NASDAQ:CHUY Chuy's Q1 2024 Earnings Report Chuy's EPS ResultsActual EPS$0.42Consensus EPS $0.36Beat/MissBeat by +$0.06One Year Ago EPS$0.47Chuy's Revenue ResultsActual Revenue$110.50 millionExpected Revenue$111.67 millionBeat/MissMissed by -$1.17 millionYoY Revenue Growth-1.80%Chuy's Announcement DetailsQuarterQ1 2024Date5/9/2024TimeAfter Market ClosesConference Call DateThursday, May 9, 2024Conference Call Time5:00PM ETConference Call ResourcesConference Call AudioConference Call TranscriptPress Release (8-K)Quarterly Report (10-Q)Company ProfilePowered by Chuy's Q1 2024 Earnings Call TranscriptProvided by QuartrMay 9, 2024 ShareLink copied to clipboard.There are 11 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Chuy's Holdings First Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded. At this time, all participants have been placed on a listen only mode and the lines will be open for your questions following the prepared remarks. On today's call, we have Steve Hisloff, President and Chief Executive Officer and John Howie, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Chuy's Holdings, Inc. At this time, I'll turn the call over to Mr. Operator00:00:27Howey. Please go ahead, sir. Speaker 100:00:30Thank you, operator, and good afternoon. By now, everyone should have access to our Q1 2024 earnings release. If not, it can be found on our website atwww.chuys.com in the Investors section. Before we begin our formal remarks, I need to remind everyone that part of our discussions today will include forward looking statements. These forward looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance and therefore, you should not put undue reliance on them. Speaker 100:00:58These statements are also subject to numerous risks and uncertainties and could cause actual results to differ materially from what we expect. We refer all of you to our recent SEC filings for a more detailed discussion of the risks that could impact our future operating results and financial condition. Looking ahead, we plan to release our Q2 2024 earnings on Thursday, August 8, 2024 after the market close. With that out of the way, I'd like to turn the call over to Chuy's President and CEO, Steve Hislop. Speaker 200:01:31Thank you, John. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us on today's call. In the Q1, we experienced the same weather and macro challenges facing the broader restaurant industry leading to a top line growth that was below our expectations. That said, we were encouraged to see our top line trends improve as we move through the quarter when adjusting March for the Easter calendar shift. In addition, our off premise business continued to see growth as consumers embrace the opportunity to enjoy Chewy's high quality made from scratch food from the comfort of their own home. Speaker 200:02:03Ultimately, despite top line headwinds, our team's continued focus on 4 wall operational excellence allowed us to deliver an 18.8 restaurant level operating margin, which remains among the best in our industry. Before I jump into our growth drivers, I want to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of our team members who make Trulie, Trulie special. In times of macro uncertainty, our ability to refocus on the fundamentals of driving great guest experiences is what will allow us to be successful in the long term despite these short term pressures. Shifting to our growth drivers. Menu innovation remains to be the backbone of our growth as we continuously introduce fresh and flavorful options for our guests. Speaker 200:02:47In January, we were thrilled to introduce a new CKO iteration that includes shrimp and crab enchiladas with our delicious lobster bisque sauce, machos nachos and lastly, our cheesy pig burrito. We continue to be encouraged by our guest feedback on the platform, which is resonating well with our guests. To build upon our momentum, we were thrilled to introduce our next CKO at the end of that included that includes Green Chile Barbecue Ribs, Pablo Enchiladas and our Fat Daddy Flautas. So far our guests are very receptive with the new options and we look forward to successfully Truly's knockout campaigns in the future. In conjunction with our CKO offerings, as we mentioned on our last call, we are also optimizing our menu by adding some of our guest favorite CKOs to our regular menu to further drive traffic growth in our restaurants. Speaker 200:03:42As part of this initiative, we were encouraged by the performance of our burrito bowls as we added them to the menu as a permanent item. We expect the CKOs will continue to be a culinary testing ground for us, but remain committed to the streamlined menu we achieved during the pandemic. Moving on to off premise, we are pleased to have delivered another strong quarter of off premise performance, mixing at approximately 29%. Our delivery channel continued to perform well 130 basis point improvement year over year and mixed in at approximately 12% during the Q1. In terms of our catering channel, we remain focused on building awareness around our capabilities and working on completing the rollout of our easy cater platform to all of our restaurants. Speaker 200:04:28For the Q1, catering is mixing at around 3.5%. As we look ahead, we continue to believe channel will remain at least 25% of our sales with catering contributing approximately 4% to 6% of total sales long term. Turning to our marketing initiatives. Our marketing approach has continued to be favorable in communicating our strong brand value and sharing our unique Chuy's experience with the guests near and far. To that end, we will remain focused on utilizing digital media platforms such as Meta, Google, TikTok, YouTube Video Advertising and organic influencer programs to share our defining differences of our incredible value through our made from scratch food and drink. Speaker 200:05:12And finally, let's turn to our development plans. Unit growth remains to be a core piece of our long term growth plan with a strong focus in markets that have a proven track record of brand awareness and high average unit volumes. During the Q1, we successfully opened 1 restaurant in New opening in Austin, Texas subsequent to the end of the first quarter. This is aligned with our plans to open 2 new restaurants in the first half of twenty twenty four and we're pleased with the performance of these restaurants thus far. As we look ahead to the remainder of 2024, our pipeline remains robust and we plan on opening between 6 to 8 new restaurants in our core markets for the year. Speaker 200:05:53With that, I'll now turn the call over to our CFO, John Howie, to discuss our Q1 results in greater detail. Speaker 100:05:59Thank you, Steve. Revenues for the Q4 was $110,500,000 compared to $112,500,000 in the same quarter last year. As a reminder, there was a 1 week calendar shift in comparison to the fiscal Q1 of 2024 to the fiscal Q1 of 2023 due to a 53rd week in fiscal 2023. This resulted in reduced revenue in the Q1 of 2024 as the shift caused the week between Christmas and New Year's traditionally a high volume week for our brands units to be included in the Q1 of 2023 that was replaced by an average volume week in the Q1 of 2024. Overall, we estimate that the 53rd week shift negatively impacted itself by $1,800,000 EBITDA by approximately $900,000 and EPS by approximately $0.04 to $0.05 per share. Speaker 100:06:51Comparable restaurant sales on a calendar basis in the Q1 adjusted for the shift decreased 4.3% versus last year, driven by 6.9% decrease in average weekly customers and partially offset by 2.6% increase in average check. Effective pricing during the quarter was approximately 2.9% and off premise sales were approximately 29 percent of total revenue as compared to 27% of total revenue a year ago. Turning to expenses, cost of sales as a percentage of revenue decreased 30 basis points to 