Wendy's Co (WEN) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. Welcome to The Wendy's Company earnings results conference call. (Operator Instructions)

早安.歡迎參加溫迪公司收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）

Thank you. You may begin your conference.

謝謝。您可以開始您的會議了。

Good morning, and thank you for joining our fiscal 2024 third quarter earnings conference call. After this brief introduction, Kirk Tanner, President and Chief Executive Officer, will provide a business update and then Gunter Plosch, Chief Financial Officer, will review our third quarter results and share our updated financial outlook. From there, we will open up the line for questions.

早安，感謝您參加我們的 2024 財年第三季財報電話會議。在簡短介紹之後，總裁兼首席執行官柯克·坦納(Kirk Tanner) 將提供業務最新情況，然後首席財務官岡特·普洛斯(Gunter Plosch) 將回顧我們第三季度的業績並分享我們最新的財務前景。從那裡，我們將開放提問熱線。

Today's conference call and webcast includes a presentation which is available on our Investor Relations website, ir.wendys.com.

今天的電話會議和網路廣播包括一個演示文稿，可在我們的投資者關係網站 ir.wendys.com 上查看。

Before we begin, please take note of the safe harbor statement that appears at the end of today's earnings release. This disclosure reminds investors that certain information we discuss today is forward-looking and reflects our current expectations about future plans and performance. Various factors could affect our results and cause those results to differ materially from the projections set forth in our forward-looking statements.

在我們開始之前，請注意今天收益發布末尾出現的安全港聲明。本揭露提醒投資者，我們今天討論的某些資訊具有前瞻性，反映了我們目前對未來計劃和業績的預期。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。

Also, some of today's comments will reference non-GAAP financial measures. Investors should refer to our reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measure at the end of this presentation or in today's earnings release. If you have questions following today's conference call, please contact me.

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今天的收益發布中參考我們對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。如果您在今天的電話會議後有任何疑問，請與我聯絡。

I will now hand it over to Kirk.

我現在將其交給柯克。

Good morning, everyone, and thank you, Aaron. As many of you know, Aaron joined us in September to lead Investor Relations, and we are excited to have him aboard. I'm going to start with some high-level results and drivers in the quarter, and then we'll get into some of the initiatives we are working on to strengthen the Wendy's brand and its operations across the company and our franchisees. I'll then hand it over to GP to talk more about our third quarter performance and updated outlook.

大家早安，謝謝你，亞倫。正如你們許多人所知，Aaron 在 9 月加入我們，負責領導投資者關係，我們很高興他加入。我將從本季度的一些高水平業績和驅動因素開始，然後我們將討論我們正在採取的一些舉措，以加強溫迪品牌及其在整個公司和特許經營商的運營。然後我會將其交給普通合夥人，更多地討論我們第三季度的業績和最新的前景。

During the third quarter, our restaurants continue to grow sales as global system-wide and same-restaurant sales grew 1.8% and 0.2%, respectively. In the U.S., we remain competitive as we held traffic share within the QSR burger category, which has been a bit more challenging than we anticipated coming into the third quarter. Our team's focused execution allowed us to also maintain dollar share driven by consumer demand for our craveable core items, our impactful innovation and relevant value.

第三季度，我們的餐廳銷售額持續成長，全球全系統銷售額和同餐廳銷售額分別成長 1.8% 和 0.2%。在美國，我們保持競爭力，因為我們在 QSR 漢堡類別中保持了流量份額，這比我們預期的第三季更具挑戰性。我們團隊的專注執行使我們能夠保持由消費者對我們令人渴望的核心產品、我們有影響力的創新和相關價值的需求所驅動的美元份額。

The morning daypart continues to be a compelling growth opportunity, delivering a mid-single-digit sales increase compared to the prior year. Late night sales also delivered strong performance, growing sales at a high single-digit percentage compared to the prior year, driven by momentum in our delivery and digital businesses.

早間時段仍然是一個引人注目的成長機會，與去年相比，銷售額實現了中個位數的成長。在我們的配送和數位業務動能的推動下，深夜銷售也表現強勁，與前一年相比，銷售額以高個位數百分比成長。

In our International segment, we achieved high single-digit system-wide sales growth driven by nearly 100 new restaurant openings through the end of the third quarter. International same-restaurant sales growth was led by our Canadian market, including a high-teen percentage growth in breakfast traffic.

在我們的國際部門，截至第三季末新開的近 100 家餐廳推動我們實現了全系統銷售額的高個位數成長。國際同店銷售成長由加拿大市場帶動，其中早餐客流量實現了高百分比的成長。

Now turning to our digital business. Global digital sales grew almost 40% year-over-year led by our U.S. segment delivering over 17% digital sales mix. This growth was supported by enhancements to the Wendy's app that have enabled us to deliver an improved user experience. We now have about 45 million reward members enrolled, now that's up from 43 million at the end of the second quarter.

現在轉向我們的數位業務。全球數位銷售年增近 40%，其中美國部門的數位銷售組合佔比超過 17%。這一增長得益於 Wendy's 應用程式的增強，使我們能夠提供更好的用戶體驗。我們現在約有 4,500 萬名註冊獎勵會員，高於第二季末的 4,300 萬。

In addition, we opened 64 new Wendy's restaurants globally during the third quarter and remain on track to meet our goal of 250 to 300 openings for the full year.

此外，第三季我們在全球新開了 64 家 Wendy's 餐廳，並有望實現全年新開設 250 至 300 家餐廳的目標。

Turning now to some of the initiatives I'm working on with the team. As most of you know, I have now been in the role 9 months, and I can tell you, I'm even more optimistic today on the potential for our brand and opportunities for the near and long-term growth. As we look ahead, we are focused on continuing to build love for Wendy's by delivering on our new brand promise, fresh, famous food made right for you every time in every restaurant for every customer every day. It means that we're doubling down on operational excellence, ensuring customers receive the same excellent experience across every Wendy's restaurant.

現在談談我正在與團隊合作的一些舉措。正如你們大多數人所知，我擔任這個職位已經 9 個月了，我可以告訴你們，今天我對我們品牌的潛力以及近期和長期成長的機會更加樂觀。展望未來，我們致力於透過兌現新的品牌承諾，繼續為 Wendy's 贏得人們的喜愛，每天在每家餐廳為每位顧客提供新鮮、著名的美食。這意味著我們將加倍努力實現卓越運營，確保顧客在每家溫迪餐廳都能獲得同樣出色的體驗。

Our Wendy's promise is foundational to our culture, and it's delivered by inspiring our employees to always put the customer first, make every restaurant the star, operate the 1 best way and own the responsibility to grow the Wendy's brand. We have shared the brand promise with employees and franchisees at our recent convention and has been met with enthusiasm.

我們的 Wendy's 承諾是我們文化的基礎，它是透過激勵我們的員工始終將顧客放在第一位、讓每家餐廳成為明星、以最佳方式運作並承擔發展 Wendy's 品牌的責任來實現的。在最近的大會上，我們與員工和加盟商分享了品牌承諾，並受到了熱烈的歡迎。

This promise is embedded in the framework I've established that will serve as our blueprint to relentlessly pursue long-term profitable growth. The framework consists of 4 key elements: drive same-restaurant sales and share growth, accelerate digital growth and improve restaurant profitability, all of which will drive net unit development. Achieving these goals will strengthen the Wendy's brand and reach more Wendy's fans worldwide with a consistent and high-quality experience.

這項承諾已融入我所建立的框架中，該框架將作為我們不懈追求長期獲利成長的藍圖。該框架由 4 個關鍵要素組成：推動同店銷售額和份額成長、加速數位成長和提高餐廳獲利能力，所有這些都將推動淨單位發展。實現這些目標將增強 Wendy's 品牌，並為全球更多 Wendy's 粉絲提供一致的高品質體驗。

Let me expand a bit on the actions we are taking, beginning with global unit development. Our enhanced U.S. incentive programs rolled out in July are resonating with franchisees and are expected to support continued progress on our new restaurant pipeline. In September, we also announced new development incentives in Canada and Latin American countries, which are already sparking many development and renewal conversations.

讓我詳細介紹我們正在採取的行動，首先是全球單位的發展。我們於 7 月推出的強化美國激勵計劃引起了特許經營商的共鳴，預計將支持我們新餐廳管道的持續進展。九月，我們也在加拿大和拉丁美洲國家宣布了新的發展激勵措施，這引發了許多發展和復興對話。

As we continue to open new restaurants, we are using data-driven insights to target high-growth trade areas. These new restaurants have delivered an exceptional customer experience, enhanced by technology and improve drive-through and delivery experiences. Higher employee satisfaction levels under a more efficient labor model and U.S. AUVs above $2 million and operating margins above the system average.

隨著我們不斷開設新餐廳，我們正在利用數據驅動的見解來瞄準高成長的貿易領域。這些新餐廳透過科技增強了卓越的客戶體驗，並改善了得來速和外送體驗。在更有效率的勞動力模式下，員工滿意度更高，美國 AUV 超過 200 萬美元，營業利潤率高於系統平均。

Overall, the Wendy's system is incredibly healthy, and our restaurant reimaging has been completed at 89% of restaurants globally, and we want to further improve our restaurant footprint and overall system health. In order to do so, we conducted a robust review of individual restaurants to ensure they meet our expectations for sales, have the profitability to fuel growth and deliver the Wendy's brand experience for customers.

