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Morton's Restaurant Group Q3 2007 Earnings Call Transcript

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2007-10-29 09:18:51.0

Tags: Morton's Restaurant Group Inc.

Question-and-Answer Session

Operator

Your first question comes from Nicole Miller - Piper Jaffray.

Nicole Miller - Piper Jaffray

I just wanted to clarify the fourth quarter. It looks like Annapolis opened and are there two total or two in addition to that?

Ron DiNella

Three total for Q4, which is Annapolis; Boston Seaport, which opens to the public this Friday, November 2; and then our Woodland Hills opening is scheduled for early December.

Nicole Miller - Piper Jaffray

Peaking ahead to 2008 development, should we factor in some of these same issues, it's not like they go away, and back-end load development or do you think it will be more evenly weighted?

Ron DiNella

At this juncture, we have two restaurants under construction which we expect to open in early '08 and the balance of the restaurants, which we talked about five to seven in total, will be in the back half of the year and skewed, frankly, more toward the back quarter of the year.

Nicole Miller - Piper Jaffray

Are all of those projected units under signed leases or LOIs at this point?

Ron DiNella

Signed leases and LOIs, that's correct.

Nicole Miller - Piper Jaffray

For 2008 pricing, can you talk to us about what you expect or what it takes to offset potential commodity increases in beef specifically?

Ron DiNella

I guess the primer for meat costs would be that if meat costs or commodity costs increase 3%, we would plan or anticipate a 1% price increase to offset those costs dollar-for-dollar.

Nicole Miller - Piper Jaffray

That is what you did in '07 when you talk about that 5% increase, you took price to offset that, correct?

Ron DiNella

Yes, that is exactly what we did.

Nicole Miller - Piper Jaffray

Can you talk to us about current fourth quarter October same-store sales trends?

Thomas Baldwin

Right now, Nicole, we're at the low end of our range but we are still seeing positive comps.

Ron DiNella

Nicole, we finished the third quarter very strong and our steak and seafood promotion was very strong. We had a very solid 13th week of September. As is typical, we see a fall-off in the first week of the subsequent quarter. So we did see a down comp in that first week of October; because of the strength, we think we accelerated some of that volume. The last couple of weeks are in the comp range that we are talking about for fourth quarter guidance.

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