2022 ROFDA 60th Anniversary

a Griffin Report Special Section Commemorating ROFDA’s

ROFDA marks 60th anniversary, prepares for continued growth

As the Retailer Owned Food Distributors & Associates (ROFDA) celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, the organization is reflecting on its past and looking forward to the future.

Jeff Pedersen, president and CEO, said ROFDA was established with the purpose of trying to enhance the success of independent retailers. Today, eight cooperative wholesalers comprise its membership, along with vendor companies that are associate members.

“When you think about the wholesale members that are part of ROFDA – and of course the associates that support the wholesalers – the endgame is: Are we doing everything we can to help the independent retailers be successful every day?

“In many cases, that’s family-owned grocery stores. What are we doing to help them fight the fight and compete every day? That’s foundationally the purpose of why ROFDA was established 60-plus years ago,” Pedersen said.

“That support comes in part from bringing the wholesalers and associates together, looking for programs, best practices, ideas and solutions, that we either need to take advantage of or programs we were unaware of and that we can begin to take advantage of – again – with the idea being that we bring this forward to help support independent retailers.

“When we have our share group discussions or presentations from industry leaders, it may be ideas that help us become more productive, effective and efficient in wholesale operations. In turn, if you’re more efficient and you pass those savings on to the members, you’re able to operate at a lower cost every day. In today’s environment, that helps benefit the independent…there’s always that full circle goal of how we invest and learn and teach and coach and come up with ideas and solutions that help independent retailers.”

Share groups play key role

Share groups are an important part of the ROFDA mission of bringing wholesalers and associate members together to discuss a variety of issues.

“The ROFDA Share Groups bring like-minded people together and talk about problems, solutions and opportunities that they are having in the industry, and share those ideas and solutions with their peers. One big idea or program could mean huge cost savings or improvement for a wholesaler or a retailer,” Pedersen said.

In the early days of the organization, the idea was to gather executives and leaders to talk about issues as a group and look for ways to help each other. As Pedersen explained, CEOs would form a share group where “they lean on each other to talk about things they’re dealing with and how they may be able to look at one of their brothers or sisters and see how they’ve solved for a similar problem.”

Fresh procurement and grocery procurement share groups lately have been focused on supply chain issues. “Talking about ways that they’ve solved some of the challenges is very, very beneficial,” Pedersen said.

The HR share group has been addressing workforce challenges, such as recruiting and retaining employees.

Different share groups are brought in at the two annual ROFDA conferences, in May and November. While they may meet in person just a couple of times a year, Pedersen said share group members talk to each other throughout the year.

At the May conference, each member invited two retailers to create a retailer share group. That share group is now part of the ROFDA family. Also at that conference, Pedersen said the retailers were asked to come on stage and talk about “what keeps them up at night.”

“That was very valuable…when retailers are telling you what keeps them up at night, I can promise you everybody in that room was listening and looking at how they can help,” he said. “There’s just that relationship of really caring and trusting that you’re going to be able to do something to help them and then work on trying to solve for some of those things.”

One of the ideas that came from that recent discussion at the spring conference was the formation of a retail technology share group, which will meet at ROFDA’s upcoming fall conference.

Several technology partners will speak at the conference, giving a “state of the industry” talk and discussing where companies should be investing their money in technology.

“There are so many different options out there,” Pedersen said. “How do you prioritize?”

At the May conference, the retailers reported that there were so many challenges around technology and different ways to take care of customers that it has become overwhelming.

“Loyalty programs, data, how you mine your data, how you keep customers coming back, all these things that are in that space today. Many of the retailers said it’s overwhelming and we freeze and don’t do anything,” Pedersen said. “Yet the people they’re competing against, the chains, are moving quickly utilizing technology.”

A decision was made to create the new share group and try to help the retailers and wholesalers with industry insights and bring programs and solutions forward that are simple, easy to use and can be implemented quickly.

According to Pedersen, having these idea exchanges through share groups and using the relationships built through ROFDA may help members “lean on lessons learned” from their other partners in the organization. This also may lead to them being able to move forward at a faster pace and streamline processes.

Four pillars

Pedersen has created four pillars of focus for share group discussions:

• What are we doing to help our wholesalers, our members, in the area of people?

• What do we do in the area of new programs and services that we can offer?

• Are there things we can bring forward in the area of processes – process enhancement, process improvement, process changes – that they may be able to implement within their facilities to help them become more effective and efficient?

• How do we establish priorities with the wholesalers on things that they are focused on, or they aren’t focused on but could be?

“Those are four pillars that, operationally, we’re trying to execute where we stay focused. We all know that the shiny new coin that lands on your desk today doesn’t always have to be the area of focus,” Pedersen said. “We’re really trying to compartmentalize these items, so that we can move initiatives forward for ROFDA and for our members and our vendors.”

Building relationships

Whether you are a wholesaler, an associate, or a retailer, one of the primary benefits to ROFDA membership is the relationships.

“The opportunity to build relationships and have really valuable conversations at ROFDA conferences and then beyond, I think that’s a unique benefit that ROFDA brings to the table,” Pedersen said.