總體而言，Wendy's 系統非常健康，我們的餐廳重塑已在全球 89% 的餐廳完成，我們希望進一步改善我們的餐廳足跡和整體系統健康。為此，我們對各個餐廳進行了嚴格的審查，以確保它們滿足我們的銷售預期，具有推動成長的盈利能力，並為顧客提供溫迪的品牌體驗。

Following this review, I have made the strategic decision to close additional restaurants this year that are outdated and located in underperforming trade areas. These restaurants have AUVs of approximately $1.1 million and operating margins well below the system average. We have designed this initiative to ensure that over time, many of these units will be replaced by new restaurants at better locations with significantly improved sales and profitability.

經過這次審查，我做出了戰略決定，今年將關閉更多過時且位於表現不佳的貿易區域的餐廳。這些餐廳的 AUV 約為 110 萬美元，營業利潤率遠低於系統平均值。我們設計這項舉措是為了確保隨著時間的推移，許多這些單位將被位置更好的新餐廳所取代，從而顯著提高銷售額和盈利能力。

We anticipate that total closures in 2024, including additional closures in the fourth quarter will be offset by new restaurant openings this year, leaving our net unit growth approximately flat compared to the prior year. By the end of 2024, we will have opened more than 500 new restaurants over the last 2 years and have the confidence we will deliver an elevated growth in 2025 and the years to come.

我們預計 2024 年的總關閉量（包括第四季度的額外關閉量）將被今年新開的餐廳所抵消，從而使我們的淨單位增長與上一年基本持平。到 2024 年底，我們將在過去兩年內開設 500 多家新餐廳，並有信心在 2025 年及未來幾年內實現高速成長。

As we shared last quarter, we have development commitments in place to meet our 2025 new build goal, which supports our previously stated outlook for 3% to 4% net unit growth.

正如我們上季度分享的那樣，我們做出了開發承諾，以實現 2025 年新建目標，這支持了我們先前提出的 3% 至 4% 淨單位成長的前景。

Now let's turn to our plans to drive growth in the fourth quarter and beyond. We continue to expect sequential improvement in year-over-year sales growth from the third to the fourth quarter. This will be driven by our commitment to putting the customer first in everything we do to deliver our craveable menu, impactful innovation and relevant value. We have strong momentum as earlier this month, we launched the Krabby Patty Burger and Pineapple Under the Sea Frosty, celebrating SpongeBob's 25th anniversary. We were excited to bring this fan favorite to life through innovation on 2 of our iconic core menu items, and we are executing this promotion in a way that only Wendy's can deliver.

現在讓我們談談推動第四季及以後成長的計劃。我們繼續預期第三季至第四季銷售年增將連續改善。這將由我們致力於將客戶放在首位來推動，我們所做的一切都是為了提供令人垂涎的菜單、有影響力的創新和相關價值。我們勢頭強勁，本月早些時候，我們推出了蟹黃派漢堡和海底霜菠蘿，慶祝海綿寶寶 25 週年。我們很高興能夠透過我們兩個標誌性核心菜單項目的創新將這個粉絲最愛的菜餚變為現實，並且我們正在以只有 Wendy's 才能提供的方式執行此促銷活動。

This programming is resonating with consumers, generating a powerful response that is driving significant sales growth and earned media for the Wendy's brand. We are very pleased that the initial performance has exceeded our expectations. This is a great example of what we can deliver when we bring our innovation, marketing and execution capabilities together.

該節目引起了消費者的共鳴，產生了強烈的反響，推動了溫迪品牌的銷售顯著增長並贏得了媒體關注。我們很高興最初的表現超出了我們的預期。這是一個很好的例子，說明了當我們將創新、行銷和執行能力結合在一起時，我們可以提供什麼。

Looking ahead, we are building on this momentum with a strong lineup of campaigns launching in the upcoming weeks. We will feature an innovative new salted caramel Frosty flavor, the return of a customer favorite Mushroom Bacon Cheeseburger and National Media showcasing our iconic spicy chicken sandwich.

展望未來，我們將在未來幾週內推出一系列強大的活動，以鞏固這一勢頭。我們將推出創新的鹹焦糖霜口味、顧客喜愛的蘑菇培根起司漢堡的回歸以及 National Media 展示我們標誌性的辣雞肉三明治。

Building on our marketing efforts, we are evolving our national advertising and digital strategies. Our new campaigns incorporate the got to be Wendy's tagline and highlight our delicious food as the hero. We're pleased with the traction this approach has gained and look forward to sharing more as we progress.

在我們的行銷工作的基礎上，我們正​​在發展我們的國家廣告和數位策略。我們的新活動融入了溫迪的口號，並突出了我們作為英雄的美味食物。我們對這種方法所獲得的關注感到高興，並期待隨著我們的進展分享更多資訊。

Moving on to our commitment on restaurant profitability. I see significant potential to strengthen our position in profit accretive categories like beverages. Extending our partnership with Coca-Cola is one of the ways we are doing this. Our new agreement enables us to grow this highly profitable segment, leveraging the Coca-Cola Freestyle platform, which offers more than 100 drink choices.

繼續我們對餐廳盈利能力的承諾。我看到了加強我們在飲料等利潤增值類別中的地位的巨大潛力。擴大與可口可樂的合作關係是我們這樣做的方式之一。我們的新協議使我們能夠利用可口可樂 Freestyle 平台（該平台提供 100 多種飲料選擇）來發展這個高利潤細分市場。

We also have plans to add beverage options aligned with modern consumer preferences. And right now, we're giving our beverage business a boost as we kick off the fourth quarter with $1 any size drink promotion.

我們也計劃增加符合現代消費者喜好的飲料選擇。現在，我們在第四季度開始時推出了任意尺寸飲料 1 美元的促銷活動，從而推動了我們的飲料業務。

Another category where we will drive margin improvement is through breakfast sales growth, which we anticipate will continue to outpace the rest of day. As part of our company investment in breakfast advertising, we recently launched National Media for our breakfast burritos and are encouraged by the consistency of our breakfast growth.

我們將推動利潤率改善的另一個類別是透過早餐銷售成長，我們預計早餐銷售成長將繼續超過一天中的其他時間。作為我們公司早餐廣告投資的一部分，我們最近為我們的早餐捲餅推出了 National Media，並對我們早餐的持續成長感到鼓舞。

In addition, our Fresh AI voice-enabled order taking provides us with another opportunity to enhance margins. This technology boosts labor efficiency and allows crew members to spend more time on activities that elevate the customer experience. We are encouraged by the results of testing at select company restaurants, and we will broaden the implementation in 2025 and -- across more company and franchisee restaurants that will unlock margin expansion opportunities.

此外，我們的 Fresh AI 語音接單為我們提供了另一個提高利潤的機會。這項技術提高了勞動效率，讓機組人員將更多時間花在提升客戶體驗的活動上。我們對選定的公司餐廳的測試結果感到鼓舞，我們將在 2025 年擴大實施範圍，並在更多的公司和特許經營餐廳中擴大實施範圍，這將釋放利潤擴張的機會。

Our pursuit across these initiatives gives us the confidence in our outlook for accelerated growth and profitability to close out 2024 and beyond.

我們對這些措施的追求讓我們對 2024 年及以後的加速成長和獲利前景充滿信心。

Looking ahead, I'm excited about the future and our vision for Wendy's to reach its full potential. Our ability to deliver profitable growth and create shareholder value is grounded in our focus on the execution of our strategic priorities that build on our brand promise. We look forward to sharing more details about our long-term growth strategy and execution plans at our Investor Day, which will be held on March 5, 2025.

展望未來，我對未來以及我們對溫蒂充分發揮潛力的願景感到興奮。我們實現獲利成長和創造股東價值的能力是基於我們專注於執行以我們的品牌承諾為基礎的策略重點。我們期待在 2025 年 3 月 5 日舉行的投資者日上分享有關我們長期成長策略和執行計劃的更多細節。

Finally, I want to express my appreciation to all of our employees and suppliers for their dedication and outstanding contributions.

最後，我要對我們所有員工和供應商的奉獻精神和傑出貢獻表示感謝。

I'll now turn it over to GP to share more details on our third quarter results.

我現在將其轉交給普通合夥人，以分享有關我們第三季業績的更多詳細資訊。

Thanks, Kirk. In the third quarter, our global systemwide sales grew 1.8%, 6.6% on a 2-year basis, supported by global same-restaurant sales growth across both our U.S. and International segments and contributions from new restaurants opened this year.

謝謝，柯克。第三季度，我們的全球系統銷售額年增 1.8%，較兩年前增長 6.6%，這得益於我們美國和國際部門的全球同店銷售額增長以及今年新開餐廳的貢獻。

Our U.S. company restaurant margin was 15.6%, flat to prior year. The impact of higher average check and labor efficiencies was offset by labor rate inflation and customer count declines. The increase in G&A was primarily driven by an increase in employee compensation and benefits and an increase in professional fees. These were partially offset by a decrease in incentive compensation accruals.

