Kura Sushi USA - Q4 2024

Executive Summary

• Q4 FY2024 delivered $66.0M revenue (+20% YoY) with comps at -3.1% as consumer softness moderated versus prior expectations (management had guided to negative high-single-digit comps) and restaurant-level operating margin held above 20%.
• GAAP diluted EPS was $(0.46) vs $0.25 last year, driven by a $4.7M litigation expense and a $1.6M impairment (Aventura, FL); adjusted EPS was $0.09, adjusted EBITDA $5.5M, and cash was $51.0M with no debt.
• FY2025 initial guidance: revenue $275–$279M, 14 new restaurants (~>20% unit growth), G&A ~13.5% of sales, and ~$2.5M net capex per unit—management positioning guidance conservatively despite a stronger start to FY2025.
• Operational streamlining and technology initiatives (reservation/self-seating system, smartphone ordering) are expected to lower labor intensity; reservation system could add up to ~50 bps margin benefit later in the year.

What Went Well and What Went Wrong

What Went Well

• Maintained best-in-class restaurant-level operating margin above 20% in Q4 despite sales deleverage; restaurant-level operating profit was $13.8M (20.9% of sales).
• Pacific Northwest expansion exceeded expectations (Beaverton, OR and Tacoma, WA strong openings); Bellevue remains the top performer, reinforcing portability and market white space.
• Cost of goods sold improved 100 bps YoY to 28.5% via quality improvements and supply chain initiatives, while pricing held modestly (~4% in Q4).

Management quotes:

• “The sales pressures beginning in April improved significantly over the course of the quarter… fourth quarter comps of negative 3.1% as compared to… negative high single-digit comps.”
• “We completed the full rollout of our back-of-house streamlining… delivering expected improvements to labor cost.”
• “Beaverton… and Tacoma… have exceeded our already high expectations.”

What Went Wrong

• GAAP profitability impacted by non-recurring items: $4.7M litigation expense and $1.6M impairment; operating loss $(5.8)M vs $2.2M last year.
• Comps were negative (-3.1%), with traffic down 2.4% and regional weakness in Southwest (-8.9% comps), partly due to cannibalization from infills and macro factors.
• Other costs rose to 14.7% of sales (utilities, delivery fees, software, operating supplies), pressuring margins despite COGS gains.

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Kura Sushi USA Inc fourth quarter 2024 earnings call. At this time, you have been placed in a listen-only mode, and the lines will be open for your questions following the presentation. Please note that this call is being recorded. On the call today, we have Hajime Jimmy Uba, President and Chief Executive Officer; Jeff Uttz, Chief Financial Officer; and Benjamin Porten, SVP Investor Relations and System Development. I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Porten.

Benjamin Porten (SVP of Investor Relations and System Development)

Thank you, Operator. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you all for joining. By now, everyone should have access to our fiscal fourth quarter 2024 earnings release. It can be found at www.KuraSushi.com in the Investor Relations section. A copy of the earnings release has also been included in the 8-K we submitted to the SEC. Before we begin our formal remarks, I need to remind everyone that part of our discussions today will include forward-looking statements as defined under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and therefore we should not put undue reliance on them.

These statements are also subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from what we expect. We refer all of you to our SEC filings for a more detailed discussion of the risks that could impact our future operating results and financial condition. Also, during today's call, we will discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures which we believe can be useful in evaluating our performance. The presentation of this additional information should not be considered in isolation, nor is it a substitute for results prepared in accordance with GAAP. The reconciliations to comparable GAAP measures are available in our earnings release. With that out of the way, I would like to turn the call over to Jimmy.

Hajime Jimmy Uba (President and CEO)

Thanks, Ben, and thank you to everyone for joining us today. I'm pleased to report on end of the fiscal year that has meaningfully outperformed the expectations we shared during the last earnings call, and to share that a new fiscal year is off to a strong start. The sales pressures beginning in April improved significantly over the course of the quarter, resulting in fourth-quarter comps of -3.1% as compared to the expectations we shared during the prior earnings call of negative high single-digit comps. I'm very pleased that in spite of the unexpected sales decline in the back half of the fiscal year, we were able to maintain positive full-year comps of 0.7% and full-year restaurant-level operating profit margins above 20%.

This was made possible by the rapid response by our team members throughout the company to find new efficiencies and cost-saving opportunities. Total sales for the fiscal fourth quarter was $66 million, representing comparable sales performance of -3.1%. Our cost of goods sold as a percentage of sales was 28.5%, representing a 100 basis point improvement over the prior year. This improvement was made possible by improving the quality of ingredients while also lowering cost. Labor as a percentage of sales was 31.1%, representing an increase of 230 basis points as compared to the prior year due to wage inflation and sales deleveraging. Restaurant-level operating profit margin for the fourth quarter was 20.9% as compared to the prior year's 24.4% due to sales deleverage.

