Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator instructions) We’ll go first to Matt Difrisco with Oppenheimer.
Matt Difrisco – Oppenheimer
Thank you. I’m just trying to go through some of the comments and also the text in the release here. You mentioned that the day parts seem to be positive and that you hope in the future that the barbell strategy of pricing premium products and the value traffic driver are going to result in positive. Are you then saying that you are seeing right now positive traffic and positive comps overall?
Cliff Hudson
No, the comment was related to positive traffic, Matt, not positive sales.
Matt Difrisco – Oppenheimer
Okay. So, the tax refers to currently positive traffic, but not with the further momentum behind premium prices, you’re hoping to add that to the mix and monetize that traffic then in term positive sometime in ’09?
Cliff Hudson
We would hope to do that. That is correct. That is exactly what the strategy is intended to do.
Matt Difrisco – Oppenheimer
Okay. Would that also include then the margins? Are you looking for better gross margin of those premium products as well or is it gross profit dollars where you are just going to get a better leverage, or are they marked up higher?
Cliff Hudson
Well, they would have better operating margins in the Everyday Value Menu items, Matt. And I think if you were to see our sales turn positive, obviously that would have a major impact on our margins.
Matt Difrisco – Oppenheimer
Okay. And then last question, was this quarter a full event quarter as far as the rollout of some of the new labor initiatives that you were trying to do with the ability to lower some of the hourly wage rate by including tips? Did you have that full benefit then for all of the second quarter?
Cliff Hudson
Yes, we implemented that program last July. We did not lower any wage rate. I want to make that clear. That was a program that was implemented for new hires going forward. And so there was no lowering of existing carhop wage rate. So that program continues to phase in in terms of the expected benefits.
Matt Difrisco – Oppenheimer
Okay. Thank you.
Operator
We’ll go next to Steven Kron with Goldman Sachs.
Steven Kron – Goldman Sachs
Hi, thanks. Couple of questions. First a follow-up to Matt’s question on the balanced promotional approach going forward. Can you just talk a little bit about how this is going to play out from an advertising perspective? It doesn’t sound as if you are going to increase your marketing spend beyond what you guys have already talked about. So, where do you expect the dollars to be spent on a relative basis between premium versus value? And maybe if you could show a little bit whether you’ve done this already on a regional basis and show any takeaways of whether you saw the results at this point.
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