25.2 percent driven commodity deflation of 1.3% as compared to last year. Looking to 2024, we currently expect commodity inflation in the low single digits for the year. Labor cost as a percentage of revenue increased 110 basis points to 31.4%, primarily due to hourly labor inflation of approximately 3.6% at comparable restaurants as well as meaningful improvement in hourly labor staffing levels compared to last year. Speaker 100:08:01We are currently expecting labor inflation of mid single digits for fiscal 2024. Operating costs as a percentage of revenue increased 30 basis points to 16.4% driven by higher delivery service fees from an increase in off premise sales, an increase in restaurant repair and maintenance costs, partially offset by a decrease in utility costs and to go supplies as compared to last year. General administrative expenses decreased to $7,100,000 in the Q1 from $7,800,000 in the same period last year, driven mainly by lower performance based bonuses. As a percentage of revenue, G and A decreased to 6.5% from 6.9% during the same period last year. In summary, net income for the Q1 of 2024 was $6,900,000 or $0.40 per diluted share compared to $8,200,000 or $0.45 per diluted share in the same period last year. Speaker 100:09:00During the Q1 of 2024 and 2023, we incurred $400,000 or $0.02 per share diluted share in impairment closed restaurant and other costs. Taking that into account, adjusted net income for the quarter, Q1 of 2024 was $7,300,000 or $0.42 per diluted share compared to $8,500,000 or $0.47 per diluted share in the same period last year. Moving to our liquidity and balance sheet as of the end of the quarter, we had $56,400,000 in cash and cash equivalents, no debt outstanding and $25,000,000 available under our revolving credit facility. We also purchased 214,659 shares of our common stock during the quarter for a total of approximately $7,300,000 I'm proud to say following these purchases, we have repurchased over 3,100,000 shares since 20 20 and have reacquired the shares we issued in our ATM offering in 2020 at the height of the pandemic. As of March 31, 2024, we had $13,800,000 remaining under our $50,000,000 repurchase program, which will expire on December 31, 2020 4. Speaker 100:10:16With that, we'll now provide you with the following outlook for 2024. We are reaffirming our expectations of adjusted EPS of $1.82 to $1.87 for 20.24 as compared to the adjusted EPS of 1 point after adjusting for the extra week in 2023. This is based in part on the following annual assumptions: G and A expense of $29,000,000 to 30,000,000 dollars 6 to 8 new restaurants net CapEx expenditures of approximately $41,000,000 to 46,000,000 dollars restaurant preopening expenses of approximately $2,700,000 to $3,200,000 effective annual tax rate of approximately 13% to 14% and annual weighted diluted shares outstanding of 17,400,000. With that, I'll turn the call back over to Steve. Speaker 200:11:07Thanks, John. Overall, we remain optimistic about our ability to capitalize on the long term growth opportunities ahead for Chuy's. Through the initiatives we've put in place, we will continue to focus on our 4 wall operational excellence and provide our guests with the unique Chuy's experience they all know and love. Combined with a strong balance sheet, disciplined capital allocation and a robust development pipeline, we are in a position to maximize long term shareholder value in 2024 and beyond. With that, we're happy to answer any questions. Speaker 200:11:37Operator, please open the lines for questions. Operator00:11:42Thank you. Our first question is from Crystal Coll with Stifel. Please proceed with your question. Speaker 300:12:14Thanks and good afternoon guys. Hey, Travis. Hey, guys. Steve, I know you said comps improved during the quarter, Can you help us understand the rate of change and maybe where comps are quarter to date? Speaker 200:12:29You have that, John, if you can find Speaker 100:12:32As far as quarter to date, let's see. We were after period 4 so quarter I'm sorry quarter to date we are down about 2.2%. Speaker 300:12:46Does that include the Easter benefit John? Speaker 100:12:50It does, Chris. But it was kind of offset by Cinco, so that's flat. You've got Cinco that was a Friday last year. And then It was a Sunday this year. Sunday this year. Speaker 300:13:05Okay. That's helpful. And then John, what comp sales assumption are you using for the earnings range that the company is guiding? Speaker 100:13:15So for the year, we're going to be a little right around flat to slightly positive, Chris. Speaker 300:13:29Okay. Okay, that's helpful. And then Steve, I know in the past the company has slowed its unit growth plans when comp sales have been challenged. And a lot of the restaurants have talked about the environment being more challenging here recently. And I'm just wondering if comps do continue to be challenged for the balance of the year, do you think it will affect development plans for 2025? Speaker 200:13:54As I sit here now, Chris, I'd say no. Again, if you look at what we're rolling over in the Q1, last year for the Q1, along with what John already mentioned about the $1,800,000 shift in the 53rd week, we're rolling over quarter of 8% increase in the whole Q1. So if you look at our 2 year stack, we're still up 3.7 percent on the whole Q1. So again, I think it'd be a little premature, but you are right. If it goes that way, I'll always consider that because the sales and obviously guest counts are a lifeblood of any concept. Speaker 300:14:34Okay. That's helpful. Thanks guys. I'll pass it on. Speaker 200:14:37Thank you, sir. Operator00:14:40Thank you. Our next question is from Jim Salera with Stephens. Please proceed with your question. Speaker 400:14:46Hi, guys. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking our questions. I appreciate the color around the 53rd week and the impact from that. Speaker 100:14:55We've heard a lot of people in Speaker 400:14:56the industry talk about impacts from weather in January. Operator00:15:02Do you Speaker 400:15:02have any sense for what that impact was in the Q1? And maybe what comps it then if you were to strip that out? Speaker 100:15:10Sure. Basically with the weather and the shift in the Easter is about 1.2% on our comp sales. Speaker 400:15:20Great. That's super helpful. And then if I look at restaurant level margin growth, you guys are up significantly since pre COVID. Is there any opportunity to maybe reinvest some of that back into value offerings for the consumer, maybe more into the marketing line? Just any thoughts on that as you guys progress through the year? Speaker 200:15:44Yes. One thing that we've always prided ourselves in is our value within our whole menu as it currently stands. We're not a discount people like you've seen a lot of other We've always constantly looking at our marketing spend as we move forward, but we feel pretty comfortable. One thing about digital, it's easy to spin on a dime. So no doubt, we've definitely looked at really talking more about value and even more so than our defining differences. Speaker 200:16:19Although the freshness of our product making everything from scratch, we think is still a unique message. So we'll continue that. But right now, we're pretty happy with the way our model is situated. Operator00:16:38Our next question is from David Tarantino with Baird. Please proceed with your question. Speaker 500:16:43Hi, good afternoon. My question is on the outlook for the year, John, that you mentioned, for comps kind of flattish to slightly positive comps. I guess that would require a pretty big improvement from what you're seeing currently. So I was just wondering if you could share your thoughts on why you expect comps to get better as the year goes on and I guess what are the key drivers of that improvement? Speaker 100:17:14Great question, David. One is