On the development front, we opened one new unit in Lake Grove, New York, during the fourth quarter for a total of 14 new unit openings during the fiscal year. Subsequent to quarter end, we have opened five new units: Beaverton, Oregon; Tacoma, Washington; Rockville, Maryland; Cherry Hill, New Jersey; and Bakersfield, California. We currently have six units under construction, but it bears mentioning that some of these units have just broken ground. While we are satisfied with the progress of opening new restaurants so far in fiscal year 2025, we expect that the opening of the remaining nine restaurants, especially those that have not yet started construction, will be backloaded for Q3 and Q4. As many of you know, Bellevue has been our strongest performer since its opening, with our most successful unit being in Washington State.

We have always been excited about the massive potential of the Pacific Northwest market. This year, we finally opened our second unit in the Pacific Northwest with Beaverton, Oregon. I'm extremely pleased to share that we were not disappointed. Following Beaverton, we opened our new unit in Tacoma, Washington. Tacoma has been a very strong performer since its opening. While it's still early days, I'm very happy to see that the new units in the Pacific Northwest have exceeded our already high expectations and I'm very bullish about the long-term potential of this market. Turning to new initiatives, we completed the full rollout of our back-of-house streamlining efforts in early September, and results to date have delivered the expected improvements to labor cost. Accordingly, Kuro Japan''s reservation and self-seating system is proceeding as scheduled, representing further opportunities for labor efficiencies later in the year.

We have also diversified our marketing efforts so that we have more levers to pull beyond the IP collaborations. We are going to be more discerning with our IP collaborations going forward, prioritizing the quality and broad-based appeal of partnering brands over the number of campaigns. Our strategy to showcase our unbeatable quality and authenticity will be key to building our long-term brand equity as we grow into our national footprint while also being more cost-efficient than rolling IP collaborations. During the fourth quarter, we took an impairment charge of $1.6 million. This charge is due to a challenging sales environment at our Aventura, Florida location.

While we are required to take this impairment charge this quarter per the accounting rules, we will continue to operate this restaurant and will implement several operational changes that we believe could improve results. The new fiscal year has started strong, and it's clear that we are in a very different place than the last earnings call. The cost-saving efforts we began in preparation for the potential of longer-term macro headwinds have been fully implemented, and these initiatives will serve us well as we enter a fully normalized environment. Our new unit openings to date have exceeded expectations and confirmed that the Pacific Northwest is a huge and top-tier market for us.

In addition to the success we are continuing to see in the Pacific Northwest, we are highly anticipating our upcoming openings in smaller markets that will serve as proofs of concept for our ability to thrive in the United States beyond the largest DMAs, indicating even greater white space opportunity. While Bakersfield has only been open for a few days, the strength of its opening has us optimistic about our ability to thrive in smaller DMAs. Fiscal year 2025 is an opportunity to demonstrate the next level of Kura Sushi's potential, and I am incredibly grateful for the excellent work by our team members who have positioned us so well for the new fiscal year. Jeff, now I'll turn it over to you to discuss our financial results and liquidity.

Jeff Uttz (CFO)

Thank you, Jimmy. For the fourth quarter, total sales were $66 million as compared to $54.9 million in the prior year period. Comparable restaurant sales performance compared to the prior year period was -3.1%, with regional comps of +3.9% in our West Coast market and -8.9% in our Southwest market. Turning now to costs. Food and beverage costs as a percentage of sales were 28.5% compared to 29.5% in the prior year quarter, largely due to pricing and supply chain initiatives. Labor and related costs as a percentage of sales were 31.1% as compared to 28.8% in the prior year quarter. This increase was largely due to sales deleverage and wage increases. Occupancy and related expenses as a percentage of sales were 7% compared to the prior year quarter's 6.6%.

Depreciation and amortization expense as a percentage of sales increased to 4.6% compared to the prior year quarter's 3.8% due to sales deleverage and the accelerated depreciation of assets being replaced due to planned remodels. Other costs as a percentage of sales increased to 14.7% compared to 13.8% in the prior year quarter, due mainly to utilities, delivery fees, software licenses, and operating supplies. General and administrative expenses as a percentage of sales increased to 20.3% compared to 13.2% in the prior year quarter due to a litigation expense. General and administrative expenses as a percentage of sales excluding litigation expense for the fourth quarter and the full fiscal year were 13.2% and 14.1% respectively, representing full-year leverage over fiscal 2023 of 90 basis points.

