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Equipped for Change
The latest equipment, design and operations products and services will be on display at FMI Connect this month.
Carol Radice
January 1, 2018
16 Min Read
Several consumer trends are dramatically changing the landscape of food retailing. More men are shopping for groceries and doing the cooking. People have also become more critical of their food, carefully weighing options and willing to shop at a variety of formats to get what they want.
Combined with the influence being asserted by the Millennial generation—which clearly has is own unique approach to food choice and preparation—and retailers continue to rethink the way they approach store layout, merchandise presentation and design.
Given these developments, industry observers say it is critical that grocers sharpen their shopper loyalty, category management and merchandising skills if they have any hope of creating better customer experiences. FMI Connect, which will occur June 20-23 at Chicago’s McCormick Place, will be tackling these and other prominent industry topics.
This is the first time in four years SPC Retail will exhibit at FMI Connect. Harry Newton, director of sales and marketing, for the Holly, Mich.-based company says the current retail environment was behind the decision to come back to FMI after the multi-year absence. “We decided to attend FMI Connect this year so that we can meet and engage with two of our largest core markets—grocery and convenience store retailers,” says Newton.
Grocers may have mastered perimeter merchandising, but as Newton notes, many struggle with finding the best way to improve center store sales. “Grocers complain that shoppers do not go down their long boring grocery aisles,” says Newton. “We hear this all the time, yet few have the guts to explore strategies to improve their situation.” The key, he says, is to focus on ways that quickly and affordably improve the grocery space while making it easier and more convenient for shoppers.
For instance, by telling better product stories at the beginning of the grocery aisle and pulling ingredients together to show shoppers how to make a meal, Newton says retailers can inspire them and make it easy to find products.
There are several reasons Rice Lake Weighing Systems Retail attends FMI Connect, says Grant Sutherland, retail product manager for the Rice Lake, Wis.-base company, including that fact that the show attracts more than 12,000 professionals each year. “FMI connect is the premier food retail event of the year,” says Sutherland. “From new products and equipment, to professional development and emerging trends, FMI is the total retail experience. ”
Sutherland says Rice Lake Weighing Systems Retail exhibits at FMI to showcase its partner, Ishida’s, latest retail technology with hands-on product demonstrations to improve production processes and flow.
Officials at Corrigan Corp. of America say FMI Connect affords attendees an opportunity to meet experienced vendors with the knowledge to implement solutions designed to increase sales and profits. Retailers that stop by Corrigan’s booth will be able to see its equipment up close and interact with several “dry fog” displays. Emily Stavrou, marketing director for Gurnee, Ill.-based Corrigan, says the company will be offering tours of local Chicago area supermarkets that are currently using Corrigan equipment. Stavrou says Corrigan’s goal at the show is to familiarize buyers with the quality and value of their equipment. “More than 6o percent of all store shrink can be attributed to perishable departments and that’s where Corrigan makes the biggest difference. Our company’s 37-year experience allows us to couple innovation and treatment options to maximize results for retailers,” she says.
This year marks the first time Dana Industries is exhibiting at FMI Connect. Roopjot Derose, marketing manager, says the Toronto-based company decided to exhibit at FMI Connect to expose its brand to the many retailers and others attending the show. “We are looking forward to talking to retailers about the value they can gain by implementing a Dana Shelf Signage program and welcome the opportunity to talk to them about some of our new in-store technologies that can help them complete,” says Derose.
Every year Brasco International commits to unveiling a design that is unpredictable and memorable at the show, says Jennifer Evans, director of sales and marketing for the Madison Heights, Mich.-based company. “It is always our goal to get retailers excited about what we can provide them with so they want to make sure we follow-up with them after the show,” she says.
The following are some of the leading equipment, design and operations companies exhibiting at FMI Connect and what they will be highlighting:
Booth 3129
Alto-Shaam will be displaying its Combitherm oven with automatic grease collection system, Xcelerate hi-speed oven, waterless hot wells, electric rotisserie, heated shelf merchandiser and QuickChiller.
