Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Jack First Quarter 2024 Earnings Webcast Call. I would now like to welcome, Chris Brandon, Vice President of Investor Relations, to begin the call. Chris, over to you.

Thanks operator, and good afternoon, everyone. We appreciate you joining today's conference call, highlighting results from our first quarter of 2024. With me today are Chief Executive Officer, Darin Harris, and our Chief Financial Officer, Brian Scott. Following their prepared remarks, we will be happy to take questions from our covering sell-side analysts. Note that during both our discussion and Q&A, we may refer to non-GAAP items. Please refer to the non-GAAP reconciliations provided in the earnings release which is available on our Investor Relations website at jackinthebox.com. We will also be making forward-looking statements based on current information and judgments that reflect management's outlook for the future. However, actual results may differ materially from these expectations because of business risks. We therefore consider the Safe Harbor statement in the earnings release and the cautionary statements in our most recent 10-K to be part of our discussion. The material risk factors as well as information relating to company operations are detailed in our most recent 10-K, 10-Q, and other public documents filed with the SEC, and are all available on our Investor Relations website. And with that, I would like to turn the call over to our Chief Executive Officer, Darin Harris.

Thank you, Chris. Last month, we hosted our first in-person Investor Day in several years here at our restaurant support center in San Diego, and we appreciate everyone who was able to join us in-person or tune in. During the Investor Day, we introduced how we intend to take the next step in our strategy and break out of the box. We communicated our bold ambition, starting with expanding our reach to achieve 2.5% net new restaurant growth based upon the tremendous whitespace we have in new and existing markets. We want to increase AUVs at our two challenger brands by exceeding $2.5 million in sales at Jack and $2 million for Del Taco. Our AUV goals will be supported by achieving 20% digital sales. And lastly, if we can generate 15% four-wall franchise EBITDA with a sub-five-year new restaurant payback, our top-tier restaurant economics will further support our growth strategy. We have entered the next phase of our transformation, and to achieve our ambition, there are three key drivers that will be the focus of our strategy, driving top-tier AUVs, improving restaurant-level economics, and strengthen development capabilities. I'd like to mention a few highlights from the first quarter that support achieving our ambition. Our AUV performance for both brands is driven by steady same-store sales for Jack in the Box and Del Taco. We generated systemwide sales of over $1.3 billion for Jack and nearly $300 million for Del Taco. Our comps at Jack in the Box overcame some meaningful pressure during the last four weeks of the quarter as a result of weather during January. With that said, sales accelerated sequentially on a two, three, and four-year stack basis helped by the performance of our burgers, including our ultimate cheeseburger platform, with support from our three-week soft launch…

Thanks, Darin, and good afternoon, everyone. I will start by reviewing our two brands individually, followed by details on our consolidated performance and capital allocation. Beginning with Jack in the Box, our first quarter system same-store sales growth was 0.8%, consisting of company-owned comps of 2% and franchise comps of 0.7%. Our overall average check increased in the prior year driven by price. And while transactions were down, we are seeing continued success from our hook and build platforms and certainly saw a nice lift in sales and transactions during the Smashed Jack soft launch period. Additionally, we have continued our positive trends related to operations and speed, posting the sixth consecutive quarter of increasing speed of service with a six-second sequential improvement. Regarding product categories, notable contributors came from burgers and sides. The late-night daypart once again stood out and was the strongest contributor to overall sales. Turning to restaurant count, there were seven restaurant openings and one closure in the quarter. This resulted in a quarter end restaurant count of 2,192, and we remain on track to achieve our net unit growth objectives for the full fiscal year. Jack restaurant level margin expanded year-over-year by 330 basis points to 23.1%, driven primarily by commodity deflation, strong sales leverage, and operational improvements. Food and packaging costs of the percentage of company-owned sales declined 310 basis points to 29.7%, primarily due to lower commodity costs. Commodity deflation was 2.9% for the quarter. Labor as a percentage of company-owned sales fell 50 basis points to 30.8% due to sales leverage partially offset by higher wages and insurance costs. Labor inflation was 2.8% in the quarter, in line with our expectations. Occupancy and other operating costs increased 20 basis points to 16.4% of company restaurant sales. Franchise level margin was $97.5 million,…

The floor is now open for your questions. [Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Brian Bittner with Oppenheimer & Co. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Hey, good afternoon, guys. Just as it relates to Jack in the Box, your full year guidance for same-store sales for Jack in the Box is low to mid-single digits, which you kept intact. You did a 0.8% in the first quarter, so I'm just curious, how do you anticipate your sales trends at Jack in the Box to unfold following this quarter into the rest of the year? I know that weather impacted you guys in the first quarter, and I also realize you're very excited about the Smashed Jack burger that's coming in March and pulsing in some value with that. So, is that kind of what's underpinning your confidence on the Jack in the Box comps moving forward, just the weather impact and then the new catalyst coming or anything you could unpack there would be helpful? Thanks.