These relationships extend to the share groups and partnership programs. The partnership programs include benefits the associate members bring to the table: volume discounts, aggregated performance, and incentive programs.

These are all factors in benefiting “the greater good,” according to Pedersen. There are over 6,000 retail locations throughout the United States that are independently owned and supported by the ROFDA members. Looking at aggregated volume, this equals over $35 billion in retail sales, he said.

Looking to the future

Pedersen, who started as CEO of ROFDA in February, said an early point of discussion with members was including retailers. Inviting 16 retailers to the May conference was the first step toward that goal.

The fall conference will include those same 16 retailers. After that, the organization will look at rotating retailers and broadening the share group topics and participants.

“Post conference, we want those relationships to continue and facilitate discussions, and build a broader base of retailers that are involved in the ROFDA share group activity and how we can help them,” Pedersen said.

“Will there be more in the future? Absolutely. Will there be more than 16 at every conference – to be determined. But I believe 100 percent that our members believe it is a real positive for the organization and retailers and our associate partners. The additional involvement will bring new thoughts, new ideas, new opportunities for us to focus on as we move forward and help the greater good of the independent retailers.”

ROFDA is also re-evaluating its by-laws to expand its membership to more than just cooperative wholesalers, Pedersen said. The organization is looking at other wholesalers that are out there taking care of the independent retailer and could

Jeff Pedersen

benefit from being a member.

“One of our goals is to expand our wholesaler membership. Another goal is to expand our vendor partnerships, our associate program, and bring new ideas, new faces into the conferences,” he said.

“This would help build relationships with the wholesalers and introduce programs and services we may not have today but others may be using.”

In looking toward the future, Pedersen said “the energy, the enthusiasm and the passion that I’m sensing through ROFDA – and I’m being told from others – is at an all-time high. People are really, really excited for what the future will bring. And I’m just excited to be a part of that.”

Fall conference

ROFDA’s fall conference is scheduled for Nov. 10-13 at the Omni Orlando Resort at Champions Gate in Orlando, Florida.

“The theme for our upcoming conference is ‘We are ROFDA.’ ROFDA isn’t Jeff Pedersen, ROFDA isn’t Teresa Pope, ROFDA is really the retailers, the wholesalers, the vendor partners. Together, ‘We are ROFDA,’” Pedersen said.

“I think it’s so important that it’s never about one person but really about the energy and the enthusiasm of ROFDA and how we move that forward to help independent retailers for the future.”

The invitation-only event is designed to be a relaxed, intimate setting “where people really get a chance to spend some time together face to face,” he said. “It’s not just this overwhelming event where you don’t have a chance to talk to many of the people that you want to.

“When you come to a ROFDA conference, you will have a lot of opportunities to spend time in front of decision maker because most of the folks that are there are executive level, leaders within their organization, and are decision makers. We really put the right people together.”

Another highlight of the conference is the one-to-one meetings, where vendors can meet with wholesalers and “talk about what’s going on with their company and maybe do a sales pitch or an update on how business is with their company,” Pedersen said.

ROFDA also offers opportunity meetings at the conference. “If there’s something big, and something you really want to talk about with the CEOs and the retailers… we get that company in front of a larger group to talk about what’s going on with their company – a new program, new solution, something exciting, or it may be just to build upon some things that they’ve been working on together in the past,” he said.

Another offering is one-to-many meetings, where vendors can give industry updates on topics such as retail technology, supply chain or HR solutions to the retailers in attendance.

“The one-to-many is in front of retailers, and many, many of our associates and vendors are excited about having that opportunity,” Pedersen said.

Share groups meeting at the fall conference will be retail technology, food service and grocery procurement, along with the retailer share group.

The conference also will feature guest speakers, including Jessica Rector, who will deliver a keynote address on Nov. 12 on burnout in the industry and how companies are dealing with it.

“I think that’s very relevant with all the stress and the pressure and the supply chain issues, so we’re going to talk about burnout,” Pedersen said.

Other speakers include Leslie Sarasin with FMI, who also will speak on Nov. 12. She will give an industry update to the entire group.

Greg Ferrara with NGA is scheduled to speak Nov. 11. Pedersen said Ferrara is “really good at giving an update on what’s going on at the Capitol and on the Hill and the election process.” He will speak on political affairs after the election.

On Nov. 10, Steve Black, formerly of Rouses who now does some leadership coaching and leadership speaking, will speak on the five rules of engagement.

“Steve’s got a very inspirational talk about success in business and life,” Pedersen said.

ROFDA’s anniversary also will be observed at the fall conference, as it was in the spring.

Pedersen, 61, said he sees ROFDA as being 60 years young. “I think that we have a tremendous roadmap ahead of us…we’re going to continue to focus on the things that have made us successful and evolve in the areas that we need to. But really, the share group activity and supporting the independent retailer are the things that have made us successful to this point. And we’re going to continue to stay focused on those things as we celebrate being 60 years young.”

Pedersen added that he is thankful for the opportunity to be leading ROFDA. He worked with Associated Wholesale Grocers for nearly 25 years and with Hy-Vee prior to that.

