Ruth’s Hospitality Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:RUTH) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Kristy Chipman: Sure. So, from a private dining perspective, every month in the quarter got better. So just as a reminder, first quarter was down 50%. Second and third quarter, we’re down about 25% each. As we went into fourth quarter, we’re still in that down mid-20s range. And as we got to the December, we were down 14%, so the total quarter was down 16% versus 2019. When we look at the other channel, which you might be referring to, which is risk anywhere, we were at about $4,500 per restaurant per week. And so that was the overall on the channels.

Brian Vaccaro: Okay. And then just one quick clarification, I think you mentioned comps up 17% that was for the five weeks in January, is it January specific?

Cheryl Henry: Just January specifics.

Brian Vaccaro: Okay. And would you be willing to just level set where average weekly sales are because these comps year-on-year, three year that gets a little disorienting?

Cheryl Henry: Sure. They’re 126,000 for January.

Brian Vaccaro: Perfect. All right. I’ll pass it along. Thank you.

Operator: The next question comes from Todd Brooks with Benchmark Company. Please proceed.

Todd Brooks: Hey, thanks. Good morning, everybody. Following up on Brian’s question around Winter Park, if you look at the existing base, how many do you think would support a winter park type of remodel going forward? And given what that kind of universe looks like, does that change the balance of maybe new unit growth versus remodels as we look to 2024 and 2025?

Cheryl Henry: Yeah. That’s a great question, Todd. So as we think about the existing portfolio, we probably have about 50% of the restaurants. We wouldn’t be required to do major structural changes to put some of the elements. And again, I think Kristy described it well. You don’t have to necessarily build the exact floor plan and existing restaurants to get some of the benefit of the new programming and new design elements. And that’s really what we’re going to go forward with this year that stand. So how much of that is related to exterior work, how which is related to having the opportunity to have a dining room off the bar. And I’ll give you an example of the open in Delray six years ago now, and it has an opportunity for having a dining room off the bar.

So there are some existing restaurants that have an opportunity to kind of slide right into what Winter Park is offering from a programming perspective. So I do think coming forward as we put some of these exterior programs to work and we continue to study Winter Park, we’ll talk about what that means for our remodel program. Not prepared to give you that just yet.

Todd Brooks: Okay. Great. Thanks a lot. Secondly, if we look at €“ I think Kristy, this is just to make sure. So pricing ran what level in Q4? And then I think you’ll roll off about 40 basis points net at the end of March from what you said earlier in the call, but then what’s the outlook for further pricing in the remainder of the year?

Kristy Chipman: Sure. So pricing versus 21% in the quarter €“ quarter four was 4.9%. You’re correct, we roll off the first quarter this year, we lose that 40 basis points you discussed and for the full year, we expect pricing based on this €“ only this one pricing increase, which again, we’ll look again in about midyear into September for another opportunity to take price hitting out of the dynamics of the cost an inflation environment. But based on what we know today and the price increase we’re taking in March, you should expect about 4% full year pricing at for us.