Earnings Call Transcript - TXRH Q2 2024

Operator, Operator

Good evening, and welcome to the Texas Roadhouse Second Quarter Earnings Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded. All participants are now in a listen-only mode. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. Please follow the operator's instructions. I would now like to introduce Michael Bailen, Head of Investor Relations for Texas Roadhouse. You may begin your conference.

Michael Bailen, Head of Investor Relations

Thank you, Brianna, and good evening. By now, you should have access to our earnings release for the second quarter ended June 25, 2024. It may also be found on our website at texasroadhouse.com in the Investors section. I would like to remind everyone that part of our discussion today will include forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance, and therefore, undue reliance should not be placed upon them. We refer all of you to our earnings release and our recent filings with the SEC. These documents provide a more detailed discussion of the relevant factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those forward-looking statements. In addition, we may refer to non-GAAP measures. If applicable, reconciliations of the non-GAAP measures to the GAAP information can be found in our earnings release. On the call with me today is Jerry Morgan, Chief Executive Officer of Texas Roadhouse; and Chris Monroe, our Chief Financial Officer. Following the prepared remarks, we will be available to answer your questions. In order to accommodate everyone that would like to ask a question, please limit yourself to one question. Now, I would like to turn the call over to Jerry.

Jerry Morgan, CEO

Thanks, Michael. And good evening, everyone. We are pleased with our second quarter results as our operators continue to do an amazing job serving our guests and communities. Same-store sales growth of 9.3% and the benefit of a steady pace of new-store openings in 2024 helped us drive revenue to over $1.3 billion in the quarter. We remain excited about the future of all three of our brands. During the second quarter, Texas Roadhouse restaurants averaged approximately $163 in weekly sales. Our managing partners continue to drive sales and traffic growth, which keeps the brands positioned as a leader in the casual dining industry. Bubba's 33 maintained its positive trend with approximately $123,000 in weekly sales. I recently had the opportunity to visit the three newest Bubba's 33 locations in Texas and Virginia. Nothing is more energizing than spending time in the restaurants working alongside our people and getting feedback from our guests. There's no doubt that our Bubba's 33 operators are building name recognition and creating guest loyalty. Bubba's is also receiving a number of local awards, including being named Best Burger and Best Family and Casual Dining Restaurant in Chesapeake, Virginia, and 2024 Best Pizza in Buford, Georgia. Jaggers, our quick-service brand, is also gaining increased consumer awareness, which helped generate approximately $73,000 in weekly sales during the second quarter. Jaggers is also being recognized as its burger was named a community choice finalist in Louisville, Kentucky. Additionally, we are looking forward to our first international Jaggers franchise location later this year on the Camp Humphreys military base in South Korea. Speaking of openings, during the second quarter, we opened three company-owned Texas Roadhouses and three Bubba's 33 restaurants. For the full year, we remain on track to open approximately 30 company-owned restaurants across all brands. Also, our franchise partners opened three Texas Roadhouse locations, including our first restaurant in Puerto Rico. We expect as many as 13 franchise openings this year, including three Jaggers. We also made great progress on our technology initiatives during the second quarter. First, we completed the rollout of our Roadie First technology system throughout the company. We believe improved mobile access to our resources will help us remain as an employer of choice for years to come. Second, the pace of the digital kitchen conversion remains on track. We have completed 50% of the approximate 230 scheduled for this year. The feedback remains positive and our current expectation is that nearly all restaurants will convert to a digital kitchen by the end of 2025. Finally, there has been significant discussion within the restaurant industry concerning the health of the consumer as well as the increased focus on promotions and discounting from others in the industry. Through the first half of the year, we have not seen a measurable impact on our overall business from these issues. Our guests continue to recognize the quality and value we offer and do not appear to be changing their dining habits. At Texas Roadhouse, we will continue to focus on what we do best, which is taking care of our Roadies and providing a legendary experience to each and every one of our guests. Now Chris will provide some thoughts.