So, I'll turn it to Brian. Well, first of all, good to talk to you, Brian, but I'll turn it to Brian Scott in a second. But I think the first comment I would say is we're really excited about Smashed Jack and what it can do for the year. We knew this going into the year that we had tough comps that we were lapping over in Q1 and Q2, and that we had a good marketing plan for the back half of the year with Smashed Jack and some of the other things we have coming. So we took that into account as we built our plan and we provided guidance. As you mentioned, I think the industry as a whole has seen some softness at the start of the year. We've experienced the weather, as you mentioned, that probably impacted us somewhere between a half a point in sales for the quarter. But we do know that going into the year we had a strong back end plan with our marketing calendar. Brian, what would you add?

Yeah. Thanks. And that's a good summary, Brian, that you made with the question. As Darin said, we had some pressure in January from the weather, but we looked at our plan for this year. We knew that the comps in the first half of the year were going to be tougher. So -- as Darin said, the back half of the year we would expect to be stronger, not only because of Smashed, but just our overall marketing calendar. And the comps will get easier as we get to the back half of the year. In addition to that, we still will have some price that will come as we get closer to implementing AB 1228. So ultimately, it's a little early in the year for us to really try to predict what the full year is going to look like. So we've kind of kept everything as it is, and we still see a path towards achieving a number within that range. But there's more to unfold here over the next several months. I'll just add, as we came out of the first quarter here, February has still been down a little more than we expected. It sounds like it's more of an industry thing that we're hearing from others as well. So we're still trending a little bit slightly below in the negative year-over-year right now. But again, we have Smashed rolling out here soon, and some of the other actions we're taking to attract value guests, we feel good that we're going to be able to move that in a positive direction here in the ensuing weeks.

The only thing I would add to what Brian said is, as he mentioned, we're seeing similar trends industry-wide. And at Del, we're seeing flat comps at this point.

Okay. And pricing, I mean, I know you're planning on pricing 6% to 8% this year for the company. But I think over the last four years, you've taken 4%, 5%, 6% less pricing than a lot of your large QSR competitors. Are you seeing that show up in value scores or anything else in the business where you might see a leading indicator that might be improving traffic going forward?

Greg, I think that where I would go with this question is more around, we're seeing on the franchise side of it, pricing more in line with the competition. The company needs to catch up from a pricing standpoint. We do see some room there. We also see some room where our franchises in California have not taken as much price compared to the competition. So we do think with what's happening with AB 1228 coming up, that we do have some room to take anywhere from 2% to 3% additional price heading into April.

Got it. Thanks. And just maybe any thoughts on the consumer, anything you're seeing in the business in terms of trade-down or utilization of beverages or attach that might give you a read on flow through from pricing to the comps or any changes on that front? Thanks.

I think we're seeing the same thing that most of our competition is, is that as you -- the consumer that's $75,000 and under, particularly the $45,000 and under, you're definitely seeing some challenges with attach rates. And so our focus is, how do we make sure that we have the right breakfast offerings, the right offerings and deals through digital channels, that we have the right value menu. So our focus is about making sure we understand our consumers by all segments and dayparts. And so from a value standpoint, as I mentioned on my remarks, we have multiple options, whether it's our $3 wrap, our Jack Pack, $10 Fan Phase, our $12 Munchie Meals. And then beyond that different channel offers like the two tacos for $0.99 and getting even more aggressive through that channel to build loyalty members. And the last point is we've tested a value menu that we feel really good about that we will roll out throughout this year. And it had -- a revised Jack deals menu that we think can have some strong performance. So feel good there. And then Del on its own with the things we're doing at Del, we feel really good about what's happening with our menu redesign. We've seen both sales and margin improvement in our early tests. We still have some more time with those tests to solidify it. And then as we've done at Jack, we'll implement our hook and build strategy because we already know we get credit for value at Del. Now it's how do we bring people in and then build them into a more attached rate.

Thanks, Darin.

Our next question comes from a line of Sara Senatore with Bank of America. Please go ahead.

Great. Thank you. A follow up on some of your comments about the consumer and what you're doing to reengage the value guests. I guess on Jack in the Box, could you talk about the dayparts like the breakfast daypart is there softness there and that's why you have to sort of reinvest a little bit more, it's just more competitive. And then you mentioned that burgers I think were a strength in the quarter. So do you have sharper price points there or was the industry stronger? I'm trying to tease out how much you think is kind of industry and where the consumer is versus what you think you can -- is it within your control?

