Dutch Bros Inc. (BROS) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary
November 29, 2023
Earnings Call Speaker Segments
Jeffrey Bernstein
analystAfternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us this afternoon in the room and on the webcast. Happy to say from our end, this is the last formal webcast and presentation of our 2023 conference. So we want to thank everybody who attended. Hopefully, everyone found it useful. My name is Jeff Bernstein. I'm the restaurant and foodservice distribution analyst here at Barclays. Our final presenting company of the day. Last but not least, for sure, is Dutch Bros with us this afternoon from Grants Pass, Oregon, we have Christine Barone, who is the President and Charley Jemley, the CFO; and in the front row or second row, I can say that we have Joth Ricci, who is the current CEO, and congratulations on order. For those not aware, Joth is passing the CEO baton to Christine. So Christine is up here, along with Charley to address all of our questions. By way of background, for those not familiar, Dutch Bros is a drive-through beverage chain. They've now got 800 restaurants in the U.S. with future growth to be led by company-operated development and with long-term guidance for mid-teens annual unit growth management is confident in their long-term guidance for 4,000 U.S. units and we know a number of beverage concepts that have way more than that. So it seems like there's a potential opportunity there. But we wanted to thank Dutch Bros for joining us. I have a slew of questions, but I will stop towards the end and see if there's any questions from the audience. But with that said, we wanted to especially thank Dutch Bros' Joth, Christine and Charley for joining us. Thank you. And happy holidays.
Christine Barone
executiveGreat. Thank you.
Jeffrey Bernstein
analystSo I appreciate you joining us. I know you've had a busy day of meetings thus far. So some of these questions you might have heard before. But with 2024, just a month away, and it seems like lots of changes a foot and a lot of new initiatives in place. I'm just wondering if you could think about what are you most excited about for 2024 in terms of improvements to your business, whether it's sales or margins maybe on the flip side, what are you most concerned about if there is something to highlight?
Christine Barone
executiveGreat. So as we look forward to 2024, I think we're really excited about the foundation that we have. So I come in, we have an incredible brand, really serviced by people systems and a passionate group of Broistas at our shop that really drive our growth. As we look forward, I think we're making a number of investments in the marketing area. And as we continue to scale and grow, excited about our rewards program, which is now almost 65% of our transactions and everything that we have to grow through that rewards program. Excited about the real estate growth ahead and some of the settled tweaks that we've made to the real estate strategy, and really just I think we're continuing to lay the foundation for that future growth and think we have a lot ahead of us. As far as what are we concerned about for '24. I think just like everyone else, we're continuing to look at what's happening with the economy. I think we've got -- had the same prediction that just gets forward by a month each month. And so just setting ourselves up for whatever might come next year and being super flexible and understanding all the levers we have to pull in our business if the economy or in the environment around us does change in any way.
Jeffrey Bernstein
analystUnderstood. I mean having been public now for 2-plus years. And I guess this is for Charley as well as Christine. But in your meetings over the past couple of years, what do you think is the biggest misunderstanding for the Dutch Bros story because I'm sure there's a lot of people that aren't necessarily familiar with the brand being a more regional brand at this point, and obviously, in very high-growth modes. But maybe what questions do you get to surprise you most? Or what do you think is the most misunderstood?
Christine Barone
executiveI think we get a lot of questions around why company-owned growth versus franchise growth? And why are we pushing ahead with that model so much? And I think when you look at our unit economics and how strong they are, it really makes a lot of sense to continue that growth with the company on growth. We also, I think, have such a strong brand that we've invested in that actually our beginnings and our franchise network are truly unique, I think, compared to other franchise networks where everyone started as Broista and really loves the brand. And so with that, I think that we're excited about the path ahead. We're excited about the fact that we can really plot our own future and design the shops in the way that we want to, design them with all the company and growth we have ahead of us.
