Happy New Year!

ADC Continues to Invest in Business Operations

The past two years have proven to be great years of growth for ADC and it feels as though we just moved into our current headquarter location.

Our move to a larger office space was prompted by increased interest in our Fresh Item Management (FIM) software solutions.  In addition to needing more space to grow as a company, our new office provided ADC with the opportunity to upgrade our on-site scale lab, in which we conduct testing for both quality assurance and technical support.
  
“Since our move in 2010, we have made even more improvements to  our software, as well as our business operations.  We feel it is important to continually make capital investments in our infrastructure,” said Steve Loveridge, ADC’s CEO. 

In July of 2012, we installed a new phone system, which allows for easier communication among ADC on-site associates and remote associates, as well as enhanced Technical Support features, making after hours help desk calls even more seamless for customers.

In August of 2012, we installed Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation Server (TFS) for easier management of our source code, documentation and test cases.  

Most recently, we migrated to Microsoft Dynamics Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system for better management of our customer details and history. 

All of these improvements have been made with you, our customer, in mind.  We are always looking for ways to improve your experience with ADC and our FIM software solutions. 

We look forward to working with each of you in the New Year!

ADC Announces Retalix HQ Interface

ADC announces the availability of a software interface from InterScale, ADC’s scales management software, to the Retalix Headquarters (HQ) system.  

With this just released interface, joint ADC and Retalix customers will experience an easier, seamless integration of ADC’s InterScale Scales Management software with Retalix’s 
HQ system, a centralized retail data management and distribution solution.

The ADC Retalix HQ interface allows users to schedule the intervals at which data is pulled 
from the HQ system, select data types and services areas (departments) to be imported. 

Additionally the interface can be configured to provide real-time data transfer triggered by a data change condition.  

Importable data types include Scale PLU, Ingredients Text, Nutrition, Item/SKU, UPC, Vendor, Vendor Item Cost, Vendor Item and Price.  

 “We have been working on developing and testing the new interface with a few of our clients, including Buehler’s, based in Wooster, OH.  We are pleased with the positive feedback reported by our clients” said Robert Appell, ADC’s COO.  “This interface allows retailers to seamlessly integrate master data maintained in HQ into ADC’s FIM solution.”

Doc's Food Stores Inc. Selects and Implements InterScale

Doc’s Food Stores Inc. of Bixby, Oklahoma has selected and implemented InterScale, ADC’s scales management system.

When looking for a scales management provider, centralization and standardization were important factors to Doc’s Food Stores Inc.  InterScale hosts future-dated item, price and label information from one ‘scale neutral’ system at Doc’s Food Stores Inc. headquarters, allowing them to centrally manage all of their in-store scales, regardless of brand and type.

“With InterScale, we are able to centrally control our store scales, including pricing and the ingredient text printed on scale labels,” said Jim Brown, President of Doc's Food Stores Inc.  “InterScale allows our store scales to communicate 

to a central system at our headquarters, providing us with visibility of what is happening with the scales in our stores.”

In addition to centralized control of their in-store scales, Doc’s Food Stores Inc. wanted to implement InterScale alongside BRdata’s Retail BOSS Host software, that hosts price changes to their Point Of Sale (POS) systems.

“InterScale is tightly integrated with the BRdata Retail BOSS Host system, which resulted in us eliminating 20 hours of in-store scale price maintenance labor per week,” continued Jim Brown.  “We are now able to allocate this labor elsewhere in our fresh departments, increasing our store associates productivity and customer service.”

“We are pleased to hear of the labor saving results that Food Stores Inc. has seen by implementing InterScale with BRdata Retail Boss Host, said Steve Loveridge, ADC’s CEO.  “We continuously strive to help our clients maximize their investment in ADC software.  One of the most important ways to do this is by working with our partners to develop seamless interfaces.”

InterScale is one of the systems in InterStore, ADC’s suite of Fresh Item Management (FIM) software, which helps to increase efficiencies in grocery-retail and food-service industries.  The other two systems in InterStore are the NutriGen Recipe Manager and the P-Cubed Production Manager, for production planning, markdowns, cutting and shrink management. 

