Wendy's Co (WEN) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. Welcome to the Wendy's Company Earnings Results Conference Call. (Operator Instructions)

早安.歡迎參加溫迪公司獲利電話會議。 （操作員說明）

Kelsey Freed, Director of Investor Relations, you may begin your conference.

凱爾西·弗里德，投資者關係總監，您可以開始會議了。

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Today's conference call and webcast includes a PowerPoint presentation, which is available on our Investor Relations website, irwendys.com.

謝謝大家，大家早安。今天的電話會議和網路廣播包括 PowerPoint 簡報，您可以在我們的投資者關係網站 irwendys.com 上取得該簡報。

Before we begin, please take note of the safe harbor statement that appears at the end of our earnings release. This disclosure reminds investors that certain information we may discuss today is forward-looking. Various factors could affect our results and cause those results to differ materially from the projections set forth in our forward-looking statements. Also, some of today's comments will reference non-GAAP financial measures. Investors should refer to reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measure at the end of this presentation or in our earnings release.

在我們開始之前，請注意我們收益發布末尾出現的安全港聲明。本揭露提醒投資者，我們今天可能討論的某些資訊具有前瞻性。各種因素可能會影響我們的結果，並導致這些結果與我們前瞻性陳述中提出的預測有重大差異。此外，今天的一些評論將參考非公認會計準則財務指標。投資者應在本簡報末尾或我們的收益發布中參考非公認會計原則財務指標與最直接可比較的公認會計原則指標的調節表。

On our conference call today, our President and Chief Executive Officer, Kirk Tanner; will give a business update; and our Chief Financial Officer, Gunther Plosch, will provide a franchise health update, review our first quarter results and share our reaffirmed outlook.

在今天的電話會議上，我們的總裁兼執行長柯克‧坦納 (Kirk Tanner) 表示：將提供業務更新；我們的財務長 Gunther Plosch 將提供特許經營狀況更新、回顧我們第一季的業績並分享我們重申的前景。

From there, we will open up the line for questions. And with that, I'll hand things over to Kirk.

從那裡，我們將開放提問熱線。這樣，我就把事情交給柯克了。

Thanks, Kelsey, and good morning, everyone. The momentum we built across our business in the first quarter puts us on track to achieve our 2024 commitment and on path towards unlocking our full potential. But before we dive into the results, I wanted to share some of my thoughts on the business now that I'm almost 3 months in.

謝謝，凱爾西，大家早安。第一季我們在整個業務中建立的勢頭使我們有望實現 2024 年的承諾，並釋放我們的全部潛力。但在我們深入研究結果之前，我想分享我對這項業務的一些想法，因為我已經入職近 3 個月了。

The things that brought me to Wendy's still ring true. We have an amazing brand, the highest quality food in QSR and a great foundation for growth. And after spending time learning from our restaurant support team, listening to our franchisees and customers and working alongside our crew members, I'm even more fired up about the momentum we're building here at Wendy's. As I continue to immerse myself in the business, there's one thing I know for certain, the experience we deliver to our customers is the most impactful driver of our business.

讓我來到溫迪的那些事物仍然是真實的。我們擁有令人驚嘆的品牌、QSR 領域最優質的食品以及良好的成長基礎。在花時間向我們的餐廳支援團隊學習、傾聽我們的特許經營商和客戶的意見以及與我們的工作人員一起工作之後，我對我們在溫迪這裡建立的勢頭更加興奮。當我繼續沉浸在業務中時，我確信一件事，我們為客戶提供的體驗是我們業務最有影響力的驅動力。

I've now had a chance to see that firsthand in so many ways, from working in our restaurants to our incredible activation at the final four. You can expect to see us always put the customer first with the goal of exceeding their expectations in everything we do. We are committed to ensuring each interaction our customers have with us is brand building. As part of this commitment, we are reviewing every aspect of our business, and we'll come back to you later this year with our plans to deliver profitable growth over the short and long term.

我現在有機會在很多方面親眼目睹這一點，從在我們的餐廳工作到我們在四強賽中令人難以置信的積極性。您可以期待看到我們始終將客戶放在第一位，目標是在我們所做的一切中超越他們的期望。我們致力於確保客戶與我們的每一次互動都是品牌建立。作為這項承諾的一部分，我們正在審查我們業務的各個方面，我們將在今年稍後向您提供我們在短期和長期內實現盈利增長的計劃。

Those plans will be centered on three things: number one, driving strong same-restaurant sales growth in all our restaurants, including continued momentum in our digital channel. Number two, a significant acceleration in global net unit growth; and number three, unlocking meaningful improvements in restaurant-level profitability. Progress against these focus areas will provide the oxygen we need to build the Wendy's flywheel, enabling us to bring our ownable propositions of fresh, high-quality favorites at affordable prices to more people in more places.

這些計劃將集中在三件事上：第一，推動我們所有餐廳的同店銷售強勁成長，包括我們數位通路的持續成長動能。第二，全球淨單位成長顯著加速；第三，顯著提高餐廳層面的獲利能力。這些重點領域的進展將為我們提供製造溫迪飛輪所需的氧氣，使我們能夠以實惠的價格向更多地方的更多人提供新鮮、高品質的美食。

Turning now to our first quarter highlights. Global same-restaurant sales grew 90 basis points during the quarter. This ladder to 8.9% on a 2-year basis as we lapped our highest quarter in the prior year representing an acceleration of 120 basis points versus Q4. Our international business achieved 3.2% same-restaurant sales growth and 17.1% on a 2-year basis. This marks a 12th consecutive quarter of double-digit 2-year same-restaurant sales growth for our International segment and continued QSR burger category dollar and traffic share gains in Canada, our largest international market.

現在轉向我們第一季的亮點。本季全球同店銷售額成長 90 個基點。這一成長率在 2 年基礎上攀升至 8.9%，因為我們創下了上一年最高季度的成績，與第四季度相比增長了 120 個基點。我們的國際業務同店銷售額成長 3.2%，兩年成長 17.1%。這標誌著我們的國際部門連續第 12 個季度實現兩位數的兩年同店銷售額增長，以及我們最大的國際市場加拿大的 QSR 漢堡類別美元和客流量份額持續增長。

In the U.S., we delivered 60 basis points of same-restaurant sales growth and 7.8% on a 2-year basis, holding our dollar and traffic share position within the QSR burger category. Our Q1 performance was driven by carryover pricing that continued to support average check growth, partially offset by customer count declines. We exited the quarter with momentum as year-over-year customer count improved each month of Q1.

在美國，我們的同店銷售額成長了 60 個基點，兩年成長了 7.8%，維持了我們在 QSR 漢堡類別的美元和客流量份額地位。我們第一季的業績是由結轉定價推動的，結轉定價繼續支持平均支票成長，但部分被客戶數量下降所抵消。隨著第一季每個月客戶數量年增，我們以強勁的勢頭結束了本季。

Our breakfast strategy began to reaccelerate the daypart, driving high single-digit year-over-year growth in U.S. breakfast sales. This success was the result of delighting our customers through purpose-driven innovation with our Breakfast Burrito and Cinnabon Pull-Aparts, consistent quality and compelling value with our 2 for 3 Biggie bundle, and increased media support as we began spending incremental media dollars from our company investments.

我們的早餐策略開始重新加速時段，推動美國早餐銷售額年增高個位數成長。這一成功是透過我們的早餐捲餅和肉桂拉公寓的目標驅動創新、我們的2 for 3 Biggie 捆綁包的一致質量和令人信服的價值以及隨著我們開始從我們的媒體支出中增加媒體資金而增加的媒體支援來取悅我們的客戶的結果。

On the digital front, we continue to gain significant momentum reaching nearly 17% global digital sales mix and over 30% year-over-year increases in digital sales.

