Vital Farms Inc (VITL) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Vital Farms first quarter 2024 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand it over to the first speaker today, Anthony Bucalo.

美好的一天，感謝您的支持。歡迎參加 Vital Farms 2024 年第一季財報電話會議。（操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。現在我想把它交給今天第一位發言者安東尼·布卡洛。

Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to Vital Farms first quarter 2024 earnings conference call and webcast. I'm pleased to speak with you all today on my first earnings call as Vice President of Investor Relations. I'm joined on today's call by Russell Diez-Canseco, President and Chief Executive Officer; Thilo Wrede, Chief Financial Officer; and Peter Pappas, Chief Sales Officer.

謝謝。早安，歡迎來到 Vital Farms 2024 年第一季財報電話會議和網路廣播。今天，我很高興在我作為投資者關係副總裁的第一次財報電話會議上與大家交談。總裁兼執行長 Russell Diez-Canseco 參加了今天的電話會議。 Thilo Wrede，財務長；和首席銷售官彼得·帕帕斯。

By now everyone should have access to the company's first quarter 2024 earnings press release issued this morning. This is available on the Investor Relations section of Vital Farms website at investors.vitalfarms.com. Throughout the course of this call, management may make forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. These statements are based on management's current expectations and beliefs and do involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in these forward-looking statements.

現在每個人都應該可以看到該公司今天早上發布的 2024 年第一季財報新聞稿。您可以在 Vital Farms 網站的投資者關係部分找到這些資訊：investors.vitalfarms.com。在本次電話會議的整個過程中，管理階層可能會做出聯邦證券法意義內的前瞻性陳述。這些陳述是基於管理階層目前的預期和信念，確實涉及風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與這些前瞻性陳述中所述的結果有重大差異。

Please refer to today's press release, the company's quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2024, filed with the SEC today, as well as our other filings with the SEC for a detailed discussion of the risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements made today.

請參閱今天的新聞稿、本公司今天向 SEC 提交的截至 2024 年 3 月 31 日的財政季度的 10-Q 表格季度報告，以及我們向 SEC 提交的其他文件，詳細討論可能出現的風險。與今天所做的任何前瞻性陳述中明示或暗示的結果有重大差異。

Please note that on today's call, management will refer to adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin, which are non-GAAP financial measures. While the company believes these non-GAAP financial measures provide useful information for investors, the presentation of this information is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the financial information presented in accordance with GAAP. Please refer to our earnings release for a reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin to their most comparable measures prepared in accordance with GAAP.

請注意，在今天的電話會議上，管理層將參考調整後的 EBITDA 和調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率，這些都是非 GAAP 財務指標。雖然公司認為這些非公認會計原則財務指標為投資者提供了有用的信息，但這些信息的呈現並不旨在被孤立地考慮或作為根據公認會計原則呈現的財務信息的替代品。請參閱我們的收益發布，以了解調整後 EBITDA 和調整後 EBITDA 利潤率與根據 GAAP 編制的最可比較指標的對帳情況。

And now I would like to turn the call over to Russell Diez-Canseco, President and Chief Executive Officer of Vital Farms.

現在我想將電話轉給 Vital Farms 總裁兼執行長 Russell Diez-Canseco。

Good morning, and thanks for your time today. Antony, welcome again to Vital Farms. For those who haven't met Tony Bucalo, Tony joined us in April and will be leading that Investor Relations at Vital Farms. He's got a background as an analyst at Crédit Suisse, Santander and HSBC, and he most recently led Investor Relations at Nomad Foods. We're grateful you're here Tony.

早上好，感謝您今天抽出時間。安東尼，歡迎再次來到維塔農場。對於那些還沒有見過 Tony Bucalo 的人來說，Tony 於四月加入我們，並將領導 Vital Farms 的投資者關係。他曾在瑞士信貸銀行、桑坦德銀行和匯豐銀行擔任分析師，最近在 Nomad Foods 負責投資者關係工作。我們很感激你來到這裡，托尼。

I'll start today's call with the big headlines from the quarter. We've had some great results to share. I'll then hand it over to our Chief Sales Officer, Peter Pappas, to cover how the relationships we've built with our customers are contributing to continued strong demand. Thilo Wrede, our CFO, will then provide more in-depth information on our first quarter results as well as updated guidance for fiscal year 2024.

我將從本季度的頭條新聞開始今天的電話會議。我們有一些很棒的成果可以分享。然後我會將其交給我們的首席銷售長 Peter Pappas，介紹我們與客戶建立的關係如何促進持續強勁的需求。我們的財務長 Thilo Wrede 隨後將提供有關我們第一季業績的更深入資訊以及 2024 財年的最新指導。

So let's get to the first piece of big news today, which is that we had a record first quarter with $147.9 million in net revenue and 24% net revenue growth over the prior year period. We delivered $29.1 million of adjusted EBITDA, which is double, double the first quarter of 2023, as well as 400 basis points of gross margin expansion, which is a nearly 40% gross margin.

那麼，讓我們來看看今天的第一個重大新聞，那就是我們第一季的淨收入創紀錄，達到 1.479 億美元，比去年同期淨收入成長 24%。我們實現了 2,910 萬美元的調整後 EBITDA，這是 2023 年第一季的兩倍，毛利率擴張了 400 個基點，毛利率接近 40%。

Those numbers would be impressive in any quarter, but they're particularly impressive as we start this year. As you'll remember, we grew 55% in the first quarter of 2023 due in part to the category disruptions from avian influenza. In our fourth quarter call, we projected some headwinds as we lap that result this quarter, growing 24% over one of the strongest quarters in our history year over year reinforces our belief that momentum is building here at Vital Farms. I'm very encouraged by these results.

這些數字在任何季度都會令人印象深刻，但從今年開始尤其令人印象深刻。您可能還記得，我們​​在 2023 年第一季實現了 55% 的成長，部分原因是禽流感對品類造成了乾擾。在我們的第四季度電話會議中，我們預計本季度的業績會出現一些阻力，在我們歷史上最強勁的季度之一中同比增長24%，這增強了我們的信念，即Vital Farms 的勢頭正在增強。這些結果讓我深受鼓舞。

One of the biggest drivers of our growth and the remarkable results this quarter is our incredible team at Egg Central Station in Springfield, Missouri. Over the past year, the team at ECS has redoubled its efforts to recruit and retain a phenomenal workforce, and they've made operational improvements that enable us to more effectively meet customer demand.

本季我們成長和卓越業績的最大推動力之一是我們位於密蘇裡州斯普林菲爾德蛋中央車站的令人難以置信的團隊。在過去的一年裡，ECS 團隊加倍努力招募和留住優秀的員工隊伍，他們也進行了營運改進，使我們能夠更有效地滿足客戶需求。

We're just flat-out better at getting our high-quality eggs packed and shipped. And we were already pretty good to start with. Our ECS crew just secured two big pieces of recognition that I want to call out. First, our Quality Assurance Manager, Robert Clark, on behalf of the entire ECS team received the 2024 Excellence in SQF Practitioner Leadership Award from the Safe Quality Food Institute. This is one of the most prestigious awards in our industry and reflects our commitment to delivering safe, high-quality food.

我們在包裝和運輸高品質雞蛋方面做得更加出色。我們一開始就已經做得很好了。我們的 ECS 團隊剛剛獲得了兩項重要的認可，我想在此指出。首先，我們的品質保證經理 Robert Clark 代表整個 ECS 團隊獲得了安全品質食品研究所頒發的 2024 年 SQF 卓越從業者領導獎。這是我們行業最負盛名的獎項之一，反映了我們對提供安全、高品質食品的承諾。

It recognizes Robert's role promoting food safety and inspiring the next generation of food safety leaders. It was an honor to help celebrate Robert's leadership when this incredible news came through. Our expansion at ECS also just became a LEED Gold certified operation, further validating the investments we've made there in sustainable design.

它認可了羅伯特在促進食品安全和激勵下一代食品安全領導者方面所發揮的作用。當這個令人難以置信的消息傳出時，我很榮幸能夠幫助慶祝羅伯特的領導能力。我們在 ECS 的擴建也剛獲得 LEED 金級認證，進一步驗證了我們在永續設計方面的投資。

ECS is a remarkable facility. It's visibly different than most of the other food processing facilities you'll see, with solar panels in the parking lot, natural grassland surrounding the building, and thoughtful design choices that support crew member health and help us run ECS as a zero waste to landfill facility. So we've demonstrated expertise, building and running a state-of-the-art facility in Springfield. We have a strong cash position and we have continued profitable growth along with rising demand for our products.