Popularity of Foodservice at Convenience Stores Grows

Convenience store foodservice is an $11-billion industry.  A recent article from CNEws Foodservice provides more detail on this growing category within convenience stores, you can read more here http://bit.ly/Uddgus.  Keeping those fresh food items profitable is a challenge, but keeping foods fresh is a challenge. ADC can help http://bit.ly/W0hT1.

Industry Article

Check out this great  article on perishables management, which was published on Supermarket News last week: http://bit.ly/QWGmne.

Let us know your thoughts!

Look for ADC on Google+!

In effort to be even more connected with our clients and partners, we've created a Google+ account!  If you have a Google+ account, be sure to follow us at http://bit.ly/T3qtKG.  

We'll be updating it with our upcoming trade shows, company news and much more!

ReFresh 2012 Pictures

Here are some pictures from this year's ReFresh Fresh Item Management and User Conference.  Click here to see more.

Introductions and Conference Overview by Steve Loveridge, ADC's CEO

"Keys to a Successful FIM Implementation" by Jonathan Key of Brookshire Grocery Company

Roundtable Discussions

Roundtable Discussions

Group Photograph

Stay tuned for dates for ReFresh 2013!

2012 Is Winding Down

2012 has come and gone it seems. With the end of the year quickly approaching, we wanted to take this time to let everyone know where they can find us in 2013 (just a few months away)! Mark the dates and booth numbers for the following industry events and we hope to see you there.

 

Visit ADC in the ARTS Pavilion, Booth #2253, at the NRF Show from January 13-15, 2013 in New York City.

 

 

Visit ADC at EuroCIS in Dusseldorf, Germany from February 19-21, 2013.

 

 

 

Visit ADC in Stand 674 at the Retail Business Technology Expo from March 12-13, 2013 in Earls Court, London.

 

 

We will have more shows and booth numbers to announce soon, so stay tuned!

 

 

 

Q4 Fresh Features Newsletter

We've just published our fourth quarter edition of our newsletter, Fresh Features. Catch up on the latest news at ADC by reading our newsletter here.

ADC Launches New Corporate Website

ADC  is pleased to announce the release of their new company website at www.AppliedDataCorp.com. One of the biggest changes to the website is the relocation of ADC’s corporate web address to www.AppliedDataCorp.com.

The new website follows the significant rebranding of ADC’s software product logos and allows visitors to access information on each of ADC’s software systems from the home page. Additionally, ADC’s new two minute product highlight video can be accessed from the home page.

Enhanced features include access to ADC’s Support Portal through the ‘My Support Login’ option in the main navigation for current customers and the availability to translate web content to French, German and Spanish.

The redesigned website reflects ADC’s branding efforts to have continued recognition as a leading provider of Fresh Item Management (FIM) software solutions.

“When we started the redesign of our corporate website, we had a long list of changes and improvements that we wanted to make,” said Jamie Simon, Marketing Director at ADC. “It was important to have a more modern site, with enhanced imagery and navigation, as well as easier-to-find ‘Contact ADC’ forms. We feel we have achieved all of this and more and are excited to launch the website.”

Want to learn more? Click here to contact ADC today.

ReFresh 2012 Considered a Huge Success

ADC held its 11th annual ReFresh Conference from September 10th-September 12th, 2012 at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort in Clearwater Beach, Florida. ReFresh attendees represented twelve grocery/supermarket chains from across the United States and Canada.

The ReFresh agenda included software updates, new technology presentations, a retailer presentation, industry updates, retailer-chaired roundtable discussions and an ADC Question and Answer Panel session.

On Monday, September 10th, ReFresh began with Welcomes and Introductions by Steve Loveridge, CEO of ADC. Steve discussed the conference agenda, as well as revealed ADC's new 2-minute promotional video, which can be viewed here.

"We welcome our current and prospective clients to the 11th ReFresh conference. Throughout the conference, we encourage you to ask questions and network with your industry peers," Steve said in the opening presentation. "This is your opportunity to share and discuss your successes with FIM, discover ways to improve your FIM investment and learn about new technology offerings."

