Rodney McMullen: Thanks, Robbie.
Robert Ohmes: Great. Thank you.
Operator: Thank you, Robert. Our final question today comes from Dean Rosenblum from Bernstein. Dean, your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Dean Rosenblum: Thank you so much. Hey, guys. Thanks so much for making time for the question. I really appreciate it. I have two questions regarding the divested stores. The first question is there’s a big debate about whether you guys are going to allow the acquirer now known as C&S to operate the stores under the banners that they’re currently operating on. And I guess it’s two-part question there. One is if you — are you going to allow C&S to operate the stores under their existing banners, yes or no? And if not, do you have any idea what the plan is for C&S in terms of rebranding the stores? And then the second question is you mentioned 160 stores that C&S operates at retail. Can you share some detail on where those stores are actually located? Because there’s very little geographic overlap between existing Piggly Wiggly stores and the locations where you’ve announced the divested stores to be. Thanks.
Gary Millerchip: Sure. Yes. Thanks for the question. So just to clarify on the bannering, what we shared this morning was that C&S will be provided with three banners that we’ll be divesting as part of the plan. So Mariano’s, QFC and Carrs are all banners that they will be essentially acquiring as part of the divestiture package. And they will also receive a license to operate under the Albertsons banner in four states, so that would be California, Colorado, Wyoming and —
Rodney McMullen: Arizona.
Gary Millerchip: Arizona. Thanks, Rodney. So essentially, C&S, I won’t speak for what their plans are. That’s obviously their decision to move forward. But they will have the right to be able to use those banners and Albertsons in the four states I mentioned and the three other banners in any states they choose to use them and operate the stores. So that will be a decision they will make over time. But they would not keep — if they ultimately buy stores that are different banners than those four today, they would need to re-banner those stores over a period of time.
Rodney McMullen: And the stores they operate Piggly Wiggly would be in the Midwest and the South and the Grand Union would be in the Northeast.
Gary Millerchip: Yes. We think that’s a compelling part of the plan actually for C&S because it will introduce a new competitor in the markets where they have infrastructure and capability but are able to present a new competitor in that market as well.
Rodney McMullen: Yes. Thanks, Dean, and thanks, everyone, for all the questions. As always, I’d like to share a few comments directly with our associates listening in. As the back-to-school season gets underway, we want to wish all families good luck on the upcoming school year and acknowledge our own associates who continue their education through our Feed Your Future program. Feed Your Future is our continuing education benefit that provides up to $21,000 for each associate over the course of their career to cover continuing education. We are proud that since the program started in 2018, more than 16,000 associates have utilized this benefit with approximately 91% of these participants are being hourly associates. We’re so thankful that you’ve chosen to grow your career with Kroger and we’re excited to see that number to continue to increase and we’ve committed to bringing this benefit to Albertsons once we merge as well.
And then in closing, overall, Kroger is delivering consistent results, which reflect the strength of our business model that we’ve talked about in a challenged environment. By managing costs and growing alternative profit streams, we drove earnings growth and generated strong free cash flow again this quarter. We are proud of our ability to deliver these results while creating value for our customers. We are thankful for our incredible associates and their dedication to providing our customers a full, fresh and friendly experience. We are excited about the significant step Kroger has taken to fulfill our merger commitments through the divestiture plan and we remain committed to fulfilling all the commitments we set out last year when we announced our proposed merger with Albertsons.
Thanks again for everyone for joining us today. That concludes today’s call.
Operator: This concludes today’s call. You may now disconnect your lines.
