Good Times Restaurants Inc. ( NASDAQ: GTIM ) Q4 2024 Results Conference Call December 12, 2024 5:00 PM ET Company Participants Keri August - Senior Vice President, Finance and Accounting Ryan Zink - Chief Executive Officer Keri August Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Good Times Restaurants Inc. Fiscal 2024 Fourth Quarter and Year-end Earnings Call. I am Keri August, the Company's Senior Vice President of Finance and Accounting. By now, everyone should have access to the Company's earnings release, which is available in the Investors section of the Company's website. As a reminder, a part of today's discussion will include forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and therefore, you should not put undue reliance on them. These statements involve known and unknown risks, which may cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, among other things, the market price of the Company's stock prevailing from time to time, the nature of other investment opportunities presented to the Company, the disruption to our business from pandemics and other public health emergencies, the impact of staffing constraints at our restaurants, the impact of supply chain constraints and inflation, the uncertain nature of current restaurant development plans and the ability to implement those plans and integrate new restaurants, delays in developing and opening new restaurants because of weather, local permitting or other reasons, increased competition, cost increases or ingredient shortages, general economic and operating conditions; risks associated with our share repurchase program, risks associated with the acquisition of additional restaurants, adequacy of cash flows and the cost and availability of capital or credit facility borrowings to provide liquidity, changes in federal state or local laws and regulations affecting our restaurants, including wage and tip credit regulations, and other matters discussed under the Risk Factors
Melrose Place ‘s Doug Savant recalls why he evaded questions regarding his sexuality while playing gay character Matt Fielding on the ’90s sudsy teen drama, saying he “felt a responsibility” to not distance himself from his on-screen portrayal. “I think the most shocking revelation was when the call is coming from inside the house,” Savant began telling former co-stars — wife Laura Leighton, Courtney Thorne-Smith, and Daphne Zuniga — on the Still The Place podcast about what it was like playing a gay character as a straight man amid a television landscape still lacking diversity. The Desperate Housewives star recounted an instance with a publicist working at the Pat Kingsley-founded PMK, who repped executive producer Aaron Spelling , in which he said she did not understand the gravity of the representation. “I had said to Sam, our publicist, ‘Do you care to talk about how we’re going to handle this going forward, that there was a gay character? I knew it was exceptional, and I thought people would be interested. And she goes, ‘Well, no, it’s not a big deal. You’re an actor, you’re just playing a character.’ And I said, ‘Oh, clearly she doesn’t get it.'” On press tours, Savant said he made a personal choice to not address his sexuality publicly, alleging that Spelling, network Fox and creator Darren Star were not fans of the decision, resulting in an office meeting with executives, Kingsley and Star. “‘We don’t see why it’s a big deal, why you just wouldn’t say, ‘Well, it shouldn’t matter, but I’m heterosexual,'” he explained. “I said ‘No.’ I was not going to make my living playing a gay man, but then say, ‘Oh, but I would never be associated with that. This isn’t me.'” As Savant noted, his character was among the first LGBTQ+ characters on TV, following a scant list of queer characters that existed in the ’80s. The Teen Wolf actor said he was encouraged to reveal he was straight as “it would be somehow more palatable to the American public if they could avail themselves of the reality that I was actually a straight man. And I thought that was morally reprehensible and I said, ‘You may not prostitute my personal life for the benefit of our show because you think it’s somehow more politically correct.'” The Godzilla actor said he was asked “in every conceivable way” what his sexuality was, questioning the assumption of being straight as the default. When asked how he was similar to Matt, he would say: “‘Well, we’re the same height and we both have a sense of humor.'” He added further, “I felt a responsibility to it at the time. Will Smith was about to come out in the John Guare Six Degrees of Separation [film] — the character’s gay and he came out at the time, ‘Well, I would never kiss a guy on-screen and I would never do this’ [he later admitted his refusal to kiss a man , as written in the script, was “immature”] — he distanced himself, every actor that had done this. I just couldn’t morally bring myself to say, ‘Every week, I’m going to come to work and I’m going to play this character, but that I should distance myself from it.’ My intention with Matt was to say he is your son, he is your brother, he is your friend. He is every man, he’s your neighbor. He’s a regular guy who happens to be gay.” While Savant said Matt was received in a “mostly positive” manner and that he still receives appreciation from queer fans who looked up to the character, he added, “What became painfully evident was not any one character was going to represent the diversity of an entire community. So to think Matt Fielding, as a lone gay character, could shoulder the entire community’s representation — it was an impossible task. And now, we see a much greater diversity of gay characters, and aren’t we all glad that we’re here?” To their credit, Savant said Spelling, Star and Fox “should be applauded” for proceeding with Matt as a character in the face of letter campaigning orchestrated by the Christian Coalition and Moral Majority calling for advertising boycotts of the show.PLAINVILLE — After suffering two straight losses to Bloomfield 54-14 on Thursday, Nov. 7, and 35-17 to East Catholic last week, the Plainville Blue Devils football team will look to return to the win column on Senior Night. Plainville will return home to host the Farmington River Hawks on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., looking to retain the Canal Cup and improve to 5-5. Plainville has had an up-and-down season. The Blue Devils started the season 0-2, but they won three of their next four games before losing their last two. Meanwhile, Farmington will enter the game with a 1-8 record and is looking to snap its five-game losing streak. Plainville head coach Tim Shea said the team must limit its mistakes to bounce back after suffering two tough losses. “We need to cut down on our opponents' big plays and minimize some mistakes,” Shea said. “There’s a lot of times during the year that we’ve been our own worst enemy with mistakes and turnovers.” Shea added that the team needs to establish the run to be successful against Farmington. He also added the team needs to get off the field on third down since Farmington is a team that likes to throw the ball around. While Farmington has struggled all season, Shea said to throw the records out the window, given that it is a rivalry game. With Farmington being a team that likes to crowd the box on defense, Shea said the team needs to execute in space. “We know it's going to be a good game,” Shea said. “They have good size up front, and their linebackers are very aggressive. The game always comes down to what you have up front. If you can protect the quarterback, you’re going to be successful. It will be a great challenge, and this is what Thanksgiving football is all about.” Against Bloomfield, the game was competitive throughout the first quarter, with Plainfield winning. However, it didn’t remain competitive the rest of the way, as the game got away from Plainville. Although Plainville didn’t win against Bloomfield or East Catholic, Shea said the team made progress in its last two games. “We’re playing much harder right now, and we’re playing complete games,” Shea said. “There’s no giving up and there’s a lot of fight. “Hopefully we can carry that forward for one more game this year. I’m hoping to send our nine seniors out right. I want our younger kids to realize what this game means and play for them to start right for next year.”
Watch the moment Irish Premier Simon Harris was re-elected to the Dáil, securing his position as a Teachta Dála (TD) for Wicklow on the first count. (30 November 2024) The Taoiseach ’s successful re-election was joined by his wife, Caoimhe, his parents, sister Gemma, and his political team at the count centre in Greystones, County Wicklow.
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Spencer Knight made 20 saves, Mackie Samoskevich scored with less than a second left in the second period, and the Florida Panthers got four goals in the third to beat the Carolina Hurricanes 6-0 on Saturday and complete a two-day sweep. Aleksander Barkov, Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad, Evan Rodrigues and Adam Boqvist also scored for Florida, which won 6-3 at Carolina on Friday. The Panthers have won three straight — that streak following a stretch of six losses in seven games for the Stanley Cup champions. It was Knight's fourth career shutout, his first since Nov. 9, 2022 — also at home against Carolina. Spencer Martin made 23 saves on 28 shots for the Hurricanes, who have dropped four of their last six games (2-3-1). It was Martin's fourth consecutive start for Carolina. Hurricanes: This was the first time all season that the Hurricanes failed to get a point in the game immediately following a loss. Carolina was 4-0-1 after a defeat entering Saturday. Panthers: A big day for Samoskevich — his alma mater Michigan beat Ohio State in football on Saturday, that game ending just before the Florida-Carolina game started. The Panthers are 5-0-0 when he scores this season. Sam Reinhart had each of the four most recent Florida goals at 19:59, before Samoskevich got his Saturday. The Panthers scored two goals 11 seconds apart in the third to make it 5-0, and Yaniv Perets replaced Martin in the Hurricanes' net with 8:12 remaining. It was the second NHL appearance for Perets, who came on once in relief for Carolina last season. Ekblad's goal was his first in a span of 1,045 regular-season shifts since Feb. 20. Carolina starts a two-game homestand Tuesday against Seattle. Florida goes to Pittsburgh to start a two-game trip on Tuesday. AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL
The Los Angeles Dodgers are actively exploring options to strengthen their bullpen. Last week, Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic , reported the team is interested in free-agent reliever Tanner Scott, who made his All-Star debut in 2024. Additionally, the Dodgers are considering a potential trade for Milwaukee Brewers closer Devin Williams. Today, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported via FoulTerritoryTV that he “expects the Dodgers to get one of Scott or Williams.” Dodgers Targeting 2 More Pitchers The Dodgers’ interest in Scott is not new. They were among the finalists to acquire him at the 2024 trade deadline before he was ultimately traded to the San Diego Padres (via Jon Heyman of The New York Post). Scott enjoyed a stellar 2024 season, posting a 1.75 ERA with 84 strikeouts in 72 innings pitched between the Padres and Marlins. He continued his strong performance into the postseason, pitching 4.1 scoreless innings in the NLDS. MLB analyst Jim Bowden projects Scott to command a four-year, $60 million contract in free agency. The Milwaukee Brewers, meanwhile, declined Devin Williams’ $10.5 million club option for 2025, but he remains under team control for one more year of arbitration. As a result, Williams’ future with the Brewers is uncertain, potentially opening the door for a trade. Williams, the 2020 NL Rookie of the Year, has been a dominant force in the Brewers’ bullpen. Since his debut, he has posted a career ERA of 1.83, solidifying his status as one of the league’s top relievers. In 2024, Williams continued to excel, posting a 1.25 ERA and a 0.969 WHIP in 22 appearances. He averaged a remarkable 15.8 strikeouts per nine innings. Unfortunately, his season ended abruptly when he allowed a game-winning home run to the New York Mets in the NL Wild Card Series. The Los Angeles Dodgers have already made significant moves this offseason, signing Blake Snell and Michael Conforto. Their focus now shifts to bolstering their bullpen, with Scott and Williams emerging as top targets. They remain front runners to land Japanese fireballer, Roki Sasaki, as well. This article first appeared on LAFB Network and was syndicated with permission.
AT&T Technology Services employees in the US won't have "one-to-one seating" when they begin returning to the office 5 days a week in the new year, the company's CTO wrote in a new memo. The telecom giant's chief technology officer, Jeremy Legg, detailed how the new in-office policy would be implemented across his US ATS team in a Wednesday memo obtained by Business Insider. for US ATS employees will begin a phased rollout on January 6 and is expected to be fully implemented for most teams by March 3, the memo said. "Our purpose at AT&T is connecting people to greater possibility," the CTO wrote. "We firmly believe that working together, in person and in proximity to our peers, is the best way for ATS employees to fulfill that purpose." Legg oversees AT&T's technology organizations for business, consumer, IT and cloud, data and analytics, security, network architecture and AT&T Labs, and new product development. The ATS team includes roughly 10,000 workers in the US. AT&T told BI that organizations within the company have the flexibility to determine the right approach for their teams based on business needs and many are staggering the return of employees. The memo comes after BI first reported that AT&T was tightening its return-to-office mandate from three days a week to five full workdays. Legg said in the email that the company understands that not every employee can be on-site every single day due to "travel, vacations, or other reasons" and "leaders will work with employees to provide the needed occasional flexibility." Although several expansion projects are underway in Atlanta and Dallas, Legg said AT&T "will not offer one-for-one seating per employee" and the company "will observe capacity vs. demand and make adjustments" as needed. Legg's memo said that teams assigned to AT&T's Atlanta-area locations will be notified if their full return-to-office date is delayed as construction on additional space progresses. Several employees have told BI that workspace capacity has been a challenge, even with the prior hybrid schedule arrangement. Employees told BI it's common for workers to end up sitting in the hallways or working in the cafeteria to avoid running afoul of the company's attendance-tracking system. One employee said their office has more than 1,200 people assigned to it, with roughly 150 desks available. "I know returning to the office 5 days a week is a significant change for some," Legg said in his memo. "By coming together in person, we can strengthen our connections, foster a vibrant culture, and achieve our shared goals." Read the original article on