After Steve's introductory presentation, Jonathan Key of Brookshire Grocery Company presented "Keys to a Successful FIM Implementation." Jonathan shared insights Brookshire Grocery Company learned throughout their installation of InterStore, ADC's FIM software suite, including how to successfully install P-Cubed Production Planning system into stores.

Following Jonathan's presentation, Robert Appell, ADC's Chief Operating Officer, and Mark Molter, ADC's Director of Channel Development, led an interactive presentation and demonstration of ADC's InterStore 6.4.2 software. During the presentation, many attendees saw the redesigned Store User Interface that features icon style buttons, as well as enhanced features and capabilities. 
 
Additionally, two industry experts presented insightful information on food safety and shopper insights:  

• "Food Safety Update at the Retail Level: Expert Advice from the Dean of Recalls" by Gale Prince, President of SAGE Food Safety Consultants – Gale shared important statistics on fresh food recalls, as well as the cost and long-lasting effects of recalls. Gale also discussed important steps in planning for recalls; including keeping electronic records and ensuring you have a recall process in place.
• "Major Trends in the Supermarket Perimeter" by Anne-Marie Roerink, Principal at 210 Analytics – Anne-Marie presented her most recent research on shopper behavior, including the growing trends of shopper's saving money by simply cutting back on their grocery purchases and thoroughly checking price comparisons for the more expensive food purchases, such as meat.

"As a potential customer, ReFresh was a great experience. I got valuable information from the presentations, ADC associates and ADC's clients." ReFresh 2012 Attendee and Potential ADC Customer

Partner Interaction – ReFresh 2012 had six industry partners sponsor the event, where they were able to showcase their latest solutions for grocery/supermarket retailers. ReFresh attendees were able to interact and network with the following organizations:

• Bizerba
• Epson
• Hobart
• Ishida Rice Lake Retail Solutions
• NBI Digi
• Zebra Technologies

Dates and location for next year's ReFresh will be announced by the end of 2012.  Want more information? Click here to contact ADC today.

Petty's Fine Foods Implements InterScale

Petty's Fine Foods of Tulsa, Oklahoma, has selected ADC's InterScale software system. Petty's has been providing high quality food products to the Tulsa, Oklahoma community for over sixty years. Petty's sought a scales management solution that provided increased visibility of scale activity and performance, as well as powerful reporting capabilities.

ADC's InterScale system hosts future-date item, price and label information to and from barcode labeling scales and printers in fresh food departments. InterScale works with any mix of scales, printers and kiosks, irrespective of brand. With improved scale pricing and tare accuracy, Petty's is saving money and requires less labor to maintain their scales.

"Prior to implementing InterScale, I relied on phone calls from store associates to alert me to scale problems. With InterScale, I have real-time visibility of what is going on with each of our scales, whether I'm in the store or across the street in my office," said Scott Petty, Owner of Petty's Fine Foods. "InterScale helps us ensure regulatory label compliance for ingredients, allergens, nutri-facts, traceability and Country of Origin Labeling (COOL)."

InterScale is one of three software systems that comprises ADC's InterStore Fresh Item Management (FIM) software suite. The other two systems are: NutriGen Recipe Manager, which provides interactive recipes for store operators for items produced or finished in stores, and the P-Cubed Fresh Production Manager, which automates, manages and tracks production in the fresh departments of grocery stores.

"With InterScale Petty's further enhances their fresh food offerings with improved labeling accuracy, while saving money," stated Steve Loveridge, ADC's CEO. "By installing InterScale and seeing the improvements in their store already, Petty's has the framework to expand to a full Fresh Item Management solution as their requirements grow."

Want more information? Click here to contact ADC today.

Beecher's Handmade Cheese Selects InterScale

Beecher’s Handmade Cheese, an artisan cheesemaker based out of Seattle, Washington, has implemented ADC’s InterScale Scales Management software system for their retail stores. In addition to their retail stores on both sides of the country, Beecher’s distributes their artisan cheeses nationwide.  Beecher’s installed InterScale for their final Point of Sale (POS) labeling in their stores.  