Chris Monroe, CFO

Thanks, Jerry. We are pleased from top to bottom with our second quarter financial results. Leverage from same-store sales growth, coupled with the lower than forecasted inflationary pressures drove a meaningful increase in diluted earnings per share. During the second quarter, we continued seeing resilient guests visiting our restaurants. In addition to strong traffic growth, we also experienced encouraging mix trends within our check. For the quarter, our overall mix was basically flat with positive mix in entrees, add-ons, and soft beverages. This was offset by continued but improving negative mix in alcohol. Additionally, our sales momentum has carried forward into the third quarter with strong same-store sales growth through the first four weeks. In the coming weeks, we will have our normal discussions with our operators regarding the amount of menu pricing we may take at the beginning of the fourth quarter. We will continue to follow our disciplined process of focusing on maintaining our value proposition while balancing the impact of structural inflationary pressures. On the topic of inflation, we benefited in the second quarter from lower commodity costs than we had forecasted. The benefit came from our floating beef contracts that enable us to take advantage of market prices that were lower than our expectations for the back half of the quarter. At this time, we are updating our full-year commodity inflation guidance to approximately 2%. This adjustment reflects both the impact of the lower than initially forecasted inflation incurred so far this year and our current expectation of between 2% and 3% commodity inflation in the second half of the year. With regard to labor in the second quarter, wage and other inflation came in as expected. We also saw a continuation of the positive productivity trends of the last several quarters. We believe the benefit of fully staffed restaurants with longer tenured Roadies should result in continued labor efficiency improvement through at least the end of this year. Our guidance remains at 4% to 5% wage and other labor inflation for the full year. With regard to cash flow, we ended the second quarter with $197 million of cash. Cash flow from operations was $134 million, which was offset by $145 million of capital expenditures, dividend payments, and share repurchases. Given our current cash position and an expectation for strong operating cash flow generation to continue, we have approved and/or accelerated additional store-level capital projects that were not in our initial plan. As such, we are raising our full-year 2024 capital expenditure guidance to between $360 million and $370 million. We are excited to make this capital commitment as we believe investing in new and existing restaurants remains a productive use of our cash for creating shareholder value. And now, Michael will walk us through the second quarter results.

Michael Bailen, Head of Investor Relations

Thanks, Chris. For the second quarter of 2024, we reported revenue growth of 14.5%, driven by an 8.5% increase in average unit volume and 5.6% store week growth. We also reported a restaurant margin dollar increase of 32.7% to $243 million and a diluted earnings per share increase of 46.4% to $1.79. Average weekly sales in the second quarter were approximately $159,000, with to-go representing approximately $20,000 or 12.6% of these total weekly sales. Comparable sales increased 9.3% in the second quarter, driven by 4.5% traffic growth and a 4.8% increase in average check. By month, comparable sales grew 9.8%, 9%, and 9.1% for our April, May, and June periods respectively. And comparable sales for the first four weeks of the third quarter were up 8%, with our restaurants averaging sales of approximately $151,000 per week during that period. In the second quarter, restaurant margin dollars per store week increased 25.7% to nearly $29,000. Restaurant margin as a percentage of total sales increased 250 basis points year-over-year to 18.2%. Food and beverage costs as a percentage of total sales were 32.7% for the second quarter. The 176 basis-point year-over-year improvement was primarily driven by the benefit of a 4.8% check increase, offsetting the 0.4% commodity inflation for the quarter. Labor as a percentage of total sales decreased 76 basis points to 32.8% compared to the second quarter of 2023. Labor dollars per store week increased 6% due to wage and other labor inflation of 4.4% and growth in hours of 1.6%. A $2.2 million adjustment to our quarterly insurance reserve had a 16 basis-point negative impact on this quarter's labor expense as a percentage of sales. This charge had minimal impact on the year-over-year change as we lap a $1.8 million reserve adjustment from last year. Other operating costs were 14.8% of sales, which was 7 basis points higher than the second quarter of 2023. Higher operating bonuses as a percentage of sales resulting from increased year-over-year restaurant-level profitability had a 30-basis-point negative impact. Additionally, a $2.1 million adjustment to our quarterly reserve for general liability insurance had a 16 basis-point negative impact on this quarter's other operating expense as a percentage of sales. This charge had minimal impact on the year-over-year change as we lapped a $1.6 million reserve adjustment from last year. Moving below restaurant margin, G&A dollars grew 14% year-over-year and came in at 4.3% of revenue for the second quarter. The majority of the year-over-year increase was due to higher compensation and benefit expense. Our effective tax rate for the quarter was 15%. The higher tax rate is driven by our increased profitability. Based on our outlook for the remainder of the year, we are updating our full-year 2024 income tax rate to approximately 14.5%. Finally, as a reminder, 2024 is a 53-week year for us. As such, the fourth quarter will have 14 weeks versus our normal 13 weeks. We estimate that the additional week could benefit full year 2024 earnings per share growth by approximately 4%. Now, I will turn the call back over to Jerry for final comments.

