本季表現。我想問 EBITDA 利潤率，本季表現真的很出色。我知道你們在推動銷售成本（cost of sales）落地方面獲得不少助益，也有間接成本節省。你們認為 EBITDA 利潤率在這裡會有上限嗎？或者換個問法，當你們觀察時，美國是否有某些地區或區域的營運水準遠高於目前整體系統，可作為你們的北極星（North Star）目標？好的。

Morning, Peter. So we're quite pleased and appreciate the recognition on the continued work around margin expansion, and we think that balance along with the volume growth driven by our three target types is the right balance over time to profitably grow the business. Because we're driving that growth through various initiatives, we really don't see a cap. I mean, maybe there's one out there, but it's going to be long down the road. And year over year, that 20 basis points that we're focused on delivering are we expect that we continue to deliver on. To your question, yes, I mean, we have markets, we have parts of the country that are higher margin than others as far as our facilities, maybe within customers. So we know that there is a further opportunity out there to continue to grow meaningfully, and we don't see a ceiling anytime in the even mid-term.

早安，Peter。我們對利潤率擴張的持續工作感到非常滿意，也感謝你對此的肯定；我們認為，這與由我們三大目標客群所驅動的量（volume）成長之間的平衡，是長期以來能夠獲利成長業務的正確組合。由於我們透過多項計畫來推動成長，我們確實看不到明確的上限。我的意思是，也許有一個上限存在，但那會是在很久以後。而我們所聚焦、年對年要交付的 20 個基點（basis points），我們預期會持續達成。就你的問題而言，是的，我們確實有一些市場、一些地區的利潤率高於其他地區，可能體現在我們的設施端，也可能在客戶組合之中。因此我們知道仍有進一步的機會可以持續、顯著地提升，我們在短中期都看不到天花板。

Great. And then can I just ask on have you guys seen anything or any change in behavior, consumer behavior regarding GLP-1s in the most recent quarter?

很好。另外我想問一下，你們在最近一季是否看到與 GLP-1 相關的任何情況或消費者行為的變化？

Nothing remarkable here in the quarter. I think that trend will play out long-term. But as we said, almost half of everything we sell is fresh in one way or another. And as those culinary desires shift and portion sizes change, we're supporting our customers around that. Don't think there's a big overhang on the industry here, and certainly, we haven't seen that in terms of our growth trajectory.

本季沒有什麼特別值得一提的。我認為那個趨勢會在長期逐步發酵。但如同我們所說，我們銷售的產品中，幾乎有一半在某種程度上屬於生鮮（fresh）。當烹飪偏好改變、份量大小調整時，我們也在協助客戶因應。我不認為這會對產業造成很大的壓力陰影（overhang），而且就我們的成長軌跡而言，當然也沒有看到這種情況。

Karen Holthouse, Citi.

Karen Holthouse，花旗。

Congrats on a great quarter, and thanks for taking the question. How are you thinking about i think there's a comment in prepared remarks or in the slides about a good pipeline for tuck-in M&A. How are you thinking about that contribution to independent case growth in the second-half?

恭喜本季表現亮眼，也謝謝讓我提問。我想了解你們如何看待——我記得在事先準備的講稿或投影片中有提到——有一個不錯的補強型併購（tuck-in M&A）管線。你們如何看待這對下半年獨立客群箱數成長的貢獻？

Good morning. For the second-half, we expect M&A to be a pretty small contribution. We have the one very small transaction that's continuing to wrap through the early part of the fourth quarter and the other ones that are out there depending on time. And again, I don't expect it to have a meaningful impact for the quarter, but. It's not for lack of effort with the teams. The team continues to work the pipeline and finding the right transactions to bring within the US Foods network. But overall, in the meantime, we're going to continue to work on accelerating organic growth as we have independence, as Dave said, for the last five quarters. And we feel very good about the strength across that and the rest of the overall case volume for the second-half of the year.

