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U.S. Food and Drug Administration Finalizes Menu Labeling Requirements

On November 25, 2014 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) finalized requirements for the Menu Labeling Rule, which requires restaurants, supermarkets, convenience store and other establishments to post calorie information for foods on display, self-service items and items that appear on menus or menu boards.  Compliance is required by December 1, 2015.  To read full details of the final rule, click here.

Applied Data Corporation (ADC), a leading supplier of software solutions for the fresh food industries, offers solutions within their InterStore Fresh Item Management (FIM) software suite to help covered retailers comply with the Menu Labeling Rule.  

ADC’s NutriGen Recipe Manager analyzes product recipes to generate accurate nutritional labeling information.  NutriGen centrally manages recipes, combining vendor supplied sub-assemblies, such as a cake base, with a retailer’s raw materials, such as icing.  When used with ADC’s InterScale Scales Manager, the nutritional labeling information is sent to barcode labeling scales, printers and other media, i.e. in-store digital displays and websites.

Within InterStore retailers can also deliver demand-based production plans to their stores or central production facilities, containing the required recipes, via the P-Cubed Production Manager. 

InterScale, NutriGen and P-Cubed are all available within the InterStore suite, meaning retailers only need one system to meet the requirements of the Menu Labeling Rule.

To learn more about the proposed regulation or ADC’s software solution, please contact our office at +1.813.849.1818 or visit www.AppliedDataCorp.com.

Proposed Meat Grind Traceability Regulation Could Be Law As Soon As Early 2015

On July 16, 2014 the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) proposed a regulation to require retail stores to keep records containing information on the suppliers of source materials used in the meat grind production process*. Industry sources predict the rule could become law as soon as early 2015 and be enforced as soon as late 2015.

Applied Data Corporation (ADC) has been providing retailers with grind traceability solutions for over 5 years with their Meat Grind Traceability Management module and has been following the proposed regulation very closely.

On October 21, 2014, ADC submitted official comments to the proposed regulation**.  These comments were to provide FSIS with information on current solutions available to meet the regulation, as well as to identify requirements in the regulation that would put an unnecessary burden on retailers.

In their comments, ADC emphasized that FSIS should explicitly accommodate the use of electronic recordkeeping for meat grind traceability data because such solutions are already being used by retailers across the country and meet the requirements of the proposed regulation.   

ADC’s Meat Grind Traceability Management module is an electronic, automated system that captures and records source materials through the meat grind process, providing the information that both retailers and regulatory agencies need to quickly and effectively identify potential source materials that could cause or contribute to an outbreak, at any time.

The Meat Grind Traceability Management module is installed at a retailer's headquarters and features an easy-to-use browser user interface that enables retailers to quickly implement the software with little investment in additional hardware.  The software captures all of the required information from the primal’s barcode with wireless handheld devices.

*Read about the proposed regulation here.
**Read ADC’s comments on the proposed regulation here.

190 Store Chain in the Southeastern United States Implements InterScale Multi-Threaded Scale Communications Program

ADC announces that a 190 grocery store chain headquartered in the Southwestern United States has implemented the InterScale multi-threaded scale communications program at its centralized data center.

The multi-threaded scale communication program represents a new generation of InterScale, which allows the retailer to communicate to all of the scales, across all of their stores in parallel from one to many centralized servers, thereby greatly reducing the time it takes to get information to and from their scales.

“We are very happy to have completed our upgrade to the multi-threaded scale communication program within InterScale,” said a representative from the retailer.  “The first time we used the program, we saw that it was able to send a full file to all of our scales across all stores in a quarter of the time it previously took, which was extremely exciting to witness.”  Previously, the older-generation program, which processed one scale after another, was much slower.

“This is our first customer to implement the centralized multi-threaded scale communications program within InterScale and we are pleased with the results they are seeing,” said Steve Loveridge, CEO at ADC.  “We believe the multi-threaded scale communication program is an important new feature within the InterScale system and look forward to hearing similar success stories as more clients upgrade.”

"ADC's Recipe for Profitable Fresh Foods Retailing"

In the third installment of Retail Times’s definitive Guide to Profitable Fresh Foods Retailing, we explore how retailers and food service operators can best manage their recipe databases for items prepared in-store and how to comply with forthcoming new EU food labeling regulation.

Read the full article here.

InterScale Scales Manager Boosts Retailers’ Margins in Fresh Foods

The second article in conjunction with Retail Time's definitive Guide to Profitable Fresh Foods Retailing, we explore how retailers and food service operators can optimize their fresh food sales and margins with scales management software.

You can read the article here.

