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Good morning. My name is Anas and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the conference call for Recipe Unlimited Corporation 2021 Fourth Quarter and Year-End Results. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there'll be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions]
Today's conference is being recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time. Before turning the meeting over to management, please be advised that this call contains certain forward-looking statements that are based on current expectations and are subject to a number of uncertainties, risks, and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Recipe be to be materially different.
Further information identifying risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, and additional information on certain non-IFRS measures refer to this call can be found in the company's management discussion and analysis and annual information form available on SEDAR.
I will now turn the meeting over to Frank Hennessey, Chief Executive Officer of Recipe Unlimited Corporation. Mr. Hennessey, you may begin your conference.
Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining today's conference call. On the call with me today is Ken Grondin, our Chief Financial Officer. And we are once again presenting via webcast.
This week, we have begun seeing COVID restrictions end in many parts of the country. We expect mask mandates end this month in Ontario as we've already seen in Saskatchewan and Alberta. And we're also expecting a vibrant spring patio season and we know guests are excited to be coming back to restaurants.
Since this crisis began now almost two years ago to the day, our dining rooms have been ordered closed and reopened on four separate occasions. The conditions placed upon our teams to uphold all government mandates has been without precedent. Today is Employee Appreciation Day, and we are extremely proud of all of our operations and support teams who have managed all of these restrictions, rules while still ensuring that they provide the very best guest experience possible in extremely difficult circumstances.
Despite all of the negative news that has surrounded the restaurant industry these past two years, Recipe has not only survived, but we have actually taken steps to further improve and strengthen our business. We have also, along every step on this journey, have not forgotten to support our partners and our teammates.
Since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, we have provided over CAD 40 million in direct financial rent relief to franchisees. In 2020, we provided CAD 7.5 million in royalty support. For Q1 F 2022, we have increased the Rent Certainty Program by an estimated CAD 5 million. Our Central teams have and continue to work closely with our franchisees on navigating the complexity of government support programs to ensure they maximize what is available to them. For our own frontline teammates, we have provided over CAD 5 million in combined premium pay, salary continuance and dining allowances since the beginning of the crisis.
Our business portfolio has actually been strengthened in fiscal 2021. We divested of the noncore brands of Milestones and Tavern 1909, and we consolidated our 100% ownership of Burger's Priest and Fresh. We have continued to build out our new off-premise concept called Ultimate Kitchens. And in 2021, we opened 19 new restaurants, renovated 36 other restaurants, and completed 61 Franchise agreement renewals.
Our E-Commerce business has continued its impressive growth. In 2021, our E-Commerce business grew 35% to finish at CAD 675 million in sales. Our E-Comm business is up 98% versus 2019. And in fiscal 2021, it accounted for 25% of total sales. Our Retail business continued its sales growth in F 2021, up 8.8% versus F 2020 and up 22.5% versus F 2019. As the country opens back up, we were also seeing the event space begin to reactivate. We have already secured a number of key events for 2022, such as the Canadian Open for Golf and National Bank Tennis. These events will showcase our brands on their grounds and will be coordinated through our catering company, M&O.
Our book is continuing to fill up and we expect to be able to announce shortly some other significant partnerships. Our retail brands continue their expansion. This month, we'll be introducing our newest addition to our ever-expanding beverage retail products, a new vodka seltzer called Bulletproof that will be available in our restaurants and at LCBO stores across Ontario. We're going to continue to grow our portfolio of retail brands that will include our own restaurant branded product, along with white label brands and partner brands.
For the fourth quarter, Total System Sales was CAD 790.4 million, up 29.3% versus the previous year and only down 11.8% versus 2019. As many of you recall, the threat of Omicron was getting more pronounced as late November moved into December, and we began to see this impact consumer behavior at our restaurants with many large parties canceling their events.
System Sales for the year was CAD 2,723.9 million, up 12.3% versus the previous year. After adjusting for the divestitures of Milestones and 1909 Taverne, System Sales for the year increased by 13.2% versus the previous year. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter increased to CAD 39.3 million in the quarter, up 12.3% versus Q4 F 2020. And for the year, adjusted EBITDA was CAD 144 million, up 26.5%. Note that subsidies were very minimal in the quarter.
