Jack In The Box Inc.

Thank you for standing by. My name is Jordan, and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I'd like to welcome everyone to the Jack in the Box first quarter 2026 earnings call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question during this time, simply press star, followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you'd like to withdraw your question, press star one again. Thank you. I'd now like to turn the call over to Rachel Webb, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thanks, Operator, and good afternoon, everyone. We appreciate you joining today's conference call, highlighting results from our first quarter of fiscal 2026. With me today, our Chief Executive Officer, Lance Tucker, our Chief Financial Officer, Don Huber, and our Chief Customer and Digital Officer, Ryan Ostrom. Following their prepared remarks, we will be happy to take questions from our covering sell-side analysts. Note that during both our discussion and Q&A, we may refer to non-GAAP items. please refer to the non-GAAP reconciliations provided in the earnings release, which is available on our investor relations website at jackinthebox.com. We will also be making forward-looking statements based on current information and judgments that reflect management's outlook for the future. However, actual results may differ materially from these expectations because of business risks. We, therefore, consider the safe harbor statement in the earnings release and the cautionary statements in our most recent 10-K to be part of our discussion. Material risk factors as well as information relating to company operations are detailed in our most recent 10-K, 10-Q, and other public documents filed with the SEC and are available on our investor relations website. Additionally, on January 21st, 2026, The company filed a definitive proxy statement and related materials with the SEC in connection with the 2026 annual meeting of stockholders. Our directors and certain officers are participants in the solicitation of proxies in connection with the annual meeting. Stockholders are encouraged to read the proxy statement and related materials as they contain important information including the identity of the participants and their direct or indirect interest by security holdings or otherwise. While we understand that there may be interest in our ongoing proxy contest, please note the purpose of today's call is to discuss Jack's first quarter earnings results, and we ask that you keep your questions focused on our financial performance. And with that, I would like to turn the call over to our Chief Executive Officer, Lance Tucker.

Lance Tucker Thanks, Rachel, and I appreciate everyone joining us today. I want to begin by thanking our teams, our franchisees, and our shareholders. This past quarter has been one of hard work, dedication, and grit. It was a quarter critical in laying the foundation for 2026 and beyond. We remain focused on simplifying the business, and we've made visible progress since the last quarter. On this call, I'll provide a brief update on our Jack on Track plans and how I'm thinking about the remainder of 2026 And then I'll turn it over to Don to walk through first quarter results. In December, we successfully closed on the sale of Del Taco, and we then made a significant pay down on our debt. We are doing exactly what we committed to do by simplifying the business and bringing down debt levels. And I'm really pleased with the progress to date. With the transaction complete, only minimal separation activities remain. and the team is fully re-centered on strengthening the Jack in the Box brand and executing the remaining elements of our Jack on Track plan. As we entered 2026, Jack in the Box proudly marked its 75th anniversary, a milestone few brands reach. The response to our anniversary activations has been positive, reinforcing what we know to be true. Jack remains beloved by our customers. Guests are leaning into the nostalgia that defines our heritage while embracing the differentiation and innovation that continue to move the brand forward. 2026 is about laying the foundation for sustainable long-term growth, which requires doing a lot of hard work right now. We're confident that the actions we're taking will lead to a stronger, more stable platform from which to grow. We are beginning to see early results that reinforce that we are on the right path But as a reminder, this is a multi-step process, and the benefits of this work will take time to fully materialize. Turning now to first quarter results, Q1 results were choppy, but broadly in line with our expectations. As we discussed on the last call, we got off to a tough start to the quarter, and while we did experience some bright spots throughout the quarter, the end of the calendar year didn't improve to the degree we were looking for. It really wasn't until January that we started experiencing consistent, meaningful improvements to performance. And importantly, the improvement was on both a one- and a two-year basis. January featured the launch of our 75th anniversary marketing calendar, including a throwback combo in the Chicken Supreme Munchie Meal, coupled with a new fan favorite, Jibby, a backpack charm. Customers have been trying to collect all four Jibbies, and we've seen a great response, which drove an increase in