Jerry Morgan, CEO

Thanks, Michael. I'm looking forward to our upcoming annual fall tour, where our senior leadership travels the country for six weeks visiting with our managing partners. This gives us the opportunity to personally thank them for their efforts and, just as importantly, we will listen to what is on their minds and learn how we can help continue growing their business. Finally, thank you to all of Roadie Nation for your contributions to our success. It takes all of us to deliver on our mission of legendary food and legendary service. That concludes our prepared remarks. Brianna, please open the line for questions.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. We will now open the line for your questions. Please follow the operator's instructions. Your first question comes from the line of Jake Bartlett with Truist Securities. Please go ahead.

Jake Bartlett, Analyst

Great. Thank you so much for taking the question. My mind was on the implications of the quarter-to-date trend. You mentioned 8% in the first four weeks of the quarter. One question is whether there's any moving pieces there like calendar shifts, 4th of July impact. Just want to make sure on that. And then the other part of the question is, your compares eased materially last year, so in August and September. So how do you think about those compares easing? Does that give you comfort that we could accelerate from the current levels or was last year more in relation to what was happening in the prior year. Just how should we think of the quarter-to-date and the implications for the quarter as a whole?

Michael Bailen, Head of Investor Relations

Hey, Jake, it's Michael. I appreciate the question. I mean, I'd first say, I think we're very happy with the 8% for the month. There's really no timing issues in there that we would call out. And I think we've somewhat moved away from looking at the multiyear stacks. But to the extent you do look at them on a two-year or even a five-year basis, there is no weakness being shown in that 8% number and given what we are lapping from prior years. You are right, the overall comp in the next several months, on its surface is easier, but we will see what happens on a multiyear basis. So we'll continue to do what we're doing and our operators are focused on driving more guests through the doors. And we feel very happy about the trends we're seeing.

Brian Bittner, Analyst

Thanks. Congratulations on great results. I wanted to ask about margins and kind of a two-part question on margins. First, on the labor side, it's just the flow-through on labor margins is meaningfully better this year. It just seems like you've cracked the code on growing hours at a much lesser rate than traffic. So first, can you just help us understand what's going on with labor and why it's so successful now from a leverage perspective? And then, secondly, on the food cost side, 2% to 3% in the second-half of the year. Can you just remind us how that's going to pace in 3Q versus 4Q, whether it's going to be bifurcated in the trend between those two quarters so we can think about the amount of COGS leverage you're going to get in 3Q and 4Q potentially?

Jerry Morgan, CEO

Yes, Brian, this is Jerry. I'll take the labor side, and then I think Michael will address the food cost side. But I really do believe that our investment in the last couple of years in our rebuilding of our management teams and our hourly ranks has really found a way to flow through the productivity now. And obviously, with our elevated sales and people getting comfortable and doing their jobs and getting the reps in basically from that side of it, I think it's all flowing through. We're fully staffed. We're comfortable with the tenure that we're having. And all of that is producing some outstanding results on the labor side, which we've been really pushing the last couple of years.

Chris Monroe, CFO

And Jerry, I'll just jump in there. This is Chris before we get it over to Michael. On the labor, just for percentages, we've talked about having about a 50% of our labor hours growth compared to our traffic growth. And we got there in the fourth quarter. We were down to 25% in Q1. We're still below the 50% in the mid-30s this quarter. And it's all reflective of the things that Jerry was talking about. And, Michael, do you want to speak to the food cost?

Michael Bailen, Head of Investor Relations

Sure. Yes. When it comes to the back half of the year, commodity inflation where we said 2% to 3%. Maybe you're a little bit higher in the third quarter than you are in the fourth, but at this time, they aren't really that different from each other.

