"Make the Most of the New Meat Labeling Law"

In today's FMI dailyLead, Matt Enis wrote an interesting article discussing the potential positive impacts of the new meat labeling laws, set to go in effect on March 1, 2012.  Some of the positive impacts included increased beef sales and a more positive view of beef from the consumer perspective.  Read the article at: http://supermarketnews.com/viewpoints/meat_labeling_laws_1128/ and let us know what you think.

Effective Date for Meat Nutrition Labeling Delayed

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety (USDA) and Inspection Service (FSIS) have recently announced that the effective date for the mandatory nutrition labeling requirements for single-ingredient and ground/chopped meat and poultry products in the USA has been delayed until March 1, 2012.  The previous effective date was January 1, 2012. 

The delayed effective date allows retailers more time to prepare for the upcoming legislation.  ADC has been following this legislation closely since it was announced in December 2010.  At that time, the FSIS mandated that the 40 most popular 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

The nutrition facts panels are expected to include the number of calories and the grams of total fat and saturated fat a product contains.  Additionally, any product that lists a lean percentage statement, such as "76%" lean on its label, will also list its fat percentage, which is intended to make it easier for consumers to understand the amounts of lean protein and fat in their purchase.

Looking for a Solution?  ADC's InterStore.Net Fresh Item Management (FIM) suite of software provides 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."

 

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

ADC Unveils New Product and Software Suite Logos

Recently, ADC unveiled our new product and software suite logos to ReFresh 2011 attendees and we’d like to share them on our blog as well.  The InterStore.Net suite, InterScale Scales Manager and P-Cubed Production Manager (formerly Perishable Production Planner) logos were completely redesigned, while the NutriGen logo received minor edits for logo family consistency, but maintains most of its original design.

We regularly asses our branding to determine if any changes are needed to improve our product image and marketing message. This year, we decided to revamp our product logos, as the previous logos individually evolved over time. We wanted to create a family of logos that visually defined our products within their product suite.

The basis for the new logo designs came from the colors in ADC’s existing company logo designed to illustrate that our software is for all of the fresh areas in the grocery store: green for the fruits and vegetables in the produce department, light-orange for bread in the bakery and cheese in the deli departments and the deep red for the meat department.

Our new logos have a fresh, modern look to them, but still identify functional aspects of the software modules they represent.  As the rebranding process evolved, we noticed that we needed to address the ‘P-Cubed Perishable Production Planning’ system name. The system now encompasses more modules than just Production Planning; therefore, it has been rebranded as the ‘P-Cubed In-Store Food Production’ system.”

Below is a comparison of the old and new logos, as well as the new overall suite logo.  To see larger versions of each of the logos, please click here.

Another Great Day at ReFresh 2011!

Day two of ReFresh is ended and was another successful day.  Our keynote speaker, Harold Lloyd, started the day with an entertaining and educational, presentation on “Merchandising Magic” or, as he more accurately described it as “Merchandising Logic.”  Harold presented five key strategies to help increase the overall purchase total of customer’s in grocery stores.  His presentation included visual examples from grocery stores, results from research he conducted over the past couple of years and a great deal of humor. 

Following Harold’s presentation attendees started their second roundtable session, focused on NutriGen.  Three roundtable chairs led discussions on their experiences with NutriGen, sharing their successes, challenges and implementation strategies.

After lunch, attendees enjoyed our third retailer presentation, which highlighted how ADC’s shrink management module can be used to receive increased tax deductions that boost your bottom line.  The afternoon agenda, also included a partner presentation by BRdata and a presentation by Steve Loveridge, ADC President.

The day ended with a fresh food safety panel, moderated by Harold Lloyd.  Four ADC retailers shared their company’s approach to handling fresh food safety and the current fresh food safety challenges that they face.  Each retailer also shared their insights on what future challenges they foresee in food safety.

Our dinner on the beach was a great hit and the entertainment provided by ADC’s band was a huge success.