Charles Jemley
executiveYes, I'd echo the ownership piece. I think a lot of these things early on are now well explained and less of an issue why are you doing a company-owned development. We are a beverage company, not a restaurant or food. So how is that different? How does that model work different. The pace at which we're growing is really fast and a little -- and a lot that people haven't seen that speed for a while. So they are not as used to the algorithm that happens when you're going that fast and helping people through the patience of that, that the business when it grew 50% last year and it's going to grow 30% this year. It's a little more unpredictable than something growing 10%. So just getting people to be patient with that.
Jeffrey Bernstein
analystMy guess is -- not a guess, but you'll find it clearly goes and waves in terms of investors sent it 1 way or the other. So we cover a dozen 100% franchise companies and a lot of them that are growing fast and doing quite well. The question is why aren't you taking all these returns for yourself than letting franchises have it. Our company operating businesses are quite the opposite. So you guys sit in a unique position that you have a traditional fast food restaurant in a traditional casual diners. So you're really trolling your own path. So stick with what works for you. A question that we hear every day all day, and Christine, you mentioned it perfectly, which is each month, people are anticipating a potential consumer slowdown, all the headwinds we see. On January 1 of this year, I would have said this is not going to be a pretty year, you better running high and something very stable and defensive every month, it ends up surprising us. We did see an industry slowdown or what we thought was one in August and September a little bit and there were a lot of investors that thought the headwinds are finally catching up to the consumer. And other companies came out and said, "You know what, it might just be the -- return to some seasonality" that for the past couple of years, we just didn't see, but historically existed. So maybe that was the explanation and industry data, at least did reaccelerate in October and still waiting for some of the November data and it gets noisy around Thanksgiving and whatnot. But if you were just looking at your underlying business without all the macro headwinds? And how would you describe the health of the consumer as we move through this year?
Christine Barone
executiveYes, absolutely. And I think we've shared our business up through the end of Q3. And as we look at kind of how we've gone through the year, we feel really great about the couple of quarters that we've had this year, we feel good about the traffic growth and where we've taken the business. I think that as you look at some of the focuses that we've had on the customer and some promotions that we've done. We think we've done things like we call Fill-A-Tray, where you get 4 drinks for a certain price. We love that because as we're growing a new brand. We have so many new states, new customers. And what that allows us to do is it allows us to have somebody who really loves the brand, introduce that brand to their friends. And so that's just a super important part of what we do. But overall, I think that as we grow, as you mentioned, we've had a lot of bumpiness in general over the last couple of years. When you add to that our very high growth rate and a lot of changes to our comp base I think that, again, just really proud of where we are. And I think, like others feel like we could be returning to kind of what a normality could be at this point.
Jeffrey Bernstein
analystAnd if you were to see slowdown in the consumer, which people talk about as the #1 concern then what would you be doing differently if all of a sudden somebody was able to tell you that in the next 3 months, really going to slow? Or would you be running the business believing that the long term is what you're focused on and you're not going to make adjustments for the short term?
Christine Barone
executiveYes. I think -- a couple of things. I think, one, we're at the early stages still, even though we've been around for 30 years of building a much larger business. And so I think the most important thing during anything is to know what your strengths are. And so our strength being our people differentiation I think that across the country, the #1 thing our customers say back to us is what an amazing service. I've had at true food. I mean that's true food, sorry, at Dutch Bros. And so I think that staying focused on that, I think we have an incredible brand that we're still building. We're really not a discount-oriented brand, but what we do, do is do things like I shared where we can do trial driving. We also -- I think it's very important that the rewards program is continuing to grow. One of the things I'm most excited about and coming into the new role is the underlying strength that we already have in the rewards program and the fact that we're at the very early innings in what we can do with that program. So we made some changes in March to take some of the base discount down so that we could add to it with traffic-driving initiatives. And as we go forward into next year and something unexpected happens, they think that, that actually creates a lot of runway for us to help to adapt to different behavior changes.