David Tarantino, Analyst

Hi, I had a question, maybe a follow-up on the beef costs. I guess two quarters ago, there was a lot of concern about beef costs being elevated for a multiyear period. And this year, it seems like they've come in quite a bit below what you were anticipating. So I guess, can you just maybe talk about your current outlook for beef costs? I know maybe some pressure's coming in the second-half, but I'm thinking more about the next year or two and what the beef cycle might look like for you?

Michael Bailen, Head of Investor Relations

Hey, David, it's Michael. I appreciate the question. We believe that supply will decrease in the latter half of the year, and we have seen somewhat lower demand in the retail sector than we had anticipated. This has prevented prices from rising as much as we originally expected. We anticipate more pressure from this in the second half of the year. It's too early for us to provide guidance for 2025. However, industry data suggests that supply is expected to continue tightening. We will need to monitor demand and its impact on beef prices. We will share our early thoughts on commodity inflation for 2025 during our next earnings call.

David Tarantino, Analyst

Great. Thank you for that. And then as it relates to the pricing decision you're going to make, I guess you mentioned that you'll take some pricing against whatever you consider structural inflation to be. But I guess I'm wondering on this topic of beef costs if it looks like commodity costs are going to be elevated for the next year or two beyond this year, would that be considered structural in your mind? Would you take pricing against that or would you consider that more cyclical?

Jerry Morgan, CEO

Yes. I think we would consider that side of it a little more cyclical. But we will start that process in a few weeks talking with all of our operators across the country and going through that, really looking at what that will be at this time of year, knowing that things have changed a little from the beginning of the year. But I do believe we'll continue to approach it with a very conservative mindset and we'll see what our operators have to say and then make a great decision.

Brian Harbour, Analyst

Yes, thank you. Good afternoon. I was just curious on the CapEx comments you made increasing for this year. What's that going towards? Are you doing some more store expansion or is that perhaps going to some of the other brands or is some of this kind of getting a head start on next year's new units?

Chris Monroe, CFO

Hey, Brian, it's Chris. Yes, thanks for that question. It's really sort of all of the above. Even in last quarter's call, we talked about how we were getting good returns on these store investments. And so we're going to continue to do that. So we're expanding dining areas. We're expanding back of house. And this also gives us an opportunity to get after the 2025 pipeline to just put some more into that to make sure that we get that good opening cadence throughout the year.

Jim Salera, Analyst

Hi, guys. Thanks for taking our question. You continue to deliver, it seems like, on strong value and some good quality food as a combo to keep customers somewhere in the door. Can you give us any commentary around possible trade down dynamics and maybe interactions that you're seeing from customers by income cohort?

Michael Bailen, Head of Investor Relations

Yes, Jim, it's Michael. I can talk on that. Yes, not a lot of commentary that we're hearing right now as far as anything being different than what we've been seeing for a while, which I think we have people trading up to us, trading down to us, trading across to us. So we're very pleased with the guests' decision to visit with us. We're not seeing any degradation in what they are ordering as seen by kind of our flat mix trends right now. So really, right now, there's been really no change in what we're seeing. And we're very pleased by that.

Jim Salera, Analyst

Okay, great. And then in some of our pricing data that we look at, it seems like pricing in California was minimal during the quarter. Can you just talk about the labor market in California specifically and kind of your thoughts around pricing for the Fast Act?

Michael Bailen, Head of Investor Relations

Yes, sure. I can speak on that. Jim, we don't have a large presence in California. So not a lot really to comment on out there. Our California stores from a sales standpoint are doing fine. And obviously, if there's more structural pressure, you may have a little bit more pricing that you take in a state like that. But we certainly haven't done anything in California from a pricing standpoint out of our normal process.

Elliott Simon, Analyst

Hey, guys. Congrats on a great quarter. I was particularly impressed by Bubba's 5.5% same-store sales growth in the quarter, which may be sort of Roadhouse, but it's seemingly much better than most other concepts this quarter. I know you've done a lot of work on the brand. So can you talk about the timeline to reaching that 8% to 10% net opening figure annually you've referenced in the past? And are you able to walk us through the building blocks of the ROI on new Bubba's units incorporating the strong performance you've recently achieved, maybe excluding capitalized leases and pre-opening costs, which is how many others in the industry give it?

