Pizza Pizza Royalty Corp.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Pizza Pizza Royalty Corps' earnings call for the first quarter of 2026. During the presentation, all participants will be in listen-only mode. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star 1 in your telephone keypad. As a reminder, This conference is being recorded on May 1st, 2026. I will now turn the call over to Christine De Silva, CFO. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Pizza Pizza Royalty Corps' earnings call for the first quarter ended March 31st, 2026. Joining me on the call today is Pizza Pizza Limited's President and Chief Executive Officer, Paul Goddard. Just a quick note, our discussion today will contain forward-looking statements that may involve risks relating to future events. Actual events may differ materially from the projections discussed today. All forward-looking statements should be considered in conjunction with our cautionary language in the earnings press release and the risk factors included in our annual information form. Please refer to our earnings press release and the MD&A in the investor relations section of our website for a full reconciliation of other disclosures related to non-IFRS measures mentioned on this call. As a reminder, analysts are welcome to ask questions after the prepared remarks. Portfolio managers, media, and shareholders can contact us after the call. I'll now turn the call over to Paul for a business update.

Thank you, Christine, and good afternoon, everyone. We appreciate you joining our call. This afternoon, we released our results for the first quarter of 2026, which you can find posted on our website. The overall macroeconomic conditions remain challenging through the first quarter of 2026. We saw the impact on consumer confidence, spending, and demand, all of which negatively impacted our retail sales, specifically traffic. In the first quarter, our overall main store sales growth was actually negative 4.1%. Pizza pizza restaurants were down 4.3%, while pizza surgery restaurants were down 2.7%. Beyond the current macroeconomic impact on sales, the impact of last year's non-recurring sales tax holiday was also felt at both brands. So while consumer confidence remains low, businesses continue to face rising costs and ongoing uncertainty. In this environment, we are focused on controlling what we can, strengthening our product offering, further expanding our footprint across Canada, and driving operational discipline. Starting with product offerings, our core pizza category remains resilient, supported offerings at all price points, And while value continues to be critical, staying top of mind through innovation is equally important. Our innovation pipeline allows us to attract new customers, encourage trade-up within our existing mix through premium offerings, and deepen overall brand engagement. This quarter, following the success of the Volcano Dipper pizzas at Pizza 73, we rolled out the product of Pizza Pizza. This unique, ownable new product provided us with the opportunity to showcase Pizza Pizza and our food in a fun and playful narrative, while reinforcing our dip leadership position. We also recently introduced the $5 meal deal, slice and drink combo, in late March to strengthen our walk-in channel and compete with other QSRs offering entry-level value meals. We saw immediate improvements in both sales and traffic within this channel, which is exciting. We remain focused on delivering strong value to our customers, knowing that we are competing for a share of increasingly constrained consumer spending. Turning to our restaurant network, In terms of restaurant development, I'm pleased to share that we started a year stronger than we have in the last five years. And as a reminder, with over 800 restaurants from coast to coast, we have more points of convenience than any other QSR Pizza chain in the country. During the quarter, we opened six traditional and three non-traditional Pizza Pizza locations and closed one traditional and one non-traditional Pizza 72 restaurant. Our new traditional restaurants span the country with openings in D.C., Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and two in Newfoundland. And as mentioned on previous calls, our business is driven by two revenue streams. First, our traditional restaurant network, which generates 90% of our wealthy pool sales, and secondly, our non-traditional and special event locations, which typically generate the remaining 10%. Our non-traditional segment is currently facing some headwinds, particularly locations within colleges and universities where lower attendance ties to international student policies, stemming from reduced immigration, et cetera, has resulted in reduced operating hours and overall sales. But looking ahead, we continue to see growth opportunities across our network. At the same time, we are taking a more disciplined approach, carefully selecting locations and formats to ensure long-term profitability, particularly in the context of rising costs. As I close out my comments, we expect us to face headwinds across our entire system in the near future. Consumer confidence is still low, and there continues to be much uncertainty. However, we will continue to be there to provide our customers with the best food made especially for them. Our platform is solid and battle tested. We will drive further value and innovation, and we have the experience and track record to do so. The strength of our brands and experience of our team and our owner-operators as a critical part of that team have enabled us to navigate through these challenging conditions before, and we have great confidence in our ability to successfully manage well through this latest period of economic uncertainty and leveraging our proven competitive advantages and leading brand platform. So thank you again for listening in today, and I'll now ask Christine to provide a financial update.