ONE Group Hospitality Q3 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
November 7, 2024

There are 6 speakers on the call.

Operator

Greetings, and welcome to The ONE Group Third Quarter 20 24 Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in listen only mode. A brief question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Tyler Loy, Chief Financial Officer, The ONE Group Hospitality Inc.

Operator

Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Thank you, operator, and hello, everyone. Before we begin our formal remarks, let me remind you that part of our discussion today will include forward looking statements. These forward looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and you should not place undue reliance on them. These statements are also subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from what we expect. Please also note that these forward looking statements reflect our opinion only as of the date of this call.

Speaker 1

We undertake no obligation to revise or publicly release any revisions of these forward looking statements in light of new information or future events. We refer you to our recent SEC filings for a more detailed discussion of the risks that could impact our future operating results and financial condition. During today's call, we will discuss certain non GAAP financial measures, which we believe can be useful in evaluating our performance. However, the presentation of these measures or other information should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for results prepared in accordance with GAAP. For reconciliations of these measures, such as adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income, restaurant operating profit, comparable sales and total food and beverage sales of owned and managed licensed and franchise units to GAAP measures, Along with the discussion of why we consider these measures useful, we share our earnings release issued today.

Speaker 1

With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Manny Hilario.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Tyler, and hello, everyone. Thank you all for joining us today and for your continued interest in The ONE Group. Let me begin by recognizing our amazing team members, their unwavering commitment to our mission, creating great guest memories through exceptional and unforgettable experiences to every guest every time is what gives me confidence in our vision of becoming the global leader in VIBE dining. This is the first call we've been able to report a full quarter's results for our recent acquisition of Benihana and Rasushi. And we are excited by the combined potential of our platform of exciting vibe and experiential centric dining brands.

Speaker 2

Let me start by sharing some highlights for the Q3. First, with the full quarter of Benihan and Rasushi, we increased our revenues by $117,000,000 or 152 percent to a record $194,000,000 Secondly, and equally important, we increased our restaurant operating profit by 90 basis points, driven by robust restaurant level margins of 17% at Benihana, which improved 20 basis points versus their pro form a prior year performance and tight cost management at our pre existing businesses. Next, during the Q2 update, we discussed the $9,000,000 in run rate savings related to duplicate support costs. Since then, we have implemented an additional $10,000,000 in annualized run rate synergies and we've already begun to see their impact on the Benihana restaurant level margins. And finally, we finished the Q3 with over $70,000,000 in resources between cash on hand, short term credit receivables and revolver availability, which is currently undrawn.

Speaker 2

Looking ahead, our key strategic priorities for the balance of the year remain. 1st, a focus on driving sales at all of our brands through the execution of our strategic pillars. Like others in the fine dining category, we're experiencing a dynamic environment driven by macro headwinds and consumer uncertainty. As you look around the restaurant landscape from all you can eat to all day happy hours, the industry is chasing traffic through deep discounting and promotional activity. Yet our mission continues to be to create great guest experiences and memories by operating the best restaurants in all of our markets and delivering exceptional and unforgettable guest experiences to every guest every time.

Speaker 2

We do that through our focus on our 3 strategic pillars of operations, marketing and culinary. We continue to see robust demand on Fridays and Saturdays across all of our brands and we are focused on maximizing reservations, turn times and throughput during our peak days and peak hours. In addition, we continue to emphasize local store outreach to ensure we are top of mind with concierges, hotels and businesses in the 4 block radius around each of our restaurants to drive business dinners, happy hours, hour lunches, weekend brunches and late night visits across our portfolio brands. We know we're executing at a high level as we continue to see some of the highest guest satisfaction metrics across all of our restaurants. From a marketing perspective, we are leveraging our digital marketing capabilities and ever growing digital database to drive one of our many everyday value messages such as $3 $6 $9 $Happy Hour, which has also been launched at Benihana and Rasushi.