Yeah. I think a lot of what we're seeing with breakfast is consumer. And we've got to make sure that we have a very competitive plan. We also know that when we market to the consumer for breakfast that we see it benefit our business. So we'll make sure that's a part of our marketing calendar. We also know that we will bring back some items that we took off the menu that we thought were beneficial to margin and speed, but we found it was too much of a headwind to sale. So we'll bring back some of the items, not all. And so again, with breakfast, I think it's one of the more competitive areas right now that we have to make sure we're competing heavily in and having the right offerings. So I think that's one that we have to lean into and be more aggressive. With LTOs, like we've just introduced a new French Toast Stick with a cinnamon churro flavor and then our Mini Cinnis that performed well. And then as it relates to burgers, I think for the quarter, it was more about a difference in what we promoted last year was more of a chicken focus versus burger focus. So that's more of why we had stronger performance out of our burgers this quarter versus last year at this time. And then also, Smashed Jack, which we've talked about, it more than outperformed our expectations. And so we're excited about the launch of Smashed Jack in March.

Thank you.

Our next question comes from the line of Alton Stump with Loop Capital. Please go ahead.

Great. Thank you. Good afternoon. I just want to ask Darin, as you think about the late night business specifically, this doesn't -- of course, shatter from some of your peers that are trying to get into late night, but clearly that's not a daypart that anybody can establish overnight. Sorry for the pun. But are you seeing any competition? You guys clearly have outpaced, obviously, other dayparts here for quite some time in your late night business. And just overall, are you seeing any signs of that slowing down at all? Or are you continuing to gain share, do you think, particularly in that daypart?

We're very aware of what the competition is doing, and we want to make sure that we continue to own late night, which we've done for years. And so we're seeing hours of operation benefiting still some of our regions. We're seeing transactions positive year-over-year for the sixth straight quarter at late night. And our Munchie Meals were a very solid contributor to Q1. And so I think we have the right offerings at the right time. And so we know that the competition wants to challenge us, and so we'll be ready for it through innovation and other marketing opportunities that we see available at late night.

Got it. Great. Thanks so much. I'll hop back into the queue.

Our next question comes from the line of Dennis Geiger with UBS. Please go ahead.

Great. Thanks, guys. I just wanted to ask a little bit more on the Smashed Jack. Clearly a great product, I think, for those of us fortunate enough to have tried it thus far. You saw great results there in the soft launch. I guess the question is specific to it being sort of on the premium end of the barbell strategy there. As you think about this environment where a portion of the industry consumer is acting a bit more cautiously, how do you think about that dynamic? Is this just that much of a hero new item based on what you've seen in soft launch that this is going to be that strong for however long? Do you do anything different around marketing the product, knowing maybe a portion of that customer base is a bit softer? Any kind of comments on Smashed Jack and then relative to the environment to add? Thank you.

Yeah. Any day of the week I'll take the best tasting product out there over the competition. And so I think from a differentiation standpoint, Smashed Jack is that differentiated and that much tastier than a lot of what's out there in the marketplace. So we feel really good about what Smashed Jack can do to our business. So I think it does have the ability to overcome some of the challenges that we see with the consumer just because the product is so good. That's what we saw in test. It's what we saw in our soft launch. And we believe that it can help us throughout the year really outperform what we anticipate with some of the headwinds that we're facing right now. So Smashed Jack is by far something that we are leaning into and very excited about. And we can't wait to roll out our marketing campaign where we really tell an authentic story about what Jack has done differently with the burger to make it the best in QSR.

Appreciate it. Thanks, Darin.

Our next question comes from the line of Alex Slagle with Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Thanks, guys. Do you think there'll be additional opportunities like the nine units you took over in Detroit where you sort of end up with the small portfolio involving markets again that you fixed up and refranchised? It didn't seem like you were heading that way or that was on the radar at this point, but curious if you think there's more opportunity there.

I'll let Brian handle this question.

Yeah. This was a very unique situation. As you know, we're on a path towards refranchising Del Tacos. And as we mentioned in prepared remarks, we actually just signed a deal and have another one in the works here. In this particular case, it's a good market. We happen to have a franchise operator that wanted to disengage from the franchise. And so we took it back now. We're already seeing improving trends as we've invested more in operations and extending hours and are absolutely intent to, at some point, refranchise that market. So we don't really look at this as a new trend that we're going to start to take back more restaurants, but in a case like this, we absolutely think it's a good market to be in. We can grow. And the next operator that we partner with there, we think, will grow that market as well.