Jeffrey Bernstein
analystYes. And I think what a lot of people are grappling with is because you are in such high growth mode and a lot of investors in the Northeast probably would say they've never been to 1 necessarily or haven't visited it frequently. It is so new to so many people. I was wondering, as you've expanded your geographies, what would you -- entering new markets, I mean kind as the brand traveled has been a consumer reception as the market wave say what that didn't play out the way we thought, maybe better, maybe worse. But how do you think about that? Because that's what people need to get comfortable with to think over the next 5 or 10 years about how many new markets you're going to be going into?
Christine Barone
executiveYes. Well, I think for us, as a leadership team, one of the things we get most excited about is when you go into a new market, and we're at shop 800 and we still have these super long lines like sometimes miles long as we open a new shop. And that type of brand receptivity at a concept even at our size, I think it's just super rare to have that and I think that's just taken years and years to build. I think the popularity of and uniqueness of our drinks that we are offering, having a really strong base not only in coffee beverages but also in energy beverages is super important to our growth. We also have monthly stickers that we share with our guests, and there's a lot of folks who collect those and have collections of the stickers at home. So I think that this is just a brand that's been built over a long time. And as we go into new markets, I think the thing that maybe has changed the most is just that when you go into a new market, now people already know who we are and they're waiting for us to come and they're going to sit there in line for those first couple of days, they can experience us in their hometown.
Jeffrey Bernstein
analystAnd being a part of the IPO a couple of years ago, I just remember visiting some stores and just the job you guys do before you even open up that first store and the parties that are going on in anticipation is the drumroll of anticipation for the store to finally open. But the fact that over the past couple of years, at least through COVID or on the heels of COVID, it seems like you're well positioned selling beverages. It's a high-margin business. Beverage consumption is on the rise. Drive-throughs or drive-in is a very attractive attribute for business. Do you find that there's a ramp-up in competitive nature as you go to different markets, so there are more regional players that you see in some markets that pose more challenges? Or do you feel like you're unique enough that there isn't Dutch Bros there when you get there?
Christine Barone
executiveYes. I think as we enter new markets, I mean, there's definitely other beverage players who are there. I think just given the size and scale of Starbucks or Dunkin' that they're the folks that we most often see not only on the West Coast where we are today, but also as we move towards the East Coast and I know that given the strength of what we've done and I think the popularity that we have with our customers, that there are a number of concepts that have more of a drive-through model that looks like us. I think we do encounter them in some markets. But again, I think we have a 30-year history behind us. I think we have really differentiated ourselves from a service perspective that every time we open a new market, we open it with an experienced operator. And we have 325 operators in our pipeline with an average of 7 years of tenure with Dutch Bros. And so that passion and enthusiasm for the brand just really shows through, I think, as we go and open new markets, and it's very hard to replicate that.
Jeffrey Bernstein
analystAnd I think you mentioned just thinking back a few years, I remember there were punch cards as kind of a loyalty program, which if you got the right puncture, you could really advance yourself on the -- on your way to a free beverage. So, moving over to the Dutch Rewards program. It seems like it's 3 years old, and I think you mentioned 65% penetration, which I imagine the changes that, that puts on your system and all of a sudden you have that level of data. So how do you feel about that program today? And what do you think are the opportunities to capitalize on what seems like a very rapidly growing kind of ecosystem?
Christine Barone
executiveYes, Jeff, I think it's -- for me, one of the things I'm really most excited about is the brand and the opportunity that we have in front of us. That when -- because we have so much data on our customers and also making that change we made earlier in the year to the rewards program, it just gives us a runway to one, introduce people to new beverages that maybe they would love but haven't tried yet. And then also can drive frequency, can drive activity at different day parts if they're not coming at those times. And so there's all different types of things that we can do with the rewards program. We're really in the process right now of moving from kind of mass rewards to many people to personalizing those rewards over time.
Jeffrey Bernstein
analystWhat's been the -- I mean, I guess, as a person would be app and whatnot have a lot of different restaurants, it seems like everyone's kind of figuring this out and sending you more personalized ads. Whatever you have the greatest success with here? Is it still I mean, obviously, it's ever changing, but what have you found to be the most successful in terms of incentivizing behavior?