by the end of this month, we should be on fully on Easycater. So we'll have approximately 27 more stores on Easycater, which will help. 2, as we get further right now in Q2 and in Q3, we're going to start to roll over Uber Eats. Right now, it's we're basically challenged with rolling over those comps from last year. Speaker 100:17:42As we get into Q4, we fully kind of rolled over that. And so that will be helpful with that. So we think that's going to be beneficial. And those are the big things. Can you think of Yes. Speaker 200:17:57And sequentially, if you look at it, as I mentioned, as we started, when you're looking at the Q1, it was an anomaly a little bit where we're up last year 8%. It goes progressively down to normal numbers in the second and the third. And actually, we roll over a little bit easier numbers in the 4th quarter. So sequentially, it just moves throughout the whole year like that. Speaker 100:18:19And David, if you look at a 2 year stack, I mean, even for the quarter, we were up about 3 point 7% on the 2 year stack. So if you keep rolling and we've been pretty consistent with that, you keep rolling that forward that would suggest higher comps going forward. Specifically, the second half of the year and definitely in the Q4. Speaker 500:18:38Got it. And then, John, on the cost outlook, it also looks like you're assuming that inflation might get a little stronger as the year goes on. I think you mentioned, in both cases commodities and labor being a little bit higher for the year than what you saw in Q1. So I guess what's driving that assumption for each of those buckets? Speaker 100:19:03Well, the big thing is we think labor is going to be in that mid single digits, probably a little lighter than that at this point, probably in that 4% to 5% or maybe a little shy of 4% at the present time. On the cost side though, the biggest thing is we have beef locked in through the Q2 with ground beef and locked into the Q3, Tahira right now if we were to lock that in, is significantly higher than what we have it locked in at. Now with that being said, the slaughter rates are starting to increase above 600,000 by the time we have to lock that in or buy on the market those will come down. But right now we are projecting some inflation related to our cuts, which as you know are the thin meats. And right now, they are running a little higher than your center cuts today. Speaker 500:19:57Got it. So just in terms of sequencing, you would expect would you expect Q2 to be similar to Q1 in terms of maybe flat to slightly down and then you get some step ups in the second half based on what you just said? Speaker 100:20:13No, in Q2, we're expecting because we actually have stepped up with the Q2 because we have a different purchase for the ground beef in Q2. So that's stepped it up a little bit. So we're expecting inflation over the prior year in that 2% to 3% in Q2. And it's kind of staying at that rate a little higher than that, probably another 100 basis points in Q3 and then another 200 basis points in Q4. Speaker 500:20:40Got it. Okay, great. Thanks for all that color. Thank you. Speaker 200:20:45Thanks, David. Thanks. Operator00:20:49Our next question is from Andy Bauers with Jefferies. Please proceed with your question. Speaker 600:20:56Hey, guys. Yes, just checking on, are the 2Q CKOs, are those kind of barbelled as well? Do you have is the flout is kind of a lower price point in there with ribs being premium I would imagine? Speaker 200:21:12Yes, exactly. And we're just starting our 2nd week of it this year. We also have the barbecue as an add on 3 Bone add on, which is the first time we've done anything like that. That should help us on some incremental sales. Speaker 100:21:26And that has definitely been a crowd favorite, the add on. Nice. Speaker 700:21:32And then Speaker 600:21:36just wondering, I know Austin is a big market, but they're also high volume restaurants. I mean, you've opened 2 here recently. Is that a headwind in any way to same store sales this year? Or how do you kind of think about that? Speaker 200:21:54As we open these we're opening in basically 5 states for the next 3 to 5 years as we mentioned before, Andy. And as we modeled all these, we made sure they had no cannibalization above 5%. Having said that, on the 2 that we've opened right now, one is down in New Bronzeville, as I've mentioned to you earlier. There's been really no cannibalization on either any of our stores for one so far. And again, we're only in our 3rd week at Mueller, which is an Austin store. Speaker 200:22:24But again, we've been pretty comfortable on all the stores that there's really not much effect of cannibalization in any of them so far. Operator00:22:33Got it. Thank you very much. Speaker 200:22:36Thanks, Andy. Operator00:22:40Thank you. Our next question is from Nick Setyan with Wedbush Securities. Speaker 800:22:49Just a question around the geographic sort of what you're seeing in terms of the different geographies for the comp. And also, are you seeing like a better comp in your higher volume stores than your lower volume stores because of let's say excess demand? Speaker 100:23:08No. I mean from a prorational standpoint, it's been pretty consistent throughout the population of stores, Nick. Speaker 800:23:17Got it. Okay. And on the labor piece, the deleverage is what it is in Q1. Can we see sort of that 100 to 110 basis points type of deleverage as the year progresses or as the comp improves? Hopefully, we see less leverage or less deleverage. Speaker 100:23:36Well, I mean, you're always going to see leverage in the second quarter, Nick. As you know, that's our strongest quarter. So you could see 100 basis points of leverage in that second quarter. And then 3rd quarter is our 2nd best quarter. So again, you'll see a little bit more leverage there than you did in the Q1 as well. Speaker 100:23:58Q4, none. In the Q4, probably none. Speaker 800:24:02By 100 basis points of leverage in Q2, you mean sequentially versus Q1, right, not year over year? Speaker 100:24:07Yes. Sequentially, yes. Got it. Speaker 800:24:10Okay. Thank you very much. Speaker 200:24:12Thanks, Nick. Operator00:24:23Our next question is from Todd Brooks with The Benchmark Company. Please proceed with your question. Speaker 900:24:28Hey, thanks for taking my questions. Just two quick ones. John, you gave us what the pricing was in the quarter. Could you let us know what average check ran for Q1? Speaker 100:24:42Yes. The average check was actually down 2.6 percent or up 2.6% and that price was just give me a second. Speaker 200:24:5519.41. Yes. 19.41. 19.41. Speaker 900:25:01So you said up 2.6 percent, John. So only like a 30 basis point drag from mix in the quarter? Speaker 200:25:08Correct. Yes. Operator00:25:10Okay, perfect. Speaker 900:25:12And then my second question, in thinking about CKO's proving ground for items coming back from the menu, Steve, how much broadening in the menu are you comfortable with these customer favorites coming off the CKOs? How many would you expect Speaker 700:25:27to be on the menu by year end? And are you Speaker 900:25:32kind of rationalizing anything off the menu to try to maintain some of that simplicity that you built in over the course of the pandemic? Speaker 200:25:39Great, great question. Exactly what you just said. Yes. These ones, we felt great about adding the balls because it's really a burrito that we currently pretty much almost do, but now it's in a bowl. So again, it wasn't adding a lot of prep and a lot of excitement in the back of the house house as far as moving around a lot, so everything's on the station. Speaker 200:25:58So we were very comfortable adding those on. But as we have a very disciplined approach as we continue to move forward, as we look at adding any of our CKOs because that is our proving ground for possibly some new items as we evolve our menu. We'll