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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| And we've demonstrated that ability to drive the leverage with a couple of pandemic and post years aside for a long time |
| I'm excited about our top line growth, we're investing in the right areas, both to drive top line growth and continue to drive productivity and efficiency in the business |
| 2023 was an exciting year at US Foods to execution of our strategy and long-range plan which underpins our company's transformation, we accomplished many of our goals, including capturing profitable market share and enhancing margins |
| Following this past year's success, I am even more confident in our ability to continue to gain profitable market share with independent restaurants, health care and hospitality customers, improved productivity, drive margin expansion and deliver double-digit adjusted EPS growth |
| We achieved record full year 2023 adjusted EBITDA of $1.56 billion, driven by strong case growth, including independent case growth of nearly 7% and market share gains with target customer types |
| I was pleased with the progress that we made in the back half of the year |
| We've got a very strong pipeline in both health care and hospitality that we expect will deliver outsized growth again this year |
| We also deployed our strong operating cash flow to reduce net leverage to 2.8x which is within our target range, repurchased approximately $300 million in shares and completed 2 accretive tuck-in acquisitions, all while investing in the business for continued organic growth |
| That's why I get so excited about our flex scheduling the card platform despite all the improvements that we've made in routing efficiencies last year with some record cases per mile |
| So the first part of your question, I think we largely believe that the existing long [indiscernible] plan that we're finishing up this year, feel really good about our progress |
| The structural improvements we made in 2023 position us to win in any macro environment |
| My confidence comes from the strong momentum we've built, delivering against our long-range plan and from our 30,000 dedicated associates who bring their expertise and tireless dedication to work every day |
| It plays to our strengths in terms of our product and sales portfolio |
| We're excited about the progress we've made to accelerate each of these coming into this year |
| We have very strong momentum in our business |
| I think there's a lot more runway there and as excited as I am about flex scheduling and my comments in the prepared remarks there, said we've seen outsized improvement in our pilot markets |
| Our injury and accident frequency rates improved from the prior year by 23% and importantly, our fourth quarter and full year 2023 safety results were our best in recent history |
| Additionally, creating a supportive and inclusive workplace is key to our success and we enhanced our diverse talent pipeline by filling 47% of new or open leadership roles with women or people of color, exceeding our 40% goal |
| And I think long term, Brian, the right way to think about that is we should be able to grow our cases 30% to 50% faster than our head count additions |
| So even where we've expanded it -- expanded it across the half of our markets, we haven't yet gotten the productivity uplift that we've seen in the pilot and it just takes time, right? It takes the local team time to -- to work in the new operating model as well as our associates and we expect continued productivity gains there over time |
| We have had great success in finding strong sales talent with industry experience and not all that's coming directly from competition |
| We delivered the best cases per mile in our company's history again in the fourth quarter, improving over our prior third quarter record |
| Our routing initiative provided us with more than 5% improvement in routing effectiveness in 2023, while also focusing on further improvements in on-time deliveries enabled by the Dicard [ph] platform |
| And I think we will ramp up that effort significantly in the first half of this year and deliver significant productivity improvement there as well |
| which will generate tremendous efficiency for both our customers and U.S |
| Our Net Promoter Score which is the highest in the industry among top foodservice distributors continues to increase since the launch of MOXe |
| But just suffice it to say, we're excited about the work |
| Really pleased with the progress we're making at routing but there's a lot more to do there |
| We spent a lot of time in the first half of the year really honing our focus in on the needle-moving activities and really pleased with the trajectory that you saw us deliver in the back half of the year resulting in those productivity improvements that I quoted |
| Our volume gains in both health care and hospitality were driven largely by converting our pipeline of customers into new business through our service model and innovation, such as our highly differentiated VITALS platform for acute care and senior living facilities |
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| As a result, we expect an approximate $20 million negative impact to adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter, primarily driven by incremental costs during the labor disruptions |
| as well as weather-related issues across the country which have been noted by several others in our industry |
| I've been doing this for a long time in many industries and I've seen labor disruptions before |
| Food cost inflation was essentially flat, while mix was a headwind of 70 basis points |
| As you've heard from others, there were a few other disruptions across the country in January |
| OpEx per case this quarter was actually down a little bit |
| Gross profit per case this quarter, Dirk was up a lot less than what it's been year-over-year |
| So we're not getting there very efficiently |
| There was an increased cost to us for business continuity and labor relations to serve our customers |
| We had a disruption |
| However, I think largely that portion of our improvement has still lagged the other 2 areas |
| We see this as an isolated issue |
| That's no surprise |
| Well, as you pointed out for the fourth quarter, not a real surprise |
| And there's a lot of noise is whether in some of the idiosyncratic factors you called out in 1Q |
| I just think about that expansion in 2024 and longer term, I know you talked about supply chain being perhaps the lagging factor |
| So another question on just your confidence on continuing to drive gross profit per case in '24 |
| We will continue to be but I'd be hard-pressed to predict how the rest of the year may or may not play out |
| So it looks like it decelerated |
| I have never been more excited about our future |
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