在數位化方面，我們持續保持強勁勢頭，全球數位化銷售額佔比接近 17%，數位化銷售額較去年同期成長超過 30%。

Our International segment grew to over 20% digital sales mix with strong digital adoption continuing in the U.K., Canada and much of our APMEA region. In the U.S., we drove meaningful increases in our mobile order and delivery channels, growing total digital sales by over 15% versus the prior quarter, and 35% year-over-year. This supported an acceleration in U.S. digital sales mix each month of the quarter for an average of over 16%. Our digital momentum resulted from the success of our March Madness programming, which highlighted our fresh, never frozen beef that our customers know and love alongside compelling offers within our mobile app.

我們的國際業務成長到數位銷售組合的 20% 以上，英國、加拿大和 APMEA 地區的大部分地區繼續大力採用數位技術。在美國，我們推動了行動訂單和交付管道的顯著成長，數位銷售總額比上一季成長了 15% 以上，年增了 35%。這使得美國數位銷售組合在本季每個月平均加速超過 16%。我們的數位化勢頭源於「瘋狂三月」計畫的成功，該計畫突出了我們的客戶了解和喜愛的新鮮、非冷凍牛肉，以及我們行動應用程式中引人注目的優惠。

This led to an increase in our monthly active users to over $6 million at quarter end, up over 40% versus Q4. Our total rewards members also increased to over $40 million, illustrating that our digital efforts are resonating with our customers. This growth drives the restaurant economic model and our progress across breakfast and digital supported a 60 basis point year-over-year increase in U.S. company-operated restaurant margin to 15.3%.

這使得我們的月度活躍用戶在季度末增加到超過 600 萬美元，比第四季度增長了 40% 以上。我們的會員獎勵總額也增加到超過 4000 萬美元，這表明我們的數位化努力正在引起客戶的共鳴。這種成長推動了餐廳經濟模式，我們在早餐和數位化方面的進步支持美國公司經營的餐廳利潤率年增 60 個基點，達到 15.3%。

Finally, our Q1 development progress achieved our expectation as we opened 35 new restaurants across the globe. Looking ahead, we remain focused on executing against our plan and investments through a customer-centric approach supporting profitable growth across our system. As we shared during our Q4 earnings call, our growth plans are supported by our breakfast and digital investment, alongside our strong development pipeline all of which support our restaurant economic model.

最後，我們第一季的發展進度達到了我們的預期，我們在全球開設了 35 家新餐廳。展望未來，我們仍然專注於透過以客戶為中心的方法執行我們的計劃和投資，以支持整個系統的獲利成長。正如我們在第四季度財報電話會議上分享的那樣，我們的成長計劃得到了早餐和數位投資的支持，以及我們強大的開發管道，所有這些都支持我們的餐廳經濟模式。

In 2024, we continue to expect global same-restaurant sales growth of 3% to 4%. As we look towards the rest of the year, this expectation implies that our 2-year growth for the remainder of the year will be roughly in line with what we delivered in Q1, driven by our company investment in breakfast advertising, which is already driving meaningful increase in U.S. breakfast sales, continued ownership of our biggest quality differentiators through our core menu, craveable innovation that excites our customers, and inspires more visits and compelling value that drives customer satisfaction and supports restaurant margin.

2024年，我們持續預期全球同店銷售額將成長3%至4%。當我們展望今年剩餘時間時，這一預期意味著我們今年剩餘時間的兩年成長將大致與我們在第一季實現的成長一致，這得益於我們公司對早餐廣告的投資，這已經在推動美國早餐銷售的顯著增長，透過我們的核心菜單繼續擁有我們最大的品質差異化優勢，令人興奮的創新激發了我們的客戶，並激發了更多的訪問和令人信服的價值，從而提高了客戶滿意度並支持了餐廳利潤。

We also remain on track to reach over $2 billion in global digital sales this year, supported by our digital investments, continued improvement of our digital customer experience in our app and our restaurants, and our increased ability to build personalized relationships with our growing base of loyalty members.

在我們的數位投資、應用程式和餐廳數位客戶體驗的持續改善以及我們與不斷增長的客戶群建立個性化關係的能力的支持下，我們今年的全球數位銷售額仍有望達到超過 20 億美元。會員。

Finally, our progress through Q1 supports our goal of 2-plus percent net unit growth in 2024, which includes approximately 250 to 300 new restaurant openings. This next phase of our profitable growth journey is just beginning. The progress we made in the first quarter highlights that we have the right investments and plans in place to begin our next chapter.

最後，我們第一季的進展支持了我們 2024 年單位淨增長 2% 以上的目標，其中包括開設約 250 至 300 家新餐廳。我們獲利成長之旅的下一階段才剛開始。我們在第一季的進展凸顯出我們擁有正確的投資和計劃來開始我們的下一個篇章。

With that, I'll hand it over to GP to walk through our first quarter financial results.

這樣，我將把它交給普通合夥人來查看我們第一季的財務表現。

Thanks, Kirk. Our first quarter results highlight the momentum we are building across our business. Our global system-wide sales grew 2.6%, contributing to year-over-year growth across our financials. Our U.S. company restaurant margin reached 15.3%, increasing 60 basis points year-over-year, primarily due to the benefit of a high average check driven by carryover pricing of over 3%, partially offset by customer count declines and an increase in labor costs driven by rate inflation of approximately 3.5%.

謝謝，柯克。我們第一季的業績凸顯了我們在整個業務中建立的勢頭。我們的全球全系統銷售額成長了 2.6%，促進了我們財務狀況的年增長。我們的美國公司餐廳利潤率達到 15.3%，年增 60 個基點，主要得益於超過 3% 的結轉定價推動的高平均支票收益，部分被顧客數量下降和勞動力成本增加所抵消受約3.5%的通貨膨脹率推動。

The increase in G&A was primarily driven by an increase in stock compensation and an increase in employee compensation and benefits. These were partially offset by lower outside professional services, driven by lapping implementation costs for the company's human capital management system in the prior year.

一般行政費用的增加主要是因為股票薪資的增加以及員工薪資和福利的增加所致。這些費用被上一年公司人力資本管理系統的實施成本降低所導致的外部專業服務減少所部分抵銷。

Adjusted EBITDA increased 1.8% to approximately $128 million resulting primarily from higher franchise royalty revenue and an increase in U.S. company-operated restaurant margin. These were partially offset by an increase in the company's incremental investment in breakfast advertising and higher G&A. The almost 10% increase in adjusted earnings per share was driven by fewer shares outstanding from our share repurchase program, an increase in adjusted EBITDA and lapping a decrease in investment income in the prior year. These were partially offset by higher depreciation and higher amortization of cloud computing arrangement costs.

調整後 EBITDA 成長 1.8%，達到約 1.28 億美元，主要是由於特許經營權收入增加和美國公司經營的餐廳利潤率增加。這些被公司早餐廣告增量投資的增加和更高的一般管理費用部分抵消。調整後每股盈餘成長近 10%，是由於我們的股票回購計畫導致發行在外股票減少、調整後 EBITDA 增加以及上一年投資收入下降。這些被雲端運算安排成本的較高折舊和較高攤銷部分抵銷。

Finally, the decrease in free cash flow resulted primarily from the company's incremental investment in breakfast advertising partially offset by the timing of receipt of vendor incentives.