be very disciplined that when we have one come on, we'll absolutely good look at our product mix, finds out where it's come from and possibly move one another one off. So we'll be doing that as we do, but we'll be very disciplined in our approach across all of our stations and how well we can execute all of this. Speaker 900:26:30Okay, perfect. Thank you both. Speaker 200:26:33Thank you so Operator00:26:37much. Thank you. Our next question is from Brian Vaccaro with Raymond James. Please proceed with your question. Speaker 1000:26:44Hi, thanks. Steve, I think you alluded to it earlier, but just in light of the softer environment and one where it seems that you have to have value, but you also need to message it effectively. Could you just elaborate a little bit on just how you're adjusting your tactics? Any changes in your marketing message or your CKOs beyond the latest launch that you're thinking about? Speaker 200:27:07Sure, sure. The one thing that we have is value all throughout our menu, not only in our price point, which is our price point spread because of our pricing cases compared to our competitors. We actually increased our value spread over the years. So we're very great with that. But also, we've always said that there's no white space on our plates, which is also screaming value than our meal kits. Speaker 200:27:33So those things that I just mentioned, we're actually moved our digital to really talking all about that type of stuff. Not only the value of the price point, but also the value of the amount of food that you get and the experience that you get it in. So that's been an and as you know, Brian, the one thing about digital is you can quickly turn on a dime on your message. Our message has been always talking about value, but we spent a lot of time talking about our defining differences, whether it be our hand squeezed limes for our margaritas or our first product, we have nothing frozen. We don't have freezers. Speaker 200:28:09That will still be in it, but it's probably going to be a little bit more tainted to specifically our value message in all the mediums that we're doing. Obviously, we're on social with Meta, Facebook and we're on that all quarter. We're doing search with Google. We're on YouTube all quarter. We're on TikTok 8 weeks in the quarter. Speaker 200:28:28Then we have programmatic CTV, which is some of our videos that really showing our value and some of our price points. We'll definitely do it on all our e blast that will do 2 per period. And then obviously our CKO has value and the 3rd party delivery promotions is dealing with value. So that's pretty much we're hitting it hard and heavy. And the reason we're hitting it hard and heavy is if you look at the competitive environment out there, specifically over the last 6 months, you're now seeing all our competitors and even some fast food and even some quick casual really getting on major medium and talking about their price offs or things like that. Speaker 200:29:07And that's really been back only for about 6 months. And that's after 2, 2.5 years where they weren't discounting at all through COVID. So now this is a new phenomenon again. And again, just like 2019 where that was part of their media plan back then, it will start doing that. And as people go in and eat their restaurants, they're going to realize the food hasn't changed. Speaker 200:29:31So again, we feel our message on the value is the right way for us to go. Speaker 1000:29:37All right. Thank you. That's helpful. And John, sorry if I missed it, just a bookkeeping question, but what were operating weeks in the quarter, if you have that handy? I can follow-up offline if you don't have it there. Speaker 100:30:02Yes. I thought I yes, I'll follow-up with you. Speaker 1000:30:06Okay. Thank you very much. Speaker 200:30:08Thanks, Brian. Operator00:30:15Thank you. Our next question is from Andrew Wolf with CL King. Please proceed with your question. Speaker 700:30:22Thanks. I just wanted to ask about the adjustments, the calendarization of Easter and the weather. If we supply that number, it's almost 2% to the traffic being down 6.9%, it would making sure I'm thinking along with you guys, it would be down about 5%, would have been the sort of the calendar and weather adjusted view of your the traffic, the guest count? Speaker 100:30:54Well, I mean, 6 times you're down 1.2 with that. Speaker 200:30:58Yes. It's 1.2 on the sales impact. And then Speaker 100:31:02so Yes. So the 4.3% was already adjusted for the calendar. So when we do ours, it's an operational base from calendar to calendar, not fiscal. We kind of give you the fiscal for your modeling purposes, but it's 4.3 Speaker 700:31:16Then I took another, I took the weather out too. Right. Speaker 100:31:20The weather and Easter was 1.2 together. Speaker 200:31:23Oh, comp sales. Speaker 100:31:25Comp sales. So 6.9 minuteus the 1.2. Speaker 900:31:28Okay. Speaker 800:31:29All right. Speaker 100:31:30Does that make sense? Speaker 700:31:32Yes. I guess I read that wrong. And currently, if you the 2.2% quarter to date, took out the check and assumed it was running down up to 6%. Now you're running a little under 5%. So your guest count on this basis has improved whatever 50 basis points, 70 basis points sequentially. Speaker 700:31:56Is that about it? Yes. Okay. And is that the Uber Eats or is that more your marketing? Or do you think the environment has gotten a little better? Speaker 700:32:12How would you think about Speaker 200:32:16that? I think it's both. Obviously, it's both is how we're looking at it. Definitely the Uber Eats, there's a big headwind to roll over and then what we said. Speaker 700:32:29I just mean in the quarter to date with the guest traffic being a little better, I mean everybody is having trouble, but I'm just trying to dig inside that given that's how important it is. Speaker 300:32:41Yes, I think all of it. Speaker 100:32:45Yes, I mean, just the environment I think is getting a little better from what we've seen from our trends. Now with that being said, we are in the south to southeast. And you've seen all the tornadoes going through this area in the last few weeks. So that's in those numbers as well. Speaker 700:33:10And what's your sense of your feeling about marketing as a way to get the guest count up that highly elasticity is not the right word, but is that impactful for you or is it you want to do social media LTOs and stick with your net income? Speaker 200:33:27I think social media is a lot of that is really your share of voice. It's kind of just keeping your baseline out there. We believe the value messages that we've switched to on YouTube, programmatic video has a little bit more of an impact on moving the needle a little bit there and just switching to about 80% value message and a 20 percent competitive advantage message is we feel is the right way to go. Speaker 300:33:59Okay. Thank you. Speaker 200:34:01Thank you. Operator00:34:05Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached the end of today's question and answer session. I would like to turn the call back over to Mr. Steve Hisloff for closing comments. Speaker 200:34:14Thank you so much. We appreciate your continued interest in Chuy's and are available to answer questions at any and all questions. Again, thank you for thank you again and have a good evening. Operator00:34:29This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.Read morePowered by Conference Call Audio Live Call not available Earnings Conference CallChuy's Q1 202400:00 / 00:00Speed:1x1.25x1.5x2x Earnings DocumentsPress Release(8-K)Quarterly report(10-Q) Chuy's Earnings HeadlinesDallas developer, partners to build new office tower at site of beloved Tex Mex restaurantApril 18, 2025 | msn.comTrammell Crow, partners behind office tower to rise where Chuy’s now standsApril 18, 2025 | bizjournals.comTrump’s betrayal exposed Fair warning: this will not make for easy viewing. Especially if you voted for Trump, put your faith in him, and have any exposure to stocks, real estate, or crypto. But do not ignore this, as there’s likely nothing more important to your financial security in 2025.April 22, 2025 | Porter & Company (Ad)Tex-Mex chain Chuy's opens new restaurant in far South AustinApril 18, 2025 | msn.comAs Chuy’s moves, we remember 8 Dallas restaurants that changed the Knox neighborhoodApril 18, 2025 | msn.comTex-Mex chain Chuy’s puts up signs at new restaurant in EvansvilleApril 17, 2025 | msn.comSee More Chuy's Headlines Get Earnings Announcements in your inboxWant to stay updated on the latest earnings announcements and upcoming reports for companies like Chuy's? Sign up for Earnings360's daily newsletter to receive timely earnings updates on Chuy's and other key companies, straight to your email. Email Address About Chuy'sChuy's (NASDAQ:CHUY), through its subsidiaries, owns and operates full-service restaurants under the Chuy's name in the United States. 