Speaker 2

Customer loyalty continues to be a key focus of ours and in the coming quarters we will roll out a loyalty program across all brands with a special emphasis on birthday celebrations and personalized rewards for all our guests special occasions. This enhanced approach to customer appreciation marks a significant evolution in our retention strategy as we know our guests love to celebrate with our brands and we plan to convert those guests who may come to our restaurants once or twice a year to more frequent visitors. Moving on to culinary, we continue to be extremely focused on culinary innovation and enhancing the guest experience. For example, at Benihana restaurants, we rolled out our Y GU program for guests seeking a premium offering and the early read is very positive. We believe there's tremendous upside for many innovations in Benihana and we have only just begun.

Speaker 2

We are excited about our exceptional lineup of holiday and seasonal menu offerings as our venues truly come alive during the holiday season. Our second key priority is the successful integration of Benihana and Rasushi and levering on our cost initiatives. We've made significant strides in achieving our post acquisition synergies target and we begin to see the impact this quarter on the Benihana restaurant level margins. We are nearing $19,000,000 in run rate synergies across both restaurant level and support costs by eliminating duplicate costs and achieving improved pricing through contract consolidations. Areas we've seen significant progress and plan to deliver at least $20,000,000 in annual synergies.

Speaker 2

Eliminate duplicate headcounts, eliminate duplicate professional services, capturing insurance synergies, leverage broad line purchasing and improve commodities and operating supply costs. As part of the Kona Grill and RAS Sushi integration, we have evaluated our portfolio of existing restaurants with the goal to optimize overall performance. After careful consideration, in October, we closed 4 RAS sushi locations, 3 of which are in markets with existing Kona Grills. We expect to retain a substantial amount of delivery and takeout business for these restaurants generated through our nearby Kona Grill locations, supporting improved margins in our growth concepts. In addition to the closures, we are working on a number of sales driving and operating efficiency initiatives at Kona Grove.

Speaker 2

For example, we are testing Benihana virtual takeout and delivery in markets where Benihana is currently not present and the early results are very encouraging. We're also streamlining hours of operations in order to maximize staffing for revenue during our peak hours and reduce shoulder period hours in order to capture labor efficiencies. Above and beyond cost savings, we have overlaid our strategic pillars of operations, marketing and culinary to the Benihana and Rasushi brands. We are leveraging our logistics, reservations, digital marketing and culinary core competencies to drive sales and performance at Benihana and Rasushi. In addition, from a restaurant support perspective, we have integrated human resources, payroll, financial reporting, development and many other internal systems and processes.

Speaker 2

Thirdly, we are focused on our next phase of growth, balancing company owned development and asset by growth. We plan to open 6 new venues by the end of 2024, consisting of 5 company owned restaurants, 2 SDKs, 1 Kona Grill, 1 Rasushi and 1 Softwater Social. In addition, we also plan to open 1 managed STK. In September, we opened our 1st Kona Grill in Oregon in the city of Tigard at Bridgette Port Village. Then in October, we opened an STK in Aventura, our 3rd STK in the state of Florida.

Speaker 2

Today, we opened our new concept, South Florida Social in Denver, Colorado within the Cherry Creek neighborhood. With South Florida Social, we are combining the best in class experience and a match atmosphere of STK in a refreshed setting that places a focus on the delectable premium seafood offerings. In the Q4, we plan to open a managed STK in the Niagara Falls Embassy Suites on the Canadian side of the falls. Moving forward, we plan to open 5 to 6 company owned restaurants annually and we'll balance this with asset light growth of managed and licensed SD Kinko Negros and franchise Benihanas. In addition, we will continue to explore opportunities for Benihana and stadium concessions where we have 5 locations and we plan to grow the retail grocery business.

Speaker 2

Lastly, our 4th key priority is balance sheet flexibility and returning value to our shareholders. We finished the quarter with over $70,000,000 in liquid resources when combining our cash on hand, short term credit card receivables and the availability under the revolving credit facility, which remains undrawn. Under the current conditions, a term loan is not subject to any financial covenant. This quarter, we returned approximately $2,300,000 to shareholders through share repurchases and we will continue to evaluate opportunistic share repurchases under our already board authorized program. We are laser focused on our balance sheet and are prioritizing cash flow generation, balance sheet flexibility and maximizing shareholder returns.