我們的美國公司餐廳利潤率為 15.6%，與前一年持平。較高的平均支票和勞動力效率的影響被勞動力價格上漲和客戶數量下降所抵消。一般行政費用的增加主要是因為員工薪資和福利的增加以及專業費用的增加。這些被應計激勵薪酬的減少部分抵銷。

Adjusted EBITDA decreased 2.9% to approximately $135 million, resulting primarily from an increase in the company's incremental investment in breakfast and the increase in general and administrative expenses. These were partially offset by increases in franchise royalty revenue, other operating income and net rental income. The decrease in adjusted earnings per share was driven by lower adjusted EBITDA, an increase in depreciation and a higher effective tax rate. These were partially offset by fewer shares outstanding due to the company's share repurchase program.

調整後 EBITDA 下降 2.9%，至約 1.35 億美元，主要是由於公司對早餐的增量投資增加以及一般和管理費用的增加。這些收入被特許權使用費收入、其他營業收入和淨租金收入的成長部分抵銷。調整後每股盈餘下降的原因是調整後 EBITDA 降低、折舊增加和有效稅率提高。由於該公司的股票回購計劃，流通股數量減少，部分抵消了這些影響。

Finally, the increase in free cash flow resulted primarily from a decrease in cash paid for cloud computing arrangements and the decrease in capital expenditures. These were partially offset by the company's incremental investment in breakfast advertising.

最後，自由現金流的增加主要是由於雲端運算安排支付的現金減少以及資本支出的減少。這些被公司對早餐廣告的增量投資部分抵消。

Now let's turn to our expectations for 2024. As Kirk said, we are competing well and are pleased to have maintained traffic share in the third quarter. However, given the softer category environment in the third quarter, we now expect full year global systemwide sales growth of approximately 3%, made up of 1% to 2% same-restaurant sales growth and contributions from new restaurants opened this year.

現在讓我們談談對 2024 年的預期。然而，鑑於第三季的品類環境較為疲軟，我們目前預計全年全球系統銷售成長約為 3%，其中包括 1% 至 2% 的同店銷售成長以及今年新開餐廳的貢獻。

We have strong momentum to start the fourth quarter with October U.S. same-restaurant sales accelerating significantly compared to the third quarter, giving us confidence in achieving our updated 2024 same-restaurant sales outlook. Our adjusted EBITDA outlook of $535 million to $545 million remains unchanged. The impact of our updated system-wide sales outlook is being offset for incremental franchise fees related to the additional restaurant closures in the fourth quarter and lower general and administrative expense.

我們在第四季開始勢頭強勁，10 月份美國同店銷售較第三季顯著加速，這讓我們對實現更新的 2024 年同店銷售前景充滿信心。我們調整後的 EBITDA 前景為 5.35 億美元至 5.45 億美元，維持不變。我們更新的全系統銷售前景的影響被第四季度額外關閉的餐廳相關的增量特許經營費以及較低的一般和管理費用所抵消。

With 1 quarter left to go in the year, we have narrowed our U.S. company-operated restaurant margin expectation to 15% to 16% and our outlook for adjusted EPS to $0.99 to $1.01.

今年還剩 1 個季度，我們將美國公司經營的餐廳利潤率預期收窄至 15% 至 16%，調整後每股收益預期收窄至 0.99 美元至 1.01 美元。

Finally, we continue to expect capital expenditures of $90 million to $100 million and free cash flow of $275 million to $285 million.

最後，我們仍然預期資本支出為 9,000 萬至 1 億美元，自由現金流為 2.75 億至 2.85 億美元。

Now I'd like to highlight our capital allocation policy, which remains unchanged. Our first priority is still investing in profitable growth, which we will continue to do, while holding true to our asset-light model. Secondly, today, we announced the declaration of our fourth quarter dividend of $0.25 per share, reflecting a full year dividend of $1 per share in 2024. We -- this represents an industry-leading mid-single-digit dividend yield and aligns with our commitment to sustain an attractive dividend.

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，我們將繼續這樣做，同時堅持我們的輕資產模式。其次，今天，我們宣布第四季度股息為每股0.25 美元，反映出2024 年全年股息為每股1 美元。股息殖利率保持一致。

Lastly, our capital allocation policy gives us the flexibility due to the excess cash to repurchase shares and reduce debt. Year-to-date through October '24, we have repurchased approximately 3.6 million shares and have approximately $248 million remaining on our $500 million share repurchase authorization expiring in February of 2027. We continue to anticipate total share repurchases in 2024 of approximately $75 million.

最後，我們的資本配置政策為我們提供了靈活性，因為我們有多餘的現金來回購股票和減少債務。年初至今，截至2024 年10 月，我們已回購約360 萬股股票，我們的5 億美元股票回購授權將於2027 年2 月到期，剩餘資金約2.48 億美元。股票回購總額約7,500 萬美元。

We are fully committed to delivering our simple, yet powerful formula. As an efficient growth company we drive system-wide sales growth supported by positive same-restaurant sales and expanding global footprint. This is translating into significant free cash flows, 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。作為一家高效成長的公司，我們在積極的同店銷售和不斷擴大的全球足跡的支持下推動了整個系統的銷售成長。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。

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

接下來，我將把事情交給 Aaron 來分享我們即將推出的 IR 日曆。

Thank you, GP. On November 19, we will be in Chicago for an NDR hosted by Morgan Stanley. After which, we will head to the Stephens Investment Conference in Nashville on November 20. On December 3, we will participate in the Barclays Eat, Sleep and Play Conference in New York City. If you are interested in joining us at any of these events, please contact the respective sell-side analyst or equity sales contact at the host firm.

謝謝你，全科醫生。 11 月 19 日，我們將在芝加哥參加由摩根士丹利主辦的 NDR。之後，我們將前往11月20日在納許維爾舉行的史蒂芬斯投資會議。如果您有興趣參加我們的任何活動，請聯絡主辦公司相應的賣方分析師或股權銷售聯絡人。

Lastly, we plan to report our fourth quarter and full year earnings and host a conference call on February 13, 2025. And as mentioned earlier, we will hold an Investor Day on March 5 with more details to come later.

最後，我們計劃報告第四季和全年收益，並於2025 年2 月13 日召開電話會議。資訊.

We will now transition to the Q&A part of the call. Due to the high number of covering analysts, please limit yourself to 1 question only. Operator, please queue up the first question.

我們現在將過渡到電話會議的問答部分。由於涵蓋分析師的數量較多，請僅限回答 1 個問題。接線員，請排隊第一個問題。

(Operator Instructions) David Palmer, Evercore ISI.

（操作員說明）David Palmer，Evercore ISI。

Thanks. I'll try to squeeze in 2 parter really unrelated, but the unit growth outlook. I wonder how you're thinking about that now. I know you had some closures that might prove temporary as a drag to net unit growth in the U.S. And at the same time, it looks pretty bright what's going on in terms of international development. I'm wondering if you're thinking about a more of an international skew to your development going forward, how you're thinking about that?

謝謝。我會嘗試擠入兩個確實不相關的合作夥伴，但單位成長前景。我想知道你現在怎麼想的。我知道你們關閉了一些工廠，這些工廠可能只是暫時的，會拖累美國的淨單位成長。我想知道您是否正在考慮對您未來的發展進行更多的國際傾斜，您對此有何看法？

And as far as the marketing goes, Krabby Patty has clearly been a big win. I'm wondering how you're thinking about more platform-ish type renovations, innovations, things that are -- that seem to have more of a longer curve to them. I mean, these types of activations are great, but I'm wondering if you're also working on some bigger stuff that we should be thinking rebound around the corner. Thanks.

就行銷而言，Krabby Patty 顯然取得了巨大的勝利。我想知道你是如何考慮更多平台式的改造、創新之類的東西——這些東西似乎有更長的曲線。我的意思是，這些類型的激活很棒，但我想知道您是否仍在研究一些我們應該認為即將反彈的更大的東西。謝謝。

David, good morning. I appreciate the question. First, I'd like to talk about the unit growth question that you asked. And look, the overall strategy and initiative here is to build on an already strong system. This initiative makes us even stronger. And I just want to point out a few things about our system.

大衛，早安。我很欣賞這個問題。首先，我想談談您提出的單位成長問題。看，這裡的整體策略和舉措是建立在一個已經很強大的系統之上。這項舉措使我們變得更加強大。我只想指出有關我們系統的一些事情。

One, if you look at the Wendy's system, 89% of our restaurants have already gone through this image activation. And we built 500 new restaurants over the last 2 years. We'll build almost 250 to 300 restaurants this year. When you think about strengthening our system, we are looking at closing a few restaurants that underperform. They have AUVs of about $1 million, their margin is under -- they're under the average of the business.

第一，如果你看看 Wendy's 系統，我們 89% 的餐廳已經完成了這個圖像啟動。過去 2 年我們新建了 500 家餐廳。今年我們將建造近 250 至 300 家餐廳。當您考慮加強我們的系統時，我們正在考慮關閉一些表現不佳的餐廳。他們的 AUV 約為 100 萬美元，他們的利潤率低於——低於企業的平均水平。

And they're just in locations that don't build our brands. And so those are the opportunities that we've taken a look at to truly make our system much stronger.

而且它們只是位於無法打造我們品牌的地方。因此，這些都是我們所考慮的機會，可以真正使我們的系統更強大。

Now when you think about development for the future, we're guiding at 3% to 4%. Now I'd like you to think about that as 70% being international, 30% being domestic. That's kind of how we're thinking about our development goals. This strengthens our development progress over the next several years, not just in '25, but we're looking at it as '25, '26, '27 and beyond. So that really is the development strategy and strengthening our system.

