Vital Farms Inc (VITL) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by. My name is Kate, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Vital Farms quarter four 2024 earnings call. (Operator Instructions).

感謝您的支持。我叫凱特，今天我將擔任您的會議主持人。現在，我歡迎大家參加 Vital Farms 2024 年第四季財報電話會議。（操作員指令）。

I would now like to turn the call over to Anthony Bucalo, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

現在，我想將電話轉給投資者關係副總裁安東尼·布卡洛 (Anthony Bucalo)。請繼續。

Good morning, and welcome to Vital Farms fourth quarter and full year 2024 earnings conference call and webcast. I am Tony Bucalo, VP of Investor Relations, and I am joined on the call today by Russell Diez-Canseco, President and Chief Executive Officer; Thilo Wrede, Chief Financial Officer; and Kathryn McKeon, Chief Marketing Officer and General Manager, Butter.

早安，歡迎參加 Vital Farms 2024 年第四季和全年財報電話會議和網路廣播。我是投資者關係副總裁 Tony Bucalo，今天與我一起參加電話會議的還有總裁兼執行長 Russell Diez-Canseco； Thilo Wrede，財務長；以及 Butter 首席行銷長兼總經理 Kathryn McKeon。

By now, everyone should have access to the company's fourth quarter and full year 2024 earnings press release issued this morning. This is available on the Investor Relations section of Vital Farms' website at investors.vitalfarms.com. Throughout 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.

到目前為止，每個人都應該可以看到今天早上發布的該公司第四季度和 2024 年全年收益新聞稿。您可以在 Vital Farms 網站的投資者關係部分（網址為 investors.vitalfarms.com）查閱此資訊。在整個電話會議中，管理階層可能會根據聯邦證券法做出前瞻性陳述。這些聲明是基於管理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聲明中描述的結果有重大差異。

Please refer to today's press release, the company's annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 29, 2024, filed with the SEC today as well as 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、本公司今天向美國證券交易委員會提交的截至 2024 年 12 月 29 日的財政年度的 10-K 表年度報告以及向美國證券交易委員會提交的其他文件，詳細討論可能導致實際結果與今天做出的任何前瞻性陳述中表達或暗示的結果存在重大差異的風險。

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 press release for a reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin to the 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準則財務指標為投資者提供了有用的信息，但這些資訊的呈現並非旨在單獨考慮或替代按照公認會計準則呈現的財務資訊。請參閱我們的收益新聞稿，以了解根據 GAAP 準備的調整後 EBITDA 和調整後 EBITDA 利潤率與最具可比性的指標的對帳。

With that, I will turn the call over to Russell Diez-Canseco, President and Chief Executive Officer of Vital Farms.

接下來，我將把電話轉給 Vital Farms 總裁兼執行長 Russell Diez-Canseco。

Good morning and thank you for your time today. Vital Farms finished 2024 on another high note, posting a great set of results in the fourth quarter and surpassing our financial guidance for the year. We achieved this with the help of all of our stakeholders, especially the crew members and family farmers who once again helped us deliver on our purpose of bringing ethical food to the table. I'm grateful for all of their efforts. This is truly an exciting time for Vital Farms. 2024 was a year of important milestones and great accomplishments for our company. First, we exceeded $600 million in net revenue, well ahead of our initial expectations for the year and keeping us on track to meet our $1 billion sales target by 2027.

早上好，感謝您今天抽出時間。Vital Farms 以另一個高調結束了 2024 年，在第四季度取得了一系列出色的業績，並超越了我們今年的財務預期。我們在所有利害關係人的幫助下實現了這一目標，特別是船員和家庭農民，他們再次幫助我們實現了將道德食品端上餐桌的目標。我感謝他們所做的一切努力。對於 Vital Farms 來說，這確實是一個令人興奮的時刻。 2024年對我們公司來說是重要的里程碑和偉大的成就的一年。首先，我們的淨收入超過 6 億美元，遠遠超出了我們今年的初步預期，並使我們預計在 2027 年實現 10 億美元的銷售目標。

Second, we added more than 125 new family farms, reaching more than 425 by year-end. When completed, these new farms will expand our egg sourcing capacity by more than 40%. We see this growth in farm count as a testament to the strength of our recruitment team and the appeal of the Vital Farms model for our family farmers. Along with passing these milestones, we also successfully built more groundwork for future growth by investing in brand support and in our fast-growing supply chain.

二是新增家庭農場125多個，年末達到425多個。這些新農場完工後，我們的雞蛋採購能力將增加40%以上。我們認為農場數量的成長證明了我們招募團隊的實力以及 Vital Farms 模式對我們的家庭農場主的吸引力。隨著這些里程碑的實現，我們也透過投資品牌支援和快速成長的供應鏈，成功地為未來的成長奠定了更多基礎。

On the marketing side, our efforts drove brand awareness to new heights against our closest competitors. This record brand awareness helped our sales team expand retail distribution for eggs while simultaneously building higher sales velocity. And I'm very pleased with how we're rebuilding our butter business with butter back in growth and with plenty more ahead. We announced critical expansions of our supply chain in 2024 and expect to continue making such improvements.

在行銷方面，我們的努力使品牌知名度相對於最接近的競爭對手提升到了新的高度。這項創紀錄的品牌知名度幫助我們的銷售團隊擴大了雞蛋的零售分銷，同時提高了銷售速度。我很高興看到我們的黃油業務得以重建，黃油業務重新恢復成長，並且前景廣闊。我們宣布將在 2024 年對供應鏈進行重大擴展，並希望繼續進行此類改進。

Last spring, we announced plans to open a new egg washing and packing facility. We expect this new facility will significantly increase our production capacity, fueling our next leg of growth. Additionally, we announced that we will be adding company-owned accelerator farms to our network ahead of our new facility opening in 2027.

去年春天，我們宣布了開設新的雞蛋清洗和包裝設施的計畫。我們預計這座新工廠將大幅提高我們的生產能力，推動我們下一階段的成長。此外，我們宣布，我們將於 2027 年新設施開放之前將公司自有的加速器農場添加到我們的網路中。

Importantly, we established dedicated supply chain leadership with the appointment of Joe Holland as our first Chief Supply Chain Officer, bringing his extensive experience to our team. As we look ahead to 2025, this will again be another year of important supply chain investments. In January, we announced that we are adding a new best-in-class egg grading line at Egg Central Station in Springfield, Missouri. We anticipate this new line will expand our capacity there by 30% by the end of 2025. We believe adding this new line is a well-timed step in managing our current demand and building Egg Central Station revenue capacity to more than $1 billion, well past our last capacity estimate of $800 million.

重要的是，我們任命喬·霍蘭德 (Joe Holland) 為我們的首任首席供應鏈官，建立了專門的供應鏈領導層，為我們的團隊帶來了他豐富的經驗。展望 2025 年，這將再次是供應鏈投資的重要一年。今年一月，我們宣布將在密蘇裡州斯普林菲爾德的雞蛋中央站增加一條全新的一流雞蛋分級生產線。我們預計，到 2025 年底，這條新生產線將使我們的產能提高 30%。我們相信，增加這條新生產線是管理我們當前需求並將 Egg Central Station 收入能力提升到 10 億美元以上的及時舉措，遠遠超過我們上次 8 億美元的容量估計。

We also expect to open our first company-owned accelerator farms later this year, providing us with new sources of best practices that we can share with our existing farm network. In recent quarters, we've spent a great deal of time highlighting how we're strengthening and expanding our supply chain. And there's good reason for that. Our growth is tied directly to how many eggs we can collect, wash and ship.

我們也預計今年稍後開設我們第一家公司自營的加速器農場，為我們提供可與現有農場網路共享的最佳實踐新來源。在最近幾個季度，我們花了大量時間來強調如何加強和擴大我們的供應鏈。這是有充分理由的。我們的成長與我們能夠收集、清洗和運輸多少雞蛋直接相關。

The timing of our supply chain investments in both 2024 and 2025 will be critical in understanding how our 2025 guidance of $740 million in sales and $100 million in adjusted EBITDA will be weighted across this year. It's not news that the egg industry has a supply issue as avian influenza losses continue to deplete shelves across the country. The industry lost nearly 40 million egg layers in 2024, and we're sure you've seen the tight supply of eggs at your local supermarket and on the news. Industry supply shortages have created extraordinary demand for our products, but have also created supply constraints.

我們在 2024 年和 2025 年的供應鏈投資時機對於了解我們 2025 年 7.4 億美元銷售額和 1 億美元調整後 EBITDA 的預期將如何在今年發揮作用至關重要。由於禽流感疫情導致全國各地的雞蛋庫存持續減少，雞蛋產業出現供應問題並不是什麼新鮮事。2024 年，該行業將損失近 4000 萬隻產蛋雞，我們相信您已經在當地超市和新聞中看到了雞蛋供應緊張的報導。產業供應短缺導致我們產品的需求異常旺盛，但也造成了供應限制。

Looking ahead to the first quarter, the supply constraints we experienced at the end of 2024 have continued into the beginning of this year. Additionally, we are cycling two consecutive years of exceptional first quarter performances, with sales up 55% in the first quarter of 2023 and 24% in the first quarter of 2024 from the respective prior year period. In the first quarter of 2024, we sold through the eggs we produced and we sold through a significant amount of inventory, which compounded our sales growth.