Christine Barone
executiveWell, I think it's -- I think that it's -- there's a bunch of things. So it's not only that we have rewards on the app. You can also redeem things to get new stickers. And so that's really, I think, unique to us and popular that you can get a digital sticker. You can kind of change your background and change your stickers, so you can personalize how your app shows up. So not only can you personalize your drinks, you can also personalize your app. And I think as far as success is, again, we're at the very early part of the journey. And so seeing the response rate that we have I think is incredible. The other thing, I think, to keep in perspective is with our rapid rate of growth the fact that we have almost 65% of our transactions going through a rewards program and then that rate is staying relatively steady between that 60% and 65% as we grow. We're adding new stores so to keep that percent up. We're really adding a lot of new people to our rewards program each quarter.
Jeffrey Bernstein
analystThen what's the number in terms of members in that program currently that the number you share?
Charles Jemley
executiveYes, we haven't shared the number okay, but...
Jeffrey Bernstein
analystBut 65% of the transaction from X million number of people and the ability to get that to 100%? I mean, is there a reason why you see that now slowing down?
Charles Jemley
executiveI don't it will get to 100%. But I think the next way point might be 75%, probably a 75% level might be where you top that, you just kind of can't physically get everybody in.
Christine Barone
executiveYes. One thing we do see is we do see some differentiation in the penetration of the rewards program between markets we've been in for a long time and new markets. So certainly, there's that opportunity as our new markets mature to look more like our more mature markets.
Jeffrey Bernstein
analystIt's interesting because I would think some companies say when they go into a new market or a new country, nobody really knows them very well, so they can instill what we are. So I think you can go into a new market and say, we are a digital, join this label program for the first time and you can get people to jump on and assume that that's what everyone does. So it seems like the...
Charles Jemley
executiveThe uptick is pretty good. Have a QR code, we feature it. So even those newer markets are not far away from that 65% average. There are some markets above it, too.
Jeffrey Bernstein
analystAnd do you see a higher average check for those people that are using the or a change in terms of behavior? I know some talk about obviously, it could drive, you can incentivize more behavior or what not to spend more uptick?
Christine Barone
executiveYes. I mean I think as we incent behaviors, we certainly see this. I don't think we've shared anything on differences in check between the program. And for now, our primary goal has really been more driving frequency rather than driving ticket with the program. And so that's our focus. And I think it's just a great source of data, too, to look at how things might change. So we break down our rewards customers by different cohorts. And so when they join the program, we also look at different frequency levels and how they change. And so again, I think as you as we go through the year, it's an awesome to have that level of data to see how the business is changing and evolving.
Jeffrey Bernstein
analystA couple of big moves over the past couple of quarters from a balance sheet and a liquidity standpoint. Maybe you could just walk us through the high-level thought process as to the changes that were made and why now was the right time to do those things?
Charles Jemley
executiveYes. We're really pleased with how we sequenced that. First, we went and activated to upsize our credit facility in August and move that up to $650 million in total. Then we started looking at borrowing rates and interest rates and decided the window is open for us to do a primary equity offering and took that cash in. Wiped out our line of credit and put some cash on the balance sheet and really felt like with the elevated build costs that we're experiencing with the fact that we had done a lot more ground leases, which use more capital per site to be able to control our pipeline and execute it so cleanly through COVID. We use more cash. That was a positive use of cash, but we use more cash. It was an opportune time to kind of bolster the balance sheet. And I think we were fortunate to get in a window where it was well accepted. The uptick on it. Now we're sitting there with cash on our balance sheet. Net debt is gone and we have effectively $700 million of total liquidity at our disposal, which should take us through a long runway of growth.
