Darden POST STRONG NUMbers and raises the bar
DRI is a SHORT
Darden Restaurants (DRI): 2Q22 GAAP EPS of $1.48 beats by $0.04 and Revenue of $2.27B (+36.7% Y/Y) beats by $40 Million. Same-restaurant sales of +34.4% vs. +47.5% in previous quarter. They raised full-year outlook: Total sales of ~$9.55 to $9.7 billion (prior:$9.4 to $9.6 billion) vs. consensus of $9.54B; same-restaurant sales vs. fiscal 2021 of 29% to 31%; approximately 35 to 40 new restaurant openings; EBITDA between $1.55 to $1.60 billion (prior: $1.54 to $1.60B); effective tax rate of ~14% and Diluted net earnings per share from continuing operations of $7.35 to $7.60 (prior: $7.25 to $7.60) vs. consensus of $7.61.
The more significant shift for the industry was the increases in wages: "Given the strength of our performance, we are accelerating a commitment we announced earlier this year to increase the minimum hourly earnings for restaurant team members to $12, which includes income earned through gratuities, effective 1-Jan-22. With this change, we expect our restaurant team members will earn, on average, approximately $20 per hour."
ANOTHER RACE TO THE BOTTOM?
TKWY-NL is a long
It's starting to feel like 2018 all over again when GRUB's was spending aggressively against upstart DASH for delivery market share in the US. Today, Bloomberg is reporting, and ASDA confirmed a trial would allow Just Eat customers to order groceries from five Asda doors initially, with an expansion expected over the year. At the same time, Instant grocery is growing aggressively in the GRUB core market. Instant Groceries where urban-dwelling consumers buy food and other essentials and can get them delivered in 15 minutes or less continue to be a big business, and one of the biggest GoPuff is in the process of raising $1.5 billion with a valuation of up to $40 billion. From the TechCrunch reporting, the funding is being structured as a "Series X" convertible note from Guggenheim Partners. The speculation is now that GoPuff, most likely IPO in 2022.
Getting rid of dining rooms lowers costs
CMG is gearing up to cut costs on new units
Yesterday, chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) announced its first Chipotlane Digital Kitchen restaurant in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. The new prototype offers a Chipotlane and walk-up window for efficient digital order pickup. The future of the QSR segment will be to lower costs by eliminating dining rooms. Located at 994 Graham Road in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, the restaurant is open later this month.
UBER Driverless partnership
Yesterday UBER announced a partnership with driverless technology company Motional to launch autonomous deliveries for Uber customers, starting in Santa Monica in early 2022. The partnership is Uber's first with an autonomous vehicle provider. Motional will use its next-generation autonomous vehicle, the all-electric Hyundai IONIQ 5-based robotaxi, with in-vehicle modifications in place to enable autonomous deliveries of select meal kits to Uber customers. Both Uber and Motional see autonomous vehicles playing an essential role in the on-demand delivery ecosystem, with AVs helping to increase access to convenient and affordable deliveries. @hedgeyeindstrls follows UBER