展望第一季度，我們在 2024 年底經歷的供應限制一直持續到今年年初。此外，我們連續兩年第一季業績表現優異，2023 年第一季銷售額較去年同期成長 55%，2024 年第一季銷售額成長 24%。2024 年第一季度，我們銷售了生產的雞蛋，並銷售了大量庫存，這促進了我們的銷售成長。

In the first quarter of 2025, we are shipping more eggs than we did a year ago. However, year on year, we have much less inventory, and we're not selling through inventory like we did last year. As a result, we expect a modest step down in our growth rate versus recent periods throughout the first half of 2025, particularly in the first quarter. However, as our egg supply builds throughout the course of the year, we expect our financial and commercial performance to accelerate as the year goes on, especially in the second half of the year when comparisons ease.

2025 年第一季度，我們運送的雞蛋比一年前更多。然而，與去年相比，我們的庫存少了很多，我們沒有像去年那樣賣完庫存。因此，我們預計，2025 年上半年，尤其是第一季度，我們的成長率將與近期相比略有下降。然而，隨著我們雞蛋供應量的不斷增加，我們預計我們的財務和商業業績將會隨著時間的推移而加速，特別是在下半年對比趨緩的時候。

We've built this into our 2025 guidance, and please keep this in mind as you build your models for the year. Just to be clear, new family farms take roughly nine-months on average to start egg production. The farms we signed in the early part of last year are now yielding a good supply of eggs. By the fourth quarter of the year, more and more of the farms we signed throughout last year will begin providing supply, which we expect will accelerate into the second half of the year.

我們已將其納入我們的 2025 年指導方針中，請在構建今年的模型時牢記這一點。需要明確的是，新建家庭農場平均需要大約九個月的時間才能開始產蛋。我們去年年初簽約的農場現在雞蛋供應充足。到今年第四季度，我們去年簽約的農場將越來越多地開始提供供應，我們預計這一趨勢將在下半年加速。

We anticipate the approximately 125 farms we signed last year should be fully up and running by the fourth quarter. Additionally, the new washing and packing line in Missouri will also become fully operational in the fourth quarter. Taking these two developments together, we project that we will have needed capacity and should be well positioned to meet our guidance expectations for the year and keep us on the path to $1 billion by 2027.

我們預計，去年簽約的約 125 個農場將在第四季全面投入營運。此外，密蘇裡州的新清洗和包裝生產線也將於第四季全面投入營運。綜合考慮這兩項發展，我們預計我們將擁有所需的產能，並且應該能夠很好地滿足我們今年的指導預期，並使我們朝著 2027 年實現 10 億美元目標的道路前進。

Protecting animal welfare is at the heart of our company mission, and this recent outbreak of avian influenza is a sad and difficult time for us and our industry. Less than two months into 2025, more than 27 million hens have died from avian influenza, along with nearly 40 million that were lost in 2024. Egg shortages have created another hardship for American family already impacted by the food inflation of recent years. I'm proud to say that our family farm network and our company farm teams have been highly resilient through this recent outbreak.

保護動物福利是我們公司的核心使命，最近爆發的禽流感對我們和我們的行業來說是一個悲傷而艱難的時期。2025 年尚未到來兩個月，已有超過 2,700 萬隻母雞死於禽流感，而 2024 年則有近 4,000 萬隻母雞死亡。雞蛋短缺使得已經受到近年來食品通膨影響的美國家庭雪上加霜。我很自豪地說，我們的家庭農場網絡和公司農場團隊在最近的疫情中展現了強烈的韌性。

Going all the way back to 2022, we've had just four positive cases across our 425 farms, representing less than 0.5% of our hens during this last outbreak. We've only had one outbreak in the trailing 12 months. As a reminder, no one farm represents more than 0.5% of production capacity. According to even the most favorable estimates, we'll be in this national egg shortage through the end of 2025. I can promise that Vital Farms will be working hard to get more eggs to the shelf with expanded supply.

追溯到 2022 年，我們 425 個農場僅出現 4 例確診病例，佔上次疫情期間母雞總數的不到 0.5%。在過去的12個月中，我們僅發生過一次疫情。需要提醒的是，沒有一個農場的生產能力可以超過0.5％。即使根據最樂觀的估計，到 2025 年底，我們仍將面臨全國性的雞蛋短缺問題。我可以保證，Vital Farms 將努力擴大供應，為貨架提供更多的雞蛋。

Our farm recruitment team continues to perform at an incredible level, and I tip my cap to them. At the end of 2023, we had 5.4 million laying hens in our system. At the end of 2024, we had 7.7 million with even more to come this year. I'd like to make a few comments about an important and exciting change we've made to our management structure.

我們的農場招募團隊繼續表現出令人難以置信的水平，我向他們致敬。截至 2023 年底，我們的系統內有 540 萬隻產蛋母雞。到 2024 年底，我們的用戶數將達到 770 萬，今年這數字還會更高。我想就我們管理結構所做的一項重要且令人興奮的改變發表一些評論。

We announced in January that Pete Pappas, our Chief Sales Officer, expanded his role to Chief Sales Officer and President of Eggs. Kathryn McKeon, our Chief Marketing Officer, now serves as Chief Marketing Officer and General Manager of Butter. Vital Farms is expanding quickly, and we're evolving to meet the demands of that growth.

我們在一月份宣布，我們的首席銷售長 Pete Pappas 升任首席銷售長兼 Eggs 總裁。我們的首席行銷長 Kathryn McKeon 現擔任 Butter 的首席行銷長兼總經理。Vital Farms 正在快速擴張，我們也不斷發展以滿足這種成長的需求。

Our net revenue has more than doubled in the last three years and nearly tripled over the last four. The demand for our eggs is at record highs, and our revamped butter business is accelerating. To better manage the demands of our growing organization, I'm empowering Pete and Kathryn to focus on maximizing opportunities in our two core segments.

我們的淨收入在過去三年中增長了一倍多，在過去四年中增長了近三倍。我們對雞蛋的需求達到了歷史最高水平，我們改進後的黃油業務正在加速發展。為了更好地管理我們不斷增長的組織的需求，我授權皮特和凱瑟琳專注於最大限度地利用我們兩個核心領域的機會。

Additionally, empowering Pete and Kathryn frees me for much of my day-to-day focus on eggs and butter, giving me the opportunity to think strategically about what we need to do next to help drive Vital Farms into new phases of growth. Pete and Kathryn are extraordinary and dedicated executives who know this business back to front, and I look forward to seeing them in action. I'd like to wrap up with a few comments before moving on to Kathryn and Thilo.

此外，授權皮特和凱瑟琳讓我從日常對雞蛋和黃油的關注中解放出來，讓我有機會策略性地思考我們下一步需要做什麼來幫助 Vital Farms 進入新的發展階段。皮特和凱瑟琳是出色而敬業的高管，他們對這個行業瞭如指掌，我期待著看到他們的實際行動。在向凱瑟琳和蒂洛發表講話之前，我想總結一下幾點評論。

In 2024, we grew beyond our expectations while serving our stakeholders and delivering on our financial promises. We invested in our farm network and strengthen our supply chain. We grew our presence at retail and in the mind of the consumer. And I can't say enough about how well our Egg Central Station crew members performed this year, overdelivering on high expectations by a wide mark.

2024年，我們在服務利害關係人和兌現財務承諾的同時，實現了超出預期的成長。我們投資了我們的農場網絡並加強了我們的供應鏈。我們擴大了在零售領域和消費者心智的影響力。我無法充分錶達我們 Egg Central Station 工作人員今年的出色表現，他們遠遠超出了人們的期望。

Yes, we passed some significant milestones, and these were great accomplishments. But the thing about milestones is that they can go from goals to ancient history very quickly. We're now focused on delivering the next set of milestones and believe our dynamic supply chain, top-notch people and great brand will take us there.

是的，我們通過了一些重要的里程碑，這些都是偉大的成就。但里程碑的事情是，它們可以很快地從目標變成古代歷史。我們現在專注於實現下一組里程碑，並相信我們充滿活力的供應鏈、一流的人才和偉大的品牌將帶領我們實現目標。

Industry supply, including ours, will be tight to start the year due to the continued impact of avian influenza. However, I'm confident that we're well positioned to navigate these choppy waters. We have the right mix of ingredients to help drive us to our goal of becoming America's most trusted food company. I'm certainly looking forward to it, and I hope you are, too.

由於禽流感的持續影響，包括我們在內的產業供應在年初都會處於緊張狀態。然而，我相信我們有能力渡過這些波濤洶湧的水域。我們擁有正確的原料組合，幫助我們實現成為美國最值得信賴的食品公司的目標。我當然非常期待它，我希望你也是如此。

And with that, we'll go to our Chief Marketing Officer and now Butter General Manager, Kathryn McKeon, for further discussion. Kathryn?

