On December 19, 2017, we entered into a definitive agreement to sell Qdoba Restaurant Corporation (“Qdoba”), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, to certain funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, LLC (the “Buyer”). The sale was completed on March 21, 2018, and operating results for Qdoba are included under the caption “Earnings from discontinued operations, net of income taxes” for all periods presented. Refer to Note 10, Discontinued Operations, for additional information.

Fiscal year — Our fiscal year is 52 or 53 weeks ending the Sunday closest to September 30. Comparisons throughout these notes to the consolidated financial statements refer to the 52-week periods ended September 27, 2020, September 29, 2019 and September 30, 2018 for fiscal years 2020, 2019, and 2018, respectively.

Use of estimates — In preparing the consolidated financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP, management is required to make certain assumptions and estimates that affect reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues, expenses, and the disclosure of contingencies. In making these assumptions and estimates, management may from time to time seek advice and consider information provided by actuaries and other experts in a particular area. Actual amounts could differ materially from these estimates.

Risks and uncertainties — In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus (“COVID-19”) outbreak to be a global pandemic, which continues to spread throughout the United States. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted and is expected to continue to disrupt our business. While sales have accelerated in the second half of fiscal 2020, we continue to see a significant reduction in guest traffic at our restaurants due to changes in consumer behavior as social distancing practices, dining room closures, and other restrictions have been mandated or encouraged by federal, state, and local governments. Substantially all of our restaurants have remained open, with dining rooms closed and locations operating in an off-premise capacity, which has historically represented close to 90% of the Company’s business, including drive-thru, third-party delivery, and carry-out.

The Company is closely monitoring the impact of the pandemic on all aspects of its business and is unable to predict the continued financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business due to numerous uncertainties. We cannot predict how or when the social impacts resulting from the pandemic may change, or how any such change will impact our business. Ongoing material adverse effects on our company-owned restaurants or the financial health of our franchisees could negatively affect our operating results, including reductions in revenue and cash flow and could impact the recoverability of our accounts receivable, long-lived assets, and/or goodwill.

Restricted cash — In accordance with the terms of our securitized financing facility, certain cash balances are required to be held in trust and are restricted in their use. Such restricted cash primarily represents cash collections and cash reserves held by the trustee to be used for payments of interest and commitment fees for the Class A-1 and Class A-2 Notes due on a quarterly basis. With uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 events and as a cautionary measure, we have voluntarily elected to fund cash held in trust for quarterly interest and commitment fees due in February 2021.

Accounts and other receivables, net, — Our accounts and other receivable, net is primarily comprised of receivables from franchisees, tenants, insurance receivables and credit card processors. Franchisee receivables primarily include rents, property taxes, royalties, marketing, sourcing and technology support fees associated with lease and franchise agreements, and notes from certain of our franchisees. Tenant receivables relate to subleased properties where we are on the master lease agreement. We accrue interest on notes receivable based on the contractual terms. The allowance for doubtful accounts is based on historical experience and a review of existing receivables.

Assets held for sale — Our assets held for sale typically includes property we plan to sell within the next year. If the determination is made that we no longer expect to sell an asset within the next year, the asset is reclassified out of assets held for sale. Long-lived assets that meet the held for sale criteria are reported at the lower of their carrying value or fair value, less estimated costs to sell.

Property and equipment, net — Expenditures for new facilities and equipment, and those that substantially increase the useful lives of the property, are capitalized. Facilities leased under finance leases are stated at the present value of minimum lease payments at the beginning of the lease term, not to exceed fair value. Maintenance and repairs are expensed as incurred. When property and equipment are retired or otherwise disposed of, the related cost and accumulated depreciation are removed from the accounts, and gains or losses on the dispositions are included in “Impairment and other charges, net” in the accompanying consolidated statements of earnings.

Buildings, equipment and leasehold improvements are generally depreciated using the straight-line method based on the estimated useful lives of the assets, over the initial lease term for certain assets acquired in conjunction with the lease commencement for leased properties, or the remaining lease term for certain assets acquired after the commencement of the lease for leased properties. In certain situations, one or more option periods may be used in determining the depreciable life of assets related to leased properties if we deem that an economic penalty would be incurred otherwise. In either circumstance, our policy requires lease term consistency when calculating the depreciation period, in classifying the lease and in computing straight-line rent expense. Building, leasehold improvement assets and equipment are assigned lives that range from 1 to 35 years. Depreciation expense related to property and equipment was $52.8 million, $55.2 million, and $59.4 million in fiscal year 2020, 2019, and 2018, respectively.

