Bowlero Corp.

Good morning to everyone on the call. This is Bobby Lavin, Valero's chief financial officer. Welcome to our conference call to discuss Valero's third quarter 2024 earnings. This morning, we issued a press release announcing our financial results for the period ended March 31st, 2024. A copy of the press release is available in the investor relations section of our website. Joining me on the call today are Thomas Shannon, our founder, chairman, and chief executive, and Lev Ester, our president. I'd like to remind you that during today's conference call, we may make certain forward-looking statements about the company's performance. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and therefore, one should not place undue reliance on them. Forward-looking statements are also subject to inherent risks and uncertainties that can cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed. For additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ from those discussed in our forward-looking statements, You should refer to the cautionary statements contained in our press release, as well as the risk factors contained in the company's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Bolero Corporation undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that occur after today's call. Also, during today's call, the company may discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures as defined by SEC Regulation G. The GAAP financial measures most directly comparable to each non-GAAP financial measure discussed and the reconciliation of the differences between each non-GAAP financial measure and the comparable GAAP financial measure can be found on the company's website. I'll now turn this all over to Tom.

Good morning. Thank you for joining us today. I am Thomas Shannon, founder, chairman, and CEO of Bolero Corporation. Bolero had a solid third quarter with total revenue growth of 8.8%. January was a challenging month because of blizzards and flooding across the country. Following this weather impacted result, our same store comp was positive in both February and March, and our total growth was double digits. This follows the company's second quarter in which we produced same store sales growth of 0.2% and total company growth of 13.4%. Our results in the second and third quarters are better than most or all of our competitors in the location-based entertainment space. When we acquired Lucky Strike, we were impressed by how much food and beverage they sold to each customer. We have taken some of the learnings from Lucky Strike and began to implement that into our F&B business. We are revamping our menus, increasing food and beverage training, and improving our hiring processes to make a strong organic impact on our business. Our new premium menu, which launched in recently opened Lucky Strike Miami, includes salads, gluten-free options, bao buns, honey chicken sandwiches, and more variations of our excellent pizza. Additionally, we continue to instill a selling culture that began last summer with the implementation of the bowling special. I'm excited about the opportunities in front of us as we train and incentivize our employees to sell more. The quarter was marked by substantial investments in traffic driving initiatives. These initiatives, though with some added cost, have proven their worth as evidenced by our industry-leading same-store comp growth. Lev Extra will discuss these initiatives in a few minutes. Our best-in-class events platform continues to outperform. Event revenue increased 27% year-over-year in the third quarter, and leagues were up 9% year-over-year as we expanded social league opportunities combined with growing brand recognition from our PBA ownership. We continue to deploy capital in acquisitions and new builds. We opened Lucky Strike Miami in the third quarter with results moving higher weekly and above our expectations. We have four new builds coming online in the next nine months with two opening in Denver this summer, one opening in Beverly Hills in early fall, and another opening in Orange County, California in the late fall. And we are actively engaged on a pipeline of approximately a dozen more new build locations following these. Last week, we acquired Raging Waves, the largest water park in Illinois, in a transaction that came with approximately 53 and a half acres of land. With this acquisition, we acquired a superb, very profitable property and partnered with a strong operator in the regional water park space at an attractive valuation. We think there is significant upside in this property. I'm also happy to provide a positive update on the status of the EEOC matter. On April 12th of this year, the EEOC issued closure notices for the approximately 73 individual age discrimination charges that have been filed, in most cases many years ago. The notices communicate that the EEOC has dismissed the charges and will not bring suit against the company in the individual cases. Additionally, on this most recent Friday, May 3, the EEOC issued an additional closure notice for the pattern and practice directed investigation. In that notice, the EEOC wrote, quote, the commission has determined that it will not bring a civil action against Bolero under the Age Discrimination Employment Act, unquote. And also on Friday, we received a positive court ruling in Richmond, Virginia, that the case CNBC had breathlessly reported related to a former employee's attempt to countersue Bolero had been denied. Over eight and a half years, the company has vigorously denied and contested the false allegations made against it and is pleased to see that the EEOC has closed its files. We are disappointed that media outlets, mainly CNBC, have told only one side of the story, no matter how preposterous, acting as a shield for attempts to damage our reputation and leverage an unwarranted settlement. We are pleased to report these very positive developments on behalf of our shareholders. Let me hand it over to Lev Ekster to talk about our internal initiatives, and then Bobby will review the financial details.

Thanks, Tom. As I discussed last quarter, there is material white space to provide the consumer a better experience and increase wallet share in our locations. This quarter, we saw the benefit in traffic coming from two internal initiatives. First, with Amusements, we have improved guest satisfaction through increased game play. We have seen benefits to traffic as exhibited in our February, March, and April comparatives. This should help continue drive traffic in the slower months. Second, we have invested materially in our PBA programming. Since the start of the year, 18.5 million viewers have watched the PBA on Fox, FS1, or FS2, which is 16% more than at the same point last year. The increase is even higher among younger viewers, with the male 18 to 34 demo reach up 22% year over year. Viewers are watching more PBA than ever before, as average minutes viewed per viewer have steadily increased each year, and so far in 2024, that is already 15% higher than it was in 2019, the first year the PBA aired on Fox Sports. We have more stops and televised shows, which means more awareness and ultimately supports the value proposition of the PBA to Bolero and the industry overall. Lastly, as Tom mentioned, we are leaning heavily into increasing food and beverage sales. This has become my primary focus. New menus and updated pricing roll out over the next few months. Additionally, in-kitchen training and the continued development of a sales culture will lead to improved F&B uptake benefiting from the foot traffic generated by initiatives like our new summer season pass, and then leading into the critical holiday period. We will continue to optimize our offerings to improve customer satisfaction, traffic, and increased spend as we look to be the out-of-home entertainment destination of choice. That is how we will continue to outperform our peers. Now let me turn it over to Bobby.