“Since each of our products is unique, it’s important for us to ensure they are labeled accurately at our busy counters. Additionally, we use the labels as a medium to provide information for our customers about the origins of their food - be it cheese, charcuterie, antipasti or anything else,” said Robert Hartley, Director of Information Technology at Beecher’s Handmade Cheese.  “InterScale allows us to centrally manage this data and to push it down to our Mettler-Toledo Impact scales.”

InterScale is one of three software systems that comprises ADC’s InterStore Fresh Item Management (FIM) software suite.  The other two systems are: NutriGen Recipe Manager, which provides interactive recipes for store operators for items produced or finished in stores, and the P-Cubed Production Manager, which automates, manages and tracks production in the fresh departments of grocery stores.  

“Beecher’s is known for their high quality cheese products.  InterScale software increases their offering to customers by providing consistent and accurate product labels for their customers,” stated Steve Loveridge, President of ADC.

Want more information? Click here to contact ADC today.

Only 6 Weeks Left Until ReFresh 2012

ReFresh 2012 is just around the corner - register today! You don't want to miss this must-attend Fresh Item Management (FIM) conference. 

This year's ReFresh is at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort in Clearwater Beach, Florida from September 10-12, 2012. 

The agenda includes retailer presentations, roundtable discussions, software updates and more - all designed to help discover new ways to maximize your FIM investment. 

Attendees also have built in networking time with industry peers to share FIM stories, as well as time to interact with vendor partners.

Here's what some of last year's ReFresh attendees had to say:  

• "Topics were very relevant. Time was well allocated - with no wasted time."
• "Great conference. I really learned a lot about what other companies are doing."
• "Excellent conference...great sharing of knowledge between conference attendees."

Want more information? Click here to contact ADC today.

A Grocery Chain with 2,300 Stores Implements Shrink Management

A tier-one grocery chain with multiple banners and 2,300 stores has licensed ADC's 6.4.0 Shrink Management software module, with food donation tracking and reporting features and implemented the system, so far, across 160 of its stores.

With the Shrink Management module, the grocery chain has realized a reduction in shrink of 19% to 25% in their fresh food department categories, as well as a reduction in the amount of labor required to capture and report shrink by 50%, through the use of hand-held wireless bar-code scanners.

The Shrink Management software module assists the grocery chain in receiving increased tax deductions by generating accurate IRS-Compliant food donation reports, allowing food items that are on or past their "sell-by" date to be charitably donated to food banks as a tax write-off.

"With the Shrink Management module, we are able to view reports of food donated by our stores, including a complete history of each item donated, the amount and cost," stated a member of the grocery chains FIM Project Team. "We then submit the donation reports to the IRS and receive a cash tax benefit of approximately 50% of the difference between the retail price of the food and the cost of the food, which has relieved the company's tax burden across the chain by millions of dollars per year. The tax benefits associated with the Shrink Management module easily paid for the software and project costs within the first year."

As a module within ADC's P-Cubed In-Store Food Production system, the Shrink Management module sets a foundation for ADC's Production Planning module. The Shrink Management module tracks products being donated at the item level and identifies perishable items that are over produced or un-sellable. The software also provides the ability to track products used for demonstrations and sampling and to isolate losses for insurance claims from catastrophic events such as power failures, floods, tornados, hurricanes etc.

"The Shrink Management module helps our clients yield a significant return on investment, in a short amount of time because of the increased tax deductions they receive," stated Steve Loveridge, ADC's CEO. "The P-Cubed system is modular in design, to allow clients to install the modules that address their FIM needs. Over time, more modules can be activated as their FIM needs evolve, which can result in further savings."

Want more information? Click here to contact ADC today.

Reminder: Sign up for ReFresh 2012

ReFresh 2012 is under 3 months away - have you signed up yet?  

Sign up today and join your grocery/supermarket peers at ReFresh, an educational Fresh Item Management (FIM) conference.  A high level agenda is now available online and can by clicking here.