Jerry Morgan, CEO

Yes, I'll start us off and let Michael finish. We're really, really excited about what Bubba's brand is doing. And we've made some adjustments a few years ago in our leadership, and just really our identity to some degree. Made a few adjustments, added a couple of menu items, a combo appetizer. We restructured the wings and been testing with a couple of other products that have been very, very successful. But I think the biggest thing for us is the consistency of the experience that we are providing for our guests with our burgers and pizzas and just all of our offerings, the consistency of our operations. So just from an operator standpoint and from a brand standpoint, we feel like we are really excited about where we're at and the things that we've done. And we'll continue to look at how we ramp it up going forward.

Michael Bailen, Head of Investor Relations

Yes. And, Elliott, this is Michael. I can go on a little bit on your question. I'm probably not going to walk through the whole ROI equation on the call. But from an investment costs, if you're excluding the rent and so therefore, just getting to the CapEx and the cash cost of pre-opening, you're probably more in the $6.5 million range for that. And again, above is with its focus on burgers, pizza, and wings, and a little bit higher alcohol mix in our Texas Roadhouse is probably having the ability to generate higher restaurant margins. So we're very pleased with the ability of Bubba's to meet our internal hurdles and believe that it's very possible going forward.

Elliott Simon, Analyst

Great. And then just as a quick follow-up, I know it's in the 10-K, thank you, but I get a little antsy. What was the restaurant margin for Bubba's in the quarter?

Michael Bailen, Head of Investor Relations

Yes, Elliott. I think we're just going to let you stay antsy and see that in the queue when it comes out shortly.

Unidentified Analyst, Analyst

Hi, this is Pratik on for Jeff. Appreciate the question. Just a quick question about technology. It's exciting to see that digital kitchens are going to be deployed, I guess, fully throughout the system by the end of '25. Just looking ahead, what's next on the list? Any exciting initiatives that you guys are potentially looking at perhaps at the front of the house to help drive greater throughput because it just seems like your stores are as busy as ever? Thank you.

Chris Monroe, CFO

Thank you for the question. We are very enthusiastic about the digital kitchen, and we're currently halfway through the rollout, with over 100 stores already launched. It's still a new venture for us, and we're learning a lot along the way. We introduced Roadhouse Pay, which allows payment at the table, a couple of years ago, and it has been quite successful. We're also working on a new version of our guest management system to improve speed at the host stand. There are several projects in progress, but we need to ensure that the digital kitchen is fully operational and that we are comfortable with it. The guest management system and Roadhouse Pay are both providing valuable insights that enhance the experience for our guests and employees, making them significant benefits for us.

Lauren Silberman, Analyst

Hey, thanks for the question. Congrats on the quarter. I wanted to ask about restaurant margin. On the near term, close to 18% in the first half of the year. Given the commodity guide, do you expect to hit at least 17% this year? Any other dynamics we should consider? And then just on a longer-term question on margin, as you guys inch back to the 17% to 18% target, is there a scenario where we could be talking about margins north of 18% in a couple of years? Or how do you guys think about choosing to reinvest?

Chris Monroe, CFO

Hey, Lauren, it's Chris. We've had an impressive first half, with a margin increase of 250 basis points year-over-year, which is a real team effort, primarily driven by the operators. For the second half, we anticipate further margin expansion compared to last year, although there are several factors to keep in mind. The main concern for us revolves around commodities. However, in the short term, the first half has been strong regarding margins, and we certainly expect year-over-year margin growth in the second half. For the long term, maintaining our goal of 17% to 18% has been a priority for a while. Exceeding that typically risks impacting our customers and losing value, so this has been our guiding principle. I believe that will continue moving forward.

Michael Bailen, Head of Investor Relations

Hey, Lauren, it's Michael. I mean, we looked at that, as we typically do for a short-term event like that in a specific area, you do feel a short-term impact and then you also get a bounce back. So we think it's a very minimal impact, if any, on the overall numbers. So not something worth quantifying at this time.

