Sentiment Analysis of the earnings transcript to help figure out if there are any bullish or bearish sentiments that could be gathered from it. We're doing ML and AI based analysis on the earnings call to get some more insights.
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| Statement |
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| With the leveraging of G&A being one of our key goals for fiscal 2023, we are very pleased with these results and expect to achieve further leverage in the coming fiscal years |
| But like we said earlier, we do expect a very strong development year |
| And so all around, it's very exciting |
| I'm proud to report our success on all of these fronts as demonstrated by our full year restaurant-level operating profit margins improving 70 basis points year-over-year to 21.9%, a record 10 new unit openings and full year G&A leveraging of 80 basis points over the prior year |
| So we're happy |
| These successes absolutely translated to improvement in profitability |
| So I'm very bullish on what we're going to see on our COGS line as we move forward through this fiscal year |
| In terms of what we've seen on the COGS line, it has been really very encouraging |
| Our traffic is absolutely outperforming pre-pandemic levels |
| We continue to be pleased with our sales performance as we enter the new fiscal year with branded comps for September and October of 2.7%, total revenue of approximately $34.3 million and the quality of traffic in both months |
| And so I think this makes us -- this is a competitive advantage for us |
| But anything over 20% is something that we're very pleased with |
| I'm really proud of our team |
| Restaurant-level operating profit margins reached to an all-time high of 24.4%, representing a 50 basis point improvement over the prior year quarter |
| Our momentum on the development front is better than ever |
| We're very pleased to actually grow that substantially this year with 80 basis points year-over-year |
| I'm very happy to announce that we launched our new reward program app in mid-October and guest response through the new app has been uniformly positive |
| In comparison, our new app is very highly rated on the App Store and the Google Play Store with many users commenting on the significant improvement the new app has delivered |
| But what's really exciting is that since launching our new app, the number of weekly new user registrations has more than doubled |
| And I'm very happy with what we've done |
| On top of the improvement to the guest experience, our new reward platform has unlocked completely new opportunities for our marketing team, such as customer segmentation, targeted marketing and new ways of rewarding and engaging with our guests |
| I'm extremely excited for its potential and expect this to be a meaningful sales driver for us as we learn to unlock its potential |
| And I'm very proud of that |
| I'm so excited to see what we can achieve in fiscal 2024, and I'm deeply grateful for the continuous hard work by our team members at our restaurants and at our corporate support center for setting us up for another amazing year |
| Comparable restaurant sales performance as compared to the prior year period was positive 6.5% with regional comps of 12.1% in California and 3.3% in Texas |
| As we've mentioned in the past earnings calls, anything about 20% is an exceptional restaurant-level operating profit margin |
| And the relatively modest price increase really reflects the bullishness that we have on the overall labor environment |
| And so we love to go through the reasons why we're -- we think this is actually going to be a benefit |
| I'm very pleased to announce that we closed another record-breaking year with a great fiscal fourth quarter |
| Regarding the June comps, we were very pleased |
| Statement |
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| And in past calls, we mentioned Aventura being slow to recover from the pandemic and not really performing to the expectations we have prior to its opening |
| And so the 11 to 13 reflects just uncertainty in terms of especially permitting |
| Totally appreciate lapping a 28% comp is extremely difficult |
| In spite of ongoing concerns of a deteriorating macro environment, more guests are coming to Kura Sushi than ever before |
| While our previous reward app has been very effective in growing traffic by encouraging repeat visits, the visual presentations app and its usability was lacking |
| And so that's been frustrating |
| And then just talking about the development side again, I know that there's been some discussion, not with you yet, but others in the industry about having some problems on the development side |
| In the last two or three calls, I've said we've seen the really high increases slowdown and even out |
| And I think on a multiyear basis, that would also be a bit of a slowdown as well |
| And at some point, I don't know, still with the company, we get it down into the single digits at some point |
| One slight headwind on G&A that we have this year is this will be our first year of 404(b) compliance |
| But it's -- yes, so that's the uncertainty that we've been seeing, not anything from the developer's end |
| It sounds like you feel like labor is -- hourly wage rates are more under control, although your menu pricing is down pretty significantly from where it was in June |
| Construction itself -- the construction period is very stable, but we've seen unexpected hurdles pop up in the last -- the final stages, which have delayed openings from anywhere from weeks to months |
| And for us to potentially sacrifice the traffic advantage that we have is maybe something that we have to very seriously think about |
| One odd kind of wrinkle that we've been seeing is, and this is a new issue for us, is that very late in construction, we had the permitting officials come by after they've approved the blueprint months in advance, saying -- after we built the restaurant, actually, I got a problem with the blueprint and you need to make these major changes, which obviously adds many weeks to the openings |
| And lastly, as QSRs need to catch up from the $16 or so they're currently paying out $20 minimum wage, they'll have to aggressively raise prices |
| And then the timing of Halloween certainly didn't work in our favor, didn't work in anybody's favor |
| And then just -- sorry, I guess, mechanically, thinking through the rewards revamp, are you anticipating -- and I'm uncertain as to how this is going to impact |
| You think maybe it's part of unfortunately just sort of turnover and the personnel that are managing this as a result of the pandemic, there were probably layoffs of some new employees and maybe they're still getting their sea legs |
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