接下來，我們將與首席行銷長兼現任 Butter 總經理 Kathryn McKeon 進行進一步討論。凱瑟琳？

Thank you, Russell. I'd also like to start today by saying a giant thank you to all of the Vital Farms crew members who have done such an outstanding job building our business, especially the hard-working crew at ECS, who keeps getting us eggs and butter every single day during a period of extraordinary demand. We believe we have the right products, the right brands and most importantly, the right people to win in the market. I'm also excited and honored to take on the additional role of Butter General Manager.

謝謝你，拉塞爾。今天，我首先要向 Vital Farms 的所有員工表示誠摯的謝意，他們為我們的業務建設做出了傑出貢獻，特別是 ECS 辛勤工作的團隊，在需求量極大的時期，他們每天都堅持為我們提供雞蛋和黃油。我們相信，我們擁有合適的產品、合適的品牌，最重要的是，我們有合適的人才，能夠贏得市場。我也很高興也很榮幸能夠擔任 Butter 總經理的額外職位。

Butter had a great performance in 2024, with sales up 11% for the year, with the brand nearly doubling its quarterly sales in Q4 as it picked up steam in the second half of the year. As we build out the Butter team, we couldn't be more fired up about the future. We have seen extraordinary demand develop just over the past few months, and we believe that demand is sustainable. We expect butter to be an important piece of our growth strategy to meet our long-term financial goals.

Butter 在 2024 年表現出色，全年銷售額成長 11%，隨著下半年業務的蓬勃發展，該品牌第四季的季度銷售額幾乎翻了一番。隨著我們 Butter 團隊的組建，我們對未來充滿信心。我們看到過去幾個月需求出現了極大的發展，我們相信這種需求是可持續的。我們希望黃油成為我們成長策略的重要組成部分，以實現我們的長期財務目標。

Butter will also be a crucial cornerstone in our portfolio of ethically produced food as we strive to become America's most trusted food company. As Russell said in his comments, we had another excellent year connecting with our consumers in both our categories and further building the Vital Farms brand. Our brand awareness is up. Our household penetration grew strongly and our buy rate was up double digits.

當我們努力成為美國最值得信賴的食品公司時，奶油也將成為我們符合道德生產的食品組合的重要基石。正如拉塞爾在評論中所說，我們又度過了出色的一年，與兩個類別的消費者建立了聯繫，並進一步打造了 Vital Farms 品牌。我們的品牌知名度提高了。我們的家庭滲透率強勁成長，購買率上升了兩位數。

We retained leadership in premium eggs with unmatched retention and loyalty rates during a period of supply disruption and increasing competition in our segment. Our marketing efforts continue to resonate with consumers, and Vital Farms gained more consumers mind space last year. In 2024, aided brand awareness increased to 26%, up from 23% at the end of 2023.

在供應中斷和行業競爭加劇的時期，我們憑藉無與倫比的保留率和忠誠度，在優質雞蛋領域保持了領先地位。我們的行銷努力繼續引起消費者的共鳴，Vital Farms 去年贏得了更多消費者的關注。2024 年，輔助品牌知名度將從 2023 年底的 23% 上升至 26%。

This is 9 percentage-points higher than our aided awareness from 2020. What is most exciting for us is that our brand awareness is pulling away from our closest competitors. In 2020, we were clustered with our most relevant competitors in the mid-teens. While these same competitors remain in the mid-teens, we've grown well into the mid-20s, a significant leap in recognition in the minds of our consumers.

這比我們 2020 年的輔助意識高出 9 個百分點。對我們來說最令人興奮的是我們的品牌知名度正在拉開與最接近的競爭對手的距離。2020 年，我們與最相關的競爭對手聚集在十幾歲的人群中。這些競爭對手的年齡仍處於十幾歲的中段，而我們已經成長為二十五六歲的中段，在消費者心目中的認知度有了顯著的飛躍。

We're converting that awareness into more households who buy Vital Farms. In 2024, we grew our household penetration to just over 14 million homes. We added 2.3 million households to our consumer base, a 20% increase year over year. This brings household penetration to 10.7%, a 1.9 percentage-point increase from 2023. We're seeing an acceleration in the consumer brand preference for Vital Farms.

我們正在將這種意識轉化為更多購買 Vital Farms 的家庭。到 2024 年，我們的家庭普及率將成長至 1,400 多萬戶。我們的消費者群體增加了230萬戶，比去年同期增加了20%。這使得家庭普及率達到 10.7%，比 2023 年增加 1.9 個百分點。我們看到消費者對 Vital Farms 品牌的偏好正在加速。

This is showing up in key metrics for measuring consumer buying behavior. Our buy rate, the purchase frequency multiplied by the spend per trip reached $36.06, a 12% increase year over year. Our purchase frequency, the average number of trips per household reached 3.7, up 6% versus 2023. Our spend per trip reached $9.84, up 5% from 2023. Finally, our percentage of heavy buyers, consumers who buy us at least 8 times a year, reached 13%, up 2 percentage-points versus a year ago.

這體現在衡量消費者購買行為的關鍵指標。我們的購買率（購買頻率乘以每次旅行的花費）達到了 36.06 美元，比去年同期增長了 12%。我們的購買頻率，每個家庭平均出遊次數達到 3.7 次，較 2023 年增加 6%。我們每次旅行的花費達到 9.84 美元，比 2023 年增加 5%。最後，我們的重度購買者（每年至少購買我們產品8次的消費者）的比例達到了13％，比一年前上升了2個百分點。

We see significant runway ahead as we make focused marketing investments to expand our reach. Finally, I'd like to finish today with a quick word on our newly launched brand campaign titled, Good Eggs. No Shortcuts. Our new campaign celebrates the Vital Farms' commitment to raising the standards and always choosing the right way over the easy way. It leverages documentary style interviews with four real-life Vital Farms family farmers.

隨著我們進行有針對性的行銷投資以擴大我們的影響力，我們看到了巨大的發展空間。最後，我想以簡短的介紹我們新推出的品牌活動「好雞蛋」來結束今天的演講。沒有捷徑。我們的新活動讚揚了 Vital Farms 致力於提高標準並始終選擇正確的方法而不是簡單的方法。它採用紀錄片風格採訪了四個真正的 Vital Farms 家庭農民。

The interviews capture their humorous and authentic responses, always highlighting their commitment to animal welfare. We think that Good Eggs. No Shortcuts is another illustration of Vital Farms' commitment to being bulls***-free and doing right by our stakeholders, even if that means taking a longer, harder road. We live those values every day. We have rolled out Good Eggs, No Shortcuts across linear and streaming television and online and social platforms, including Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Reddit, Meta, Snapchat, Spotify and YouTube. We're incredibly proud of this campaign, and I strongly encourage you to check it out.

訪談捕捉了他們幽默而真實的反應，始終強調他們對動物福利的承諾。我們認為那是好雞蛋。「不走捷徑」再次體現了 Vital Farms 致力於不搞虛偽、為利益相關者做正確的事情，即使這意味著要走一條更長、更艱難的道路。我們每天都實踐這些價值觀。我們已經在線上性和串流媒體電視以及線上和社交平台上推出了《Good Eggs, No Shortcuts》，包括 Netflix、Hulu、Disney+、Reddit、Meta、Snapchat、Spotify 和 YouTube。我們對這次活動感到無比自豪，我強烈建議您去看看。

With that, I'll pass it over to Thilo. Thilo?

說完這些，我將把它交給 Thilo。蒂洛？

Thank you, Kathryn. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. I will now review our financial results for the year ended December 29, 2024, and then provide details on our new guidance for fiscal year 2025. 2024 was another great year for Vital Farms. Our net revenue rose 28.5% to $606.3 million. Our fourth quarter revenue rose 22.2% in reported terms and rose 30% when accounting for the extra week in the fourth quarter of 2023.

謝謝你，凱瑟琳。大家好，感謝大家今天加入我們。我現在將回顧我們截至 2024 年 12 月 29 日的財務業績，然後提供有關 2025 財年新指引的詳細資訊。 2024 年對 Vital Farms 來說又是偉大的一年。我們的淨收入成長28.5%至6.063億美元。以報告數字計算，我們第四季的營收成長了 22.2%，如果算上 2023 年第四季的額外一周，則成長了 30%。

In full year 2024, we grew volume 21.8% with additional price/mix benefits driven mostly by our fast-growing organic portfolio. Gross profit for the year rose to $229.9 million or 37.9% of net revenue compared to $162.3 million or 34.4% of net revenue last year. Our 2024 adjusted EBITDA grew 79.2% to $86.7 million or 14.3% of net revenue. Our adjusted EBITDA margin rose 405 basis points versus last year. Our gross profit growth was driven by volume and revenue expansion, boosted by the positive impact of scale and operational efficiencies.

2024 年全年，我們的銷售量成長了 21.8%，額外的價格/組合優勢主要得益於我們快速成長的有機產品組合。全年毛利增至 2.299 億美元，佔淨收入的 37.9%，去年同期為 1.623 億美元，佔淨收入的 34.4%。我們 2024 年的調整後 EBITDA 成長 79.2% 至 8,670 萬美元，佔淨收入的 14.3%。我們的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率較去年同期上升了 405 個基點。我們的毛利成長主要得益於銷售和收入的擴張，以及規模和營運效率的正面影響。

Lower conventional commodity and diesel costs contributed to higher margins in the fourth quarter and the full year. This was partially offset by an increase in promotions; labor, maintenance-related expenses and overhead costs, all intended to keep pace with our growth. SG&A expenses for 2024 were $133.9 million or 22.1% of net revenue compared to $101.7 million or 21.6% of net revenue in 2023.