Peter Saleh, Analyst

Great. Thanks and congrats on a great quarter. I did want to ask a couple of questions, one on menu mix. Menu mix was flat the first time in, call it six or seven quarters now, and it was a pretty meaningful improvement from the first quarter to the second quarter. So what can you tell us about that? Are you seeing customers trading up to you, trading down to you? I assume this is not the end of this kind of improving trend? And any color on what you saw in terms of menu mix in the month of July? And then just on the second question on labor hours. You grew the labor hours substantially less than the historical rate of 50% of traffic. Should we anticipate that to continue in the back end of the year or do you think labor hours will grow kind of more in that 50% of traffic in the second-half? Thank you.

Michael Bailen, Head of Investor Relations

Sure. Hey, Peter, it's Michael. Yes. I mean, I think we're very pleased with the mix trends that we are seeing. And as we had in our prepared remarks, we're seeing some positive mix in entrees and add-ons and the soft beverages, still seeing some negative mix in alcohol but not as much as we had been, which led to a basically flat mix for the quarter. And that trend has basically continued into July, remaining in that flattish range. And we'll see how that trend holds up into the back half of the year. It would not surprise me to see some alcohol negative mix remain with us. That seems to be not a Roadhouse specific issue, but more in the industry and societal at this point. And yes, but overall, very pleased with our guests' reception to our menu prices and recognizing the value that we're offering them. On your second part, with the labor hours and the productivity that we're seeing, yes, I would say we are cautiously optimistic that we can continue to see that trend continue through the back half of the year. We'll see what the future holds. But I think the hard work that our operators have done to get their restaurants well-staffed will continue to pay dividends into the back half of the year.

Dennis Geiger, Analyst

Thank you, everyone, and congratulations. I'd like to follow up on the margin discussion. Is there anything specific regarding operating expenses in relation to inflation? You've provided a lot of details, but are there any additional considerations for that category, especially with potential one-time expenses to keep in mind for the remainder of this year? Thank you.

Michael Bailen, Head of Investor Relations

Yes, it's Michael. Some of the pressure we experienced in recent quarters has come from benefits on the cost of goods sold and labor, which are contributing to our margin expansion. This allows us to provide higher bonuses to our operators. If we continue to see these benefits in the latter half of the year, our bonuses may remain a pressure point. We may have some reserve adjustments moving forward, but with the additional week in the fourth quarter, there could be more opportunity for leverage. We'll observe what occurs in the third and fourth quarters regarding those other expenses. Other operating expenses are increasing on a dollars-per-store-per-week basis, largely because our top line is growing.

Jeff Farmer, Analyst

Thanks. You guys touched on the upcoming sort of pricing conversations with your operators, but I am curious what your current read is on your own consumers in terms of acceptance of incremental pricing. I know that you've mentioned that there's been a little bit of pushback over the last year or so but nothing too material. I'm listening to Chipotle last night, different sort of segment of the sector. They strongly implied that it was getting a little bit more challenging to pass through menu pricing. So at least from your perspective, your lens, I'm curious how you are thinking about your customer's tolerance to incremental menu pricing moving forward.

Michael Bailen, Head of Investor Relations

Yes, Jeff, I believe we are aware of it as well. We have conducted our AU study. If you have been a long-time consumer with us, you may have certain feelings about this. We are definitely paying attention to both perspectives. Many customers see us as providing great value, which is exactly how we want it to be. However, we need to listen to our operators. Currently, I'm not hearing any significant concerns from guests or consumers, but we are focused on our food, service, community partnerships, and the value we provide through our menu. If we do raise prices, guests should expect more in return. Our generous portion sizes and everything we've always done remains unchanged. As long as we concentrate on maintaining the quality and value of what we serve, guests will appreciate that. We will keep communicating with our operators and make informed decisions based on the situation in their local communities.

Andrew Strelzik, Analyst

Hey, good afternoon. Thanks for taking the questions. I just had two quick follow-ups. The first one is on the commodity basket. How much visibility do you have on the back part of the year? How much do you have locked for the commodity basket? And then the second question, you kind of alluded to learning some things about the digital kitchen. And I'm just curious if you could elaborate a little bit what you're learning? Are you planning to make any changes? Just what exactly did you mean by that? Thanks.

