Afresh expands intelligent Fresh Replenishment solution with Albertsons

Albertsons Companies is pleased to expand our partnership with Afresh, bringing intelligent replenishment to every fresh department across our stores. This advancement is making it easier for our teams to deliver to our customers the freshest product available when they are ready to buy.   From bakery to produce, our teams now have smarter tools to make faster, more accurate decisions — helping us serve with greater precision and reduce waste while elevating the customer experience.   Thank you, Afresh, for your continued partnership and innovation. Together, we’re shaping the future of fresh grocery.

We’re excited to celebrate a major milestone in our partnership with Albertsons Companies — one that’s reshaping what’s possible in fresh grocery. Albertsons has officially expanded Afresh's intelligent Fresh Replenishment solution across every fresh department. From bakery and deli to meat, seafood, and produce, this partnership is helping teams make smarter, faster, and more precise decisions across thousands of fresh items every day. Whether it’s custom cakes, flank steak, a busy deli bar, or fresh broccoli, our patent-pending AI and data modeling bring clarity to one of grocery’s toughest challenges — aligning what’s ordered, produced, and sold each day. This expansion represents more than just technology — it’s a leap forward in how grocery teams run fresh, setting a new standard for accuracy, efficiency, and sustainability across every department. 👉 Read the full announcement → https://lnkd.in/gPMypCvh

We're thrilled to publicly share that Afresh has expanded chainwide across ALL fresh departments with Albertsons Companies. From donuts to BLTs to rotisserie chickens--our AI technology now orders it all. The Deli, Meat, and Bakery departments have a TON of complexity: these foods are extremely perishable and often produced in store with many different ingredients. Together we're now preventing millions of pounds of waste, driving a ton of financial impact, and getting fresher food to Albertsons shoppers. https://lnkd.in/gFugrNHm

All Albertsons Companies stores have now implemented Afresh ’s Fresh Replenishment solution across their bakery and deli departments. The technology has already rolled out to the retailer’s bakery, meat and seafood and produce departments. #RetailTech #GroceryRetail

🚀 Afresh & Albertsons Expand Nationwide! Afresh has completed its nationwide rollout of AI-powered Fresh Replenishment across Albertsons Cos. bakery and deli departments. The tech optimizes ordering, inventory, and demand for thousands of fresh items—cutting waste and keeping products fresher. Albertsons calls it a “game-changer,” while Afresh says the rollout marks “a first for the industry.” #AI #RetailInnovation #Sustainability #Afresh #Albertsons #GroceryTech https://lnkd.in/dW-Mvh3i

💡 Turning a Retail Challenge into a Customer Success Story In one of the supermarkets located in a smaller town, everything seemed fine, until I looked deeper into the numbers. The Delicatessen department showed the highest wastage, and the main culprit was 🧀 cheese. The chiller was stocked with premium cheese varieties that simply didn’t appeal to the local customers. Instead of blaming the system, we analyzed the sales data and took action as a team. We categorized the cheeses into four groups : 🟢 Frequent, 🟠 Slow, 🟡 very slow, and 🔴 No-sale items. 🧐 Then came a simple yet effective idea — free tasting trays at key store points: ✅ At the entrance – to help customers make up their minds right at the start of their shopping journey. ✅ At the deli counter – since it’s a deli product, this was the most relevant spot to encourage sampling and impulse buying. ✅ Near the crackers aisle – because cheese and crackers make an excellent snack combination. 🧀🥨 We only did this during peak hours to control wastage. ⬆️ Result: Sales improved! 🚀 However, some premium varieties continued to move slowly. Upon further analysis, we discovered that the price points didn’t align with the local income levels, although the same items sold well during the tourist season. To address this, we implemented two key actions: 1️⃣ Delist slow-moving cheeses during the off-season 2️⃣ Offer 24-hour pre-ordering for rare or special requests However, another challenge emerged — carton size. 📦 Suppliers delivered cheese only in cartons of 15 units, while our store could sell only 8–10 units. We requested suppliers to introduce smaller cartons (5 units) for small-town stores — but some suppliers denied our request. When suppliers refused to reduce their minimum carton sizes, we collaborated with other branches through internal purchase orders and utilized our delivery drivers for stock transfers. The results were remarkable: 📉 Wastage reduced significantly 💰 Capital was optimized 📈 Profitability improved This experience reinforced one important lesson — Real improvement begins when you listen to data and take ownership. 💪 #RetailOperations #Leadership #InventoryOptimization #ProblemSolving #Teamwork #OperationalExcellence #Supermarket #SupermarketOperations