ReFresh 2014 Conference Considered a Huge Success

ADC held the 13th annual ReFresh Fresh Item Management (FIM) Conference from September 22-25, 2014 at the Sheraton Sand Key in Clearwater Beach, Florida.  This year’s ReFresh attendees represented sixteen retailers from across the United States and Europe, making it the highest attended conference to date.

The ReFresh agenda included a variety of subject matter expert presenters, FIM software presentations, a retailer presentation and retailer chaired discussions.

For the second year in a row, the conference started with a Welcome Reception on Monday, October 7th, allowing attendees to meet with ADC associates and sponsors prior to the conference starting.

Sessions started on Tuesday, October 8th with a welcome and introductions, followed by an InterStore Overview presentation, which highlighted ADC’s InterStore FIM software suite hierarchy, as well as a look at ADC’s InterScale Scales Manager software system.

Additional FIM software presentations included in-depth looks at Production Planning, Recipe Management, Meat Management and Shrink Management tools.

Other highlights of the agenda included:

• “The Fresh Value Proposition” by Bruce Peterson, founder and president of Peterson Insights.  Bruce’s presentation discussed what factors motivate shoppers in fresh departments, as well as the future role of fresh. 
• “Super Natural Growth: The Rise of the Natural/Gourmet Grocery Segment” by Rod Hawkes, a Senior Extension Associate at Cornell's Food Industry Management Program.  Rod's discussed the rapid growth in the natural/gourmet grocer segment over the past four years, including the dominant players in this market space and the growing competition. 
• “Federal Regulatory Update: What Retailers Need to Know” by Erik R. Lieberman, president of U.S. Food Imports LLC and principal of Lieberman PLLC.  Erik shared the latest information on key regulations impacting retailers, including the proposed ruling on Meat Grind Management and the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).
• “Reaching Shoppers at the Meat Case” by Karen Shearer, Strategic Account Director at Midan Marketing.  Karen shared the results of consumer focus groups that were conducted to help identify issues in the meat department, and reach industry-wide solutions aimed to assist shoppers and increase meat sales.
• “The Power of Fresh” by Anne-Marie Roerink, Principal at 210 Analytics.  Anne-Marie discussed trends in the produce and meat departments of supermarkets, as well as key shrink statistics.

Retailer Feedback:

•  “ADC brought together a very informative, creative and fun group of individuals.  Tons of FIM info received and lots of contacts made.  Presentations and guest speakers were all great.”  – Christy Fajerson, Brookshire Grocery Company.
• “I was very impressed with the presenters and breakdown of the ReFresh conference.” – Lon Herget, Associated Food Stores
• “Overall the conference was great.  It was informative and had great subject matter experts.  It was awesome talking with other retailers and I enjoyed all of the great speakers.”

Sponsor Interaction – This year’s ReFresh had 10 industry sponsors, including DBK Concepts/Zebra, Brdata, Datamax-O’Neil, Bizerba, Hobart, Janam, NBI Digi, Rice Lake Retail Solutions, Specialty Printing and Truno.

Applied Data Corporation Receives 2014 Best of Tampa Award for Business Service

ADC has been selected for the 2014 Best of Tampa Award in the Business Services category by the Tampa Award Program.

Each year, the Tampa Award Program identifies companies that we believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and our community. These exceptional companies help make the Tampa area a great place to live, work and play.

Since 1989, ADC has developed software solutions for the fresh food departments of grocery and food service chains.  Today, ADC works with 125 supermarket chains, across 11 countries and 10,000 retail outlets.

“We are honored to receive this award, as we continuously work to provide our clients with software solutions that improve efficiencies in their fresh department operations by increasing fresh item sales and reducing perishable shrink, while maximizing their FIM projects return on investment,” said Steve Loveridge, ADC’s CEO.

ADC Announces Subject Matter Expert Speakers for 2014 ReFresh Fresh Item Management Conference

We are pleased to announce that Erik Lieberman, President at U.S. Food Imports and Principal at Lieberman PLLC, Karen Shearer, Strategic Account Director at Midan Marketing and Anne-Marie Roerink, Principal at 210 Analytics are presenting at the 13th annual ReFresh Fresh Item Management (FIM) Conference.

This year’s ReFresh is at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort in Clearwater Beach, Florida from September 22nd-25th.  ReFresh is a leading industry conference for grocery, convenience and food service retailers interested in learning about the newest technologies for managing fresh foods.  To learn more about ReFresh 2014 or to register, click here.