Operating loss was $5.8 million compared to operating income of $2.2 million in the prior year quarter, largely driven by litigation expense, as well as sales deleverage, higher labor costs, and incremental other costs associated with the greater number of unit openings and units under construction. Income tax expense was $19,000 compared to $167,000 in the prior year quarter. Net loss was $5.2 million, or a -$0.46 per share, compared to net income of $2.9 million, or $0.25 per share in the prior year quarter. Adjusted net income was $1 million, or $0.09 per share, compared to adjusted net income of $2.9 million, or $0.25 per share in the prior year quarter.

Restaurant-level operating profit as a percentage of sales was 20.9% compared to 24.4% in the prior year quarter. Adjusted EBITDA was $5.5 million compared to $6.3 million in the prior year quarter. Turning now to cash and liquidity. At the end of the fiscal fourth quarter, we had $51 million in cash and cash equivalents and no debt. Lastly, I'd like to provide the following guidance for fiscal year 2025. We expect total sales to be between $275 and $279 million. We expect to open 14 units, maintaining an annual unit growth rate above 20%, with average net capital expenditures per unit of approximately $2.5 million. We expect general and administrative expenses as a percentage of sales to be approximately 13.5%. With that, I'd like to turn it back over to Jimmy.

Hajime Jimmy Uba (President and CEO)

Thanks, Jeff. This concludes our prepared remarks. We are now happy to answer any questions you have. Operator, please open the line for questions. As a reminder, during the Q&A session, I may answer in Japanese before my response is translated into English.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. We will now be conducting a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star and then one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star and then two if you would like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. One moment, please, while we poll for questions. The first question we have is from Jon Tower of Citi. Please go ahead.

Jon Tower (Analyst)

Great. Thanks for taking the questions. Good evening, guys. Maybe just to start, I'm curious about the guidance for revenue. Based on the new store openings greater than 20%, I think the sales growth would imply something lower than that. You're talking about the current quarter. You're pleased with the start to the fiscal year. I'm just curious if you could help square that for us, why the revenue growth that looks relatively conservative versus the new store growth and how bullish you sound on the current state of same-store sales.

Hajime Jimmy Uba (President and CEO)

Sure. Thank you, Jon, for your first question. Please allow me to speak in Japanese. Then you can translate. [Foreign language]

Benjamin Porten (SVP of Investor Relations and System Development)

Jon, as you said, it's true that we are being a little bit conservative. We're very pleased with the performance that we've seen to date as we've entered the fiscal year, September and October. Q1 is definitely outperforming Q4. We're very happy to see that. But it's also true that we're still in mid-process in terms of recovery. So we feel it's prudent not to be overly aggressive with our revenue guidance at the beginning of the year. The last thing we want to do is to have to do a repeat of downward revenue guidance that we did last year. So we felt that this was the most prudent approach.

Hajime Jimmy Uba (President and CEO)

[Foreign language]

Benjamin Porten (SVP of Investor Relations and System Development)

In terms of looking at the impact of the post-April sales deceleration, we're very proud of how we were able to manage the things that were under our control, namely our cost control efforts, the streamlining changes that we made to our back-of-house in particular. Those changes were what allowed us to maintain that restaurant-level operating profit margin above 20%.

We're also very pleased that we were able to maintain a unit growth rate above 20% for fiscal 2025, in spite of the fact that we've trimmed some of the LOIs from our pipeline in an effort to minimize cannibalization and reduce comp headwinds. We're very pleased in terms of how we've been able to execute the things that are under our control. Unfortunately, the macro environment is something that is not under our control, nor is it something that we can predict. That's really the thinking behind our guidance at this point. Of course, should the environment continue to prove favorable, then we look forward to a revision.

Jon Tower (Analyst)

Okay. So when thinking about the components of growth this year, I can back into slightly positive comp growth. And I'm also trying to figure out the new store productivity implications. Is there anything to note? I mean, you just hit on the idea of perhaps being in markets where you're not going to have as much cannibalization with the existing stores. But are you doing anything with the size of the stores, or are these kind of all on trend relative to what you've been opening the past couple of years?

Hajime Jimmy Uba (President and CEO)

Basically, more companies are joining, Jon.

Benjamin Porten (SVP of Investor Relations and System Development)

Go ahead, Jeff.

Hajime Jimmy Uba (President and CEO)

Go ahead.

Jeff Uttz (CFO)

I was going to say, Jon, in terms of how we look at new stores, one of the things that you know that we really focus on and we put a lot of credence in is cash-on-cash return. That allows us to be very—it allows us to look at a bunch of different sites. We're not dialed into a particular cookie-cutter size. So if we'll build a smaller store, if that's a great site that's available, and we don't necessarily always dial into a particular AUV, because if I can get a cash-on-cash return of 40% or 50% on a smaller restaurant that may do a little bit lower AUV, we'll do that all day.

