Supermarket Perimeter - August 2019 - 72

TECHNOLOGY

by Andy Nelson

GIVEN THE TECHNICAL
EXPERTISE and mastery of
complex systems required to run
a retail grocery chain, Wynne
Barrett, a partner in Hopkinton,
Massachusetts-based software
specialist Jera Concepts, says it
doesn't make sense that many
chains settle for imprecise, lowtech production management
systems.
"A lot of people try to use
some sort of Excel spreadsheet
and reasonably unsophisticated forecasting, which surprises
me," Barrett says. "These are all
big tech companies, in a sense,
because of the thousands and
thousands of SKUs they have to
manage. But most have a homegrown program that they or their
IT departments put together."
But at least when it comes to
deli prepared foods, some chains

are ﬁnally starting to get more
tech-savvy, Barrett says. Boise,
Idaho-based Albertson's, for
example, is currently rolling out
a forecasting tool for their retail
foodservice offerings.
Jera's software, Barrett says,
helps other retailers bring
precision to their production
management.
"What we hear about is the
need to understand inventory
use as it applies to prepared
foods. We're trying to help them
understand what their theoretical
use vs. actual use is. Consistency
is also an issue for these guys,
and they're looking for tools to
help them. Most of them make
all things inhouse, so from store
to store they have to ensure the
consistency of product."
Excel is a powerful program,
Barrett says, but its focus is

Pushing the boundaries
Bronxville, New York-based AtYour-Service Software Inc., makers of cloud-based ReciProﬁty
food costing software, is working
on a customized version of its
platform for the deli prepared
offerings of a 30-store grocery retail chain, says Matthew Starobin,
the company's CEO.
With the customizations it
does for that and other clients, AtYour-Service (and other companies like it) push the boundaries
in the ever-evolving ﬁeld of production management software.
For this new retail client, for
example, At-Your-Service is
adding a feature that will allow
the company to verify labels,

nutritionals, allergens, ingredient
declarations and other information, Starobin says.
"With prepared foods, ingredients have to be sorted by weight,
and that's a pretty tricky process.
Down the road, we'll take that
data and push it out to labeling
systems.
"Systems are static, and if the
recipe changes, you're not likely
going to remember to make that
change on label. So suddenly you
have a gap between what you're
publishing and what's really
going on."
The level of detail required,
Starobin says, demands a hightech solution like those provided
by At-Your-Service.
"Say you switch to another
barbecue sauce for your chicken.
That sauce has ingredients in it,
too. It might have an allergen. So
you have to have a place where
you can add 'ingredients to an
ingredient.'" For the 30-store retail
client, At-Your-Service is also
linking up the recipes it uses for
its prepared foods with its pointof-sale data. That way, inventory
squares with what's actually
being made.

At-Your-Service's ReciProﬁty software can be customized to verify labels, nutritionals, allergens and other information.
72 - AUGUST 2019

www.supermarketperimeter.com

AT-YOUR-SERVICE SOFTWARE

PRODUCTION
MANAGEMENT

local - it doesn't provide the
transparency needed for retail
chains with multiple stores that
a dedicated production management software platform like Jera's
provides.
"There's very little transparency into store level execution," he
says. "Two of the groups we're
working with now are looking
to get greater transparency into
their operations."

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Supermarket Perimeter - August 2019

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