Fresh Thyme rolls out Afresh Production Planning with significant sales lift in deli

Fresh Thyme deli sales rose significantly after production planning moved off paper onto Afresh's AI platform, and the grocer is now expanding across deli, produce, meat, and bakery.

Chicago, Sept. 9, 2026 —  Fresh Thyme Market is rolling out Afresh Production Planning across its deli, produce, meat, and bakery departments after moving production off paper lifted deli sales. The rollout brings the Midwest grocer onto the full Afresh Store Suite, from store ordering to in-store production and inventory management, on a single system across its fresh perimeter. 

The partnership with Afresh supports Fresh Thyme’s long-term growth aspirations and its ongoing efforts to reduce waste, drive operational efficiencies, and raise the bar even further on fresh, organic, and better-for-you groceries that strengthen the customer experience and deliver value. Afresh tools also help strengthen Fresh Thyme’s team member experience by freeing up time to focus even more on delivering the fresh, organic and better-for-you products that customers love and delivering that brand differentiating level of superior customer experience. 

Fresh Thyme's produce is rated among the region's best, and its full-service butcher counters and made-in-store prepared foods round out a business built on fresh. The grocer turned to Afresh to keep differentiating on that exceptional quality and service.

Production planning is at the core of Fresh Thyme's operations and used to run on paper, with each store printing its own par sheets.  Their support office had less visibility into what each department made until reports revealed opportunities for greater efficiency after the fact. Now Afresh's AI sets the day's production plan for each item, accounting for the shelf life of ingredients and prepared items, demand, display sizes, and the timing of shopper traffic, so food is freshest when shoppers want it.

In the deli, the plan sets how many rotisserie chickens to make and when to roast them, more for the lunch rush and fewer for off-peak traffic. In meat, it ties each cut to the subprimal it comes from, so the plan reflects what is on hand. In the bakery, it schedules the thawing and proofing that must start the night before.

The results showed up on the deli floor fast. Adherence to production plans jumped from 40% to 90%, and deli sales rose significantly. Rotisserie chicken has become a top seller, with a massive y-o-y sales lift. In aggregate, Fresh Thyme realized stronger efficiencies while also increasing sales due to Afresh’s recommendations more accurately targeting the true demand across prepared food. 

"We've partnered with Afresh since 2019, and every year we've trusted them with more of our fresh operations. Production planning has been the most natural step yet. It's simple and intuitive, so adherence climbed in a way we never could never realize on paper," said Josh Cotton, Director of Retail Operations, Fresh Thyme Market.

Fresh Thyme is also rolling out Afresh Period Ending Inventory, replacing manual end-of-period counts with a scan that feeds the same system. With this rollout, Fresh Thyme now runs on the full Afresh Store Suite.

"Fresh Thyme has consistently embraced innovations from Afresh. As we've expanded what's possible with AI in fresh, they've continued to invest alongside us to help their teams operate more efficiently and continuously deliver shoppers an even stronger experience. Partnerships like this are what drive meaningful innovation in grocery," said Matt Schwartz, Chief Executive Officer, Afresh.

About Afresh

Afresh is the AI platform for Grocery — built for how grocery actually operates, from the fresh perimeter to center store and retail to distribution centers. The Afresh platform helps grocers make smarter decisions about what to buy, order, produce, and sell across the entire operation, delivering higher profits, less waste, and fresher food on the shelf. Founded in 2017 with the mission to eliminate food waste and make fresh food accessible to all, Afresh today supports more than 12,500 departments across 40 states, partnering with Albertsons Companies, Stater Bros., Meijer, Wakefern, and more.

About Fresh Thyme Market 

Fresh Thyme Market is a better-for-you, Midwest-based grocer with a mission to foster healthier communities by offering real, fresh food, vitamins and body care products. The grocery retailer was born from a genuine desire to help people live better and healthier lives and does so by focusing on three core pillars: quality, experience, and community. Every day Fresh Thyme Market works to be a trusted resource in our communities, bringing people access to real food at affordable prices. By offering an immersive, intuitive shopping experience and a local focus on what the community needs, each store provides fresh, natural, and organic food, as well as vitamin and body care products.