• Erik R. Lieberman is the president of U.S. Food Imports LLC and principal of Lieberman PLLC. Formerly he served as vice president and chief regulatory counsel at the Food Marketing Institute where he represented the retail supermarket industry and food wholesalers before federal agencies including the Food and Drug Administration and Department of Agriculture.  During Erik’s presentation on September 24th, attendees will hear the latest information on key regulations impacting retailers, including rules issued under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).
• Karen Shearer is the Strategic Account Director at Midan Marketing, a Chicago-based company that provides customized marketing, market research and communication programs.  Karen’s expertise is in the retail meat and agriculture arenas, primarily with the pork industry.  During Karen’s presentation on September 23rd, she will share the results of consumer focus groups that were conducted to help identify issues in the meat department, and reach industry-wide solutions aimed to assist shoppers and increase meat sales.
• Anne-Marie Roerink is a Principal at 210 Analytics, LLC, a marketing research firm based in San Antonio, Texas.  Anne-Marie served as the Director of Research for the Food Marketing Institute for seven years.  In this capacity, she was responsible for developing, implementing and directing all FMI’s research efforts with state-of-the-industry consumer insights and food retailing operational benchmarking.  Anne-Marie’s presentation on September 23rd will highlight shopper trends in supermarkets, specifically in the produce and meat departments.  Additionally, Anne-Marie will be sharing key insights into supermarket shrink.

“The subject matter expert presentations at ReFresh are consistently ranked by attendees as most valuable” said Steve Loveridge, ADC’s CEO.  “These presentations are designed to provide attendees with current facts and trends that are applicable to their everyday operations and strategic direction. We are very excited about this year’s ReFresh subject matter expert lineup.”

For additional information, please contact:
Jamie Simon
Applied Data Corporation
+1.813.849.1818 Ext. 2238www.AppliedDataCorp.com

ADC at the International Retail User Group (IRUG) Conference

ADC will be at the International Retail User Group (IRUG) Conference next week in Orlando, Florida. Be sure to visit us in Booth #27, as well as attend our two presentations.

The 1st is a Super Session titled “Grocery Technology that Will Make or Break the Customer Experience” at 10:45am on 5/19.

Our 2nd is an Elective Session titled “Fresh Food Retail: How to Maintain Profitability through Technology” at 2:45pm on Monday, 5/19.

Learn more here: http://bit.ly/1nNKcy5.

News Release: Key Food Stores Co-Operative Selects ADC's InterScale Scales Manager System

ADC announces that Key Food Stores Co-Operative (Key Food Stores) has selected and is implementing ADC’s InterScale Scales Manager software.  Key Food Stores is headquartered in Staten Island, New York and includes 149 supermarkets spanning all five boroughs, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island, and additionally Long Island, upstate New York and the states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Key Food Stores selected ADC’s InterScale Scales Manager after initiating a strategic project to achieve PLU item number standardization across their Membership. 

“As a Co-operative, each of our stores assigned different PLU item numbers across all fresh commodities,” said Aliceann Conoshenti, IT Director at Key Food Stores.  “Our goal is to provide accurate gross profit reporting to our Members.  To accomplish this required standardization of PLU’s and UPC’s (barcode numbers) across Meat, Seafood, Deli, Dairy, Produce and Bakery departments.  We needed a centralized software solution with the ability to communicate across all fresh departments, which is what led us to InterScale.”

With InterScale, Key Food Stores can manage all data for barcode labeling scales, including change batch creation and management, performing network tests, re-loading scales with item price and food safety information and pulling back scale data for comparison reporting across an individual store or chain of stores.

Another important factor in selecting ADC’s InterScale was the ability to communicate to a variety of barcode labeling scales from different manufacturers, including some scales that are 10 to 15 years old.  After completing their research Key Food Stores found that InterScale had the capability to communicate with all models of price look-up barcode labeling scales and printers from all of the manufacturers.

“Our stores responded very favorably to ADC’s InterScale because of ADC’s extensive list of compliant scales – more than any other scale software company, which made this large project a lot easier for our stores,” said Frank Gambarella, Director of Merchandising at Key Food Stores. 

Stores are pleased with the capabilities of the software. “With InterScale, we were able to provide the ability to automate pricing updates to all scales, which eliminated the manual efforts that our stores had to manage previously,” continued Aliceann.  “Our stores have visibility of all scale data.  The ease of use of InterScale allows us to update and control the data at scale level from a central location, across all of our stores.”
When the InterScale implementation is completed, Key Food Stores intends to further explore ADC’s FIM software solutions. 

“We worked extensively with Key Food Stores to achieve their goals and are very pleased to hear such favorable results,” said Steve Loveridge, CEO at ADC.  “We look forward to working with them on their future FIM projects.” 

