US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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Dirk Locascio: Sure. Good morning, Lauren. This is Dirk. So overall Andrew commented and I commented on in the prepared comments that we’ve seen demand hold up quite well here through the early part of the quarter and really haven’t seen signs of softening. I think overall the momentum that we expected to enter the year with we are seeing that. So really not a whole lot to share beyond that other than builds on our optimism as we continue to enter the year and what we expect to deliver through the year.

Lauren Silberman: Thank you. Congrats.

Dave Flitman: Thank you.

Andrew Iacobucci: Thanks, Lauren.

Operator: Your next question is from Jake Bartlett of Truist Securities. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Jake Bartlett: Great. Thanks for taking the question. Mine was a follow-up on the 2023 guidance. It was maintained for EBITDA and EPS, but you did hit the higher end on the 2022 you’re talking about accelerating momentum. So I’m wondering whether there’s some offset. It seems like you started a better spot. Are you building in more macro pressure? Just trying to understand maybe how conservative that 2023 guidance might be?

Dirk Locascio: Sure. Good morning, Jake. This is Dirk. I will — I think when you think of we’re very pleased with the way 2022 ended again a little bit above our guidance, which we’re pleased with and shows the good momentum in the business. I think when you pivot that to 2023 I think in the order of magnitude just knowing the macro uncertainty out there we’ve tried to do is really reflect a range that illustrates more strength with a considered continued macro recovery potentially still very good progress, but not quite as quick if the economy slows down. But I think the message you should take out of there is very good momentum. We feel good about where we’re entering it. And then as the year plays out and we see how things play out we’ll continue to update as you would expect us to do.

Jake Bartlett: Great. And then I had a question about the — really the drivers of the independent case growth that you’re putting up. We’ve heard from others that it’s really been driven by new account, whereas, traffic individual accounts might be down just because of the high pricing that for instance restaurants are having to take. Is that the case with US Foods that the case growth — independent case growth is really being exclusively driven by new account growth? And then if that is the case, I’m wondering about the ability to build on that new account growth. It seems like the larger players are all accomplishing that. My expectation was that the market would get — would be — get a little more difficult to penetrate new accounts as supply chains eased and other smaller competitors were able to service those accounts better.

Maybe just firstly the answer of what is driving the case growth? And second just the competitive dynamics and whether you think that the larger players are still really in the catbird seat here?

Andrew Iacobucci: Thanks Jake, it’s Andrew. Yeah. So I think as we talked about last quarter as well, we’re very pleased with the balance in our I&D growth. We’re seeing a good mix of driving new account acquisitions, as well as focusing on penetrating those new accounts. And that’s really been part of a sort of a systematic approach we’ve been taking at a market level to focus — concentrate on the menu types that are seeing the greatest growth to target those in a very focused way. And then once on boarded, we spent a great deal of energy looking for opportunities to expand our share of wallet with those customers. So, both are important and both, I would say, will continue. As far as what we’re seeing within our customers themselves, as I mentioned in my remarks, we are seeing good recovery in those customers for the most part.

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