In December 2023, the Company announced international transformation initiatives (“International Transformation Plan”) designed to evolve our business structure to deliver an enhanced value proposition to our International customers and franchisees, ensure targeted investments and efficient resource management, and better position our largest markets, including the UK, for long-term profitable growth and brand strength. During the fourth quarter of the year ended December 31, 2023, the Company commenced approved initiatives under the International Transformation Plan related to establishing new regional hubs across APAC (Asia Pacific), EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), and Latin America that will be led by experienced general managers and their teams.

The Company incurred restructuring related costs of $2.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 related to the International Transformation Plan. Restructuring related costs associated with the approved initiatives primarily relate to employee severance benefits accounted for under ASC 712, “Compensation - Nonretirement Postemployment Benefits”, professional services, recruiting and relocation costs, and stock-based compensation forfeitures on unvested awards. These costs were included in General and administrative expenses in the Consolidated Statements of Operations. Total estimated pre-tax costs associated with approved initiatives in 2023 are approximately $3.0 million to $6.0 million, all of which will be recorded within our International segment, and we expect to incur the remainder of these costs through 2024. These estimates will be updated as additional initiatives associated with the International Transformation Plan are developed and approved. Refer to Note 25. Subsequent Events for further details on initiatives approved by our Board of Directors subsequent to December 31, 2023.


	December 31, 2023
Employee severance	$	1,522
Professional services	527
Recruiting	150
Total international transformation costs	2,199
Stock-based compensation forfeitures on unvested awards	(21)
Total international transformation costs, net of stock-based award forfeitures	$	2,178

The following table presents changes in the balance of accrued expenses relating to approved initiatives, which are recorded in Accrued expenses and other current liabilities in the Consolidated Balance Sheets (in thousands):


	Employee severance		Professional services		Recruiting		Total
Balance as of December 25, 2022	$	—	$	—	$	—	$	—
Charges	1,522		527		150		2,199
Payments	(295)		—		(121)		(416)
Balance as of December 31, 2023	$	1,227	$	527	$	29	$	1,783

On September 17, 2020, we announced plans to open an office in Atlanta, Georgia located in Three Ballpark Center at The Battery Atlanta, which opened in October 2021. The space is designed to drive continued menu innovation and optimize integration across marketing, communications, customer experience, operations, human resources, diversity, equity and inclusion, financial planning and analysis, investor relations and development functions. Our information technology, finance, supply chain, and legal teams continue to operate in our Louisville, Kentucky office, which remains critical to our success. We also maintain an office outside of London, UK, where our International operations are managed. Employees whose positions were relocated to the new Atlanta office were either offered an opportunity to continue with the organization or were offered a severance package. As a result, we incurred one-time corporate reorganization costs of approximately $13.1 million during the year ended December 26, 2021 as detailed in the table below (in thousands).

We record severance as a one-time termination benefit and recognize the expense ratably over the employees’ required future service period. All other costs, including employee transition costs, recruitment and relocation costs, and third-party costs, are recognized in the period incurred. All strategic corporate reorganization costs were recorded in General and administrative expenses on the Consolidated Statements of Operations.