The InterScale Scales Manager is one of three software systems that comprise InterStore, ADC's integrated fresh item management software suite. The other two systems are: the NutriGen Recipe Manager, which derives the true cost of recipes (including packaging and labor), as well as managing all of the allergen and nutritional facts through their recipes for legally compliant labeling, and the P-Cubed Production Manager, which automates, manages and tracks shrink, inventory and production in the fresh departments of grocery stores.

ADC and Retail Times Launch Definitive Guide to Profitable Fresh Foods Retailing

We've teamed up with Retail Times UK for a series of articles on the challenges in fresh foods and how Fresh Item Management software can help retailers optimize sales and reduce waste. 

In the first installment, Retail Times editor, Fiona Briggs, interviews ADC CEO, Steve Loveridge, to introduce the ADC operation and its focus of expertise.

Read the first article here.

Brookshire Grocery Company Completes Implementation of ADC's P-Cubed In-Store Fresh Production Planner

ADC announces that Brookshire Grocery Company, a 150 store chain based in Tyler, Texas has completed rollout of ADC’s P-Cubed In-Store Fresh Production Planning module in all of their stores.

The P-Cubed In-Store Fresh Production Planning module generates demand-based production plans from store-specific sales forecasts, which results in having the optimum amount and variety of fresh foods available at the right time for customers.  Brookshire Grocery Company implemented the P-Cubed In-Store Fresh Production Planner as a sales building and shrink management tool for their fresh food departments.

“All 150 of our stores are now running production planning in four departments – deli, bakery, chef prepared and produce.  On average, we run around 1,000 production plans per day per department across our 150 stores,” said Jonathan Key, Fresh Item Management Coordinator at Brookshire Grocery Company.  

The P-Cubed In-Store Fresh Production Planner has taken the guesswork out of fresh food production planning.  With the software, Brookshire Grocery Company now has educated in-stock information on availability in their fresh food departments. 

Brookshire Grocery Company implemented the software in phases to enable rigorous training in each store.  ”The first stores to start using the software reported that the production numbers were incredibly accurate.  One store director reported that they have had their best quarter ever, with more sales and less shrink,” continued Jonathan.

Brookshire Grocery Company also tracks how the stores comply with the production plan. “With management oversight and support, we are seeing, on average, a 97% compliance rating across our stores,” Jonathan stated.  

“We are thrilled to hear the results that Brookshire Grocery Company is reporting,” said Steve Loveridge, ADC’s CEO.  “An important success factor to such a new technology initiative is to have store associate support.  Brookshire Grocery Company has put the right steps in place to ensure store associates are using the tools.”

The P-Cubed In-Store Fresh Production Planner is a module within P-Cubed, ADC’s Production Manager system.  P-Cubed is one of three software systems that comprise InterStore, 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 NutriGen Recipe Manager, which derives the true cost of recipes (including packaging and labor), as well as managing all of the allergen and nutritional facts through their recipes for legally compliant labeling. 

ADC Announces New Developments and Features within InterScale Scales Manager

ADC announces new developments and features within InterScale Scales Manager software system.

The first new feature within InterScale is the System Dashboard that provides users a graphically summarized, drill-down view of business performance and expectations, including monitoring of mission critical events and errors.  Users simply click a graph to drill-down for more details.

“We developed the System Dashboard to help our customers quickly and easily assess the performance and health of their system as soon as they login to InterScale,” said Steve Loveridge, CEO at ADC.  “The System Dashboard is a powerful tool that helps our customers further maximize their FIM investment.”

Another new feature within InterScale is the release of the multi-threading scale communications program that facilitates concurrent communication to a user-definable number of scales, in a user-definable number of stores.

The third new development within InterScale is the release of the Scale Firmware Manager that enables scale administrators to import and organize firmware for all scales that support remote firmware updates, in all of their stores.  Additionally, the Scale Firmware Manager allows users to import new firmware, select a device in which to update firmware, or simply just organize the firmware with distinctive names.

“It is our goal at ADC to provide our customers with an integrated FIM solution that helps address pain points across all fresh departments,” continued Steve.  “We are very pleased to release these new features and developments within InterScale, as each has been developed to maximize the value of our customers’ investment in their ADC FIM software.”