現在，當你考慮未來的發展時，我們的指導值為 3% 到 4%。現在我希望您將其視為 70% 是國際的，30% 是國內的。這就是我們思考我們的發展目標的方式。這將加強我們在未來幾年的發展進度，不僅是在 25 年，而且我們將其視為 25 年、26 年、27 年及以後。這確實是發展策略和加強我們的體系。

Let me turn the focus to our menu. We've seen some success with Krabby Patty. And what I really attribute some of the success is it's really built off our core menu. The Krabby Patty burger has built up that square, fresh, never frozen burger and of course, leveraging our Frosty is always a game changer. The combination of those 2 things really hit the mark.

讓我把焦點轉向我們的選單。我們已經看到 Krabby Patty 取得了一些成功。我真正將一些成功歸功於它確實建立在我們的核心菜單之上。 Krabby Patty 漢堡打造了方形、新鮮、從未冷凍的漢堡，當然，利用我們的 Frosty 始終會改變遊戲規則。這兩件事的結合確實達到了目的。

As we look into the future of continuing to focus on our menu, we do that in 3 ways. One, build our core. And -- we're looking at how we energize our core menu. I think that's incredibly important. We'll continuously talk about the fresh never frozen quality of the ingredients that we put into our menu.

當我們展望未來繼續關注我們的菜單時，我們透過三種方式做到這一點。一、打造我們的核心。而且——我們正在研究如何為我們的核心菜單注入活力。我認為這非常重要。我們將不斷談論我們放入菜單中的食材的新鮮且從未冷凍的品質。

We think that, that's an advantage over our competition. But we'll continue to look at areas to build our core up. We'll always have an innovation pipeline. We've seen that this year.

我們認為，這是我們相對於競爭對手的優勢。但我們將繼續尋找建構核心的領域。我們將永遠擁有創新管道。今年我們已經看到了這一點。

If you look at our business this year, you've seen us innovate on Saucy Nuggs, you've seen us bring Frosty innovation to the forefront. That's always going to be a place where we can delight our consumers.

如果您看看我們今年的業務，您會看到我們在 Saucy Nuggs 上進行創新，您會看到我們將 Frosty 創新推向最前沿。這永遠是我們可以取悅消費者的地方。

And then the last part, we'll continue to have a value offering that delivers the highest quality at the best value. And we do that today through Biggie Bag. So those kind of the 3 things we're thinking about as far as our menu ongoing. We always have this opportunity to get even better, and that's our focus.

最後一部分，我們將繼續提供價值產品，以最佳價值提供最高品質。今天我們透過 Biggie Bag 來做到這一點。因此，就我們的菜單而言，我們正在考慮這三件事。我們總是有機會變得更好，這就是我們的重點。

Dennis Geiger, UBS.

丹尼斯蓋革，瑞銀集團。

Guys, I wanted to come back to the breakfast, and it seems like you're continuing to see good performance at that daypart given the initiatives that you've got in place across advertising, some of the offers, innovation, et cetera. Just curious, Kirk, if you could kind of touch a bit more on that on how plans are progressing and how progress is progressing against your plans and how we think about 2025, perhaps from a breakfast perspective, if anything to highlight there? Thank you.

夥計們，我想回到早餐，考慮到你們在廣告、一些優惠、創新等方面採取的舉措，你們在當天的時段似乎繼續看到了良好的表現。只是好奇，柯克，您是否可以更多地談談計劃的進展情況以及您的計劃的進展情況以及我們如何看待 2025 年，也許從早餐的角度來看，是否有什麼需要強調的？謝謝。

Dennis, thanks for the question. Appreciate it. Yes. breakfast is an important part. We've really set out -- we launched breakfast in 2020, but we've invested in breakfast this year and continue to invest in breakfast in the years to come.

丹尼斯，謝謝你的提問。欣賞它。是的。早餐是一個重要的部分。我們確實已經出發了——我們在 2020 年推出了早餐，但今年我們在早餐方面進行了投資，並將在未來幾年繼續在早餐方面進行投資。

We feel like this is still a real opportunity for us to build the potential of Wendy's. We like the tailwind that it's giving us right now, it is growing faster than the category and it's growing faster than our business. So it's a nice tailwind to us.

我們覺得這仍然是我們發揮溫迪潛力的真正機會。我們喜歡它現在帶給我們的順風，它的成長速度快於該類別，也快於我們的業務成長速度。所以這對我們來說是一個很好的順風。

We look at this opportunity as profit accretive, leveraging the restaurant. It's also an incremental daypart as we build that. So it gives us the traction that we need for the long haul. We do see this as a long-term strategic initiative. It's not going to be something that we just do this year or next year, you can look forward to us continuing to develop our breakfast strategy over the years to come.

我們認為這個機會可以利用餐廳來增加利潤。當我們建造它時，這也是一個增量的時段。因此，它為我們提供了長期所需的牽引力。我們確實認為這是一項長期策略舉措。這不會是我們今年或明年才會做的事情，您可以期待我們在未來幾年繼續制定我們的早餐策略。

Danilo Gargiulo, Bernstein.

達尼洛·加吉烏洛，伯恩斯坦。

Great. Thank you. You mentioned that the macro was a bit more challenging than you were expecting coming into Q3. So can you help us understand the health of the consumer, both domestically as well as internationally. And whether you've seen any softening of these macro pressures getting into the fourth quarter? So any intra-quarter commentary might be helpful. Thank you.

偉大的。謝謝。您提到第三季的宏觀情況比您預期的更具挑戰性。您能否幫助我們了解國內和國際消費者的健康狀況？進入第四季度，您是否看到這些宏觀壓力有所緩解？因此，任何季度內的評論可能都會有幫助。謝謝。

Yes. Look, I would talk a little bit about Q3. We're still in a very challenging environment, I would say, with the consumer I would tell you that there's kind of Q3, there's 2 halves to Q3. We saw some momentum in the second half of Q3 that gives us some confidence. And of course, we've seen that pick up in Q4 as well.

是的。聽著，我想談談第三季。我想說，我們仍然處於一個非常具有挑戰性的環境中，對於消費者，我會告訴你，有第三季度，第三季度還有兩半。我們在第三季下半年看到了一些勢頭，這給了我們一些信心。當然，我們也看到第四季有所回升。

That gives me the confidence that 1 will deliver against our guidance. And then, it's a little bit brighter moving into 2025. That's kind of how I would shape it.

這讓我相信 1 將在我們的指導下實現目標。然後，進入 2025 年，情況會變得更加光明。

So still under pressure, in Q3. The second half of Q3 felt a little better than the first half. And then we're seeing some momentum in Q4. That's kind of how I would architect what's happening with consumers.

所以在第三季仍然面臨壓力。第三季後半段感覺比上半段好。然後我們在第四季度看到了一些勢頭。這就是我如何建構與消費者發生的事情的方式。

John Ivankoe, JPMorgan.

約翰‧伊凡科，摩根大通。

The question is on prime costs. Food and paper plus labor, which in the most recent quarter, ran around 63%. I probably don't have to tell you, I mean, that screen's actually very high relative to most public restaurant companies. In fact, I can only think of 1 that's higher than that brand is not in quick service and doesn't have advertising.

問題在於主要成本。食品和紙張加上勞動力，在最近一個季度，佔比約為 63%。我可能不必告訴你，我的意思是，相對於大多數上市餐廳公司來說，這個螢幕實際上非常高。其實我只能想到比這個品牌高的1個，服務不快捷，也沒有廣告。

So I guess, have you, Kirk, as you came into the Wendy's system kind of benchmarked that number relative to the peers. And if there are kind of a couple of "easy" and I really do mean to say that, "easy" ways to kind of fix that number. What are the types of opportunities that we should be thinking for you to significantly improve that ratio and get it closer to a more typical 60 type of number where I know the industry typically long term tries to target? Thank you.

所以我想，柯克，當你進入溫迪系統時，你是否已經相對於同行對這個數字進行了基準測試。如果有一些「簡單」的方法（我真的想說的是，「簡單」的方法來修復這個數字）。我們應該為您考慮哪些類型的機會來顯著提高該比率並使其更接近更典型的 60 類型的數字（我知道該行業通常會長期嘗試以該數字為目標）？謝謝。

Yes, of course. We've definitely gone through some benchmarking exercises and are focused on delivering that restaurant level margin. It's really important that we do that. I see this in 2 buckets. One is driving that efficiency.

是的當然。我們確實已經進行了一些基準測試，並專注於提供餐廳等級的利潤。我們這樣做非常重要。我在兩個桶子中看到了這個。一是提高效率。

That's why you see us investing in things like AI with our drive-thru. That allows us to have our employees in the restaurant working the orders efficiently. It saves time, et cetera, that drives the labor number down.

這就是為什麼我們會透過「得來速」投資人工智慧等領域。這使我們能夠讓餐廳的員工有效率地處理訂單。它節省了時間等等，從而降低了勞動力數量。

As you know, the -- the split between food and labor is almost equal in restaurants. And so our opportunity is to drive labor cost down and to improve the food cost. So you'll see us do that.

