I think whole lot or in Retail still have some great opportunities. We’re seeing our Dogsters really grow at a nice pace. And so our branded products are growing well, and we’ll continue to push our brands as that’s one of our core strategies in our organization. However, we do have some opportunities as well on the non-branded like the opportunity we have with Churros right now. That’s our churros and it’s doing extremely well. And if we continue to be a good supplier, we think there’s more opportunities other than just the churro side of that business that we’re going to continue to look at. So I think we have some nice growth going that way too. It’s a balancing act, always, right? And so we’re going to push the brands because we love them.
And there’s an opportunity to get behind them and advertise them and do some of the right things. But we’re also going to seek out those opportunities that makes really good sense for us as an organization around non-branded.
Robert Dickerson : All right. Great. Another quick one. I guess just very specifically, in your Retail Supermarket business, just when I look at the op margin, I just kind of feels a little low. And clearly, there could be some one-off true-up dynamic maybe in that segment. I’m just trying to gauge like if you’re kind of doing well in that business and a decent amount of that business clearly is branded like maybe like why is the operating margin kind of so low now? And then if we think forward longer term, for two-three years, what have you. Is that like a business that we do think can kind of get to that, I don’t know, high single digit or low double-digit op margin? Just trying to gauge kind of where we are today and then kind of what could come later.
Ken Plunk: Yeah. Rob, thanks. Great question. Let me just provide a little bit more clarity on Retail operating income. So included in that number is roughly $1.3 million of that onetime distribution expense. So if you’re thinking about kind of adjusting that out as a one-timer, that starts to change that picture a little bit. Operating income would have grown, I think, roughly 8.5%, if you factor that in. It was a bit of a mix impact on gross margin because of higher sales in handheld and lower in frozen novelties. Again, we’ve got data that says in many of those frozen novelty areas like Luigi’s [ph], the consumer bought more on sell, but our customer order less. And we think that is somewhat tied into this inventory leveling that many are doing kind of after the supply chain challenges, and we mentioned that in a couple of areas.
So we think that will work its way out. Yeah, we think we can get that retail business. I think if we ended Q3, Q4, it was moving closer to the mid-single-digit range. Certainly expect to improve and get up into that range once we cycle some of these things.
Robert Dickerson : All right, super. And then maybe one last question, more theoretical. Clearly, you’re saying today, just being a little bit more cautious, right? Consumer seems to be a little bit more cautious, clearly not the only company seeing that, right? We consistently hear the term value seeking thrown around a lot over the past couple of quarters. You guys are kind of about to enter, probably two, three months left, but you are start — about to enter kind of that seasonal uplift on the business. So when we think about kind of the cautious thought process as we get through the year. And then we also just think about price points, like some could argue that having an ICEE drink is mandatory, right? It’s a need state, some others might argue it’s more of a launch date, maybe it’s a little bit more discretionary.
So I’m just curious where you sit today, if we get about like May, really June, right, opening of all amusement parks, like it’s time we’re all out and about time to go. Are there areas where in these varied channels where you can promote a little bit more, I don’t know, like maybe put a little bit more signage or just try to kind of push the consumer basically into consumption? And that’s it, thanks a lot.
Dan Fachner : Yeah, Rob. Absolutely. There are ways for us to do that. ICEE does that really well. In fact, the team led by Steve Every, even as soon as last week, have been revisiting all those ways that we can energize sales as we get to the core months, right? And signage is a big part of that. Our flavor rotations becomes a big part of that. Getting out in front of the customer and talking about promotional items or BOGOs or something along that line. And so the teams are already engaged in doing that. And we’re proactive to make sure that as we get into that peak selling season that we’re going to be able to get everything that we can. And I love your thought about ICEE being in need rather than an impulse item. I hope we can spread that across the country.
Robert Dickerson : Yeah, I like it. All right. Thank you so much.
Dan Fachner : All right. Thank you.
Operator: Thank you. I would now like to turn the conference back to President and CEO, Dan Fachner, for closing remarks. Sir?
Dan Fachner : Great. Thank you. As we turn to 2024, we remain confident in our strategy to continue growing sales and profits. The J&J team is executing across all facets of the business, and we continue to secure incremental growth opportunities across the customers and channels that we serve. This positions us well for continued growth as the overall consumer environment improves. We look forward to updating you on our progress throughout fiscal 2024. In the interim, should you have any questions or wish to speak to us, please contact our Investor Relations firm, JCIR, at 212-835-8500. Thank you very much. Have a good afternoon.
Operator: This concludes today’s conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.
