Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) Q2 2024 Earnings Conference Call December 14, 2023 8:30 AM ET
Company Participants
Kevin Kalicak - IR
Rick Cardenas - President & CEO
Raj Vennam - CFO
Conference Call Participants
Jon Tower - Citigroup
Chris Carril - RBC Capital Markets
Brian Bittner - Oppenheimer
Eric Gonzalez - KeyBanc Capital Markets
Andrew Charles - TD Cowen
Brian Harbour - Morgan Stanley
Jeffrey Bernstein - Barclays
Joshua Long - Stephens
Peter Saleh - BTIG
David Palmer - Evercore
Sara Senatore - Bank of America
Patrick Johnson - Stifel
Dennis Geiger - UBS
Lauren Silberman - Credit Suisse
Andrew Barish - Jefferies
Gregory Francfort - Guggenheim Securities
Andrew Strelzik - BMO
John Ivankoe - JPMorgan
Brian Vaccaro - Raymond James
Nick Setyan - Wedbush Securities
Danilo Gargiulo - Bernstein
Operator
Hello, and welcome to the Darden Fiscal Year 2024 Second Quarter Earnings Call. Your lines have been placed on a listen-only mode until the question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] This conference is being recorded. If you have any objections, please disconnect at this time.
I'll now turn the call over to Mr. Kevin Kalicak. Thank you. You may begin.
Kevin Kalicak
Thank you, Kevin. 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 the 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 includes certain non-GAAP measurements, and reconciliations of these measurements are included in that presentation. Looking ahead, we plan to release fiscal 2024 third quarter earnings on Thursday, March 21st, before the market opens, followed by a conference call.
During today's call, any reference to pre-COVID when discussing second quarter performance is a comparison to the second quarter of fiscal 2020. Additionally, all references to industry results during today's call refer to Black Box Intelligence, casual dining benchmark, excluding Darden, specifically Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, and Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen. During our second fiscal quarter, industry same-restaurant sales decreased 1.3% and industry same-restaurant guest counts decreased 4.8%.