In terms of your comment about our comp assumption for fiscal 2025, as you know, we don't give comp guidance. But to kind of reiterate what Jimmy said, as we came out of Q4, I think we kind of saw what everybody else did. June wasn't great. Then towards the latter half of July and into August, things started to get better. But in our mind, it isn't quite yet a trend. So we didn't want to get too far ahead of our skis and put an overly aggressive comp assumption in our model. But I can tell you that the comp assumption for next year is not a negative number without quantifying it for you.

Jon Tower (Analyst)

Great. Thank you. I appreciate that. And then maybe just in terms of thinking about the digital initiatives I know you hit on earlier—well, actually, I'll stop there. Going back to the labor initiatives that you did at the store level, those things should remain in place as volumes kind of return in the future. There's nothing that would suggest as volumes come back to stores, you should anticipate having a need to add more labor in the back of the house to meet that demand.

Hajime Jimmy Uba (President and CEO)

[Foreign language]

Benjamin Porten (SVP of Investor Relations and System Development)

[Foreign language]

Hajime Jimmy Uba (President and CEO)

[Foreign language]

Benjamin Porten (SVP of Investor Relations and System Development)

Jon, the changes that we've made in terms of operational streamlining are structural. It's the combination of multiple main stations into a single one. And so an increase in sales would not require an increase in labor. While it's still very much early in the fiscal year, our belief is that our full-year labor numbers, percentage of sales, should be better than fiscal 2024's.

Hajime Jimmy Uba (President and CEO)

[Foreign language]

Benjamin Porten (SVP of Investor Relations and System Development)

Of course, if the macro environment recovers as we hope, then there's further upside to the labor line. But even without that, we expect our labor to be an improvement year-over-year between the operational streamlining and whatever pricing that we take.

Jon Tower (Analyst)

Great. And maybe my last one, pricing fourth quarter and the mix in the quarter as well, if you wouldn't mind, and what the pricing is to start the year in 2025.

Jeff Uttz (CFO)

So we're running about 4% price for Q4 in the numbers we just released. As we think about the upcoming year, Jon, in terms of pricing, typically we've always taken pricing in January, but we're thinking about taking pricing sooner than that this year simply because we've determined that if you take it a little bit earlier than January, you can really capture a lot during that December holiday period and capture a lot of those sales. So you'll probably see a price increase, which we haven't quantified yet, coming up shortly before the end of the calendar year.

Jon Tower (Analyst)

Got it. Thanks. I'll pass it along. I appreciate you taking the questions.

Hajime Jimmy Uba (President and CEO)

Thank you, Jon.

Operator (participant)

The next question we have is from Jeff Bernstein of Barclays. Please go ahead.

Jeff Bernstein (Analyst)

Hi, good evening. Thanks for taking the question. This is product type. Just a quick question on development. You've already opened five, and you've alluded to a pretty decent pipeline with six under construction. Just wondering why there isn't more upside to the 14. I know anecdotally we've heard that maybe the approval and permitting process is a little bit better these days, but maybe not yet exactly where it needs to be. But just anything you can provide on just the availability of quality sites, the ability to get permits approvals, just are there any kinds of headwinds you're seeing there that lead you to be a little bit more conservative on the unit output? Thank you.

Hajime Jimmy Uba (President and CEO)

[Foreign language]

Benjamin Porten (SVP of Investor Relations and System Development)

This is a prudent bussiness then. In terms of development, there aren't any issues with permitting or construction that we're seeing. This is really more a reflection of us taking seriously the site selection strategic changes we've mentioned in the last earnings call. We did prune a number of LOIs. There's nothing wrong with the sites per se. It was just not the right timing in terms of cannibalization headwinds. We decided to either cancel them or hold them for future years. Part of the middle of the year pipeline got pruned. That's really what it is. The reason that we've got a 14 instead of a range is just looking at our lease timing, that's really what we're led to believe. We felt it just made the most sense to give you guys what we're actually expecting.

Jeff Bernstein (Analyst)

Got it. I appreciate that color. And then just turning to commodities, I know you have a very different basket than most in the industry, but what is a good inflation level that you're assuming in fiscal 2025? I know it's early, and things can change pretty easily, but just what you're assuming in fiscal 2025 and just how easily you can kind of pivot in and out of different items on the menu if the need arises.

