Manny Hilario
Analyst · Piper Jaffray
Thank you, Tyler, and good afternoon. We appreciate everyone's continued interest in The ONE Group. We have obviously had a busy few months, so let me summarize the topics I'd like to cover today because I think they reinforce our growth strategy and position us well for long-term growth and value creation. First, I'll summarize the Kona Grill transaction; second, I'll cover our third quarter financial highlights; and third, I'll provide an update on our development and growth. Let's discuss Kona growth. As you know, we completed the accretive transaction of the Kona Grill brand and its assets on October 4 for $25 million in cash and the assumption of working capital liabilities of approximately $11 million. The transaction was funded with cash on hand and proceeds from a new senior secured credit facility, which consists of a $48 million senior secured term loan and a $12 million revolver from Goldman Sachs. While many of you may recall Kona Grill, when they were a public reporting company what would not have been transparent is, that in many ways it was almost like 2 distinct portfolios of restaurants. About half of the restaurants were very good and profitable, and about half were unprofitable. All were supported by a fully burdened G&A. To the bankruptcy process, the unprofitable locations were all closed, leaving 24 high-performing domestic restaurants, which now have been added to our portfolio. Our rationale in acquiring Kona Grill and our intentions going forward are based on what we see as a great opportunity with minimal risk to define the next chapter for this brand, which is already highly regarded for its contemporary food, award-winning sushi and specialty cocktails. We can accomplish this by bringing elements of Vibe Dining into these already high sales volumes restaurants, situated in small and middle markets that would not be suitable for our urban-centric STK concept. Evolving Kona Grill can help better differentiate it from the polished casual dining peers. And as you know, differentiations has been very effective for STK within the upscale dining segment, resulting in STK's sustained same-store sales out-performance. We see a similar opportunity for Kona Grill with polished casual. We will do this by taking Kona Grill brand to the next level by: one, creating a more upbeat ambience to our music selections and other touch points that will foster greater vitality within the restaurants; two, elevating the bar experience to a high-quality, high-energy, happy-hour and revamped beverage program that should lead to more dinner occasions and enhancing the quality of the menu with a focus on innovation and signature items. These efforts will create more brand buzz, more satisfied and loyal guests, and should ultimately yield even higher sales volume. We will be communicating these enhancements with consistent messaging through an influencer based social media strategy that sells the new Kona Grill story. Second, we will also improve restaurant margins by: One, leveraging these higher sales volumes; two, applying our operating expertise to optimize labor for food preparation scheduling; three, lowering team member turnover rates, which reduces trading costs and ensures a better and consistent guest experience; and lastly, securing more favorable service contracts by combining Kona Grill's and STK's purchasing power to realize higher savings from suppliers. Some of these initiatives have already began, while others will play out over the course of the next year. Very importantly, we'll also leverage our corporate infrastructure to lower G&A as a percentage of total revenues by driving efficiencies and eliminating redundancies. This intention is already reflected in our 2020 guidance, as Tyler will explain shortly. Over the past several weeks, we have already completed the integration of back-office systems, accounting, payroll, HR, et cetera, so that Kona Grill is now operating on IT platforms. However, the full strategic and operational integration of Kona Grill should be completed by fall 2020, if not sooner, approximately 12 months from the asset purchase date. Post-integration, Kona Grill could also potentially be a long-term growth vehicle through disciplined developments, complementing STK. In summary, we think there are multiple opportunities that this acquisition will provide to us in creating long-term shareholder value. As we have already stated, Kona Grill is expected to contribute approximately $23 million to $24 million in revenue and over $1 million in adjusted EBITDA for our fourth quarter of 2019. Next year, we expect the brand to add approximately $100 million in annualized food and beverage sales and to be accretive to earnings per diluted share. Let's now turn to the third quarter. I'm pleased that our strong sales momentum from the first half of the year continued into the third quarter as well. Specifically, we reported a total revenue increase of 10.5%, including a 9.3% increase in domestic same-store sales. In the prior quarter, we grew same-store sales by 6.9%. So on a 2-year basis, same-store sales rose 16.2%, exceeding our second quarter 2-year comp of 13.9% by 230 basis points. As I have said repeatedly giving context to these numbers, our performance well exceeds our closest peers and demonstrates how unique Vibe Dining really is, both to us and to our guests. Importantly, most of our comp growth was generated through increases in traffic and mix, as we benefit from only modest price increases. With respect to our key profitability metric, adjusted EBITDA, we grew that by 30% in the third quarter despite inefficiencies and newer locations such as San Diego and Nashville, and the weaker British pound and euro relative to the dollar would hurt our profitability for our managed and licensed locations in the United Kingdom and Italy. Turning now to development. Although we did not have any openings in the third quarter, we opened 2 locations in October. First, a licensed STK location in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on a waterfront property at the luxury Condado Vanderbilt Hotel. The Condado Vanderbilt Hotel is the standard for excellence for luxury resort hotels in San Juan and throughout the Caribbean and was recently restored. STK San Juan brings a culinary and social destination to the property offering elevated cuisine and an unparallel experience. We also opened ANGEL Roofbar & Dining and managed F&B location in Florence, Italy, in the Centro-Storico neighborhood. It occupies Hotel Calimala's 5th, 6th and 7th floors, providing unprecedented views over the city with a restaurant, 2 indoor and outdoor bar, a floral garden patio and lunchplunge pool. We are confident that they will become a cornerstone of the local dining and nightlife scene for morning until late night. In December, we plan to open and manage STK location in Scottsdale, Arizona. For 2020, we have a robust pipeline consisting of 6 to 8 openings, including 5 to 6 STK restaurants and 1 and 2 food and beverage venues. We continue to believe there's a lot of runway for STK. The brand is in the early stages of capturing a global opportunity and within our estimation an addressable market for approximately 200 locations across over 75 major metropolitan areas, including company-owned STKs, licensed STKs and managed F&B locations. This alone represents in excess of $1 billion systemwide food and beverage revenue opportunity. And while we're only in the early innings of integrating the Kona Grill, it is obviously incremental and complementary to the STK growth opportunity and provide us with those Vibe Dining platforms for smaller DMAs [ph], which is something we have covered it since I arrived at the company. With that, I would now like to turn the call back to Tyler. Tyler?