Impairment of long-lived assets — We evaluate long-lived assets, such as property and equipment and operating lease right-of-use assets, for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that their carrying value may not be recoverable. Factors that we consider important individually or in combination trigger an impairment review include, but are not limited to, bankruptcy proceedings or other significant financial distress of a lessee, significant underperformance relative to historical or projected operating results, significant changes in our business and/or negative industry or economic trends, or our expectation to dispose of long-lived assets before the end of their estimated useful lives. Long-lived assets are grouped for recognition and measurement of impairment at the lowest level for which identifiable cash flows are largely independent of the cash flows of other assets. The impairment test for long-lived assets requires us to assess the recoverability of long-lived assets by comparing their net carrying value to the sum of undiscounted estimated future cash flows directly associated with and arising from our use and eventual disposition of the assets. If the carrying amount of a long-lived asset group exceeds the sum of related undiscounted future cash flows, we recognize an impairment loss by the amount that the carrying value of the assets exceeds fair value. Refer to Note 9, Impairment and Other Charges, Net, for additional information.

Goodwill and intangible assets — Goodwill is the excess of the purchase price over the fair value of identifiable net assets acquired, if any. We generally record goodwill in connection with the acquisition of restaurants from franchisees. Likewise, upon the sale of restaurants to franchisees, goodwill is decremented. The amount of goodwill written-off is determined as the fair value of the business disposed of as a percentage of the fair value of the reporting unit retained. If the business disposed of was never fully integrated into the reporting unit after its acquisition, and thus the benefits of the acquired goodwill were never realized, the current carrying amount of the acquired goodwill is written off. Goodwill is evaluated for impairment annually during the fourth quarter, or more frequently if indicators of impairment are present. We first assess qualitative factors to determine whether the existence of events or circumstances lead to a determination that it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit or indefinite-lived asset is less than its carrying amount. If the qualitative factors indicate that it is more likely than not that the fair value is less than the carrying amount, we perform a single-step impairment test. To perform our impairment analysis, we estimate the fair value of the reporting unit and compare it to the carrying value. If the carrying value exceeds the fair value, an impairment loss is recognized equal to the excess. Refer to Note 4, Goodwill, for additional information.

Reacquired franchise rights are recorded in connection with our acquisition of franchised restaurants and are amortized over the remaining contractual period of the franchise contract in which the right was granted. As of September 27, 2020 and September 29, 2019, the carrying value of our intangible assets was $0.3 million and $0.4 million, respectively, and are included in “Intangible assets, net” in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets.

Company-owned life insurance — We have purchased company-owned life insurance (“COLI”) policies to support our non-qualified benefit plans. The cash surrender values of these policies were $113.8 million and $112.8 million as of September 27, 2020 and September 29, 2019, respectively, and are included in “Other assets, net”, in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets. Changes in cash surrender values are included in “Selling, general and administrative expenses” in the accompanying consolidated statements of earnings. These policies reside in an umbrella trust for use only to pay plan benefits to participants or to pay creditors if the Company becomes insolvent.

Leases — We evaluate the contracts entered into by the Company to determine whether such contracts contain leases. A contract contains a lease if the contract conveys the right to control the use of identified property, plant or equipment for a period of time in exchange for consideration. At commencement, contracts containing a lease are further evaluated for classification as an operating or finance lease where the Company is a lessee, or as an operating, sales-type or direct financing lease where the Company is a lessor, based on their terms.

The lease term and incremental borrowing rate for each lease requires judgement by management and can impact the classification of our leases as well as the value of our lease assets and liabilities. When determining the lease term, we consider option periods available, and include option periods in the measurement of the lease right-of-use (“ROU”) asset and lease liability where the exercise is reasonably certain to occur. As our leases do not provide an implicit discount rate, we have determined it is appropriate to use our estimated collateralized incremental borrowing rate, based on the yield curve for the respective lease terms, in calculating our lease liabilities.

Revenue recognition — “Company restaurant sales” include revenue recognized upon delivery of food and beverages to the customer at company-operated restaurants, which is when our obligation to perform is satisfied. Company restaurant sales exclude taxes collected from the Company’s customers. Gift cards, upon customer purchase, are recorded as deferred income and are recognized in revenue as they are redeemed.

“Franchise rental revenues” received from franchised restaurants based on fixed rental payments are recognized as revenue over the term of the lease. Rental revenue from properties owned and leased by the Company and leased or subleased to franchisees is recognized on a straight-line basis over the respective term of the lease. Certain franchise rents, which are contingent upon sales levels, are recognized in the period in which the contingency is met.

“Franchise royalties and other” primarily includes royalties and franchise fees received from our franchisees. Royalties are based upon a percentage of sales of the franchised restaurant and are recognized as earned. Franchise royalties are billed on a monthly basis. Franchise fees when a new restaurant opens or at the start of a new franchise term are recorded as deferred revenue when received and recognized as revenue over the term of the franchise agreement.

“Franchise contributions for advertising and other services” includes franchisee contributions to our marketing fund billed on a monthly basis and sourcing and technology fees, as required under the franchise agreements. Contributions to our marketing fund are based on a percentage of sales and recognized as earned. Sourcing and technology services are recognized when the goods or services are transferred to the franchisee.

