Afresh Technologies, a leading fresh food technology company, and Albertsons Companies announced the enterprise rollout of the Afresh platform into the meat and seafood departments in more than 2,200 Albertsons Cos. banner stores, including Safeway, Albertsons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's, Vons and ACME. The Afresh platform drives better decision-making across the fresh supply chain with intelligent and connected solutions purpose-built for the complexities of fresh food.
Since 2022, Albertsons Cos. has delivered fresher produce with higher in-stock rates while reducing food waste due to its partnership with Afresh. After a successful two-month pilot in meat and seafood departments in 2023, the Afresh platform began an immediate chainwide rollout across Albertsons Cos. banner stores.
"Managing a meat and seafood department is particularly challenging because of the financial implications of shrink. To meet these challenges, Afresh is leveraging AI at scale to support accurate ordering for complex cutting and production items," said Dain Charette, Chief Revenue Officer at Afresh. "Additionally, we are excited about furthering our mission and continuing to support Albertsons' ESG goal of reducing food waste."
The Afresh platform will enable Albertsons Cos.' meat and seafood teams to keep coolers and freezers light while boosting in-stock rates with AI-powered recommendations for high-value, hyper-perishable items like fresh poultry and prefilled order quantities for slower-moving, prepackaged items such as bacon. With an intuitive, easy-to-use interface and workflows that follow department-specific best practices, department managers of any tenure can quickly place profit-maximising orders.
"At Albertsons, we strive to create a distinctive experience in fresh foods, and our meat and seafood departments are a key component in this strategy. Afresh has enabled our associates to make smarter decisions daily that keep customer favourites in stock and ensure that we are offering them the best quality, freshest product," said Susan Morris, EVP and Chief Operations Officer for Albertsons Cos.
Morris continued that the Afresh platform also helps Albertsons stores significantly reduce food waste as it progresses toward its goal of having zero waste going to landfills by 2030.
Meat and seafood are the top-selling fresh category in grocery stores, accounting for 12 percent of fresh sales in 2021, according to FMI. In early 2023, Afresh announced its expansion beyond produce into other core fresh departments, including meat, seafood, deli, and food service.
