Mark Clouse: Yeah. There’s a lot — those are quite — two quite interesting brands, because they do both highlight, I think, consumer dynamics that may feel a little bit of tension with one another, but are fueling the categories. We actually see this on Meals & Beverage and on Snacks. So, let me take Late July first. I would say Late July is a more premium added-value brand, and we are seeing our premium brands doing extremely well. And part of the factor that underpins this is a lot of the decline that we’re experiencing actually a significant outsize of contribution is coming from low-income households, which index on snacking only at about 20%, but they represent a much bigger portion of our declines, whereas the premium brands that index higher to the mid- and higher-income levels have been very stable, if not growing at faster rates.
And so, I think Late July is a well-positioned brand in that added-value and elevated space, and thus within those consumer segments, remains extremely relevant, and the growth rates continue to perform very well. Lance is interesting, because Lance is really a brand that in our snacking portfolio does really index high to value. And one of the things that we’re seeing is demand for that sandwich cracker segment, and in particular, Lance, has been extremely high. And when you think about the price point, the value, even the content, right, protein delivery, the perception of value of food relative to spend, it is a very, very high-performing brand and one that is doing very well. So, you can imagine among the more challenged consumer base, that particular business is just right on target.
And we’ve seen demand doing — going up pretty dramatically across that whole portfolio. So, it is a really good example of two very different macro trends that we’re experiencing within the businesses, both snacking and Meals & Beverages.
Jim Salera: Great. That’s helpful. And then, maybe to wrap up on some of the innovation you guys have, if we think about, especially in Goldfish, are these innovations meant to bring new households to the brand? Obviously, Goldfish is a very well-known brand. Maybe just kind of expand the buy rate with core Goldfish consumers, or are you still kind of in search of adding incremental households that maybe don’t buy the core products but would be enticed by an innovation?
Mark Clouse: Yeah. I would say consistent with what our ongoing strategy has been, which is broadening usage of Goldfish to the entire household. We have always been a powerhouse with kids, and not surprising, I think, to many of ourselves, as our own behavior may indicate, is that once it’s in the household, more of the family tends to eat it. But we’ve not necessarily brought offerings that index a little bit more or specifically meet more of the expectations of either teens or even adults in the household. And that strategy over the last couple years, whether it was Frank’s RedHot or Old Bay or Mega Bites, the innovation has been paramount into driving that. And one of the things that we mentioned in the call today, this is now going on two years of being the number one requested snack among teens.
And that’s everything, right? That’s the brands you think of as being kind of these mega teen snacks and Goldfish has been number one. And so, when you think about a product like Crisps, where you really are intermingling kind of potato chip behavior with cracker behavior to get this kind of light munchable texture on Goldfish, it’s a perfect fit for that. But we also want to make sure that kids target, we continue to meet their expectations as well. So, you love to see a maple-flavored elf product on Graham as well. So, I think the goal for us is to continue to be that number one choice for kids while enabling the entire household to be fans of it. So, I would say, I would expect that to manifest itself in both buy rate as you hope that a kid’s household is buying a couple more packages of some of these other innovations or flankers, or that we hold on to households longer.
So, as the kids age up, you’re actually maintaining Goldfish in that repertoire, even if it may be through a Crisps or a Mega Bites as an extension into a longer and older set of kids or households.
Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached the end of our question-and-answer session. This does conclude today’s conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.
