BurgerFi International Inc

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for participating in today's conference call to discuss BurgerFi's financial results for the third quarter ended September 30th, 2021. Joining us today are Ian Bain, CEO of BurgerFi International, Julio Ramirez, CFO of BurgerFi Brand, and Michael Brnovich, CFO of BurgerFi International. Following their remarks, we will open the call for your questions. Before we begin today, I want to remind everyone this conference call may contain forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. including statements relating to BurgerFi's estimates of its future business outlook, store opening plans, same-store sales, and restaurant operating margin growth plans, prospects of financial results, including projected sales, restaurant EBITDA, or financial results from the company's acquisition of Anthony's Co-Fired Pizza and Wings. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by words such as anticipates, believes, estimates, expects, intends, plans, predicts, projects, will be, will continue, will likely result in similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and assumptions. These are subjects to risk and uncertainties, which would cause our actual results to differ materially from those reflected in the forward-looking statements. Factors that can cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, and those disclosed in other documents we filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to BurgerFi or persons acting on BurgerFi's behalf are expressly qualified in their entity by the cautionary statements included in the conference call. We undertake no obligation to revise or publicly release the results of any revision to these forward-looking statements expected as required by law. Given these risks and uncertainties, listeners are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Also, the following discussion may contain non-GAAP financial measures. For discussion and reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures, please see our earnings release for the third quarter 2021. I would like to remind everyone this call will be available via telephonic replay for two weeks starting today. A webcast replay will also be available via the link provided in the press release, as well as on the company's website at https backslash backslash www.burgerfi.com. Now I would like to take a call up to your host, CEO of BurgerFi, Ian Baines. You may begin.

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone. We're happy you can join us today. I'm glad to be here on my first earnings call as CEO of BurgerFi. I was previously CEO of Anthony's Cold Fire Pizza and Wings, and effective November 8th, I assumed the role of the combined company CEO. We're excited to bring together these two fantastic brands. As a reminder, on November 3, 2021, BurgerFi closed on the transaction to purchase 61 company-owned premium casual dining locations operating under the name Anthony's Cold Fire Pizza and Wings for $156.6 million. Anthony's was a very attractive acquisition for BurgerFi, given its strong profitability potential and top-tier unit economics. with the average unit volumes of 2.3 million, sales per square foot nearing $700, and 19% restaurant-level margins on a pre-COVID basis. In addition to Anthony's Core restaurants, we see additional growth opportunities through a smaller concept footprint and a new virtual brand called the Roasted Link. There is also a significant overlap in our geography, with both brands having a strong foothold in the Florida market. Through this transaction, we aim to strengthen our profitability, and we expect this will be an accretive acquisition for the BurgerFi and provide a solid foundation for additional growth. We are also thrilled to partner with Elkatterton, as they are now one of our largest shareholders, and Andrew Tove, a managing partner with El Cataton, has joined our board. We have great things in store for both brands, and I'm looking forward to leading the growth of the combined company moving forwards. I'm fortunate to be able to draw from over 40 years of experience in the restaurant and hospitality business, going all the way back from being a classically trained chef to becoming a president and CEO in the UK, in Canada, and also here in the U.S., In my time in the U.S., I worked for two of the largest publicly traded restaurant companies, Brinker International and Darden Restaurants. Additionally, I have spent over 13 years in the private equity world focused on creating value for brands such as Cheddar Scratch Kitchen, which successfully sold to Darden Restaurants in 2017 for $780 million. I'll start today with an overview of the changes in our corporate structure before handing it over to Julio to highlight BurgerFi's third quarter update. From there, we will turn it over to Mike to walk through our financials. So as a reminder, following the transaction, Mike Rabinovich will be the CFO of the combined company, Julio Ramirez will remain CEO of the BurgerFi brand, and Patrick Renner will become president of the Anthony's brand. Now, I'd like to express my full confidence, Julio and Patrick, and their teams leading both brands. Our long-term goal is to assemble a strong, multi-platform growth company in the fast casual and casual dining industries, and I'm extremely excited with the progress we're making towards this end. I now like to turn the call over to Julio Ramirez, CEO and President of the BurgerFi brand.

Julio? Julio Ramirez Thank you and welcome Ian. We're very happy that all of you can join us on the call today. I'll start with a brief history and overview of BurgerFi and then highlight some of our third quarter activities and results. From there, I'll turn it over to Mike to walk through our financials before I close later with our outlook and growth opportunities. With that, I'm going to start us off with a brief history of our business as some of our listeners may be new to our story. The first BurgerFi restaurant opened 10 years ago just outside of Fort Lauderdale, and the success was immediate. People loved our food, decor, ambiance, and the overall energy of the brand. Our mission statement of redefining the way the world eats burgers and enriching lives through the best burger experience is more relevant than ever building on our great tasting food. We offer the highest quality ingredients and premium burger experience in an exceptionally clean, eco-friendly restaurant prepared and served by a highly energetic and motivated team. We've grown to approximately 116 franchise locations and corporate-owned restaurants in 22 states, two countries, and Puerto Rico. I'm proud to say that in our home state of Florida, we believe we are the premier better burger chain with approximately 60 locations. Recently, we were named the top Better Burger Fast Casual chain in USA Today's 2021 Fast Casual's top 100 movers and shakers list for 2021, as well as the 10 best readers choice survey in USA Today. By the way, on Fast Casual, it's our eighth year in a row on the list, and we hope to repeat again. Our menu innovation pipeline remains strong, and we continue to enjoy the strong performance of our swag, that spicy Wagyu Angus burger, first introduced in March of this year. Our swag burger features five spicy ingredients, a double Wagyu and brisket blend burger with charred jalapenos, candied ghost pepper bacon to pack the heat, sweet tomato relish to add a bit of sweetness, habanero pepper jack cheese, and hot steak sauce. Five ingredients. Our Swag Burger has doubled our premium Wagyu sales, and due to its continued success, we made it a permanent menu item beginning in July, a great example of our menu. I want to take a moment and thank all of our employees for their commitment and hard work, especially during this unprecedented time that we have been facing. I'd now like to turn the call over to our CFO, Mike Rabinovich, who will provide additional commentary on our performance for the third quarter.