TEMPLE, Texas -- McLane Co. Inc. has announced the rollout of McLane Kitchen’s nationwide Fresh Produce + supply-chain solution to help convenience-store operators establish their locations as destinations for fresh produce.
Fresh Produce + provides top quality products, operational best practices, merchandising units, information on suggested retail pricing and best-in-class customer service, allowing operators in multiple regions to offer a consistent product mix of healthier options, according to the company. For single convenience stores, McLane’s nationwide distribution means leveraging the company’s buying power to better compete pricewise, while ensuring high-quality fresh produce.
“We recognized our customers wanted a consistent way to fill their consumers’ need for safe, fresh, better-for-you produce,” said Holly Veale, product director for foodservice at McLane. “McLane Kitchen’s Fresh Produce + solution makes fresh produce and cut fruit available to all our customers, regardless of size or location.”
According to an independent study, 48% of Americans say c-stores are a place to buy fresh items. What’s more, 50% of c-stores have expanded fresh-fruit sales, while 30% have increased cut fruit and vegetable offerings, according to a 2015 NACS retailer sentiment survey.
Fresh Produce + offers mark-up options associated with varying levels of product guarantee. It is also fully compatible with McLane’s Premium Ordering Management Suite (POMS) and smart hand-held technology, giving operators the ability to order fresh items just as they would any other SKU. Over the coming months, the solution will integrate seasonal items and category management.
In conjunction with the Fresh Produce + rollout, McLane also recently announced its affiliation with The Partnership for a Healthier America, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization devoted to working with the private sector to ensure the health of the nation’s youth by solving the childhood obesity crisis within a generation.
Temple, Texas-based McLane is a $48 billion supply-chain-services leader, providing grocery and foodservice supply-chain solutions for convenience stores, mass merchants, drug stores and chain restaurants throughout the United States. Through McLane Grocery, McLane Foodservice and Meadowbrook Meat, it operates 80 distribution centers across the United States. The company buys, sells and delivers more than 50,000 consumer products to nearly 90,000 U.S. locations. McLane also provides alcohol-beverage distribution through Empire Distributors. McLane is a wholly owned unit of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., Omaha.
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