如你所知，在餐廳裡，食物和勞動力之間的分配幾乎是相等的。因此，我們的機會是降低勞動成本並提高食品成本。所以你會看到我們這樣做。

And I think the last thing, you'll see us focus on some categories that drive positive mix. One is beverages. We've got a new agreement with Coca-Cola. This allows us to aggressively grow our beverage business, which is of -- profit accretive from a mix standpoint. So you'll see us focus on menu accretion from a profitability standpoint. So those are the 3 areas we're looking at.

我認為最後一件事，你會看到我們專注於一些推動正向組合的類別。一是飲料。我們與可口可樂達成了新協議。這使我們能夠積極發展我們的飲料業務，從混合的角度來看，這可以增加利潤。因此，您會看到我們從盈利的角度關注菜單的增加。這就是我們正在關注的三個領域。

Looking at labor efficiency, we're looking at food cost and we're looking at growing those categories that are more profitable than the rest of the business faster.

考慮到勞動力效率，我們正在考慮食品成本，我們正在考慮更快地發展那些比其他業務更有利可圖的類別。

Jeffrey Bernstein, Barclays.

傑弗裡·伯恩斯坦，巴克萊銀行。

Great. Thank you. I had 1 question and then 1 follow-up. The follow-up actually just GP, you reiterated the adjusted EBITDA guidance despite the comp and the system sales shortfall. I was wondering if you could just maybe just talk high level as to what you think of the offsets to all to maintain that EBITDA.

偉大的。謝謝。我有 1 個問題，然後有 1 個跟進。後續實際上只是 GP，儘管補償和系統銷售不足，但您重申了調整後的 EBITDA 指導。我想知道您是否可以就您對所有人的抵消以維持 EBITDA 的看法進行高層討論。

And then my question is more just following up on the unit growth side of things. Wondering in terms of international and I guess, U.S. franchisees receptivity, and you guys seem confident in, I guess, 2025, accelerating to that 3% to 4% net. Presumably, it is on a base reduced by the closures. So I'm wondering if you'd share how many closures there were or maybe how many absolute number of openings you're expecting in '25, because I know you mentioned 100% of the newbuild goal is tied to development commitments, but -- so what was the question of whether or not those are executed on. So any color there would be great.

然後我的問題更多的是跟進單位增長方面的情況。想知道國際和美國特許經營商的接受度，我想你們似乎對 2025 年加速達到 3% 到 4% 的淨值充滿信心。據推測，它的基數因關閉而減少。所以我想知道您是否願意分享 25 年有多少個關閉，或者您預計有多少個絕對數量的空缺，因為我知道您提到 100% 的新建目標與開發承諾相關，但是 - - 那麼這些是否被執行的問題是什麼？所以任何顏色都會很棒。

So first, on the adjusted EBITDA guidance. You're right, obviously, the tightening of the sales range created a headwind for us on the EBITDA side that was offset by increased franchise fees, we -- as we are allowing franchisees to close the restaurant. We are earning a fee that is helping our EBITDA.

首先是調整後的 EBITDA 指導。你是對的，顯然，銷售範圍的收緊給我們帶來了 EBITDA 方面的阻力，但特許經營費的增加抵消了這一阻力，因為我們允許特許經營商關閉餐廳。我們賺取的費用有助於我們的 EBITDA。

And secondly, we slightly have slightly lower G&A the overall guidance range of $255 million to $265 million of G&A is unchanged. We are sliding a little bit to the lower end of it. So that's how we were able to keep adjusted EBITDA unchanged.

其次，我們的 G&A 略有降低，2.55 億美元至 2.65 億美元的 G&A 整體指導範圍保持不變。我們正在向它的下端滑動一點。這就是我們能夠保持調整後 EBITDA 不變的原因。

A little bit more color on the closures, right? As we said previously, was a 2% net unit growth rate. The additional closures are about 140 additional units. So basically, we are closing overall as many units as we are opening. That's why we are ending up overall slightly flat. That obviously gives us really good confidence for the really significantly accelerated unit growth rate of 3% to 4% in 2025.

封口上多一點顏色，對嗎？正如我們之前所說，淨單位成長率為 2%。額外關閉的單位約 140 個。所以基本上，我們關閉的單位數量與新開的單位數量一樣多。這就是為什麼我們最終的整體表現略顯持平。這顯然讓我們對 2025 年單位成長率真正顯著加快 3% 至 4% 充滿信心。

And as Kirk said, I think, in one of his answers already, right, these additional closures didn't all come out of 2025, these closures that would have happened in '25, '26 and '27. So it gives us a longer-term visibility on accelerated net openings to come.

正如柯克所說，我認為，在他的一個回答中，這些額外的關閉並不都是在 2025 年發生的，這些關閉本來會在 25 年、26 年和 27 年發生。因此，它讓我們對未來加速的淨開放有了更長期的了解。

Brian Mullan, Piper Sandler.

布萊恩·穆蘭，派珀·桑德勒。

Thank you. Just back to the breakfast daypart. Kirk, can you talk about the beverage component of the offering? Do you feel good about the beverage platform? Is that an area where you'll be spending more time where you think perhaps could be innovated from here? Just any thoughts on that component of the offering would be great.

謝謝。回到早餐時段。 Kirk，您能談談該產品的飲料成分嗎？您對飲料平台感覺良好嗎？您是否會在這個領域花費更多時間，您認為也許可以從這裡進行創新？只要對產品的該部分有任何想法就很好。

Yes. Thanks for the question. Yes. My heart is still with beverages a lot. This is an opportunity for us for sure with breakfast. I think we've done a really good job building an unbelievable menu with the kind of highest quality ingredients, a menu that really delivers for our customers.

是的。謝謝你的提問。是的。我的心仍然和飲料很多。這對我們來說無疑是一個吃早餐的機會。我認為我們做得非常好，用最優質的食材打造了令人難以置信的菜單，真正為我們的顧客提供了菜單。

Beverage is an opportunity. As I mentioned before, it drives profitability. Yes, look for us to innovate across a beverage portfolio for breakfast and the rest of the dayparts. You'll see a lot from us in the beverage category.

飲料是一個機會。正如我之前提到的，它會提高獲利能力。是的，期待我們在早餐和其他時段的飲料組合上進行創新。您會在飲料類別中看到我們的許多產品。

Chris O'Cull, Stifel.

克里斯·奧卡爾，斯蒂菲爾。

Thanks for taking the question. Kirk, it's good to hear the Krabby Patty promotions performed really well. Can you discuss what customer segments it's appealed to and if there are plans to collaborate with any other brands in the future?

感謝您提出問題。柯克，很高興聽到蟹黃派的促銷活動表現得非常好。您能否討論一下它吸引了哪些客戶群以及未來是否有與其他品牌合作的計劃？

Yes. This is the 1 that has reached a lot of folks. You think about the 25-year anniversary of SpongeBob has definitely struck a cord with a large population and that excitement is driven clearly a lot. And it's the best of kind of what Wendy's can bring to the table. I think that's what I take away is a great partnership, 1 plus 1 equals 3, and I think we got that Paramount in this regard.

是的。這是很多人都知道的1。你想想看，《海綿寶寶》的 25 週年紀念日確實觸動了眾多觀眾的心，而這種興奮顯然受到了很大的推動。這是溫迪可以提供的最好的產品。我認為這就是我所收穫的偉大的合作關係，1 加 1 等於 3，我認為我們在這方面得到了派拉蒙的支持。

I think this also is kind of a celebration of the quality of the menu that we have that delivered against the expectation of customers. I think, yes, this is an opportunity for us to continue to find ways to excite our customers and drive traffic. I think this is an example where others will want to partner with us to do that. We're always open-minded to drive growth, drive traffic and excitement, leveraging our menu. I think this is an example of what we can do and what good partners we can be to drive growth.

我認為這也是對我們不辜負顧客期望的菜單品質的慶祝。我認為，是的，這是我們繼續尋找激發客戶和增加流量的方法的機會。我認為這是一個其他人希望與我們合作做到這一點的例子。我們始終持開放態度，利用我們的菜單來推動成長、增加流量和興奮感。我認為這是我們可以做什麼以及我們可以成為推動成長的良好合作夥伴的一個例子。

Lauren Silberman, Deutsche Bank.

勞倫·西爾伯曼，德意志銀行。

Thank you very much. 1 more, just a follow-up on the recent trends, clearly, the acceleration that you've seen. As the launch comes to an end, would you expect trends to normalize at a sustainably higher level than what we've seen in recent quarters?

非常感謝。還有 1 個，只是最近趨勢的後續，顯然，您已經看到了加速趨勢。隨著發布即將結束，您是否預計趨勢將持續正常化到比最近幾季更高的水平？

And then can you just talk about the performance that you're seeing across the low, middle and high-end income cohorts? Thank you.

然後您能談談您在低、中、高端收入群體中看到的表現嗎？謝謝。

Lauren. Yes, so October, as we said in the prepared remarks, we really significantly accelerated growth versus the third quarter. As you do the math on our guidance, it implies that, obviously, we are sequentially stepping up our performance in the fourth quarter. So that obviously was a great start to the year. .

勞倫.是的，所以十月份，正如我們在準備好的發言中所說，與第三季度相比，我們確實顯著加速了成長。當您根據我們的指導進行數學計算時，這顯然意味著我們將在第四季度逐步提高我們的業績。所以這顯然是今年的一個好開始。 。

We have, as we said, a lot of additional really impactful programming out there for the rest of the quarter with the salted caramel Frosty, the Mushroom Bacon Cheeseburger that our consumers really love, and we're putting mainstream national media against this Spicy Chicken sandwich and clearly, our dollar on promotion on any size strength has continued to run through the quarter.

