Company: CHEF
Filing Date: 2025-02-25
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001517175-25-000002
Chunk: 80

Company: Chefs' Warehouse, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-02-25
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 7
Chunk 80
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 related to the loss of a significant Hardie’s customer post-acquisition.

Interest Expense

20242023$ Change% ChangeInterest expense$48,675 $45,474 $3,201 7.0 %

Interest expense increased primarily due to higher average principal amounts of outstanding debt due to an increase in finance leases and amounts drawn on our revolving credit facility and higher rates of interest charged on the variable rate portion of our outstanding debt.

Provision for Income Tax Expense

20242023$ Change% ChangeProvision for income tax expense$24,053 $20,879 $3,174 15.2 %Effective tax rate30.2 %37.6 %

The lower effective tax rate for fiscal 2024 was primarily driven by a $2.1 million charge in fiscal 2023 for return-to-provision adjustments identified in the completion of our fiscal 2022 tax return and the impact of those adjustments on the fiscal 2023 estimated annual effective tax rate.

38

Liquidity and Capital Resources

We finance our day-to-day operations and growth primarily with cash flows from operations, borrowings under our senior secured credit facilities and other indebtedness, operating leases, trade payables and equity financing.

Indebtedness

The following table presents selected financial information on our indebtedness: 

December 27, 2024December 29, 2023December 30, 2022Senior secured term loan$260,000 $276,250 $299,250 Total convertible debt$287,500 $327,184 $333,184 Borrowings outstanding on asset-based loan facility$120,000 $100,000 $40,000 Finance leases and other financing obligations$52,673 $31,892 $13,548 

As of December 27, 2024, we have various floating- and fixed-rate debt instruments with varying maturities for an aggregate principal amount of $672.5 million. We had outstanding letters of credit of approximately $34.4 million and $30.1 million at December 27, 2024 and December 29, 2023, respectively. Substantially all of our assets are pledged as collateral to secure our borrowings under our credit facilities. See Note 9 “Debt Obligations” to our consolidated financial statements for a full description of our debt instruments.

Significant Financing Transactions

In December 2024, the 1.