Albertsons Cos. installs Afresh tech for produce in 2,200-plus stores

Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons Cos. is rolling out a predictive ordering and inventory management platform by Afresh Technologies across almost all of its banner stores nationwide.

The system was implemented in more than 2,200 Albertsons Cos. banner stores, including Safeway, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s, Vons and Acme, according to a news release. The process took seven months.

San Francisco-based Afresh enables Albertsons Cos. banner store teams to anticipate the ever-changing nature of fresh produce more efficiently to reduce food waste and maintain freshness in their stores, according to the release. The platform handles forecasting, inventory and store operations, providing department managers with ordering tools that leverage real-time insights.

“Driving sustainability practices across Albertsons Cos. is essential to our business and the communities we serve,” Suzanne Long, Albertsons Cos. chief sustainability and transformation officer, said in the release. “Our partnership with Afresh helps us improve ordering and better manage our inventory of fresh fruits and vegetables so our customers have access to fresher products, and we’re able to make meaningful progress toward achieving our goal to have zero food waste going to landfill by 2030.”

As of Dec. 3, 2022, the Albertons Cos. operated 2,270 retail food and drug stores with 1,720 pharmacies, 402 associated fuel centers, 22 dedicated distribution centers and 19 manufacturing facilities. The company operates stores across 34 states and Washington, D.C., with 24 banners including Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's, Acme, Tom Thumb, Randalls, United Supermarkets, Pavilions, Star Market, Haggen, Carrs, Kings Food Markets and Balducci's Food Lovers Market.

Grocers using Afresh typically see an increase in sales by an average of 3% across their chain while reducing food waste by 25% and significantly improving inventory turns, according to the release.

“Supply chain and store technology implementations typically require a multi-year transformation and radical overhauls,” Afresh CEO and co-founder Matt Schwartz said in the release. "Afresh and Albertsons Cos. have partnered to complete the fastest in-store technology rollout in Albertsons Cos.’ history and did so across thousands of stores in just months, helping Albertsons Cos.' family of stores realize the transformational value in their fresh produce departments now; not years down the line.”

Afresh recognizes the unique challenges of fresh, compared to other grocery departments, and is built to produce results despite hard-to-predict and error-prone data, according to the release.

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Founded in 2017 with the mission to eliminate food waste and make fresh food accessible to all, Afresh serves national and regional grocery brands nationwide. Today, Afresh has partnered with grocers in more than 3,000 stores and 40 states, including Albertsons, Heinen's, Save Mart, Bashas and Cub Foods.