First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the First Watch Restaurant Group third quarter 2021 earnings conference call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. Following the presentation, the conference call will be open for analyst questions, and instructions on how to ask a question will be given at that time. The conference call is being recorded today, November 9th, 2021, at 8 a.m. Eastern Time, and will be archived and available one hour post-conference call. At this time, I'd like to turn the conference call over to Rafael Gross, Managing Director of ICR. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome. I'm joined today by First Watch's Chris Tommaso, Chief Executive Officer and President, and Mel Hope, Chief Financial Officer. Last evening, we issued our earnings release for the third quarter ended September 26, 2021 on Globe Newswire and filed our quarterly report on Form 10-Q and earnings release on Form 8-K with the SEC. These documents can be found at investors.firstwatch.com. Let me now first cover a few housekeeping matters before introducing Chris. During our prepared remarks and in responses to your questions, Certain items may be discussed which are not based on historical fact and their operations, performance and financial condition, growth strategies, product development efforts, and future expenses. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as anticipates, intends, plans, seeks, believes, estimates, expects, and similar references to future periods or by the inclusion of goals, forecasts, or projections. These forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations and assumptions regarding our business, the economy, and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, By their nature, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks, and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict. As a result, our actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, those described under risk factors in our amendment number one to form S-1 registration statement filed with the SEC on September 22, 2021. and in other filings that we may make with the SEC. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of our assumptions prove incorrect, our actual financial condition, results of operations, future performance, and business prospects may vary in material respects from the performance described in these forward-looking statements. In addition, any forward-looking statement made by us today speaks only as of the date in which it is made. First Watch undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments, or otherwise, except as may be required by law. Lastly, our remarks today will include references to various non-GAAP measures. Investors should review the reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to the comparable GAAP results contained in our third quarter 2021 earnings press release. And with that, I'd like to now turn the call over to Chris Tommaso, FirstWatch CEO and President.

Thanks, Ray. I want to start by saying what our teams say to tens of thousands of consumers every day, and that is good morning. What they don't say is welcome to FirstWatch's inaugural earnings conference call. It's exciting for us to have this public forum to share our FirstWatch story with you. As most As you likely know, we recently completed our initial public offering, and we're proud to be a NASDAQ-listed company. First and foremost, I want to thank all of the First Watch employees whose hard work not only made our IPO successful, they made it possible. There are many people listening today who may be fairly new to the First Watch brand story, and I consider it my privilege to introduce a few distinctives about our concept. For nearly 40 years, we've deliberately laid a foundation of excellence, which has helped position us for this next chapter in our story. At First Watch, we serve a different customer with a typical breakfast and brunch concept. We tend to align closely with consumer brands whose customer bases skew much healthier, have greater disposable income, and seek quality food. If you've ever visited one of our restaurants, you know that our experience is an elevated one. Our focus is on being distinguishably different from our competition. We believe we accomplished this by delivering an elevated menu in an environment that definitely balances warmth and hospitality with speed and convenience. This unique combination, coupled with our very strong culture, is why we believe we've enjoyed such a passionate response from the consumer for decades.