Speaker 2

As you can tell, we've been very busy and are now on our path to $5,000,000,000 in system wide sales. Our strong free cash flow generation combined with our disciplined pipeline of new locations, proven unit economics in the asset light strategies provide us with multiple avenues for growth. We are excited for the future and we will remain focused on executing our strategy and creating long term shareholder value. I will now turn the call over to Tyler.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Manny. Let me start by discussing our Q3 financials in greater detail. Please note the prior quarter was any contribution from the recent acquisition of Penniana, which closed on May 1, 2024. The Q3 of 2024 has 3 months of contributions from Benihana and Ross Sushi. Total consolidated GAAP revenues were $194,000,000 increasing 152.3 percent from the $76,900,000 for the same quarter of last year.

Speaker 1

Included in our total revenues is our owned restaurant net revenue of $190,600,000 which increased 158.6 percent from $73,700,000 for the same quarter last year. The increase was due primarily to $119,400,000 in contributions from Benihan and Rod Sushi. The increase was also attributable to the opening of 6 STK and Cone Girl restaurants since October 2023. This was partially offset by an 8.8% reduction in comparable sales. Comparable sales decreased 4.2% at Penihana, 11.1% at SPK and 70% at our Grille concepts.

Speaker 1

For clarity at SPK, traffic was minus 4.7%. Management license and incentive fee revenues increased 6.4% to 3,400,000 dollars for the 3 months ended September 30, 2024 from $3,200,000 for the 3 months ended September 30, 2023. Benihana franchise restaurants contributed $700,000 in revenues during the Q3 of 2024. Owned restaurant cost of sales as a percentage of owned restaurant net revenue increased 380 basis points to 20.9% in the Q3 of 2024 compared to 24.7% in the prior year. This was primarily due to operational cost reduction initiatives, product mix management and pricing that was partially offset by cost inflation.

Speaker 1

This also includes the addition of Fennyhana and Ross Tsuji, which contributed positively to the cost of sales as a percentage of revenue. Owned restaurant operating expenses as a percentage of owned restaurant net revenue increased 300 basis points to 65.9% in the Q3 of 2024 from 62.9% in the Q3 of 2023 due to cost inflation and fixed operating costs partially offset by operational cost reduction initiative and pricing at SNC and Kona Grill. This also includes the addition of Benihana and Rasushi, which contributed positively to operating expenses as a percentage of revenue. Restaurant operating profit increased 90 basis points to 13.2% for the Q3 of 2024 compared to 12.3% in the Q3 of 2023. This includes restaurant operating profit of 70% at Pennijana.

Speaker 1

On a total reported basis, general and administrative costs increased $5,500,000 or 75.6 percent to $12,800,000 in the Q3 of 2024 from $7,300,000 in the Q3 of 2023. When adjusting for stock based compensation, adjusted general and administrative expenses were $11,200,000 $6,000,000 in the Q3 of 2024 and 2023 respectively. As a percentage of revenues, adjusted general and administrative costs improved 210 basis points to 5.8% compared to 7.9%. The improvement is due to the sales leverage realized depending on our acquisition. Depreciation and amortization expense was $9,400,000 in the Q3 of 2024 compared to $3,700,000 in the Q3 of 2023.

Speaker 1

The increase was primarily related to depreciation and amortization for the Benihana and Ross Hsu restaurant, depreciation associated with the opening of 6 new owned venues since October 2023 and capital expenditures to maintain and enhance guest experience in our restaurant. Preopening expenses were $2,100,000 compared to $3,100,000 in the prior year. We incurred non recurring costs totaling $7,100,000 in the Q3 of 2024 consisting of transaction and exit costs of $900,000 and transition and integration costs of $6,300,000 both related to the acquisition of Fennyheim. Interest expense was $10,700,000 in Q3 of 2024 compared to $1,700,000 in the Q3 of 2023. Benefit in the provision for income taxes was $4,600,000 in the Q3 of 2024 compared to a benefit of $375,000 in the Q3 of 2023.