ECS 是一個非凡的設施。它與您將看到的大多數其他食品加工設施明顯不同，停車場設有太陽能電池板，建築物周圍有天然草地，以及支持船員健康並幫助我們以零垃圾填埋方式運行ECS 的深思熟慮的設計選擇設施。因此，我們展示了專業知識，在斯普林菲爾德建造並運營了最先進的設施。我們擁有強大的現金狀況，隨著對我們產品的需求不斷增長，我們的利潤持續增長。

As a result, we have the confidence to make the next major investment that will help propel us to $1 billion in net revenue and beyond. Which brings me to our second big piece of news today. We've signed an agreement to purchase land for our next state-of-the-art egg washing and packing facility, which will be in southern Indiana. This new facility is planned to incorporate similar high-quality design principles as our Egg Central Station facility in Springfield, Missouri. And we anticipate that it will initially be able to support 165 new family farms and employs 150 additional crewmembers.

因此，我們有信心進行下一項重大投資，這將有助於推動我們的淨收入達到 10 億美元甚至更高。這讓我想到了今天的第二個重大新聞。我們已經簽署了一項協議，為我們下一個最先進的雞蛋清洗和包裝設施購買土地，該設施將位於印第安納州南部。這個新設施計劃採用與我們位於密蘇裡州斯普林菲爾德的蛋中心站設施類似的高品質設計原則。我們預計它最初將能夠支持 165 個新的家庭農場並僱用 150 名額外的船員。

We expect to break ground in 2025. Begin hiring in the summer of 2026, and begin operations shortly thereafter. Our crewmembers from ECS are going to lead the way in bringing our new facility to life. They will create an important link to the rigorous standards, deep institutional knowledge and executional excellence that we've established in Springfield.

我們預計將於 2025 年動工。於 2026 年夏季開始招聘，並隨後不久開始營運。ECS 的工作人員將帶領我們的新設施投入使用。他們將為我們在斯普林菲爾德建立的嚴格標準、深厚的機構知識和卓越的執行力建立重要的聯繫。

This will also help in our training and mentoring of our new workforce in Indiana. We expect to begin generating revenue from this facility in 2027, which will contribute meaningfully to our goal of achieving $1 billion in annual net revenue by 2027. We believe the land for this facility will not only provide significant capacity beginning in 2027, but will also allow for flexibility to add additional capacity in the future as we scale beyond our 2027 targets. We're now working with local stakeholders in Indiana on a formal announcement, and we'll share the precise location of the new facility in the near future.

這也將有助於我們對印第安納州新員工的培訓和指導。我們預計該設施將於 2027 年開始產生收入，這將為我們在 2027 年實現 10 億美元年淨收入的目標做出重大貢獻。我們相信，該設施的土地不僅將從 2027 年開始提供大量產能，而且隨著我們的規模超出 2027 年目標，未來還可以靈活地增加額外產能。我們現在正在與印第安納州當地利益相關者合作發布正式公告，我們將在不久的將來分享新設施的準確位置。

One last note, before I hand it over to Pete. As we talk about investments in our future, I want to call out the new line of butter products that we announced in April, our team conducted a global search, and that's not an exaggeration, for the best butter supplier we could find. We're now working with family farms in Ireland to deliver a delicious great-looking product that is 90% grass-fed.

在我把它交給皮特之前，還有最後一張紙條。當我們談論對未來的投資時，我想提到我們在四月份宣布的新黃油產品系列，我們的團隊進行了全球搜索，這並不誇張，尋找我們能找到的最好的黃油供應商。我們現在正在與愛爾蘭的家庭農場合作，提供 90% 草飼的美味、美觀的產品。

We've maintained our unwavering commitment to product quality, animal welfare and support for family farms. We also introduced bold new packaging that reinforces our premium brand identity and really stands out on the shelf. We keep this butter stock that our house and my family loves it. I encourage everyone to give it a try.

我們始終堅定不移地致力於產品品質、動物福利和對家庭農場的支持。我們也推出了大膽的新包裝，強化了我們的優質品牌形象，並在貨架上真正脫穎而出。我們保留了我們家和我的家人喜歡的黃油湯。我鼓勵每個人都嘗試一下。

There's a lot of good news here. We're off to a strong start, I remain confident in our ability to sustain this momentum and achieve our ambitious long-term financial targets. It's great to see this business hit on all cylinders, and we're making hay while the sun shining. This allows us to make smart long-term investments in our people, brand and infrastructure. And it gives you a taste of what Vital Farms is capable of.

這裡有很多好消息。我們有了一個良好的開端，我對我們維持這一勢頭並實現我們雄心勃勃的長期財務目標的能力仍然充滿信心。很高興看到這項業務全速發展，我們正在陽光明媚的時候製作乾草。這使我們能夠對我們的人員、品牌和基礎設施進行明智的長期投資。它讓您體驗 Vital Farms 的能力。

I'll now hand it over to our Chief Sales Officer, Pete Pappas.

現在我將把它交給我們的首席銷售官皮特·帕帕斯。

Thanks, Russell. Appreciate the chance to represent our incredible sales team, share some of the success we've had in the marketplace and talked about how we're building trusted relationships with Vital Farms customers. As Russell mentioned, we had a record first quarter. Last November in our Q3 earnings call, I talked about our category first approach where we work with our retail customers to increase sales and margin performance across the entire egg category. We believe this is a real differentiator for Vital Farms.

謝謝，拉塞爾。感謝有機會代表我們出色的銷售團隊，分享我們在市場上取得的一些成功，並談論我們如何與 Vital Farms 客戶建立信任關係。正如拉塞爾所提到的，我們第一季創下了紀錄。去年 11 月，在第三季財報電話會議上，我談到了我們的品類優先方法，即我們與零售客戶合作，提高整個雞蛋類別的銷售額和利潤率。我們相信這是 Vital Farms 真正的差異化優勢。

It reinforces our position as a thought leader and premium brand. And importantly, it's contributing to strong results as we expand availability with new and existing customers. We expanded distribution, increased the number of SKUs at existing stores and delivered growth with higher price point SKUs. This enabled us to grow sales and unit volume well above the rest of the category in the first quarter. I believe our role in this critical category is to be the driver of overall category performance for our retail customers. That means growing faster than the category and competition.

它鞏固了我們作為思想領袖和優質品牌的地位。重要的是，隨著我們擴大新舊客戶的可用性，它正在為我們帶來強勁的業績。我們擴大了分銷範圍，增加了現有商店的 SKU 數量，並透過更高價位的 SKU 實現了成長。這使我們在第一季的銷售額和單位銷售成長遠高於該類別的其他產品。我相信我們在這個關鍵類別中的作用是成為零售客戶整體類別績效的驅動力。這意味著成長速度快於同類產品和競爭對手。

Looking deeper at the data in the tracked channels during the 13 weeks ended March 24, 2024, I'm pleased to say we continued to deliver outsized performance. The egg category experienced a retail dollar decline of 19%, while Vital Farms grew retail dollar sales in comparison by 35% in the same period. Additionally, the category saw unit volumes up 6% during the same 13-week period, while Vital Farms unit volume grew by about 27%.

更深入研究截至 2024 年 3 月 24 日的 13 週內追蹤管道中的數據，我很高興地說我們繼續提供出色的業績。雞蛋類別的零售額下降了 19%，而 Vital Farms 同期的零售額增加了 35%。此外，該類別的單位銷量在同一 13 週內增長了 6%，而 Vital Farms 的單位銷量增長了約 27%。

Our conventional 12 count in the black carton is the number one branded SKU in the food category based on dollar sales. As a reminder, due to the mix shift to 18 count packs our volume growth in tracked channels tends to be underreported. Much of our growth has come from wins that we locked in during Q3 and Q4 last year, particularly through many of our larger national customers where we're now the number one or number two best-selling branded egg by dollars.

我們傳統的黑色紙盒裝 12 件裝是食品類別中銷售額排名第一的品牌 SKU。提醒一下，由於混合轉向 18 件裝，我們追蹤通路的銷售成長往往被低估。我們的成長很大程度上來自去年第三季和第四季鎖定的勝利，特別是透過我們許多較大的全國客戶，我們現在是按美元計算排名第一或第二的最暢銷品牌雞蛋。

We're also expanding our footprint with a focus on independent grocers through collaboration with natural and conventional distributors. Many of these gains will be seen in Q2 as spring shelf resets are completed in the next few weeks.

我們也透過與天然和傳統經銷商合作，擴大我們的足跡，並專注於獨立雜貨商。隨著春季貨架重置在未來幾週內完成，其中許多收益將在第二季度看到。

Last quarter, we said that we would have a more normalized promotional cadence in 2024 to drive trial and reach new consumers. The approach is working as it has helped us achieve the growth we've seen so far this year. We've built a disciplined strategy and cadence that maintains our premium brand position, supports our catagory first approach and provides our retail partners with the desired impact to their business.