正如我們所說，在本季度剩下的時間裡，我們還有很多其他真正有影響力的節目，包括我們的消費者真正喜歡的鹹焦糖霜凍、蘑菇培根起司漢堡，我們正在讓主流國家媒體反對這種辣雞顯然，我們的美元在任何規模的促銷活動中的實力都將持續貫穿整個季度。

So we are very confident with that outlook. And we think it's a pragmatic guidance, and we were very confident to achieve the step-up in performance in the fourth quarter versus our year-to-date performance.

所以我們對這前景非常有信心。我們認為這是一個務實的指導，我們非常有信心在第四季度實現業績較年初至今的業績提升。

As far as income cohort is concerned, as you know, our research agency is splitting income cohorts in households that earn less than $75,000 and those that are maintaining more than $75,000. Overall, we are as we overall maintaining share in the category, dollar and traffic share -- the same thing happens in those income cohorts. We're maintaining traffic and dollar share with both the lower and the higher income cohorts.

就收入群體而言，如您所知，我們的研究機構將收入群體分為收入低於 75,000 美元的家庭和收入高於 75,000 美元的家庭。總體而言，我們總體上維持了該類別、美元和流量份額的份額——同樣的情況也發生在這些收入群體中。我們正在維持低收入和高收入群體的流量和美元份額。

Brian Harbour, Morgan Stanley.

布萊恩‧哈伯，摩根士丹利。

Thanks. Morning, guys. Sort of a random one. The voice AI and drive-thru, are you, in fact, seeing kind of like labor hour savings? I guess like if you could quantify that or sort of tell us more about what you're seeing and what's like the accuracy rate on that? Or what do you usually look for? You've obviously sort of expanded it, so you must be seeing things you like. But could you tell us more about that?

謝謝。早安，夥計們。有點隨機。事實上，語音人工智慧和得來速，您是否看到了類似的勞動時間節省？我想您是否可以量化這一點，或者告訴我們更多有關您所看到的內容以及準確率如何？或者說你平常都在找什麼？顯然你已經擴展了它，所以你一定看到了你喜歡的東西。但您能告訴我們更多相關資訊嗎？

Yes. Look, we're still developing this. We like what we see. If you think about the efficiency that we're driving through the drive-through, that's the key component of that. That has a direct correlation to the efficiency in which we can drive in the drive-through, which if you think about the transactions that go through in Wendy's today and 70% of those transactions going through the drive-thru.

是的。看，我們仍在開發這個。我們喜歡我們所看到的。如果您考慮一下我們透過得來速所提高的效率，那就是其中的關鍵組成部分。這與我們駕車穿過得來速的效率有直接關係，如果您考慮一下今天溫迪店進行的交易，其中 70% 的交易是透過得來速進行的。

This is kind of the first place you want to get right.

這是你想要做對的第一個地方。

I'd tell you, we're delighted with how this continuously gets better. We're seeing improvements in accuracy, efficiency, and it gives us the confidence that we're going to see some efficiencies in the overall labor model in the restaurant. So we'll leverage the restaurant -- the employees and the restaurants to deliver against a more efficient execution. And that is enabled by AI. Look, this is one of those things you go slow to go fast.

我想告訴你，我們對這種情況不斷變得更好感到很高興。我們看到準確性和效率的提高，這讓我們有信心看到餐廳整體勞動力模式的效率有所提高。因此，我們將利用餐廳——員工和餐廳來實現更有效率的執行。這是由人工智慧實現的。看，這就是那些你要慢慢來才能快的事情之一。

Right now, we're in this continuous improvement, learning, getting our accuracy to a place where we like and then you'll see us deployed across the system.

現在，我們正在不斷改進、學習，將我們的準確性提高到我們喜歡的水平，然後您將看到我們在整個系統中部署。

Jon Tower, Citi.

喬恩塔，花旗銀行。

Great. Thanks for taking the question. Maybe specifically in the quarter, I'm just curious, starting how did your Biggie Bag platform performed during the third quarter, knowing that 1 of your larger competitors decided to do a value meal deal throughout the period?

偉大的。感謝您提出問題。也許特別是在本季度，我只是很好奇，在知道您的一個較大的競爭對手決定在此期間進行超值餐交易的情況下，您的 Biggie Bag 平台在第三季度的表現如何？

And then more broadly speaking, similar competitors talking about relaunching a new everyday value platform likely in early 2025. So -- can you speak to how your brand has performed in the past when large competitors kind of revamped their value message? And frankly, how you might plan to respond this go around?

然後更廣泛地說，類似的競爭對手正在談論可能在 2025 年初重新推出新的日常價值平台。坦白說，您打算如何應對這一事件？

On Biggie Bag, yes, is a national recognized platform. It's resonating really very well with consumers. So as our competitor launched their meal deal we obviously supported ours. The mix year-over-year was up 1% or so. So it did well for us and helped us performed well and maintain share on a dollar and traffic basis in the third quarter as we are thinking about value, right? We absolutely believe that value in an environment of value seeking consumers is not about only executing price pointed promotions and value deals and value bundles, there's more to that.

在Biggie Bag上，是的，是一個國家認可的平台。它確實引起了消費者的共鳴。因此，當我們的競爭對手推出膳食優惠時，我們顯然支持我們的優惠。該組合年增 1% 左右。因此，它對我們來說效果很好，幫助我們表現良好，並在第三季度保持了以美元和流量為基礎的份額，因為我們正在考慮價值，對嗎？我們絕對相信，在追求價值的消費者環境中，價值不僅在於執行有針對性的促銷、超值交易和超值捆綁，還有更多。

For us, we believe to be competitive. We need to continue to innovate. We have demonstrated this in the third quarter. You see the innovation lineup in the fourth quarter. We're going to continue to do this to delight the value-seeking consumer.

對我們來說，我們相信自己具有競爭力。我們需要繼續創新。我們在第三季已經證明了這一點。你會看到第四季的創新陣容。我們將繼續這樣做，以取悅追求價值的消費者。

Top of it, as Kirk already said, we are not letting go on the core menu. The core menu needs to delight also in the value environment.

最重要的是，正如柯克已經說過的那樣，我們不會放棄核心菜單。核心菜單也需要在價值環境中令人愉悅。

Again, we are executing accordingly to that in the fourth quarter. And then don't forget operations, right? We are laser-focused restaurant to be the star and really have a customer-centric mindset. We are working really hard on having that value-seeking consumer having an outstanding experience at the restaurants.

同樣，我們正在根據第四季度的情況執行。然後不要忘記操作，對吧？我們是一家專注於成為明星的餐廳，真正擁有以顧客為中心的心態。我們正在努力讓追求價值的消費者在餐廳獲得出色的體驗。

So this whole package of great value, great core by menu. We are innovating and then we are really executing well when it matters. When we're meeting the consumer, this is how we can think we can be very successful in the value environment.

所以這整個套餐非常有價值，菜單的核心也很重要。我們不斷創新，然後在重要的時候真正執行得很好。當我們與消費者見面時，我們就認為我們可以在價值環境中取得非常成功。

Jim Salera, Stephens.

吉姆·薩萊拉，史蒂芬斯。

Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions.

早安.感謝您回答我的問題。

In your prepared remarks, you mentioned October accelerating and obviously, the implied acceleration in 4Q in the guidance. Can you just maybe offer some more color around what components of the menu are driving that acceleration? I know I've seen a lot of Saucy Nuggs advertisements during football games this season. So maybe some color on how that's contributing. And then just any thoughts on bridging kind of the back half of the quarter, assuming that you see the Krabby Patty benefit start to roll off?

在您準備好的演講中，您提到了 10 月的加速，顯然，指導中第四季度的隱含加速。您能否就菜單的​​哪些組件推動這種加速提供更多的顏色？我知道我在本賽季的橄欖球比賽中看到很多俏皮的納格斯隊廣告。所以也許可以對它的貢獻有一些看法。然後，假設您看到蟹黃派的福利開始減少，您對本季後半段的過渡有什麼想法嗎？

In quarter 4, what I'd like to see about the momentum is the balance across our menu. We've seen our large sandwich perform very well. Our innovation with Saucy Nuggs has done very well. And our value platform, as GP just talked about, it's that balanced approach across our menu that gives us the confidence that the momentum will continue.

在第四季度，我希望看到的勢頭是我們菜單上的平衡。我們已經看到我們的大三明治表現得非常好。我們與 Saucy Nuggs 的創新做得非常好。正如 GP 剛才談到的，我們的價值平台是我們菜單中的平衡方法，這讓我們有信心繼續保持這種勢頭。

But that's kind of -- if you take a look at it, it's not one of those areas. It's a combination of the 3: the core menu. Krabby Patty has been a nice shot in the arm that's built off of a terrific core menu that is delivering growth. We'll continue to do that.

但如果你仔細看一下，你會發現它不屬於這些領域之一。它是 3：核心選單的組合。 Krabby Patty 是一劑強心劑，它建立在一個出色的核心菜單之上，正在帶來成長。我們將繼續這樣做。

And again, you can't iterate enough the excitement and innovation drives. You'll see us continue to drive innovation, as we've talked about. You'll see a salted caramel Frosty come out this timely for the season. You'll see us deliver again a great quality hamburger and our Mushroom Bacon Cheeseburger, I mean those are the kind of things you can expect from us: continuous innovation, focus on our core and delivering the best value in the marketplace.

