The partnership comes ahead of the grocery store’s plans to rapidly expand its business. / Photo credit: Shutterstock
Festival Foods announced that it has partnered with grocery technology software company Upshop to upgrade its perishable perimeter, putting “employee efficiency and innovation at the forefront.”
According to Upshop, the independent grocery store based in Depere, Wisconsin, will use Upshop’s AI-powered forecasting and inventory services to improve areas such as pricing, ingredients, recipes, production planning and make-to-order tasks. plans to integrate disparate workflows and data streams.
The new partnership comes ahead of the grocery store’s plans to rapidly expand its business. By streamlining the ordering process and other operations, the grocer said it would allow grocery workers to focus on serving customers.
“At Festival Foods, we are committed to making decisions that further enhance the experience of our employees and guests,” said Festival Foods CEO and President Mark Skogen in a statement. “This partnership is intended to remove operational barriers for our team, simplify the complexity of running the new division, and enable us to focus on delivering memorable guest experiences.”
Ken Wicker, senior vice president of fresh produce at Festival Foods, said the investment is part of the grocer’s efforts to gain a competitive edge in the fresh produce category and “extend its advantage.” said.
“We chose Upshop as our partner because they truly understand our business, the intricacies of fresh produce, and the processes required for success,” Wicker said in a statement. .
Upshop CEO Shamus Hines said in a statement that the software was built to be easy to deploy and operate for store employees. The grocery technology company’s Software-as-a-Service platform is used by over 150 retailers and over 30,000 stores.
Operating under the name Skogen’s IGA from 1946 to 1990, Festival Foods operates 40 supermarkets and employs more than 8,000 people throughout Wisconsin. In March, the company announced plans to open a new store in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, later this year.
The grocery store also made headlines by announcing that it would increase its employee discount from 10% to 15% in March. The announcement comes about a month after West Des Moines, Iowa-based Hy-Vee, which also operates stores in Wisconsin, suspended its 10% employee discount, citing fraud.