By attending ReFresh, you will gain insights into new ways to use your FIM software and hear the latest industry updates.

Want to learn more? Please visit the official ReFresh website or contact Jamie Dedel at +1.813.849.1818 ext. 238 or at JamieDedel@ad-c.com.

We look forward to seeing you in sunny Florida from September 10^th-12^th, 2012! 

Click here to contact ADC today.

Brookshire Grocery Implements NutriGen

Brookshire Grocery Company, a 150+ store chain based in Tyler, Texas has selected and implemented NutriGen, ADC's recipe management software.

Brookshire Grocery Company operates three banners: Brookshire, Super 1 Foods, and FRESH by Brookshire. Their need for a FIM system arose when they decided to open FRESH by Brookshire, a concept store that focuses on natural, organic, chef prepared food options. When FRESH by Brookshire opened in March 2011, they had over 2,500 recipes for in-store produced fresh product.

"The FRESH concept emphasizes the fresh side of the business, but with over 2,500 recipes planned to open the doors, we realized that we needed a centralized software solution to standardize our recipe database," said John D'Anna, Senior Vice President - Chief Information Officer at Brookshire Grocery Company. "Once we implemented NutriGen in our Brookshire's stores, we were given great visibility to our actual recipe cost, which enabled us to quickly address any margin concerns. This project has exceeded our estimated ROI by over 30%."

NutriGen derives the true cost of prepared foods, including packaging and labor costs. NutriGen also manages all of the nutritional facts of the recipe's ingredients and generates saleable item nutritional, allergen and ingredient information for labeling.

"NutriGen allows Brookshire's to standardize their large recipe database and helps ensure consistent, high-quality yet profitable prepared foods by rendering interactive, electronic recipes in their stores," stated Steve Loveridge, ADC's CEO. "Additionally, NutriGen allows Brookshire's to centrally change recipes in the event of a recall or ingredient substitution and quickly disseminate revised food-safety information to their store labeling scales and printers."

NutriGen is one of three software systems that comprise InterStore.Net, ADC's integrated fresh item management software suite. The other two systems are: InterScale Scales Manager, which hosts data to and from barcode labeling scales in the fresh food departments, and the P-Cubed Production Manager, which automates, manages and tracks production in the fresh departments of grocery stores.

Want more information? Click here to contact ADC today.

FMI 2012

It was great to see so many current and prospective clients at the 2012 FMI Show last week in Dallas.  We wanted to share a few pictures from our booth.  If you missed ADC at FMI, we'll be at the IBM Retail User Conference from May 20-23 in Las Vegas, NV in Booth #59 and at the IDDBA Show from June 10-12 in New Orleans, LA in Booth #5619.
 


ADC's booth ready for the show on Day #1.

Busy Day #1 at FMI 2012.

ADC at FMI 2012.

Want more information? Click here to contact ADC today.

USDA Confirms Mad Cow Disease in California

The headlining store of today’s Supermarket News Daily News Update announced a confirmed case of Mad Cow Disease in a dairy cow in California (full article can be found here: http://bit.ly/IbmQiD).  According to a more detailed article published by Food Safety News (full article can be found here http://bit.ly/Jnz4Cs), the animal never presented a risk to the food supply or human health.  However, that won’t stop shopper’s from worrying. 

For grocery stores, it is always better to be prepared for unexpected recalls in their meat departments.  One way to be sure that you have the necessary recall procedures in place is to have meat traceability applications available to your stores.  ADC’s Meat Grind Traceability Manager provides the necessary reporting and tracing capabilities, so that recalls don’t catch a grocer by surprise.  

The Meat Grind Traceability Manager module (a part of the P-Cubed Production Manager Software) is designed to help grocery stores meet USDA Food Safety and Inspection Services (FSIS) rules and regulations.  The module offers traceability and data-logging protection to companies in the case of a ground meat contamination.

The Meat Grind Traceability Manager software module provides a record for all meat that is ground in a meat department. By scanning and recording the different supplies of ground meat, accurate labels are generated to provide easy traceability and reporting to stores if and when a contamination occurs.

