Jack in the Box Inc. (NASDAQ:JACK) Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

And so we think it’ll be heavier than spreading it equally out over three years, we think in the first year and a half that it’ll be heavier. But we’re not prepared to provide direct guidance related to that. All of these are incremental, come with incremental development as in just the recent transaction we announced in California it came with an additional 16 restaurants to be developed. So, all the things that we’ve mentioned from a strategy standpoint are refranchising are coming to fruition, and we think that’ll continue to evolve over the next 18 months.

Brian Mullan: Thank you.

Operator: We’ll take our next question from Chris O’Cull with Stifel.

Chris O’Cull: Thanks. I just had a follow up to that question. I know Darin, I think the company’s targeting the sale of 120 Del Taco locations in the next three years, but with the after tax proceeds, I want to say in the ICR presentation, about $60 million, implying you kind of expect about $500,000 for each unit. I was just hoping you could provide some details around what you expect from the buyer to sell the stores at that kind of valuation. And what I’m looking for is, do you have kind of a one commitment for every store you plan to sell? Or is there a remodeling commitment for the purchase locations and maybe what kind of timeline you’re looking at?

Darin Harris: Yes. We want at least of one-to-one development ratio. We obviously in some instances want more than that. And so from a remodel standpoint, we’re balancing that with the priority of the business. We want remodels to stand on their own and be compelling that there’s a return there that franchisees would want to do it because it’s a return, not because we’re going to make a demand for it. So that’s the way we think about remodels of this. Whereas in the past with Jack, we kind of stacked it up with we want a high price, we want rent, we want development, and we want remodels and guess what. We lost two of the four development and remodels. So that’s not what we’re trying to do here. We’re trying to enhance our system by becoming asset light and growth. And then the rest let it speak on itself because the business warrants it.

Chris O’Cull: Does Del Taco have a lot of remodel activity left?

Darin Harris: Yes. There’s still plenty of opportunity. What I would call media. And what’s good about their system is we think a refresh program and a lower cost stream model is really what that system needs right now to boost it sales.

Chris O’Cull: Great. Thanks.

Operator: We’ll take our next question from Alex Slagle with Jefferies.

Alex Slagle: Hey, thanks. Good morning and just want to circle back on the new Jack in the Box franchise agreements to enter Arkansas and Florida and color behind this step forward. Imagine these don’t open for a while, but love to hear more about the demand you’re seeing to get the brand into new territories and thoughts on new market expansion like this beyond the near-term push into Louisville and Salt Lake?

Darin Harris: I want to make sure I understood the question. What was it the interest level in expanding beyond our marketplace? Is that the nature of the question?

Alex Slagle: Yes, yes, just the interest in expanding into new states and just your thoughts on that push and just the excitement around that.

Darin Harris: Yes. I mean, as we mentioned, our first focus was giving our existing base of franchisees an opportunity to grow. And we’ve had 65% to 70% of the system in our current base sign up to for growth within our existing markets. So now a lot of our focus is turning to new. The interest continues to build just in the recent releases we’ve had publicly is that we have three new franchisees that have signed on to grow pretty substantial number of units. And that’s the first new franchisees we’ve had in the Jack system in over a decade. So we feel good about where we are in the process. We believe there’s more to come in the €“ by next quarter. And this is an early indication of what’s in front of us. I would say also on the Del side, we’ve had most of the new franchise recruitment we’ve done there has been with new franchisees. So expanding in new markets.