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There are 11 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Chuy's Holdings First Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded. At this time, all participants have been placed on a listen only mode and the lines will be open for your questions following the prepared remarks. On today's call, we have Steve Hisloff, President and Chief Executive Officer and John Howie, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Chuy's Holdings, Inc. At this time, I'll turn the call over to Mr. Operator00:00:27Howey. Please go ahead, sir. Speaker 100:00:30Thank you, operator, and good afternoon. By now, everyone should have access to our Q1 2024 earnings release. If not, it can be found on our website atwww.chuys.com in the Investors section. Before we begin our formal remarks, I need to remind everyone that part of our discussions today will include forward looking statements. These forward looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance and therefore, you should not put undue reliance on them. Speaker 100:00:58These statements are also subject to numerous risks and uncertainties and could cause actual results to differ materially from what we expect. We refer all of you to our recent SEC filings for a more detailed discussion of the risks that could impact our future operating results and financial condition. Looking ahead, we plan to release our Q2 2024 earnings on Thursday, August 8, 2024 after the market close. With that out of the way, I'd like to turn the call over to Chuy's President and CEO, Steve Hislop. Speaker 200:01:31Thank you, John. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us on today's call. In the Q1, we experienced the same weather and macro challenges facing the broader restaurant industry leading to a top line growth that was below our expectations. That said, we were encouraged to see our top line trends improve as we move through the quarter when adjusting March for the Easter calendar shift. In addition, our off premise business continued to see growth as consumers embrace the opportunity to enjoy Chewy's high quality made from scratch food from the comfort of their own home. Speaker 200:02:03Ultimately, despite top line headwinds, our team's continued focus on 4 wall operational excellence allowed us to deliver an 18.8 restaurant level operating margin, which remains among the best in our industry. Before I jump into our growth drivers, I want to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of our team members who make Trulie, Trulie special. In times of macro uncertainty, our ability to refocus on the fundamentals of driving great guest experiences is what will allow us to be successful in the long term despite these short term pressures. Shifting to our growth drivers. Menu innovation remains to be the backbone of our growth as we continuously introduce fresh and flavorful options for our guests. Speaker 200:02:47In January, we were thrilled to introduce a new CKO iteration that includes shrimp and crab enchiladas with our delicious lobster bisque sauce, machos nachos and lastly, our cheesy pig burrito. We continue to be encouraged by our guest feedback on the platform, which is resonating well with our guests. To build upon our momentum, we were thrilled to introduce our next CKO at the end of that included that includes Green Chile Barbecue Ribs, Pablo Enchiladas and our Fat Daddy Flautas. So far our guests are very receptive with the new options and we look forward to successfully Truly's knockout campaigns in the future. In conjunction with our CKO offerings, as we mentioned on our last call, we are also optimizing our menu by adding some of our guest favorite CKOs to our regular menu to further drive traffic growth in our restaurants. Speaker 200:03:42As part of this initiative, we were encouraged by the performance of our burrito bowls as we added them to the menu as a permanent item. We expect the CKOs will continue to be a culinary testing ground for us, but remain committed to the streamlined menu we achieved during the pandemic. Moving on to off premise, we are pleased to have delivered another strong quarter of off premise performance, mixing at approximately 29%. Our delivery channel continued to perform well 130 basis point improvement year over year and mixed in at approximately 12% during the Q1. In terms of our catering channel, we remain focused on building awareness around our capabilities and working on completing the rollout of our easy cater platform to all of our restaurants. Speaker 200:04:28For the Q1, catering is mixing at around 3.5%. As we look ahead, we continue to believe channel will remain at least 25% of our sales with catering contributing approximately 4% to 6% of total sales long term. Turning to our marketing initiatives. Our marketing approach has continued to be favorable in communicating our strong brand value and sharing our unique Chuy's experience with the guests near and far. To that end, we will remain focused on utilizing digital media platforms such as Meta, Google, TikTok, YouTube Video Advertising and organic influencer programs to share our defining differences of our incredible value through our made from scratch food and drink. Speaker 200:05:12And finally, let's turn to our development plans. Unit growth remains to be a core piece of our long term growth plan with a strong focus in markets that have a proven track record of brand awareness and high average unit volumes. During the Q1, we successfully opened 1 restaurant in New opening in Austin, Texas subsequent to the end of the first quarter. This is aligned with our plans to open 2 new restaurants in the first half of twenty twenty four and we're pleased with the performance of these restaurants thus far. As we look ahead to the remainder of 2024, our pipeline remains robust and we plan on opening between 6 to 8 new restaurants in our core markets for the year. Speaker 200:05:53With that, I'll now turn the call over to our CFO, John Howie, to discuss our Q1 results in greater detail. Speaker 100:05:59Thank you, Steve. Revenues for the Q4 was $110,500,000 compared to $112,500,000 in the same quarter last year. As a reminder, there was a 1 week calendar shift in comparison to the fiscal Q1 of 2024 to the fiscal Q1 of 2023 due to a 53rd week in fiscal 2023. This resulted in reduced revenue in the Q1 of 2024 as the shift caused the week between Christmas and New Year's traditionally a high volume week for our brands units to be included in the Q1 of 2023 that was replaced by an average volume week in the Q1 of 2024. Overall, we estimate that the 53rd week shift negatively impacted itself by $1,800,000 EBITDA by approximately $900,000 and EPS by approximately $0.04 to $0.05 per share. Speaker 100:06:51Comparable restaurant sales on a calendar