Jeff Uttz (CFO)

Our commodity basket, as you know, is pretty varied things that we do buy. In terms of what we look at for next year, there were many moving parts. Some of that was solidified last night as to what's going on. We do have the Fed tomorrow, we've got a lot of things going on. There is an assumption of low single-digit commodity inflation in the budget, just comparable to what a CPI increase would be. Nothing super aggressive in terms of inflation assumption. Because our basket is diversified, we can pivot quickly.

If for some reason we have a problem getting particular fish or particular product in, we can pivot to an LTO or something with a different product. The other thing that I've talked about too, which is great, is with our two broadliners, they overlap each other. If one of our broadliners happens to run out of a product, we can go to the other one, and most likely they will have it. We do have redundancy in our supply chain process. Because of that, very rarely do we run out of things. The process has been very streamlined over the last year to two years.

Jeff Bernstein (Analyst)

That's great. If I can just sneak one last one in, just on the labor line, Jeff, you've spoken to all these efficiencies that are going to yield some dividends. It looks like you're going to wrap AB-1228 as well later on in the year, although it doesn't look like your concept really saw much of an impact. But just what is a more normalized rate of inflation on the labor line going forward once kind of all these prior year nuances are lapped? Is there something like around mid-single digits that we should expect?

Hajime Jimmy Uba (President and CEO)

[Foreign language]

Benjamin Porten (SVP of Investor Relations and System Development)

Historically, labor inflation on an annual basis has been about low single digits. For fiscal 2024, it was closer to mid-single digits. With the operational improvements that we've put into place, we're confident that we'll be able to exit fiscal 2025 with a full-year labor line that is superior to fiscal 2024. Obviously, if the macro environment improves and we get further sales leverage, then that's additional opportunity there.

Jeff Bernstein (Analyst)

Thank you so much. I'll pass it on. I appreciate it.

Hajime Jimmy Uba (President and CEO)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

The next question we have is from Brian Mullan of Piper Sandler. Please go ahead.

Allison Arfstrom (Analyst)

Hi, this is Allison Arfstrom on for Brian Mullan. Thank you for taking the question. In regards to the 20.9% restaurant-level margin this year, I'm curious how you're thinking about the range for next year and what some of the headwinds and tailwinds might be that we should consider.

Hajime Jimmy Uba (President and CEO)

[Foreign language]

Benjamin Porten (SVP of Investor Relations and System Development)

In terms of restaurant-level operating profit margin, we've never provided guidance, but one thing that we've said very consistently is that one of our primary goals is to maintain our restaurant-level operating profit margins above 20% on a full-year basis. We are very pleased to see that in spite of the headwinds that we saw in terms of sales deleverage beginning in April, we were able to maintain restaurant-level operating profit margins above 20%. We absolutely expect to do that again in fiscal 2025, hopefully without the headwinds that we saw beginning in April.

Allison Arfstrom (Analyst)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

The next question we have is from Jeremy Hamblin of Craig-Hallum Capital Group. Please go ahead.

Jeremy Hamblin (Analyst)

Thanks for taking the questions and congrats on the improved results. Wanted to dig in a little bit on the other operating cost line item, which has been a bit more challenging to control here in recent years. Just get a sense, we know some of that is due to utilities inflation has been higher, insurance inflation has been higher. But wanted to get a sense for what you are seeing here at the start of this fiscal year related to that line item. I know embedded within that is some of the delivery cost fees and just understand how the DoorDash deal is progressing.

Jeff Uttz (CFO)

Yeah. Let me hit the operating supplies, and then Jeremy and Ben will talk about the DoorDash deal. In terms of the operating supplies, you're right, Jeremy. I mean, utilities are up, software licenses, everything has gone up when you call a plumber into the restaurant to fix something just more than it was in prior years. One thing to remember as we think about the year coming in terms of the cadence of that line is that while a lot of it is variable, there are some fixed costs in there. Q1 is in terms of sales is our seasonality-wise our lowest quarter. When you look at some of those fixed costs that are in other costs, you'll see a trend in that direction.

What we're seeing as the year started is pretty similar to what we've seen in past years. We're continuing to push and work as much as we can to renegotiate contracts and widen our vendor list of people that come in. We do use EcoTrak, which is a great software that the facilities department uses in order to work with multiple vendors when something goes down in the restaurant in order to find the vendor that not only has the best response time so we're not down, but also has the best pricing. We're looking at all of those things to try and do what we can.

Unfortunately, things like utilities are a little bit out of our control, but we're looking line by line by line in other costs or the things that are under our control to do what we can to continue to chip away at that cost line. And then on DoorDash.

Benjamin Porten (SVP of Investor Relations and System Development)

Yeah. I'd say that Jeff really covered 99% of what there is to discuss in terms of other costs. For the delivery costs, that's a reflection of a promotional campaign where we subsidize part of delivery fees for first-time orders on DoorDash. It's not a typical fee. I wouldn't expect it to be a recurring fee.

