The freshest perspectives and resources

Afresh has been named a leader on the THRIVE Top 50 FoodTech Companies list for the second consecutive year. This annual ranking by SVG Ventures-THRIVE celebrates leading FoodTech companies and recognizes Afresh's innovation in the Next Generation Supply Chain category for its groundbreaking approach to modernizing the fresh food supply chain. Utilizing the world's first AI engine built for fresh grocery, Afresh enables accurate replenishment and inventory management across the supply chain, guaranteeing shoppers access to peak freshness while reducing grocers' waste.

Afresh, the world's first AI engine designed for the unique challenges of fresh grocery, is announcing that Stater Bros. is rolling out its store ordering solution chainwide across its Produce departments. After a successful pilot, the Southern California-based chain is implementing Afresh in all of its 169 stores. Stater Bros. is well-known among shoppers for its fresh and affordable foods. By using Afresh, it will now be easier for Stater Bros. to deliver on those promises.

Afresh, the world's first AI engine designed for the unique challenges of fresh grocery, announced today that Fresh Thyme Market is rolling out Afresh Store Ordering for Food Service. With this addition, Afresh gives Fresh Thyme the ability to tap into AI that is specifically built for the nuances of fresh foods to deliver high quality ordering and inventory management for deli and prepared foods. Fresh Thyme is now on track to use Afresh to order across its core fresh departments – including Produce, Meat, Seafood as well as Food Service – for its entire chain of 70 stores by end of year.

Afresh Technologies, the world's leading fresh food technology company, is announcing the launch of its first solution for distribution centers, Afresh DC Forecasts. The new AI-powered DC Forecasts offer the first-ever fresh-specific technology solution for DC buyers that automatically compiles the data the buyers must consider every day to forecast upcoming orders from the stores they serve.

A U.S. value grocer sought to provide its customers – especially those in areas with limited access to nutritious food – with affordable, fresh produce at a competitive price. Yet high shink, staff turnover, and low inventory turns highlighted issues with their centralized distribution model and prevented stores from achieving the degree of operational efficiency required to keep produce at optimal freshness and pass savings along to customers.

Afresh’s inventory estimator (InvHMM) marries the predictive power of machine learning with the flexibility of hidden Markov models to offer grocery retailers a robust solution that not only enhances inventory accuracy but also optimizes ordering and mitigates shrink.

Afresh is setting a new standard for operational excellence in fresh. Our AI equips grocery retailers with the tools to reduce shrink, ensure optimal stock levels, and facilitate smarter, data-driven ordering. In this way, our leading-edge AI not only elevates operational efficiency but also enhances customer satisfaction by fueling an exceptional in-store experience.

As the most influential department on the store's perimeter, meat drives significant foot traffic and sales for grocery retailers. The meat department also presents a unique opportunity for grocers to differentiate themselves from competitors. Recognizing this, industry leaders like Albertsons are increasingly looking towards Afresh’s innovative solutions to better serve their communities.

fresh Technologies, the world's leading fresh food technology company, and Albertsons Companies (NYSE: ACI) announced today 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.

As grocery tech executives navigate the paradigm shift AI has introduced to this industry, it's crucial to recognize where AI can drive transformational impact. While some may see AI as a means to cut labor costs, Afresh prioritizes the empowerment – not replacement – of store associates. The best way to do this is by leveraging intelligent inventory management solutions to reduce shrink.

Afresh inventory management minimizes the time and cost of taking ending inventory, delivering reliable and accurate financials while pairing seamlessly with Afresh store ordering to save teams time and drive higher profits across grocers' fresh business

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Over the past year, retailers have navigated changing workforce dynamics, customer demand for seamless omnichannel experiences, and fluctuating economic conditions. To stay ahead of the competition, leading grocers are setting fresh-focused strategic priorities designed to enhance customer experiences and expand profits. In The Future of Fresh, we explore the foundational changes taking place in grocery retail as businesses prepare for what's next in fresh.