basis in the Q1 adjusted for the shift decreased 4.3% versus last year, driven by 6.9% decrease in average weekly customers and partially offset by 2.6% increase in average check. Effective pricing during the quarter was approximately 2.9% and off premise sales were approximately 29 percent of total revenue as compared to 27% of total revenue a year ago. Turning to expenses, cost of sales as a percentage of revenue decreased 30 basis points to 25.2 percent driven commodity deflation of 1.3% as compared to last year. Looking to 2024, we currently expect commodity inflation in the low single digits for the year. Labor cost as a percentage of revenue increased 110 basis points to 31.4%, primarily due to hourly labor inflation of approximately 3.6% at comparable restaurants as well as meaningful improvement in hourly labor staffing levels compared to last year. Speaker 100:08:01We are currently expecting labor inflation of mid single digits for fiscal 2024. Operating costs as a percentage of revenue increased 30 basis points to 16.4% driven by higher delivery service fees from an increase in off premise sales, an increase in restaurant repair and maintenance costs, partially offset by a decrease in utility costs and to go supplies as compared to last year. General administrative expenses decreased to $7,100,000 in the Q1 from $7,800,000 in the same period last year, driven mainly by lower performance based bonuses. As a percentage of revenue, G and A decreased to 6.5% from 6.9% during the same period last year. In summary, net income for the Q1 of 2024 was $6,900,000 or $0.40 per diluted share compared to $8,200,000 or $0.45 per diluted share in the same period last year. Speaker 100:09:00During the Q1 of 2024 and 2023, we incurred $400,000 or $0.02 per share diluted share in impairment closed restaurant and other costs. Taking that into account, adjusted net income for the quarter, Q1 of 2024 was $7,300,000 or $0.42 per diluted share compared to $8,500,000 or $0.47 per diluted share in the same period last year. Moving to our liquidity and balance sheet as of the end of the quarter, we had $56,400,000 in cash and cash equivalents, no debt outstanding and $25,000,000 available under our revolving credit facility. We also purchased 214,659 shares of our common stock during the quarter for a total of approximately $7,300,000 I'm proud to say following these purchases, we have repurchased over 3,100,000 shares since 20 20 and have reacquired the shares we issued in our ATM offering in 2020 at the height of the pandemic. As of March 31, 2024, we had $13,800,000 remaining under our $50,000,000 repurchase program, which will expire on December 31, 2020 4. Speaker 100:10:16With that, we'll now provide you with the following outlook for 2024. We are reaffirming our expectations of adjusted EPS of $1.82 to $1.87 for 20.24 as compared to the adjusted EPS of 1 point after adjusting for the extra week in 2023. This is based in part on the following annual assumptions: G and A expense of $29,000,000 to 30,000,000 dollars 6 to 8 new restaurants net CapEx expenditures of approximately $41,000,000 to 46,000,000 dollars restaurant preopening expenses of approximately $2,700,000 to $3,200,000 effective annual tax rate of approximately 13% to 14% and annual weighted diluted shares outstanding of 17,400,000. With that, I'll turn the call back over to Steve. Speaker 200:11:07Thanks, John. Overall, we remain optimistic about our ability to capitalize on the long term growth opportunities ahead for Chuy's. Through the initiatives we've put in place, we will continue to focus on our 4 wall operational excellence and provide our guests with the unique Chuy's experience they all know and love. Combined with a strong balance sheet, disciplined capital allocation and a robust development pipeline, we are in a position to maximize long term shareholder value in 2024 and beyond. With that, we're happy to answer any questions. Speaker 200:11:37Operator, please open the lines for questions. Operator00:11:42Thank you. Our first question is from Crystal Coll with Stifel. Please proceed with your question. Speaker 300:12:14Thanks and good afternoon guys. Hey, Travis. Hey, guys. Steve, I know you said comps improved during the quarter, Can you help us understand the rate of change and maybe where comps are quarter to date? Speaker 200:12:29You have that, John, if you can find Speaker 100:12:32As far as quarter to date, let's see. We were after period 4 so quarter I'm sorry quarter to date we are down about 2.2%. Speaker 300:12:46Does that include the Easter benefit John? Speaker 100:12:50It does, Chris. But it was kind of offset by Cinco, so that's flat. You've got Cinco that was a Friday last year. And then It was a Sunday this year. Sunday this year. Speaker 300:13:05Okay. That's helpful. And then John, what comp sales assumption are you using for the earnings range that the company is guiding? Speaker 100:13:15So for the year, we're going to be a little right around flat to slightly positive, Chris. Speaker 300:13:29Okay. Okay, that's helpful. And then Steve, I know in the past the company has slowed its unit growth plans when comp sales have been challenged. And a lot of the restaurants have talked about the environment being more challenging here recently. And I'm just wondering if comps do continue to be challenged for the balance of the year, do you think it will affect development plans for 2025? Speaker 200:13:54As I sit here now, Chris, I'd say no. Again, if you look at what we're rolling over in the Q1, last year for the Q1, along with what John already mentioned about the $1,800,000 shift in the 53rd week, we're rolling over quarter of 8% increase in the whole Q1. So if you look at our 2 year stack, we're still up 3.7 percent on the whole Q1. So again, I think it'd be a little premature, but you are right. If it goes that way, I'll always consider that because the sales and obviously guest counts are a lifeblood of any concept. Speaker 300:14:34Okay. That's helpful. Thanks guys. I'll pass it on. Speaker 200:14:37Thank you, sir. Operator00:14:40Thank you. Our next question is from Jim Salera with Stephens. Please proceed with your question. Speaker 400:14:46Hi, guys. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking our questions. I appreciate the color around the 53rd week and the impact from that. Speaker 100:14:55We've heard a lot of people in Speaker 400:14:56the industry talk about impacts from weather in January. Operator00:15:02Do you Speaker 400:15:02have any sense for what that impact was in the Q1? And maybe what comps it then if you were to strip that out? Speaker 100:15:10Sure. Basically with the weather and the shift in the Easter is about 1.2% on our comp sales. Speaker 400:15:20Great. That's super helpful. And then if I look at restaurant level margin growth, you guys are up significantly since pre COVID. Is there any opportunity to maybe reinvest some of that back into value offerings for the consumer, maybe more into the marketing line? Just any thoughts on that as you guys progress through the year? Speaker 200:15:44Yes. One thing that we've always prided ourselves in is our value within our whole menu as it currently stands. We're not a discount people like you've seen a lot of other We've always constantly looking at our marketing spend as we move forward, but we feel pretty comfortable. One thing about digital, it's easy to spin on a dime. So no doubt, we've definitely looked at really talking more about value and even more so than our defining differences. Speaker 200:16:19Although the freshness of our product making everything from scratch, we think is still a unique message. So we'll continue that. But right now, we're pretty happy with the way our model is situated. Operator00:16:38Our next question is from David Tarantino with Baird. Please proceed with your question. Speaker 500:16:43Hi, good