SALT LAKE CITY -- With an expanded retailer-counseling program, re-engineered warehouse facilities and its first model store in the works, Associated Food Stores here is "undergoing a metamorphosis" in preparation for the future, said Richard Parkinson, president and chief executive officer.
The distributor-wholesaler recently widened its retailer-counseling program to include its Boise and Salt Lake City divisions in addition to the prototype program in Pocatello, Idaho, which launched in May 1996, Parkinson said in an interview with SN.
In the program, "support teams" made up of experts in the various supermarket disciplines visit retailers and provide counseling in produce, meat, bakery and deli, as well as retail technology and marketing. The goal is to improve operations and make each of Associated's member stores as efficient -- and profitable -- as they can be.
Associated's 730 retail members operate stores in Utah, Colorado, Nevada, Montana, Idaho and western Wyoming. The company operates divisions in Salt Lake City and Payson, Utah; Boise, Idaho; and Billings and Helena, Mont. Fiscal 1996 sales totaled more than $937 million. On the nonmember side, Associated is still servicing nonfood and non-pharmacy needs of one supermarket, Buttrey Food & Drug Stores Co., Great Falls, Mont., as well as many smaller stores that do not qualify for membership.
One area for potential growth is servicing convenience stores, said Parkinson. And the co-op is currently renovating a warehouse to match the unique configuration of C-store products -- smaller pick items, less produce, more frozen and nonfood lines than a typical supermarket assortment.
Associated will also open its first model store this year -- a joint venture with Day's Markets, Heber City, Utah. The store will be used to field-test new procedures and technologies, and will eventually be sold off to Day's Markets.