Michael Bailen, Head of Investor Relations

Hey, Andrew, I'll start with the commodity basket. This is Michael. Similar to the first half of the year, we are going to probably see a lot of our beef being purchased on a formula basis. We still believe that is the best approach in the environment that we are in right now. So where we are in the third quarter, we already have some of our beef purchased. So we have better visibility into the third quarter. And then there's less visibility into Q4, but probably going to, for competitive reasons, not get into much more detail on levels of beef locked for the back half of the year.

Jerry Morgan, CEO

And Andrew, this is Jerry. On the digital kitchen, the thing that we're really learning is the organization in the back of the house. And the cooks, really doing the math for the cooks to some degree, so it's just a calmer environment, not having to look at all of the checks. And sometimes, it just tells you how much to fire and when to fire it. So that's been a big win. We can monitor our broiled cook times, which is really our steak side of it. So we definitely have the ability to see what the average check is coming out of the kitchen app. So I think those are all very helpful and will help us go forward. Again, we're still pretty new into it, at 100 plus stores in it. We've got a very aggressive back half of the year to get to that 230 number, but we're very excited. All the feedback from our managers and our employees is very positive. And ultimately, we couldn't measure it at this time because we're not up against ourselves, but what will it do in the future, we're expecting it to be positive.

Gregory Francfort, Analyst

Hey, thanks. I have two quick ones. The first is just maybe going back, I don't know if it was Jon's development question. I think this is like kind of the second quarter in a row where new-store productivity is kind of more like low 90% instead of 100%. Anything going on specifically with the new units just in terms of opening up in different areas? Just trying to sort through that number.

Michael Bailen, Head of Investor Relations

Hey, Greg, it's Michael. I'm happy to report that we are very pleased with the performance of our new stores. They are meeting our expectations and benchmarks. It's important to note that the strong performance of our established stores over the past few quarters and years might make it seem unrealistic to expect a new restaurant to achieve those same levels immediately. However, we are still very satisfied with how our new restaurants are doing.

Jerry Morgan, CEO

Yes, it's still a bit early to assess the situation fully. The main advantage is that it helps create a more organized environment for us. We anticipate improvements in employee experience, including the speed of service and how we handle our production sheets. However, it's still too soon to measure the exact impact. The primary benefit is the organization and the reduced stress from not dealing with paper everywhere. It streamlines everything through a bump screen, which helps employees concentrate on the checks displayed in front of them. This setup makes it less daunting compared to having a large number of checks, which can feel overwhelming at times. The real advantage is that employees can maintain a steady pace because of the bump system we’ve implemented in the digital kitchen. While it’s still early, we are optimistic about the results.

Logan Reich, Analyst

Hey, thanks for taking my question, and congrats on the really solid results this quarter. I kind of wanted to give a little bit of a follow-up question to the prior one just on the digital kitchen and also asked about the Roadie First. I feel like you guys have been talking about labor improvements for a while now. Can you help us sort of dimensionalize or delineate where exactly those improvements are coming from? And is the Roadie First system a big driver of that or can you just help us sort of like delineate the key drivers of that labor productivity improvement?

Michael Bailen, Head of Investor Relations

Yes, it's Michael. I wouldn't say those are the main factors behind the improvement. It's really the result of years of dedication from our operators to ensure their restaurants are well-staffed. This experienced staff is sticking around, which means they are more skilled and efficient at their jobs, reducing the need for extensive training. Consequently, we are able to accomplish more with our existing resources. What we’re witnessing is the outcome of the hard work invested over the past years, and now we’re starting to see the benefits. Yes, no problem. And then just wanted to ask one quick one on the takeout versus in-store, looks like in-store accelerated while takeout decelerated relative to Q1. I guess just how should we think about the in-store business? Is that still an area of growth for you guys? Or is it sort of a little bit of like a post-COVID nice-to-have business that you have, but it's not necessarily a large growth driver of the business? Just sort of how would you characterize the takeout business? Yes. Look, I think you may have said the dining business, but you're asking about our feelings on the to-go business, correct? No. Yes. Sure. Yes, that is still certainly a big area of focus and very important to us. We continue to see, in the second quarter, what we feel is very strong trends there and an increase in not only the sales dollars but the number of guests served to-go. So that is definitely something our operators view as core to their business now. They want to make sure those dining rooms are full and continue to get fuller but absolutely being able to drive more to-go business is a huge opportunity and something that they're focused upon. Yes, that's $20,000 a week average at each store. So that's significant. That business is significant. It's important to us.