早安。就下半年而言，我們預期併購對成長的貢獻會相當小。我們有一筆非常小的交易，將持續在第四季初期完成整合；其他潛在交易則取決於時程。再次強調，我不預期它會對本季造成有意義的影響，但……這並不是團隊不努力。團隊持續推進管線，尋找合適的交易納入 US Foods 的網路。但整體而言，同時我們會持續加速有機成長；如 Dave 所說，獨立客群已連續五個季度如此。我們對其廣泛的強勁表現，以及今年下半年整體箱量的其餘部分，都感到非常有信心。

And then just as a follow-up on the inflation side, within the 1.5% combined for inflation and mix, any particular call-outs of commodities being outsized contributors to inflation or deflation?

接著就通膨面再追問一下，在通膨與組合合計1.5%之中，是否有任何特別值得點出的商品（大宗商品）對通膨或通縮的貢獻特別顯著？

Maybe just for context, when you look at Q1 at the 1% year-over-year going up to 2.3% in the second quarter, proteins continued to have strong levels of inflation. We saw produce with inflation. In the second quarter, dairy had less deflation than it had a year ago. So there's some smaller things here and there. Broad growth continues to be modestly inflationary. So it continues to be right in that. Spot that we feel good about managing and passing through and that customers can handle and not all that volatile. Like I said, there's always going to be a category here and there that's moving around, but we have the processes to effectively manage through that.

或許先提供一些背景，當你看第一季年增約1%上升到第二季的2.3%，蛋白類持續呈現較高的通膨水準。我們看到農產品（蔬果）有通膨。第二季乳製品的通縮幅度比一年前小。所以這裡那裡有一些較小的項目變動。整體而言，廣泛的成長仍屬溫和通膨。所以仍大致落在那個區間。我們對於管理與轉嫁（成本）感到有把握，客戶也能承受，而且波動不算大。如我所說，總會有某些品類在變動，但我們有流程能有效地加以管理。

Danilo Gargiulo, Bernstein.

Danilo Gargiulo，Bernstein。

Great. Thank you. You mentioned earlier the dynamics of gross profit margin relative to OpEx margin specifically for the third quarter. But I'm wondering if you can give color on how should we think strategically about the evolution of this trend in light of the recent puts and takes on the cost management initiatives that you have, but also the portfolio mix that is consistently skewing toward more profitable segments of your business?

很好。謝謝。你先前提到第三季毛利率相對於營業費用率（OpEx margin）的動態。但我想請你補充一些說明：考量你們近期在成本管理措施上的各項增減因素，以及產品組合持續偏向更高獲利的業務板塊，我們應該如何從策略角度看待這個趨勢的演變？

Good morning. So overall, our expectation is that we'll continue to grow gross profit dollars 100 to 150 basis points faster than OpEx. And so that really is unchanged in any given quarter, it can be a little more, a little less, but that's how we think about it. It's really because we have the portfolio of initiatives and actions that we're taking across both gross profit and OpEx productivity, so it's unchanged and we expect that we can do that still for a long time to come and as you pointed out, our customer mix and product mix, so that will continue to be a contributor to those gains as well over time.

早安。整體而言，我們的預期是毛利金額（gross profit dollars）的成長將持續比營業費用（OpEx）快100到150個基點。因此這點基本上沒有改變；在任何單一季度可能略高或略低，但我們的思考方式就是如此。主要原因在於我們同時在毛利與OpEx生產力上都有一整套的計畫與行動，所以這點不變；我們也預期未來很長一段時間仍能做到。正如你指出的，我們的客戶組合與產品組合也會隨時間持續對這些改善帶來貢獻。

And then I'm wondering if you can give some color on what you're seeing on truck driver availability within your business, given the recent regulatory tightenings. And perhaps you can share your expectations on the turnover for the rest of the year and the labor cost inflation that you're embedding in the guidance. Thank you.