The repayment of CAD 65.2 million in long-term debt in the quarter and CAD 95.2 million for the year demonstrates the power of our business to generate free cash flow from our operating model and our prudent cash management, while still helping our teammates and our Franchise partners. Our long-term debt position at the end of the fiscal year is lower now than it was prior to the pandemic outbreak in March of 2020.
And I'm now going to turn it over to Ken to give a deeper review of our financial results.
Thank you, Frank, and good morning, everyone. For the first part of the financial review, I will focus on Recipe's 2021 consolidated results, and we'll finish with the summary of our segmented business performance as reported last night and posted on SEDAR. Total growth for the fourth – total revenue – total gross revenue for the fourth quarter of 2021 was CAD 299.3 million, compared to CAD 210.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2020 and CAD 327 million in the fourth quarter of 2019. Total gross revenue for the full year 2021 was CAD 1 billion, compared to CAD 864.6 million in 2020, and CAD 1.25 billion in 2019.
The increase in gross revenue from 2020 was related to higher System Sales in both our Corporate and Franchise restaurants and higher sales in our retail and grocery channels. The decrease in gross revenue from 2019 was driven by the effects of government-mandated temporary restaurant closures and restrictions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic which began in March 2020.
Adjusted EBITDA was CAD 39.3 million in the quarter, compared to CAD 35 million in Q4 2020 and CAD 60.5 million in 2019. Adjusted EBITDA for the year was CAD 144 million, compared to CAD 113.8 million in 2020 and CAD 216 million in 2019. The increases for the quarter and the full year over 2020 were driven by increased System Sales, partially offset by lower government subsidies and an increase in food input costs, in particular in our Retail segment.
Government subsidies in Q4 2021 were only CAD 1.1 million, compared to CAD 11.6 million in Q3 2021, and CAD 16.3 million in Q4 2020. Our adjusted EBITDA results in Q4 2021 and for the full year 2021 demonstrate the earnings ability of Recipe's improved portfolio mix of restaurants even as subsidies reduce.
Turning to segmented results for the quarter and full year, Total System Sales from Corporate restaurants declined from CAD 197.4 million in Q4 2019 to CAD 93.1 million in 2020; then increased to CAD 152.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2021. Adjusting for the divestiture of Milestones, System Sales from Corporate restaurants declined from CAD 176.7 million in Q4 2019 to CAD 83.9 million in 2020; then increased to CAD 152.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2021.
The increase over 2020 was driven by higher dining room sales and higher off-premise System Sales in the Corporate segment. The decrease from 2019 reflects the effect of COVID-19 related restrictions, which impacted 42.7% of the company's total operating weeks in the fourth quarter of 2021.
For the full year, Corporate System Sales declined from CAD 790.1 million in 2019 to CAD 423.8 million in 2020, and then increased to CAD 495.1 million in 2021. The increase from 2020 was driven by less dining room closures and restrictions compared to 2020. The decrease from 2019 was driven by the effects of government-mandated temporary restaurant closures and restrictions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Total adjusted EBITDA from Corporate restaurants was CAD 6.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to CAD 1.5 million in 2020 and CAD 19.3 million in 2019. For the full year, adjusted EBITDA from Corporate restaurants was CAD 29 million, compared to CAD 400,000 in 2020 and CAD 75 million in 2019.
The CAD 4.7 million increased in the quarter and CAD 28.6 million increased for the full year from 2020 was driven by higher Corporate restaurant sales, partially offset by a corresponding increase in cost of sales and a decrease in government subsidies. Total System Sales from Franchise restaurants declined from CAD 606.1 million in Q4 2019 to CAD 425.7 million in Q4 2020, then increased to CAD 538.6 million in Q4 2021.
Adjusting for the divestiture of Milestones, System Sales from franchised restaurants declined from CAD 594.1 million in Q4 2019 to CAD 419.7 million in Q4 2020, then increased to CAD 538.6 million in Q4 2021. For the full year, Franchise System Sales declined from CAD 2.4 billion in 2019 to CAD 1.7 billion in Q4 2020, then increased to CAD 1.9 billion in 2021. The increases from 2020 were driven by less dining room closures and restrictions, and the decreases from 2019 were driven by the effects of government-mandated temporary restaurant closures and restrictions.