ADC Announces Dates for 13th Annual ReFresh Fresh Item Management (FIM) and User Conference

Tampa, Florida - February 3, 2014 - Applied Data Corporation (ADC), a leading provider of fresh item, recipe management, and scales management software to the grocery retail and food service industries, announces the dates of their annual ReFresh Fresh Item Management (FIM) Conference – September 22-25, 2014 at the Sheraton Sand Key in Clearwater Beach, Florida. ReFresh is a leading industry event for grocery, convenience and food service retailers interested in learning about the newest technologies for managing fresh foods.  The ReFresh conference agenda includes industry expert presentations, retailer experience presentations, themed round-table discussions and networking opportunities. ReFresh attendees come from a variety of roles within food retail, including Information Technology/Information Systems, Directors/Managers, FIM Coordinators, Fresh Department Directors/Managers and Store Operations/Systems. “We are very much looking forward to ReFresh 2014,” said Steve Loveridge, ADC’s CEO.  “ReFresh provides face-time among our customers and other subject matter experts in our fresh foods technology niche to share the latest FIM developments, hear how FIM technologies are being used and discuss ideas for future development.” Recap of ReFresh 2013 ADC hosted the 12th annual ReFresh Conference from October 7-October 10, 2013 at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort in Clearwater Beach, Florida.  ReFresh attendees represented eighteen retailers from across the United States.  Presentations included: “Regulatory Update: Key Issues in Food Safety and Labeling” by Erik Lieberman, Regulatory Counsel at the Food Marketing Institute.  Erik shared upcoming food safety legislation that will affect retailers, including the changes to Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) and the Food Safety and Modernization Act (FSMA). “Consumer Drivers of Fresh Food Growth” by Sarah Schmansky, Director of Account Services at Nielsen Perishables Group.  Sarah discussed current trends in the fresh food departments, including consumer trends and behavior. "Electronic Grind Log” by Larry Kohl, Director of Food Safety at Delhaize America.  Larry discussed how Delhaize America is implementing and using ADC’s Meat Grind Traceability software, including how the software is better preparing stores for transparent record retention and retrieval.   Retailer Feedback: “Very informative and one of the best conferences I’ve attended!” “Excellent opportunity to understand how other retailers are using ADC’s software.  The insight on how other retailers are doing things is crucial!  Thank you for the opportunity!” “Topics were relevant and timely and presenters were very informative.  Seminars were very motivating and on target.” Sponsor Interaction – This year’s ReFresh had 8 industry sponsors, including Mettler Toledo, Rice Lake Retail Solutions, Specialty Printing, Zebra Technologies, Bizerba, BRdata, Hobart and NBI Digi.  Each sponsor showcased the latest hardware and technology solutions available for fresh food retailers. To learn more about ReFresh 2014, click here.

Publix Super Markets Completes Implementation of ADC's InterScale Scales Management Software System

ADC announces that Publix Super Markets, a 1,081 store chain headquartered in Lakeland,

Florida, has completed implementation of InterScale, ADC’s Scales Management Software system, into all of their stores.

InterScale is now transmitting data to and from the barcode labeling scales in all of Publix’s stores.  InterScale communicates with over fifty different types of barcode labeling scales, printers and kiosks, from a variety of manufacturers.

“We are pleased that Publix has completed the roll-out of InterScale into all of their stores” said Steve Loveridge, ADC’s CEO.

InterScale is one of three systems within ADC’s InterStore FIM software suite and works with the NutriGen Recipe Manager and the P-Cubed In-Store Food Production Manager to provide grocers with an integrated software solution to help increase efficiencies in their fresh departments. 

ADC Announces the Release of C-Pack and C-Pack+ Software Bundles for Convenience Stores

ADC announces the release of the C-Pack and C-Pack+ software bundles, designed for fresh food management by convenience store retailers.

The C-Pack software bundle provides easy to use recommendations for convenience store operators on what and how much fresh foods to prepare, based on historical sales, recent trends, special events and shrink analysis.  C-Pack+ is a supplement to the C-Pack software bundle that offers near-real-time inventory monitoring of fresh food items.

 “Convenience store chains experience similar pain points as grocery/supermarket retailers when it comes to fresh food items,” said Steve Loveridge, ADC’s CEO.  “In order to help convenience store chains realize the benefits of a Fresh Item Management (FIM) system, we’ve taken the most relevant software modules from our existing software suite and bundled them specifically for convenience stores.”

The C-Pack software bundle includes the P-Cubed Production Manager and P-Cubed Shrink Manager.  The C-Pack+ supplemental software bundle includes the P-Cubed Physical Inventory, P-Cubed Perpetual Inventory and the NutriGen Recipe Manager. Both include special licensing terms to reflect the limited assortment of fresh food items that can be important “destination items” to convenience store retailers.

To learn more about each of the software bundles, please click here.  For pricing, a demonstration or to arrange an evaluation, please contact:

In the Americas: Stanley Boschert at +1.813.849.1818 Ext. 2245

In Europe: Chris Evans at +44 (0)1799.524.835