Strack & Van Til enlists Invafresh platform to help manage fresh food sections

Indiana-based grocer Strack & Van Til has partnered with grocery tech company Invafresh to help manage its fresh food sections, including produce, meat, deli and dairy, the tech supplier announced Wednesday. 

The tech company also is helping to optimize the grocer’s recipe management and scale management. “To ensure pricing accuracy, identify opportunities for margin growth and provide a superior customer experience, Strack and Van Til required a robust solution capable of automating manual processes,” Invafresh said. 

Richard Weber, director of information technology at Strack & Van Til, said in a statement that it is “imperative and a point of operational pride” to display the correct pricing for its fresh foods.  

"In addition, our use of the Invafresh Recipe Management module will enable us to centralize the creation, storage and management of all recipes for retail products produced in-store,” Weber said. "As the category leader for fresh food retail operations with years of proven expertise, we knew that Invafresh solutions could be implemented rapidly, immediately improving the level of service we can provide to our customers, adding value to our organization and delivering a clear return on investment." 

Strack & Van Till joins an Invafresh customer base of more than 300 grocers.

"By leveraging our Fresh Retail Platform, Strack & Van Til will be able to automate their fresh food retail operations to ensure accurate and consistent pricing across all stores and allow in-store associates to focus on serving their customers,” Tim Spencer, president and CEO at Invafresh, said in a statement. “Our partnership with Strack & Van Til is a testament to the value of our experience and category knowledge that we bring to the market." 

Invafresh has also recently made headlines through the expansion of its partnership The Fresh Market grocery chain in January to include the tech company’s Fresh Retail Platform. The company also established a relationship with Weis Markets in August through the implementation of the same platform at the company’s 198 stores.

The incorporation of Invafresh into their operation is Strack & Van Til's most recent tech upgrade. The grocer is also working with customer engagement technology company Birdzi and point-of-sale software company LOC Software to develop personalized digital coupons for its customers. 

The grocer said in March that the use of that tech mashup helped them improve the open rate of marketing emails by over 37%.