最後，自由現金流的減少主要是由於公司在早餐廣告方面的增量投資被收到供應商激勵的時間部分抵消了。

Now let's turn to our expectations for 2024. Our financial outlook for 2024 remains unchanged, as our first quarter performance and plans across the year keep us on track to deliver on all our financial targets. We continue to expect strong global system-wide sales growth of 5% to 6%, U.S. company-operated restaurant margin of 16% to 17%, and G&A of $265 million to $275 million, resulting in our adjusted EBITDA outlook of approximately $535 million to $545 million. Our capital expenditure outlook for the year remains unchanged at $90 million to $100 million.

現在讓我們轉向對 2024 年的預期。我們持續預期全球全系統銷售額將強勁成長5% 至6%，美國公司經營的餐廳利潤率為16% 至17%，一般管理費用為2.65 億美元至2.75 億美元，調整後的EBITDA 前景約為5.35 億美元至 5.45 億美元。我們今年的資本支出展望維持在 9,000 萬至 1 億美元不變。

Lastly, we continue to expect free cash flow to grow to approximately $280 million to $290 million and are also reaffirming our adjusted EPS outlook of $0.98 to $1.02. Our focus on profitable growth is foundational to Wendy's and our reaffirmed outlook underscores this commitment.

最後，我們繼續預期自由現金流將成長至約 2.8 億至 2.9 億美元，並重申調整後每股盈餘預期為 0.98 至 1.02 美元。我們對獲利成長的關注是溫迪的基礎，我們重申的前景強調了這一承諾。

Now I'd like to highlight our capital allocation policy, which remains unchanged. Our first priority remains investing in profitable growth and our recent investments across our growth pillars showcase exactly that.

現在我想強調我們的資本配置政策，這項政策沒有改變。我們的首要任務仍然是投資於獲利成長，而我們最近對成長支柱的投資正好證明了這一點。

Secondly, we are committed to sustaining an attractive dividend. We announced today the declaration of our second quarter dividend of $0.25 per share and continue to expect a full year dividend of $1 per share in 2024.

其次，我們致力於維持有吸引力的股息。我們今天宣布宣布第二季股息為每股 0.25 美元，並繼續預計 2024 年全年股息為每股 1 美元。

Lastly, our capital allocation policy gives us the flexibility to utilize excess cash to repurchase shares and reduce debt. Year-to-date through April 25, we have repurchased approximately 0.6 million shares and have approximately $298 million remaining on our $500 million share repurchase authorization expiring in February of 2027.

最後，我們的資本配置政策使我們能夠靈活地利用多餘現金回購股票並減少債務。年初至今，截至 4 月 25 日，我們已回購約 60 萬股股票，5 億美元的股票回購授權將於 2027 年 2 月到期，剩餘資金約 2.98 億美元。

We are fully committed to delivering our simple, yet powerful formula. We are predictable, efficient growth company that is driving strong system-wide sales growth on the backdrop of positive same-restaurant sales and expanding our global footprint. This translates into significant free cash flow, which supports meaningful return of cash to shareholders through an attractive dividend and share repurchases.

我們完全致力於提供簡單而強大的配方。我們是一家可預測的、高效成長的公司，在同店銷售積極成長和擴大全球足跡的背景下，推動整個系統的銷售強勁成長。這轉化為大量的自由現金流，支持透過有吸引力的股息和股票回購為股東帶來有意義的現金回報。

Lastly, let's turn to our 2023 franchise financial results. Franchisee profitability remains a key focus area of ours that we have committed to providing visibility to. We are pleased that the strong 2023 performance we saw in our company-operated restaurants was also experienced by our U.S. and Canadian franchise systems. This growth is driven in part by the strong and productive partnership we continue to have with our franchisees. Our U.S. and Canadian franchisees achieved 4% and 6% year-over-year sales growth, respectively. This momentum contributed to strong EBITDA dollar growth year-over-year of approximately 9% in the U.S. and 25% in Canada.

最後，讓我們來看看我們 2023 年的特許經營財務業績。特許經營商的盈利能力仍然是我們的一個重點關注領域，我們致力於提供可見性。我們很高興看到我們公司自營餐廳在 2023 年取得了強勁的業績，我們的美國和加拿大特許經營系統也取得了同樣的成績。這種成長的部分原因是我們與特許經營者持續保持的強大而富有成效的合作夥伴關係。我們的美國和加拿大特許經營商的銷售額比去年同期分別成長 4% 和 6%。這一勢頭推動美國 EBITDA 年比強勁增長約 9%，加拿大增長 25%。

Franchisees strong restaurant EBITDA performance in 2023 supported an improvement in balance sheet health with lease adjusted leverage ratios improving year-over-year. We expect the sales and profit momentum to carry into this year just as we expect sales and margin expansion in our company-operated restaurants. This growth directly supports our new restaurant acceleration plan by putting our current franchisees in an even stronger position to build more restaurants aimed by continuing to attract new franchisees into the Wendy's system.

特許經營商 2023 年強勁的餐廳 EBITDA 表現支持了資產負債表健康狀況的改善，租賃調整後的槓桿率同比改善。我們預計今年的銷售和利潤動能將持續下去，就像我們預期公司經營的餐廳的銷售和利潤率會擴大一樣。這種增長直接支持了我們的新餐廳加速計劃，使我們現有的特許經營商處於更有利的地位，可以透過繼續吸引新的特許經營商進入溫迪系統來建立更多餐廳。

We look forward to achieving continued profitable growth together with our franchisees for years to come.

我們期待在未來幾年與我們的特許經營商一起實現持續的盈利增長。

With that, I will hand things over to Kelsey to share our upcoming IR calendar.

接下來，我將把事情交給凱爾西來分享我們即將推出的 IR 日曆。

Thanks, GP. This quarter, we will attend the Oppenheimer Conference on June 11, followed by the Evercore Conference on June 12. We'll then hold an investor call hosted by Guggenheim on June 18. Lastly, we plan to report our second quarter earnings and host a conference call that same day on August 1.

謝謝，全科醫生。本季度，我們將參加6 月11 日的奧本海默會議，然後是6 月12 日的Evercore 會議。我們計劃報告第二季收益並舉辦一次投資者電話會議。

As we transition to our Q&A section, I wanted to remind everyone that due to the high number of covering analysts, we will be limiting everyone to one question only. With that, we're ready to take your questions.

當我們過渡到問答部分時，我想提醒大家，由於涵蓋分析師的人數眾多，我們將限制每個人只回答一個問題。這樣，我們就準備好回答您的問題了。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Brian Bittner from Oppenheimer.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自奧本海默的 Brian Bittner。

It seems like the base case assumption from an industry perspective is that many feel the need to get more aggressive on value, which historically has caused more of a street fight dynamic within the quick service industry. And how do you feel that Wendy's is positioned if this is an environment that unfolds with intensity? And what weapons can you use to compete in a more value-focused environment? Because historically, you've actually competed pretty well when the industry resorts more to value.

從行業角度來看，基本情況假設似乎是許多人認為有必要在價值上變得更加激進，這在歷史上導致了快速服務業內更多的街頭鬥毆動態。如果這是一個充滿活力的環境，您認為 Wendy's 的定位如何？您可以使用什麼武器在更注重價值的環境中競爭？因為從歷史上看，當行業更多地訴諸價值時，你實際上已經表現得相當出色。

I think, that's a good question and a topic that a lot of folks are talking about. Let me give you my perspective for where Wendy's is. First, on a value standpoint, we have a platform that delivers everyday value. It's our Biggie platform consumers love that platform. That's an important part of the menu. And then separately, we're leveraging our digital communication to drive value. And it has a double benefit.