上個季度，我們表示，2024 年我們將採取更規範的促銷節奏，以推動試用並吸引新消費者。這種方法正在發揮作用，因為它幫助我們實現了今年迄今為止所看到的成長。我們制定了嚴格的策略和節奏，以維持我們的優質品牌地位，支持我們的品類優先方法，並為我們的零售合作夥伴提供所需的業務影響。

Our foodservice business had a strong quarter, and we're pleased with the progress we're making on that front. The strength of the Vital Farms brand is a key strategic advantage, which lends itself to unique partnership opportunities with restaurants and operators will continue to execute our strategy as we align with restaurant concepts that are committed to sourcing ethical premium ingredients.

我們的餐飲服務業務季度表現強勁，我們對在這方面取得的進展感到滿意。Vital Farms 品牌的實力是一項關鍵的策略優勢，它為餐廳提供了獨特的合作機會，營運商將繼續執行我們的策略，因為我們與致力於採購道德優質食材的餐廳理念保持一致。

I want to close with thanks to the Vital Farms sales team, the entire Vital Farms supply chain team, and our farmers for delivering an incredible product. My team has the privilege of representing Vital Farms in the conversations we have with customers, and we deeply appreciate all the work that goes into getting our premium eggs and butter onto shelves each and every week.

最後，我要感謝 Vital Farms 銷售團隊、整個 Vital Farms 供應鏈團隊以及我們的農民提供了令人難以置信的產品。我的團隊很榮幸能代表 Vital Farms 參與與客戶的對話，我們非常感謝每週為將我們的優質雞蛋和黃油上架而付出的所有努力。

With that I'll pass it over to Thilo.

我會把它交給 Thilo。

Thank you, Pete, and hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. I will review our financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2024, and then provide details on our updated guidance for fiscal year 2024.

謝謝皮特，大家好，謝謝你們今天加入我們。我將回顧截至 2024 年 3 月 31 日的第一季財務業績，然後提供有關 2024 財年更新指導的詳細資訊。

We kicked off the year with another record quarter. Our net revenue rose to $147.9 million, an increase of 24.1% compared to the prior year period. This was driven by strong volume growth of 18.4% and price mix of 4.9%. The volume growth was driven by increases at both new and existing retail customers and is in line with our mostly volume-driven growth plans for the year.

我們以另一個創紀錄的季度拉開了新的一年的序幕。我們的淨收入增至 1.479 億美元，比去年同期成長 24.1%。這是由 18.4% 的強勁銷量成長和 4.9% 的價格組合推動的。銷售成長是由新零售客戶和現有零售客戶的成長所推動的，符合我們今年主要以銷售驅動的成長計劃。

Gross profit for the first quarter of 2024 was $58.9 million or 39.8% of net revenue compared to $42.7 million or 35.8% of net revenue for the first quarter of 2023. The increase in gross profit was primarily driven by a price mix benefit, enhanced operational efficiencies and benefits of scale. Conventional commodities and lower diesel costs contributed to the margin gains. The gross margin upside was partially offset by a return to a normal promotional rate as well as increased investment in our crew members at Egg Central Station and higher overhead costs as we scale our world-class organization.

2024 年第一季的毛利為 5,890 萬美元，佔淨收入的 39.8%，而 2023 年第一季的毛利為 4,270 萬美元，佔淨收入的 35.8%。毛利的成長主要是由價格組合效益、營運效率提高和規模效益所推動的。常規商品和較低的柴油成本推動了利潤率的成長。毛利率的上升部分被正常促銷率的恢復、對蛋中央車站工作人員的投資增加以及我們擴大世界級組織規模時增加的間接費用所部分抵消。

SG&A expenses for the first quarter of 2024 were $27.1 million or 18.3% of net revenue, compared to $23.9 million or 20.1% of net revenue in the first quarter of last year. The increase in SG&A was driven primarily by the increased investment in crew members as well as increased marketing investment as we scale. Shipping and distribution expenses in the first quarter were $7.6 million or 5.1% of net revenue compared to $7.8 million or 6.6% of net revenue in the first quarter of 2023. The decrease in shipping and distribution expense was driven by decline inline haul rates, lower diesel cost and internal operational efficiencies.

2024 年第一季的 SG&A 費用為 2,710 萬美元，佔淨收入的 18.3%，而去年第一季為 2,390 萬美元，佔淨收入的 20.1%。SG&A 的成長主要是由於對船員的投資增加以及隨著我們規模的擴大而增加的行銷投資。第一季的運輸和分銷費用為 760 萬美元，佔淨收入的 5.1%，而 2023 年第一季的運輸和分銷費用為 780 萬美元，佔淨收入的 6.6%。運輸和分銷費用的下降是由於內陸運輸費率下降、柴油成本下降和內部營運效率下降所致。

Net income for the first quarter 2024 was $19.0 million or $0.43 per diluted share compared to $7.2 million or $0.16 per diluted share for the first quarter of 2023. Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter of 2024 was $29.1 million or 19.7% of net revenue compared to $13.9 million or 11.6% of net revenue for the first quarter of 2023.

2024 年第一季的淨利潤為 1,900 萬美元，即稀釋後每股收益 0.43 美元，而 2023 年第一季的淨利潤為 720 萬美元，即稀釋後每股收益 0.16 美元。2024 年第一季調整後 EBITDA 為 2,910 萬美元，佔淨收入的 19.7%，而 2023 年第一季調整後 EBITDA 為 1,390 萬美元，佔淨收入的 11.6%。

Finally, a quick update on our capital structure. As of March 31, 2024, we had total cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $137.5 million with no debt outstanding. Now looking ahead for the full fiscal year 2024, we are now guiding to net revenue of at least $575 million or at least 22% growth compared to our previous expectation of at least $552 million or at least 17% growth.

最後，快速更新一下我們的資本結構。截至 2024 年 3 月 31 日，我們的現金、現金等價物及有價證券總額為 1.375 億美元，沒有未償債務。現在展望 2024 年整個財年，我們目前的目標是淨收入至少為 5.75 億美元，即至少成長 22%，而我們先前的預期為至少 5.52 億美元，即至少成長 17%。

And we are guiding to adjusted EBITDA of at least $70 million or at least 45% growth compared to our previous expectation of at least $57 million or at least 18% growth. This updated guidance reflects the stronger than expected first quarter increased confidence in our performance for the remainder of the year and higher conviction in a more favorable commodity outlook.

我們預計調整後 EBITDA 至少為 7,000 萬美元，或至少成長 45%，而我們先前的預期為至少 5,700 萬美元，或至少成長 18%。這項更新的指引反映了第一季強於預期，增強了我們對今年剩餘時間業績的信心，並對更有利的大宗商品前景更有信心。

We remain focused on reinvesting in marketing and expanding our retail presence in order to drive awareness, deepen loyalty with consumers and ultimately drive household penetration on our path to 30 million households by 2027. We continue to expect higher adjusted EBITDA margin in the first half versus the second half of 2024. Given the better than expected growth in Q1, we now expect net revenue growth to be relatively evenly split between the first and the second half of the year.

我們仍然專注於對行銷進行再投資並擴大我們的零售業務，以提高消費者認知度、加深消費者忠誠度，並最終推動家庭滲透率，到 2027 年達到 3000 萬個家庭。我們繼續預期 2024 年上半年調整後 EBITDA 利潤率將高於下半年。鑑於第一季的成長優於預期，我們現在預計上半年和下半年的淨收入成長將相對均勻。

Lastly, on guidance, we still expect fiscal year 2024 capital expenditures in the range of $35 million to $45 million. Note that this includes the previously highlighted $11 million of timing shift from the CapEx spend that was initially planned for 2023. We anticipate having elevated CapEx spending over the next few years because of the new facility with a majority of the spending occurring in 2025 and 2026. We believe we have the necessary funds to build the facility and project that every dollar of CapEx investment in this new facility will generate more than $5 of annual revenue capacity, which we consider a really strong return.

最後，根據指導，我們仍然預期 2024 財年的資本支出將在 3,500 萬美元至 4,500 萬美元之間。請注意，這包括先前強調的 2023 年資本支出支出的 1,100 萬美元時間轉移。由於新設施的建立，我們預計未來幾年的資本支出將會增加，其中大部分支出發生在 2025 年和 2026 年。我們相信我們有必要的資金來建造該設施，並預計該新設施的每一美元資本支出投資將產生超過 5 美元的年收入能力，我們認為這是一個非常強勁的回報。

We continue to evaluate our capital allocation priorities and if necessary, we'll provide updates on future earnings calls. Overall, the first quarter was a very strong start to the year for Vital Farms, and we are very excited to build on this momentum, especially as we're building plans to break ground on our new facility next year. We remain focused on building greater retail penetration to raise brand awareness and deliver our eggs to more and more households.

我們將繼續評估我們的資本配置優先事項，如有必要，我們將提供未來收益電話會議的最新資訊。總體而言，第一季對於 Vital Farms 來說是今年的一個非常強勁的開局，我們非常高興能夠在此勢頭基礎上再接再厲，特別是我們正在製定明年新工廠破土動工的計劃。我們仍然專注於提高零售滲透率，以提高品牌知名度，並將我們的雞蛋送到越來越多的家庭。

Before I close, let me also once again, welcome Tony Bucalo, to the Vital Farms team. I'm very much looking forward to working with him and benefiting from his experience as we continue to build out our Investor Relations function.