Speaker 1

Net loss available to common stockholders was $16,000,000 or $0.52 net loss per share compared to net loss available to common stockholders of $3,100,000 in the Q3 of 2023. Adjusted net loss available to common stockholders was $9,400,000 or $0.30 adjusted net loss per share compared to an adjusted net loss available to common stockholders of $3,000,000 in the Q3 of 2023 or $0.09 adjusted net loss per share. Adjusted EBITDA for the Q3 attributable to One Group Hospitality Inc. Was $14,900,000 compared to $3,100,000 in the Q3 of 2023. Please note, in the Q3, we have updated our definition of adjusted EBITDA to no longer adjust for preopening expenses.

Speaker 1

Under the previous definition, adjusted EBITDA would have been $17,000,000 versus $6,200,000 in the Q3 of the prior year. We have included a reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA, historical adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net income in the tables in our Q3 2024 earnings release. During the Q3, we spent $2,300,000 on a purchase of 600,000 shares. Turning to liquidity, we finished the quarter with $36,200,000 in cash and short term credit card liquidity quotes and $34,100,000 available under our revolving credit facility, which remains undrawn. Under the current conditions, our term loan does not have any financial covenants.

Speaker 1

Now I would like to provide some forward looking commentary regarding our business. This commentary is subject to risks and uncertainties associated with forward looking statements as discussed in our SEC filings. We as always remind our investors the actual number and timing of new restaurant openings for any given period is subject to a number of factors outside the company's control, including macroeconomic conditions, weather and factors under the control of landlords, contractors, licensees and regulatory and licensing authority. As we entered the back half of the year, we anticipated improving same store sales trends for the 3rd Q4 based on previous year's comparison and less consumer uncertainty. Based on our Q3 results, the information available now and the expectations as of today, we are updating our 2024 target.

Speaker 1

The targets include projections for Benihana from May 1, the date of the acquisition, until the end of the year, excluding discussions regarding run rate performance. For calculations of run rate measures, please refer back to our press release that was issued today. Beginning with revenues, we project total GAAP revenues of between $660,000,000 $60,000,000 $680,000,000 which reflects our anticipation of consolidated same store sales for the Q4 of minus 4% to minus 8%. On a run rate basis, we project total GAAP revenues of $845,000,000 to $865,000,000 Managed license and franchise fee revenues are expected to be between $15,000,000 $16,000,000 total owned operating expenses as a percentage of owned restaurant net revenue of 83% to 83.6 percent total G and A excluding stock based compensation of approximately 39,000,000 dollars adjusted EBITDA of between $71,000,000 $76,000,000 On a run rate basis, we project total adjusted EBITDA of $111,000,000 to $116,000,000 Adjusted EBITDA excluding pre opening expenses of between $80,000,000 $85,000,000 On a run rate basis, we project total adjusted EBITDA excluding pre opening of $120,000,000 to 125,000,000 dollars restaurant preopening expenses of between $8,000,000 $9,000,000 and effective income tax rate of approximately 30%. Total capital expenditures net of allowances received from landlords of between $50,000,000 to $60,000,000 And finally, we plan to add 6 new venues in 2024.

Speaker 1

I will now turn the call back to Manny.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Tyler, and thank you all for your time today and interest in The ONE Group. While we are facing macro headwinds in the short term, we remain confident in our solid portfolio of high volume iconic brands and long term vision to be the undisputed global leader in VIBE Dining. We are entering an exciting phase in our company's journey and we appreciate your continued support. Tyler and I would be happy to answer any questions that you may have. Operator?

Operator

We will now begin the question and answer session. The first question comes from Mark Smith with Lake Street Capital. Please go ahead.

Speaker 3

Hi, guys. I wanted to hit first just update on the industry, kind of how things are going and kind of how to battle these negative comp trends. Can you just talk about your direct competitors, what you're seeing as far as promotions? And then how you are able to compete in this environment?

Speaker 2

Yes. Thanks, Mark. So I mean more direct competitors, we're seeing all day happy hour. I think that's become a big promotion for some of our competitors. They're offering highly discounted items all day.