I have to add what Brian said. Before Brian joined us, we had a term called evolving markets that we used related to Jack where we were bringing them in, operating them corporately for a period of time and preparing them for refranchising and that's exactly what we'll do at Detroit, as Brian has mentioned.

Okay. Thanks. And just to clarify on the softer comps in February's weather piece of that, I know being here in California, it's been pretty wet January and February.

Yeah. We do think it's been a part of the story with the storms that have continued to persist here and different weather patterns in some other markets as well. So it's a combination of that as well as just some of the consumer behavior. And we have to align our marketing to that. We're on the track to do that right now. And that in conjunction with the launch of Smashed next month, we feel like we've got a good strategy in place to turn that around here.

Great. Thanks.

Our next question comes from the line of Drew North with Baird. Please go ahead.

Great. Thanks for taking the question. I was hoping you could provide an update on some of the various cost savings initiatives you have in place and perhaps your level of confidence in reaching that 15% unit level EBITDA target at Jack in the Box. It seems like commodities are providing a bit of a tailwind on the food cost line so far this year. I guess, do you see that continuing in the near term and maybe more broadly, what are the key risks that you see related to your ability to achieve that 15% target over the next several years?

Yeah. So I think, as we mentioned in our targets, prior to inflation, we were getting close to 13% to 13.5% at Jack in the Box. We've been able to improve some of the inflationary impacts that we had in 2022 through these initiatives that we've had called financial fundamentals where we were looking for 200 to 300 basis points of improvement. So we've rolled out some of those initiatives. They've taken hold. We're also getting some benefit from commodities and some deflation right now. So two of those things are working in our favor. But we feel it's an achievable target. We haven't put the specific timeframe on it, but we know already if you look at some of the improvement we've had just on the Jack corporate side, the RLM running at 23.1% would point to some of these initiatives are taking hold and actually showing results on the scoreboard and we want to continue to do that. So we will -- it is a core part of our focus, as I mentioned in my earlier comments. Drive top AUVs, help improve that with innovation in digital, make sure our economic model is always being challenged and looked at on how do we improve it. And I think we've done that in light of our pricing strategy, our supply chain strategy, and also our operational strategy. And those things will ultimately help us lead to new restaurant growth.

Yeah. What I'd add as well is as you look at some of the newer markets we're in, you see the strong AUV. So that's another component of how we're going to get to that higher margin. And so that is we continue that path that's going to help. And our crave strategy and the new restaurant designs, we think is an important factor in that. So I think that will -- as you look ahead towards opening more restaurants with that design and our menu innovation and the higher AUVs that comes from that, that's going to also be additive. And then the last thing I'd add is, as we talked about Investor Day, we're investing more in technology. Putting in a new point of sale system at Jack is really very foundational to a lot of the opportunity we see to drive more automation and efficiency within the restaurant four-walls. And so that -- as we roll that out over the next couple of years, there's more we know we can do in the stores to be drive efficiency, whether it's on food product or staffing that will help us achieve that 15% as well.

Thank you for all the color.

Sure.

Our final question comes from the line of Eric Gonzalez with KeyBanc Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Hey, thanks for letting me in the queue here. My question is about the labor environment in California with fast food wages going up to $20 in the next few months. Have you seen other industries start to advertise a similar wage? And I think when this was first contemplated, I think you talked about being proactive with regards to advertising the higher wage at Jack versus other industries. So I'm wondering if that gap has closed at all and whether you're seeing an influx of demand for these positions or whether we're a bit early on this.

So I think we're still a bit early. We haven't seen a dramatic influx of -- the competition starting to take up wages. We know that's about ready to kick-off as we want to go out to the market and tell -- and advertise what we're offering from a wage rate standpoint. So we think we're at the early stage of that occurring. We have heard of some of some movements within the healthcare sector, specifically of foodservice and healthcare that are increasing their minimum wage even beyond $20. So we do know it's starting to be talked about in the marketplace, but still early stages.

Okay. And if I could squeeze one more in. On the refranchising, I think you said you were going to sell 13 later this month and have an agreement to sell 25 more, which puts you pretty close to the low end of that 40 to 60 target. So I'm wondering maybe if there's a little bit of upside, given that we're only in the second quarter here and you're kind of approaching that, the bottom end of the range.

Yeah. That's why I mentioned that, that range that we feel confident about. So as we said before, we have plenty of interest. So again, we're being very kind of strategic in how we approach these markets and who we partner with, both as good operators as well as being good development partners. So -- but there's certainly opportunity for us to end up in that range. And if we wanted to exceed it, we likely could, but we're going to do it in a disciplined way.

Got it. Thank you very much.

Thanks, Eric. End of Q&A:

This concludes today's call. You may now disconnect.