The Xcelerate hi-speed ovens are the latest addition to Alto-Shaam’s cooking system line-up. According to Brian Zornes, vice president of national accounts – retail for the Menomonee Falls, Wis.-based company, Xcelerate combines powerful microwave and air impingement technologies to cook up to 10 times faster than a conventional oven while maintaining a freshly baked taste, texture and appearance.
Zornes says their team is excited to meet retailers who are dedicated to producing high-quality, delicious food and who are looking to make their operations more efficient. “Our ultimate goal is to learn about their pain points and talk about solutions that our systems provide,” he says.
Booth 605
Officials at Oakland, N.J.-based Amerlux will be talking to attendees about several of its new lighting collections including Standard Plus, Lunetta, Cynch and Essenza, as well as new technology and design upgrades to existing lines. In addition, the company’s Nitro line has been re-engineered to utilize high-powered LEDs with an elegant balance of aesthetics and performance for retail and supermarkets. The pendant’s nitrogen-infused light source reduces glare and enhances visual comfort.
Amerlux’s team will also be highlighting its Next Generation Murro fixtures featuring high-powered LED wall washing with a 4,000 lumen output as well as its Grüv, Curvano, Linea and Stellina LED families, which have been upgraded to perform with the new Enlightened Sensors.
“Amerlux is pleased to be introducing a number of innovative lighting products at FMI Connect this year,” says Chuck Campagna, CEO and president. “Great lighting is so much more than harnessing watts and lumens. When created effectively, lighting solutions such as ours can positively affect the entire store.”
Booth 1555
APG/Cash Bases supports a product range of more than 10,000 unique cash drawer offerings ranging from general application solutions to total custom offerings. Cash drawer formats include slide out, flip-top and cassette styles—paired with 25 possible interfaces. Connectivity options include Bluetooth, WiFi, Ethernet, Serial, USB and various printer interfaces, which create a deep portfolio that meets retailers’ business needs.
“We constantly strive to produce innovative solutions that deliver personalized value to our customers,” says Breanna Brown, creative marketing ambassador for the Minneapolis-based company. “Our the emphasis is always on supplying what the customer actually needs and not just a close fit.”
APG/Cash Bases’s goal at FMI Connect is to introduce new cash management technologies and solutions to food retailers and to build new relationships. This year, the company will bring its SMARTtill Solution, a new automated cash handling technology, which reduces labor costs, increases customer service and store operation efficiency, but also prevents internal and external theft.
Booth 3518
Bemis Retail Solutions, a division of Bemis Manufacturing Co., based in Sheboygan Falls, Wis., will display its line of contemporary full-featured all-polymer shopping carts and hand baskets.
Officials at Bemis will illustrate how its all-polymer carts are designed to resist cracking and fading and are built to withstand even the harshest retail environments. Bemis will also highlight improved child safety and comfort on their full size cart. The Bemis two-tier cart features a unique patented design that encourages additional shopping providing more rings at the register.
Rick Stauff, director of sales and marketing, says Bemis’ carts appeal to retailers that are looking to provide their store guests with the absolute best shopping cart experience available. “We have designed our carts to last longer and eliminate or reduce maintenance associated with steel or hybrid carts,” says Stauff.
Booth 1430
Borgen Systems is a 30-year-old company that started in the refrigerated floral and specialty display business. Since its beginnings the company has branched out to other areas of merchandising display cases including deli and foodservice, fresh meat, bakery, wine cellars and displays, and soup and salad islands.
The company will be highlighting its Gravity display cases with DekFRESH technology for fresh meat and seafood. Bill Carlson, vice president of the Des Moines, Iowa-based company, says this innovative commercial cooling system can lower operating costs, extend product shelf life, reduce labor costs and raise retailers’ bottom line.
He adds that the Gravity display case with DekFRESH technology does not have the same structure grocers are accustomed to seeing in standard meat and seafood cases. “Instead of a tank housing the cooling coils, the floor of the case has a built-in cooling system,” says Carlson, noting this small change in technology grants retailers the power to improve food safety.
Booth 3410
Brasco International makes outdoor shopping cart corrals that are memorable, durable and tailored to each store’s individual brand, say company officials. Brasco’s corrals are made from aluminum, designed to never rust and have a life expectancy of 20-plus years. Retailers can order the cart corrals with flower boxes, mounted waste receptacles, custom signage, roofs and solar powered lighting.
