First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:FWRG) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

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Christopher Tomasso : Better.

Gregory Francfort: Okay. And then just maybe on I think some of the commentary on the tech platforms and how long that’s been in the system now you’re getting better insights on the customer across a few different platforms. Can you maybe give us some examples of what – is that giving you changes you can make from an operational perspective? Is that helping you change out the menu? I’m just curious kind of what the learnings are and what that’s kind of tangibly giving you feedback on? Thanks.

Matt Eisenacher: Hey Greg, it’s Matt Eisenacher. I’ll chime in on that one. Similar to what you’ve seen from us and KDS and back half of ticket times, it’s a similar long-term perspective there. The data informs us to make better decisions overall. It enables better insights to efficiency in the front house. So just as Chris and Mel talked about ticket times, we have that same opportunity over the long term to get more efficient in the front of house. And then, of course, if you look even further out, it’s already telling us more about our customers and visit frequency. And then that will allow us to segment, talk to our customers in a more targeted, more efficient way. So, again, it’s a long-term perspective. One, it’s really the forefront of how we looked at to drive demand.

Gregory Francfort: Cool. Thank you guys. Appreciated.

Matt Eisenacher: Thanks, Greg.

Operator: Our next question comes from Chris O’Cull with Stifel. Please proceed with your question.

Chris O’Cull: Yeah, thanks guys. I had a follow-up question to that last one, Mel. Can you expand on your comments about comps expected to be better in the second quarter than in the first quarter? Because, I believe you said you expect traffic to be down mid-single-digits and pricing to be up 3.5% in the second quarter, I wanted to confirm that. Because I think that’s less pricing in the second than in the first with similar traffic performance. So I’m just curious is mix expected to be the sequential improvement in the second that you’re looking for?

Mel Hope : Again, when we project, we don’t we don’t project mix in terms of our projections very much. So, really it’s – while we’re still choppy on the traffic side, which we feel optimistic about it gradually improving.

Chris O’Cull: Okay. It’s fair. And then, Chris, another company hasn’t used paid advertising in a big way in the past, but have you considered making more meaningful investments in that medium and just to address the recent traffic weakness especially in Florida?

Christopher Tomasso : Well, paid media, specifically our focus has been on digital and social. So we do spend in channels. Just not what I would call traditional media of television, radio, perhaps but and we have spent and invested into those channels more for us. We think they’re a better fit for our brand. Again, we don’t – we’re not going to have a discounting platform. But it isn’t a way for us to increase awareness. And as Matt talked about, understanding customer visitation helps us be more targeted, especially with digital when you think about timing of messages, the messaging itself. So Matt and his team have done a good job of segmenting better. And I think that’s been helpful for us as we’ll continue to do that.

Chris O’Cull: Yeah, I was thinking more traditional like billboards and radio and that’s not something you which guys are considering.

Christopher Tomasso : You know what Chris, we don’t really have the scale in to be media-efficient even despite some of these markets where we’re pretty well-penetrated. When you start getting into traditional media, it’s very difficult to get media-efficient as you know.

Chris O’Cull: Okay. Fair enough. Thanks guys.

Operator: There are no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn the floor back over to Chris Tomasso for closing comments.

Christopher Tomasso : Thank you. I want to once again thank our teams for their dedication and commitment to making days brighter for our customers and each other. Our success and growth opportunities are due in large part to their efforts, which in turn creates growth opportunities for them as we march toward 2200 restaurants. Thank you all for your time today.

Operator: This concludes today’s teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

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