在結束之前，請允許我再次歡迎 Tony Bucalo 加入 Vital Farms 團隊。我非常期待與他合作，並在我們繼續建立投資者關係職能的過程中從他的經驗中受益。

Thank you for your time and interest in Vital Farms today, and for the confidence that you have placed in us with your investment. With that, we will now be happy to take your questions.

感謝您今天對 Vital Farms 的關注和關注，以及您對我們的投資的信任。這樣，我們現在很樂意回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Brian Holland, D.A. Davidson.

布萊恩·霍蘭德，D.A.戴維森。

Yeah, thanks. Good morning, everyone.

是的，謝謝。大家，早安。

Good morning.

早安.

I wanted just to start -- Good morning. So to your point Russell, first quarter growth really strong in the context of lapping the previous avian influenza cycle. I think what also continues to be impressive is the balance of distribution and velocity growth in the business. If I just focus on the velocity side, can you frame it all the benefits of increased skew placements in stores? I know you've moved off a base of closer to two. So thinking about the out of stock issues that can happen when you're that likely represented on shelves. And so actually adding SKUs rather than cannibalizing your business is actually driving greater productivity. So maybe just a comment on that and what you're seeing there.

我只想開始——早安。因此，就拉塞爾的觀點而言，在經歷了上一個禽流感週期的背景下，第一季的成長確實強勁。我認為同樣令人印象深刻的是業務的分銷和速度成長的平衡。如果我只關注速度方面，您能否闡述增加商店傾斜放置的所有好處？我知道你已經離開了接近兩個的基地。因此，請考慮一下當您的商品出現在貨架上時可能會發生的缺貨問題。因此，實際上添加 SKU 而不是蠶食您的業務實際上可以提高生產力。所以也許只是對此以及您在那裡看到的內容發表評論。

Thanks, Brian. I appreciate the question. I think it's an important one for us at this point in our growth, and it's a really interesting phenomenon. So first of all, what we've seen in early days when we got our first SKU on the shelf with a new retail partner was it sometimes it was a little hard to stand out on the shelf there, also lot of skews in the egg set, and the egg set is pretty tight as it is, and it's crammed with all this variety. And so it's really hard to get anybody's attention with one facing of our carton of eggs, even if you're new to look for us, it might be hard to find us.

謝謝，布萊恩。我很欣賞這個問題。我認為這對我們目前的成長來說非常重要，而且這是一個非常有趣的現象。首先，當我們與新的零售合作夥伴一起將第一個 SKU 放在貨架上時，我們發現有時很難在貨架上脫穎而出，而且雞蛋也有很多歪斜套裝，而且雞蛋套裝實際上非常緊湊，而且裡面塞滿了所有這些品種。因此，我們的雞蛋盒的一張臉很難引起任何人的注意，即使您是新來尋找我們的，也可能很難找到我們。

The second facing, even if our velocities justify the second facing of that first skew, typically would be another item. And what we often found was there was zero cannibalization of the first with the second, in fact, in many cases we saw an interesting pattern, which was that our maybe daily or even sometimes weekly revenue from that slot was about an exactly one case worth of product, meaning we basically sold out and then waited for replenishment.

第二個面，即使我們的速度證明第一個傾斜的第二個面是合理的，通常也是另一個項目。我們經常發現，第一個與第二個的蠶食為零，事實上，在許多情況下，我們看到了一個有趣的模式，即我們每天甚至有時每週從該老虎機獲得的收入大約是一個案例的價值的產品，意味著我們基本上賣完了，然後等待補貨。

And so as we were supporting this brand. We're very strong in terms of conveying the value to consumers and building brand loyalty, the demands there. And the question is, can we support it on the shelf. So often the additional SKUs have two impacts, one is potentially addressing a different household need, whether it's with a larger pack size, for example, or an organic versus inorganic product.

所以我們支持這個品牌。我們在向消費者傳達價值和建立品牌忠誠度以及滿足消費者的需求方面非常強大。問題是，我們能否支持它上架。通常，額外的 SKU 會產生兩種影響，一是可能滿足不同的家庭需求，例如，無論是更大的包裝尺寸，還是有機產品與無機產品。

But it's also simply more holding power on the shelf and visibility on the shelf for our brands. And we see that when we add the second and the third and the fourth. So there's both a leaning into growing consumer demand, but also leaning into supplying existing demand that happens when we add SKUs to the shelf. And it's a powerful combination.

但它也只是為我們的品牌提供了更多的貨架控制力和貨架知名度。當我們加入第二個、第三個和第四個時，我們會看到這一點。因此，我們既傾向於不斷增長的消費者需求，也傾向於滿足我們在貨架上添加 SKU 時發生的現有需求。這是一個強大的組合。

Appreciate all that color, Russell. And then maybe just focusing below the top line now, you guys have targeted a 12% to 14% EBITDA margin long term, 35% gross margin. Obviously, we're looking at a 40% gross margin this morning and closer to 20% EBITDA margin. I understand there's moving parts, commodity tailwinds and such, but you've also highlighted operational efficiencies, scale benefits, et cetera. So I just wonder, as we look forward, is it too early or to what extent the first quarter results here sort of lead to thinking about maybe a higher margin profile on this business longer term?

欣賞所有這些顏色，拉塞爾。然後也許現在只專注於營收以下，你們的長期目標是 12% 到 14% 的 EBITDA 利潤率，35% 的毛利率。顯然，今天早上我們預期毛利率為 40%，EBITDA 利潤率將接近 20%。我知道有移動部件、商品順風等因素，但您也強調了營運效率、規模效益等。因此，我只是想知道，當我們展望未來時，現在是否為時過早，或者第一季的業績在多大程度上會導致我們考慮該業務的長期利潤率可能會更高？

Yeah. Thanks, Brian. I appreciate where you're going. And I think we all like to just dream a little. I caution against thinking about a fundamentally different business profile here. I think we've been very intentional with that long-term guidance for some important reasons. You could imagine a couple of things that are helping us supporting our profitability or profit profile right now, that may or may not be true in the future. One is as I think many of you are seeing, we have had some nice sort of temporary potentially transitory benefits from some changes in commodity costs, for example.

是的。謝謝，布萊恩。我很欣賞你要去的地方。我想我們都喜歡做一點夢。我警告不要在這裡考慮完全不同的業務概況。我認為出於某些重要原因，我們非常有意識地制定了長期指導方針。您可以想像一些正在幫助我們支持我們的盈利能力或利潤狀況的事情，這些事情在未來可能會也可能不會。其一，正如我想你們很多人都看到的那樣，例如，我們從商品成本的一些變化中獲得了一些不錯的暫時的、潛在的、暫時的好處。

And that we're not immune to changes in commodity costs, although we've done, I think, an admirable job of making sure we're insulated from really big swings, and that's a little bit of a tailwind right now to be very frank. Another is that we're at a moment in time when I think we've got -- we've built a lot of great distribution in the last year and added a lot of high quality households that are having a nice conversion to more loyal households. And that's been a wonderful tailwind.

我們也不能免受大宗商品成本變化的影響，儘管我認為我們已經做了一項令人欽佩的工作，確保我們免受真正的大幅波動的影響，而且現在這對我們來說是一個有點順風順水的機會。另一個原因是，我們正處於這樣一個時刻，我認為我們已經在去年建立了許多出色的分銷管道，並增加了許多高品質的家庭，這些家庭正在很好地轉變為更忠誠的家庭家庭。這是一個美妙的順風。

We've got a lot of -- what we've been saying around here is we're really firing on all cylinders. We've got a lot of things going right. And I'm someone who likes to hope for the best, but plan for the worst. And so I love the results we're seeing and I don't have a reason to say we won't have similarly strong results throughout the year. I think the guidance we've given for our long term targets is an appropriate place to be anchored.

我們有很多——我們在這裡一直在說的是，我們真的在全力以赴。我們有很多事情進展順利。我是一個喜歡抱最好的希望，但又做最壞的打算的人。所以我喜歡我們所看到的結果，我沒有理由說我們全年不會有同樣強烈的結果。我認為我們為長期目標提供的指導是一個適當的立足點。

Matt Smith, Stifel.

馬特史密斯，史蒂菲爾。

Hey, good morning. I wanted to ask a question about the phasing of revenue growth. You mentioned a more equal phasing between the first and second half, you started the first quarter very strongly would suggest a bit of a slowdown in the second quarter before a reacceleration in the second half. Just wanted to make sure I was understanding that correctly. And if you could talk about some of the dynamics in the second quarter, I believe you have a bit of a tailwind coming off of AI benefits where stock -- we're on-shelf availability return very healthily for the rest of category.