Speaker 2

So that's been one of them. On the casual dining, it seems to be everything. We got a lot of endless pasta bowls and we have the burgers at Chile. We have a lot of price point competition there. So I think that's kind of what we've been seeing.

Speaker 2

And of course, then as you go lower on the scale of QSR and everything else, obviously, you guys know about all the super heavy discounting there. So everybody is putting out their very hot price points. Our response to it has been we obviously do happy hour. We've always done happy hour. So we're competing with happy hour during the regular hours, 3 to 6.

Speaker 2

And so that's been one of the things that we've been competing with. The second thing that we've been competing with has been we offer $39 dinners at Kona Grill and we offer $69 dinners at STK every day and those come with beverage. So we think that's a pretty compelling price point, but we've been doing that on an ongoing basis now for a while. So that's our hot price there, if you will, in terms of there. And then we've also launched at Kuna Grill, Ali can eat sushi on Sunday nights, and that's a pretty compelling promotion.

Speaker 2

And we're starting to see some traction on that as well right now. So those are the majority of what we've been doing. And then, of course, as we discussed in our prepared statements, we're looking at loyalty. We think loyalty is a big player right now. I think if you look at Cheesecake Factory, for instance, that's an example of someone who's been going heavy on the loyalty side.

Speaker 2

So our job here is to stay in the value sector, but not getting to the heavy discounting sector because one of your other questions is what we're seeing on the economy. I think we've started to see a little bit of a bottom of the trends. We're starting to see a stabilization on that. And then if you look at some of our concepts, I think Tyler quoted this on there, we're actually doing very well on traffic at STK. We're only down 4 to 5 points on traffic at STK.

Speaker 2

And I believe that's part of our success with our everyday value strategy. So again, I think a little bit of that the trend now, I think it's starting to bottom out. As a matter of fact, you probably saw that on our guidance. We guided to minus 8 to minus 4 for the Q4, and we're coming out of a negative 8.8 same store sales. So I think our guidance kind of implies that we're starting to see a bottom on the trends.

Speaker 3

Okay. And then on the development front, it seems like we've had some delays. Can you just talk about kind of permitting construction process, anything that's maybe causing some delays as you try to get some of these restaurants open?

Speaker 2

Yes. I mean, I think right now the timing on development is really more controlled by the fact, as we mentioned on our prepared statements, we want to get more to the asset light growth side of development. And so we're keeping pace with company owned restaurants. I think we mentioned 6 in our communications. So we're keeping it at that pace.

Speaker 2

As a matter of fact, we have opened 3 restaurants in the last 60 days. So it's really more about pacing them at a pace that we feel comfortable with. And again, we've been spending a lot more time, I would say, in the last 30 to 45 days on franchising for Benihana, which I think is a very good opportunity for us. There's a really good model there that we can excel at. And then we're also opening up our next management contract in Niagara Falls.

Speaker 2

So we've been working there. And then we have a couple of airport deals that we're actively working on right now. And then we also have some casino opportunities that we've been looking for SDK as well. And more recently, we've also started working on some potential license and management opportunities for Asia. Obviously, we're still early on that, but we're definitely more actively working at building our pipeline with management license deals.

Speaker 2

In terms of the delays on permitting and we really haven't seen a significant change from 3 to 6 months ago. Obviously, we've already reported that the cycles are pretty long, but we haven't seen any meaningful change in from within the last 90 days.

Speaker 3

Okay. And just the last one for me, we had the foreclosures of raw sushi. Do you anticipate or do you see any others throughout your system, maybe at the end of a lease term or any potential closures on the horizon?

Speaker 2

Yes. I mean, I think as we said on our prepared statements, I think one of the synergies and one of the benefits of having done our acquisition is that it gives us flexibility in managing the portfolio. And in this case, we did have 3 RAS that were significantly close to Kona Grill. And so those just made sense for us. So we've taken care in the short terms in the ones that make sense.