Jeffrey Bernstein
analystAnd how should we think about when we talked about kind of sales drivers, obviously, investors tend to focus on comps with the health of the business. But with your business, it seems like a whole lot should be the focus on unit growth, which as you talked about, is tremendous. So from mid-teens or greater type unit growth we're talking about, how do you decide what the right growth rate is? I mean it seems like presumably to go faster, many would say, go slower and fine-tune the operations. Like how do you decide and Christine coming in to say, no, maybe it should be at a different level. Like what's the gating factor? What keeps you from going faster or slower?
Christine Barone
executiveWell, the #1 gating factor for us is certainly people and our people system. And so it is so critically important that we are growing from within. Again, every single market we open is with an operator that's been with the company for a long time. And when we look at that metric, we're actually in a really healthy space. We have a huge pipeline of operators who are ready to open those next shops. And so that is the biggest gating factor for us is when are we ready and when do we have someone who can go and operate and open a new state. I think when you take a step back to the next level, we're looking really closely at how markets are receiving us? What's the right pace in order in which to enter a market to grow the brand in the best way. We've done a lot of work on brand awareness and looking at the health of our brand everywhere. And so we're really encouraged by the customer behaviors we're seeing and know that in some of our new markets, we really have a great opportunity to continue to grow the brand awareness as we grow into these new markets. But I think that despite the rapid growth rate, we really have the people systems in place to support that and have seen great, not only great turnover rates compared to the industry for our employee base also great satisfaction rates in our employee base even as we go into new markets. So all of those things are things we continue to look at and watch as we go into new markets. And we're also focused on traffic and IRR same-store sales. I would say when you look at our growth this year, about 30% that we're happy as we go into a new market to do infill and see some sales transfer out of that growth rate because if you're growing at about 30%, you see 200, 300 basis points of sales transfer, it's a really good trade-off for us to make. We do think as we're building sales, though, there's a number of different layers that we can still go after to build that traffic in our existing and in our new markets. So one, the rewards program is super important. Two, just looking at how we're doing innovation and where can we use innovation to introduce new day parts or to really look at enhancing frequency with beverages that drive frequency in a different way. So we're looking at all of those things. We're also looking at the way that we spend paid media, so to grow some of that awareness, especially in new markets, a little bit quicker and going from really a retargeting focused kind of paid media strategy to a broader reach paid media strategy as we're so new in so many of our markets. So again, I think we're pleased with where we are on both fronts.
Charles Jemley
executiveYes. I would say operations, right through put, speed of service, we're always focused on that, and we'll chip away at that over time to be able to make things faster and more efficiently so we can keep those lines moving or shorten those lines when they get long. That's a sales driver, too. .
Jeffrey Bernstein
analystYes. Christine before when you said that there's a line of mile long, my initial thought is there people standing in line, I was quickly reminded it was cars. So that puts a little bit more [indiscernible] but still that is a tremendous line and there are companies that say, "You know what, I want to just further infill in existing market because there's so many economies of scale from people on marketing and leverage standpoint". And others say, "no, it's great to plant flags in different places to prove out the brand". How do you think about the next number of years, whether it's a mix of stores in new versus existing markets? Or how you think about that versus we want to get to the U.S. states?
Christine Barone
executiveYes. I mean I think for us, it's both really that because that beverage is such a habitual occasion, and it's something that people do really often, you also can put them very close together. And so even as we're kind of moving to maybe put as we go into a market, put the stores a little further apart to start with, that's still actually compared to everything else really close together. And so as we go into markets, even as we're looking at kind of widening a little bit before we go deeper, it still means putting a scale number of our shops in each of the markets that we go into.
Charles Jemley
executiveYes. So 18 months ago, we were at 25% of our shops were going in and impacting another location. Now we're at about a 50% rate. You'd like to moderate that slightly, not go much past that because it just gives you a good balance. And to Christine's point, and we've described this in our meetings today, you might do shop 1, 2, 3, but the sequence of that, you might jump over to the third area first. Space them out a little bit, then come back and hit the middle versus in sequence and allow these shops to season out a little bit better. We're not talking about long-term changes there. We're just talking about refinement that helps us move through the sales creation that we need to have in a new market.