Total adjusted EBITDA from franchised restaurants decreased from CAD 26.6 million in Q4 2019 to CAD 16.7 million in Q4 2020, then increased to CAD 25.5 million in Q4 2021. Full-year total adjusted EBITDA from franchised restaurants decreased from CAD 105.1 million in 2019 to CAD 64.8 million in 2020 and increased CAD 85.4 million in 2021.
Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of franchised System Sales was 4.7% in Q4 2021, compared to 3.9% in Q4 2020 and 4.4% in Q4 2019. The increase in adjusted EBITDA from Q4 2020 reflects the impact of the 2020 Recipe COVID-19 royalty subsidy program which came into effect on March 15, 2020 in December – and ended on December 27, 2020.
The increase in Franchise adjusted EBITDA rate as a percentage of Franchise System Sales from 4.4% in 2019 to 4.6% in 2021 reflects the overall health of the company's restaurant network and the success of the company's restaurant portfolio improvement efforts which have reduced the number of franchised restaurants on royalty and rent assistance.
Turning to the Retail and Catering segment, Retail sales reported within the Retail and Catering segments related to the manufacture and distribution of fresh, frozen, non-perishable branded and private label food products. Catering sales related to food and beverage sales from Recipe's catering divisions, operating under The Pickle Barrel and Marigolds & Onions banners. System Sales from the Retail and Catering division in Q4 were CAD 99 million, compared to CAD 92.6 million in 2020, and CAD 92.3 million in 2019, representing an increase of CAD 6.4 million or 6.9% from Q4 2020 and CAD 6.7 million or 7.3% from Q4 2019.
For the full year, Retail and Catering sales was CAD 367.2 million, compared to CAD 337.9 million in 2020, and CAD 316.4 million in 2019, representing an increase of CAD 29.3 million or 8.7% from 2020, and an increase of CAD 50.8 million or 16.1% from 2019. This demonstrates the strong customer demand for Recipe retail offering sold in grocery channels, even after restaurants open, and partially offset by declines in catering sales due to the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on catering events and related venues.
Adjusted EBITDA from the Retail and Catering Division in Q4 was CAD 8 million, compared to CAD 13.1 million in Q4 2020 and CAD 13.1 million in Q4 2019. Full-year adjusted EBITDA from the Retail and Catering Division was CAD 30.6 million, compared to CAD 48.4 million in 2020 and CAD 36.5 million in 2019.
The decreases were driven by the change in product sales mix, higher retail food input costs, and a decrease in federal wage subsidies for the year compared to 2020, partially offset by an increase in sales volume and some price adjustments to grocers. The company continues to execute its growth strategy in the Retail segment, which includes growing its market share in a number of retail categories.
During 2021, the company experienced strong growth in a number of categories. The fresh and frozen ribs category, in particular, has experienced higher-than-anticipated growth. The ribs category traditionally has lower gross margins than other grocery items, and the ribs margins have been especially challenged in 2021 because of higher protein input costs compared to prior years because of global supply chain issues. Gross margins in the Retail segment are expected to normalize as certain input costs recover and selling prices to grocers are adjusted.
Turning to the Central segment, Central operations segment consists of sales generated by Recipe's off-premise call center business representing fees generated from delivery, call ahead, Web, and mobile-based meal orders. Central operations segment EBITDA consists of franchise fees, property and equipment rent, and vendor volume rebates reduced by net Central overhead costs after federal wage subsidies and after royalties paid to the Keg Royalty Income Fund (sic) [Keg Royalties Income Fund].
Adjusted EBITDA from the Central segment was a loss of CAD 400,000 in the quarter, compared to CAD 3.7 million in Q4 2020 and CAD 1.5 million in Q4 2019. Full-year adjusted EBITDA from the Central segment was a loss of CAD 1.1 million compared to a CAD 200,000 contribution in 2020 and a loss of CAD 500,000 in 2019.