Albertsons Companies is a world-class grocery retailer that aims to provide every customer with the best experience possible, and shoppers consistently turn to their local banner to find the best fresh food. Today, retail associates across the chain optimize fresh operations and deliver even better experiences using AI-powered technology from Afresh.

Every grocer’s IT department plays a significant role in driving operational efficiency and companywide innovation. Leaders like Maria Latushkin, GVP of Technology at Engineering at Albertsons Companies, now have the opportunity to champion innovative new strategies that leverage technology to improve outcomes.

The phrase "do more with less" has never been more true, especially in grocery retail IT. And yet, some IT executives are finding ways to lead transformational change for their brands, while still balancing resource allocation and prioritization amid unprecedented market constraints.

Fresh is the most important part of any grocery retailer’s digital strategy and identifying the best-in-class technology for fresh operations is critical. Explore this page to find out why grocers are taking a purpose-built approach to technology and download your free Fresh RFP template to get started on your search!

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In order to be effective in fresh, a system must assess the available data with the expectation of imperfection (which is inherent to fresh goods) and apply techniques jointly across inventory estimation, demand forecasts, and order recommendations to understand and adjust for the degree of uncertainty within the data.

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The grocery industry is experiencing new opportunities for growth with purpose-built tools for modernizing their supply chains. As members of a highly competitive market, this is a critical opportunity to realize higher profits, faster inventory turns, and fresher food for customers.

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When choosing their supply chain and inventory management software solutions, should grocers adopt an all-in-one or a best-in-class approach? We believe — admittedly with just a little bias — that the ROI, the strategic enablement, and the surprisingly simple maintenance of our best-in-class, purpose-built tool make this an easy decision. 

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Two large retailers used artificial intelligence (AI) solutions to improve their order accuracy, which led to a 14.8% average reduction in food waste per store. While the two pilots were conducted at large retailers, the AI solutions also work for smaller chains. If the entire grocery sector were to implement these solutions, an estimated 907,372 tons of food waste could be prevented, representing 13.3 million metric tons of avoided CO2e emissions and more than $2 billion in financial benefits for the sector.

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%.

During the 3-month pilot period, Afresh helped produce teams optimize ordering and inventory management. As a result, sales increased by +2.5%, inventory holds decreased by +7.4%, and inventory turns improved by +6.7%.

$115M in Series B funding provides a significant amount of capital to accelerate our vision of a fresher future, preventing millions, then billions, of pounds of food from going to waste along the way.

Fresh food is a huge growth opportunity in grocery retail, but it's not easy to meet demand for quality or quantity. Browse our infographic to learn more.

Grocers are growing their fresh selection to meet consumer demand, we explore how they've been handling shared industry challenges over the past few years.

Keeping bananas, avocados, and berries fresh and full in grocery stores maintains sales, builds basket size, and makes customers happy.

Every year, $1 trillion of food gets thrown away, and the cost is much higher in the long run. Read our free ebook to answer questions like: What is food waste; how do we fix the food waste problem; and what can we all do to help keep food out of landfills.

Afresh is a small but growing startup that's taking on climate change and so far we've helped grocery stores prevent more than 6.9 million total pounds of food waste! Find out what that can do for the planet in our first-ever impact report.

Food waste is a solvable problem, but it will take a village to get there. To shine a light on the important solutions already at work to eliminate food waste, Afresh hosted a webinar with Imperfect Foods, Apeel, and Too Good to Go.

Across the grocery store, fresh teams struggle to prevent food from ending up in the landfill. Read these actionable tips store teams can start using now.

Fresh departments are the most important—and most difficult—to manage and that means stores need top employees that stick around + better training tools for new team members. Fresh-first technology is the right tool for the right job. It helps employees be more effective, drives adherence and retention, and improves employee happiness.

Afresh was founded in 2017 with the mission of eliminating food waste and making fresh food accessible to all. Since then, we’ve learned so much! Here’s a taste of what we’ve uncovered after five years focused on fresh.

Grocery stores and supermarkets need tech that makes ordering easy, accurate, and agile everyday, real-time dynamics of perishable fresh foods.

