Fiesta Restaurant Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:FRGI) Q4 2022 Earnings Conference Call March 2, 2023 4:30 PM ET

Company Participants

Raphael Gross – ICR

Dirk Montgomery – Interim Chief Executive Officer

Tyler Yoesting – Chief Accounting Officer and Acting Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Edward Reily – EF Hutton

Operator

Good day, and welcome to the Fiesta Restaurant Group Fourth Quarter 2022 Earnings Call. Alll participants will be in listen-only mode. [Operator Instructions] After today’s presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Please note this event is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Raphael Gross from ICR. Please go ahead.

Raphael Gross

Thank you, Jason. Fiesta Restaurant Group’s fourth quarter 2022 earnings release was issued after the market closed today. If you have not already accessed it, it can be found on the company’s website, www.frgi.com, under the Investor Relations section.

Before we begin, I’d like to inform you that during the call, the company will make various statements that are not based on historical information. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding the company’s future financial position and results of operation, business strategy, budget, projected costs and plans and objectives of management for future operations. Actual outcomes might differ materially from these forward-looking statements, and the company can give no assurance that such forward-looking statements will prove to be correct. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements can be found in the company’s SEC filings.

Please note that during today’s conference call, certain non-GAAP financial measures will be discussed, which the company believes can be useful in evaluating its performance. Any discussion of such information should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for results prepared in accordance with GAAP, and a reconciliation to comparable GAAP measures is available in the company’s earnings release. On the call with me today are Interim Chief Executive Officer, Dirk Montgomery; and Chief Accounting Officer and Acting Chief Financial Officer, Tyler Yoesting.

And now I’d like to turn the call over to Dirk.

Dirk Montgomery

Thank you, Rafe. I’d first like to thank all the investors and other participants on the call today for their continued support. I’ll be covering three topics today: a business update and overview of fourth quarter results, the status of our strategic growth initiatives and thoughts on our plans for 2023. Tyler will then provide a financial update, before we open the call for questions. First, key takeaways on fourth quarter results. During the fourth quarter, we continued the double-digit comparable restaurant sales momentum from the third quarter with improved margins, while continuing to make progress on the key priorities we communicated previously, including continued increases in operation staffing levels and tangible headway on G&A expense reduction.