El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) Q4 2022 Earnings Conference Call March 9, 2023 4:30 PM ET
Company Participants
Ira Fils - Chief Financial Officer
Larry Roberts - President & Chief Executive Officer
Conference Call Participants
Drew North - Baird
Todd Brooks - The Benchmark Company
Matt Curtis - William Blair
Jake Bartlett - Truist Securities
Operator
Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the El Pollo Loco First Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants have been placed in a listen-only mode and lines will be opened for your questions following the presentation. Please note, that this conference is being recorded today, March 9, 2023.
And now, I'd like to turn the conference over to Ira Fils, the Company’s Chief Financial Officer.
Ira Fils
Thank you, operator, and good afternoon. By now, you should have access to our fourth quarter 2022 earnings release. If not, it can be found at www.elpolloloco.com, in the Investor Relations section.
Before we begin our formal remarks, I need to remind everyone that our discussion today will include forward-looking statements, including statements related to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and macro economic environment on our business as well as our marketing and new product initiatives, our strategic color, capital expectations, capital expenditure plans, remodel plans, expected new store openings and expected income tax rate among others.
These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and therefore, you should not put undue reliance on them. These statements are also subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from what we currently expect. We refer you to our current recent SEC filings, including our Form 10-K for a more detailed discussion of the risks that could impact our future operating results and financial condition. We expect to file our 10-K for 2022 tomorrow and would encourage you to review that document at your earliest convenience.
During today's call, we will discuss non-GAAP measures, which we believe can be useful in evaluating our performance. The presentation of this additional information should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for results prepared in accordance with GAAP, and reconciliations to comparable GAAP measures are available in our earnings release.
Now, I would like to turn it over to our President and CEO, Larry Roberts.
Larry Roberts
Thanks, Ira, and good afternoon, everyone. We are pleased with our performance in the fourth quarter as system wide comparable restaurant sales increased by 4.7%, including a 6.5% increase at company-owned and a 3.5% increase at our franchise locations. These results were driven by the success of our Stuffed Quesadilla promotion that resonate well with both new and existing customers, as well as the continued improvement in our company-owned and franchised restaurant operations.