When supply chain disruptions, workforce challenges, and shifts in consumer demand for fresh food converged to create major difficulties for grocery retailers in 2020, CUB began looking for a reliable solution that would help their teams navigate complexity in a simple way.

With Afresh, CUB found a solution that employees loved to use, didn't require constant maintenance of balance on-hands, and that the team trusted to help them make the best ordering decisions possible.

‍

The challenge

Store teams at CUB and throughout the broader industry lacked technology that was easy-to-use, didn’t require burdensome maintenance of balance on-hands, and could build employees’ expertise, regardless of their tenure

For decades, long-time produce managers have been the primary source of expertise for everything from forecasting and ordering to inventorying and merchandising. As tenured fresh experts across the industry began retiring or leaving, team members with less experience took on the role of placing orders. But despite their best efforts, employees lacked the tools they needed to keep shelves fully stocked and backroom coolers light.

The solution

Integrating Afresh gave CUB teams technology that was easy-to-use, non-reliant on perpetual inventory, trusted by employees, and enabled any team member to write a perfect order, regardless of experience

CUB launched their pilot with Afresh across seven diversified stores, which encompassed a variety of performance metrics and employee dynamics. The company wanted a reliable source of truth that would empower employees with the guidance they needed to complete orders confidently and efficiently, regardless of their fresh or technology expertise.

With unified, best-practice workflows embedded into the system, Afresh built trust with even the most tenured and experienced produce managers. Employees praised the ease-of-use and accuracy of the platform’s AI-driven recommendations, which eliminated hours of product downstacking and non-value-add counting.

The case study results from CUB’s 3-month pilot with Afresh were remarkable: 92% acceptance of Afresh’s order recommendations and store team efficiency rose by 8.8%.

I’m surprised by how many recommendations I agreed with and were within the ballpark of what would have come to my mind. They are solid numbers.

- Produce Manager at CUB

Enabling Every Team Member to Succeed in Fresh

For CUB and its customers, the advantages of Afresh were immediately noticeable: Backrooms became lighter, in-stock rates improved, and food was fresher—leading to optimized produce departments and effective, efficient teams.

Afresh has really helped my assistants. Their ordering is a lot better, there is much less over ordering, and it has actually helped them order faster than before.

- Produce Manager at CUB

By investing in a solution built to empower employees, CUB gave each team member the tools they needed to drive results and provide customers with the Best. Produce. Period.

Incredible tool that not only drives profitable incremental sales, but improves customer experience by providing fresher in home produce.

- Darren Caudill, Senior Vice President Of Sales, Merchandising, and Marketing at CUB

‍