The net change for the quarter and the year compared to 2020 is mainly due to lower government subsidies. During the 52 weeks ended December 26, 2021, management successfully opened 19 new restaurants, we closed 61 locations, and divested 41 Milestones and two 1909 Taverne locations. It should be noted that the 61 closures include 27 New York Fries international location that may reopen and two Milestones in Casey's that are no longer part of our portfolio of brands.
The company ended the year with 1,261 restaurants compared to 1,341 restaurants in 2020. Unlike others within the restaurant industry, Recipe's restaurant closures were part of a pre-COVID long-term strategic plan where management identified locations that no longer fit the long-term plan of the company and/or restaurants that were underperforming.
For Corporate restaurant locations that no longer fit the long-term strategic plan of the company, management is taking steps to exit these sites. For Franchise locations that are underperforming, the company will work with franchisees to help them achieve sustainable success, which may include the company providing financial support in the form of royalty relief or other financial assistance.
It's also important to note that Recipe's restaurant portfolio has limited exposure to urban markets and shopping centers, with more than 85% of the company's restaurants located in suburban or small markets as at the end of 2021.
This is important since the negative impacts from COVID pandemic have been amplified in urban markets due to lower traffic as a result of more people working from home, reduced business travel, and lower hotel occupancy. Similarly, food courts and shopping centers have been – have generally experienced a higher level of operating restrictions relative to suburban and small markets.
Turning to total net debt, the company's net debt at the end of 2019 prior to the pandemic was CAD 439 million, which left the company with available liquidity of CAD 359.6 million. Through prudent cash management and strategic measures, the company has maintained a stable net debt balance throughout the pandemic.
Our solid 2021 financial performance enabled us to generate cash flows from operations of CAD 70.8 million in the fourth quarter and CAD 191.7 million for the full year, and allowed us to repay CAD 65.2 million of long-term debt in the quarter and CAD 95.2 million for the year, bringing our end of 2021 net debt balance to CAD 354.4 million and our available liquidity to CAD 505.6 million. Recipe's net debt at the end of 2021 is CAD 84.5 million less than at the end of 2019 before the impact of COVID.
For 2021, the company generated for CAD 40.5 million of free cash flow, compared to CAD 11 million in Q4 2020 and CAD 49.3 million in Q4 2019. The company will continue to prudently manage its cash flows and liquidity to protect the short-term and long-term health of Recipe, its brands and franchises, and to prepare for the return to opportunistic and strategic growth and enhance shareholder returns.
For 2021, the company generated basic earnings per share of CAD 0.75 and diluted EPS of CAD 0.71 compared to a diluted loss per share of CAD 0.92 in 2020. The increase in earnings per share over 2020 was driven by the CAD 95.7 million increase in net earnings, primarily from CAD 30.2 million increase in adjusted EBITDA and CAD 53.4 million decrease in asset impairment charges compared to the prior year, as well as a decrease in interest expenses on reduced balances and long-term debt.
This concludes the financial commentary of the call. I'll now turn the discussion back to Frank.
Thank you, Ken. No organization can grow successfully today if it doesn't have a talented and engaged workforce united by shared values. Today, there is a fight for talent in all sectors as the world emerges from the pandemic. For the past few years, we have made significant investments in training for our teammates in order to curate a culture that is representative of a vibrant, modern growth organization.
Our leadership and development program now has 56 courses led by 45 subject matter experts. Our gamification training system that engages with all frontline teammates and is based on brain science has had over 30 million questions answered, with an average of 22,000 people engaged with the system each month.
This clearly demonstrates that our teams have a passion for learning and that the content being delivered to them is engaging and effective. We have and we'll continue to invest in our future leaders by providing skills training they require to be successful today, while also providing the coaching and mentoring support they require to be successful tomorrow.
By establishing this people culture, we believe we will not only retain top talent, but also attract top talent to our organization. This is why we are very excited that Recipe has been certified as a Great Place to Work, and has also been recognized as one of the Best Workplaces in Canada for hybrid work.
We're also excited to announce that Todd Barclay has joined Recipe as President of Casual Brands and Government Relations. Todd is coming to us for his role as President and CEO of Restaurants Canada. He was instrumental in helping the industry navigate the pandemic and to advocate on behalf of restaurant owners.