嗨，早安。我想問一個關於收入成長階段的問題。您提到上半場和下半場之間的階段性更加平等，您在第一季開始時就非常強烈地建議第二季度稍微放緩，然後在下半場重新加速。只是想確保我正確理解了這一點。如果你能談談第二季度的一些動態，我相信你會從人工智慧的好處中獲得一些順風，其中庫存 - 我們的貨架可用性對於其他類別來說非常健康。

Yeah, good question, Matt. I think when we started the year, we didn't expect Q1 to be the strongest. So with that, we thought our growth in the second half would be bigger than the first half, given how the first quarter came in. We are now thinking growth is going to be much more evenly split between the first and second half. You're right to point out that last year we had a strong weaker than expected second quarter after the first quarter tailwinds from AI.

是的，好問題，馬特。我認為，當我們年初時，我們並沒有想到第一季會是最強的。因此，考慮到第一季的情況，我們認為下半年的成長將比上半年更大。我們現在認為上半年和下半年的成長將更加平均。您正確地指出，繼第一季人工智慧帶來的利多之後，去年第二季的業績明顯弱於預期。

The order patterns by retailers say that took a bit to catch up to new demand patterns. And so orders last year, second quarter were bit slower than what we had expected, so now we need to [lap] that to create a headwind for us this year in the second quarter. And so that is Matt, where our thinking now comes out that first and second half of the year will be relatively similar and overall growth.

零售商的訂單模式表明，他們需要一些時間才能跟上新的需求模式。因此，去年第二季的訂單比我們的預期要慢一些，所以現在我們需要[圈]這一點，以便在今年第二季為我們創造逆風。這就是馬特，我們現在的想法是，今年上半年和下半年的整體成長將相對相似。

Second quarter, I would assume growth being better than Q1 despite the settlement that I just talked about simply given that we have this massive lapping from the first quarter last year. So there's a lot of play. But what we're seeing so far is that the orders keep coming in at a very healthy clip. I think when you look at scanner data, you see the sell through, and so the business is in very good shape right now.

儘管我剛才談到了和解，但我認為第二季度的成長會好於第一季度，因為我們從去年第一季開始就出現瞭如此巨大的下滑。所以有很多玩法。但到目前為止我們看到的是訂單持續以非常健康的速度成長。我認為當你查看掃描器資料時，你會看到銷售情況，因此目前業務狀況非常好。

Thank you. And just one follow-up for me. Can you talk about your ability to continue to meet the volume demand, the volume demand obviously started the year very strongly above your expectations. Have you been able to keep pace with new farm additions and confident in your ability to service the demand if it stays at this elevated levels and through the year?

謝謝。這只是我的一個後續行動。您能談談您繼續滿足銷售需求的能力嗎？您是否能夠跟上新增農場的步伐，並相信如果全年保持在如此高的水平，您有能力滿足需求？

Yes, I think it's another terrific question. It's the other side of the supply and demand question the short answer is yes. We absolutely have the supply of eggs and capacity to deliver on our plan and our guidance this year and some. And that's generally how we operate. We always have -- we tried to have some cushion, some additional capacity in order to meet maybe unexpectedly high demand or frankly to meet the growing demand that we're seeing from consumers and retailers.

是的，我認為這是另一個很棒的問題。這是供需問題的另一面，簡短的回答是肯定的。我們絕對有雞蛋供應和能力來實現我們今年和一些計劃和指導。我們通常就是這樣運作的。我們一直試圖擁有一些緩衝，一些額外的產能，以滿足可能出乎意料的高需求，或者坦白說，滿足我們從消費者和零售商那裡看到的不斷增長的需求。

So that continues to be a source of strength, I think in this industry for us, great farmer relations and a wonderful ability. I think to build a pipeline of exciting new growers. I think it's a reminder, I think it's an important reminder of how we are very intentional in our planning and we tried to make sure that we're eliminating any bottlenecks to our growth proactively. It's why part of our news today is choosing a site and buying land for our next egg packing plant even though we won't actually start packing eggs there for a few years because we want to make sure that when we need it, it's there reliably.

因此，我認為對於我們這個行業來說，這仍然是力量的源泉，偉大的農民關係和出色的能力。我認為要建立一個令人興奮的新種植者管道。我認為這是一個提醒，我認為這是一個重要的提醒，提醒我們我們在計劃中是如何非常有意的，我們試圖確保我們主動消除任何成長的瓶頸。這就是為什麼我們今天的新聞的一部分是為我們的下一個雞蛋包裝廠選擇一個地點併購買土地，儘管我們實際上幾年內不會開始在那裡包裝雞蛋，因為我們希望確保當我們需要它時，它可靠地在那裡。

And then, Matt, let me just add one point from the busy just reiterating from the prepared remarks, we have to supply eggs, we have a pipeline of farms to come online over time, but we also over the last 12 months has made a lot of changes at ECS to make sure that the supply of eggs, we can process them, we can put them in cartons and get the cartons out the door. So that these operational improvements that we have seen at ECS, a big part of why we're able to grow volume this way.

然後，馬特，讓我從忙碌中補充一點，只是重申準備好的言論，我們必須供應雞蛋，我們有一系列農場隨著時間的推移而上線，但我們在過去 12 個月裡也做出了ECS做了很多改變，以確保雞蛋的供應，我們可以加工它們，我們可以將它們放入紙箱中，然後將紙箱運出大門。因此，我們在 ECS 看到的這些營運改善是我們能夠以這種方式增加銷售的一個重要原因。

Thank you, Thilo and Russell. I'll pass it on.

謝謝蒂洛和拉塞爾。我會把它傳遞下去。

Ben with Lake Street Capital Markets.

本與湖街資本市場。

Thanks, for taking my question and just kind of one high-level strategic question for me here, given the success that you guys have seen here, specially accelerating over the last few quarters. And that's -- to what extent is your kind of recent success impact your growth strategy? Does it make you kind of less inclined to pursue on new adjacent markets? Does it make you want to expand the scope of your new facility? Or is your kind of long-term vision really unchanged in the context of your recent results?

感謝您在這裡提出我的問題，並且只是向我提出一個高級戰略問題，因為你們在這裡看到了成功，特別是在過去幾個季度中加速了。那就是—您最近的成功在多大程度上影響了您的成長策略？這是否會讓您不太願意追求新的鄰近市場？這是否讓您想要擴大新設施的範圍？或者你的長期願景在你最近的結果中真的沒有改變嗎？

Thanks, Ben. It's Russell, I'll take I'll take that and see if Thilo, finds anything to add. You know, the short answer is, it doesn't affect our confidence in this brand and its ability to grow to be the most trusted food brand in this country and that could mean being in more categories beyond the ones we're already in, will likely. The reality is that I think the risk that companies face perhaps at this phase in their growth often is that they can get distracted.

謝謝，本。這是拉塞爾，我會接受，看看蒂洛是否發現任何可以補充的內容。你知道，簡短的答案是，它不會影響我們對這個品牌的信心，也不會影響它成長為這個國家最值得信賴的食品品牌的能力，這可能意味著我們將進入更多類別，超越我們現有的類別，可能會。現實情況是，我認為公司在成長的這個階段可能經常面臨的風險是他們可能會分心。

And I think a lot of what has helped us get to this place and have such momentum at this place instead of maybe starting to see traction and foundation of this place is our intense focus and intentionality on scaling a world-class organization, scaling systems and capabilities to support the incredible growth that we're driving.

我認為，幫助我們到達這個地方並在這個地方擁有如此動力的許多因素，而不是開始看到這個地方的牽引力和基礎，是我們對擴展世界級組織、擴展系統和支持我們正在推動的令人難以置信的增長的能力。

And so job number one is to not take our eyes off the ball as we explore the incredible interest and demand from consumers and retailers and frankly, even from our farmers, enter new categories and to bring even more solutions to households in this country and to retailers in this country. And so it's not an either, or, it's an and. And my focus is on making sure that as we do both of those things, we do them both really well.

因此，當我們探索消費者和零售商，甚至我們的農民的令人難以置信的興趣和需求時，首要任務就是不要把目光從球上移開，進入新的類別，為這個國家的家庭帶來更多的解決方案，這個國家的零售商。所以這不是一個“或”，而是一個“與”。我的重點是確保當我們做這兩件事時，我們都做得很好。

So that's a little bit of a windy answer to the question of does it affect our timing? Does it affect our focus? Not at all. The real answer is I believe there's a future for Vital Farms that expands beyond primarily eggs, and we will get there wind, we are confident that we can do that well and really take this egg business to its full potential, which we haven't quite found a limit to at this point.

所以對於它是否影響我們的時機這個問題的回答有點籠統？會影響我們的注意力嗎？一點也不。真正的答案是，我相信Vital Farms 的未來將不僅限於雞蛋，而且我們將實現這一目標，我們有信心能夠做得很好，並真正充分發揮雞蛋業務的潛力，而我們還沒有做到這一點在這一點上相當發現了極限。

Got it. Very helpful and plenty more to talk about, but I'll leave it there. Congratulations on a great, great quarter, and I'll jump back in queue.

