“What is important, and something we will discuss more at Investor Day, is that beverages are part of the baseline growth platforms that can deliver multiple years of growth, which is why we plan to continue extending the platform to other markets.”

In context

“Ian Borden (Chief Financial Officer): Lauren, thanks for the question. A few points: during Q2 we launched our new platform in three markets, the U.S., Canada and Germany, and Australia launched in mid July. Results have been very consistent, generally in line with or above our initial expectations across those markets. As we have mentioned, more than half of the traffic is coming after lunch, which is compelling because it fills periods of lower volume and greater capacity and indicates incrementality as a new occasion driven by the beverages. We are also seeing a strong average check because of strong food attachment with beverages; average check is up about 50 percent versus the full-day average. Germany is a useful example because in Q2 it was the only market that had the full lineup of cold coffee, crafted sodas, refreshers and energy, and although it is still early, we are seeing meaningful incrementality to comparable guest counts and sales and a meaningful impact on restaurant-level cash flow. What is important, and something we will discuss more at Investor Day, is that beverages are part of the baseline growth platforms that can deliver multiple years of growth, which is why we plan to continue extending the platform to other markets.”