Todd will have responsibility for the Vaughan-based casual restaurant brands including brands such as Montana's, Swiss Chalet, Kelsey's and Eastside Mario's. Todd has extensive knowledge of the restaurant industry and will be a great addition to our team.
While we are excited to see COVID restrictions lifting across the country, the impact of COVID will be with us for some time more. We are now dealing with the hangover impact of COVID and other recent domestic and global socioeconomic factors.
During the quarter, we saw significant supply chain disruptions as manufacturing plants shut down due to labor shortages caused by the spread of the Omicron variant as well as distribution disruptions especially in BC which inhibited the flow of goods. Inflation both food and labor is clearly the biggest challenge facing all food industries with significant commodity increases in beef, chicken, wheat products, dairy and vegetable oil, along with manufacturers seeking higher prices to cover rising overhead costs due to ongoing labor shortages.
Also, on January 1, higher minimum wage rates came into effect in Ontario. The tragic conflict in Europe will also impact global commodity pricing for food grains and oil. Much higher gasoline prices are impacting household disposable incomes. Recipe's food buying power, combined with locked-in supply agreements for most commodities, at least through the third quarter of fiscal 2022, does provide us with some significant inflation protection versus our competitors, yet we are not immune to cost increases.
We have increased menu prices, and we are encouraged that guests appear willing to spend more as the emerging market. We will continue to closely monitor cost pressures, menu pricing, guest satisfaction scores and guest count traffic. Our goal remains to deliver on our four pillar operational experience with a clear focus to ensure that our guests continue to find value for their experience, and I'm confident that this team will deliver that promise.
Strength of our leadership teams, the agility we have demonstrated throughout the pandemic, and the ability of our business model to generate free cash flow suggests that Recipe will be able to manage the current economic challenges facing the industry while still pursuing growth initiatives. We will pursue those initiatives through acquisitions to strengthen our portfolio, through continued renovations to increase our same restaurant sales, while also building 40 new restaurants this year, and we'll continue to expand both our footprint and our offerings in the retail sector.
Again, let me end my prepared comments by thanking our entire team at Recipe. They continue to do the extraordinary each and every day.
And with that, I'll turn it back to the operator to take some questions.
Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from Peter Sklar, BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good morning. It's Emily for Peter. So, we noticed that food purchased from restaurants CPI inflation has been lower than grocery CPI inflation in recent months. So, for example, in January, it's 4.1% for restaurant CPI, and grocery CPI was 6.5%. So, why is that, first of all, and what price have you been able to pass through so far? And have you been able to get full recovery? And what's the outlook? And finally, are there any differences in the ability to pass through amongst your different brands?
Hi, Emily. Well, there's a lot to unpack in the question. So, regarding the CPI between the sectors, I think so much of it, just like it does inside the recipe within our brands, it's really relevant on the mix of goods where products are sold. So, I don't have a specific answer for you on exactly that question. We can look into it more and necessarily look very closely at what groceries inflation is other than to know that they take – they've had significant inflation, and they've had significant shortages.
And sorry, the second part of your – the second part of your question was with regards to what? Could you repeat it?
Yeah. What price have you been able to pass through so far, and has it been enough to recover the cost impact?
Yeah. So, we're not getting into what pricing we have taken. We have taken pricing, as you were all aware, with everything that's going on, certainly, continuing to see commodity pressures. As I mentioned in my prepared statement, we do have pricing protection in some of those commodity products through the third quarter of this year, and we'll monitor it brand by brand of what's necessary. It is a balance. You need to cover some of these costs and make sure that we have supply.
But we're also cognizant of elasticity in the market and making sure that we're generating traffic. So, again, we're going to monitor all fronts. But it is – I'm not going to pull punches here. It's impactful on the industry and its impact to everyone in grocery as well. I think the only sort of – if there's any good news in this, it's that everyone is relatively in the same position. Grocery and restaurants are all feeling the pressures and unfortunately, we're seeing prices go up across the board.
Okay. Great. So, my second question is pertains to labor. So, presumably, the worst of the labor shortage as a result of Omicron have passed. So, what we want to know is, if the labor situation has improved versus what it was pre-Omicron, say, like late November or so, and if any of the recent labor shortages caused any limited hours or closures at the restaurant?
