Mick Beekhuizen
Analyst · BNP Paribas
Let me unpack that. With regard to Goldfish, based on the brand that we have, we have a right to win, and we believe that we have an opportunity to grow that business. We are seeing sequential improvement. We are obviously not all the way back to right yet, but I feel pretty confident around that, also because of the differentiated positioning of the brand. It has good better-for-you credentials, and we need to make sure that we amplify those. It is a brand that fits well with what consumers are generally looking for. We need to make sure that we tell that story and provide the value in the marketplace, and net-net we can, as a result, grow that business. I feel pretty good about the Goldfish side of things. If I look at Bakery as a whole, people continue to focus on moments of indulgence, and that comes back with cookies. We have been able to grow our cookies business now for four quarters in a row with the Milano innovation, and we have some incremental innovation that recently came out with Chessmen. I feel pretty good about our overall cookies business. The cookies category has not been growing, so we need to make sure that we continue to differentiate our cookies business, and that, as a result, fuels the growth. With regard to Fresh Bakery, as I described earlier, we need to make sure that we get the execution right, and at that point I believe we should be able to get that back to, call it, at least a flattish top line. That is with regard to Bakery. When I get to Salty, if I look at the two pieces of our business, we are playing in subcategories that are growing. Within pretzels, the pretzel subcategory has been growing, and we have two great brands with Snack Factory as well as Snyder’s of Hanover. Snack Factory has been growing. We have made some sequential progress on Snyder’s of Hanover. We have more work to do on it in order to get that back to growth, but because we are participating within a growing subcategory, I feel if we gain our fair share, we should be able to grow that business. On the chips side, that is obviously a more competitive space, as we have been discussing. Although the subcategories that we are in—kettle chips with Cape Cod as well as Kettle Brand—are well positioned within the kettle chips subcategory, which is the growing part of chips, the competition has increased over the past 12 to 24 months. As a result, we have more pressure and we are losing share there. That is why we need to do the work that I described earlier to make sure that we get a fair share of that growing subcategory. Finally, you have Late July. Late July’s positioning is exactly what consumers are looking for. It is growing. It is a little wonky between different quarters because of some promotional activity, but overall I feel very good about that brand. Hopefully that gives you some context to unpack our overall Snacks portfolio. Around why we believe we should be able to grow it, it is because the brands that we have and the subcategories that we are in are well positioned with what the evolving consumer is looking for. The consumer is looking for that premium, better-for-you, and flavor exploration experience, and our brands can provide that.