Introducing the Next Era of Fresh Buying Every grocer knows modernization is critical to staying competitive. But when it comes to Fresh buying, the tools that transformed the rest of retail simply haven’t worked. Even as technology advanced, Fresh data was too fragmented, too inconsistent, and too fast-changing for traditional systems to handle. That changes today. Together with our partners at Wakefern Food Corp., we’re proud to launch Afresh Fresh Buying, the first AI-powered solution built specifically for the pace and complexity of fresh food. Fresh Buying brings every critical signal, like forecasts, vendor performance, QA holds, and store demand into one connected platform that works at fresh speed. Here’s what it means for fresh buyers: ✅ A clear, prioritized plan for the day — focusing attention where it matters most. ✅ Real-time visibility across the supply chain — so teams can stay ahead of issues, not react to them. ✅ Instant, intelligent recommendations — adapting in minutes when conditions change. The result: fewer delays, less waste, and fresher food on shelves. Fresh buying finally has the technology it deserves. https://lnkd.in/ezsWR2Qi

Private label is redefining the grocery aisle—and the need for innovation has never been greater. As Grocery Dive highlighted, private label is set to command over 20% of grocery sales by 2025, driven by investments in quality, taste, and value. To stay ahead, retailers must innovate—creating private label products that deliver value and stand out with unique offerings. 📊 Explore how in our latest report, The Quiet Takeover of Private Label: https://bit.ly/3GeexWX Sources: Grocery Dive, First Insight, Inc. #FirstInsight #GroceryDive #PrivateLabel #Report

THE NEXT REVOLUTION IN GROCERY WILL HAPPEN AT THE EDGE — NOT IN THE AISLE Most grocery stores are the same. They have a center store filled with packaged, ambient products — cereal, pasta, soup, bread, peanut butter — and they have a perimeter where shoppers buy fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, dairy, cheese, prepared meals, baked goods, and alcohol. It's a format that has been in use for nearly 100 years in the USA. Here’s the reality: Margins in the center store average 1–3%. Margins along the perimeter can reach 30–40%. Yet grocery retailers continue to pour time, capital, and labor into the least profitable part of their business — the center aisles — instead of doubling down on the part that actually drives margin, differentiation, and loyalty. I disagree with the grocers who are turning their stores into Las Vegas and Times Square through annoying in-store retail media. A much better option is to partner with Uncrowd Inc., for the most advanced customer intelligence through AI-powered analytics. Kroger spends over $10M annually on useless customer surveys. Uncrowd can provide far superior data and results for $4M. It’s time for a radical rethinking of the grocery model. I believe grocery retailers should outsource the center store to companies like Instacart and DoorDash. Let them manage ambient goods, in-store inventory, replenishment, online grocery fulfillment and last-mile delivery. Turn the center store into a logistics layer that’s digitally optimized — not an operational burden. There are many interesting designs that can be leveraged to re-imagine the center store. This is an opportunity for DoorDash and Instacart (or Uber and Instacart if Uber acquires Instacart) to revolutionize the grocery industry. Note to Kroger: Turn over the Ocado Group partnership to DoorDash. Free up the grocer’s capital, space, and focus to reinvent the perimeter — the area that truly matters. The perimeter is where grocery retail’s future lies: ✅ Cooked and prepared meals for takeout or delivery ✅ The freshest of the fresh fruits and vegetables ✅ The highest quality meats, poultry, and fish ✅ Personalized nutrition ✅ AI-powered kitchen planning and in-store dining experiences ✅ AI Health Clinics and pharmacies Innovation won’t happen in the aisle — it will happen around the edge. The perimeter is where grocers create emotion, community, and profit. The grocery retailer of the future will look less like a warehouse of goods and more like a culinary ecosystem: part restaurant, part kitchen, part experience hub — supported by outsourced logistics that deliver online grocery and food. The future can be today. Instacart and DoorDash can make this happen. It’s time to stop thinking about “selling groceries” and start thinking about engineering shopper experiences that deliver velocity, margin, and growth. The next great grocery retailer won’t be the one with the best center store. It will be the one that eliminates it. #retail #strategy

Align Warehouse Execution With Food & Beverage Operations — Without Disruption Food & Beverage warehouse teams operate under pressure — temperature control, expiration windows, split shipments, cross-docking, and last-minute changes from sales or procurement. But most companies rely on disconnected systems and post-facto updates, making real-time alignment nearly impossible. Gridlex brings Warehouse Integration into the heart of your operations. Whether you're using in-house WMS, spreadsheets, or third-party logistics providers, Gridlex syncs inventory data, order statuses, and lot tracking in real time. That means sales reps know if inventory is committed before they quote. QA can place holds that block fulfillment — not just flag it after the fact. Finance gets accurate COGS based on actual warehouse handling, not estimates. Gridlex also enables warehouse-specific workflows — like damaged goods logging, staging alerts, or FIFO enforcement — without needing a separate system. And all activity is visible across your platform, so operations, planning, and finance stay in sync. It’s not about replacing your WMS. It’s about making your warehouse data part of your business intelligence — and decision-making. With Gridlex, Food & Beverage companies gain real-time operational clarity, reduced manual errors, and better fulfillment execution.