Portillos Inc

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Matters relating to employment and labor law could have a material adverse effect, result in litigation or union activities, add significant costs and divert management attention.

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Various federal and state labor laws govern our relationships with our team members and affect our operating costs, including the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Act, which governs worker health and safety, the U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act, which governs such matters as minimum wages and overtime, and a variety of federal, state and local laws that govern employment law matters like employee classifications, unemployment tax rates, workers’ compensation rates, family leave, working conditions, safety standards, immigration status, payroll taxes, discrimination, and citizenship requirements. In addition, under the U.S. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”), we must provide affordable coverage, as defined in ACA, to eligible team members, or make a payment per team member based on ACA's affordability criteria. Additionally, some state and local laws mandate certain levels of health benefits by some employers. Significant additional government regulations and new laws, including mandated increases in minimum wages, changes in exempt and non-exempt status, paid leave, or increased mandated benefits such as health care and insurance costs could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, changes in federal or state workplace regulations could adversely affect our ability to meet our financial targets.

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Federal law requires that we verify that our team members have the proper documentation and authorization to work in the U.S. Although we require all workers to provide us with government-specified documentation evidencing their employment eligibility, some of our team members may, without our knowledge, be unauthorized workers. We currently participate in the “E-Verify” program, an Internet-based, free program run by the U.S. government to verify employment eligibility, in Arizona and Florida, which are the only states in which we operate where participation is required. However, use of the “E-Verify” program does not guarantee that we will properly identify all applicants who are ineligible for employment. Unauthorized workers are subject to deportation and we may be subject to fines or penalties if any of our workers are found to be unauthorized. Termination of a significant number of team members who lack work authorization may disrupt our operations, cause temporary increases in our labor costs as we train new team members and result in adverse publicity. We could also become subject to fines, penalties and other costs related to claims that we did not fully comply with all recordkeeping obligations of federal and state immigration compliance laws. As a result of such events, we could experience adverse publicity that may negatively impact our brand and may make it more difficult to hire and keep qualified team members. These factors could materially adversely affect our our business, financial condition and results of operations (collectively, "our Results").

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Our business is subject to the risk of litigation by team members, consumers, suppliers, shareholders or others through private actions, class actions, administrative proceedings, regulatory actions or other litigation. The outcome of litigation, particularly class action and regulatory actions, is difficult to assess or quantify. In recent years, restaurant companies, including us, have been subject to lawsuits, including class actions, alleging violations of federal and state laws regarding workplace and employment conditions, discrimination and similar matters. Some lawsuits have resulted in substantial damage awards. Similar lawsuits have been instituted from time to time alleging violations of various federal and state wage and hour laws regarding, among other things, employee meal deductions, overtime eligibility of managers and failure to pay for all hours worked. Whether or not claims against us are valid or whether we are found liable, claims may be expensive to defend and may divert time and money away from our operations and result in increases in our insurance premiums. In addition, they may generate negative publicity, which could reduce guest traffic and sales. Although we believe we maintain adequate levels of insurance, insurance may not be available at all or in sufficient amounts to cover all potential liabilities with respect to these or other matters. A judgment or other liability in excess of our insurance coverage or any adverse publicity resulting from claims could have a material adverse effect on our Results.

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Certain of our team members at our commissaries in Addison, IL and Aurora, IL voted on April 13, 2023 and April 30, 2024, respectively, in favor of being represented by a union. We filed objections to the 2023 election with the National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB") on April 19, 2023, asserting that the promises made by the union and its agent prevented a free and fair election. We have appealed to the NLRB to set aside the election results. We filed an objection to the 2024 election with the NLRB on May 7, 2024, asserting that the promises made by the union and its agents prevented a free and fair election. Although we have not received other petitions to unionize, it is possible that additional team members may seek to be represented by labor unions in the future. If a significant number of our team members were to become unionized and collective bargaining agreement terms were significantly different from our current compensation arrangements, it could have a material adverse effect on our Results. In addition, a labor dispute involving some or all our team members may harm our reputation, disrupt our operations and reduce our revenues, and resolution of labor disputes could increase our costs. Further, if we enter into a new market with unionized construction companies, or the construction companies in our current markets become unionized, construction and build-out costs for new restaurants in such markets could materially increase.