It did in the quarter in some markets, particularly in Quebec. We had – we experienced that and it was really – wasn't just a sort of people who may have had COVID but it was also people isolated, but we saw it in the supply chain so a lot. And even in our Retail sector, if you're at the Province of Québec, you would have noticed that grocery stores closed on Sundays in December and weren't doing a lot of flyer promotions because they couldn't handle the volume.
So, we did experience that. Again, it was geographic specific. It probably – it was impactful in the geography, but it wasn't as impactful overall to Recipe. But you're right, as the Omicron variant hopefully has gone away – and our labor situation and staffing wise, I think it's safe to say has improved significantly. So, we're confident that we'll be fine going forward, provided no other variants pop up.
Okay. And just one final question. Some of the question in complete restaurant closures for Q4 was 42.7% and now with most restrictions likely behind us, would you be able to share with us what this statistic would look for Q1?
Emily, it's Ken Grondin. We're not in a position to talk about Q1 right now, but as you know, in many parts of the country, our dining rooms were closed for January and most in February.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. Your next question comes from George Doumet with Scotiabank. Please go ahead.
Good morning, guys. This is [indiscernible] (35:15) calling on George's behalf. I was looking at the Corporate restaurant contribution margin. Obviously, there's an impact of restriction and reduction in government subsidies, but there's also inflation in food and labor. So, my question is how we should think about management forward with the more normalized sales but including that inflation?
I didn't hear you very clearly, but I think you're asking about Corporate contribution margin. And I guess, going forward, and right now in the last year, and particularly Q4, you're right, there's food inflation, there's wage subsidies, there's other impacts of closures. There's also reduced sales volume that impacts the total profitability because of the higher rent cost.
So, we would expect, once we are fully open and – we're already operating at full capacity ideally with full traffic, then we're going to get back to hopefully 2019 types of levels. But we will have higher input costs. And as Frank mentioned earlier, we're addressing pricing strategies to try to maintain margins with – in such a way that we don't discourage traffic from our guests.
Yeah. And I think – this is Frank. So, I think I would just point that on is that, I think our first priority to make sure that we're covering up our margin dollars because we do need to be mindful that if you take prices up to too far then you're just going to have that elasticity impact and that's not where we want to go.
So, we want to make sure we're covering up our margin dollars and, again, just – it's going to be brand by brand because they have different mixes, they have different input costs. So, they're impacted differently.
Thanks, very helpful. A follow-up on that, how should we think going forward about the unit growth? Obviously, there has been some divestiture in Corporate stores. Is there any banner that you see as frontrunner driving the growth?
I'm sorry. I'm going to get – unless Ken caught it, I pretty much...
Yeah. I think you're asking about unit growth and which banners, and we've called this out previously. Our high-growth target brands include Burger's Priest, Fresh, our tequila brands, Añejo, Blanco. These are what we believe are high-growth opportunities. And then, we will have continued portfolio improvement in our other more stable brands. But, clearly, we're looking to accelerate the growth in those new banners.
Thank you, everyone. That's it from me.
Thank you. Your next question comes from John Zamparo with CIBC. Please go ahead.
Thanks. Good morning. I wanted to turn back to the labor supply issue, and you'd mentioned the impact on the Retail business. I wonder if you could take a shot at quantifying the impact on maybe not System Sales, but hours in the restaurant, operating hours. And then is it fair to say that the bigger impact has been on your brands that that where your own delivery like Swiss Chalet and St-Hubert?
Look, John, so I want to make sure I get the question really clear. You're asking about labor shortages or hours?
Well, shortages leading to hours, but ultimately, I'm trying to find out what you think an impact on System Sales was just from not having enough people able to staff stores and also deliver meals as well.
Yeah. I don't think we had any – I can't point to any experiences where labor shortages impacted our ability to do delivery because mainly for most of our brands, we utilize the aggregators as you know. And again, the places where we really saw some closures of restaurants was in Quebec and St-Hubert. They have been sporadic throughout the country. So, I would not say that it was any – there was a material impact to our sales due to that issue.