另外我想請你談談，在近期法規趨嚴的情況下，你們業務中卡車司機供給/可用性目前看到什麼狀況。也請分享你們對今年剩餘期間離職率的預期，以及你們在指引中納入的勞動成本通膨假設。謝謝。

I would just say we have no challenges with drivers. As I've commented before and that played out again in the second quarter, our turnover is very consistent with where it was pre-COVID and our driver productivity is strong and improving, no real challenges there. I think from a productivity standpoint, both in the warehouse and with our outbound drivers, very strong, has improved quite a bit. Over the past couple of years and again, right on par with where we were pre-COVID.

我只能說我們在司機方面沒有任何挑戰。如我之前提過的，且第二季也再次驗證，我們的離職率與COVID之前非常一致；司機生產力很強且持續改善，沒有真正的挑戰。我認為從生產力角度，不論是倉庫端或外送司機端都非常強，且在過去幾年改善不少。而且同樣與COVID之前的水準相當。

And I think to Dave's point, for the big part of the reason we don't have challenges in hiring and retaining on that customer basis, we offer a pretty attractive compensation base and they. They do an important role job, and we try to compensate people fairly for that as well. And from an inflation perspective, just like we talked about productivity in the 3% to 5%, cost inflation is in that 3% to 5% as well, the way we think about the outlook.

我想呼應Dave的觀點，我們之所以在以客戶為基礎的招募與留任上沒有挑戰，很大一部分原因是我們提供相當具吸引力的薪酬基礎，而且他們。他們扮演很重要的工作角色，我們也努力以公平的方式回饋。就通膨而言，正如我們談到生產力在3%到5%區間，成本通膨也在3%到5%區間，這是我們看待前景的方式。

Margaret-May Binshtok, Wolfe Research.

Margaret-May Binshtok，Wolfe Research。

Good morning, guys. Thank you for taking my question. I just wanted to ask, given some of the elevated costs that we've seen, I guess, over the last couple of years that could be impacting your restaurant customers, have you seen operators becoming more willing, I guess, to trade into your exclusive brands private label today, perhaps versus a year ago? And is that driving any uptick in penetration? And also just on Menu IQ, is that playing into that at all? Thank you.

各位早安。謝謝讓我提問。我想問的是，考量過去幾年我們看到的一些較高成本可能正在影響你們的餐廳客戶，你們是否看到經營者如今更願意轉向採用你們的獨家品牌/自有品牌（private label），相較於一年前？這是否帶動滲透率上升？另外關於Menu IQ，這是否也有影響？謝謝。

Yeah, I think importantly, both of those are connected. We feel really good about our private label penetration and given the challenges these operators have faced really going into COVID and coming out of it that we've talked about, labor, rent, food cost inflation, all of that has really underscored the momentum we've got in our private label brands. And then things like Menu IQ that helps them really look at their menu costs and optimize it in a way that many of them. Know is there, but really don't know how to get at, really helps them reshape their thinking and also plays to the strength of our private label brands, which is sitting at about 53% with independent restaurants, very strong and we expect that will continue to grow through the course of time. Thank you.

是的，我認為重要的是，這兩者彼此相關。我們對自有品牌滲透率感到非常滿意；而且鑑於這些經營者在我們談過的、從COVID之前到疫情期間再到疫情後所面臨的挑戰——人力、租金、食品成本通膨等——這些都更加凸顯我們自有品牌的動能。再者，像Menu IQ這類工具能幫助他們真正檢視菜單成本並加以最佳化；許多人。知道問題存在，但其實不知道如何著手；它確實有助於他們重塑思維，也呼應我們自有品牌的優勢。我們在獨立餐廳的自有品牌占比約53%，非常強勁，我們預期隨時間推進仍會持續成長。謝謝。

Andrew Charles, TD Cowen.

Andrew Charles，TD Cowen。

Great. Thank you. The healthcare case volumes in 2Q slowed a bit from 1Q in both a one and two-year stack basis. Can you walk us through the dynamics behind that easing and how do you think about healthcare case growth for the back half of the year?