Jeremy Hamblin (Analyst)

Can you quantify what the impact of that promotion was on that line item?

Benjamin Porten (SVP of Investor Relations and System Development)

I don't have that number on me, but not huge.

Jeremy Hamblin (Analyst)

Okay. Got it. And then could you provide a bit more color on some of the upcoming technology initiatives just in terms of the timing of when you would expect some impact on those? It sounds like you're expecting your labor line, which I think was 31.9% of sales, to be a little bit better this year. I'm sure that's not a straight line shot, but can you help us understand the context of timing on those initiatives and how you expect that to play out to get to that target?

Benjamin Porten (SVP of Investor Relations and System Development)

Yeah. Yeah. I'm more than happy to discuss. The biggest opportunity in terms of fiscal 2025 is the new reservation and self-seating system. I've been working in lockstep with Japan to port that system translated into not just English, but how to make it appropriate for American use. It's going very much on track, and we expect our first store implementation in early spring. That for fiscal 2025 is definitely the biggest opportunity. There may be a maximum of 50 basis points to be saved with its implementation.

Hajime Jimmy Uba (President and CEO)

[Foreign language]

Benjamin Porten (SVP of Investor Relations and System Development)

That being said, Jimmy's earlier comments in terms of our expectations about being able to produce labor as a percentage of sales in fiscal 2025 that is lower than last year, that doesn't contemplate the upside represented by the reservation system. So that'll be gravy for us on the labor line and restaurant-level operating profit margin line as well.

Jeremy Hamblin (Analyst)

Great. Helpful color. Last thing, just a little bit more color on the $4.7 million litigation expense. Any more details you can share on that?

Jeff Uttz (CFO)

It's just, Jeremy, the typical wage and hour claims that restaurant companies unfortunately have to deal with from time to time. We're not really at liberty to get into the details of it, but it's your run-of-the-mill. I don't know a restaurant company that hasn't had to deal with these types of claims over the last 7-10 years. So it is wage and hour, though.

Jeremy Hamblin (Analyst)

Thanks for the color. Best wishes.

Jeff Uttz (CFO)

Thanks, Jeremy.

Benjamin Porten (SVP of Investor Relations and System Development)

Thank you, Jeremy.

Operator (participant)

Ladies and gentlemen, just a reminder, if you would like to queue for a question, you may press star and then one. The next question we have is from Sharon Zackfia of William Blair. Please go ahead.

Sharon Zackfia (Analyst)

Hi. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking the question. I guess, and I apologize, my phone is a little bit muffled, but it sounds like trends have improved more in November, in the November quarter, and certainly improved as the August quarter progressed. I guess as you do the postmortem on what happened in April through August, do you really think it was the promotional tie-in? Do you think it was FAST Act? I mean, what is your best insight now on what caused that swoon?

Hajime Jimmy Uba (President and CEO)

[Foreign language]

Benjamin Porten (SVP of Investor Relations and System Development)

In terms of our thinking on the sales deceleration starting in April through August, I think we're pretty much aligned with the rest of the industry in that initially we thought a lot of it was coming from sticker shock with the implementation of AB-1228 . Our thinking changed once it became clear it was a wider national macro factor, which has been corroborated by the earnings calls of our peers. To your comment on IT collaborations, that certainly could have played a role as well.

Our August benefited from One Piece, which was a very successful campaign, ran from August to September. As we entered October, we've been working with Pikmin, which is a Nintendo property. We're very pleased with the results there. November, we just entered, so it doesn't really make too much sense to comment on the first five days, but we're hopeful that these trends continue. Just given the opacity, we felt it was appropriate to be prudent with our revenue guidance going back to Jimmy's earlier comments.

Sharon Zackfia (Analyst)

That's really helpful. I guess one other question, Ben, you just talked about the reservation self-seating system coming in next year and maybe being able to get 50 bps from that. Are these savings, and I know you continue to get more and more efficiencies, more and more savings. Ultimately, how do we think about that kind of in harvesting to the bottom line versus reinvesting in the business to continue to deepen the competitive moat?

Hajime Jimmy Uba (President and CEO)

[Foreign language]

Benjamin Porten (SVP of Investor Relations and System Development)

[Foreign language]

Hajime Jimmy Uba (President and CEO)

[Foreign language]

Benjamin Porten (SVP of Investor Relations and System Development)

[Foreign language]

Hajime Jimmy Uba (President and CEO)

[Foreign language]

Benjamin Porten (SVP of Investor Relations and System Development)

In terms of the opportunities presented by the implementation of the reservation system and really any future technologies, our expectation is that this will certainly help us get back to the labor levels that we saw in fiscal 2023. We think that's an appropriate level for us to be at. And so that'll probably be the first thing that you see.