In addition to saving time and money compared to manual paper-based tracking systems, the Meat Grind Management Traceability software allows companies to quickly and accurately respond to recalls when they happen. Centrally logging records of every lug of meat that is ground allows for reports to be pulled with ease and can ensure grocery stores are in compliance with FSIS Directives.

With ADC's Meat Grind Traceability Manager, meat cutters can scan the barcodes on primals to record the name of the supplying establishment(s), supplier lot number(s), production date and name of supplied material(s). This information is embedded into the GS1-128 bar-code that is on each label. Therefore, when a contamination occurs, grocery stores can quickly pull the P-Cubed Grinding Log Report to assess what portion of their meat is part of the recall.

To learn more, contact ADC at +1.813.849.1818, or visit our website, www.AppliedDataCorp.com, for more information.  Click here to contact ADC today.

InterStore is now available in French

As interest for ADC's Fresh Item Management (FIM) software solutions continues to grow throughout the world, its language availability continues to increase.  The architecture of InterStore allows easy translation of the software's screens and reports to any language because the language is not hard coded.  Instead, it is looked up dynamically at program load time from resource files.


"Since InterStore is easily translatable, it allows us to customize the user interface language for each country we enter, including those countries where multiple languages are spoken, allowing each user login to have a different language," stated Steve Loveridge, ADC's CEO.  "This includes the Mandarin languages, as the system fully supports the double-byte character set.  Additionally, InterStore.Net supports grocery/supermarket chains with stores that span mutliple countries, each with different languages and currencies.


Want more information? Click here to contact ADC today.

200+ Store Grocery Chain Reports Average 35.6% Shrink Reduction

A 200+ store regional grocery chain in the USA has piloted and is rolling-out ADC's P-Cubed Perishable Production Planning software system and has seen a consequent average 35.6% reduction in shrink in its Deli and Bakery departments.

The Perishable Production Planning module generates demand-based production plans from store-specific sales history, which results in having the optimum amount and variety of fresh foods available at the right time for customers.

"The first success story we saw with the system came from an item that had never been on promotion before" stated the retailer's CIO. "ADC's software forecast that we needed 31 of the item available for sale. While the store was hesitant to produce that quantity, they indeed sold 30. However, that was just the beginning. Once we were producing the optimum quantities of fresh products, we saw a drastic average reduction in our perishable shrink of 35.6% in just two of our fresh departments."

ADC was able to track and report the reduction in shrink by collecting sales movement data at the item-transaction level starting for over a year prior to the P-Cubed implementation. This allowed a direct comparison of same store, same item year on year performance over a 10 week period, contrasting items on the production plan against candidate items yet to be put on production planning. Unit shrink reduced by 25.5% on production plan items but increased by 10.1% on non-production plan items.

"We are very happy to be able to share this client's P-Cubed results," said Steve Loveridge, ADC's CEO. Prospective clients want P-Cubed quantified results, which is why we like to collect fresh item sales history prior to the software being rolled out. Additionally, the fresh-focused forecasting algorithms in P-Cubed perform better with a significant amount of sales history. ADC looks forward to sharing more stories from this client and others who are seeing similar results from the P-Cubed software system."

Want more information? Click here to contact ADC today.

Dates Announced for ReFresh 2012

Mark your calendar's for the 11^th annual ReFresh Fresh Item Management (FIM) Conference and User Group hosted by ADC - September 10^th - 12^th, 2012 at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort, Clearwater Beach, Florida.

ReFresh has proven to be a key industry event for current and prospective FIM users to share experiences, hear about new technologies, receive industry updates and network with supermarket peers and industry partners.

ReFresh continues to evolve to reflect industry trends and to provide attendees with the most current and relevant information on Fresh Item Management. This year's agenda will include two full days of software update presentations, panel sessions, roundtable discussions, client experience stories and industry updates.

An optional, half day training session is available for all attendees on Wednesday, September 12^th, 2012.

Want more information? Click here to contact ADC today.