傳統商品和柴油成本的下降推動了第四季度和全年利潤率的提高。但促銷活動的增加部分抵消了這項變化；勞動力、維護相關費用和管理費用，所有這些都是為了跟上我們的成長步伐。2024 年銷售、一般及行政費用為 1.339 億美元，佔淨收入的 22.1%，而 2023 年為 1.017 億美元，佔淨收入的 21.6%。

The increase in SG&A as a percentage of net sales was primarily due to marketing-related expenses, stock-based compensation, higher employee headcount, legal and professional service expenses and technology and software-related expenses. Marketing expenses as a percentage of sales were 5.3% for 2024. This compares to 5.0% for 2023 and 3.7% for 2022. These costs were in line with our expectations and are consistent with our communication to invest in the business in the second half of the year.

銷售、一般及行政費用佔淨銷售額的百分比增加主要是由於行銷相關費用、股票薪酬、員工人數增加、法律和專業服務費用以及技術和軟體相關費用。2024 年行銷費用佔銷售額的百分比為 5.3%。相較之下，2023 年為 5.0%，2022 年為 3.7%。這些成本符合我們的預期，與我們下半年投資業務的溝通一致。

In 2024, shipping and distribution costs rose in absolute terms but were less as a percentage of net sales. Shipping and distribution expenses rose to $32.4 million in the year or 5.3% of net revenue compared to $27.3 million or 5.8% of net revenue in 2023. The increase in shipping and distribution expense was driven by higher sales volumes, partially offset by favorable line haul and fuel rates. Net income for 2024 was $53.4 million or $1.18 per diluted share compared to $25.6 million or $0.59 per diluted share last year.

2024 年，運輸和配送成本絕對值有所上升，但佔淨銷售額的百分比有所下降。今年運輸和配送費用增加至 3,240 萬美元，佔淨收入的 5.3%，而 2023 年為 2,730 萬美元，佔淨收入的 5.8%。運輸和配送費用的增加是由於銷售量增加，但被有利的幹線運輸和燃料費率部分抵消。2024 年淨收入為 5,340 萬美元，即每股攤薄收入 1.18 美元，去年為 2,560 萬美元，即每股攤薄收入 0.59 美元。

Finally, we had a strong balance sheet performance for the year. Our cash, cash equivalents and investment securities on December 29, 2024, stood at $160.3 million, an increase of $43.5 million from the end of 2023. We had no debt outstanding. While a great deal of the market's focus has been on our production capacity, I want to quickly highlight how effective our sales and marketing efforts have been in building our brand with consumers. We believe our ability to consistently build shell egg distribution while increasing velocity speaks to the power of our brand and our connection with our consumers.

最後，我們今年的資產負債表表現強勁。截至 2024 年 12 月 29 日，我們的現金、現金等價物和投資證券為 1.603 億美元，比 2023 年底增加 4,350 萬美元。我們沒有未償還的債務。雖然市場很大一部分注意力都集中在我們的生產能力上，但我想很快強調我們的銷售和行銷工作在向消費者建立我們的品牌方面有多麼有效。我們相信，我們能夠在不斷提高速度的同時持續加強帶殼雞蛋的分銷，這充分說明了我們品牌的力量以及我們與消費者的聯繫。

We believe it is important for the market to be able to judge our performance on these key metrics. We understand that syndicated scanner data is highly valuable in helping analyze our business from the outside looking in. We are also aware that some data sets in the market are weighted in a manner that at times doesn't fully capture the trends of our business.

我們相信，市場能夠根據這些關鍵指標來評判我們的表現非常重要。我們明白，聯合掃描器資料對於從外部分析我們的業務非常有價值。我們也意識到市場上一些資料集的加權方式有時不能完全反映我們業務的趨勢。

Additionally, we see instances when retailer scanner data captures retailer price increases that do not benefit us, creating a mismatch between retail sales and our shipment results. Going forward, we will be providing additional data in our earnings presentation about our commercial performance. To create a consistent data set for ourselves and for the market, we will be using Circana MULO+ data, both internally and when we speak externally about certain metrics within our business, especially retail distribution and consumer buying patterns.

此外，我們也發現，有時零售商掃描器資料捕捉到的零售商價格上漲對我們不利，造成零售額與我們的出貨結果不符。展望未來，我們將在收益報告中提供更多有關我們商業表現的數據。為了為我們自己和市場創建一致的數據集，我們將使用 Circana MULO+ 數據，無論是在內部還是在外部談論我們業務中的某些指標時，尤其是零售分銷和消費者購買模式。

We believe MULO+ gives us actionable insights, a deep data set, a comprehensive view of private label trends and a long data history to draw upon. In Circana multi-outlet data, which includes food, drug and mass channels, our total distribution points in 2024 decreased 3% to 189 from 195. However, this decline in TDPs was driven by our discontinuation of tub butter, which was phased out during our supply changeover to Irish sourcing late in 2023.

我們相信 MULO+ 為我們提供了可行的見解、深度資料集、自有品牌趨勢的全面視圖以及可供借鑒的長期資料歷史。在包括食品、藥品和大眾通路在內的 Circana 多通路數據中，我們 2024 年的總分銷點從 195 個減少 3% 至 189 個。然而，TDP 的下降是由於我們停止使用桶裝黃油，這種黃油在我們於 2023 年末轉向愛爾蘭採購的供應過程中被淘汰。

Our shell egg TDPs increased 7% from $119 to $127. Additionally, butter distribution quickly rebounded from the tub butter discontinuation. After a rebasing in the first quarter of 2024, butter TDPs increased 22% to 54 from 44. While TDPs for eggs grew strongly and butter rebounded throughout the year, we saw great improvements in our sales velocity, meaning our sales per store per week throughout 2024. Our velocity climbed nearly 40% from $124 in 2023 to $171 at the end of 2024. This is a historic high for the business, but somewhat driven by retailer initiated price increases.

我們的帶殼雞蛋 TDP 增加了 7%，從 119 美元增加到 127 美元。此外，自從桶裝黃油停產以來，黃油的銷售量迅速反彈。在 2024 年第一季重新調整後，奶油 TDP 從 44 增加到 54，增幅為 22%。雖然雞蛋的 TDP 強勁增長且黃油全年反彈，但我們的銷售速度（即 2024 年每家店每週的銷售額）有了很大的提高。我們的速度從 2023 年的 124 美元攀升至 2024 年底的 171 美元，漲幅近 40%。這是該業務的歷史最高水平，但一定程度上受到零售商發起的價格上漲的推動。

Now looking ahead to fiscal year 2025, we are expecting net revenue of at least $740 million or at least 22% growth versus 2024, adjusted EBITDA of at least $100 million or at least 15% growth and CapEx of $50 million to $60 million. I want to provide a few additional points on the guidance. For the 2025 sales cadence, we expect Q1 to be our slowest growth quarter of the year for volume and net revenue growth due to supply constraints.

展望 2025 財年，我們預期淨收入至少為 7.4 億美元或較 2024 年成長至少 22%，調整後 EBITDA 至少為 1 億美元或成長至少 15%，資本支出為 5,000 萬至 6,000 萬美元。我想就該指導提供幾點補充意見。對於 2025 年的銷售節奏，由於供應限制，我們預計第一季將是一年中銷售和淨收入成長最慢的季度。

After Q1, we expect volumes to accelerate as supply improves. As farms come online, our capacity will increase, and we expect volume growth trends to accelerate with each passing quarter. Our 2025 adjusted EBITDA guidance implies a decline in margin for the year. As you model the year, please remember that in the first half of 2024, we had high margins driven by exceptional operations at ECS. As we highlighted at the time, we do not expect this performance to repeat, resulting in a challenging comparison for the first half of 2025.

第一季之後，隨著供應量的改善，我們預計銷售量將會加速成長。隨著農場上線，我們的產能將會增加，我們預期產量成長趨勢將會逐季加速。我們對 2025 年的調整後 EBITDA 指引意味著當年的利潤率將會下降。在您對這一年進行建模時，請記住，在 2024 年上半年，我們因 ECS 的卓越營運而獲得了高利潤率。正如我們當時所強調的那樣，我們預計這種表現不會重演，因此 2025 年上半年的比較具有挑戰性。

Compared to the run rate in the second half of 2024, we anticipate the adjusted EBITDA margin to improve in 2025. Our CapEx guidance is materially higher than our 2024 CapEx of $28.4 million. This new level of spending reflects investments in our new production line at ECS Springfield, the groundbreaking and start of construction for our new facility, the construction of accelerator farms and our internal digital transformation project.