Apples don't grow in boxes with barcodes, so why use a system that treats them like they do? Afresh brings best-in-class workflows to fresh, improving shelf life, efficiency, and driving sales.

For decades, fresh department employees have dreaded the time-consuming task of placing an order. Although the process has evolved some, store teams want tools that empower their decision-making instead of leaving them behind in the digital dust.

The hurdles, challenges, and successes grocery store employees face are nothing short of remarkable. Celebrate their hard work during Supermarket Employee Day on February 22.

Afresh's commitment to our communities extends beyond our products and technologies. We’re creating a workplace that embraces diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB), and where everyone can make an impact while being celebrated for their fully authentic selves.

Most tech-enabled grocery retailers rely on ordering solutions that aren’t optimized for perishability, variety, and variability. In order to truly win at fresh, grocers need fresh-first solutions.

Keep out-of-stocks low and customer satisfaction high this Valentine's Day (or any holiday) with orders that meet consumer demand for fresh fruits, vegetables, and meat.

Labor shortages have been a problem for grocery stores and supermarkets for years and COVID-19 made those numbers skyrocket. Here’s what to do about it.

Grocery retailers will face challenges related to labor and retention, supply and demand, sustainability, and accelerated trends. Win market share with Afresh.

Albertsons chooses the Afresh Fresh Operating System for stores chainwide to reduce waste, increase sales, and provide the freshest food for their customers.

Fresh departments deal with a huge set of variables that make accurate ordering nearly impossible. With today’s capabilities in artificial intelligence, grocery retailers finally have tech that doesn’t fail in fresh.

For the produce teams that run fresh departments, artificial intelligence and easy-to-use tech go a long way in keeping the coveted avocado in stock. Consumers expect avocados and a Fresh Operating System makes it happen.

Strawberries are the most popular fruit in the U.S., with blueberries coming in second. By now, consumers expect fresh berries to be in stock all year long. And for fresh department teams, that can be a challenge. We pulled in industry expert Scott Schuette to share his best practices for dealing with the winter berry blues!

Afresh has grown by leaps and bounds in 2021, from opening a new office in downtown San Francisco to welcoming more than 80 new team members. As we wind down the year, we’re celebrating some massive milestones, with many more to come in 2022. It’s an exciting time to join us at Afresh!

At Afresh, our mission to eliminate food waste and make fresh food accessible to all underlies every part of our work. By empowering produce managers to place perfect orders with our AI-powered recommendations, Afresh reduces shrink by an average of 25% and adds 2 days to post-sale shelf life.

Key events like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s create opportunities and challenges for fresh department inventory and product movement. To keep stockouts and shrink low, use these best practices to stay ahead of the rush this holiday season.

Through a partnership with the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank, Afresh will continue to deliver fresh-first tech and complement that work by serving the communities where Afreshies live and work.

As we approach Turkey Day, pick up our four tips on how to reduce Thanksgiving food waste.‍

Grocery store produce and perimeter departments manage a set of unique challenges that center store teams don't face.

Apples are a staple on the table for many families, so we asked employees from Afresh how they are reducing their food waste footprint when it comes to America’s core fruit.

2020 and 2021 required both customers and grocery store chains to adapt to constant changes. But it adjusted expectations, too. Customers eat more at home, want more fresh food, and shop differently - here's what to expect in 2021 and beyond.

Matt Schwartz and Scott Schuette sit with Mike Troy of Progressive Grocer to discuss how Afresh's Fresh Operating System helped Fresh Thyme write more effective orders and stay in stock during unexpected snowstorms and COVID-19.

Afresh gives Midwest grocery chain Heinen's robust results that make leveraging our Fresh Operating System a no-brainer by improving merchandising, forecasting, ordering, and operations.

Heinen's increased sales and reduced shrink with fresh-first replenishment, forecasting, and inventory across its grocery stores. Find out how in this case study.

The future of grocery is fresh-first and tech-driven. Today, a transformative new AI-powered fresh solution is unifying the disjointed processes of fresh and powering profitable fresh departments.