Jim Sanderson, Analyst

Hey, thanks for the question. I wanted to go back to the pricing discussion, just to make sure I understand the dynamics here. As we get to the fourth quarter, you're going to roll off about 2.7%. So that leaves you about 3 points of price that probably could cover most of inflation. I'm wondering how traffic plays a role in your decision making, if there's a threshold of traffic declines, let's say traffic is flattish to slightly up if that would adjust your outlook on pricing going into the fourth quarter.

Michael Bailen, Head of Investor Relations

Well, Jim, this is Michael. Let me start by saying we're currently at about 4.9% pricing, which will apply for Q3. When the 2.7% rolls off, we'll be left with 2.2% before making any additional pricing adjustments. We will be making our pricing decisions in the coming month, keeping in mind the lag time needed for menu printing, and we always consider traffic trends in that process. Our operators will definitely factor that into their decision-making.

Jim Sanderson, Analyst

Let me add just a follow-up to that. I think recently Olive Garden took down their promotional price point by about $0.50, hoping to get a better everyday value price point. Is part of the discussion on pricing in Texas Roadhouse to consider maybe offering a lower price point or reducing the opening price point of some of the entry-level menu entrees?

Michael Bailen, Head of Investor Relations

Yes, Jim, it's Michael again. I would say at this point, our everyday value speaks for itself. We don't do any promotions. We do have our early dime. You can come in early when the store first opens and there is a discount on a handful of the items. But I don't think there's any discussion right now of us bringing down the prices on anything. I think we feel very good about where our prices are and the value that we offer.

Brian Vaccaro, Analyst

Hi, thanks and good evening. Just following up on the labor. Are there any metrics you can share on tenure or turnover just to give us a sense of how much more efficient your teams might be on the hourly side? And you mentioned Roadie First. Could you just elaborate on what functionality that brings or how that benefits the employee experience?

Michael Bailen, Head of Investor Relations

Sure. Hey, Brian, it's Michael. Yes. I don't think we have a ton of information that we're going to be able to share with you. I mean, first, on the turnover, I can tell you, it continues to trend in the right direction. It's at or below pre-pandemic levels. So very great to see that. With that comes higher tenure. I don't have any numbers with me right here that would talk to how long our Roadies have been with us. But typically, if someone's with us for 90 days, they tend to stay with us for quite a while. So we are seeing some benefit there. And then there was a third part to your question.

Brian Vaccaro, Analyst

RFT.

Michael Bailen, Head of Investor Relations

The Roadie First Technology provides our employees with access to their information. While it may not directly increase productivity, it makes it easier for employees to view their information, which helps retain them. This offering, combined with mobile access, also provides a back-office benefit to the support center from the RFT program.

Chris Monroe, CFO

It's Chris. it's essentially a Workday implementation, but it is allowing us to reduce a number of back office systems. And then it does provide our employees with mobile technology and other things that helps us to become that employer of choice.

Sara Senatore, Analyst

Thank you for the opportunity to clarify the capital expenditures. Is any of this related to timing shifts, such as deferred maintenance or perhaps moving things forward? Or as you consider your operations, have capacity constraints developed more quickly due to the strength of your business? I am trying to grasp the situation, as it’s clear you have the opportunity to invest the capital, but I want to understand the marginal returns associated with the increased capital expenditures. Thank you.

Chris Monroe, CFO

Yes, Sarah, it's Chris. I think you have it exactly right. The expansions in the back of the house, the kitchen, and the dining room are yielding great returns. Additionally, there were some items we wanted to implement to refresh and ensure we have excellent facilities for our employees and guests. These were on our list, but we didn't include them in the budget initially. Now we're incorporating them, and I believe we will see great benefits from all of these initiatives.

Jerry Morgan, CEO

Thank you all. We appreciate your time. And to all Roadies out there, keep rocking legendary. Good night to you all.

Operator, Operator

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.