Brasco is displaying its Arbor Design series, a new design that features wood grain aluminum, flower boxes and signage on a corral intended to be placed at a storefront entry.
“The trend toward creating smaller boutique stores that promote local goods and services means many of these stores are in urban areas with limited parking spaces and smaller lots,” says Evans. Because of this she says grocers are consolidating cart corrals, placing them toward the front of the store and branding them to the existing storefront. “Our Arbor Series adds a clean, modern aesthetic to any parking lot and provides high-quality exterior branding at an unbeatable price,” she adds.
Booth 3116
Corrigan Corp. of America is a market leader in produce misting, meat/seafood humidity systems and water treatment/filtration solutions. Its products include UltraMist and VaporPlus systems.
Corrigan will be highlighting a variety of produce misting nozzles, as well as its low energy, dry fog technology found in both the VaporPlus and VaporDry humidity systems. VaporDry is a new product designed to accurately control relative humidity for large spaces.
Company officials note this innovative, precision-machined technology offers the largest volume of dry fog from any single nozzle. “Large fresh food warehouses, meat/seafood service cases and produce displays can benefit from Corrigan’s dry fog products and our proven ability to reduce costly shrink,” says Stavrou.
Booth 1243
Dana Industries is best known for manufacturing shelf signing products, including shelf talkers, pre-printed sign holders and wobblers. Dana’s goal at FMI Connect is to showcase its latest products and technologies as well as show attendees how its products can benefit their brand.
Derose says this year the company has been focusing on developing smart digital technologies that integrate its shelf signing products. “By better engaging customers in-store retailers can increase their sales, promote brand awareness and maximize the value of a product’s space on the shelf,” says Derose.
Officials at Dana Industries will be showcasing several new products including Dana Dimensionals, Dana iQBeacons and Dana Digital Signage.
Booth 1230
ECRS is a privately held company driven by a desire to elevate the way grocers use technology in their operations. ECRS brings together retail software, hardware and services to create complete, value-based solutions, say officials for the Boone, N.C.-based company.
According to Don Edwards, vice president of grocery development, the company uses a value-focused, customer-centric approach, both through comprehensive, omni-channel technology and through its team of highly experienced retail specialists who can assist retailers in extracting maximum value from their investment.
ECRS will highlight the connectivity of the company’s complete, end-to-end solutions for grocery retail. “With ECRS, supermarkets can execute all critical store operations from a single platform enabling a seamless transaction experience,” says Edwards.
Solutions include traditional point-of-sale, Mobile POS, RAPTOR Accelerated Checkout, Self Checkout (Full Pay and ePay kiosk), Click & Collect (e-commerce), Self-service kiosk for customer loyalty onboarding, loyalty and membership management, data analytics and inventory management.
Booth 1257
From hanging scales for seafood counters and fresh food packaging to hand wrap stations in the backroom, Mettler-Toledo Retail provides weighing, wrapping and labeling solutions designed to help retailers succeed in today’s competitive market.
The Columbus, Ohio-based company will present its latest retail concepts and products highlighting its integration capabilities available for retailers to improve efficiency—from the meat backroom, to the service counter, to the checkout. The company will be featuring live demonstrations of high-performance wrapping solutions, self-service weighing and innovations for the fresh service counter.
Mettler-Toledo’s 800 Series of backroom wrapping and labeling solutions deliver high efficiency and productivity in a small, 20-square-foot operational footprint. “The Impact and Evo lines of self-service and touchscreen service counter scales offer superior functionality and accurate performance,” says Guy Dille, retail business area leader. Mettler-Toledo’s Ariva line of checkout solutions, adds Dille, focuses on speed, accuracy and ease of integration to point-of-sale systems, delivering reliability where retailers need it most.
Booth 2620
OutFront Custom Built manufactures refrigerated and non-refrigerated merchandisers, hot and cold food bars, grab-and-go and custom millwork. Officials at Outfront Custom Built say their goal at FMI Connect is to increase retailers’ awareness of its products by introducing them to its wide range of indoor and outdoor merchandising solutions. Visitors to the company’s booth can expect to see fresh and innovative food merchandising designs, have an opportunity to network and share best practices in prepared food merchandising.