知道了。非常有幫助，還有很多要談的，但我就留在那裡。恭喜這個非常非常好的季度，我會重新加入隊列。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Robert Dickerson, Jefferies.

羅伯特·迪克森，傑弗里斯。

Great. Thanks, so much. (multiple speakers) Just had a couple of questions or maybe just one quick question on gross margin. Apologies. I jumped on the call at a late. Clearly, gross margin very impressive. In Q1 it seems like what's kind of implied is that margin step down maybe as we get through the year, just given how you guide to EBITDA.

偉大的。非常感謝。（多名發言者）只是有幾個問題，或者只是一個關於毛利率的快速問題。道歉。我很晚才接到電話。顯然，毛利率非常可觀。在第一季度，考慮到您對 EBITDA 的指導，似乎暗示著隨著這一年的結束，利潤率可能會下降。

So I guess one, maybe just kind of speak to like why that might not be sustainable, but also in the context of like the longer term kind of outlook and goal to get to like a mid-30s gross margin? Because I mean, it seems like more there. So maybe Russell, if you could just spend a minute speaking to maybe what the new potential per day because I feel like you kind of hit the target. Thanks.

所以我想，也許只是想談談為什麼這可能不可持續，但也是在長期前景和目標的背景下達到 30 多歲左右的毛利率？因為我的意思是，那裡似乎還有更多。所以也許拉塞爾，如果你能花一分鐘談談每天的新潛力，因為我覺得你已經達到目標了。謝謝。

Well, let me take this on, it's Thilo. So gross margin clearly we were ahead of our long-term target this quarter. I think we got a few benefits that we don't necessarily expect to repeat for a quarter after quarter. This was a quarter where everything went right. We had no disruptions, there were no weather events, there were crude did an incredible job at ECS, we had a benefit (inaudible) organic portfolio at the beginning of the quarter. We didn't see any price elasticity impact on that one that wasn't expected and so on.

好吧，讓我來承擔這個任務，我是蒂洛。因此，本季的毛利率顯然超出了我們的長期目標。我認為我們獲得了一些好處，但我們不一定希望每季都能重複這些好處。這是一切順利的季度。我們沒有受到任何干擾，沒有天氣事件，ECS 的原油工作做得非常出色，我們在本季度初就有了一個受益（聽不清楚）的有機投資組合。我們沒有看到價格彈性對這方面產生任何意料之外的影響，等等。

And so with that, the margin loss was a bit better than what we expected. We don't necessarily foresee that happening every quarter from here on out, we don't expect that to be the case when we get to 2027. So the mid-30s targets that we laid out for 2027, that is still what we're aiming for. What this quarter now allows us to do, is to do a bit of reinvestment in the business putting a bit more money into marketing than we had previously planned, maybe accelerating some of the hiring to build capabilities and two vessels earlier answers all this work to scale this world-class organization that's been part of that the growth algorithm for us.

因此，利潤損失比我們的預期好一些。我們不一定會預見到從現在開始每季都會發生這種情況，我們預計到 2027 年也不會發生這種情況。因此，我們為 2027 年制定的 30 多歲目標仍然是我們的目標。本季現在我們可以做的是對業務進行一些再投資，比我們之前計劃的投入更多的資金用於營銷，也許會加速一些招聘以建設能力，兩艘船早些時候回答了所有這些工作擴展這個世界級的組織，這是我們成長演算法的一部分。

And so that is why the EBITDA margin that's pretty much implied in the guidance. We don't expect the EBITDA margin from the first quarter to carry through for the rest of the year because of these reinvestments. But these reinvestments are very much in line with how we think about the business, what we planned it for the long term, we invest for the long term, we make the investments before we need them.

這就是為什麼指導意見中隱含了 EBITDA 利潤率。由於這些再投資，我們預計第一季的 EBITDA 利潤率不會延續到今年剩餘時間。但這些再投資非常符合我們對業務的看法，我們的長期計劃，我們的長期投資，我們在需要之前進行投資。

And so hiring through maybe a bit earlier than necessary for them to get up to speed and allow us to ultimately grow faster, investing in marketing when we can so that we ensure that we get to that household penetration number that we need for the $1 billion in revenue by 2027. That is what this quarter now allows us to do, and that is why we expect the EBITDA margin for the year to come in where we got some implies.

因此，可能比必要的時間要早一點進行招聘，以便他們跟上速度，讓我們最終能夠更快地發展，盡可能地投資於行銷，以確保我們達到 10 億美元所需的家庭滲透率到2027 年的收入。這就是本季允許我們做的事情，這就是為什麼我們預計今年的 EBITDA 利潤率將達到我們得到的一些暗示。

Okay, well said. Thank you. And then I guess maybe just kind of a broader question around demand, look you clearly continue to grow volumes very nicely. We listened to a lot of different food companies or read the news what have you right there's ongoing pressure, especially on the low end consumer on some people would say, wow, those eggs are expensive, but the same time, eggs on a per serving basis, aren't that expensive as an alternative form of great protein.

好吧，說得好。謝謝。然後我想也許只是圍繞需求的一個更廣泛的問題，看你顯然繼續很好地增長數量。我們聽了很多不同的食品公司的意見或讀了新聞，你說得對嗎？基礎上，作為優質蛋白質的替代形式並沒有那麼昂貴。

So I'm just curious, kind of like what your feel is around kind of your own given demand and kind of demographic focus [vis-a-vis], kind of the broader consumer landscape and kind of how eggs into that. So lot in there, but important question. Thank you.

所以我只是好奇，有點像你對自己的特定需求和人口焦點的感覺，更廣泛的消費者格局以及如何推動這一點。裡面有很多，但很重要的問題。謝謝。

Yes, I think you're right, and we continue to see that bifurcation within our category as consumers migrate to value as well as to premium. We're obviously very well positioned. We're pleased because we've been able to maintain our discipline from a promotional standpoint. We see a very strong performance in our base volume. So we're not getting a disproportionate amount of our growth in promotion or we're seeing extremely strong performance in our base velocity of which I'm really proud of, and I don't anticipate that changing at all throughout the balance of this year.

是的，我認為你是對的，隨著消費者轉向價值型和高端型，我們繼續看到我們類別中的分歧。顯然我們處於非常有利的位置。我們很高興，因為我們能夠從促銷的角度保持我們的紀律。我們看到我們的基本銷售表現非常強勁。因此，我們在促銷方面並沒有獲得不成比例的成長，或者我們在基本速度方面看到了極其強勁的表現，對此我感到非常自豪，而且我預計這種情況在整個平衡過程中不會發生任何變化年。

So we've been very disciplined, as we've talked about in the past and we will continue to be very disciplined about that. Fortunately, the brand stands for something, and I think consumers recognize that the despite what we're seeing within the market, we continue to grow households. We continue to expand our distribution. We continue to expand on our presence on shelf and continue to have a significant amount of opportunity to continue to grow in those respective areas. So I think come despite our gains, we have a we have a significant amount of opportunity that still sits in front of us, which I'm really excited about to be quite honest with you.

因此，正如我們過去談到的那樣，我們一直非常自律，並且我們將繼續對此非常自律。幸運的是，這個品牌代表著某種東西，我認為消費者認識到，儘管我們在市場上看到了什麼，但我們的家庭數量仍在不斷增長。我們繼續擴大我們的分銷範圍。我們繼續擴大我們的貨架範圍，並繼續擁有大量機會在這些各自的領域繼續發展。因此，我認為，儘管我們取得了一些成果，但我們面前仍然有大量的機會，老實說，我對此感到非常興奮。

And Rob, let me just add one thing to that. I think for me what stood out this quarter is the fact that we previously talked about that. We took pricing on the organic portfolio, low double digits at the beginning of the quarter, we haven't really seen any impact on demand on orders. So the consumer that we're selling to, I think they're still very much willing to pay for the quality and for the trust that we stand for. And I truly believe there is a probably the consumer segment that's getting weaker, but that is not the consumer that we're selling to, and that is not our core consumer. And so with that, I think we feel very confident in our consumer continue to be to show strong demand.

羅布，讓我補充一件事。我認為對我來說，本季最突出的事實是我們之前討論過這一點。我們在本季度初對有機產品組合進行了定價，為低兩位數，我們並沒有真正看到對訂單需求的任何影響。因此，我認為我們銷售的消費者仍然非常願意為我們所代表的品質和信任買單。我確實相信，可能有一個消費者群體正在變得越來越弱，但這不是我們要銷售的消費者，也不是我們的核心消費者。因此，我認為我們對消費者繼續表現出強勁的需求非常有信心。

Fabulous. Thank you.

極好。謝謝。

Thank you, Rob.

