Good morning, CFOs. At least one restaurant chain plans to hold the line on what it charges customers even as others are raising prices in California because of the state’s minimum-wage boost for fast-food workers.

Mediterranean-style restaurant chain Cava says its recent growth will allow it to absorb the higher labor costs without lifting menu prices. And with a smaller footprint in California than other chains that have said they would raise prices, Cava may not feel as much pain from higher labor costs.

Keeping prices where they are for menu items like falafel and harissa honey chicken is the right move for consumers who are increasingly fatigued by higher fast-food prices, the company’s finance chief said.

Cava expects a 30-basis-point impact to overall margins because of the change, Chief Financial Officer Tricia Tolivar said. “But being thoughtful and mindful around the consumer in California, we’re not planning to put that on their back,” she added. Cava’s recent growth and increased foot traffic means the company can keep prices where they are. “We’re going to absorb that in the business overall and evaluate it ongoing,” Tolivar said.

• Surge Pricing Is Coming to More Menus Near You

Monday

• Earnings: Casey’s General Stores, Oracle

Tuesday

• Earnings: Archer-Daniels-Midland, On Holding 
• The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the consumer price index for February.
• The National Federation of Independent Business releases its Small Business Optimism Index for February.

Wednesday

• Earnings: Dollar Tree, Lennar, Williams-Sonoma

Thursday

• Earnings: Adobe, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Ulta Beauty
• The Census Bureau reports retail sales data for February.
• The BLS releases the producer price index for February.

Friday

• Earnings: Jabil
• The University of Michigan releases its Consumer Sentiment index for March.

Companies are turning to generative AI for ever more sophisticated tasks. This change is fueling predictions of workplace transformation—both ominous and optimistic.

Some fear a wave of disruptive job losses, as AI becomes better able to take over the work long done by knowledge workers. The thinking goes: Do you really need so many people in the HR department if the software can do it cheaper and more quickly? But others say such concerns are overblown. By contrast, they anticipate that AI will unlock innovations and usher in a higher quality of life.

• Nvidia has become an investor darling thanks to an artificial intelligence boom built on its chips. More quietly, the company also has made itself into one of the business world’s hottest venture-capital investors.
   
• OpenAI said Friday that CEO Sam Altman is rejoining the company’s revamped board of directors, after an internal investigation concluded he was the right leader for the startup. 
   
• One of crypto’s erstwhile doubters, BlackRock, is helping to take bitcoin mainstream. 
   
• The 401(k) is doing double duty as both a retirement account and a source of emergency funds for more Americans.
   
• The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into the Boeing 737 MAX blowout on an Alaska Airlines flight, according to documents and people familiar with the matter. Months before the accident, the plane spent nearly three weeks shuffling down an assembly line with faulty rivets in need of repair.

The Wall Street Journal's CFO Journal offers corporate leaders and professionals CFO analysis, advice and commentary to make informed decisions. We cover topics ranging from corporate tax accounting, regulation, capital markets, management and strategy.

Follow us on X @WSJCFO. The WSJ CFO Journal Team is reporters Kristin Broughton, Mark Maurer and Jennifer Williams, and Bureau Chief Walden Siew.

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