Tonya Robinson
Analyst · John Glass from Morgan Stanley
Thanks, Kent. We were pleased to see the reopening of dining room throughout the second quarter and the resulting sales improvement which continued into July. Average weekly sales for all company restaurants climbed from about 55,000 in April to nearly 89,000 in June, and the 499 restaurants operating under a limited capacity dine-in model generated average weekly sales of over 96,500 in June with To-Go sales accounting for roughly 25% of those sales. Our expectation based on recent trends is that we will continue to see this higher level of To-Go sales for the foreseeable future. Weekly sales in July moderated slightly to just over 86,000 for all company restaurants with limited dining capacity of our restaurants averaging almost at 88,000. July sales started-off lighter compared to June due to normal seasonality along with the negative impact of the shift of the July 4 holiday to a Saturday this year. Additionally, with several states increasing restrictions in recent weeks, we have seen a slight moderation in sales relative to June's performance. However, this moderation has not been significant enough to have a material impact on our overall comp sales performance. On average, weekly sales at restaurants in most of these impacted States remains above our overall weekly sales average and we are pleased to see average sales return to over 90,000 for the last week of the July period. Comparable restaurant sales for the second quarter declined 32.8%, and by month comparable sales decreased 46.7%, 41.9% and 14.1% for our April, May and June periods respectively. Comparable sales for our July period were down 13%, including an approximately 1.2% negative impact from the calendar shifts mentioned earlier. Restaurant margin as a percentage of total sales decreased to 2.5% in the second quarter. While this is certainly well below pre-COVID levels, we were encouraged by the monthly trajectory of our margins and pleased with the returns to a positive restaurant margin in our June period. At current sales levels, we expect to generate low-to-mid teen restaurant margins over the coming months. Cost of sales as a percentage of total sales increased to 34.7% in the second quarter. This line was negatively impacted especially earlier in the quarter by the higher To-Go sales mix, as these transactions typically do not have the benefit of a higher margin beverage attachment. Additionally, commodity inflation of approximately 2.9% for the second quarter was primarily driven by higher beef costs in the back half of the quarter due to the shutdown as many beef processing plants. With these facilities back online, we are seeing supplies increase and prices normalized. Labor as a percentage of total sales increased to 41.1% in the second quarter. Labor dollars per store week were down 17.3% compared to the prior year period, including a declining hours of 26.3% partially offset by 9% of wage and other inflation. Higher wage rate it's due to the increase in the number of To-Go hours, which is non-tipped wage position. Additionally, as Kent mentioned, we incurred approximately $4.7 million of labor costs in the second quarter related to Roadie relief payments in sick pay as well as additional benefits to our frontline employees. Finally, other operating costs as a percentage of total sales was 18.9%. Other operating costs were negatively impacted by the lower sales volume as well as the added expense of purchasing gloves, masks and other personal protective equipment and supplies. Moving below restaurant margin, G&A costs for the quarter decreased $10.3 million as compared to the prior year period. The primary drivers of the decrease were a savings of $4.9 million from the cancellation of this year's Managing Partner Conference a $2.5 million reduction of cash bonus and equity compensation and $2 million of reduced travel and meeting expenses. We expect G&A as a percentage of revenue to return to a more normalized level in the back half of 2020 based on current sales trends. We ended the second quarter with $282 million of cash, which is up $52 million from the end of the first quarter. The primary drivers of the increase were proceeds of $50 million under our revolver along with $40 million of cash flow from operations. These inflows were offset by $35 million of capital expenditures. The increase in cash flow from operations for the quarter included $48 million of working capital inflows. In June, we generated positive cash -- positive operating cash flow with higher sales and improved restaurant performance and expect to do the same in July, and for the remainder of the year assuming current capacity restrictions. We will continue to allocate capital to the development of new restaurants based on the development plan Kent outlined earlier. However, to the extent that state and local guidelines begin to further reduce capacity in the dining rooms. We would reduce capital expenditures accordingly. Finally, I'd like to reiterate Kent's comments about the strength of our operators and our employees. Despite the challenges we have faced, they continue to keep their heads up and stay focused on taking care of our guests and each other. Their resilience and compassion are what keeps this brand strong not only over the course of this crisis, but also into the future. That concludes our prepared remarks. Operator, please open the line for questions.