Jeffrey Bernstein
analystSo not that long ago, was 25% of stores were potentially cannibalizing and you got it up 50% which was infilling existing and middle is a reasonable Texas.
Charles Jemley
executiveYes. We went heavy in Texas for a very good reason.
Jeffrey Bernstein
analystYes. Understood. The people sort of things just said is the biggest potential gating factor. Well, first of all, you said there were 325 operators with 7 years. Are those operators that are ready to take on in other sites, that's your pipeline of people?
Christine Barone
executivePipeline of people. Yeah.
Jeffrey Bernstein
analystYou can open up more than 325 next year because those are the people that you feel...
Christine Barone
executiveYes. So each 1 of our operators is operating somewhere -- when we first go into a market, they have a single shop, but they can get up to 3 to 7 shops. And so that pipeline of 325 operators can open many more than 325 shops. They sit just above store, but because we really want to invest as we go into new markets, we start them with 1 shop in that new market. They can learn the market, learn the community, learn the schools that are around them and really invest in building our brand and who we are in those markets.
Jeffrey Bernstein
analystGreat. Because people investments are getting a lot of attention and inflation is outsized in the industry right now. I know you raised at least your manager wages in the most recent -- on the quarter we're sitting in now or effectively, that was 1 that was implemented. I was wondering what was the rationale for now? Whether or not that was proactive or reactive and only because I'm sure you've gotten that question a lot, but just the California side of things than the idea that come April that food restaurants are paying a whole lot more on labor. Like how do you think about that? How do you address the market like that in such a unique situation?
Christine Barone
executiveYes. So I think, one, first on the manager wage investments that we made, our philosophy from a labor perspective is always to be proactive. I think that we have really happy team members, our turnover is in a great place. And when you look at that, I think you never want to get behind in those areas. And so for us, it's always proactively looking at where the market -- where are the markets that we operate, where are other sitting? How do we compare? And let's make sure that we stay in a place where we feel really good about where we are from a wage investment perspective. We also, from a development perspective, added some duties that were sitting kind of above shop into our shop manager duties and part of that is really to get them more ready for that next level and those operator jobs. So as our shop managers are sitting, getting ready, kind of giving them more of those responsibilities so they'll be even more successful when they go into new markets. As far as some of the wage investments, we're a West Coast brand. So we are very used to what's happened with minimum wages on the West Coast over time and kind of the frequent upticks in minimum wage. And in particular, in the California piece, what we're doing is we've just done an extensive pricing study to really get ready to understand where our opportunities might be we are looking at what the rest of the market is going to do. And I think that with pricing, it's always great to be kind of in line with what others are doing and when they're doing it. And from a customer perspective, it makes a lot of sense when they know that a big wage move is going to happen, they're going to be expecting that, that might show up kind of in their local what they pay for locally as well. And so just being thoughtful about that and getting that all ready to go for April.
Jeffrey Bernstein
analystAnd it seems like if you were trying to find a positive light to all of this in California, in particular, we've heard a number of companies say that, well, first of all, you're putting more money in the consumers' pockets and that's your customers. So that's not all bad things. And just the idea that when you're in a business or your segment, it seems like it was primarily independent. Well, there's a lot of independent operators selling beverages. It would seem like independents going to have a tougher time managing through something like this. So there could be -- we've heard a number of concepts talk about how they expect the competition to ease because some people just want to be able to run a business with 1 or 3 or 5 shops, which is at that level without taking up huge price increases. Hopefully, there's a way that you could benefit in perhaps go on or more market share in an environment like that, that's tough for others.
Christine Barone
executiveNo. I mean, I think that we would echo and always feel great about putting more money in our Broistas pocket. And I do believe that we have a lot of customers out there who will be making more in California come April. And we're a small ticket indulgence, and so it's a fun place to go. And then as far as competition, look, I mean I hope that everyone does well through this. I think in California, a lot of concepts have higher volumes. And so I hope it will be a good learning to see how it's absorbed and how this all plays out.