Speaker 2

And then as these leases become due, we'll evaluate the extension and if it makes sense for us to stick around. Obviously, as you know, our commitment has always been and continues to be, we do not do negative cash flow location. So that plays a big role into our decision. And we really want to build a very successful portfolio of high volume, high margin restaurants. So if there's restaurants that just don't meet our profitability and our sales screens, we obviously will move on.

Speaker 2

And we also have a very robust pipeline. So we do have the flexibility that we can always replace lower quality real estate with really high quality real estate. So it's just part of our ongoing strategy of managing our portfolio of restaurants.

Speaker 3

Great. Thank you.

Operator

The next question comes from Jim Celera with Stephens Inc. Please go ahead.

Speaker 4

Hey, guys. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking our questions. I wanted to maybe ask first about the sequencing throughout the quarter because it seems like when we talked with other restaurant operators, July was kind of the worst and then step up into August and then step down into September, but still kind of higher than July. So if it's possible, can you give us like the monthly comp breakdown and then the exit rate into 4Q?

Speaker 2

Yes. I mean, that's a great question. And then I'll let Tyler add some more color on this as well. But I think the sequencing that we've been seeing is that typically the 1st month in any kind of calendar quarter has been the softest of going back to the beginning of this year. So we have seen a softening in the 1st month of every quarter.

Speaker 2

And then it gets progressively better by the 2nd 3rd month of the quarter. So we've seen a rhythm there. And then the other thing that we've seen probably a little bit more predominantly is that the 1st week of every calendar month seems to be softer than week 2, 3 4. So there's a progression where we're seeing softer than getting to better. Obviously, we think that's part of it.

Speaker 2

It has to do with the fact that people pay rent and there's a lot of things that are due at the end of the month. And I think Tyler can add some color on that. Tyler, why don't you do a little bit more on that? What do you think you're seeing there?

Speaker 1

Yes, Jim. So I think that the commentary that you had on the cadence throughout the Q3, I think that we saw exactly the same trend, which was pretty choppy July followed by August. That was, I think, much better in terms of trend and then a little bit worse in September. So nothing different from

Speaker 5

our end there. And I

Speaker 1

think in terms of the exit out of the quarter, our guidance on kind of implying on the Q4 kind of that negative 8% to negative 4%. We finished at minus 8.8% for the Q3 and we've guided into a range that's a little bit better for that than that to kind of give you a sense of kind of how October shaped up.

Speaker 2

Yes. And I think our view on the bottom ups, the trends bottoming is based a lot on how we look at our 2 year stacks on same store sales. And just in general, how we've seen the progression in the last couple of weeks in terms of same store sales. So we think that as our guidance implies once again in the Q4, we think that we'll be better than we were in the 3rd and then we'll see what goes from thereafter.

Speaker 4

Okay, great. And Tyler, I think you gave traffic number. I wasn't sure if that was just for STK or if that was the combined total company. But if you could just give kind of the composition for the 8.8 number, traffic price and mix. And then just any trends you guys are seeing in mix as it relates to, Manny talked about some of these value offerings and kind of the all day happy hours and just so any mix trends you can speak to?

Speaker 1

Yes, Jim. So I would say that for STK, which is what we talked about on the call, that was negative 4.7 for traffic. And so mix was actually more average tax there would have been minus 6.3. And I guess across if you blend everything together, I would say that probably blended traffic is in line with same store sales when you have all 3 of those together. So you've got average check kind of offsetting any kind of product mix kind of offsetting any kind of pricing.

Speaker 2

But on the average, we're running about 5 points on pricing, right, for the brand. So the check is we're getting trade down to about exactly the same amount as the price increases.

Speaker 4

Yes. Okay. And then maybe if I could ask one more maybe high level question. What do you think the opportunity is for the unit growth for the non company owned stores? Just as we think about kind of ignoring the near term in a more normalized environment, given that you have a couple of different concepts that I think play to different consumers.

Speaker 4

How do you think about the potential growth rate of the non company owned stores?

Speaker 2

I mean, I think if we look back at our general business plan for STK going back to how we evaluate the market, we've always thought that over 50% of the STK units would be owned by someone else or a management or license deal. So I think our addressable market is about 200 for SDK. So we think that's about, call it, 100, 100 just for conversation purposes now. When we look at Benihana, we call an addressable market of about 400 units. And as we start looking out now, we think we probably can get to 50 to 100 franchise units, if not more there.