sales or munchie meals, which generate a higher average check. Customers are still careful about where they spend, and we remain committed to a strategy grounded in driving value for guests while protecting profitability for ourselves and our franchisees. You'll see us continue to feature price-pointed value promotions, but also drive our barbell strategy with add-ons and up-sales through technology. To reiterate, Q1 was in line with our expectations, and we knew the year would get off to a slow start. But as the reaffirmation of our guidance reflects, we expect to see steady improvement on the top line as we move through 2026. This is really a year of getting back to our roots of Jack in the Box. We have been very deliberate in how we spend our time and capital, focusing on the fundamentals we believe are essential to sustainably improving the business. These efforts will take time to become visible in our results, but they are critical to improving consistency, profitability, and long-term returns. And I'm more convinced than ever that we're moving in the right direction. To frame up some of the early progress we're making on Jack's Way, which is designed to improve the guest experience, I'm pleased with the progress the team has made in improving operations. Last quarter, we identified a gap in field support and restructured that team. Shannon has moved these changes decisively from design to execution. meaning we have a greatly increased presence in the restaurants to give more real-time support to our franchisees and team members as they ultimately work to delight the guests. Starting in Q1, the team aligned training on our core Jack's Way principles to further simplify the experience for our team members and reinforce the importance of fundamentals. For example, aligning with our Monster Munchies promotion, the team was focused on doubling down on joyful service and we'll continue to see the fundamentals reinforced across every marketing window. In Q1, we also enhanced our restaurant audit process to reinforce critical behaviors and standards to elevate the guest experience. We have additional high-touch training coming later this year, including in-restaurant workshops, and none of this would be successful without laying the foundation of a new field team to ensure it sticks. We're also making progress on enhancing our value proposition and menu strategy, As we continue to celebrate our 75th anniversary, you'll see brand activations leaning into classic fan favorites, while we also launch new products designed to drive customer interest and trial, leveraging innovation that can only be found at Jack in the Box. Just last week, we announced the return of one of our most popular products, the Hot Mess Burger. This limited time offer is paired with another collectible, our Antenna Ball, featuring the meat riot jackhead for one of our most memorable jack commercials we're also incorporating experiential marketing with an anniversary tour that kicked off in la and is landing in austin for jack's actual anniversary later this month we've continued to simplify our marketing as well we've simplified our marketing calendar to have a more balanced and consistent focus between value and innovation we've also reduced our media messages from three to two which allows our teams to focus on stronger execution of fewer LTOs and drive media effectiveness. The final component of Jaxway is modernizing our restaurants. The key takeaway here is that we're focused on a highly cost-effective refresh that substantially improves the co-repeal of our restaurants. So far, the many refreshes we've put in market have generated a modest but meaningful uplift, and we remain encouraged by the limited investment they require. Across roughly 20 restaurants in test today, we're seeing low single-digit sales lifts. We're now expanding these efforts in Southern California markets, which allows us to capture additional upside potential as we see higher clusters of refreshed restaurants. As you recall, last year we also modernized our technology within the restaurant, rolling out both new POS and back-of-house systems. We can now start leveraging these systems not only for cost efficiencies, but also better upsell capabilities, which we expect will improve both the top and bottom lines. Before I turn it over to Don, I want to reiterate just a few key points. First, we're doing exactly what we said we were going to do with regard to both the Jack on Track initiatives to strengthen our business model and also with our Jack's Way programs to improve operating results. Both are yielding tangible results. Second, we're seeing early positive results from simplification efforts we've made across ops and marketing, allowing our teams to focus on what truly matters, driving trial, frequency, and executing on a great customer experience. I'm confident that these changes will drive improved same-store sales as we move through the balance of the year. And finally, I continue to be inspired by the efforts and resiliency of both our team and our franchisees, and by the foundation we're building as we do the hard work to strengthen the business. These efforts are helping us to sharpen our discipline as a brand and position Jack to drive sustained profitability and long-term shareholder value as we move through 2026. And with that, I'll turn it over to Dawn.