與 2024 年下半年的運行率相比，我們預計 2025 年調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率將有所提高。我們的資本支出指引大幅高於 2024 年的 2,840 萬美元資本支出。這一新的支出水準反映了我們對 ECS Springfield 新生產線的投資、新工廠的破土動工和開工建設、加速器農場的建設以及我們的內部數位轉型項目。

With the new facility, we expect elevated CapEx spending over the next few years with the bulk of this in 2025 and especially 2026. In 2025, we plan to fund new facility construction and all other projects with existing cash and operating cash flow. Our projection is that each CapEx dollar dedicated to our new facility will generate more than $5 of annual revenue capacity, which we consider a strong return. As always, we will continue to evaluate and monitor our capital allocation priorities, and we will provide updates as necessary.

隨著新工廠的建成，我們預計未來幾年的資本支出將會增加，其中大部分將出現在 2025 年，特別是 2026 年。2025年，我們計劃利用現有現金和營運現金流為新設施建設和所有其他項目提供資金。我們預測，投入新工廠的每一美元資本支出都將產生超過 5 美元的年收入，我們認為這是豐厚的回報。像往常一樣，我們將繼續評估和監控我們的資本配置優先事項，並在必要時提供更新。

Our long-term guidance remains unchanged. We are targeting $1 billion of net revenue by 2027 with a gross margin of at least 35% and an EBITDA margin of 12% to 14%. This is an exciting time at Vital Farms. We have committed consumers who continue to choose us, we continue to add family farms, and we remain focused on driving greater retail penetration and raising brand awareness to deliver our eggs and butter to more and more households with each passing year. Once again, we thank you for your time and interest in Vital Farms today and for the confidence that you have placed in us with your investment.

我們的長期指導保持不變。我們的目標是到 2027 年淨收入 10 億美元，毛利率至少達到 35%，EBITDA 利潤率達到 12% 至 14%。這是 Vital Farms 激動人心的時刻。我們擁有忠實的消費者，他們繼續選擇我們，我們繼續增加家庭農場，我們仍然專注於推動更大的零售滲透率和提高品牌知名度，以便每年將我們的雞蛋和黃油送到越來越多的家庭。再次感謝您今天對 Vital Farms 的時間和關注以及您對我們的投資的信任。

With that, we are now happy to take your questions.

現在我們很樂意回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員指令）

Rob Dickerson, Jefferies.

傑富瑞（Jefferies）的羅布·迪克森（Rob Dickerson）。

I guess just a couple of questions about the cadence for the year because clearly, that's topical. I think you said in the prepared remarks that some of the farms that you had added in '24, I assume back in kind of Q2 '24 are now producing some eggs for sale for you. While at the same time, I'm hearing and realize that you have capacity constraints and the Q1 volumes will be a little bit lighter. I think you said a modest step down in growth relative to what you normally do.

我想只問幾個關於今年節奏的問題，因為顯然這是熱門話題。我想您在準備好的評論中說過，您在 24 年增加的一些農場，我假設是在 24 年第二季度，現在正在生產一些雞蛋供您銷售。同時，我聽說並意識到你們有產能限制，第一季的銷售量會稍微少一點。我認為您說的是相對於正常情況下的增長速度略有放緩。

So two parts to the question. One is just like how many new farms, let's just say are now up and running already, right out of the ones you added last year selling eggs? And then when you speak to that modest step down in growth in Q1, relative to like the 22% for the year, is that like really modest? Or is that just a little bit modest because it also seems like there's some price mix coming through? So a lot in there, but I want to be comprehensive.

這個問題分為兩部分。一個問題是，在去年新增的雞蛋養殖場中，現在有多少個新農場已經建成並投入運作？那麼，當您談到第一季的增速相對於全年的 22% 略有下降時，這真的算是適度下降嗎？或者這只是有點適度，因為它似乎也有一些價格組合出現？這裡面有很多內容，但我希望內容全面。

Of the farms that we signed up in the first half last year, which was roughly 50 farms or so, more than half of them are operating at this point. So we do have volume growth year-over-year. But keep in mind that last year, beginning of the year, we were still sitting on very high egg inventory. So the volume that we had last year, we were getting eggs from the farm plus we were drawing down inventory. So the year over year farm number comparison is not a particularly strong indicator of what our growth potential is in the short term in the quarter.

我們去年上半年簽約的農場大約有 50 個，目前其中一半以上都在運作。因此我們的銷量確實逐年成長。但請記住，去年年初，我們的雞蛋庫存仍然很高。因此，我們去年的雞蛋產量來自農場，此外我們還在減少庫存。因此，與去年同期的農場數量比較並不能特別有力地顯示我們本季短期內的成長潛力。

And so I think your question about the -- there is a moderate relative to our own performance, moderate relative to the year. It is moderate growth. Keep in mind, over the last two years; back first quarter '23, we grew 55% revenue. First quarter '24, we grew revenue 24%. Because we have the strong lapping, first quarter this year will be meaningfully below last year's first quarter number. And that's why I'm saying don't look at the year over year farm growth. It really is about how much did we pull out of inventory last year versus what we can pull out of inventory right now, which is really nothing.

所以我認為你的問題是——相對於我們自己的表現來說，相對於今年來說，這是一個適度的。這是適度的增長。請記住，在過去的兩年裡；23年第一季，我們的收入成長了55%。24年第一季度，我們的營收成長了24%。由於我們有強勁的重疊，今年第一季的數字將明顯低於去年第一季的數字。這就是為什麼我說不要只看逐年的農場成長。這實際上取決於我們去年從庫存中撤出了多少庫存以及我們現在可以從庫存中撤出多少庫存，而這實際上什麼都沒有。

And then it does sound like the actual volume number in Q1 year over year would still be positive. And the second piece would sound like there should still be some price mix benefit that comes through (technical difficulty).

那麼聽起來第一季的實際銷售量年比仍為正值。第二點聽起來應該還是會有一些價格組合優勢（技術難度）。

We are still expecting to grow volume this quarter. And similar to prior quarters, we do get some price/mix benefits. We continue to have that mix shift towards organic. Plus then compared to first quarter last year, given that we don't have enough eggs to sell, we'll probably be less promotional than first quarter last year that will also give a net revenue per unit improvement.

我們仍預計本季的銷售量將會增加。與前幾季類似，我們確實獲得了一些價格/組合優勢。我們將繼續推動混合物料向有機方向轉變。另外，與去年第一季相比，由於我們沒有足夠的雞蛋可供銷售，因此我們的促銷力度可能會比去年第一季減少，這也會提高每單位淨收入。

Robert Moskow, TD Cowen.

羅伯特·莫斯科（Robert Moskow），TD Cowen。

Your price/mix is up like 14% in fourth quarter. Is that a good proxy for how you think the year might play out for 2025? And the consumer is really getting hammered by these high egg prices. And I'm sure that creates some difficult decision-making for you all. Have you made any decisions internally on what to do with your pricing? And just from a list standpoint? And then a quick follow-up.

你們的價格/組合在第四季上漲了 14%。您認為這可以很好地代表 2025 年的發展嗎？雞蛋價格過高確實為消費者帶來了沉重打擊。我確信這會為你們所有人帶來一些艱難的決策。你們內部是否對如何定價做出任何決策？僅從列表的角度來看？然後快速跟進。

Rob, just to clarify, in our own reported data, price/mix year over year is actually up only half of the number you just quoted, the 14%. We do have a discrepancy to scanner data right now simply because some retailers seem to be taking price on our products. It doesn't flow through to us. But our price mix this year -- sorry, fourth quarter was only about 7% or so. And promotional reduction played into that, mix shift played into that. First quarter will be somewhere in the similar ballpark based on what we're seeing right now.

羅布，需要澄清的是，在我們自己報告的數據中，價格/組合同比實際上只上漲了你剛才引用的數字的一半，即 14%。目前我們確實與掃描器數據有差異，只是因為一些零售商似乎在對我們的產品進行定價。它並沒有流向我們。但我們今年的價格組合——抱歉，第四季只有大約 7% 左右。促銷減少和產品組合轉變都發揮了這種作用。根據我們目前看到的情況，第一季的情況將大致相同。

But I'll let Russell talk about longer-term pricing ideas.

但我會讓拉塞爾談談長期定價想法。

Yeah, Rob, as you'll recall, when we first started seeing commodity prices go up in 2021, 2022, we don't act on a cost plus price basis the way that I think a lot of the industry does. Pricing to us is very much a part of that marketing mix, and we're constantly evaluating the trade-offs between the appropriate kind of margin structure that we're looking for at any given time and the growth rate that we continue to want to see. So I can't commit to a certain cadence of price changes, if any, but I can say that we're not currently planning on price being a meaningful contributor to our overall growth this year.

是的，羅布，你會記得，當我們在 2021 年、2022 年首次看到大宗商品價格上漲時，我們並沒有像很多行業那樣以成本加價格為基礎採取行動。對我們來說，定價是行銷組合的重要組成部分，我們會不斷評估我們在任何特定時期尋求的適當的利潤結構和我們希望看到的成長率之間的權衡。因此，我無法承諾價格變動的節奏（如果有的話），但我可以說，我們目前不打算讓價格對我們今年的整體成長做出有意義的貢獻。

And I'll follow up on the math later. I think we must be treating the 53rd week differently, and that's how we got our number for price/mix. My follow-up is eggs are in the headlines of news like every day, you go to the shelves, you can't find anything, you can't even find Vital Farms. In your like connections with consumers that you get, like how is that impacting the Vital Farms brand at all positively or negatively?