“At OutFront we utilize quality raw materials and source brand name low maintenance components to offer you dependable and serviceable merchandisers,” says Dave Fortini, sales manager of the Buffalo, N.Y.-based company. According to Fortini, all processes are completed in house using state-of-the-art computerized equipment and manufacturing processes.
Booth 2349
Rice Lake Weighing Systems has partnered with Ishida and Dadaux to provide customer service, product innovation and more than 150 years of weighing industry experience to the U.S. retail market. Ishida is one of the world’s largest providers of retail weighing solutions, from simple price-computing scales and point-of-sale systems, to fully automatic wrapping equipment.
Distributed throughout the world, Dadaux commercial slicers and grinders have earned a reputation as one of the best in the industry. “Dadaux’s top-shelf design paired with Rice Lake’s renowned weighing expertise and customer service present the very best in Rice Lake Retail Solutions food equipment,” says Sutherland.
Company officials are attending FMI Connect to show how they can help retailers streamline their business processes. For instance, Ishida’s latest retail innovation, the WM-Ai automatic wrapper weighs, wraps and labels up to 35 packs per minute with two rolls of film on one side. “Its features include taking up less floor space and optimizing production flow,” says Sutherland. Other products the company will be featuring at the show include the WM-Nano tabletop wrapper, Uni-3, Uni-5, Uni-7 and Uni-9 countertop scale as well as the RS-130 and RS-160 scale.
Booth 830
Southern Imperial is best known as a provider of displays and fixtures for retail. Robb Northrup, director of marketing communications for the Rockford, Ill.-based company says its customers look to them to find innovation in a wide range of areas from display hooks and extruded plastic label holders to full product displays and loss prevention solutions. “Our newest products have been viewed in the industry as truly revolutionary. They provide better product visibility, greatly reduce product loss and most of all, help retailers increase sales across a wide range of product categories,” says Northrup.
Southern Imperial will be highlighting its latest solutions for increasing sales and reducing labor costs, including its product facing solutions such as the NEXT Tray Merchandising, Autofront Roller Shelves and its new IMPulse 2 Shelf Pusher System.
According to Northrup, the IMPulse 2 Pusher System’s flexibility and ease of use makes this product facing solution unique. “Its flexibility and versatility combine to provide a sophisticated shelf management and product facing solution that will help keep items faced throughout the demands of daily use,” he says, adding that the IMPulse 2 Pusher System creates value by making it easy to maintain a plan-o-gram and price label consistency.
Booth 3939
SPC Retail, a registered trademark of Structural Plastics Corporation, manufacturers specialty displays made from 100 percent post-consumer recycled plastic. Its patented “Kit of Parts” system makes it one of the most agile and efficient fixture design and manufacturing companies in the industry, say company officials.
SPC Retail will be highlighting its free Prototype Program Offer. Officials will be featuring a small collection of display products in the booth, including a 3-Step Wall Display, a new Tilt-Top Display Island and a versatile indoor/outdoor Nesting Table display.
“We want to show retailers how as an innovative, strategic partner we can help them refresh, revitalize and reposition their stores for success. Our Nesting Table, for instance, is a great alternative to the old, stodgy and tired folding table with plastic table cloth that we see littering our retail landscape,” says Newton.
Booth 3327
Studio H2G specializes in retail strategy, retail design, master planning, shopping center design, travel retail, and brand identity and development at the local and international levels. The Birmingham, Mich.-based company will be showcasing its retail design services.
Nick Giammarco, principal retail strategist, says its booth will feature renderings and pro photographs of its retail projects. He says Studio H2G exhibits at FMI Connect to gain exposure and connect with those individuals who are in need of services such as theirs.
“Studio H2G has a strong background collaborating with food retailers and clients and FMI provides a great environment to showcase and share with those in the field,” says Giammarco. “Genuine collaboration leads to lasting, valuable and meaningful relationships with our client-partners.”