再說一次，你無法重複足夠的興奮和創新驅動力。正如我們所討論的，您將看到我們繼續推動創新。您會看到鹹焦糖霜在這個季節及時上市。您將看到我們再次提供優質漢堡包和蘑菇培根起司漢堡，我的意思是，這些都是您可以從我們身上期待的東西：持續創新，專注於我們的核心並在市場上提供最佳價值。

Sara Senatore, Bank of America.

薩拉·參議員，美國銀行。

Thank you very much. I like to go back to the store closures, just in the sense of, are there any kind of themes around the types of markets that they're in geographically? The reason I ask is it feels like a lot of restaurants that are accelerating unit growth are kind of shying away from the West Belt or the Northeast and really targeting the Sunbelt and faster-growing cities and MSAs.

非常感謝。我喜歡回到商店關閉的話題，從某種意義上說，是否存在圍繞其所在地理位置的市場類型的主題？我問這個問題的原因是，感覺很多正在加速單位增長的餐廳有點迴避西帶或東北部，而真正瞄準了陽光地帶和快速增長的城市和大城市。

And I'm trying to figure out if like there's room for everybody and also what this means in terms of net growth? Is this just sort of population shifts. And as you follow them, we should think about it from that perspective? Or is there really kind of room to densify further to grow beyond just the sort of moves in the economy or the population that we've seen over time in the U.S.?

我試圖弄清楚是否每個人都有空間，以及這對淨成長意味著什麼？這只是人口轉移嗎？當你關注他們的時候，我們應該從那個角度去思考？或者，除了我們長期以來在美國看到的那種經濟或人口變動之外，是否真的有進一步緻密化成長的空間？

Yes. Let me answer that. Thanks for the question, Sara. Look, the -- if you look across the entire U.S., these are really spread out. It's not 1 geography in particular.

是的。讓我來回答一下。謝謝你的提問，薩拉。瞧，如果你放眼整個美國，這些地方真的很分散。這不是一個特別的地理。

It's I think when you think about strengthening our system, you look at a brand that's 55 years old and some of those restaurants are quite out just out of date. And that's really kind of the punch line on that one. It's not 1 particular area, it's across the board.

我認為，當你考慮加強我們的系統時，你會看到一個 55 年歷史的品牌，而其中一些餐廳已經過時了。這確實是那句話的妙語。這不是某一特定領域，而是整個領域。

It's not that many in the scheme of things. It is really about strengthening our system. When I look at our potential, though, I look at -- we still have runway in the U.S. to have another additional couple of thousand restaurants that would allow us to kind of hit our potential.

在事情的計劃中並沒有那麼多。這實際上是為了加強我們的系統。不過，當我審視我們的潛力時，我發現——我們在美國仍然有機會再開幾千家餐廳，讓我們能夠發揮我們的潛力。

And then internationally, of course, there's a great deal of potential to reach the penetration that we aspire to. So if you think about the strategy was to strengthen our system, to get high-performing restaurants moving. Our focus is on building new restaurants because we know they deliver well over the average of these poor performing restaurants. So poor performing restaurants about $1 million of these new restaurants that we're building do $2 million AUVs. That's kind of the mentality that we've taken in this approach.

當然，在國際上，實現我們渴望的滲透率還有很大的潛力。因此，如果你考慮我們的策略是加強我們的系統，讓表現出色的餐廳繼續營業。我們的重點是建造新餐廳，因為我們知道它們的服務品質遠高於這些業績不佳餐廳的平均水平。因此，我們正在建造的這些新餐廳中，業績不佳的餐廳約有 100 萬美元，但 AUV 價值卻高達 200 萬美元。這就是我們在這種方法中所採取的心態。

And then we overall want the best restaurants for the customers and that customer experience we want to deliver. So that's kind of how we have structured this strategy.

然後，我們總體上希望為顧客提供最好的餐廳以及我們想要提供的顧客體驗。這就是我們建構這項戰略的方式。

Andrew Charles, TD Cowen.

安德魯查爾斯，TD·考恩。

Great. Thank you. I wanted to reconcile the breakfast performance up mid-single digit with the comps overall around flat. So can you talk about the incrementality of breakfast sales and what you're seeing there versus incrementality in recent years?

偉大的。謝謝。我想將早餐的表現調到中個位數，而整體比較持平。那麼您能談談早餐銷售的增量以及您所看到的情況與近年來的增量相比嗎？

Yes. It's highly incremental from a daypart standpoint. It also leverages the labor model in the restaurant, it leverages the restaurant itself. So you think it's highly incremental to anything else that we would do. And again, we see the mid-single-digit growth that's ahead of our growth.

是的。從一天的角度來看，它是高度增量的。它也利用了餐廳的勞動力模式，利用了餐廳本身。所以你認為這對我們所做的任何其他事情都是高度增量的。我們再次看到中個位數的成長領先於我們的成長。

It's ahead of the category. So we're -- you think about gaining momentum on competition and building out this daypart. It gives you the confidence to stick with it.

它領先於該類別。所以我們——你要考慮在比賽中獲得動力並充實這一天的時間。它讓你有信心堅持下去。

And that's exactly where we're at. We'll continue to build this daypart, it's an important part of our strategy. It's important for our franchisees as well. So that's kind of how we're looking at the breakfast daypart, but it is, to answer your question, incredibly incremental to the rest of our business.

這正是我們現在的處境。我們將繼續打造這一時段，這是我們策略的重要組成部分。這對我們的特許經營者也很重要。這就是我們對早餐時段的看法，但回答你的問題，它對我們其他業務來說是令人難以置信的增量。

Gregory Francfort, Guggenheim Securities.

格雷戈里·弗蘭克福特，古根漢證券公司。

Hey. Thanks for the question. I just had a kind of a cost question, GP. Can you maybe just frame up what you're seeing from the commodity side and the labor side on inflation basis? And how you expect that to play out kind of in the near to medium term?

嘿。謝謝你的提問。我只是有一個費用問題，GP。您能否根據通貨膨脹來闡述您從商品方面和勞動力方面看到的情況？您預計這種情況在中短期內會如何發展？

Good morning, Greg. A couple of things. So on the commodity front, a little bit more inflationary. Last time I told you we would be flat. We have got a little bit more inflation on beef.

早安，格雷格。有幾件事。因此，在大宗商品方面，通膨程度較高一些。上次我告訴你我們會持平。我們的牛肉通膨率上升。

So we see about a 1% commodity inflation for the year. That's obviously contemplated in the restaurant margin guidance we issued.

因此，我們預計今年商品通膨率約為 1%。我們發布的餐廳利潤指引顯然考慮到了這一點。

Labor rate is stable. We told you 3% to 5% last quarter and continued tracking that way. So, we have full visibility now. Price size are locked down for the year. So I don't expect any other movements in that area. We're obviously turning our focus now to lock down and get visibility for commodities for 2025.

勞動力價格穩定。上個季度我們告訴您 3% 到 5%，並繼續以這種方式進行追蹤。所以，我們現在有了完全的可見性。全年價格規模已鎖定。所以我預計該領域不會有任何其他變動。顯然，我們現在將重點轉向鎖定 2025 年大宗商品並獲得可見性。

Jake Bartlett, Truist Securities.

傑克·巴特利特，Truist 證券公司。

Great. Thank you very much. Kirk, my question was about your comments on operational improvements. You talked about doubling down. And I'm wondering how large an opportunity improving operations is, whether you rank that as 1 of your kind of largest sales driving potentials in the near -- in the longer term into '25. How would you frame that opportunity as your -- as a sales driver?

偉大的。非常感謝。柯克，我的問題是關於您對營運改善的評論。你談到了加倍努力。我想知道改善營運的機會有多大，您是否將其列為近期（從長遠來看，進入 25 年）最大的銷售推動潛力之一。您如何將這個機會作為您的銷售動力？

Yes, good -- very good question, something close to my heart. When you think about our overall strategy and our promise of putting the customer first, making every restaurant to star, operating 1 best way and owning it, those kind of the behaviors that we want. And if you think about what we're doing with our marketing, our innovation, our menu to deliver top line growth, our digital acceleration, all those things are underpinned by operational excellence, right?

是的，很好——非常好的問題，是我最關心的問題。當你想到我們的整體策略和我們的承諾時，即把顧客放在第一位，讓每家餐廳成為明星，以最好的方式經營並擁有它，這些都是我們想要的行為。如果你想想我們在行銷、創新、實現營收成長的菜單、數位加速所做的事情，所有這些都是以卓越營運為基礎的，對嗎？

Those -- that's kind of how I think about it. I think that operational excellence is what delivers against your strategy, right? And that's how important it is to us. We are very focused on it. We want to deliver that amazing experience for our customer every single time. That's why we're overt about the Wendy's promise. So that's kind of the essence of how we're putting focus on that.

那些——這就是我的想法。我認為卓越營運是實現您的策略的關鍵，對吧？這就是它對我們的重要性。我們非常關注它。我們希望每次都能為客戶提供令人驚嘆的體驗。這就是為什麼我們公開談論溫迪的承諾。這就是我們關注這一點的本質。

We organized ourselves to do that. We've recently had our convention with our franchisees. We focused our energy on this operational excellence. I think this is what all great companies do. They operate with excellence and deliver a great experience for their customers. And that's kind of the essence of what we're talking about.