afternoon. My question is on the outlook for the year, John, that you mentioned, for comps kind of flattish to slightly positive comps. I guess that would require a pretty big improvement from what you're seeing currently. So I was just wondering if you could share your thoughts on why you expect comps to get better as the year goes on and I guess what are the key drivers of that improvement? Speaker 100:17:14Great question, David. One is by the end of this month, we should be on fully on Easycater. So we'll have approximately 27 more stores on Easycater, which will help. 2, as we get further right now in Q2 and in Q3, we're going to start to roll over Uber Eats. Right now, it's we're basically challenged with rolling over those comps from last year. Speaker 100:17:42As we get into Q4, we fully kind of rolled over that. And so that will be helpful with that. So we think that's going to be beneficial. And those are the big things. Can you think of Yes. Speaker 200:17:57And sequentially, if you look at it, as I mentioned, as we started, when you're looking at the Q1, it was an anomaly a little bit where we're up last year 8%. It goes progressively down to normal numbers in the second and the third. And actually, we roll over a little bit easier numbers in the 4th quarter. So sequentially, it just moves throughout the whole year like that. Speaker 100:18:19And David, if you look at a 2 year stack, I mean, even for the quarter, we were up about 3 point 7% on the 2 year stack. So if you keep rolling and we've been pretty consistent with that, you keep rolling that forward that would suggest higher comps going forward. Specifically, the second half of the year and definitely in the Q4. Speaker 500:18:38Got it. And then, John, on the cost outlook, it also looks like you're assuming that inflation might get a little stronger as the year goes on. I think you mentioned, in both cases commodities and labor being a little bit higher for the year than what you saw in Q1. So I guess what's driving that assumption for each of those buckets? Speaker 100:19:03Well, the big thing is we think labor is going to be in that mid single digits, probably a little lighter than that at this point, probably in that 4% to 5% or maybe a little shy of 4% at the present time. On the cost side though, the biggest thing is we have beef locked in through the Q2 with ground beef and locked into the Q3, Tahira right now if we were to lock that in, is significantly higher than what we have it locked in at. Now with that being said, the slaughter rates are starting to increase above 600,000 by the time we have to lock that in or buy on the market those will come down. But right now we are projecting some inflation related to our cuts, which as you know are the thin meats. And right now, they are running a little higher than your center cuts today. Speaker 500:19:57Got it. So just in terms of sequencing, you would expect would you expect Q2 to be similar to Q1 in terms of maybe flat to slightly down and then you get some step ups in the second half based on what you just said? Speaker 100:20:13No, in Q2, we're expecting because we actually have stepped up with the Q2 because we have a different purchase for the ground beef in Q2. So that's stepped it up a little bit. So we're expecting inflation over the prior year in that 2% to 3% in Q2. And it's kind of staying at that rate a little higher than that, probably another 100 basis points in Q3 and then another 200 basis points in Q4. Speaker 500:20:40Got it. Okay, great. Thanks for all that color. Thank you. Speaker 200:20:45Thanks, David. Thanks. Operator00:20:49Our next question is from Andy Bauers with Jefferies. Please proceed with your question. Speaker 600:20:56Hey, guys. Yes, just checking on, are the 2Q CKOs, are those kind of barbelled as well? Do you have is the flout is kind of a lower price point in there with ribs being premium I would imagine? Speaker 200:21:12Yes, exactly. And we're just starting our 2nd week of it this year. We also have the barbecue as an add on 3 Bone add on, which is the first time we've done anything like that. That should help us on some incremental sales. Speaker 100:21:26And that has definitely been a crowd favorite, the add on. Nice. Speaker 700:21:32And then Speaker 600:21:36just wondering, I know Austin is a big market, but they're also high volume restaurants. I mean, you've opened 2 here recently. Is that a headwind in any way to same store sales this year? Or how do you kind of think about that? Speaker 200:21:54As we open these we're opening in basically 5 states for the next 3 to 5 years as we mentioned before, Andy. And as we modeled all these, we made sure they had no cannibalization above 5%. Having said that, on the 2 that we've opened right now, one is down in New Bronzeville, as I've mentioned to you earlier. There's been really no cannibalization on either any of our stores for one so far. And again, we're only in our 3rd week at Mueller, which is an Austin store. Speaker 200:22:24But again, we've been pretty comfortable on all the stores that there's really not much effect of cannibalization in any of them so far. Operator00:22:33Got it. Thank you very much. Speaker 200:22:36Thanks, Andy. Operator00:22:40Thank you. Our next question is from Nick Setyan with Wedbush Securities. Speaker 800:22:49Just a question around the geographic sort of what you're seeing in terms of the different geographies for the comp. And also, are you seeing like a better comp in your higher volume stores than your lower volume stores because of let's say excess demand? Speaker 100:23:08No. I mean from a prorational standpoint, it's been pretty consistent throughout the population of stores, Nick. Speaker 800:23:17Got it. Okay. And on the labor piece, the deleverage is what it is in Q1. Can we see sort of that 100 to 110 basis points type of deleverage as the year progresses or as the comp improves? Hopefully, we see less leverage or less deleverage. Speaker 100:23:36Well, I mean, you're always going to see leverage in the second quarter, Nick. As you know, that's our strongest quarter. So you could see 100 basis points of leverage in that second quarter. And then 3rd quarter is our 2nd best quarter. So again, you'll see a little bit more leverage there than you did in the Q1 as well. Speaker 100:23:58Q4, none. In the Q4, probably none. Speaker 800:24:02By 100 basis points of leverage in Q2, you mean sequentially versus Q1, right, not year over year? Speaker 100:24:07Yes. Sequentially, yes. Got it. Speaker 800:24:10Okay. Thank you very much. Speaker 200:24:12Thanks, Nick. Operator00:24:23Our next question is from Todd Brooks with The Benchmark Company. Please proceed with your question. Speaker 900:24:28Hey, thanks for taking my questions. Just two quick ones. John, you gave us what the pricing was in the quarter. Could you let us know what average check ran for Q1? Speaker 100:24:42Yes. The average check was actually down 2.6 percent or up 2.6% and that price was just give me a second. Speaker 200:24:5519.41. Yes. 19.41. 