謝謝你，羅布。

Adam, Goldman Sachs.

亞當，高盛。

Hi, thank you, and good morning, everyone.

嗨，謝謝大家，大家早安。

Good morning.

早安.

So I guess the first question is, obviously, very strong growth in the period, and you can see that in the scanner data, wondering if you we're seeing a more meaningful divergence in performance in the natural channel versus mass. I would think that more elevated commodity egg prices and some of the potential supply issues associated with that would become more evident on the mass side and that might have unlocked new placings or items in distribution opportunities for you. But is that actually how part of the story this quarter or with the growth in the sales acceleration, more broad-based across channels? Thanks.

所以我想第一個問題顯然是這段時期的非常強勁的成長，你可以在掃描器數據中看到這一點，想知道我們是否看到自然通道與品質通道的性能差異更有意義。我認為，商品雞蛋價格的進一步上漲以及與之相關的一些潛在供應問題將在大眾方面變得更加明顯，這可能會為您帶來新的分配機會或商品。但這實際上是本季故事的一部分，還是隨著銷售加速成長，跨通路更加廣泛？謝謝。

No, thanks for the question. I think we're seeing very balanced growth, I'm pleased with that. The AI impact thus far really has been restricted to organic eggs, and that's really been driven most recently. And we haven't seen a significant impact in that regard. Some of the impact that you're talking about has really been isolated to the West Coast, again. Our performance there has been very, very strong and isolated to a handful of retailers and in those retailers, our performance has been quite strong. We have really -- I would say we've reinforced our position. I don't think it has been disproportionate in that regard. It has not been outsized as a result of what you're talking about.

不，謝謝你的提問。我認為我們看到了非常平衡的成長，我對此感到滿意。迄今為止，人工智慧的影響實際上僅限於有機雞蛋，而且最近才真正受到推動。我們還沒有看到這方面的重大影響。你所談論的一些影響確實再次局限於西海岸。我們在那裡的表現非常非常強勁，並且孤立於少數零售商，而在這些零售商中，我們的表現相當強勁。我們確實——我想說，我們已經鞏固了我們的立場。我不認為這在這方面是不成比例的。它並沒有因為你所說的而變得過大。

Our performance in naturals has been very consistent. Our share performance continues to be quite strong. We're far and away the leader in natural and our performance within food and mass continues to grow disproportionately as we've talked about in our opening statement. So I'm really pleased, I don't think as Russell said in the outset, this first quarter, we really hit on all cylinders, and I'm really excited about that. I think what you're seeing is for us a little bit of how high is high and without any outside influence because we did not have any of the interference that we've experienced in some past quarters and you're starting to see what we're capable of when we can really execute without some of those outside forces.

我們在自然方面的表現非常穩定。我們的股票表現仍然相當強勁。正如我們在開場白中談到的那樣，我們在天然食品領域無疑是領先者，我們在食品和大眾食品領域的表現繼續不成比例地增長。所以我真的很高興，我不認為正如拉塞爾一開始所說的那樣，第一季我們真的全力以赴，我對此感到非常興奮。我認為你所看到的對我們來說是多麼高，並且沒有任何外部影響，因為我們沒有受到過去幾個季度所經歷的任何干擾，你開始看到我們的水平當我們能夠在沒有一些外部力量的情況下真正執行時，我們就有能力。

So given the opportunities that we have in front of us and the partnerships that we're establishing with some of these world-class retailers, I'm fairly really excited about what the future holds.

因此，考慮到我們面前的機會以及我們與一些世界級零售商建立的合作夥伴關係，我對未來感到非常興奮。

Okay. That's very helpful. And then a clarification question. Just going through the queue. And you disclose your revenue from the retail channel, which if you compare that to the total revenues, it looks like your sales in the non-retail channel were actually down year on year. And so I was wondering clears that some of the egg products in non kind of core items or is that the actual decline in foodservice and maybe bridge that a little bit. Thanks.

好的。這非常有幫助。然後是一個澄清問題。剛剛經過隊列。您揭露了零售通路的收入，如果您將其與總收入進行比較，看起來您在非零售通路的銷售額實際上比去年同期下降。所以我想知道一些非核心產品中的蛋製品或是餐飲服務的實際下降，也許可以彌補這一點。謝謝。

Yeah, it's a great observation, Adam it's. It really is a function of first quarter last year. So when AI had there were no eggs available at times, we were the least expensive offering for the foodservice channel. And so we had a bit of outside demand in the foodservice channel last year that came back down to earth. Once AI, this is really big impact from AI have passed.

是的，這是一個很棒的觀察，亞當。這確實是去年第一季的函數。因此，當人工智慧有時沒有雞蛋時，我們是餐飲服務管道中最便宜的產品。因此，去年我們在餐飲服務管道中遇到了一些外部需求，這些需求回到了現實。一旦人工智慧出現，人工智慧帶來的巨大影響就已經過去了。

And so with that on a year over year basis, foodservice sales for us were down. There still overall, growing part of the business, it's just the last year, first quarter the business went up by multiples rather than by percentages. And now we're fallen back to more normal pattern, that's really behind that.

因此，我們的餐飲服務銷售額逐年下降。總體而言，部分業務仍在成長，只是去年第一季業務成長了倍數而不是百分比。現在我們又回到了更正常的模式，這確實是背後的原因。

And then there's one other piece of the non-retail sales, Adam, which we've discussed in quarters past, which is that small percentage, low single digit percentage of our eggs that don't make it into a carton and end up going into the wholesale processing channel and we don't price to take advantage of short-term disruptions in the market.

然後還有非零售銷售的另一部分，亞當，我們在過去的幾個季度中討論過，即我們的雞蛋中有一小部分，低個位數百分比，沒有裝入紙箱並最終進入包裝盒。加工通路，我們不會利用市場的短期混亂來定價。

However, the price we get for those wholesale banks are based on market prices and so a year ago, those prices spiked just as they were spiking on the shelf and we are just a taker of those prices. So there was a temporary increase in the price we got for our non-branded kind of wholesale eggs as well.

然而，我們為這些批發銀行獲得的價格是基於市場價格的，所以一年前，這些價格就像它們在貨架上飆升一樣飆升，而我們只是這些價格的接受者。因此，我們的非品牌批發雞蛋的價格也暫時上漲。

That makes little sense. I'm very helpful. I'll pass it on.

這沒什麼意義。我非常樂於助人。我會把它傳遞下去。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thanks, Adam.

謝謝，亞當。

Jon Andersen, William Blair.

喬恩·安德森，威廉·布萊爾。

Thanks. Good morning, everybody.

謝謝。大家早安。

Hey, Jon.

嘿，喬恩。

Two quick ones. I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about what you're seeing demand-wise kind of across the portfolio and what I'm getting at here is the kind of growth that you're seeing for that kind of conventional 12 count relative to maybe some of the higher price point SUKs 18 count organics, blues. Just to get a sense for, you're building kind of continue to attract that consumer at higher price points.

兩個快的。我想知道您是否可以談談您在整個投資組合中所看到的需求方面的情況，我在這裡得到的是您所看到的那種傳統的 12 計數相對的增長也許還有一些價格較高的SUK 18 支有機啤酒、布魯斯啤酒。只是為了了解一下，您正在以更高的價格繼續吸引消費者。

And then second question, just around resets and distribution gains in 2024, if there's any way to kind of characterize where you kind of are in that spring reset process, what percent perhaps is complete? What's still to come and where that distribution is coming from? Thank you.

然後是第二個問題，就 2024 年的重置和分配收益而言，如果有任何方法可以描述您在春季重置過程中的位置，那麼完成的百分比可能是多少？還會發生什麼事以及該分佈來自哪裡？謝謝。

Sure. Thanks for the question. This is Pete. And we're seeing very, very healthy growth in our core portfolio across both segments of natural and our food business. So while we are seeing migration into 18 count, the value proposition in large pack size, as you can see, probably across the entire food segment. It does exist in egg category and within our portfolio, we are still seeing solid growth within our portfolio on the core black box item. And both across the food segment and probably lesser within natural -- primarily within natural because we have such a disproportionate mix within the organic 12 count product is a larger selling item in the natural segment of business.

當然。謝謝你的提問。這是皮特。我們看到我們的核心產品組合在天然和食品業務兩個領域都實現了非常非常健康的成長。因此，雖然我們看到遷移到 18 片裝，但正如您所看到的，大包裝尺寸的價值主張可能遍及整個食品領域。它確實存在於雞蛋類別中，並且在我們的產品組合中，我們仍然看到我們的核心黑盒子產品組合中的穩健增長。無論是在食品領域，還是在天然領域，都可能較少——主要是在天然領域，因為我們在有機 12 粒產品中擁有如此不成比例的組合，是天然業務領域中銷量更大的產品。

And then to your second question around percentages, who's -- of retailers that are in the midst of resets, probably a little bit more of a difficult answer for you. I would say we're just right in the heart of that. Typically these decisions are made in March. So we're probably -- I would say we're probably 50%, 60% complete those resets are being done and actively completed now and you will start to see some of those benefits flow through in the next probably next to reporting cycles. Is when we should see some of that bump. But very optimistic that we're going to see some nice results as a result of the efforts of the sales group.

