Sandy Douglas: Yes. I guess the way I would say, and I generally don’t comment on competitors and their strategies, and this one in particular is unfolding, so we’ll be watching it as you will. I think our focus is 100% on helping customers succeed and working with suppliers to see our customers so they can invest and grow their business for the benefit of our customers and for their benefit, and obviously, in turn, our benefit. And obviously, we’re committed to our retail business in the Twin Cities and in the Mid-Atlantic. But in general, our focus is not to expand our retail presence, but to help the retailers we serve.
William Kirk: Okay. And how does calendar 2024 maybe rank in terms of amount of customers or, I guess, more importantly, potential new customers who have contracts up or contracts for renewal or things you can win in addition?
Sandy Douglas: So we talk a fair amount about our robust pipeline, and as you know, the selling cycle is long. It’s a very strategic decision for a customer to switch wholesalers. And obviously, it’s shorter when you’re talking about new categories. But I would still characterize our pipeline as robust. We don’t have anything to announce today in terms of new customers. But I’d also say, and I think it’s important strategically, is our most important customers are existing customers. And that’s why I’m particularly bullish when we expand our relationships with them, because it reflects health, it’s a stop that’s already happening in our supply chain, and it gives us an opportunity to profitably grow. But the headline would be our pipeline is robust and our focus is on our existing customers. And obviously, new ones or expanding relationships with existing ones is the top growth priority.
William Kirk: Thank you, Sandy.
Operator: Your final question comes from the line of Chuck Cerankosky of Northcoast Research. Your line is open.
Chuck Cerankosky: Good morning, everyone. Sandy, as you’re looking at this slow recovery of forward buying opportunities, could some of this be the CPGs reacting to the volume shift going through discounters, as you mentioned, and even the wholesale clubs that have gained market share, and they might be getting better deals or just the CPGs are reluctant to give it to the traditional channel?
Sandy Douglas: I think, obviously, there’s a lot in that question, and there’s a lot going on in the market today. I think the opportunity and having been a CPG executive for a long time, the opportunity to grow in independents is a win-win for CPGs. The challenge for us is to help them see the opportunity and to get their investment to the place that will drive the best value for them and for the retailers they’re investing in. And that’s our focus. I think we can do our job and make sure our customers are competitive, and we’re relentlessly focused on that. So there’s obviously a lot going on. Discounters are taking share today because it’s very relevant for consumers. And our job is to help our customers compete and suppliers to see opportunities to invest and we’re very focused on that.
Chuck Cerankosky: Now part of the — another embedded issue in all this is the growing private label share through the conventional channel. Is that another obstacle that the CPGs might see?
Sandy Douglas: Well, it could be viewed as an obstacle or it could be viewed as an opportunity or it could be viewed as a threat. It depends on how they see it. But clearly, to the extent that consumer products companies have a strong value proposition and they’re investing, they tend to win in the market against all their competitors, whether they be private labels or other CPGs. The implication is they need to be sharp, they need to be aggressive. And I think what we at least are seeing in the conversations we’re having is that suppliers see that and we expect their investment levels to continue to increase as we come around to the new year.
Chuck Cerankosky: Thank you and good luck during fiscal ’24.
Operator: There are no further questions at this time. I’ll now turn the call over to UNFI’s CEO, Sandy Douglas, for closing remarks.
Sandy Douglas: Thanks, operator, and thanks to everybody for joining us this morning. Our team is building momentum that we’ve achieved as we exit the first quarter and we’ll look to sustain this as we move into the important holiday season. We remain confident in our multiyear transformation plan and believe we have a tremendous opportunity to create value for our customers, suppliers and shareholders through our scale, enhanced capabilities, efficiency and profitability. We’re optimistic we’ll build on the progress we made in our first quarter as we move through the year, and we’ll continue to execute our transformation strategy. We look forward to updating you on this. For our customers and suppliers, we thank you for your continued partnership in the business we do together.
For the UNFI associates listening today, our thanks to each of you for everything that you do for our business, our customers, our communities and each other. And for our shareholders, we thank you for the trust you continue to place in us. Thanks again for joining us this morning.
Operator: This concludes today’s conference call. You may now disconnect.