19.41. Speaker 900:25:01So you said up 2.6 percent, John. So only like a 30 basis point drag from mix in the quarter? Speaker 200:25:08Correct. Yes. Operator00:25:10Okay, perfect. Speaker 900:25:12And then my second question, in thinking about CKO's proving ground for items coming back from the menu, Steve, how much broadening in the menu are you comfortable with these customer favorites coming off the CKOs? How many would you expect Speaker 700:25:27to be on the menu by year end? And are you Speaker 900:25:32kind of rationalizing anything off the menu to try to maintain some of that simplicity that you built in over the course of the pandemic? Speaker 200:25:39Great, great question. Exactly what you just said. Yes. These ones, we felt great about adding the balls because it's really a burrito that we currently pretty much almost do, but now it's in a bowl. So again, it wasn't adding a lot of prep and a lot of excitement in the back of the house house as far as moving around a lot, so everything's on the station. Speaker 200:25:58So we were very comfortable adding those on. But as we have a very disciplined approach as we continue to move forward, as we look at adding any of our CKOs because that is our proving ground for possibly some new items as we evolve our menu. We'll be very disciplined that when we have one come on, we'll absolutely good look at our product mix, finds out where it's come from and possibly move one another one off. So we'll be doing that as we do, but we'll be very disciplined in our approach across all of our stations and how well we can execute all of this. Speaker 900:26:30Okay, perfect. Thank you both. Speaker 200:26:33Thank you so Operator00:26:37much. Thank you. Our next question is from Brian Vaccaro with Raymond James. Please proceed with your question. Speaker 1000:26:44Hi, thanks. Steve, I think you alluded to it earlier, but just in light of the softer environment and one where it seems that you have to have value, but you also need to message it effectively. Could you just elaborate a little bit on just how you're adjusting your tactics? Any changes in your marketing message or your CKOs beyond the latest launch that you're thinking about? Speaker 200:27:07Sure, sure. The one thing that we have is value all throughout our menu, not only in our price point, which is our price point spread because of our pricing cases compared to our competitors. We actually increased our value spread over the years. So we're very great with that. But also, we've always said that there's no white space on our plates, which is also screaming value than our meal kits. Speaker 200:27:33So those things that I just mentioned, we're actually moved our digital to really talking all about that type of stuff. Not only the value of the price point, but also the value of the amount of food that you get and the experience that you get it in. So that's been an and as you know, Brian, the one thing about digital is you can quickly turn on a dime on your message. Our message has been always talking about value, but we spent a lot of time talking about our defining differences, whether it be our hand squeezed limes for our margaritas or our first product, we have nothing frozen. We don't have freezers. Speaker 200:28:09That will still be in it, but it's probably going to be a little bit more tainted to specifically our value message in all the mediums that we're doing. Obviously, we're on social with Meta, Facebook and we're on that all quarter. We're doing search with Google. We're on YouTube all quarter. We're on TikTok 8 weeks in the quarter. Speaker 200:28:28Then we have programmatic CTV, which is some of our videos that really showing our value and some of our price points. We'll definitely do it on all our e blast that will do 2 per period. And then obviously our CKO has value and the 3rd party delivery promotions is dealing with value. So that's pretty much we're hitting it hard and heavy. And the reason we're hitting it hard and heavy is if you look at the competitive environment out there, specifically over the last 6 months, you're now seeing all our competitors and even some fast food and even some quick casual really getting on major medium and talking about their price offs or things like that. Speaker 200:29:07And that's really been back only for about 6 months. And that's after 2, 2.5 years where they weren't discounting at all through COVID. So now this is a new phenomenon again. And again, just like 2019 where that was part of their media plan back then, it will start doing that. And as people go in and eat their restaurants, they're going to realize the food hasn't changed. Speaker 200:29:31So again, we feel our message on the value is the right way for us to go. Speaker 1000:29:37All right. Thank you. That's helpful. And John, sorry if I missed it, just a bookkeeping question, but what were operating weeks in the quarter, if you have that handy? I can follow-up offline if you don't have it there. Speaker 100:30:02Yes. I thought I yes, I'll follow-up with you. Speaker 1000:30:06Okay. Thank you very much. Speaker 200:30:08Thanks, Brian. Operator00:30:15Thank you. Our next question is from Andrew Wolf with CL King. Please proceed with your question. Speaker 700:30:22Thanks. I just wanted to ask about the adjustments, the calendarization of Easter and the weather. If we supply that number, it's almost 2% to the traffic being down 6.9%, it would making sure I'm thinking along with you guys, it would be down about 5%, would have been the sort of the calendar and weather adjusted view of your the traffic, the guest count? Speaker 100:30:54Well, I mean, 6 times you're down 1.2 with that. Speaker 200:30:58Yes. It's 1.2 on the sales impact. And then Speaker 100:31:02so Yes. So the 4.3% was already adjusted for the calendar. So when we do ours, it's an operational base from calendar to calendar, not fiscal. We kind of give you the fiscal for your modeling purposes, but it's 4.3 Speaker 700:31:16Then I took another, I took the weather out too. Right. Speaker 100:31:20The weather and Easter was 1.2 together. Speaker 200:31:23Oh, comp sales. Speaker 100:31:25Comp sales. So 6.9 minuteus the 1.2. Speaker 900:31:28Okay. Speaker 800:31:29All right. Speaker 100:31:30Does that make sense? Speaker 700:31:32Yes. I guess I read that wrong. And currently, if you the 2.2% quarter to date, took out the check and assumed it was running down up to 6%. Now you're running a little under 5%. So your guest count on this basis has improved whatever 50 basis points, 70 basis points sequentially. Speaker 700:31:56Is that about it? Yes. Okay. And is that the Uber Eats or is that more your marketing? Or do you think the environment has gotten a little better? Speaker 700:32:12How would you think about Speaker 200:32:16that? I think it's both. Obviously, it's both is how we're looking at it. Definitely the Uber Eats, there's a big headwind to roll over and then what we said. Speaker 700:32:29I just mean in the quarter to date with the guest traffic being a little better, I mean everybody is having trouble, but I'm just trying to dig inside that given that's how important it is. Speaker 300:32:41Yes, I think all of it. Speaker 100:32:45Yes, I mean, just the environment I think is getting a little better from what we've seen from our trends. Now with that being said, we are in the south to southeast. And you've seen all the tornadoes going through this area in the last few weeks. So that's in those numbers as well. Speaker 700:33:10And what's your sense of your feeling about marketing as a way to get the guest count up that highly elasticity is not the right word, but is that impactful for you or is it you want to do social media LTOs and stick with your net income? Speaker 200:33:27I think social media is a lot of that is really your share of voice. It's kind of just keeping your baseline out there. We believe the value messages that we've switched to on YouTube, programmatic video has a little bit more of an impact on moving the needle a little bit there and just switching to about 80% value message and a 20 percent competitive advantage message is we feel is the right way to go. Speaker 300:33:59Okay. Thank you. Speaker 200:34:01Thank you. Operator00:34:05Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached the end of today's question and answer session. I would like to turn the call back over to Mr. Steve Hisloff for closing comments. Speaker 200:34:14Thank you so much. We appreciate your continued interest in Chuy's and are available to answer questions at any and all questions. Again, thank you for thank you again and have a good evening. Operator00:34:29This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.Read morePowered by