Keyfood Stores Installs Computer Assisted Ordering System

NEW YORK -- Keyfood Stores Co-op of the New York Metropolitan area last week said it completed installation of a new computer-assisted ordering (CAO) system to ensure that the retailer orders the correct quantities of the products it needs at the best cost possible.

The system, from Melville, N.Y.-based BR Data, allows Keyfood to maintain one centralized database at its corporate office that includes all of the retailer's information and rules for the CAO system, such as authorized items, cost, and allowance information.

In addition, Keyfood replaced its aging Symbol MSI ordering units with new Symbol 9090 graphical units from Agilysys.

"The project's mission was to replace our antiquated order process with an intelligent ordering system that offers future versatility," said Steve Pfirrman, IT project manager at KeyFood. "The old data transmission process went straight to our wholesaler, bypassing HQ altogether via non Sunrise-compliant hardware that required frequent repair."

"During vendor evaluation it became evident that KeyFood could leverage the use of our existing BRdata retail pricing platform to introduce reliable, feature-rich order system software at a [competitive] price point," he added. "That said, our stores are enjoying labor savings because the order process takes significantly less time than it previously did, since they order directly from the shelf."

Here's how the system works: Keyfood loads the BRdata Host at its corporate office daily with changes, which take effect immediately in the store aisles. The orders are sent from the stores and centralized at their corporate office before being sent to Keyfood's wholesaler, C&S Wholesale Grocers. Using BRdata's graphical CAO Module, users are presented with all of the needed information to optimize the ordering process. Users have the option of sending the orders from the PC in the store or directly from the aisles and receive immediate confirmation from C&S Wholesale Grocers, including a confirmation number and total cases received.

Key Food Co-op consists of more than100 individually owned member supermarkets in New York City's five boroughs, Long Island, upstate New York, New Jersey, and North Carolina. The corporate headquarters, located in Staten Island, N.Y., tailors individual store merchandising programs to the diverse neighborhoods in which its stores are located.
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