我認為這是一個很好的問題，也是很多人在談論的話題。讓我告訴你我對溫迪餐廳的看法。首先，從價值的角度來看，我們有一個可以提供日常價值的平台。這是我們的 Biggie 平台，消費者喜歡這個平台。這是菜單的重要組成部分。然後，我們分別利用數位通訊來推動價值。它有雙重好處。

One, it allows us to build loyalty. It allows us to add customers to our platform. It's an exciting way to engage, drive personalization. So value at Wendy's is going to be done with everyday value like our platform in Biggie and we'll continue to use digital value to drive loyalty and build our customers on our platform.

第一，它使我們能夠建立忠誠度。它允許我們將客戶添加到我們的平台。這是一種令人興奮的參與、推動個人化的方式。因此，Wendy's 的價值將透過日常價值來實現，就像我們在 Biggie 中的平台一樣，我們將繼續利用數位價值來提高忠誠度並在我們的平台上建立客戶。

I think, we're well positioned to deliver on value. But I would say it's a balance for us as well. If you look across our menu, go from premium, fresh all the way to value propositions. And I think that the structure of our menu and how we address customers allows us to win across consumer segments.

我認為，我們有能力實現價值。但我想說這對我們來說也是一種平衡。如果您查看我們的菜單，您會發現從優質、新鮮一直到價值主張。我認為我們的菜單結構以及我們對待客戶的方式使我們能夠贏得整個消費者群體。

Our next question comes from Jeffrey Bernstein from Barclays.

我們的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的傑弗裡·伯恩斯坦。

Great. I had a question on the unit growth outlook, which for years has been a big priority to accelerate. I think, you mentioned the 250 to 300 units this year. Kirk, I'm just wondering if you could talk a little bit about your early conversations with franchisees, both U.S. and international, maybe the time frame you think to accelerate that unit growth. Obviously, it is a more challenged macro and some would believe that franchisees might be a little bit more hesitant to put up more capital and accelerate growth. So your early thoughts on the unit growth outlook and the ability to accelerate in terms of franchisee demand would be great.

偉大的。我對單位成長前景有疑問，多年來一直是加速發展的重中之重。我想，你提到了今年的250到300台。柯克，我只是想知道您是否可以談談您與美國和國際特許經營商的早期對話，也許您認為加速該單位增長的時間框架。顯然，這是一個更具挑戰性的宏觀形勢，有些人認為特許經營者可能會在投入更多資本和加速成長方面更加猶豫。因此，您對單位成長前景和加盟商需求加速能力的早期想法將會很棒。

Jeffrey, thanks for the question, and good morning. Yes, I've had a lot of opportunities to talk to franchisees about this very topic. We talked a little bit about creating that flywheel, and that's why we share profitability for franchisees, and GP walked through that in the opening comments.

傑弗裡，謝謝你的提問，早安。是的，我有很多機會與加盟商談論這個話題。我們討論了一些關於創建飛輪的問題，這就是我們為特許經營商分享利潤的原因，GP 在開場評論中詳細介紹了這一點。

The ability to move faster -- let me give you just a little background. This year, we're talking about unit growth north of 2%. And then in '25, we're talking about 3% to 4% unit growth. And that's by looking at our development agreements where we have 90% confirmed right now. So you can see the short term.

更快行動的能力－讓我簡單介紹一下背景知識。今年，我們談論的單位成長率超過 2%。然後在 25 年，我們談論的是 3% 到 4% 的單位成長。這是透過查看我們的開發協議得出的，目前我們已經確認了 90%。所以你可以看到短期。

The long term for us has the ability to build this profitability. There's still a lot of runway both here in the U.S. and, of course, internationally, and we see that as a 30-70 split, 30% of our unit growth is going to come from the U.S., so still tons of potential. And 70% of that unit growth is going to come from outside the U.S.

從長遠來看，我們有能力建立這種獲利能力。在美國，當然，在國際上，還有很多跑道，我們認為以 30-70 的比例，我們的單位增長的 30% 將來自美國，因此仍然有巨大的潛力。其中 70% 的銷售成長將來自美國以外的地區。

And speaking to the franchisees, opening new restaurants really pay a dividend and they can see it themselves. The AUVs on a new restaurant outperform older legacy restaurants. And it's a big deal. So you'll see us continue to invest in platforms with our franchise to accelerate that. And there's a really good return when it comes to building new restaurants. There's an ability for us to continue to partner. But I would tell you, our outlook it's on track.

對加盟商來說，開設新餐廳確實能帶來紅利，他們自己也能看到。新餐廳的 AUV 性能優於老餐廳。這是一件大事。因此，您會看到我們繼續投資擁有我們特許經營權的平台，以加速這一進程。建造新餐廳可以獲得非常好的回報。我們有能力繼續合作。但我想告訴你，我們的前景正在步入正軌。

Our next question comes from Brian Harbour from Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的布萊恩哈伯。

Maybe just continuing that topic, could you comment on sort of, there were some unit closures in the first quarter. Do you think that, that sort of subsides through this year? Or -- should we expect some of those to continue and just comment on how that factors into your outlook?

也許只是繼續這個話題，你能評論一下嗎，第一季有一些單位關閉。您認為今年這種情況會減弱嗎？或者——我們是否應該期望其中一些會繼續下去，並就這些因素如何影響您的前景發表評論？

Brian. Yes, our unit performance was in line with our expectations. We opened 35 restaurants. We had closures, it's all with our rhythm in our business. We're expecting, as we said, 250 to 300 restaurants to open this year and expecting a little bit more than 100 closures for the year so that then if you do the math, gets you to the 2%-plus guidance range that we have. Nothing unusual is happening here. Everything went to plan.

布萊恩.是的，我們的單位表現符合我們的預期。我們開設了 35 家餐廳。我們曾經關閉過，這一切都與我們的業務節奏有關。正如我們所說，我們預計今年將有 250 至 300 家餐廳開業，並預計今年將關閉 100 家以上餐廳，因此，如果您進行數學計算，就會達到我們預測的 2% 以上的指導範圍。這裡沒有發生任何異常情況。一切都按計劃進行。

Our next question comes from David Palmer from Evercore ISI.

我們的下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 David Palmer。

Thanks. I just want to follow-up on the topic of franchisee cash flow, new unit returns in the U.S. What is the franchisee cash flow per restaurant? I think, it's north of $200,000 for '23, but maybe you can give an exact number there. And how does that compare to pre-COVID levels? And then separately, relatedly, what's the return on new units before considering any incentives?

謝謝。我只想跟進加盟商現金流、美國新單位回報的話題。我認為，23 年的價格超過 20 萬美元，但也許你可以給出一個確切的數字。與新冠疫情之前的水平相比如何？然後，在考慮任何激勵措施之前，新單位的回報率是多少？

We've heard that the building costs have gone up a lot during COVID and 30% plus. And so the returns before incentives have gotten quite low out there, at least that's what they're talking about in the lending community. So any visibility on that -- on those two things would be super helpful.

我們聽說新冠疫情期間建築成本上漲了很多，漲幅超過 30%。因此，激勵措施之前的報酬率已經相當低，至少貸款界是這麼說的。因此，任何對這兩件事的了解都會非常有幫助。

David. So on franchise profitability, we haven't given cash flow per restaurant out. What we are watching is definitely adjusted leverage ratios last year, that was about a little bit north of 5.5x. But we, for the calculation, we're using 8x rent. This time around, it is hovering at a little bit more than 5x, right? So we made significant progress. Our system got much, much healthier. I would also expect that the EBITDA performance in the franchise system in 2024 will follow the performance of the company restaurants. As you know, we are guiding for the U.S., 100 basis point expansion. So that obviously translates into EBITDA growth and should improve lease adjusted leverage ratios further and it obviously helps us on our journey of accelerating unit growth.