很好。謝謝。第二季醫療保健的箱數（case volumes）相較第一季在一年與兩年疊加（stack）基礎上都稍微放緩。你能否帶我們了解這種趨緩背後的動態？以及你如何看待下半年醫療保健箱數成長？

Good morning. I think when you talk about still being in that 3.5% or so, that's pretty strong case volume and from quarter to quarter depending on. Individual customers, timing of on boards, et cetera, it can move around a little bit, but I think both healthcare and hospitality being sort of at those same strong points, we feel very good about the growth rate that we generated in the second quarter and have confidence that we can continue to grow both of those at a healthy rate for the balance of the year and for periods well beyond 2026. We have differentiation in each of those, and our team is doing a nice job of bringing that differentiation to customers. And importantly, our pipelines in both are quite strong.

早安。我認為當你談到仍在約3.5%上下時，那其實是相當強勁的箱數成長；而且季度之間會因。個別客戶、上線導入（on boards）的時點等因素而略有波動。但我認為醫療保健與餐旅（hospitality）都處在相近且強勁的水準；我們對第二季所創造的成長率感到非常滿意，也有信心在今年剩餘期間以及遠超過2026的期間，能持續以健康的速度成長這兩個領域。我們在這兩個領域各自都有差異化優勢，而我們的團隊也做得很好，把這些差異化帶給客戶。而且重要的是，我們在兩個領域的商機管線（pipelines）都相當強。

And then you talked about how the higher sales force costs drove about a third of the increase in operating expenses. Was that largely one time you expect that to endure?

另外你提到較高的銷售團隊成本約占營業費用增加的三分之一。那主要是一次性因素，還是你預期會持續？

The one-third was fuel related comments that was there. The sales cost, we do expect to continue to drive some incremental costs for the next couple of quarters, that was largely contemplated in our outlook, as Dave said that the team was so we're looking ahead as to getting ahead of any potential turnover, this was a, we believe, the right choice to hire ahead. And as he said, as that ramps back down to that mid-single-digits, then we would expect the headwind to ease. But right now, for the next couple of quarters, we do expect it will result in some elevated selling costs.

三分之一那段是與燃料相關的評論。至於銷售成本，我們確實預期未來幾個季度仍會帶來一些額外成本，這在我們的展望中大致已納入考量；如Dave所說，團隊是著眼於提前因應任何可能的離職，這是一次我們認為正確的「提前招募」決策。而且如他所說，當（增幅）回落到中個位數時，我們預期逆風會緩解。但就目前而言，接下來幾個季度我們確實預期會造成較高的銷售費用。

Rahul Krotthapalli, JPMorgan.

Rahul Krotthapalli，摩根大通。

As we look forward philosophically, how should we think about reinvesting some of the productivity benefits from the AI and the deployed capabilities versus passing through to the bottom line and then specifically on the sales force and headcounts, where do you. Think is the ceiling for span of control or in adding or managing accounts per salesperson and will the productivity increase lead you to hiring more sales members to capture share aggressively or less than previously anticipated and I have a follow-up.

從更宏觀的角度來看，我們應該如何思考把 AI 與已部署能力帶來的一些生產力效益再投資回去，相較於直接反映到最終利潤？另外，特別是在銷售團隊與人力編制方面，您認為管理幅度（span of control）的上限在哪裡，或是每位業務可新增或管理的客戶數上限在哪裡？生產力提升會讓你們為了更積極搶占市占而增聘更多銷售人員，還是會比先前預期增聘得更少？我還有一個追問。

Well, I think, again, I'll take your second question first. I think the mid-single-digit headcount range is the right one for us to consistently onboard do a high-quality job of bringing those folks up the learning curve with US Foods. I think what you see with the application of AI and all of that is improved productivity. Sellers, where they're spending their mind share in their time, how they're supporting their customers to the extent AI helps our customers help themselves more, it frees up that time and resource, that valuable time and resource of our sales force to go drive new growth.