Sharon Zackfia (Analyst)

Great. Last question. Hey, Jeff, can we get the traffic in the quarter?

Jeff Uttz (CFO)

Yeah. I have that number. It was minus-- it was -2.4%. So 0.7% price down, traffic down 2.4% for a compound of -3.1%.

Sharon Zackfia (Analyst)

Thanks.

Operator (participant)

The next question we have is from Todd Brooks of Benchmark Company. Please go ahead.

Todd Brooks (Analyst)

Hey, thanks for squeezing me in. Wanted to explore the regional spread in the same-store sales performance that you highlighted. I know a lot of investors kind of focus on this number as a proof of portability of the concept, but is that weakness in the southwestern market, is that more of the two-year stack that you were lapping tougher same-store sales, or is there an element that Texas got hit by Beryl during the quarter and that was an artificial drag on that region versus the West Coast region?

Hajime Jimmy Uba (President and CEO)

[Foreign language]

Benjamin Porten (SVP of Investor Relations and System Development)

The biggest thing that we really want to emphasize in terms of comps is that it's not necessarily looking at the regional comps, it's not necessarily an indication of our performance or our popularity or the demand that we see in those markets, but really just an artifact of the way that we've grown over the last 10 years. Our comp base has about 45 units. About half of those are in California. We've got over 10 in Texas. Outside of those markets, they're pretty much all single-unit markets, which have recently gone into multi-unit markets.

Obviously that has a very meaningful impact on comps, and it has nothing to do with demand. It just has to do with the fact that it's the first infill. Looking to the southeast in particular, there was one infill in Dallas and one infill in Houston, which impacted a store each in those markets, which had largely been not impacted by prior infills. That was a headwind there.

Hajime Jimmy Uba (President and CEO)

[Foreign language]

Benjamin Porten (SVP of Investor Relations and System Development)

Just to give you some additional thinking on the way that we've approached cannibalization since the last earnings call, we've been very proactive in terms of our pipeline. Starting in fiscal 2026, that's when you'll really start to see a greater number of new market units being included, which obviously don't play into cannibalization whatsoever. In terms of fiscal 2025 with least lead times, options are pretty limited in terms of adding new places.

Our approach for fiscal 2025 is really removing places which were in existing markets or would have been first infills. But looking at the early success of Bakersfield, that's a meaningfully smaller DMA than we typically enter, and we're doing great there. That really opens up a lot of options in terms of what we would consider in terms of new markets. Our ability to manage our infill strategy against comps, that's really going to come into full gear in fiscal 2026, which we're very excited about.

Todd Brooks (Analyst)

That's great. Just one follow-up, if I may, not a follow-up, an additional question. Ben, you talked about a lower frequency perhaps of the IP collaborations. Can you walk us through maybe some detail behind it? Is it fewer events? Is it shorter duration of event? Just how do you see this evolving? Are you tying yourself to a specific number of collabs per year anymore, or it's when the right partner comes along, you guys would work that into kind of your calendar of what you're looking to do? Thanks.

Benjamin Porten (SVP of Investor Relations and System Development)

Yeah. That's an interesting way of putting it, but that's pretty similar to our thinking as well, where before the thinking was you always wanted to have an IP collaboration. That's what Jimmy was referring to with the rolling collabs in his prepared remarks. But every branded property collaboration is expensive, and not every single one is worth the associated cost. The thinking now is really, let's go for the ones that we think are really going to be big hits. Before we had six guaranteed, that's no longer the case. We're really just going after targets that we think will really move the needle from a comp perspective.

Hajime Jimmy Uba (President and CEO)

[Foreign language]

Benjamin Porten (SVP of Investor Relations and System Development)

Of course, we're not just reducing the number of collaborations with nothing to replace it. We have a huge advertising pipeline. Our new VP of Marketing, which I think we've mentioned on every call since we've hired him, is doing a really great job. If you're listening, we're very pleased. September and October, we've been seeing pretty strong results. The IP campaigns are part of it, but another big part would be the new advertising efforts that we've put into place, especially the food-focused ones. We're excited to see the performance in upcoming months where we don't have IP collaborations so that we can see just how successful these campaigns are without that additional variable. Just as some additional context, when we aren't doing a branded collaboration, that doesn't mean we're not going to be giving out the Bikkura Pon prizes. They just won't be branded prizes.

