Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Q1 2024 Earnings Conference Call September 21, 2023 8:30 AM ET
Company Participants
Kevin Kalicak - IR
Rick Cardenas - President & CEO
Raj Vennam - CFO
Conference Call Participants
Andrew Charles - TD Cowen
Brian Bittner - Oppenheimer
Eric Gonzalez - KeyBanc Capital Markets
Brian Harbour - Morgan Stanley
David Tarantino - Baird
David Palmer - Evercore
Jeffrey Bernstein - Barclays
Joshua Long - Stephens
Dennis Geiger - UBS
Danilo Gargiulo - Bernstein
Jeffrey Farmer - Gordon Haskett
Jon Tower - Citi
Sara Senatore - Bank of America
Peter Saleh - BTIG
Gregory Francfort - Guggenheim Securities
John Ivankoe - JPMorgan
Brian Vaccaro - Raymond James
Jake Bartlett - Truist Securities
John Parke - Wells Fargo
Andrew Strelzik - BMO
Operator
Welcome to the Darden Fiscal Year 2024 First Quarter Earnings Call. Your lines have been placed on listen-only until the question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] This conference is being recorded. If you have any objections, please disconnect at this time.
I will now turn the call over to Mr. Kevin Kalicak. Thank you. You may begin.
Kevin Kalicak
Thank you, Daryl. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for participating on today's call. Joining me today are Rick Cardenas, Darden's President and CEO; and Raj Vennam, CFO.
As a reminder, comments made during this call will include forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations and projections. Those risks are described in the company's press release, which was distributed this morning and in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We are simultaneously broadcasting a presentation during this call, which is posted in the Investor Relations section of our website at darden.com.
Today's discussion and presentation include certain non-GAAP measurements, and reconciliations of these measurements are included in the presentation. Looking ahead, we plan to release fiscal 2024 second quarter earnings on Friday, December 15, before the market opens, followed by a conference call.
During today's call, any reference to pre-COVID when discussing first quarter performance as a comparison to the first quarter of fiscal 2020. Additionally, all references to industry results during today's call refer to Black Box Intelligence’s, casual dining benchmark, excluding Darden, specifically Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse and Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen.
During our first fiscal quarter, industry same-restaurant sales increased 0.9% and industry same-restaurant guest counts decreased 4.2%. This morning, Rick will share some brief remarks on the quarter, and Raj will provide details on our financial results.