大衛。因此，在特許經營獲利能力方面，我們沒有給出每家餐廳的現金流量。我們看到的肯定是去年調整後的槓桿率，大約是 5.5 倍以上。但我們使用 8 倍租金來計算。這一次，它徘徊在 5 倍多一點點，對嗎？所以我們取得了重大進展。我們的系統變得更健康。我還預計 2024 年特許經營系統的 EBITDA 表現將跟隨公司餐廳的表現。如您所知，我們正在指導美國擴張 100 個基點。因此，這顯然會轉化為 EBITDA 成長，並應進一步提高租賃調整後的槓桿率，這顯然有助於我們加速單位成長。

In terms of returns, we've done a good job, I think, to contain building costs, if I remember 8 years ago, freestanding building would cost about $1.9 million. Our next chain restaurant that's now at a global building standard is also costing $1.9 million, 8 years later. So we've contained inflation as best as we could.

在回報方面，我認為我們在控制建築成本方面做得很好，如果我記得8年前，獨立式建築的成本約為190萬美元。 8 年後，我們下一家符合全球建築標準的連鎖餐廳也耗資 190 萬美元。因此，我們已盡最大努力遏制通貨膨脹。

From a return point of view, on a levered basis, the most attractive incentive program is build-to-suit, where you're getting a levered return in about 3.5 years. And if you have no incentives whatsoever, so that's the other book end, you're getting to about 6 years return. So relatively competitive. We have a lot of interest from franchisees to join the system, and that's obviously a great foundation to accelerate our growth.

從回報的角度來看，在槓桿基礎上，最具吸引力的激勵計劃是量身定制，您將在大約 3.5 年內獲得槓桿回報。如果你沒有任何激勵措施，那就是另一本書的結尾，你將獲得大約 6 年的回報。所以比較有競爭力。加盟商對加入系統非常感興趣，這顯然是加速我們發展的良好基礎。

Our question comes from Danilo Gargiulo.

我們的問題來自達尼洛·加吉烏洛。

I would like to continue again on the topic franchisee. And specifically correct, in your roundtables with franchisees, what is the one area of excitement that you heard more consistently? And what is the one area of opportunity that they're asking of you?

我想再次繼續討論加盟商這個話題。具體來說，在您與加盟商的圓桌會議上，您最常聽到的令人興奮的領域是什麼？他們要求您提供的機會領域是什麼？

Great question. Yes, the #1 excitement is building the daypart of breakfast. This gives a lot back to the franchisees. We've talked about it in the past. It allows us to build out and use the restaurant, use the labor model and build out a profitable daypart that we're -- we have still a lot of potential for us. So we've got a lot of system excitement around building that daypart that allows us to grow faster and grow our profits.

很好的問題。是的，第一大興奮就是早餐的一天。這給加盟商帶來了很多回報。我們過去已經討論過這個問題。它使我們能夠建造和使用餐廳，使用勞動力模式並建立一個有利可圖的時段，我們仍然有很大的潛力。因此，我們對建立該時段的系統感到非常興奮，這使我們能夠更快地發展並增加我們的利潤。

The big conversation that we're having with our franchisees is driving restaurant-level profitability. I think that, again, that's a good part of this flywheel that we want to create. So if we can expand margins by operating more efficiently, driving levels of productivity, those are meaningful partnerships that we are working on with our franchisees. And that's something that we're both in the boat together rolling on, because we feel like that will generate a lot of momentum for our future.

我們與特許經營商進行的重要對話正在推動餐廳層面的獲利能力。我認為，這也是我們想要創建的飛輪的一個很好的部分。因此，如果我們能夠透過更有效地運作、提高生產力水準來擴大利潤，那麼我們正在與特許經營者建立的合作關係就是有意義的。我們都在這艘船上共同前進，因為我們覺得這將為我們的未來帶來很大的動力。

Our next question comes from Alex Slagle from Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Alex Slagle。

I realize we're only 4 months into the year. But with the 3% to 4% comp guidance and the underlying assumption that just our burger traffic would be slightly positive, which I don't have hard data on, but now it's been a soft start. Indications seem to suggest a negative 1Q maybe negative trend for the year. But just kind of curious if this has an impact on your outlook at this point? Or I guess the incremental offsets do you envision and the flexibility. I know the investments give you a lot of positive optimism but thoughts there.

我意識到今年才剛過去 4 個月。但有了 3% 到 4% 的補償指導，以及我們的漢堡流量會略有上升的基本假設，我沒有硬數據，但現在這是一個軟啟動。有跡象表明，第一季的負值可能預示著今年的負趨勢。但只是有點好奇這是否會對您目前的觀點產生影響？或者我猜你所設想的增量偏移和靈活性。我知道這些投資給了你很多正面的樂觀情緒，但也有一些想法。

Good morning, Alex. Yes, we will be comfortable with our unchanged global SRS outlook of 3% to 4%. And as you have heard from the prepared remarks, both in the U.S., in international and global, we accelerated versus quarter 4 on a 2-year basis, right, our 2-year stack in the first quarter was 8.9%. If you take our guidance into consideration, you will find that for the rest of the year, our 2-year stack is about in line with the first quarter.

早安，亞歷克斯。是的，我們對全球 SRS 前景保持不變（3% 至 4%）感到滿意。正如您從準備好的發言中聽到的那樣，無論是在美國、國際還是全球，我們在兩年的基礎上都比第四季度有所加速，對吧，我們第一季的兩年堆棧為8.9%。如果您考慮我們的指導，您會發現在今年剩餘時間裡，我們的兩年堆疊與第一季基本一致。

From a programming point of view, we feel really good. Right we started to spend money on Breakfast in the second half of the quarter and achieved already high single-digit sales growth that will accelerate. We are spending more money on it. Also from a programming point of view for rest of day, right, we have a great focus on core. We are spending a good amount of money on digital. We have more innovation coming out on Frosty, there is more innovation coming out of chicken lineup. So all of that we think there is a good level of momentum, especially since we increased traffic every single month of the quarter. So comfortable with the outlook like the marketing plan for the year to go and guidance is realistic.

從程式設計的角度來看，我們感覺非常好。正確的是，我們從本季下半年開始在早餐上花錢，並實現了已經很高的個位數銷售成長，並將加速。我們正在為此花費更多的錢。同樣從程式設計的角度來看，今天剩下的時間，我們非常關注核心。我們在數位化方面投入了大量資金。我們在 Frosty 上推出了更多創新，在雞肉系列上也推出了更多創新。因此，我們認為所有這些都具有良好的勢頭，特別是因為我們每個季度的流量都在增加。對未來一年的行銷計劃和指導是現實的前景如此滿意。

Our next question comes from Eric Gonzalez from KeyBanc Capital Markets.

我們的下一個問題來自 KeyBanc Capital Markets 的 Eric Gonzalez。

Thanks for the question. Maybe if you could speak a little bit more about dayparts. You have the high single-digit growth at breakfast, which I suspect is well above the industry's growth rate, but perhaps expected given the investments. So first, how much of your incremental investment did you deploy in the first quarter? That's the first part.