Gift cards — We sell gift cards to our customers in our restaurants and through selected third parties. The gift cards sold to our customers have no stated expiration dates and are subject to actual or potential escheatment rights in several of the jurisdictions in which we operate. We recognize income from gift cards when redeemed by the customer.

While we will continue to honor all gift cards presented for payment, we may determine the likelihood of redemption to be remote for certain card balances due to, among other things, long periods of inactivity. In these circumstances, to the extent we determine there is no requirement for remitting balances to government agencies under unclaimed property laws, card balances may be recognized as income in our statement of earnings. Amounts recognized on unredeemed gift card balances were $0.5 million, $0.5 million, and $0.6 million in fiscal 2020, 2019, and 2018, respectively.

Self-insurance — We are self-insured for a portion of our workers’ compensation, general liability, employee medical and dental, and automotive claims. We utilize a paid-loss plan for our workers’ compensation, general liability, and automotive programs, which have predetermined loss limits per occurrence and in the aggregate. We establish our insurance liability (undiscounted) and reserves using independent actuarial estimates of expected losses for determining reported claims and as the basis for estimating claims incurred, but not reported. As of September 27, 2020 and September 29, 2019, our estimated liability for general liability and workers’ compensation claims exceeded our self-insurance retention limits by $1.9 million and $3.6 million, respectively, which we expect our insurance providers to pay on our behalf in accordance with the contractual terms of our insurance policies.

Advertising costs — We administer a marketing fund that includes contractual contributions. In fiscal 2020, 2019 and 2018, the marketing fund contributions from franchise and company-operated restaurants were approximately 5.0% of gross revenues with the exception of our March and April 2020 marketing fees. In response to the economic burden associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Company reduced March marketing fees to 4.0% and postponed the collection of these fees over the course of 24 months starting in October 2020. April marketing fees ranged from 2% to 4% based on annualized sales volumes, and these fees will be collected over three months beginning October 2020. As of September 27, 2020, postponed marketing fees which remain uncollected were $16.1 million, of which $12.6 million is included within “Accounts and other receivable, net” and $3.5 million is included within “Other assets, net” in our consolidated balance sheet.

Production costs of commercials, programming, and other marketing activities are charged to the marketing funds when the advertising is first used for its intended purpose, and the costs of advertising are charged to operations as incurred. When contributions to the marketing fund exceed the related advertising expenses, advertising costs are accrued up to the amount of revenues on an annual basis since we are contractually obligated to spend these funds. As of September 27, 2020 and September 29, 2019, additional amounts accrued were $8.3 million and $0.3 million, respectively, for this requirement. There have been no incremental contributions to the marketing fund made in 2020. In fiscal 2019 and 2018, incremental contributions to the marketing fund were $2.0 million and $6.2 million, respectively. Total contributions made by the Company, including incremental contributions, are included in “Selling, general, and administrative expenses” in the accompanying consolidated statements of earnings. In fiscal 2020, 2019, and 2018 advertising costs were $17.1 million, $19.0 million, and $28.8 million, respectively.

Share-based compensation — We account for our share-based compensation under the FASB authoritative guidance on stock compensation, which generally requires, among other things, that all employee share-based compensation be measured using a fair value method and that the resulting compensation cost be recognized in the financial statements. Compensation expense for our share-based compensation awards is generally recognized on a straight-line basis over the shorter of the vesting period or the period from the date of grant to the date the employee becomes eligible to retire. Refer to Note 13, Share-based Employee Compensation, for additional information.

Income taxes — Deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the future tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statement carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax bases, as well as tax loss and credit carryforwards. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates expected to apply to taxable income in the years in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. We recognize interest and, when applicable, penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits as a component of our income tax provision.

Authoritative guidance issued by the FASB prescribes a minimum probability threshold that a tax position must meet before a financial statement benefit is recognized. The minimum threshold is defined as a tax position that is more likely than not to be sustained upon examination by the applicable taxing authority, including resolution of any related appeals or litigation processes, based on the technical merits of the position. Refer to Note 11, Income Taxes, for additional information.

Derivative instruments — We have historically used interest rate swaps to hedge interest rate volatility under our senior credit facility. On July 2, 2019, we terminated all interest rate swap agreements in anticipation of the securitization transaction. Prior to terminating the agreements, all derivatives were recognized on the consolidated balance sheets at fair value based upon quoted market prices. Changes in the fair values of derivatives were recorded in earnings or other comprehensive income (“OCI”), based on whether or not the instrument is designated as a hedge transaction. Gains or losses on derivative instruments that qualify for hedge designation were reported in OCI and reclassified to earnings in the period the hedged item affected earnings. When the underlying hedge transaction ceased to exist, the associated amount reported in OCI was reclassified to earnings at that time. Refer to Note 6, Derivative Instruments, for additional information.

