Stater Bros. Markets expands Afresh partnership to unify fresh inventory decisions from store to DC

16 January 2026, San Bernardino: Stater Bros. Markets today announced an expanded partnership with Afresh, advancing plans to extend AI-driven fresh replenishment beyond produce into additional fresh departments and upstream into distribution center (DC) forecasting. The move creates a more unified approach to managing fresh inventory across the supply chain—from store ordering through DC buying.

Following the successful deployment of Afresh’s Fresh Replenishment in produce in 2025, Stater Bros. will scale the platform to additional fresh departments, while implementing Afresh’s DC Forecast to guide upstream procurement. Together, these deployments enhance existing business processes with a connected system that links real store demand directly to buying decisions, supporting the company’s commitment to delivering fresh, affordable food.

Produce results drive Stater Bros.’ expansion
The expansion follows strong results from the company’s initial Fresh Replenishment deployment in produce, which achieved:

• Sustained improvements in product availability and ordering accuracy through AI-powered replenishment
• Significant reductions in food waste, setting a performance benchmark across fresh categories
• Improved inventory efficiency, optimizing on-hand levels, and freeing up working capital
• Strong store-level adoption of Afresh’s AI order recommendations, underscoring operational trust and ease of use

“We’ve been impressed with Afresh’s partnership with our teams,” said Bertha Luna, Executive Vice President, Store Operations, Stater Bros. Markets. “They took the time to earn trust, and the results speak for themselves—produce shrink is down, shelves are full, and our customers notice the difference. When teammates see a solution that supports their work, adoption follows naturally.”

Extending intelligence upstream with DC Forecast

For decades, produce buying at Stater Bros. has been guided by deep expertise and hands-on merchandising practices. As the company modernized its fresh operations, it adopted traditional forecasting tools commonly used in center-store categories. While effective for more stable items, these technologies struggled to keep pace with the complexity and variability of fresh products.

Fresh categories require frequent ordering, rapid response to changing conditions, and close alignment between stores and distribution centers. In contrast, center-store forecasting tools treat demand as static, relying on weekly snapshots and historical averages.

These limitations became more pronounced during promotions and for commodity items such as bulk and catch-weight products, often resulting in store shortages, excess aging inventory, or missed sales. As a result, much of Stater Bros.’ produce procurement remained manual—despite the presence of center-store technology—with buyers spending hours synthesizing data across tools and spreadsheets to answer fundamental questions, such as how many strawberries to order two weeks in advance.

To address these challenges, Stater Bros. sought a more dynamic fresh solution—one capable of adapting to promotions, seasonality, and the natural variability inherent in fresh and commodity items.

Afresh’s DC Forecast met those needs by providing an AI platform purpose-built for fresh buying nuances, including SKU mismatches, multiple vendors, and frequent delivery schedules. Built on real store demand and an understanding of how inventory flows, turns, and ages across the network, the system enables teams to plan proactively, align decisions upstream, and respond more effectively to change across the supply chain.

“Fresh operations don’t follow a single, predictable path—signals change, conditions shift, and outcomes vary,” said Matt Schwartz, CEO at Afresh. “By extending the same intelligence from store ordering into DC procurement, Stater Bros. is aligning decisions across the supply chain on a system built to operate under that uncertainty. When inventory decisions learn from each other instead of operating in silos, retailers can reduce waste, improve service levels, and deliver the freshness customers expect.”

With a unified system connecting stores and the distribution center, Stater Bros. is strengthening service to stores while supporting fresher products, more efficient inventory flow, and continued operational excellence.

Reconnecting buyers to the business

By reducing manual calculations and data mining across multiple tools, Afresh is fundamentally changing how Stater Bros.’ buyers spend their time. Instead of reconciling numbers from behind a screen, buyers can now focus their energy on the warehouse floor—observing product condition, validating expectations, and building stronger relationships with suppliers and warehouse teammates. This shift enables procurement teams to improve fill rates, ensure better in-stock conditions in stores, and deliver a more consistent customer shopping experience.

“Having spent my career in fresh produce, in both retail and sales and merchandising, I know firsthand the hours consumed by synthesizing data and relying on guesswork for critical fresh decisions,” said Jacob Cadwallader, Director of Produce, Stater Bros. Markets. “Afresh’s interconnected system—coordinating decisions from the store to the DC—is the breakthrough we’ve needed to improve accuracy and efficiency. Automating forecasting allows our buying teams to stay laser-focused on supporting our stores, sharpen long-term purchasing decisions, and strengthen our commitment to delivering the quality our customers expect from us.”

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