然後，關於你的第二個問題，即正在進行重置的零售商的百分比，這對你來說可能是一個更困難的答案。我想說，我們正處於這一點的核心。通常這些決定是在三月做出的。所以我們可能——我想說我們可能已經完成了 50%、60%，這些重置正在完成，現在正在積極完成，您將開始看到其中一些好處在下一個可能的報告週期中體現出來。是時候我們應該看到一些凹凸了。但非常樂觀的是，由於銷售團隊的努力，我們將看到一些不錯的結果。

That's super helpful. If I can squeeze one more in. I know your 2027, algo calls for household penetration gains. I'm wondering if there's another part to the story here that you're seeing today and will also contribute to growth, which is you are growing your share of requirements with existing households. So by rate and if you can comment on kind of the loyalty, the repeat activity you're seeing for the brand and how that stacks up relative to kind of food overall color around that would be helpful. Thank you.

這非常有幫助。如果我能再擠一個進去就好了。我知道你們的 2027 年演算法要求提高家庭普及率。我想知道您今天看到的故事的另一部分是否也將有助於成長，即您正在增加現有家庭的需求份額。因此，根據比率，如果您可以評論忠誠度的類型、您看到的品牌重複活動以及相對於周圍食物整體顏色的累積情況，將會有所幫助。謝謝。

Jon, so hitting the 27 targets, as you pointed out, it depends on household penetration. It also depends on us increasing our buy rate. I think at our Analyst Day back in September. On the fourth quarter's call, we had pages in our deck that showed buy rate growth. In 2023 buy rate went from $28 to $34 per household. However, households are buying a whole lot more than $34 of eggs over the course of the year. So we are still only a fraction of our canceled versus deferred.

Jon，所以正如您所指出的，實現 27 個目標取決於家庭滲透率。這也取決於我們提高購買率。我想在九月的分析師日上。在第四季的電話會議上，我們的資料中顯示了購買率成長的頁面。2023 年，每戶購買價格從 28 美元增加到 34 美元。然而，一年中家庭購買的雞蛋遠遠超過 34 美元。因此，我們仍然只是取消與延遲的一小部分。

And so getting that loyalty from consumers up, that is certainly part of our math (inaudible) I think we are on a great path there, the loyalty that we get from consumers, I think the growth of 18 count is part of that expression of loyalty. It's not just the consumers are looking for a lower cost per head. But when they buy an agent count, we take away a holiday purchase occasion that they normally have signed. We are already locked in with them and consumers are willing to pay the premium that we deserve because they're willing to lock us in a few months.

因此，提高消費者的忠誠度，這當然是我們數學的一部分（聽不清楚），我認為我們正走在一條偉大的道路上，我們從消費者那裡獲得的忠誠度，我認為18 數量的增長是表達的一部分忠誠。不僅是消費者尋求更低的人均成本。但是，當他們購買代理計數時，我們會取消他們通常簽署的假期購買機會。我們已經鎖定了他們，消費者願意支付我們應得的溢價，因為他們願意在幾個月內鎖定我們。

And so consumer loyalty I think is really pretty powerful for going after. And that means that we keep telling our marketing message, we keep focusing on quality, keep focusing on being able to stock the shelves between retailers. So all these (inaudible) that they are all aiming to increasing household penetration and increasing buy rate.

因此，我認為消費者忠誠度對於追求來說確實非常強大。這意味著我們不斷傳達我們的行銷訊息，我們不斷關注質量，不斷關注能夠在零售商之間的貨架上備貨。因此，所有這些（聽不清楚）都是為了提高家庭滲透率和購買率。

Makes sense. Thank you.

說得通。謝謝。

Robert Moskow, TD Cowen.

羅伯特·莫斯科，TD·考恩。

Hi. Thanks and congratulations on some great results.

你好。感謝並祝賀取得了一些出色的成果。

Thanks, Rob.

謝謝，羅布。

Hi. Maybe you did it annually, but do you have any update on just overall awareness, consumer awareness of the vital brand name, like top of mind awareness and effect that continues to move in the right direction. I'm sure it does. And is there any kind of like have you done any thinking around like tipping points where you get to a certain amount of awareness, a certain presence on shelf and some brands are member fresh that used to talk about some kind of parabolic effect. Are you hit this tipping point and the growth accelerates because of that -- probably because of the pickup in awareness. So maybe that's jumping ahead too far, wanted to ask.

你好。也許您每年都會這樣做，但是您是否有關於整體意識、消費者對重要品牌名稱的意識的任何更新，例如繼續朝著正確方向發展的首要意識和效果。我確信確實如此。您是否做過任何類似的思考，例如臨界點，您達到一定程度的意識，在貨架上有一定的存在，並且一些品牌是會員新鮮的，過去常談論某種拋物線效應。你是否達到了這個臨界點並且增長因此而加速——可能是因為意識的增強。所以也許這太過分了，我想問一下。

So Rob, the awareness, we're tracking it. It's not a metric that we talk about every quarter, but we're making progress on awareness where we're on track to where we want to be this year. I don't think I can talk to us having a kind of parabolic effect and I wouldn't want to copy from Freshpet. But I think what we have seen is that increased distribution begets and more distribution and begets awareness.

羅布，我們正在追蹤這種意識。這不是我們每季都會討論的指標，但我們在意識方面正在取得進展，我們正朝著今年想要達到的目標前進。我不認為我可以與我們交談，產生一種拋物線效應，我也不想複製 Freshpet。但我認為我們所看到的是，增加的分發會帶來更多的分發並產生意識。

And I think Russell, talked about it in one of the first questions. One, we have one facing on the shelf for the black carton, we kind of get lost in the sea of offerings in the eggs set. When we have three or four SKUs on the shelf with maybe one or two facings per SKU, all of a sudden we have a brand block. And the consumer realizes, so there's a significant portion of the shelf here that's Vital Farms.

我認為拉塞爾在第一個問題中談到了這一點。第一，我們的架子上有一張黑色紙盒的飾面，我們有點迷失在雞蛋套裝中的產品海洋中。當我們的貨架上有三到四個 SKU，每個 SKU 可能都有一個或兩個飾面時，突然間我們就形成了一個品牌區塊。消費者意識到，這裡的貨架上有很大一部分是 Vital Farms。

Even if the consumer had never heard of us before, when you have this kind of brand block in the fridge or refrigerated shelf at the retailer, the consumer picks up on that. And so to us then that is the indication that increasing awareness should accelerate over time.

即使消費者以前從未聽說過我們，當零售商的冰箱或冷藏架上有這種品牌塊時，消費者也會注意到這一點。因此對我們來說，這表明意識的提高應該隨著時間的推移而加速。

I'm not going to call it parabolic effect because we haven't done the math and I don't want to promise you something that I don't know if we can stick with that. But the fact that as we grow our growth becomes more self-reinforcing if you want, and kicked off this flywheel, that effect is certainly there.

我不會稱之為拋物線效應，因為我們還沒有進行數學計算，而且我不想向你承諾一些我不知道我們是否能堅持下去的事情。但事實上，隨著我們的成長，如果你願意的話，我們的成長會變得更加自我強化，並且啟動了這個飛輪，這種效果肯定是存在的。

Great --

偉大的--

I think it's important -- Rob it's a great question. The only thing I would add to that is, even with a brand like ours with a wonderful community of really loyal repeat consumers, a big percentage of the purchase choice is still happening at the shelf and we still have to get their attention we can't take for granted that simply being on the shelf is enough. We've got to be on the shelf and compelling at the shelf. And so that's a street fight every day. And I think we've got the right people in that fight.

我認為這很重要——羅布，這是一個很好的問題。我唯一要補充的是，即使像我們這樣的品牌擁有一個由真正忠實的回頭客組成的美好社區，很大一部分購買選擇仍然發生在貨架上，我們仍然必須引起他們的注意，我們可以”不要想當然地認為僅僅放在架子上就足夠了。我們必須在貨架上並且在貨架上引人注目。所以每天都是街頭鬥毆。我認為我們在這場戰鬥中找到了合適的人選。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thank you. This concludes the question and answer session. I would now like to turn it back over to Anthony Bucalo.

謝謝。問答環節到此結束。我現在想把它轉回給安東尼·布卡洛。

Thank you again, everyone, for your support of Vital Farms. Have a great day.

再次感謝大家對 Vital Farms 的支持。祝你有美好的一天。

Thank you, for your participation in today's conference call. This now does conclude the program. You may disconnect.

感謝您參加今天的電話會議。現在程式就結束了。您可以斷開連線。