Contingencies — We recognize liabilities for contingencies when we have an exposure that indicates it is probable that an asset has been impaired or that a liability has been incurred and the amount of impairment or loss can be reasonably estimated. Our ultimate legal and financial liability with respect to such matters cannot be estimated with certainty and requires the use of estimates. When the reasonable estimate is a range, the recorded loss will be the best estimate within the range. We record legal settlement costs when those costs are probable and reasonably estimable. Refer to Note 16, Commitments and Contingencies, for additional information.

Effect of new accounting pronouncements adopted in fiscal 2020 — We adopted ASU 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842) (“ASC 842”) in the first quarter of 2020. The new guidance requires the recognition of lease liabilities, representing future minimum lease payments on a discounted basis, and corresponding right-of-use (“ROU”) assets on the balance sheet for most leases. The Company adopted the new guidance in the first quarter of 2020 using the alternative transition method; therefore, the comparative period has not been restated and continues to be reported under the previous lease guidance.

We elected the transition package of three practical expedients, which, among other items, permitted us not to reassess under the new standard our prior conclusions about lease identification, lease classification, and initial direct costs. We also elected the short-term lease recognition exemption for all leases that qualify, permitting us to not apply the recognition requirements of this standard to leases with a term of 12 months or less, and an accounting policy to not separate lease and non-lease components for underlying assets subject to real estate leases. As lessor, we elected for all classes of underlying leased assets to account for lease and non-lease components, primarily property taxes and maintenance, as a single lease component. We did not elect the use-of-hindsight practical expedient, and therefore continued to utilize lease terms determined under the existing lease guidance.

The adoption had a material impact on our consolidated balance sheet. As a result of the adoption, we recognized operating lease assets and liabilities of $880.6 million and $931.0 million, respectively, at the date of adoption. The ROU assets were adjusted for certain lease-related assets and liabilities at adoption, primarily comprised of straight-line rent accruals of $29.0 million, incentives and unfavorable lease liabilities of $2.1 million, sublease loss and exit-related lease liabilities of $19.4 million, which were previously reported in “Accrued liabilities” and “Other long-term liabilities”, as well as favorable lease assets of $0.4 million, which were previously reported in “Intangible assets, net” in our consolidated balance sheet. We also recorded a cumulative adjustment to opening retained earnings of $2.9 million, net of tax, as a result of the impairment of certain newly recognized ROU assets and derecognition of deferred gains and losses on sale-leaseback transactions upon transition to the new guidance.


	Balance at September 29, 2019		Adjustments due to ASC 842 adoption		Balance at September 30, 2019
Assets
Other assets:
Operating lease ROU assets	$	—	$	880,564	$	880,564
Intangible assets, net	$	425	$	(386)	$	39
Deferred tax assets	$	85,564	$	1,006	$	86,570
Liabilities and Stockholders’ Deficit
Current liabilities:
Current operating lease liabilities	$	—	$	159,821	$	159,821
Accrued liabilities	$	120,083	$	(4,702)	$	115,381
Long-term liabilities:
Long-term operating lease liabilities, net of current portion	$	—	$	770,818	$	770,818
Other long-term liabilities	$	263,770	$	(41,883)	$	221,887
Stockholders’ deficit:
Retained earnings	$	1,577,034	$	(2,870)	$	1,574,164

The accounting guidance for lessors remains largely unchanged from previous guidance, except for the presentation of certain lease costs that the Company passes through to lessees, including but not limited to, property taxes and maintenance. These costs are generally paid by the Company and reimbursed by the lessee. Historically, these costs have been recorded on a net basis in our consolidated statements of earnings but are now presented gross upon adoption of the new guidance. As a result, annual revenues and expenses reported in “Franchise rental revenues” and “Franchise occupancy expenses” increased by approximately $37.4 million in fiscal 2020. Refer to Note 8, Leases, for further information on our leases and the impact on the Company’s accounting policies.

Effect of new accounting pronouncements to be adopted in future periods — In June 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued ASU 2016-13, Financial Instruments—Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments, that requires measurement and recognition of expected versus incurred credit losses for financial assets held, including trade receivables. This standard is effective for the Company in our first quarter of fiscal 2021 and we do not expect the adoption of this guidance to have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.

In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-15, Intangibles—Goodwill and Other—Internal-Use Software (Subtopic 350-40): Customer’s Accounting for Implementation Costs Incurred in a Cloud Computing Arrangement That Is a Service Contract, which aligns the requirements for capitalizing implementation costs in cloud computing arrangements with the requirements for capitalizing implementation costs incurred to develop or obtain internal-use software. This standard is effective for the Company in our first quarter of fiscal 2021 and we do not expect the adoption of this guidance to have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.