We’re looking forward to ReFresh 2012 and have already started the planning!

Day One of ReFresh 2011

The first day of ReFresh is winding down and it’s been a great success.  The conference started this morning with introductions and a brief conference overview, followed by an interactive demonstration of new features available in ADC’s InterStore.Net Fresh Item Management software suite (version 6.4.2) for both in-store and central users.  Rob Appell and Mark Molter showed attendees the new web-based software and additional functionality, designed to make the software easier to use for end users.

ADC’s presentation was followed by a retailer presentation by Jonathan Key of Brookshire Grocery Company, who discussed the significance of a Fresh Item Management (FIM) Coordinator in the overall FIM process, specifically during implementation.  His presentation created a lot of interaction among attendees, who were able to ask questions throughout.

After the lunch break, sessions started again with a second retailer presentation from Lon Herget of Associated Food Stores discussing how they are using InterScale, NutriGen, Shrink Management and Markdown Management as a wholesaler.  Lon outlined how Associated Food Stores is working towards having their banners use standardized recipe formats to streamline their NutriGen use. 

Lon’s presentation was followed by a presentation from ADC’s Implementation Services Manager, John Hall, who presented on what retailers can expect throughout the implementation experience, including setting expectations for implementation and tips on how to streamline the process.  John also went over the savings or increased profits that can be expected from each module.

The day ended with the favored roundtable discussions where three ADC users led discussions on their FIM / implementation experience.  Each of the chairs spoke on a different software system/module, including InterScale, Production Planning and Shrink Management. 

We’re looking forward to a poolside dinner tonight and another great day tomorrow that kicks off with our keynote speaker, Harold Lloyd. 

Training Courses Offered at ADC's Office

ADC now offers training courses for all modules within InterStore.Net at our offices in Tampa, Florida.

The training courses are designed for FIM Project Managers, IT Directors, end users and others who are involved with implementing, operating and maintaining InterStore.Net. 

They provide a great opportunity for clients to receive training on the new software versions, to provide refresher training to existing users, as well as to train new users. 

Courses offered include structured introductions to the three systems within InterStore.Net suite: InterScale Scales Management, NutriGen Recipe Management and P-Cubed In-Store Food Production Planning, with detailed training on the operational and administrative functions within each software modules.  There are 29 courses and some classes do have prerequisites.

Ranging in length from one to four hours, courses can be scheduled in half or full day sessions, either at our office in Tampa or on-site at the retailers location, based on the number of people needing training. 

To review the course catalog, for pricing information, or to learn more about the training courses offered, please contact your sales representative or Jamie Dedel at +1.813.849.1818 ext. 221.

Are you Attending the Industry Event of the Year?

ADC is gearing up for our annual ReFresh 2011 Fresh Item Management (FIM) Conference and User Group.  We are now three weeks away from this year’s event, which is being held at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort from October 26^th-28^th, 2011. 

Attendees at ReFresh 2011 will spend two full days immersed in fresh item management discussions and networking opportunities.  The agenda features retailer presentations that explore FIM technology benefits and implementation experiences, software application updates to help client’s maximize their current/future FIM investments and engaging roundtable discussions to share information on fresh food applications and operating environments.

The keynote speaker for ReFresh 2011 is Harold Lloyd, who will be presenting on “Fresh Merchandising Magic.”  Harold will outline research from a customer traffic study, from which he has discovered merchandising strategies/tactics that can impact how customers move through grocery stores and what they buy.

Retailer attendees will also have the opportunity to travel to ADC’s headquarters in Tampa, Florida on Friday, October 28^th for a tour and training sessions.  The training sessions are designed to be interactive and attendees are encouraged to bring their FIM questions with them.

To learn more about ReFresh or to register, please visit, www.AppliedDataCorp.com/refresh/refresh2011.php.  You can also contact Jamie Dedel at jamiededel@ad-c.com or at 1.813.849.1818 ext. 221 for more information.

We hope to see you at the show!