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Security breaches, system interruptions, material failure of our system, or complications with the implementation or usage of our new enterprise resource planning system could disrupt our operations, compromise confidential personally identifying information, subject us to loss, harm our business, and have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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Our information technology systems, which in some cases rely on third-party providers, have in the past, and may in the future experience service interruptions, degradation or other performance problems because of hardware and software defects or malfunctions, distributed denial-of-service and other cyberattacks, infrastructure changes, human error, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, fires, natural disasters, power losses, disruptions in telecommunications services, fraud, military or political conflicts, terrorist attacks, computer viruses, ransomware, malware, or other events. Our systems also may be subject to break-ins, sabotage, theft, and intentional acts of vandalism perpetrated by criminal third parties, third parties we do business with, or team members. Our reliance on third parties increases our exposure to such risks as we exercise less control over such persons.

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While we endeavor to keep all systems current, there can be no guarantee that we can update and maintain our systems at all times. In instances where we are unable to do so, our risk mitigation efforts may fail. Any such failure could lead to website downtime, disruptions to our information technology systems, or malicious behavior by threat actors. In Q2 2024, we completed the implementation of our new ERP system, designed to accurately maintain the Company’s financial records, enhance operational functionality, and provide timely information to the Company’s management team related to the operation of the business. The ERP system implementation process has required, and will continue to require, the investment of personnel and financial resources as we support post-implementation efforts and system functionality. These post-implementation efforts could result in delays, increased costs, and other difficulties, and disruptions or difficulties in using our ERP system could result in harm to our business. Additionally, if the ERP system does not operate as intended, the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting could be adversely affected or our ability to adequately assess those controls could be further delayed.

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Our business requires the collection, transmission, and retention of large volumes of guest and team member data, including personally identifiable information, through information technology systems maintained by us or vendors retained by us. In particular, our omni-channel approach relies in large part on our information technology systems to operate successfully and allow for capabilities like mobile order and pay, third-party delivery, and digital menu boards. Like many other companies, we have experienced, and will continue to experience, attempts to compromise our information technology systems. As we expand our business channels, our risk exposure will increase proportionately. The techniques and sophistication used to conduct cyberattacks, as well as the sources and targets of these attacks, change frequently and are often not recognized until such attacks have occurred. While we continue to make significant investment in physical and technological security measures, team member training, and third-party services to anticipate cyberattacks and prevent breaches, protect our information technology networks and infrastructure, and to identify vendors and service providers that could be vulnerable to damage, disruptions, shutdowns, data loss, or breaches due to criminal conduct, team member error, negligence or malfeasance, utility failures, natural disasters or other catastrophic events, we cannot guarantee that we will be successful in preventing every possible instance of cyberattacks, breach, or data loss, any of which could disrupt our operations, resulting in inefficiencies and a loss of profits.

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Additionally, the cybersecurity and privacy requirements imposed by governmental regulations are evolving. Our systems may not be able to immediately satisfy applicable requirements, and may require significant additional investment and time to do so. A significant theft, loss or misappropriation of, or unauthorized access to, our guests’ data or other proprietary data could result in fines, legal claims or proceedings, regulatory investigations and actions, or liability for failure to comply with privacy and information security laws, which could disrupt our operations, damage our reputation and expose us to claims from guests and team members, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our Results. Our cyber insurance and business interruption insurance may not be sufficient to cover all losses that may result from a cybersecurity incident. As a result, if we experience any outsized material impacts from a failure of our systems, our Results could be materially and adversely affected. Our reputation as a brand or as an employer could be adversely affected, which could impair our ability to attract and retain guests and qualified employees.