Todd Brooks (Analyst)

Understood. And then finally, just in the revenue guidance, which you talked about a lot of the reasons for maybe the conservatism to start the year, is this a part of it as well as we're kind of weaning ourselves off programs that make sense versus six programs a year and that you want to leave yourself a little bit of room there as kind of the new advertising mix kicks in?

Hajime Jimmy Uba (President and CEO)

[Foreign language]

Benjamin Porten (SVP of Investor Relations and System Development)

In terms of revenue guidance, we've always in past years when we've given guidance, it doesn't contemplate the impact of IP collaborations. Basically, whenever we have a hit collaboration, that's opportunity for upside. And so that's the same thinking here. It does not contemplate IP collaborations.

Jeff Uttz (CFO)

One thing I'll just add about. I just wanted to say that on those additional marketing campaigns that Jimmy was talking about that will be in between the IP collaborations, what's really great about those, and Ben alluded to this too, is that they come with a fraction of the cost of the IP collaborations, and they can be just as good as the top line. So a lot of that will flow down to the bottom line. It also kind of ties into a question we were asked by another analyst earlier about other costs.

The costs with these IP collaborations flow into other costs. As we continue to put marketing campaigns in that are just as good for the top line that don't hit that other cost line, that flows straight to net income. We're really looking forward to having some of those mixed in with the IP collaborations as well.

Todd Brooks (Analyst)

That's very helpful. Thanks, Jeff.

Operator (participant)

The next question we have is from Jim Sanderson of Northcoast Research. Please go ahead.

Jim Sanderson (Analyst)

Hey, thanks for the question. I just wanted to follow up with a little bit more detail on G&A spending. I think you reported a slight improvement over prior year. So going forward, maybe you can walk us through what type of line item leverage you would expect and how that can flow through to the bottom line.

Jeff Uttz (CFO)

The biggest leverage will be on our support center salaries. Really, that's the biggest line item in G&A. The entire team in our support center has done a great job in determining how do we do things more efficiently and how do we do things better without adding people. That's where we're going to continue to see that leverage. Our guidance of about 13.5% for next year would represent 60 basis points. We came down from 15.8% two years ago to 15% last year to 14.1% this year. We get into 13% next year. That is much better than I anticipated when joining the company because of the efforts of everyone in the support center to just look at how we do things and use technology and software rather than having to add people every time we open 10 restaurants. We're going to continue that cadence throughout next year.

Hajime Jimmy Uba (President and CEO)

Can I add something?

Jim Sanderson (Analyst)

Of course.

Hajime Jimmy Uba (President and CEO)

This is Jimmy. [Foreign language]

Benjamin Porten (SVP of Investor Relations and System Development)

I want to just comment. Over the last year, the two preceding years, we've had a lot of infills. Unfortunately, the point of discussion in terms of infills has been cannibalization in the last call. But really, the other side is synergy. Now that we have these infilled markets, we can have area managers handle more restaurants. For fiscal 2025, even though we're adding 14 units, we don't expect to add any area managers. So salary savings, travel savings with greater density. Our facilities teams don't have to travel as far. We have proprietary equipment teams that deal with all of our patented technology that will get leveraged there. There are a lot of regional G&A costs that are an opportunity for fiscal 2025 and beyond as well.

Jim Sanderson (Analyst)

All right. Thank you for that. I also just wanted to follow up and make sure I understood the feedback about the same store sales and traffic for the quarter. I think you said 4% price, -2.4% on traffic. So that would imply a little bit of a worse negative mix in the quarter. Any feedback on what's driving that?

Jeff Uttz (CFO)

Actually, we're really happy with where the mix came out. If you go back a year or you go back two years, our negative mix had been in the high single digits. So really, where we're looking at it now is we're really happy because we're looking at it compared to last year. I think that the change is really negligible. It's not anything that can necessarily be identified. Last year, we think people weren't having maybe a drink or maybe they weren't adding an additional side attachment, but that's come back this year. We're happy with where the mix landed for Q4.

Jim Sanderson (Analyst)

Okay. Okay. Last question for me. Just wanted a brief update on DoorDash, if you can provide maybe what the mix for delivery sales was in the quarter and if your pricing is set on marketplace equal to in-store pricing.

Jeff Uttz (CFO)

Our mix is 3.2% of overall sales. Our pricing is the same as it is in restaurant. We added DoorDash in March. Just to give you some context on how we've grown, our mix in Q1, which would have been September through November of calendar 2023, the off-premises mix at that point was 2%. It's grown meaningfully with the addition of DoorDash.

Jim Sanderson (Analyst)

All right. Thank you very much.

Hajime Jimmy Uba (President and CEO)

Thank you.

Jeff Uttz (CFO)

Thanks, Jim.