Busch's Pilots Foodservice Management Application

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Privately held independent supermarket chain Busch's, which has serviced the southeastern Michigan market for the past 25 years, plans to tighten up its perishables inventory and labor, using foodservice management software in its produce departments.

Eleven-unit Busch's is piloting Park City Group, Inc.'s Fresh Market Manager (FMM), a fully integrated, end-to-end management system for perishable, non-perishable, and foodservice departments such as bakery, deli, produce, meat, seafood, dairy, floral, and frozen. FMM provides category analysis and precise item management, in-store forecasting and production planning, computer-aided ordering, perpetual on hand inventory, and real time alerts.

"The software allows the retailer to have better control and better information on perishables," Randy Fields, Park City's chairman and c.e.o. told Progressive Grocer. "It especially helps control inventory and labor in these departments, and those are the two largest, controllable expenses in the retail industry. Organizations like Busch's are committed to fresh items in deli, bakery, and produce departments as a key differentiator from large chains or value retailers."

Other grocers who have installed Park City Group's Fresh Market Manager application include Seattle-based Larry's Markets and St. Louis, Mo.-based Schnuck Markets, Inc.

-- Joseph Tarnowski