謝謝你的提問。也許你能多談談白天的情況。早餐時的成長率很高，我懷疑這遠高於產業的成長率，但考慮到投資，這也許是預期的。首先，您在第一季部署了多少增量投資？這是第一部分。

And then the second part is, presumably with a low single-digit comp growth in the U.S., it appears that the other dayparts were underperforming the industry. So perhaps you could comment on how the lunch new dayparts fare in the quarter and maybe what are some of the growth drivers in place to reaccelerate those trends?

第二部分是，大概由於美國的複合成長率較低，其他時段的表現似乎遜於產業。因此，也許您可以評論一下本季午餐新時段的表現，以及重新加速這些趨勢的一些成長動力是什麼？

Thanks for the question. On breakfast, let me start with that one. We really only spent about $2.5 million, because we activated late in March for breakfast. So we saw that performance, and we just started the investment. And maybe the question is why did you wait that long? I think that -- it was really important for us to get system-wide alignment with our franchisees. We've added a couple of menu items like Breakfast Burrito and Cinnabon Pull-Aparts. So we wanted to get that lined up and then we started to spend the money so that we had great activation in the restaurant. So we see that momentum continuing.

謝謝你的提問。關於早餐，讓我從早餐開始。我們實際上只花了大約 250 萬美元，因為我們是在 3 月底啟動早餐的。所以我們看到了這樣的表現，然後我們就開始了投資。也許問題是你為什麼等那麼久？我認為——對我們來說，在整個系統範圍內與我們的特許經營商保持一致非常重要。我們添加了一些菜單項，例如早餐捲餅和肉桂拉公寓。所以我們想把它排好，然後我們開始花錢，這樣我們就能在餐廳裡得到很好的啟動。所以我們看到這種勢頭仍在繼續。

So just really 1 quarter -- 1 month of investment and you've got a lot to look forward to on the breakfast side. We also saw momentum on the evening daypart that continues to late-night daypart has been successful for us. We saw a lot of momentum in that regard. So we see that continuing and our menu sets up for that as well.

因此，只需 1 個季度 - 1 個月的投資，您就可以在早餐方面有很多期待。我們也看到了晚間時段的勢頭一直持續到深夜時段，這對我們來說是成功的。我們在這方面看到了很大的動力。所以我們看到這種情況仍在繼續，我們的菜單也為此設定了。

Overall, we held share across the dayparts. I think, that's important. There's still opportunities for us to accelerate, but we're in a competitive position right now where we held share across traffic and dollar across all those dayparts.

總體而言，我們在各個時段都佔據了份額。我認為，這很重要。我們仍然有機會加速發展，但我們目前處於競爭地位，我們在所有這些時段的流量和美元方面都佔有份額。

Our next question comes from Jim Salera from Stephens Inc.

我們的下一個問題來自 Stephens Inc. 的 Jim Salera。

This is Tyler on for Jim. I was going to see if you can update on consumer and how they might be interacting with your brand by income cohort or daypart?

這是泰勒替吉姆發言。我想看看您是否可以了解消費者的最新情況，以及他們如何按收入群體或時段與您的品牌互動？

Yes. So income cohort, a couple of messages. I would say, definitely, the consumer is still under pressure. We are seeing this -- despite that, we obviously performed well. We maintained share on the traffic on dollar side. We are splitting income cohorts in income households below $75,000. They are definitely under pressure. They're reducing frequency and so visitation is down. We're maintaining share with that cohort. On the other side, we -- there's more traffic and more frequency on the higher income consumer, we are again maintaining share with that income cohort.

是的。收入群體，有幾條訊息。我想說，毫無疑問，消費者仍然面臨壓力。我們看到了這一點——儘管如此，我們顯然表現良好。我們維持了美元方面的流量份額。我們正在對收入低於 75,000 美元的家庭進行收入分組。他們肯定承受著壓力。他們減少了頻率，因此訪問量下降了。我們正在保持與該群體的份額。另一方面，高收入消費者的流量和頻率更高，我們再次保持與該收入群體的份額。

So it's not a new trend. It's a trend we have seen in quarter 4 that we have seen continuing in quarter 1. As we are looking at the category outlook, we think it will accelerate for year to go. So there will be a little bit of tailwind that's also kind of shared, that view is also shared together with our research agency that we use.

所以這不是一個新趨勢。這是我們在第四季度看到的趨勢，並且在第一季仍在繼續。因此，也會有一些共享的順風，這種觀點也與我們使用的研究機構一起分享。

Our next question comes from Dennis Geiger from UBS.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的丹尼斯蓋革。

I just wanted to ask one on the digital side of things, given the impressive results there in the quarter. Maybe just if you were surprised by the digital strength or based on the focus and the investment there if the digital performance kind of went as planned. And maybe just based on the strength you saw and then maybe some of the value -- compelling value offers on digital that you had in the quarter, what that maybe means going forward over the balance of the year as you think about continuing to attract folks to the app and what that value digital strategy might look like.

鑑於本季令人印象深刻的業績，我只是想問一下數字方面的問題。也許只是你對數字實力感到驚訝，或者基於數字性能按計劃進行的情況下的關注和投資。也許只是基於您看到的實力，然後也許是一些價值——您在本季度所擁有的令人信服的數位化價值優惠，當您考慮繼續吸引人們時，這可能意味著在今年餘下的時間裡繼續前進該應用程式以及價值數位策略可能會是什麼樣子。

Thanks for the question. Yes. We are delighted with the digital performance. We still think we have a lot of runway. I would say it was planned. We put a big effort to do 360 advertising around this digital platform with the final 4, that saw a lot of traction that saw a lot of loyalty uptick. We added -- now we're at about 40 million people on the platform. Our average monthly users went up to about 6 million. So we saw some significant momentum. We see this as a really positive tool to create this loyalty and engagement allows us to understand our customer better.

謝謝你的提問。是的。我們對數位性能感到滿意。我們仍然認為我們有很多跑道。我想說這是計劃好的。我們投入了大量精力圍繞這個數位平台進行 360 度廣告，最後的 4 個廣告吸引了許多人，忠誠度也大幅提高。我們補充道，目前該平台上的用戶數量約為 4,000 萬人。我們的平均每月用戶數量達到了約 600 萬。所以我們看到了一些重要的動力。我們認為這是一個非常積極的工具，可以創造這種忠誠度和參與度，使我們能夠更好地了解客戶。

We still think that there's still a lot of runway for us. So we're going to continue to invest in our app. We're going to continue to invest in our loyalty platform, because we think this is certainly an avenue. We like it for a lot of reasons. And one of the reasons I like it the most is when we have a digital order, it's a larger order. It has a nice impact to our profitability and our restaurants. So I'm excited about the potential that we still have and delighted with the traction that we've created in Q1.

我們仍然認為我們還有很多跑道。因此，我們將繼續投資我們的應用程式。我們將繼續投資我們的忠誠度平台，因為我們認為這肯定是一條途徑。我們喜歡它有很多原因。我最喜歡它的原因之一是當我們有數字訂單時，它是一個更大的訂單。它對我們的盈利能力和餐廳產生了很好的影響。因此，我對我們仍然擁有的潛力感到興奮，並對我們在第一季創造的吸引力感到高興。

Our next question comes from Gregory Francfort from Guggenheim Securities.

我們的下一個問題來自古根漢證券公司的格雷戈里·弗蘭克福特。

Thanks for the question. GP, maybe this is for you. But -- can you just talk a little bit about the commodity basket for the balance of the year? We've all kind of seen a big spike in hamburger prices, but when you guys had a great quarter from a margin perspective and particularly on COGS. So just the pushes and pulls on what you're seeing from that as you go forward.