我想，還是先回答你的第二個問題。我認為對我們而言，中等個位數的人力增長區間是合適的，讓我們能夠持續招募並以高品質的方式，協助這些同仁在 US Foods 走上學習曲線。我認為你看到 AI 的應用以及所有相關作為，會帶來更高的生產力。對業務人員而言，這會影響他們把心力與時間花在哪裡、如何支援客戶；在 AI 能幫助我們的客戶更自助的程度上，它就能釋放我們銷售團隊寶貴的時間與資源，去推動新的成長。

And I think about AI in terms of productivity, we've taken a lot of cost out of the business in the past two years, in 2024 and '25, we've thought about $150 million of cost out in the business. That was aimed at really decentralizing the organization, putting resources closer to the customer, not AI generated at all. And as we think about AI, and I won't repeat my comments from earlier, but all the things that we're doing is aimed at labor planning, efficiency and productivity. I think all of that factors into the 3% to 5% annual productivity target that we have, and AI is going to be an increasingly important part of that and an enabler to consistently drive that productivity across.

談到把 AI 視為提升生產力的工具，我們在過去兩年已經從業務中削減了不少成本；在 2024 年與 2025 年，我們規劃約 1.5 億美元的成本削減。那主要是為了真正推動組織去中心化，把資源更貼近客戶，完全不是 AI 產生的。而在我們思考 AI 時，我不重複先前的評論，但我們正在做的所有事情都聚焦於人力規劃、效率與生產力。我認為這些都會反映在我們每年 3% 到 5% 的生產力目標之中，而 AI 將會在其中扮演愈來愈重要的角色，並成為持續推動整體生產力的促成因素。

And year in and year out, we're always looking at reinvesting back in the business. And so when we talk about whether it's cost and productivity or gross profit expansion, we think about, okay, how do we reinvest a portion of that back with customers with advanced capabilities, I mean, with our data science teams for AI, et cetera. So that's not something new and AI would just be another piece that we would think about as we think about reinvestment over time.

而且年復一年，我們一直都在尋找把資源再投資回業務的機會。因此，當我們談到不論是成本與生產力，或是毛利擴張，我們都會思考：好，我們要如何把其中一部分再投資回到客戶端，投入先進能力——例如我們的資料科學團隊用於 AI 等等。所以這並不是新鮮事，AI 只是我們在長期再投資思考中會納入的另一個部分。

And then the scanner test expansion to six locations is interesting to see. As you start focusing more on the physical or the hardware-focused solutions, are there any purpose-built robotic or automation opportunities in the near term that could make sense for you to test or look at?

另外，把掃描器測試擴展到六個據點也很有意思。當你們開始更聚焦於實體或硬體導向的解決方案時，短期內是否有任何為特定目的打造的機器人或自動化機會，可能值得你們測試或評估？

Specifically, the robotics that we're testing now and moving, as you pointed out, from the one to six, we're seeing good early results from those, helping with better accuracy in the warehouse and sort of much more efficiency so our other local teams can spend more time on other things and understanding the why and improving process. And that's the main place we've seen right now. We evaluated several providers before we decided on the one that now we're moving ahead. As robotics continues to advance, we continue to evaluate and we'll make that determination over time whether there's other uses.

具體來說，我們目前正在測試的機器人方案，正如你提到的，從一個據點擴展到六個據點；我們看到不錯的早期成果，有助於提升倉庫作業的準確性，並帶來更高的效率，讓我們其他在地團隊能把更多時間投入到其他事情上，理解背後原因並改善流程。這是我們目前看到的主要應用場景。在決定採用目前這家供應商並推進之前，我們評估了多家供應商。隨著機器人技術持續進步，我們也會持續評估，並會隨時間推進來判斷是否有其他用途。

That concludes today's question-and-answer session. I will now turn the call over to Dave Flitman, CEO, for closing comments.

今天的問答環節到此結束。接下來我將把電話會議交給執行長 Dave Flitman 作結語。

Thanks, everyone, for joining the call today. We're more excited about our future than we've ever been. Appreciate your support. Have a great rest of the week.

感謝各位今天參與電話會議。我們對未來的期待比以往任何時候都更高。感謝各位的支持。祝各位本週剩餘時間一切順利。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation and you may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝各位的參與，現在可以掛線。