我們組織起來這樣做。我們最近與我們的特許經營商舉行了會議。我們將精力集中在這種卓越的營運上。我想這就是所有偉大公司都會做的事。他們卓越運營，為客戶提供卓越的體驗。這就是我們正在討論的本質。

Peter Saleh, BTIG.

彼得·薩利赫，BTIG。

Yes, thanks for taking the question on. I wanted to ask about the $1 any size soft drink promotion that you guys are running, that's been a proven strategy. I think we've seen many of your competitors run this in the past, and it's definitely worked. So could you just talk about the early success that you're seeing there? And is this a promotion that's limited to the fourth quarter? Or will this carry into 2025? Thank you.

是的，感謝您提出問題。我想問一下你們正在進行的任何尺寸軟性飲料 1 美元促銷活動，這是一個行之有效的策略。我想我們已經看到你們的許多競爭對手過去都在運行這個，而且它絕對有效。那麼您能談談您在那裡看到的早期成功嗎？這是僅限於第四季的促銷活動嗎？或者這會持續到 2025 年嗎？謝謝。

Yes. Thank you. Beverage is the main focus, like I mentioned before. We have this terrific partnership with Coca-Cola. We have the freestyle machine, which we love. It has the ability to deliver over 100 different beverages. What I like about it is it definitely delivers the portfolio that Coca-Cola has and it delivers it in both full sugar and 0 sugar, giving customers real choice. That's an advantage at Wendy's.

是的。謝謝。正如我之前提到的，飲料是主要焦點。我們與可口可樂有著良好的合作關係。我們有我們喜歡的自由式機器。它能夠提供 100 多種不同的飲料。我喜歡它的地方在於，它確實提供了可口可樂的產品組合，並且提供全糖和零糖兩種形式，為客戶提供了真正的選擇。這是溫迪的優勢。

And we wanted to celebrate that and remind people of that. That's when the $1 promotion definitely is effective. We see that in quarter 4. we won't talk about '25 moving forward. But that's kind of the intention about one, celebrating.

我們想慶祝這一點並提醒人們這一點。這時候1美元的促銷絕對有效。我們會在第四季度看到這一點。但這就是慶祝的一種意圖。

We have beverage. Beverage is a real profit opportunity for us in the future. We have a platform in Freestyle that allows us to deliver choice for customers, and you'll see us settle down on that. So we've got some momentum on beverages right now. We expect that will continue.

我們有飲料。飲料對我們來說是未來真正的獲利機會。我們在 Freestyle 中有一個平台，使我們能夠為客戶提供選擇，您會看到我們對此做出了決定。所以我們現在在飲料方面有一些動力。我們預計這種情況將會持續下去。

Christine Cho, Goldman Sachs.

克里斯汀‧曹，高盛。

Great. Thank you for taking the question. So we saw some announcements on executive leadership changes in major hires, including the Chief Liquor Officer and Senior VP of U.S. Operations and [indiscernible] looking forward to meeting some of them in your Analyst Day in March. But Kirk, do you feel you have all the right people in place now to kind of drive accountability and accelerate growth globally? And what are some of your key priorities in an organization perspective?

偉大的。感謝您提出問題。因此，我們看到了一些關於主要員工的高管領導層變動的公告，包括首席酒類官和美國運營高級副總裁，並且[音頻不清晰]期待在三月份的分析師日與其中一些人會面。但是柯克，您認為您現在是否擁有合適的人員來推動問責制並加速全球成長？從組織的角度來看，您的一些關鍵優先事項是什麼？

Yes. Thanks for the question. Yes, we've made some changes that we are very excited about here at Wendy's. I think that I want you to take away that, one, we have a high level of talent and that is focused. And when I say focus, we structured ourselves to drive our U.S. business from a development and execution standpoint, we structured our international business to accelerate our international development and operations.

是的。謝謝你的提問。是的，我們做出了一些讓溫蒂感到非常興奮的改變。我想我希望你明白這一點，第一，我們擁有高水準的人才，而且是專注的。當我說重點時，我們從開發和執行的角度建立了自己的美國業務，我們建立了國際業務以加速我們的國際開發和營運。

So we are organizing ourselves and supporting that organization with great talent that I am very confident will drive future growth for us. And that is, I think, a very deliberate strategy that we've engaged in.

因此，我們正在組織自己，並以優秀人才支持該組織，我非常有信心這將推動我們未來的成長。我認為，這是我們採取的一項非常深思熟慮的策略。

Alex Slagle, Jefferies.

亞歷克斯·斯萊格爾，杰弗里斯。

Just going back to the success you're seeing with the spun collaboration and what seems like a really big jump in recent weeks. I just wanted to see if you could elaborate on what you're doing differently to drive engagement, whether there's something digital or social or any specific changes on that front that are working and you can carry on future promotions and innovation.

回到你所看到的旋轉合作所取得的成功，以及最近幾週似乎出現的巨大飛躍。我只是想看看您是否可以詳細說明您正在採取哪些不同的措施來提高參與度，無論是數位化的還是社交化的，或者這方面的任何具體變化正在發揮作用，並且您可以進行未來的促銷和創新。

Yes. This is another example of when a lot of things are working at the same time, wanting to build off a great menu. It's a great collaboration. The networks have been working, right? So our social game on this has been very impactful. Our digital business growing through both our loyalty program and delivery has been elevated.

是的。這是當很多事情同時工作時想要建立一個很棒的菜單的另一個例子。這是一次很棒的合作。網路一直在工作，對嗎？所以我們在這方面的社交遊戲非常有影響力。我們的數位業務透過忠誠度計劃和交付不斷增長。

So it's kind of ticking a lot of boxes. You got something that's exciting that our customers and our fans are interested in, and then you deliver the execution against it with the best menu in the business, coupled with great advertising, great digital platform and great social media. It's really all come together on this one.

所以有點符合很多條件。你得到了我們的客戶和粉絲感興趣的令人興奮的東西，然後你用業內最好的菜單，再加上出色的廣告、出色的數字平台和出色的社交媒體來執行它。這一切真的都集中在了這一點上。

Jim Sanderson, Northcoast Research.

吉姆桑德森，北海岸研究中心。

Thanks for the question. Just following up on the discussion of promotional support, given the success of the Krabby Patty promotion. Do you plan to add more partnerships or potentially celebrity endorsements, something that would actually promote the product innovation you've described that you're launching later this quarter?

謝謝你的提問。鑑於蟹黃餅促銷活動的成功，我們只是跟進促銷支持的討論。您是否計劃增加更多合作夥伴關係或潛在的名人代言，這實際上會促進您所描述的本季稍後推出的產品創新？

Yes. Look, the success definitely gives us the encouragement to do more things of this nature. I think it also shows that Wendy's can be a great partner in this regard. I think that's important that both partnerships are -- both parties in the partnership win. And I think in this case, that is -- that is true.

是的。瞧，成功無疑給了我們做更多這類事情的鼓勵。我認為這也顯示溫迪在這方面可以成為一個很好的合作夥伴。我認為這兩種夥伴關係都很重要——夥伴關係中的雙方都會獲勝。我認為在這種情況下，這是真的。

Of course, we look at every opportunity to elevate what is the best menu at Wendy's. We think that the future is bright when it comes to these opportunities, we'll certainly look for those opportunities that make sense for us and that only build the brand to new places, and that's kind of how we think about this in the future.

當然，我們會抓住一切機會來提升 Wendy's 的最佳菜單。我們認為，當談到這些機會時，未來是光明的，我們肯定會尋找那些對我們有意義的機會，並且只會將品牌建立到新的地方，這就是我們未來的想法。

Logan Reich, RBC.

洛根·賴克，加拿大皇家銀行。

Hey, good morning. Thanks for taking the questions. Just wanted to ask a follow-up just about the improving trends through the quarter and into October relative to income cohorts. Are you guys seeing improvement in the lower income cohort as well as the middle and higher income cohorts? Or is there any sort of divergence between those brackets within the quarter and through October?

嘿，早安。感謝您提出問題。只是想詢問後續情況，了解本季和十月相對於收入群體的改善趨勢。你們是否看到低收入群體以及中高收入群體的情況有所改善？或者本季和整個 10 月的這些括號之間是否存在任何差異？

Good morning, Logan. Yes, as I said previously in one of my answers from a market share point of view in quarter 3 we maintain share with the lower and higher income cohorts. October numbers, sounding a cop-out answer. The data is not available, so I really can't answer your question.

早上好，洛根。是的，正如我之前在第三季市佔率的一個答案中所說，我們維持了低收入和高收入群體的份額。十月的數字聽起來像是個逃避現實的答案。沒有數據，所以我實在無法回答你的問題。

That was our last question of the call. Thank you, Kirk and GP, and thank you, everyone, for joining us this morning. We look forward to speaking with you again on our fourth quarter call in February. Have a great day.

這是我們電話會議的最後一個問題。謝謝柯克和全科醫生，也謝謝大家今天早上加入我們。我們期待在二月份的第四季電話會議上再次與您交談。祝你有美好的一天。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thank you all for joining today's call. You may now disconnect your lines.

感謝大家參加今天的電話會議。現在您可以斷開線路。