謝謝你的提問。 GP，也許這適合你。但是——您能簡單談談今年剩餘時間的商品籃子嗎？我們都看到了漢堡價格的大幅上漲，但是從利潤率角度來看，特別是在銷貨成本方面，你們度過了一個很棒的季度。因此，當你前進時，只是你所看到的推動和拉動。

Greg. Yes. So in the first quarter, we had flat commodity inflation and labor inflation of about 3.5%. Despite that, we managed to enhance U.S. company margin by 60 basis points. From a commodity outlook point of view, it's unchanged. I told you last time, it's flat, it remains flat. We obviously have gained a little bit more visibility now. About 80% of our commodity basket is now locked down.

格雷格.是的。因此，第一季度，商品通膨持平，勞動力通膨約 3.5%。儘管如此，我們還是成功地將美國公司的利潤率提高了 60 個基點。從大宗商品前景來看，沒有改變。我上次告訴你，它是平的，它仍然是平的。顯然，我們現在獲得了更多的知名度。我們大約 80% 的商品籃子現在已被鎖定。

We continue to expect that beef and fries are inflationary and chicken remains deflationary for us. So overall, things are going to plan. Very comfortable with the commodity outlook we have.

我們仍然預計牛肉和薯條會導致通貨膨脹，而雞肉對我們來說仍然會導致通貨緊縮。所以總的來說，事情都會照計劃進行。對我們的商品前景非常滿意。

Our next question comes from Lauren Silberman from Deutsche Bank.

我們的下一個問題來自德意志銀行的勞倫‧西爾伯曼。

I wanted to just follow up on the same-store sales outlook on the 2-year stack. It implies a pretty meaningful 1-year acceleration throughout the year. Is it right for us to assume you expect 1 year trend to build throughout the year? Anything you're willing to share on what you're seeing quarter-to-date? And then are you seeing any differences across regions?

我只想跟進兩年的同店銷售前景。這意味著全年將出現相當有意義的一年加速。我們假設您預期全年趨勢會持續形成，這樣的假設是否正確？您願意分享本季至今所看到的情況嗎？那麼您是否發現不同地區之間有差異？

Yes, I can give you a little bit of color by quarter. So we definitely are expecting on a 1-year basis, to see a step up in quarter 2 versus quarter 1 and then a further step up in quarter 3. So that's how that's going to lay out, as I said, for the year to go. The 2-year stack is very well in line with what we had in the first quarter. From a regional difference point of view, as you know, there's always regional differences. We don't go into that level of detail, but we are happy with our performance across the whole system.

是的，我可以按季度給你一點顏色。因此，我們肯定預計在一年的基礎上，第二季度將比第一季度有所提升，然後第三季度將進一步提升。兩年的堆疊與我們第一季的情況非常一致。從區域差異的角度來看，如您所知，區域差異總是存在的。我們不會詳細討論這一點，但我們對整個系統的表現感到滿意。

Our next question comes from Andrew Straus from BMO Capital Markets.

我們的下一個問題來自 BMO 資本市場的 Andrew Straus。

This is Jared Hludzinski on for Andrew Strelzik. So I wanted to touch about -- touch on the planned $55 million company investment into breakfast advertising over the next 2 years. And I was hoping to get your thoughts on it more investments might be required there if we kind of remain in a more vocal competitive environment. And just putting that into the context of the high single-digit U.S. breakfast sales growth in the quarter relative to your target to achieve 50% sales growth over the next 2 years?

我是安德魯‧斯特雷齊克 (Andrew Strelzik) 的賈里德‧赫魯津斯基 (Jared Hludzinski)。所以我想談談公司計劃在未來 2 年內投資 5,500 萬美元用於早餐廣告。我希望了解您的想法，如果我們保持在一個更激烈的競爭環境中，可能需要更多的投資。與您在未來 2 年內實現 50% 的銷售成長目標相比，本季美國早餐銷售成長了個位數？

Yes, our perspective on investments needed to reach our potentially in breakfast is unchanged, right? We told you guys about $55 million, roughly split 50-50 between $24 million and $25 million. That started to ramp up. We are -- basically allows us and always on message to keep reminding consumers that we have the best breakfast in the business, drive trial and repeat out of it. So for the time being, there is no change in opinion.

是的，我們對實現早餐潛力所需的投資的看法沒有改變，對吧？我們告訴你們大約 5500 萬美元，大致分為 2400 萬至 2500 萬美元之間的 50-50 部分。這種情況開始加劇。我們基本上允許我們始終發布訊息，不斷提醒消費者我們提供業內最好的早餐，推動試用並重複使用。所以暫時來說，意見沒有改變。

We are obviously watching the performance closely, the financial returns we get out of it. So far, I feel good about it. And this, as Kirk explained, right, we will not full on from a media pressure point of view -- from an incremental media pressure point of view, in the first quarter, we took our time to line up our innovation for it. And there's obviously more to come. And we know what works in the breakfast business. You need to offer value on a regular basis, so the [2] for $3 is a construct we have out there is resonating well.

顯然，我們正在密切關注業績以及我們從中獲得的財務回報。到目前為止，我感覺很好。正如柯克所解釋的那樣，我們不會從媒體壓力的角度充分考慮這一點——從增量媒體壓力的角度來看，在第一季度，我們花了時間為此進行創新。顯然還有更多的事情要做。我們知道早餐行業的行之有效的方法。您需要定期提供價值，因此 3 美元的 [2] 是我們現有的一個能夠引起良好共鳴的結構。

Mix in innovation plus remind consumers that, hey, you should try the best breakfast in town. All of that continuing to repeating that will get us on our way to our potential of about $6,000 per restaurant per week.

融入創新，並提醒消費者，嘿，您應該嘗試城裡最好的早餐。所有這些不斷重複，將使我們朝著每家餐廳每週約 6,000 美元的潛力邁進。

Our next question comes from Sara Senatore from Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Sara Senatore。

I had a question about pricing. I think, the pricing that you're running is below what your direct competitors are doing. And so, I guess, I have two questions about that. One is, I think, your franchisees perhaps have seen more margin compression over the last couple of years. So is the expectation that you can claw back all of the margin or your franchisees kind of willing to wait on that margin percentage if it means that they can underprice competitors. So I guess it's a broader question about value and your franchisees sort of tolerance or willingness to pursue that?

我有一個關於定價的問題。我認為，您的定價低於您的直接競爭對手的定價。因此，我想我對此有兩個問題。我認為，其中之一是，您的特許經營商在過去幾年中可能看到了更多的利潤壓縮。因此，您可以收回所有利潤，或者您的特許經營商願意等待該利潤率（如果這意味著他們可以以低於競爭對手的價格），這也是期望。所以我想這是一個更廣泛的問題，涉及價值以及您的加盟商是否願意追求這一點？

And I guess the second question is, what is your definition of value? Do you see an increasing need for like price point value or these sort of focus on bundled value. And I know you talked about this a little bit at the beginning of the Q&A, but I'm trying to understand sort of the value contract.

我想第二個問題是，你對價值的定義是什麼？您是否認為對價格點價值或對捆綁價值的關注的需求不斷增加？我知道您在問答開始時談到了這一點，但我正在嘗試理解某種價值契約。

Sara, you packed a couple of questions in there. So on the system, we had a -- we had a little bit more than 4% pricing. So you're right, it was a little bit below food away from home inflation. Most of it was carryover pricing. Franchisees are actually happy with the financial progress they made in 2023, right? When you grow U.S. profits in the system by 9%, the Canadians are really happy. They grow the profit by 25%. So there's -- there is definitely good alignment there, and we're not stopping there. We're going to, for sure, push profitability further.