Speaker 2

So I think that's how you'll see the mix in there. So probably the mix skewing more towards management license for STK and kind of and the franchise growing for Benihana. In fairness, we are early with Benihana, so we're trying to understand how deep that market is. We're starting to go out and talking to people at conferences and just in general talking to people in the franchise side of the business. So we think there's an opportunity there.

Speaker 2

And some of the things that we're doing with the brand in terms of menu engineering, we'll definitely line it up so that we can have some opportunities that we also look at the Hibachi, teknaaki market, it's very fragmented by small operators. So we think there's an opportunity there to reach out to some of the smaller operators and bring in the power of the brand of Benihana and start utilizing that as an opportunity to drive franchising business. So Dow and I are super excited about that. I think we also have sports venues. We're at Yankee Stadium and we're in Phoenix and some other stadiums.

Speaker 2

And we've gotten a lot more inbound increase about that. So I think that's a great opportunity for Benihana. They're very successful in the stadiums. We also have some very strong franchisees currently in Latin America who are excited about what we're doing with the brand. So there's been a lot of interest in more Latin America franchising.

Speaker 2

So again, as we said on our prepared comments, you'll see us going more towards asset light opportunities. And frankly, company owned will still play a big role or play a role in our development because it allows us to take opportunity of incredible high quality real estate and not have to wait and give up on great real estate. So it does kind of fill in whatever we can't do with SLI.

Speaker 4

Great. Appreciate all the context. I'll hop back in the queue.

Speaker 2

Thank you, sir.

Operator

The next question comes from Nick Setyan with Wedbush Securities. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Thank you.

Speaker 5

It's good to see the trends maybe have stabilized and obviously the Q4 implied guide is indicating potentially a little bit of an uptick. So maybe we have seen a trough in Q3. And as you kind of look out to 2025, how should we think about maybe the 4 well margins across the brands? Or I guess maybe a better way to ask is, what are your targets that you're shooting for in terms of

Speaker 1

the 4 well

Speaker 5

margins for the various brands?

Speaker 2

Nick, great question. I think in 2025 as we look out at the margins, right now we're looking at a consolidated 17 percent for the company. That's kind of how we've guided somewhere around 17%. We actually think there's a significant amount of upside on that. One of the things that we have found out with the acquisition is just the synergies have been very clear and obvious to us.

Speaker 2

So there's a lot of areas where we've picked up significant savings in operating costs and cost of goods. So I think over time, you'll see our margins climbing closer to 2018 and so forth, remembering that we were able to improve Benihana margins on a down sales scenario. So that tells you that we do have a really good margin, if you will, growth opportunity within the portfolio. So I think you'll start seeing us getting closer to that 2018 percent range on the consolidated margins. Obviously, what we're also doing with the Grille, which is will help the margins because we're starting to work on the restaurant base that frankly doesn't help the overall profile of our margin.

Speaker 2

So that'll be another net plus. And I think generally for 2025, obviously, we don't have the crystal ball that is perfect for that. But as I said earlier, with the stabilization a little bit of what we see in the market is very encouraging and positive. And we also think that interest rates coming off is also a nice catalyst for our business, considering that we do cater to customers in the $75,000 household income and less. So I think that as interest rates get better and maybe credit card fees and everything else starts to pull back and mortgage rates, I think that really bodes well going into 2025.

Speaker 5

Thank you very much.

Operator

This concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Manny Hilario for any closing remarks.

Speaker 2

All right. Thank you everyone for once again being here with us. We appreciate all your incredible interest and support in the business. As I always say, all of this is only possible by the incredible commitment and work of our teammates who work in this business. So I'm very appreciative we're very appreciative of that.

Speaker 2

And I look forward to seeing you all in our restaurants in the Q4. And I wish you all a great holiday season. Thank you.

Operator

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

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Earnings Conference Call
ONE Group Hospitality Q3 2024
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