We had very tired teams. I think that probably the more on the retail front again, the more impactful issues were really the fact that the grocery guys closed on other days of operation, and that we had some challenges in securing some products of maybe higher margin products that we don't produce ourselves, things like soups and gravies for promotion. So that was probably the biggest mixed challenge inside the retail sector that we saw in Q4. And that was directly after – all of those pieces were directly related to labor due to COVID. And now we hope, again, that that's been rectified.
Okay. Understood. I wondered if you could give us a sense approximately of how many restaurants or what percent of your network would feature outdoor dining in some capacity? It seems like that's going to be a feature that is very relevant for 2022.
I would say that probably, of our total units, we're going to take the – including New York Fries and the Arbys, and they're probably 70% of our total units are – would have patio availability. And 100% probably of our – well, maybe not 100%, 95% of our full-service restaurants for that. So, it's a – that's a keeper for – that's going to come out of COVID. I think people want to sit outside but I think, it's a bit chicken and the egg. I think restaurants have made a lot of investments. We certainly have made a lot of investments in making that a better experience.
And again, I think last year in that time period, the early spring patios got shut down again and hopefully will be open, and we plan to be ready for patio season very, very early this year. I mean we had instances in December where people wanted to – parties of 10 once sit out on patios in very, very cold weather. So, we'll be ready for it.
Okay. That's helpful. On the ultimate kitchen I may have missed if there's any commentary, but I know the plan had been for 10 this year. It ended with four. We've seen construction delays across North America. Is that the primary reason or is there something about the unit economics that changed in that banner?
No. The primary reason is really we're trying – again, because of ups and downs of the – of COVID, we're still trying to assess the right patterns of where people are going to end up, with urban, suburban, and what's playing out. So, we just have not had any type of I mean, there's been no normalcy in our industry for two years.
We're trying to understand when that and be open and not to so that we can see where the patterns are following us. We know exactly where to place these kitchens for to have the ultimate impact. So, that's really more of it. We do, we're continuing to work the model. It does also serve – I also want to – always point this out, it also does serve as a testing ground for equipment and digital systems that help our off-premise business across the board, across multiple brands. And that'll just continue. So, it's a – yeah, it's not a thing where we're discouraged by it at all. It's just really more about the fact that when we do get in and build these things, we're committing to 5 to 10 years if you'd like to be – like to have a little bit more time to see exactly where the traffic is more.
Right. Okay. Okay. Just a couple more, one on the balance sheet. You prioritize debt reduction throughout the pandemic. You're now less leverage than most of your peers. What are the priorities for capital allocation in 2022? When might you reinstate the dividend?
Yes. John, with respect to capital allocation, we are looking to grow about 40 new restaurants in 2022. Some of them will be Corporate. So, as you know, franchisees pay for their own builds. We also continue to invest in our digital platforms, our manufacturing efficiencies. So, we will have a – our CapEx budget is going to be north of CAD 50 million in 2022.
I think with respect to shareholder returns, regular conversation with our board and we're still navigating the – call it, the government rules around subsidies and claw backs, and how the combination of claiming subsidies and paying dividend can be coordinated without it being punitive on the business of our shareholders.
So, those rules are not yet clear. So, we're not in a position to answer that question. But we are looking to return to paying a dividend when that path is open for us.
Okay. That's helpful. And then, the last one for me on M&A, are you more likely to target smaller brands that you think have capacity for a significant scale or would you look at something larger scale, something more transformative if the opportunities are there?
Both, yeah, I think, I think the answer is both. I mean, yeah, younger brands, they're smaller, I mean, they're good, they're great. We recognize there's a lot of effort and work that is involved in trying to get them off the scale and building them. So, we'll continue to look at those as opportunities for us if we think it's such a good fit. But yeah, I mean, looking for larger businesses that are more transformative and can hopefully fit the bucket on both sides where kind of large and dominant as good cash flow, but also has long runway of growth. So, and we'll look – we'll look in Canada and we'll also look south.
Okay. That's all for me. Appreciate the insights. Thank you.
Thank you, John.
Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. Mr. Hennessey, you may proceed.
Okay. Well, thank you, everyone, for joining today. Wish you all a great weekend, and we'll talk to you again in May. Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for participating, and ask that you please disconnect your lines. Have a great day.