薩拉，你在那裡提出了幾個問題。因此，在系統上，我們的定價略高於 4%。所以你是對的，它略低於食品通膨。其中大部分是結轉定價。加盟商實際上對 2023 年的財務進展感到滿意，對嗎？當美國在該體系中的利潤增長 9% 時，加拿大人真的很高興。他們的利潤成長了 25%。所以，那裡肯定有良好的一致性，而且我們不會就此止步。當然，我們將進一步提高獲利能力。

I have to say we're going to stay careful on pricing. We've always said that. We are expecting low single-digit pricing that the system is going to execute this year. I don't think we're going to get too greedy. Flow-through on pricing remains 70% to 80%. And we need to be careful, right? So we have an external pricing consultant out there that helps the system to make sure we're making the right pricing decisions. And so that's kind of our outlook in life.

我不得不說我們將在定價上保持謹慎。我們一直這麼說。我們預計該系統今年將執行較低的個位數定價。我不認為我們會變得太貪婪。定價流通率維持在 70% 至 80%。我們需要小心，對吧？因此，我們有一名外部定價顧問來幫助系統確保我們做出正確的定價決策。這就是我們的人生觀。

From a value point of view, kirk, do you want to talk a little bit more about that?

從價值的角度來看，柯克，你想多談談嗎？

Yes. I mentioned it earlier. Look, I think we're positioned well with value. One, we have a menu item that is, I'd say, consumer famous in Biggie. So consumers know they can get great value at Wendy's. I think that's in concert with the rest of the menu where we have balance. So we have the ability to reach consumers across multiple demographics.

是的。我之前有提到過。看，我認為我們的定位很好，具有價值。第一，我們有一個菜單項，我想說，它是 Biggie 中著名的消費者。因此，消費者知道他們可以在 Wendy’s 獲得超值的體驗。我認為這與我們保持平衡的菜單的其餘部分是一致的。因此，我們有能力涵蓋多個人群的消費者。

And then, I think that you'll see us continue to use our digital platform to drive value. I think those are the key things. I feel like we're well positioned to win customers over in this environment.

然後，我認為您會看到我們繼續使用我們的數位平台來推動價值。我認為這些都是關鍵的事情。我覺得我們有能力在這種環境下贏得客戶。

Our last question comes from John Ivankoe from JPMorgan.

我們的最後一個問題來自摩根大通的約翰·伊万科。

The question is on U.K., Europe. First, just remind us how many units we had in the U.K. at the end of the first quarter. And what are you really looking for there to really go for a more scale-driven strategy? I mean, I don't need to tell you. I mean, you're a relatively small fraction of some of your peers, which have been in the market in some cases, decades. But are you seeing the kind of performance where you say you should have hundreds of stores in the U.K. These guys kind of like the first question of the economics would support that.

問題是關於英國和歐洲。首先，請提醒我們第一季末我們在英國有多少單位。您真正想要什麼來真正實現更具規模驅動的策略？我的意思是，我不需要告訴你。我的意思是，你只是一些同行中相對較小的一部分，這些同行在某些情況下已經進入市場數十年了。但是你是否看到了你說你應該在英國擁有數百家商店的那種表現？

And secondly, Kirk, as you have more time in the seat, how are you thinking about Continental Europe? And as I think about the percentage of your international development that you do expect to come from U.K. and Europe, I know you gave the split between U.S. international, if we can just dive one step further in terms of how important the U.K. Europe strategy is in terms of future contribution to that growth?

其次，柯克，由於您有更多的時間在座位上，您如何看待歐洲大陸？當我想到你們確實期望來自英國和歐洲的國際發展百分比時，我知道你們給出了美國國際之間的分歧，如果我們能進一步了解英國歐洲戰略的重要性的話未來對增長的貢獻是什麼？

John, maybe I'll kick it off. So from a numbers point of view, we had 37 restaurants in the U.K. at the end of the first quarter, 12 of which were -- 12 of them were company operations. To give you a little bit on -- from a margin point of view in the U.K. as you probably have seen already the impact of the investments we are making in the U.K. had an adverse impact on our consolidated margin of about 60 basis points. Interesting enough, however, year-over-year, our consolidated margin improved by 90 basis points.

約翰，也許我會開始吧。因此，從數字的角度來看，截至第一季末，我們在英國擁有 37 家餐廳，其中 12 家是——其中 12 家是公司經營的。從英國利潤率的角度來看，您可能已經看到我們在英國進行的投資對我們的綜合利潤率產生了約 60 個基點的不利影響。然而，有趣的是，我們的綜合利潤率比去年同期提高了 90 個基點。

So more of an improvement that we have seen in the U.S. Also we are making progress in U.K. profitability. We continue to expect for the year headwind on the U.K. operations in our consolidated margin of about 50 basis points.

因此，我們在美國看到了更多的改善，而且我們在英國的獲利能力方面也取得了進展。我們繼續預期今年英國業務將面臨阻力，綜合利潤率將下降約 50 個基點。

From a short-term outlook, we would expect to have by the end of the year, about 48 -- 45 to 50 restaurants in the U.K. We're building company restaurants and obviously, we have signed up several franchise partners that's very excited investing in the business help us develop that market.

從短期前景來看，我們預計到今年年底將在英國擁有約 48 - 45 至 50 家餐廳。我們開發該市場。

We've always said that U.K. is a key strategic market for us, is kind of the beachhead for the rest of Europe. We absolutely expect that over time, that market should yield 400 restaurants for us. We'll see how long that takes us, but that we believe is our fair share in that market. As you also know, we are exploring Continental Europe with the prime candidates that we have always talked about, Ireland and Spain. So it's (inaudible) what we have on that. Kirk, do you want to...

我們一直說英國是我們的一個關鍵策略市場，也是歐洲其他地區的灘頭堡。我們絕對預計，隨著時間的推移，該市場將為我們帶來 400 家餐廳。我們將看看這需要多長時間，但我們相信這是我們在該市場中的公平份額。如您所知，我們正在與我們一直談論的主要候選人愛爾蘭和西班牙一起探索歐洲大陸。這就是我們所擁有的（聽不清楚）。柯克，你想...

Yes. No, I think you nailed it GP. The opportunity is there for us. I think, we have a great deal of potential -- the U.K., as GP mentioned, is a beachhead, and we continue to work across Europe right now. So we do think that, that is a significant opportunity for us. And we think by getting the U.K. right, we're in a great position to continue to grow in the U.K. to 400 units. That's the potential.

是的。不，我認為你已經把它搞定了，GP。機會就在我們身邊。我認為，我們有很大的潛力——正如 GP 所說，英國是一個灘頭陣地，我們現在繼續在整個歐洲開展工作。所以我們確實認為這對我們來說是一個重要的機會。我們認為，透過在英國做好準備，我們將處於有利地位，可以繼續將英國的銷售量增加到 400 輛。這就是潛力。

And then outside the U.K., leveraging the business there to be the beachhead for the rest of Western Europe. So we feel really strong about that opportunity. Thanks for the question.

然後在英國以外，利用那裡的業務成為西歐其他地區的灘頭。所以我們對這個機會感到非常強烈。謝謝你的提問。

Thanks, John. That was our last question of the call. Thanks, everyone, for participating this morning. We look forward to speaking with you again on our second quarter call in August. Have a great day. You may now disconnect.

謝謝，約翰。這是我們電話會議的最後一個問題。謝謝大家今天早上的參與。我們期待在八月的第二季電話會議上再次與您交談。祝你有美好的一天。您現在可以斷開連線。