Visit ADC in Booth #5804 at FMI 2012

Only 46 days until the 2012 FMI Show in Dallas, Texas - will you be there?  ADC will be in booth #5804 and we hope you stop by to see a demo of InterStore.Net.  Be sure to ask us how one of our clients is reporting an average 35% shrink reduction in their bakery and deli departments!  If you want more information on what you can expect from ADC at the show, please click here.

Want more information? Click here to contact ADC today.

Meat Nutritional Labeling: Effective Date Quickly Approaching

We're reposting a blog post from November of last year as a refresher on the upcoming Meat Nutritional Labeling.

March 1, 2012 marks the effective date for mandatory nutrition labeling requirements for single-ingredient products and ground/chopped meat and poultry products in the USA.

In December 2010, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) mandated that on January 1, 2012, the major cuts of meat must have nutritional labeling on the pack or at the point of purchase. Additionally, single-ingredient ground meat must have the meat nutritional facts on the package.1

Applied Data Corporation (ADC), a leading provider of fresh item, recipe management, and scales management software to the grocery retail and food service industries, has extended its systems within InterStore.Net, ADC's Fresh Item Management (FIM) suite of software, to provide readily available solutions to supermarket chains for the upcoming meat nutritional labeling requirements.

InterScale, ADC's brand-neutral scales management system, hosts nutrifacts to the barcode labeling scales in meat departments, regardless of manufacturer, from one centralized H.Q. system. InterScale supports different nutrifacts by vendor/supplier for the same item/PLU across stores. Nutrifacts information must be presented on labels in a rigorous and standardized format. InterScale now hosts these label formats to scales and printers from the major manufacturers, allowing the retailer large savings by avoiding expensive hands-on service calls by the scale provider.

NutriGen, ADC's Recipe Management software, calculates nutritional labeling information from a recipe's sub-recipes and raw ingredients, allowing InterScale to send this data to the in-store barcode labeling scales and label printers.

"ADC is continually working with our clients and the scale manufacturers to provide a solution that will exceed the mandate set forth by the FSIS for meat nutritional labeling," said Steve Loveridge, President of ADC. "Currently, we have some clients who are ahead of the legislation deadline by already hosting nutrifacts to their barcode labeling scales and providing this information on meat packages. We hope to see this number increase as the sunrise date approaches."

InterScale and NutriGen are systems within ADC's InterStore.Net suite of FIM software, which is an integrated software suite to provide greater efficiencies through optimization of food preparation and transformation processes in the grocer's fresh-food departments. InterStore.Net also includes P-Cubed in-store food production software and other specialized meat management modules such as cutting templates, cutting tests and meat traceability management.

¹http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/RDAD/FRPubs/2005-0018F.pdf

Want more information? Click here to contact ADC today.

Increase Fresh Department Sales with Food Bars

Food bars are a way to stand out from your competition and satisfy shopper’s who are looking for quick, convenient, fresh and tasty meal options.  An article in the February/March 2012 issue of Deli Business titled “Stand Out From the Crowd” by Lauren Katims, highlights these facts in more detail. 

Food bars in your stores help to increase the amount of impulsive purchases made in your fresh departments, which helps to boost your bottom line.  Additionally, customers are dining in grocer’s in-store restaurants/cafes so ensuring that your food bars offer a variety of fresh foods at the right time is important when trying to maximize how much customers spend.  

ADC’s Fresh Combination Manager software module allows food retailers to track the quantities of customer-selectable portions on a food plate, salad bar, floral bouquet or flavor-level for doughnut/bagel/muffin bags using any touch screen browser. 

Additionally, with ADC’s Perishable Production Planning module, you are able to provide system-generated production plans as simple “to-do” lists for in-store team members advising how much of each product to prepare to meet expected sales while minimizing the amount of wastage at the end of the day.  This allows you to further reduce shrink and continue to increase our fresh sales.

Want more information? Click here to contact ADC today.

