The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated

simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. And if you'd like to withdraw your question, again, press star one. Thank you. I would now like to turn the conference over to Etienne Marcus, Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations. Etienne, you may begin your call.

Good afternoon and welcome to our fourth quarter fiscal 2023 earnings call. On the call with me today are David Overton, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Matt Clark, our Executive Vice President. and Chief Financial Officer. David Gordon, our President, is serving on jury duty and is unable to join us on today's call. Before we begin, let me quickly remind you that during this call, items will be discussed that are not based on historical fact and are considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results could be materially different from those stated or implied in forward-looking statements as a result of the factors detailed in today's press release. which is available on our website at investors.thecheesecakefactory.com, and in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, all forward-looking statements made on this call speak only as of today's date, and the company undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statements. In addition, during this conference call, when discussing comparable sales, we will be referring to comparable sales on an operating week basis, unless specifically stated otherwise. We will also be presenting results on an adjusted basis which exclude impairment of assets and lease terminations and acquisition related expenses. An explanation of our use of non-GAAP financial measures and reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP measures appear in our press release and our website as previously described. David Overton will begin today's call with some opening remarks, then Matt will provide a business update review our fourth quarter results in detail, and finish up with some commentary on our outlook for the first quarter and full year 2024, before opening the call up to questions. With that, I'll turn the call over to David Overton.

Thank you, Etienne. We finished the year on a strong note with continued improvement across many facets of our business, resulting in solid financial performance, including revenues in line with expectations and better than anticipated profit margins fourth quarter revenues were 877 million led by comparable sales at the cheesecake factory restaurants up 2.5 percent versus the prior year and 14 versus 2019. once again meaningfully outpacing the casual dining industry, and demonstrating the strength and consistency of our brand. To this point, Cheesecake Factory restaurants delivered the highest average weekly sales in the company's history in the last week of the fourth quarter. Our top line performance is a reflection of our steadfast focus on menu innovation, maintaining the contemporary design and decor of our restaurants, and delivering exceptional food quality, service, and hospitality. Further, building on the outstanding execution delivered by our operations team, we exceeded our expectations in labor productivity, food efficiency, and wage management, contributing towards restaurant-level profit margin of 16.1% at the Cheesecake Factory, not only exceeding our projections, but also surpassing fourth quarter 2019 margin levels. On the development front, we successfully opened nine new restaurants during the fourth quarter, including three Cheesecake Factories, three North Italias, and three FRC restaurants. Additionally, two Cheesecake Factory restaurants opened internationally under licensing agreements, one in China and our first location in Thailand. Subsequent to quarter end, We opened a North Italia restaurant in Houston, a Flower Child in the Dallas market, and one Cheesecake Factory restaurant internationally under a licensing agreement in Mexico. And lastly, this morning, we opened our newest culinary dropout in Atlanta. We are looking to build on this momentum, and while the development conditions have not been fully normalized, we are aiming to further accelerate our unit growth. At this time, we're planning to open as many as 22 new restaurants in 2024, including as many as three to four cheesecake factories, six to seven North Italias, six to seven Flower Childs, and six to seven FRC restaurants. As we look ahead, we remain intently focused on leveraging our competitive strength, the scale of our business, our differentiated brands, and the best-in-class operators to drive additional shareholder value and market share gains. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Matt.