Brinker International, Inc.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Brinker International Q2F21 Earnings Call. At this time, all participants have been placed on a listen-only mode, and the floor will be opened for questions and comments after the presentation. It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to your host, Micah Ware. Ma'am, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Kate, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Earnings Call for Brinker International's second quarter of fiscal 2021. With me on today's call are Wyman Roberts, Chief Executive Officer and President, and Joe Taylor, our Chief Financial Officer. Results for the quarter were released earlier this morning and are available on our website at brinker.com. As usual, Wyman and Joe will first make prepared comments related to our operating performance and strategic initiatives. Then we will open the call for your questions. Before beginning our comments, it's my job to remind everyone of our safe harbor of regarding forward-looking statements. During our call, management may discuss certain items which are not based entirely on historical facts. Any such items should be considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All such statements are subject to risk and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those anticipated. Such risk and uncertainties include factors more completely described in this morning's press release and companies' filings with the SEC. And of course, on the call, we may refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures that management uses in its review of the business and believe will provide insight into the company's ongoing operations. And with that said, I will turn the call over to Wyman.

Thanks, Micah. And thanks, everyone, for joining us this morning. Q2 was a dynamic quarter, and Joe's going to walk you through the details. You know, as we think about all the craziness 2020 brought across our industry and our world, we're also appreciative of the invaluable lessons we gained. We learned we have the right team in the field and here at the Restaurant Support Center, our operators are working tirelessly every day to deliver great experiences for our guests and team members as we aggressively pursue opportunities to grow our business organically. We learned that we can drive our business and increase market share despite the hurdles brought on by a global pandemic and widespread civil and political unrest. In the second quarter, Chili's increased its two-year trend of taking share and leading the category with an 18% beat in sales and a 25% beat in traffic, according to NAPTRAC. We learned that our strategies work. The ways we leverage our scale and our ownership model and the investments we continue to make in technology and improving our operational systems, they were working well for us prior to the pandemic and continued to work even more effectively throughout the year. Leveraging those competitive advantages opened up opportunities for us to grow our business in unique and innovative ways. like elevating our digital guest experience at both brands and leaning into virtual brands. Those things are hard to execute and even harder to replicate, so we're taking those lessons into 2021 as we prepare to accelerate organic growth in a post-vaccine environment. We believe, like most others, that a widespread vaccine will indeed release pent-up dining room demand, and our operators are excited to return to full capacity and deliver more great guest experiences in person. But we don't expect a return to the old normal. 2020 fundamentally changed us as consumers. We were forced to use technology to enjoy our favorite restaurants in new ways, like third-party delivery, curbside takeout, QR code menus, and mobile payment. And now that we've experienced greater convenience and control over our experience, we're not likely to give it all back. The Brinker team knew that convenience was a big opportunity even before the pandemic. 2020 just accelerated our commitment to embrace consumers' gravitation toward digital interaction and meet them where they are. We believe digital sales and traffic will continue to be a strategic driver of our results in both the near and long term. So in preparation for fiscal 22, we're dedicating even more time, effort, and capital to accelerating our competitive advantage as a digital leader in the category and aggressively pursuing opportunities to drive our top and bottom line. At Chili's, we're testing a fully integrated digital experience that gives our guests control over the pace of their experience and level of interaction with our team, whether they're dining in or off-premise. It's still early, but the team is making tremendous progress and the guests in our test restaurants are responding really well. We anticipate a rollout beginning fourth quarter. We've also spent a great deal of time and effort systematizing what goes out the side door at both our brands. We got really good at takeout and delivery during the height of quarantine. So while our dining rooms are still limited at limited capacity, we're ensuring we have strong systems in place to support our operators and execute a robust off-premise business even as our dining rooms return to full capacity. Delivering a best-in-class off-premise experience also supports virtual brands, which is a key component of our growth strategy. Our scale and our ownership model, coupled with our ability to mine data and develop systems, is proving very effective in this new world of virtual brands. It's Just Wings is on track and performing well. We believe there's significant upside, so we're focused on building it into a strong, sustainable brand. Some of the biggest brands in the world right now are virtual, so we know the model resonates with consumers, as long as you deliver a great product. Right now, we have a one-channel solution. We're working to optimize that channel through incremental marketing opportunities, and expanded consumer touch points. We're also going to grow the brand through additional channels like takeout. We're ensuring we have the right systems in place that will best support our operators' ability to execute at a high level, especially as dining rooms reopen. Once we know we're consistently delivering a great guest experience from our operators at full volumes, we'll move strategically to launch another virtual brand. I anticipate that by the end of this fiscal year, we'll have a clearer line of sight and be able to share more details with you. Listen, 2020 was a crazy year, but through it, we confirmed that our strategies are working and that we have an outstanding team in the field and at the Restaurant Support Center. Every day, they demonstrate their ability to adapt, persevere, and win. As vaccines roll out and our country begins to leave their homes once again, I firmly believe we'll continue to win. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Joe.