<SEC-DOCUMENT>0001193125-15-019923.txt : 20150306
<SEC-HEADER>0001193125-15-019923.hdr.sgml : 20150306
<ACCEPTANCE-DATETIME>20150126122700
<PRIVATE-TO-PUBLIC>
ACCESSION NUMBER:		0001193125-15-019923
CONFORMED SUBMISSION TYPE:	CORRESP
PUBLIC DOCUMENT COUNT:		1
FILED AS OF DATE:		20150126

FILER:

	COMPANY DATA:	
		COMPANY CONFORMED NAME:			SUBURBAN PROPANE PARTNERS LP
		CENTRAL INDEX KEY:			0001005210
		STANDARD INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION:	RETAIL-MISCELLANEOUS RETAIL [5900]
		IRS NUMBER:				223410353
		STATE OF INCORPORATION:			DE
		FISCAL YEAR END:			0930

	FILING VALUES:
		FORM TYPE:		CORRESP

	BUSINESS ADDRESS:	
		STREET 1:		P O BOX 206
		STREET 2:		240 ROUTE 10 WEST
		CITY:			WIPPANY
		STATE:			NJ
		ZIP:			07981
		BUSINESS PHONE:		9738875300

	MAIL ADDRESS:	
		STREET 1:		ONE SUBURBAN PLZ
		STREET 2:		240 RTE 10 WEST
		CITY:			WHIPPANY
		STATE:			NJ
		ZIP:			07981
</SEC-HEADER>
<DOCUMENT>
<TYPE>CORRESP
<SEQUENCE>1
<FILENAME>filename1.htm
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<TITLE>Response Letter</TITLE>
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 <P STYLE="margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:56%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman" ALIGN="center">January&nbsp;26, 2015 </P>
<P STYLE="margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">Securities and Exchange Commission </P> <P STYLE="margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">Division of Corporation
Finance </P> <P STYLE="margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">100 F Street, N.E. </P> <P STYLE="margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">Washington, D.C. 20549 </P>
<P STYLE="margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">Attn: William H. Thompson, Accounting Branch Chief </P> <P STYLE="font-size:12pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt">&nbsp;</P>
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<TD WIDTH="4%" VALIGN="top" ALIGN="left">Re:</TD>
<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">Suburban Propane Partners, L.P. </TD></TR></TABLE> <P STYLE="margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:4%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">Form 10-K for Fiscal Year Ended September&nbsp;27, 2014 </P>
<P STYLE="margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:4%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">Filed November&nbsp;26, 2014 </P>
<P STYLE="margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:4%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">File No.&nbsp;1-14222 </P> <P STYLE="margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">Dear Mr.&nbsp;Thompson:
</P> <P STYLE="margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-indent:8%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">This letter responds to the comment of the staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the &#147;Staff&#148;) contained in your
letter to Michael A. Stivala of Suburban Propane Partners, L.P. (the &#147;Partnership&#148;), dated January&nbsp;16, 2015, relating to the Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September&nbsp;27, 2014, which was filed on November&nbsp;26, 2014. </P>
<P STYLE="margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-indent:8%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">Set forth below in bold is the comment in the Staff&#146;s letter. Immediately following the Staff&#146;s comment is the Partnership&#146;s
response to that comment. </P> <P STYLE="margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-indent:8%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">References in the responses below in this letter to &#147;we&#148;, &#147;our&#148;, &#147;us&#148; or similar
phrases refer to the Partnership. </P> <P STYLE="margin-top:18pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman"><B><U>Item&nbsp;6. Selected Financial Data, page 24 </U></B></P>
<P STYLE="font-size:6pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt">&nbsp;</P>
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<TD WIDTH="4%">&nbsp;</TD>
<TD WIDTH="4%" VALIGN="top" ALIGN="left"><B></B>1.</TD>
<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"><B>We note that you exclude a number of charges or liabilities that required, or will require, cash settlement, or would have required cash settlement absent an ability to settle in another manner, from Adjusted EBITDA,
which is prohibited by Item&nbsp;10(e)(1)(ii)(A) of Regulation S-K. Please revise your disclosure in future filings to include such charges in Adjusted EBITDA, or tell us why you believe your disclosure complies with Item&nbsp;10(e) of <FONT
STYLE="white-space:nowrap">Regulation&nbsp;S-K.</FONT> </B></TD></TR></TABLE>

