Freshpet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FRPT) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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Todd Cunfer: Yes. So a couple of thoughts on it. It does include fridges. I would assume, over time, the rate of growth in fridges ultimately will slow down as we get the ACV and multiple fridges in many, many retail outlets across the country. So we will invest heavily in that area over the next couple of years, but that will slow down over time. CapEx, I would say as you go 5 years out, will be dependent on a couple of things. One is, what is our expectation for a rate of growth when we get into that ’26, ’27 time frame, we’re still growing 25% or do we see that coming down a bit? And the other variable is do technologies, as we’ve been discussing. So those are the big variables. Could it be as high as $200 million in our run rate? It could, if we’re growing at an extraordinary rate, but I think that’s TBD at this point.

Robert Moskow: Then I guess the question is, is it possible to break out the 200 in terms of maintenance versus growth?

Todd Cunfer: So I mean the fridges we tend to spend right now about $25 million to $30 million a year. And then we have nominal maintenance on the plant. So the vast majority of what we’re spending on capital today, I would say, 75%, 80% of it is growth in new capacity.

Robert Moskow: All right. That’ what I needed. Thank you.

Todd Cunfer: Thanks, Rob.

Operator: Thank you. Our final question this morning comes from the line of Jon Andersen with William Blair. Please proceed with your question.

Jon Andersen: Hi. Thanks for squeezing me in. Two quick ones. I wanted to ask about Ennis. If you can talk a little bit about the ramp of Line 1, the rolls line versus your internal plan productivity, et cetera? And then does that signal, depending on how that’s going, and we believe it’s gone well, right? Does that signal well for Line 2? Or is the Line 2 effort really unique, different, distinct given that it will be focused on bags? What are some of the key milestones we should be looking for or you’re looking for around the development of that second line?

Billy Cyr: Yes, Jon, the rolls line is going well. It’s ramping up at a pace that is in line with our expectations, maybe slightly ahead of our expectations at this point, producing the full range of SKUs and in reasonable quantities of volume. They are separate efforts, although if you can avoid having a distraction from the first line to focus your energy on the second line, it certainly helps you get the second line up and running more quickly and more reliably. I can tell you, as I said on the comments that the second line is doing well. We’re well along in the commissioning part of that process, and we’d expect to bring that line up fairly quickly. To recognize though that – that line has to produce a fairly wide range of SKUs, everything from our roasted meals, to our multi-protein, to our small dog, to our fresh from the kitchen products.

So it will take a little bit longer to qualify every one of the items on that line. So we’ve out looked is that we would have a salable product at the end of this quarter, beginning of next quarter, we’re well on track with that. We said we would have the full line of qualified by about the end of second quarter. We feel like we’re on track for that. And once all that happens, then that facility in Ennis will be producing the vast majority of our line-up and we’ll be able to get all the freight efficiencies out of the Dallas DC.

Jon Andersen: Okay, thanks. And then you’ve highlighted e-commerce as a kind of an innovation, big innovation opportunity. I guess what I’m curious is, what’s different about this DTC approach versus what your customers can do today, which is click and collect or procure Freshpet through last mile delivery. How is this different and value-added incremental relative to the kind of the current go-to-market approach? Thank you.

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