New app for indie produce retailers provides actionable, real-time data

For the little grocery store standing on its own, there’s no data division providing insights that direct produce business decisions. Resources are limited.

With that in mind, some startups are brainstorming solutions.

Empower Fresh, a cloud-based software solution for independent produce retailers, offers a toolbox of tips and trade resources in the competition with large grocery chains, according to a news release.

Developed in Kansas City, Mo., the application can be accessed from any web-connected device, serving independent retail produce operations from buyers’ offices to the backroom cooler and display floor.

Produce buyers and merchandisers can use it from their office computers for detailed information impacting gross profit, product shrink and competitive positioning, as store managers and clerks are cued by smartphones or tablets to boost ongoing, efficient backroom operations and competitive retail produce displays, according to the release.

Empower Fresh founder Anthony Totta is from a third-generation family grocer in Missouri. He’s consulted for three decades with growers, shippers and retailers — particularly independent grocers — to improve their profitability.

Listen: Matt King of Simplified Trade on properly executing produce promotions on “Tip of the Iceberg Podcast”

The Empower Fresh concept was born as Totta observed disadvantages independents face in competing with broad-based data mining at the fingertips of well-staffed, large corporate produce operations.

The proprietary software solution delivers real-time, actionable intelligence to help fresh produce teams make critical strategic daily business decisions impacting fresh produce department performance, according to the release.

Totta said in the release that Empower Fresh data helps independent operators to “know what they didn’t know they didn’t know.” The app enables produce professionals to look forward as they drive their departments, instead of looking backward to see what already happened.

Totta extends the driving comparison to a GPS navigation parallel: When a driver turns right rather than left, the GPS immediately offers an alternate route to get back on course. Empower Fresh can help produce operations find the best course to efficient and profitable produce operations, he said.