Most — all of our people, we’re north of the $20 thing that is so prevalent in the conversations around California. So we’re in good shape there. We’re getting strong applications, more the applications for jobs in our company is a kind of all-time high and the quality of the applications we’re getting is we’re very encouraged by as well. So we think we’re in good shape with that. Having said that, there’s some numbers associated with what’s happened, which I’ll get at Curtis to.
Curtis Valentine: Yes. So we’re certainly carrying some additional cost into the year as it relates to the year-over-year, and we’ll expect that to continue. So we’re planning into just slightly less mid-single digits on the lower end of mid-single digits for our year-over-year growth in wages. As it relates to kind of how do we mitigate? Well, we’re constantly looking really under every rock as it relates to SG&A and looking for ways to be more efficient. The team works really hard at it, and we’ll continue to work hard at it and look for offsets in our business.
Leah Jordan: Great. Thank you.
Jack Sinclair: Thank you.
Operator: And one moment for our next question. And our next question comes from Rupesh Parikh from Oppenheimer and Company.
Rupesh Parikh: Good afternoon, and thanks for taking my questions. Also, congrats on a nice quarter. So just going back to your new store commentary, it sounds like BARDA stores are doing really well. But as you look at your collective class of new store openings, just curious how they’re performing? Any surprises thus far? And then are they meeting your expectations from a ramp perspective?
Curtis Valentine: Yes. Rakesh, thanks. Yes, they’re right in line with how we’re expecting to perform. So the new stores, we’re pleased with them. We’ve talked about it a little over the last few quarters, no major deviations from the trends we’re seeing there. We’re starting a little lower, particularly in the places we have lower awareness and we’re ramping faster. That’s really been the story in Florida. We’re seeing really strong comps in Florida. Overall, they’re performing as expected, and we’re seeing good results across the country.
Rupesh Parikh: Great. And then my follow-up question. And again, I’m not looking for explicit guidance for 2025. But as you look at the business, I know your longer-term algorithm is for low double-digit earnings growth. Clearly, you have a headwind related to the loyalty program this year. But is this business now in the position to get closer to lower double-digit earnings growth in the coming years?
Curtis Valentine: Well, certainly, we talked a lot in the script about sustainable long-term growth. And so that’s our goal is through 2024. We need to make some investments to keep the forward progress we’ve got moving and to set us up for that in the long term. Certainly not guiding into 2024 here yet, as you mentioned, but we’re moving in that direction, and those investments are an important piece of that.
Jack Sinclair: Yeah. It’s early to give guidance for 2025, Rupesh. But having said that, we’re very confident about our future and the investments we’re making this year will certainly help us in 2025.
Rupesh Parikh: Great. Thank you.
Curtis Valentine: Thanks.
Operator: And thank you. And one moment for our next question. And our next question comes from Ken Goldman from JPMorgan. Your line is now open.
Ken Goldman: Hi. Thank you. I didn’t quite understand your response to the question about the $15 million in OpEx that you’re spending this year? And how you think about that from an ongoing perspective. Could you just kind of repeat your answer or clarify it? I just didn’t know if that was something that continues after 2024. And maybe I just misunderstood.
Curtis Valentine: No, I’ll clarify, Ken. I think yes, $15 million in OpEx here in 2024, and that’s really to get the loyalty program going along with some technology foundational investments. So not expecting that level of investment to continue going forward.
Ken Goldman: So just to build on — again, this is going to be a question you can’t necessarily answer, but I’m just curious if we’re wrong here. Just to build on the prior question there. You have less than $15 million in terms of the investment for the loyalty card in ’25. Wage inflation, you’ve talked about getting less — becoming less of a headwind, who knows where it is next year, but it’s trending in that way. You’ll have the benefits from the loyalty card. It just feels like you’re setting up for an acceleration. And maybe you have better comps as well because you have these new stores that are accelerating this year, maybe at a lower base, that will help you with your comps next year. What are we missing in terms of — there’s a lot of tailwinds maybe as we think about ’25. Is we wrong to think about that as kind of an accelerant year for you, even though it’s way too early to really be specific.
Jack Sinclair: I think you said it with your last remarks there. I think it is a little bit early for us to get very buoyant about it. But we certainly believe that understanding our customers more and navigating our way through trying to drive a larger share of wallet of our target customers will provide growth for us in the future. And that’s certainly why we’re investing this money this year with the premise that it’s going to come in terms of top line in 2025 and beyond. And it’s part of an ongoing process of how do we understand our customers better. If we’re going to be a really great specialty grocer, we’ve got to understand that customer even better than we do at the moment. And that’s the key work behind it. And we’ll learn a lot this year from the work that we’re putting in, in terms of what it will be able to do.
And as we get towards the end of 2024, I think we’ll be more able to have a conversation about what it’s actually going to mean for us in ’25 and ’26.
Ken Goldman: Thank you.
Jack Sinclair: Thanks.
Operator: And thank you. And one moment for our next question. And our next question comes from Scott Mushkin from R5 Capital. Your line is now open.