稍後我將跟進數學運算。我認為我們必須以不同的方式對待第 53 週，這就是我們得到價格/組合數字的方式。我的後續問題是，雞蛋每天都出現在新聞頭條中，但你去貨架前，卻找不到任何東西，甚至找不到 Vital Farms。在您與消費者建立的聯繫中，這對 Vital Farms 品牌有何正面或負面影響？

It's certainly on the minds of consumers, and they're thinking about, can I get my egg? What we're seeing is continued brand loyalty. We know that availability is on people's minds. When they can find us, they're buying us and they are looking at multiple stores for us. We're still seeing our brand loyalty stay really strong. And in fact, if they can't find us, they're switching right now to other breakfast products even over other brands in many cases. So look, we want to be on shelf. We want to be available to everyone. I believe that the brand trust that we go into a situation like this with will also help us get out very quickly and will endure.

這當然是消費者關心的問題，他們在想，我可以拿到我的雞蛋嗎？我們看到的是持續的品牌忠誠度。我們知道人們關注的是可用性。當他們能找到我們時，他們就會購買我們，並為我們尋找多家商店。我們仍然看到我們的品牌忠誠度保持強勁。事實上，如果他們找不到我們，很多情況下他們就會立即選擇其他早餐產品，甚至放棄其他品牌。所以你看，我們想要上架。我們希望每個人都能享受我們的服務。我相信，我們在這種情況下所擁有的品牌信任也將幫助我們迅速擺脫困境，並堅持下去。

Ben Klieve, Lake Street Capital Markets.

Ben Klieve，Lake Street Capital Markets。

Congratulations on a good end of the year here. A couple of questions on the '25 outlook. First of all, regarding the introduction of the grading machinery that you talked about in ECS. Do you expect that, that will be a pretty seamless construction and integration? Or do you think there's going to be any time where capacity comes offline for a matter of days or weeks as you are introducing that?

恭喜您度過了一個美好的一年。關於‘25年展望’有幾個問題。首先，關於您在 ECS 中談到的評分機制的引入。您是否期望這將是一個相當無縫的構建和整合？或者您是否認為，正如您所介紹的那樣，在幾天或幾週的時間內，產能將暫時中斷？

I actually was up at ECS this week actually viewing the work already underway to enable that expansion. And I'm so impressed with the leadership team there, many of whom have joined us in the last year. And the way that they're proactively addressing the layout of that facility, the flow of goods in that facility and the way that we will handle outbound freight from that expanded capacity. I anticipate while nothing is totally predictable, I would say that we're doing everything I could imagine doing to make sure that there's a smooth transition to this added capacity and that we don't skip a beat.

本週我實際上在 ECS 查看了為實現該擴展而正在進行的工作。我對那裡的領導團隊印象深刻，其中許多人都是去年加入的。他們正在積極解決該設施的佈局、設施內的貨物流動以及我們處理擴大後的出站貨物的方式。我預計，儘管沒有什麼是完全可預測的，但我想說，我們正在盡我所能，確保順利過渡到這一增加的產能，並且不會出現任何問題。

And then the current outbreak of avian influenza here this winter, Russell, you noted in your prepared remarks that on a TTM basis, you've only had one outbreak on your several hundred farm network. It doesn't look like any of the recent outbreaks in the last few months could have possibly been from one of your farms. Did that outbreak happen prior to the kind of start of this winter? Or is that an event from the last several months?

然後是今年冬天這裡爆發的禽流感，拉塞爾，你在準備好的發言中指出，從 TTM 來看，你們數百個農場網絡中只爆發過一次疫情。看起來最近幾個月發生的任何疫情都不可能來自你們的農場。那次疫情是否發生在今年冬天開始之前？還是這是過去幾個月發生的事件？

We've had zero outbreaks in 2025 against the backdrop of nearly 30 million birds as far as I know, being depopulated just since the beginning of the year. It's absolutely devastating and certainly a big driver of the costs we're seeing in the marketplace, but none of it is happening on our watch or those of our wonderful network of small family farmers.

據我所知，自今年年初以來，鳥類數量已減少近 3,000 萬隻，但到 2025 年，我們仍沒有出現過一次疫情。這絕對是毀滅性的，而且肯定是我們在市場上看到的成本的一個重要驅動因素，但在我們的監督下，或者在我們優秀的小型家庭農場網絡的監督下，這些都沒有發生。

Jon Andersen, William Blair.

喬恩·安德森，威廉·布萊爾。

Congrats on a strong year. One for Russell and one for Thilo. Russell, just sticking with the AI line of questioning. I understand that you work with this close network of many family farms that mitigates risk in your supply chain in and of itself, but it seems like the metrics suggest that your farms are doing a better job of staying away from this. Is there anything that you can use to help explain that? It's a question I get a lot, like why isn't Vital Farms perhaps as affected or at least even on a like-for-like basis relative to what we're seeing in other operations?

恭喜您度過了豐收的一年。一個給拉塞爾，一個給蒂洛。拉塞爾，只是堅持人工智慧的提問方式。我知道你們與許多家庭農場組成的緊密網絡合作，這本身就降低了供應鏈中的風險，但似乎指標表明你們的農場在遠離這種風險方面做得更好。有什麼可以幫您解釋這一點嗎？這是我經常被問到的問題，例如為什麼 Vital Farms 受到的影響可能沒有那麼大，或者至少與我們在其他業務中看到的情況相比沒有受到同等影響？

It is true on a like-for-like basis since this latest outbreak began in 2022, I think we've had a total of four, maybe five incidents, which represents less than half, it's four, like Thilo just confirmed for me, less than 0.2% of all of our production against the backdrop of well over 12%, maybe approaching 15%, 20% of all the birds in America. So something different is happening on our farms. I honestly don't go to anybody else's farms.

從同類情況來看，自 2022 年最新一次疫情爆發以來，我認為我們總共發生了四起、也許五起事件，這佔了不到一半，就像 Thilo 剛剛向我證實的那樣，只有四起，不到我們所有產量的 0.2%，而美國所有鳥類的這一比例遠超 12%，可能接近 15% 或 20%。所以我們的農場發生了一些不同的事情。說實話，我不會去其他人的農場。

So I can't tell you what's happening there, but I did find it very interesting to read our new Secretary of Agriculture's op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, where she outlined the Trump administration's approach to fighting aid influenza. And I'm so thankful that this is a focus because, obviously, we're all about animal welfare and to see so many, frankly, hundreds of millions of birds being killed because of this outbreak is hard for us to take, and I know it's hard on all those farmers whose birds are being depopulated.

所以我無法告訴你那裡發生了什麼，但我確實發現閱讀我們新任農業部長在《華爾街日報》上發表的專欄文章非常有趣，她在其中概述了川普政府抗擊援助流感的方法。我非常感謝大家關注這一點，因為顯然我們都關心動物福利，坦白說，看到如此多的數億隻鳥因為這次疫情而被殺死，我們感到難以接受，我知道這對所有鳥兒數量減少的農民來說也很難受。

One thing I found very interesting in that op-ed was that the industry is allocating $500 million to fund repairs and improvements in biosecurity on those farms, including fixing the actual physical structure of the farm to prevent pests from entering them. And I can tell you, we spend an awful lot of time on our own farms and I've never seen a farm in our network that had a problem with holes in the walls allowing pests to enter.

我發現那篇專欄文章中非常有趣的一件事是，該行業正在撥款 5 億美元用於資助這些農場的生物安全修復和改善，包括修復農場的實際物理結構以防止害蟲進入。我可以告訴你們，我們在自己的農場上花了大量的時間，我從未見過我們網路中的任何一個農場出現牆壁上有洞讓害蟲進入的問題。

And so it does make me wonder if we may be a little more vigilant in making sure that the physical infrastructure on our small family farms is intact and is doing its part in maintaining biosecurity. It's a shame, I think, that the government has to intercede to fix farms. But if that's what it takes to protect this nation's birds, then that's what it takes. I'd like to think that American farmers are better than that.

因此，我確實想知道，我們是否應該更加警惕，確保我們的小型家庭農場的實體基礎設施完好無損，並在維護生物安全方面發揮其作用。我認為，政府必須介入修復農場，這是一件令人羞恥的事。但如果這是為了保護這個國家的鳥類，那我們就必須這麼做。我認為美國農民比這更好。

And for Thilo, just to follow up on the 2025 outlook. You've stepped and stepping up marketing both in dollars and the rate relative to sales. At this kind of mid-five level, do you see that as a good sustainable level or opportunity to continue to take that up over time? And then a second part to that, I know you incurred some maintenance costs throughout 2024 in order to continue to push capacity bounds on ECS. Do you anticipate a similar level of maintenance costs in 2025, lower, higher, just kind of a general trend around that?

