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| But the reason we've made these investments is we are so encouraged to see the reception we get, when we start to enter a market and you're hitting on two probably of our big long-term growth markets, Texas and Florida |
| So I think we're good |
| Price inflation continued to moderate and our Chefs' Warehouse teams across our North American and international markets delivered strong organic growth and margin improvement |
| Combine that with improving adjusted EBITDA margins and key investments like Hardie's in Texas, which is a key strategic decision to enhance and accelerate our platform for growth in Texas, which is a huge growth market |
| It's really just about driving the organic volume through these significant capacity investments and then improving the adjusted EBITDA margins over time, as we integrate this kind of 15% of our revenue base that comes at a lower EBITDA margin percentage |
| We saw strength in demand and margin in September coming out of the weaker summer months |
| But actually our teams executed very well during the month and we had a pretty good January and it feels like the usual build coming out of January into February is taking place |
| As mentioned on our third quarter call, gross profit dollar growth and margin trends improved significantly coming out of the softer summer months |
| To get the footprint, we've had to it's much more effective unless you're annexing the market next to you, which is typical in the distribution business, right? If you're a typical distributor, which we're not, we always say we're a marketing company that also distributes and that's our strength, right, with over a thousand of our own vehicles in the streets every day |
| A few highlights from the fourth quarter on a prorated basis include 11.3% organic growth in net sales, specialty sales were up 11.2% organically over the prior year, which was driven by unique customer growth of approximately 12.4%, placement growth of 6.5% and specialty case growth of 11.3% |
| Business was strong and I think any pressure came because it was so strong, the demand was there |
| We expect to drive organic volume through this incredible amount of capacity that we've invested in and added in key growth markets over the next couple of years |
| I think in '22, you saw a little bit of that but it wasn't completely back, and so I think those were three very strong weeks, and that I think that really helped the quarter get back to what we would call a normal fourth quarter |
| So, it's pretty exciting times |
| But some of these little tuck in acquisitions could be extremely profitable and help us on our march to our EBITDA goals |
| These trends continued as the quarter progressed into the holiday season and our teams across our regions including sales, operations, procurement and all the supporting functions delivered a strong margin performance, while providing the premium quality product and service our customers have come to expect from The Chefs' Warehouse |
| But every day the team is making headway as sales people start to get comfortable with the thousands of items |
| We now have meat and sea food processing specialty and produce distribution operating under one roof with significant room to grow over the years to come |
| Business activity coming out of September strengthened into the fourth quarter as seasonal customer demand and volume trends progress through November and December to close out 2023 |
| And now we have an Allen Brothers cut shop facility which is doing phenomenal |
| This facility provides expanded capacity in a region as well as creates additional room for growth in the New York Metro and Mid Atlantic markets |
| Organic pounds in the center-of-the-plate were approximately 8.4% higher than the prior year fourth quarter |
| As we enter this next phase of our growth, we expect Chefs' Warehouse to remain rooted in our DNA as the leading specialty food marketer and distributor to the upscale casual and higher-end dining establishments in the markets we serve |
| As we move into 2024, I would like to thank all of our CW teammates for the dedication and passion they have for our mission to discover and deliver the finest specialty foods, fresh produce and center-of-the-plate protein that inspire the culinary creativity and feed the success of our customer and supplier partners, as we strive for excellence and impeccable service |
| It's a pretty good month |
| So we're always looking, people are always calling, but the real focus right now to drive the organic growth because we have -- we finally have good capacity in a lot of our new major markets like we've said Florida and Los Angeles, our new processing facility is opening in San Francisco, hopefully in this quarter and we're going to consolidate a whole bunch of businesses into one state-of-the-art facility |
| The prorated growth in net sales was a result of an increase in organic sales of 11.3% as well as the contribution of sales from acquisitions, which added approximately 18% to the sales growth for the quarter |
| I always look at it as we own a bunch of stadiums and the stadiums are doing great and you have to add more seats to do more business |
| And as Jim said, in Dubai, which is our major warehouse, they had a great December |
| So, we got a lot of exciting things happening in the next year and two |
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| Obviously, there was some weather impact that we saw in some of our markets, but actually January is relative, it's always the worst month in the industry, really for our company and the entire industry |
| Specialty gross profit margins were lower primarily due to the addition of Hardie's |
| We do still have some of the near-term cost headwinds related to all the growth investments |
| I couldn't be more optimistic than I am right now that things are going as planned |
| Gross margin in specialty category decreased 76 basis points, as compared to the fourth quarter of 2022, while gross margin in the center-of-the-plate category increased 71 basis points year-over-year |
| Everybody keeps more inventory now because the world is in a pretty volatile state, right, with two wars going on and we've got climate change impacts |
| So, I think everyone's gotten kind of ahead of it, right? So, in the U.S., like Jim said, I think everybody was -- everybody always anticipates some sort of disruption |
| Everything is inflated especially the last five years |
| They're diluting us initially |
| So, we haven't really had much difficulty coming from Europe |
| Right now, you have things that are cocoa based like chocolate, you have olive oil affected by droughts |
| Some of these risks are mentioned in today's release |
| Mark Cullen And then you guys inflation moderated in 4Q |
| It's a drag on your overall percentage when you look at your capital |
| These statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from what we expect |
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