FMI Midwinter Executive Conference

For the past few days, Stephen Loveridge, ADC's President and CEO, has been at the annual FMI Midwinter Exectuive Conference in Orlando, Florida.  This was the largest Executive Conference in recent years and we wanted to share some video footage of FMI President & CEO, Leslie Sarasin, talking with Supermarket Guru Phil Lempert and SN Editor-in-Chief David Orgel.  You can view the video here.

Additional video from the conference can be seen here.

Want more information? Click here to contact ADC today.

Health and Wellness in Your Stores

One of the growing trends in the food industry is increased nutritional awareness, as well as increased awareness on product origins and food safety.  This helps to explain the growing popularity of nutritional rating systems on shelves at grocery stores around the country. 

A recent article published by USA Today, which can be found here, outlines how a growing number of grocery store chains are using systems, such as NuVal and Guiding Stars, to help customers make healthier choices when it comes to the foods they buy.

Another way to aid your customers in making healthy food purchases is to be sure that labels on items prepared or finished in your stores list the proper allergens and other healthy food decisions.

A central recipe management system that is integrated onto the scales in your fresh departments helps to ensure that you are consistently providing the right messaging to your customer’s in regards to nutritional information, allergen warnings and dietary preferences.

Additionally, a recipe management system helps to decrease the amount of time it takes for ingredient substitutions, which is helpful in the event of a recall, ingredient shortage or ingredient substitution. 

Want more information? Click here to contact ADC today.

Improving your Prepared Foods Selection

Last week, Supermarket News posted an article on how retailers are improving their prepared foods selection in stores.  You can read the full article here.

Whether your stores offer customers a wide variety of prepared food options, or you’re enhancing your fresh prepared food departments in your stores, it’s important to remember that variety is not the only thing that matters.

It’s key to know how much of each product should be produced at the right time.  This can seem like a pretty significant challenge; however, with the right tools in place, you can ensure that your stores have the right quantity at the right time for your shopper’s.  

Customer’s that are using the P-Cubed Production Planning software have reported success stories and many similar to the following statement from a client:  “We had our first success story with P-Cubed Production Planning with an item that had never been on promotion before.  The system called for 31, the store was hesitant, but sold 30.”

Want more information? Click here to contact ADC today.
 

Fresh Item Management: A Competitive Advantage

At ADC’s annual ReFresh FIM Conference in October of last year, Harold Lloyd, our keynote speaker, spoke on how every great retailer has ‘5 reasons for being’ – whether it’s lowest prices, best variety, etc.  Every retailer should have 5 pillars so that when a competitor enters the market, they make take a way one or two of your pillars, but you will still have three or four more reasons why your customers continue to shop at your stores.

One of the biggest competitive advantages a grocer can have is to have the best fresh departments.  This means having the freshest products available, the right amount of fresh product available for your customer’s when they want it and the best prices, among other things.  It’s all about keeping your customer’s happy and returning on a regular basis.

A grocer never wants to have the following happen to them: A hungry customer comes into their store after work to pick up ingredients for dinner that night – a rotisserie chicken with a loaf of fresh baked bread, prepared mashed potatoes and green beans.   The customer approaches the rotisserie chicken section and sees that the oven is empty and there are none in the warming bin in front of them.  Essentially, this ruins the shopper’s dinner plans and leaves a bad taste in their mouth about your store.  Next time they need a quick meal, they will be less likely to stop in your store and more inclined to try from a restaurant or competitor’s store.

How can you avoid this? Ensuring that the right variety and quantity of food is ready when your customer’s are most likely to demand it.  How can you do this? A fresh item management solution helps to forecast production based on historical demand. 

But, that’s not all.  An integrated FIM solution manages the many aspects of a fresh item’s lifecycle: including shelf life, recipes, ingredients, inventory control (physical and perpetual), and more.  A FIM solution increases your fresh profitability, reduces your perishable shrink and helps to streamline the many tedious tasks that are a part of managing fresh departments on a daily basis.

Interested in learning more? Give ADC a call today to learn more about InterStore.Net, our FIM solution, or fill out this form to have an ADC representative contact you.

Want more information? Click here to contact ADC today.