SpartanNash Partners With Afresh For Fresh Management Pilot

Michigan-based food solutions company SpartanNash has announced a new partnership with Afresh to manage its fresh foods. SpartanNash will pilot the Afresh platform, an AI-powered predictive ordering and inventory management solution, at 10 of its owned Family Fare grocery stores in the Grand Rapids, Mich. area.

“Our partnership with Afresh will help SpartanNash deliver fresh produce to our store guests while also minimizing food waste, which is a key focus area for our company’s ESG efforts,” said SpartanNash chief merchandising officer Bennett Morgan. “Leveraging the strength of artificial intelligence and digital workflow will provide our Associates with insights to create solutions that benefit our corporate retail store guests.”

The new platform allows SpartanNash’s Fresh department to minimize food waste by ensuring the appropriate inventory levels are maintained and always fresh based on insights from guests’ shopping habits. Founded in 2017, Afresh has announced partnerships with grocers in more than 3,000 stores and 40 states, including Albertsons, Heinen's, Save Mart, Bashas, Cub Foods and more.

"SpartanNash takes pride in empowering store leaders with buying decisions and providing the freshest foods for its store guests,” said Afresh CEO Matt Schwartz. "Afresh is proud to partner with the SpartanNash team to help better manage the ever-changing nature of fresh. As the only built-for-fresh solution that intelligently navigates hard-to-predict data to drive optimal decisions, Afresh takes a unique approach to solving the complexities of a fresh department.”

SpartanNash owns and operates 147 supermarkets under several banners, where the company’s private label products can be found, in addition to distributing products to the District of Columbia, Europe, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Honduras, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Djibouti, Korea and Japan.