Supply Chain: Afresh Launches Its Fresh Store Suite and Streamlines Perishables Management Across 10,000 U.S. Stores

“When we founded Afresh, we had a simple yet powerful conviction: fresh produce represented the future of food retail, but was held back by a lack of suitable technology. We pioneered the world’s first AI-powered solution for fresh produce, setting a new industry standard. Our innovation continues with the Fresh Store Suite, which helps our partners maximize their profitability and combat food waste on a scale never before achieved by the industry,” explains Matt Schwartz, CEO of Afresh.

The new Fresh Store Suite, available on iOS, Android, and computers, provides stores with a unified, intelligent platform that simplifies the management of fresh food sections: it automates ordering based on inventory levels, improves the accuracy of customer demand forecasts using artificial intelligence, optimizes production planning, and reduces the time spent on inventory counts. In practical terms, teams have access to accurate data to inform their day-to-day decisions. For customers, this means better-stocked shelves, with fresh products available when they need them.

Profitability metrics (ROI) validated by retail giants

In summary, Afresh has evolved from a targeted ordering tool into a comprehensive suite for managing the entire fresh food category—from inventory to production needs—with greater precision, even less waste, and less manual work for store teams.

Today, Afresh’s solutions are used in more than 10,000 store aisles at major retailers in the United States, such as Albertsons, Meijer, Fresh Thyme, Brookshire’s, and Stater Bros. The California-based company is recognized for its solution and has helped prevent more than 45,000 metric tons of food waste, while generating immediate financial gains for its partners:

• 3% increase in net sales: By eliminating out-of-stock situations on high-turnover items (such as avocados or berries), stores are capturing revenue that was previously lost.
• 7% increase in inventory turnover: The shift to predictive just-in-time operations prevents the buildup of goods in warehouses, ensuring that products move more quickly from the truck to the consumer's shopping cart.
• An exceptional adoption rate of 94%: Unlike complex enterprise software, which is often rejected by frontline staff, the suite’s mobile-friendly design has been adopted almost unanimously by in-store teams, reducing the time spent on manual inventory counts.

On the ground, data provided by store managers (particularly at Albertsons) confirm that the integration of Afresh has resulted in an average 20% reduction in the volume of organic waste per store. These direct savings on shrinkage (merchandise loss) immediately boost the gross margin for the fresh food category, which increases by an average of 1.5 to 2.5 percentage points as early as the first quarter of implementation.

Comparative Analysis: Why Afresh Outperforms Generic AI Solutions

The emergence of AI in the retail sector has led to a clash between two distinct technological approaches to inventory optimization:

While traditional competitors are trying to adapt mathematical models designed for dry goods or industrial products, Afresh has established itself through its exclusive focus on fresh produce. This technological barrier to entry protects the company and gives it a decisive competitive advantage in securing supply contracts with multinationals in the sector.

Focus on International Expansion: The Growth Pipeline

Backed by its network of 10,000 stores across the United States, the California-based company is preparing for international expansion. The growth pipeline for the coming years is primarily focused on the European market and the United Kingdom, where regulatory pressures regarding food waste (a 50% reduction target by 2030) and rising logistics costs are driving supermarket chains to urgently modernize their supply chains.

To support this phase of international expansion, Afresh is adapting its platform to accommodate multi-currency requirements and cross-border supply chains in Europe. This geographic expansion is strongly supported by its key private equity shareholders, who are providing the capital needed to hire local teams and adapt the software to meet Europe’s traceability requirements and ESG standards.