That produce on the shelves isn't always the freshest stuff around. By the time most food reaches the grocery store, it might already be several weeks old. And just how much shelf life remains? It's anyone's guess. Afresh aims to make the food supply chain smarter, reduce food waste, and minimize stock-outs along the way.

View our novel ML research published at ICML, one of the leading conferences in machine learning. Below follows the abstract and intro from our paper.

Fresh Thyme achieved better in-stock rates and lower shrink when they transformed everyday operations with a fresh-first approach. Explore the results in this case study.

Afresh is a technology company that's led by its mission: Eliminate food waste and make fresh food accessible to all. We built the first-ever Fresh Operating System to make merchandising, forecasting, ordering, and store operations easier.

While a tumultuous 2020 shook up the food retail space, fresh food remained the strategic heart of the brick & mortar grocery industry. Being the best in Fresh is now more important than ever.

Hear a discussion about the legacy technology that grocers have relied upon for decades and the trickle-down effects when it comes to providing consumers with fresh, nutritious food that doesn’t go bad by the time it makes it to the fridge.

Built-for-fresh technology from Afresh unifies perimeter processes like forecasting and inventory to transform grocery retailers into more sustainable, efficient, and profitable businesses.

Make ordering, forecasting, merchandising, and store operations in supermarket fresh departments easier and more accurate with the Afresh platform.

Grocery store customers expect fresh departments to have high-quality, fresh-looking food that doesn't go bad quickly.

Matt Schwartz started Afresh by researching the food industry, specifically the world of produce. Post this, Matt and his team realized that this part of the food world was ripe for disruption. This is the creation story of Afresh.

Food waste is a 43 billion pound problem in the US retail industry but most grocery shoppers don't know about it. When they learn how much food gets wasted, consumer priorities shift toward sustainability.

Learn how the dynamics of fresh vs. shelf-stable food from farm to fridge contribute to food waste.

Keeping fresh blueberries in stock isn’t as simple as it sounds. But when grocery stores are low, customers have no choice but to pick the freshest-looking container and hope for the best. This often leads to berries going bad before they can be eaten. There is a solution, and it’s better tech for fresh departments.

Avocados are a big deal—and they’re delicious! Although they’re a fairly finicky food, consumers continue to purchase more and more avocados every year. Check out a few facts you may not know about avocados.

The 2021 Fresh Survey shows how COVID-19 impacted fresh departments and where the trends may be heading in the coming months.

Consumers shopping for fresh produce care about quality and sustainability when it comes to grocery store expectations.

Q2 of 2021 Update. Afresh’s Fresh Operating System has helped grocery stores reduce food waste, avoid greenhouse gas emissions, and save water.

Supermarkets have sales and sustainability goals that can't be met without AI-driven grocery tech. Afresh is the Fresh Operating System that makes it possible.

Fresh-first grocery retail technology helps fresh departments reduce shrink, minimize stockouts and eliminate food waste. Learn why retailers need Afresh—the smartest solution for fresh.

Supermarkets still use computer-assisted ordering systems built for dry grocery - and they just don’t work. The Afresh platform improves demand planning, forecasting, and inventory.

“Finish your plate!” From the time we’re kids learning to use a fork, to when we’re young adults learning to make our own meals, we’re taught not to waste food. And why would we want to? Every black banana or bunch of greens that have wilted to mush is a visual representation wasted hard-earned time and money.

Every day, people grow more conscious of the effects their consumer choices have on their personal and environmental health. We want to eat better and waste less; we want healthier, more affordable fresh food that nourishes our bodies and lasts long enough in our refrigerators to enjoy. We want the valuable time and money we spend in our grocery stores to yield the tastiest, most nutritious produce possible.

Afresh, the first artificial intelligence-powered fresh food optimization platform for grocers, and Heinen's, the preeminent neighborhood grocery store for the Cleveland and Northern Chicago areas, today announced a new partnership in which Heinen's will deploy the Afresh solution suite in fresh departments across the chain.