European Wax Center (EWCZ) Piper Sandler Growth Frontiers Conference summary

Leadership and Strategic Focus

• CEO returned to day-to-day operations after previously leading significant growth and IPO from 2018–2023.

• Leadership is refocusing on growth initiatives and operational fundamentals, with strong alignment and collaboration with franchisees to drive business recovery.

• Ten key actions are being tracked with franchisees to support turnaround.

• Leadership is committed to continuous improvement, with no set finish line for initiatives.

Business Performance and Guest Trends

• Routine guests, making up 75% of sales, remain resilient in spending and frequency, visiting 7-8 times per year.

• Softness is primarily due to a slowdown in new guest acquisition and transactions.

• New playbook for center openings introduced in Q1, showing early positive results.

• Initiatives are yielding some improvements, but not enough to meet original guidance.

• Macroeconomic pressures are cited as the main reason for reduced guest frequency.

Operational Initiatives and Growth Plans

• Operation Elevate launched, targeting 250 centers in 2024 and 400 more in 2025.

• Temporary pause on new center openings to focus on core business and improve fundamentals.

• Long-term target is to triple center count to ~3,000 in the U.S. over 15 years, with international expansion not prioritized for 2024.

• Franchisee pipeline remains strong, with 370+ centers in development or signed licenses, mostly with multi-unit operators.

• Since IPO, over 200 new centers opened, system-wide sales grown by ~31%, and revenue by ~36%.