對 Thilo 來說，只是為了跟進 2025 年的展望。您已經加大了行銷投入，並且提高了相對於銷售額的行銷率。在這種中間五個水平上，您是否認為這是一個良好的可持續水平，或者是一個隨著時間的推移繼續提升的機會？然後第二部分，我知道您在 2024 年全年產生了一些維護成本，以繼續推動 ECS 的容量限制。您是否預期 2025 年的維護成本水準會相似，更低，更高，或者只是整體趨勢？

I think on marketing, in that 5% to 6% of net sales range, I think that's where we feel comfortable right now. I'm sure if I give Kathryn twice the amount of money, she would find very, very smart things to do with it. But we want to build brand awareness in a very measured way because we need to take a very measured way to build our supply. We say it repeatedly; we don't want to get ahead of our skis. And so therefore, planning our marketing spend and building the brand awareness in a very deliberate fashion that is part of not getting ahead of our skis.

我認為，就行銷而言，在淨銷售額的 5% 到 6% 範圍內，我想這是我們目前感到滿意的水平。我確信，如果我給凱瑟琳雙倍的錢，她一定會找到非常非常聰明的方式來處理這些錢。但我們希望以非常謹慎的方式來建立品牌知名度，因為我們需要採取非常謹慎的方式來建立我們的供應。我們反覆說；我們不想超越我們的滑雪板。因此，我們非常謹慎地規劃行銷支出和建立品牌知名度，這並不是為了超前。

So the level where we are right now, I think that's a level where we are very comfortable. And Kathryn in her prepared remarks talked about the gains in brand awareness that we got from it. I think the spending that we're doing is showing the results that we expected to do. On the maintenance, I think we learned an important lesson last year that we need to do maintenance on a very continuous basis that we need to focus on preventative maintenance rather than reactive maintenance.

所以，就我們目前所處的水平而言，我認為這是我們非常滿意的水平。凱瑟琳在準備好的發言中談到了我們從中獲得的品牌知名度的提升。我認為，我們所進行的支出正在產生預期的效果。關於維護，我認為我們去年學到了一個重要的教訓，那就是我們需要非常持續地進行維護，我們需要專注於預防性維護而不是被動維護。

And given the supply constraints that we have right now, that gave us a bit of time to do a bit more maintenance or do a bit more in-depth maintenance than we would have done otherwise. And so from a maintenance perspective, I think we are in a really good shape right now. Russell had just mentioned the new leadership that we have in our operations.

考慮到我們目前的供應限制，這給了我們一些時間來做比以前更多的維護或更深入的維護。因此從維護的角度來看，我認為我們現在的狀態非常好。拉塞爾剛剛提到了我們營運中的新領導層。

And I think they're bringing a very disciplined view to doing maintenance on time, on schedule, on budget so that we don't run into the situation that we ran into last year, where for the first half of the year, we ran full throttle 24/7 for six months, and then we paid the price for it in the third quarter. So that is something that we will avoid this year. And with that maintenance, I think overall, over the course of the year, we will be at the same level that we had last year, but just spread out across the entire year so that we don't have peaks and valleys.

我認為他們對按時、按計劃、在預算內進行維護有著非常嚴謹的認識，這樣我們就不會遇到去年遇到的情況，即在上半年，我們連續六個月全天候不間斷運行，然後在第三季度付出了代價。所以今年我們要避免這種情況。透過這種維護，我認為總體而言，在全年中，我們的業績將與去年保持相同的水平，但會分散到全年，這樣就不會出現高峰和低谷。

Sarang Vora, Telsey Advisory Group.

Sarang Vora，特爾西諮詢小組。

Congrats on a great quarter and guidance. I have two questions. First is on the guidance. Can you help us on the factors that impact like your gross margin profile for '25? Any call-outs that you had last year? It seems like commodity is staying relatively stable. Pricing may be favorable with less promotions. So just any puts and takes on the gross margin outlook for '25 would be helpful.

恭喜您度過了一個美好的季度並取得了出色的業績。我有兩個問題。一是引導。您能否幫我們了解影響您 25 年毛利率狀況的因素？去年您接到過什麼電話嗎？看起來商品保持相對穩定。促銷較少的情況下，定價可能會比較優惠。因此，對 25 年毛利率前景的任何預測都會有所幫助。

On gross margin cadence, I think first half last year, and I just mentioned it we really had exceptional operations at ECS. That was combined with falling commodity prices and with pricing that we took on the organic portfolio at the beginning of the year. And that led to really healthy gross margin first half of the year, well above what our long-term targets are. That won't repeat this year. We are not anticipating that ECS will run as exceptionally as it did last year.

就毛利率節奏而言，我認為去年上半年，我剛剛提到，ECS 的營運確實非常出色。這與大宗商品價格下跌以及我們年初對有機投資組合的定價有關。這使得上半年的毛利率非常可觀，遠高於我們的長期目標。今年不會再發生這樣的事了。我們預計 ECS 的運作不會像去年那樣出色。

For example, we have already had a few days of interruptions at ECS because of weather. Missouri got actually several inches of snow. And so trucks just couldn't pull up to ECS. Our crew couldn't come to ECS safely. And so that impacted operations. It's also when you're running supply constrained; scheduling production just becomes less efficient.

例如，由於天氣原因，ECS 已經中斷了幾天。密蘇裡州實際上降雪數英寸。因此卡車無法駛入 ECS。我們的船員無法安全抵達 ECS。這會對營運產生影響。當你的供應受到限制時也是如此；生產調度的效率就會降低。

And so that is impacting gross margin as well at the moment. And then lastly, commodity cost, sequentially, corn prices have actually picked up quite a bit since the low in November or December. I think they're up 18% from the bottom in Q4. That was not impacting what we have to pay farmers in Q2. We are adjusting the pay to farmers one quarter in arrears. And so that will also then impact gross margin in the second quarter. So I think those are some of the most relevant puts and takes as we think about the year. On a comparison basis year over year, the first half this year will probably look a bit different from what we had last year. The second half is much more in line with what we had last year.

所以這目前也影響了毛利率。最後，商品成本方面，玉米價格自去年 11 月或 12 月的低點以來實際上已經大幅上漲。我認為它們較第四季的最低點上漲了 18%。這不會影響我們第二季向農民支付的款項。我們正在調整農民的工資，推遲一個季度。這也會影響第二季的毛利率。所以我認為這些是我們思考這一年時最相關的一些事情。與去年同期相比，今年上半年可能與去年略有不同。下半年的情況與去年同期更加一致。

And I have a question on Accelerator Farms. It seems like the first farm is going to be up and running this year. Can you help us a little bit on what is the expectation there? How big is the farm? Anything different you are doing with the farm than your typical farm, any lab testing facility? Any color you can give on that upcoming opening of the first farm. And then you almost have over 1,000 acres of farmland over there. So just curious on the thought process on how the build-out happens over the next couple of quarters.

我對 Accelerator Farms 有一個疑問。看起來第一個農場今年就要開始營運了。您能否幫助我們了解那裡的期望是什麼？這個農場有多大？與典型的農場相比，您的農場有什麼不同嗎？有實驗室測試設施嗎？您可以為即將開幕的第一個農場賦予任何顏色。那裡幾乎有超過 1,000 英畝的農田。所以我只是好奇未來幾季的建設如何進行的思考過程。

This is a real point of pride for us. I'm so excited about our ability to invest in the future of our farming and invest in the success of our small family farmers. This really is, in a sense, our first R&D lab. And the R&D that we want to do is trying out new equipment that's available from the best minds around animal welfare, around the productivity of hens in service of helping our farmers be more successful in helping improve the lives of our birds and frankly, the quality of our eggs for our consumers. So you're absolutely right. This is a big deal for us. It will not be a substantial amount of new eggs to the system because we're building 10 to 15 new farms. We've said no more than low single-digit percent of total production.

這對我們來說真的是一件值得驕傲的事。我對我們有能力投資農業的未來以及小型家庭農場主的成功感到非常興奮。從某種意義上來說，這確實是我們的第一個研發實驗室。我們想要進行的研發是試用由動物福利和母雞生產力領域的最優秀人才提供的新設備，以幫助我們的農民更成功地改善家禽的生活，坦白說，提高我們為消費者提供的雞蛋的品質。所以你完全正確。這對我們來說是一件大事。由於我們正在建造 10 到 15 個新農場，因此對系統來說，新雞蛋的數量不會太多。我們說過，這佔總產量的比例不會超過個位數的低百分比。

So it's not about adding substantial volume. It's about giving us a place where we can try new ways to improve the productivity of our farms without asking our existing farmers to make big capital investments or take risks on experiments that may or may not immediately provide them with better outcomes. I'm so thrilled. In fact, a small team of us will be heading to Europe next month to visit with equipment manufacturers and innovators who are really focused on the very best of outdoor access farming models and equipment so that we can bring back the very best of their thinking to our farms and farmers. Stay tuned. It's going to be terrific.

因此，這與增加大量數量無關。它為我們提供了一個場所，讓我們可以嘗試新的方法來提高農場的生產力，而不需要要求現有的農民進行大筆資本投資或承擔實驗風險，這些實驗可能會也可能不會立即為他們帶來更好的結果。我太激動了。事實上，我們一個小團隊將於下個月前往歐洲，拜訪真正專注於最佳戶外農業模式和設備的設備製造商和創新者，以便我們可以將他們最好的想法帶回我們的農場和農民。敬請關注。這將會非常棒。

Matt Smith, Stifel.