Jeffrey Bernstein
analystYes. Got another 5 minutes or so. I've got a number of other questions, but we'll take a pause and see if there's any questions from the audience.
Unknown Attendee
attendeeChristine, Starbucks had some problems because they were almost every drink was customized and it took a longer time, and it made it tough on the baristas and they didn't have the interactions that they felt were important in serving their customers. How complex are your beverages?
Christine Barone
executiveYes, I would say our customers do like to customize their beverages. In fact, one of the things they like to do is they come through the line to tell the Broista, "hey, make me whatever you want today and surprise me". And I think we've actually made it fun and been really thoughtful as we innovate. I think, one, it's a super unique working environment, right, that were drive-through-only concept. And so you get to greet the customer in the line and you're greeting the customer through the window. But our work environment is enclosed. So you can listen to great music you come to work often times with friends and folks you want to hang out with. And as we design and make beverages, it was really the original design was to be like a bar. And so you're kind of mixing things up and making it fun. And so we have put in things like freeze machines and things that some of the more monotonous parts of the job that folks don't like as much. We have taken those pieces. But again, every single thing we do, the first question we ask ourselves is, is this going to be a better environment for our Broistas or not? And how do we process everything we do through that lens. Because I think when you have happy folks greening your customers, it's the best place you can be.
Jeffrey Bernstein
analystJust in the last couple of minutes from a profitability standpoint, the restaurant margins, how should we think about that going into 2024? The past couple of years have been tremendous with inflation and now easing inflation and menu pricing and whatnot. But steady stage. Should we think of what the year would you say is the most comparable to? Or how should we think about commodity and labor inflation versus pricing going into '24?
Charles Jemley
executiveWell, a lot of change. I would say that we're well prepared to get through '24 because our margins are in a good place. I wouldn't say they're peaking, I wouldn't say directionally which way they're going to go. I would just say they're -- they're high enough where if we have to make some investments like we just decided to do, November 1 in shop manager wages, we're well prepared to absorb that. We should be in a more normal outside of the wage moves we've made in the California piece, probably more of a normal wage escalation environment. As we move east, our average wage moves downward based on portfolio. It feels like a lot of the supply chain challenges we've had are starting to normalize and abate and come back to us a little bit. So I do just summarize it in, we're in a great place, but we'll be wise and thoughtful about whether it's appropriate for that to go up or for us to make some investments.
Jeffrey Bernstein
analystAnd the pricing side of it, I mean, some management teams think that pricing is you take whatever is necessary to offset the inflation in good times or bad, and others say that is not. I'm just wondering how you think about the use of -- what's pricing's role in this whole situation? Do you price fully to offset inflation? Do you perhaps underpriced to allow more traffic to grow? Like how do you think about it conceptually? Now going into hopefully less inflation, so the past couple of years have been a unique example, but...
Christine Barone
executiveYes. No, I would say I think pricing is a complex topic as it should be. So one, I think it's having the right data. So understanding where your customers are, how they feel about your price understanding where your competition is and where you're priced relative to it. I think it's really important to understand which beverages and which areas do you truly have unique products that it's hard to compare to others. And what are those like reference points like the gallon of milk in the grocery store. And so how do you think about pricing those in a way that's really signaling your overall price to the market. As far as I think that being prepared for the environment and what it is, is always something we're thinking through, but we also have to be knowledgeable and where are our customers and what's going to drive the most traffic for us and where do we have kind of points where we think price could actually not serve what we're trying to do. And again, to Charley's point, I think we feel great about where our margins are. And so feel good about where we are heading into 2024.
Jeffrey Bernstein
analystGreat. Well, we've exhausted our full 40 minutes, but I wanted to take this time to thank Dutch Bros and Christine and Charley and Joth in the audience and team for joining us today. I hope you had a good day of meetings. And thank you, everyone, for joining us.
Christine Barone
executiveThank you.
Charles Jemley
executiveThank you.
Jeffrey Bernstein
analystThank you.
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