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 <P STYLE="margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman"><I>Partnership&#146;s Response: </I></P>
<P STYLE="margin-top:6pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:4%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">The Partnership is a publicly traded limited partnership. Accordingly, the requisite financial performance to fund, and increase, cash
distributions to holders of our common units is of paramount importance to unitholders (&#147;Unitholders&#148;) and the industry analyst community. </P>
<P STYLE="margin-top:6pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:4%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">The Partnership uses EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA as measures of financial results to provide investors and industry analysts with additional
information. The primary use of Adjusted EBITDA is to assist the reader with evaluating the performance of the Partnership. This is evidenced in two principal ways. First, Adjusted EBITDA appears only in &#147;Selected Financial Data&#148;,
&#147;Results of Operations and Financial Condition&#148;, and &#147;Financial Statements and Supplementary Data&#148; and, importantly, does not appear in &#147;Liquidity and Capital Resources&#148;. Second, as described more fully in Item&nbsp;11,
Executive Compensation, variable compensation of the executives of the Partnership (notably the annual cash bonus plan and the long-term incentive plan) are determined using Adjusted EBITDA. </P>
<P STYLE="margin-top:6pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:4%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">The Partnership seeks to balance the objectives of Item&nbsp;10(e)(1)(ii)(A) of Regulation S-K and the Partnership&#146;s goal of presenting a
measure that is most conducive to investors&#146; and analysts&#146; understanding of its performance. The Partnership therefore provided detailed tables that began with net income, reconciled that to EBITDA, reconciled that to Adjusted EBITDA, and
reconciled that to net cash provided by operating activities. Since the aforementioned tables transparently disclosed the detailed reconciling items, users of the Partnership&#146;s financial information were able to understand how management is
evaluating the business and have the ability to fully and easily take into account these exclusions. Notwithstanding this, the Partnership will remove the references to liquidity in connection with Adjusted EBITDA and will also remove the portion of
the table that reconciles Adjusted EBITDA to net cash provided by operating activities which was previously included in an effort to be helpful and transparent. </P>
<P STYLE="margin-top:6pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:4%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">An example of our future disclosure (to be included in Items 6, 7 and 8), intended to make it clear that Adjusted EBITDA is a performance
measure, is listed below with changes marked to facilitate the Staff&#146;s review. </P> <P STYLE="margin-top:6pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:13%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">EBITDA represents net income before deducting
interest expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization. Adjusted EBITDA represents EBITDA excluding the unrealized net gain or loss from mark-to-market activity for derivative instruments and other <STRIKE>certain </STRIKE>items as provided
in the table below. Our management uses EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA as <U>supplemental</U> measures of <U>operating performance</U> <STRIKE>liquidity </STRIKE>and we are including them because we believe that they provide our investors and industry
analysts with additional information to evaluate our <U>operating results</U><STRIKE> ability to meet our debt service obligations and to pay our quarterly distributions to holders of our Common Units</STRIKE>. EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are not
recognized terms under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (&#147;US GAAP&#148;) and should not be considered as an alternative to net income or net cash provided by operating
</P>

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activities determined in accordance with US GAAP. Because EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA as determined by us excludes some, but not all, items that affect net income, they may not be comparable to
EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA or similarly titled measures used by other companies. </P> <P STYLE="margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-indent:8%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">In connection with responding to the Staff&#146;s
comments, the Partnership hereby acknowledges that the Partnership is responsible for the adequacy and accuracy of the disclosure in its Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September&nbsp;27, 2014; that Staff comments or changes to disclosure in
response to Staff comments do not foreclose the Commission from taking any action with respect to the filings; and that the Partnership may not assert Staff comments as a defense in any proceeding initiated by the Commission or any person under the
federal securities laws of the United States. </P> <P STYLE="margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-indent:8%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">We appreciate the Staff&#146;s feedback. If you have any further questions or comments,
please do not hesitate to contact me at (973)&nbsp;887-5300. </P> <P STYLE="font-size:12pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt">&nbsp;</P><DIV ALIGN="right">
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<TD VALIGN="top">Very truly yours,</TD></TR>
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<TD HEIGHT="16"></TD></TR>
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<TD VALIGN="top">/s/ Michael Kuglin</TD></TR>
<TR STYLE="font-family:Times New Roman; font-size:10pt">
<TD VALIGN="top">Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer</TD></TR>
</TABLE></DIV> <P STYLE="font-size:12pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt">&nbsp;</P>
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<TD WIDTH="4%" VALIGN="top" ALIGN="left">cc:</TD>
<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">C. Dropkin, Proskauer Rose LLP </TD></TR></TABLE> <P STYLE="margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:4%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">C. Bonn, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP </P>
<P STYLE="margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:4%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">M. Stivala, Suburban Propane Partners, L.P. </P>
<P STYLE="margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:4%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">P. Abel, Suburban Propane Partners, L.P. </P>
<P STYLE="margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; margin-left:4%; font-size:10pt; font-family:Times New Roman">J. Collins, Chairman of the Audit Committee, Suburban Propane Partners, L.P. </P>
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