馬特史密斯（Matt Smith），史蒂費爾（Stifel）。

Russell, just a follow-up question around the pricing environment. You talked about some retailers taking pricing across the category, including on your products. Where that's occurring? Are you seeing retailers take prices higher kind of across the category for brands, including Vital that have been less sensitive to more regular price increases? And how do you think that plays out from here? It would seem like, on one hand, you could argue Vital is leaving some pricing on the table for retailers capturing it. But on the other hand, it may be more near term related to the supply-demand imbalance and retailers trying to balance how much eggs are being sold through.

拉塞爾，我只是想問一下有關定價環境的一個後續問題。您談到一些零售商對整個類別的產品進行定價，包括您的產品。那是在哪裡發生的？您是否看到零售商對包括 Vital 在內的各個品牌上調了價格，而這些品牌對定期漲價的敏感度較低？您認為接下來會如何發展呢？一方面，你可以認為 Vital 為零售商留下了一些定價空間。但另一方面，這可能更多地與供需失衡以及零售商試圖平衡雞蛋銷售量有關。

I got to say, we're certainly not trying to try to explain the macro environment for egg prices with the comments. All we're saying is that in the scan data, we are seeing a disconnect between the contribution pricing is making to our sales growth and what we're seeing in our own sales data to our retail partners. I have no insight or commentary on their pricing approach. That's totally part of their strategy or in terms of whether they're doing it across lots of products or just on ours. So we're just trying to bring clarity to the data you're using to understand our growth, not commenting on why we think egg prices are where they are.

我必須說，我們當然不是想用這些評論來解釋雞蛋價格的宏觀環境。我們所說的是，在掃描資料中，我們發現定價對我們的銷售成長的貢獻與我們自己向零售合作夥伴提供的銷售數據之間存在脫節。我對他們的定價方法沒有任何見解或評論。這完全是他們策略的一部分，無論他們是在許多產品上還是僅在我們的產品上這樣做。因此，我們只是想讓您清楚地了解我們用來了解我們成長的數據，而不是評論我們為什麼認為雞蛋價格是目前的水平。

And a follow-up on the -- we've talked a lot about avian influenza on supply/demand, but I wanted to ask if you're seeing an avian influenza impact on the time line or cost for farms coming online, if there's been any disruption to pullet placement or anything along those lines? It seems like that's not the case given you're still seeing a nine-month time line for those new farms coming on board.

而且關於——我們已經討論了很多關於禽流感對供需的影響，但我想問一下，您是否看到禽流感對農場上線的時間表或成本產生影響，是否對後備母雞的安置造成乾擾或類似情況？但事實似乎並非如此，因為這些新農場的加入仍然需要九個月的時間。

It's interesting. And again, I can't point you to exactly where the differences occur. But we're not seeing an impact to the hatcheries that produce the chicks for our farms. We're not seeing an impact to the pullet farms that our farmers use to source their birds. I'm sure a lot of it is luck. We have been very lucky, knock on wood. But no, we're not seeing any material change to our ability to bring lots of new farms online to support our growing demand.

這很有趣。再說一次，我無法確切指出差異出現在哪裡。但我們沒有看到為我們的農場生產雞雛的孵化場受到影響。我們沒有看到農民用來採購家禽的母雞養殖場受到影響。我確信這很大程度上是運氣。我們非常幸運，敲敲木頭。但沒有，我們沒有看到我們建立大量新農場來滿足不斷增長的需求的能力發生任何實質變化。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員指令）

Eric Des Lauriers, Craig-Hallum Capital Group.

艾瑞克‧德斯‧勞裡爾斯 (Eric Des Lauriers)，克雷格-哈勒姆資本集團。

Congrats on the strong results. My question relates to the new production line coming online in Q4. Should we expect that to deliver a step function impact to revenues? Or will that be more gradual as you sort of methodically ramp production? Of course, that coincides with many of these family farms coming online. So I understood Q4 will see growth acceleration either way. Just wondering about plans for utilization on day one, so to speak.

恭喜您取得的優異成績。我的問題與第四季上線的新生產線有關。我們是否應該期待這會對收入產生階梯式的影響？或者隨著您有條不紊地提高產量，這個過程會更漸進？當然，這與許多家庭農場上線的時間相吻合。所以我明白，無論如何，第四季都會出現成長加速。只是想知道第一天的利用計劃，可以這麼說。

I think your question, there's like a two-part answer to it. It will bring a step function in our capacity, but it will not necessarily bring a step function in our revenue. And the reason for that is we need the eggs to put on the machine. And our egg supply, that is -- it's a steady, relatively predictable growth rate. And so as the eggs are coming off the farm, that is really determining how much of a step function we'll have. I think if you look at our historic data, you won't see many step functions. Maybe the first few months of COVID were one of the rare exceptions, but there was four extraordinary circumstances. Really, the objective that we have is to grow the business at a very healthy, high growth rate but very steady without many step functions in it.

我認為您的問題的答案可以分為兩部分。它將使我們的能力有大幅提高，但不一定會使我們的收入有大幅提高。原因是我們需要把雞蛋放到機器上。我們的雞蛋供應量保持著穩定且相對可預測的成長率。因此，當雞蛋從農場出來時，這實際上決定了我們將擁有多大的階躍功能。我想如果你看看我們的歷史數據，你不會看到太多階躍函數。也許 COVID 疫情爆發的頭幾個月是罕見的例外之一，但有四種特殊情況。實際上，我們的目標是讓業務以非常健康、較高的成長率穩定成長，並且不採用太多階梯式成長。

My follow-up is on the pace of family farm additions for 2025, nice growth with 125 family farms last year. How should we think about that pace for 2025? And then just in terms of the accelerator farms, understanding that will remain a very small percentage of overall production, but how might that impact gross margins or OpEx this year?

我的後續關注點是 2025 年家庭農場的擴張速度，去年家庭農場數量成長良好，達到 125 個。我們該如何看待 2025 年的步伐？然後就加速器農場而言，我們了解到其仍將只佔整體產量的一小部分，但這將如何影響今年的毛利率或營運支出？

The farm recruiting will have to continue at a very healthy clip. I'm not going to sit here and say it's going to be x number of farms this year and x number of farms the year after. But if you do the math for us to get from the guidance that we have and the numbers that we have in '24 to get to the long-term guidance of $1 billion by 2027. We need to keep adding farms.

農場的招募工作必須繼續以非常健康的速度進行。我不會坐在這裡說今年會有 x 個農場，後年也會有 x 個農場。但是，如果你為我們計算一下，根據我們現有的指導方針和 24 年的數字，我們可以得出 2027 年 10 億美元的長期指導目標。我們需要繼續增加農場。

And once the new facility comes online at the beginning of 2027, we need to have more farms in that geographic area as well, simply because it makes for more efficient shipping. So farm recruiting will continue. It will continue at a relatively similar clip to what we have had so far, but I'm not going to yet talk about how many farms we'll add this year. Accelerator farms, what we have said in the past is that we are looking at; I think we've called a handful of accelerator farms, call it, 15, 20 farms or so. That number is not really supposed to increase.

一旦新設施於 2027 年初投入使用，我們也需要在該地區建立更多的農場，因為這將提高運輸效率。因此農場招聘將繼續進行。它將以與迄今為止相對相似的速度繼續發展，但我還不會談論今年我們將增加多少個農場。加速器農場，我們過去說過，我們正在關注；我想我們已經召集了一些加速器農場，大概有 15 個、20 個左右。事實上，這個數字不應該增加。

We want to have -- I think Russell just called it our R&D lab for farm operations. We want to have a meaningful number of farms to try a few things in parallel, maybe do some A/B testing, but not to really supplement our volume coming off our own farms. So when you think about even at the high end, 20 farms out of 425 family-owned farms right now, it's a very small number.

我們希望擁有——我認為拉塞爾剛剛稱它為我們的農場運營研發實驗室。我們希望有足夠數量的農場來同時嘗試一些事情，也許會做一些 A/B 測試，但不會真正補充我們自己農場的產量。所以，如果你想想，即使在高端，目前 425 個家庭農場中只有 20 個農場，這也是一個非常小的數字。

And as we keep growing the family farm network as a percentage of our total supply that will continue to decline. And with that, even if we are trying a few things there that might cost us a few dollars extra, the impact on gross margin from that is really negligible. And if anything, in the long term, it might actually lead to margin improvement because what we are trying to do is; for example, get more production out of the hens that we have. And that ultimately will lead to lower costs in the long term.

隨著家庭農場網路的不斷擴大，其在總供應量中所佔的比例將繼續下降。這樣，即使我們嘗試一些東西可能會多花幾美元，但對毛利率的影響確實可以忽略不計。從長遠來看，這實際上可能會導致利潤率的提高，因為我們正在嘗試做的是；例如，提高現有母雞的產出率。從長遠來看，這最終將降低成本。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員指令）

I will turn the call back to Anthony Bucalo for closing remarks.

我將把電話轉回給安東尼·布卡洛 (Anthony Bucalo) 來做結束語。

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

感謝大家對 Vital Farms 的支持。祝你有美好的一天。

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝大家的加入。您現在可以斷開連線。