“I’m excited to lead this next venture with ROFDA and really help the greater

good of the independent retailer,” he said. “A big thank you to the board to have the foresight to put somebody in leadership here and give me this opportunity.

“It’s a tremendous blessing that I’ve been given, and I look forward to continuing to help our wholesalers, our associate vendor partners and the independent retailer for many years to come.”

Board chair looking forward to future

Ray Sprinkle, chairman of the board of directors for the Retailer Owned Food Distributors & Associates, is excited about the organization’s future.

“ROFDA’s undergone some change. We really are excited to have Jeff [Pedersen, president] on board with his leadership and his experience, bringing some new ideas to the organization,” said Sprinkle, who also is CEO of Spokane, Washington-based URM.

“I think for a long time ROFDA just maintained status quo. Under Jeff’s leadership, we are changing for the better. We have to; our industry has changed. He’s done a great job putting the conferences and speakers together to get us to rethink the way we’ve always done it. That’s been extremely encouraging and beneficial to us.”

ROFDA, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, consists of eight cooperative-owned wholesalers – along with several associate members – but the organization is eyeing growth.

“We’re looking to expand out from the co-op warehouses that ROFDA has been founded on to potentially some other parties that are in the wholesaling business, because they face the same issues we do,” Sprinkle said. “And if we can learn from each other, why not?”

He went on to note that wholesalers face the same issues, “whether that’s finding drivers or fuel costs that keep rising. How do we become more efficient? How do we do a better job moving freight and do a better job increasing productivity in the distribution centers?”

When Sprinkle was named CEO of URM in 2012, “it was trial by fire.” Having the ability to reach out to the CEOs of other co-ops and be able to share ideas, thoughts or what he was facing as a new CEO was “invaluable to me.”

“Their words of encouragement…and advice, best practices of what they’re doing, has meant a lot. We’ve come away from ROFDA – every conference and everybody that’s gone from URM – with several ideas to improve our operation, whether that’s increased productivity, how do we get better cost of goods or services – it has been invaluable to us.”

Sprinkle said the addition of retailers at the spring ROFDA conference was well received.

“We will continue to be inclusive of our retailers – our member owners,” he said. “We’re excited about that and building that program out, whether that’s with share groups or their interaction with all of us at the conferences.”

According to Sprinkle, ROFDA is made up of co-ops, and the ownership of those co-ops is the independent retailer. “I always wondered, how do we have these meetings without the independent retailer that we service – the customer and also an owner – and not gain their input?”

At the spring conference, the group of retailers was asked to share their voices.

“To hear firsthand from them, what their concerns are – what kept them up at night – it was kind of eye opening, especially as it didn’t matter what region of the country they were from or who serviced them,” Sprinkle said. “There were some common threads throughout their concerns.

“It gives us an opportunity as an organization to find solutions that meet their needs, lets them go to sleep at night, and we don’t have to reinvent the wheel seven or eight times over.”

Sprinkle added that one of the strengths of ROFDA has been its share groups, which the organization is looking to expand. A new retail technology share group will meet at the fall conference in November. The organization also is encouraging share groups to increase their activity, meeting more often throughout the year.

“They report back to the CEOs on what topics they are working on and find common ground that they can work on projects together,” he said. “Then, they

Ray Sprinkle

meet monthly and quarterly to build those action plans out, and it just enhances everybody’s operation by best practices and sharing of ideas.”

Turning back to the fall conference, Sprinkle said ROFDA will “try to stay true to our vision, which is to continue to expand the involvement of the retailers, making sure that they get value out of the conference, as well. And make sure that we continue to provide more structure for the share groups so that they can continue to exchange info, best practices and learn from each other.”

RAC chairman: ‘It’s just been a blessing to be a part’ of ROFDA

GVH Distribution, headquartered in Lubbock, Texas, has been an associate member of ROFDA for 13 years. Company President and CEO Sean Wright has served as chair of the ROFDA Advisory Committee for the past two-and-a-half years.

GVH distributes packaging supplies for the supermarket, convenience store and food service industries. Wright said, “ROFDA is a unique organization that has a symbiotic relationship between its members (the wholesalers) and its associates (vendors). The two groups make ROFDA what it is and depend on each other for individual and collective success.”

ROFDA membership is by invitation only, and Wright noted that a company

must be positioned correctly to be considered.

“You have to be invited by the ROFDA Board, and you have to be making a difference for the independent grocer,” he said. “Once you’re in, you’d better be ready to contribute, or you won’t be in long. It’s a dynamic, relationship driven organization – you have to work at it to be successful.

“There’s a lot of communication and face-to-face meetings. And the access level is unprecedented. In my opinion, I don’t think I’ve ever been to another conference where you sit down with grocery wholesaler decision makers and speak so openly about topics that will ultimately help the independent grocers thrive.”

For GVH, there’s nothing better than that.

“Our whole mission at GVH is to create solutions and make a difference – that’s what we love to do and we’ll go the extra mile to make it happen,” Wright said. “We love working with the independent grocer particularly.”

When attending a ROFDA conference, he said the associates must come armed with business solutions and assisting the wholesalers in providing those to their members. For GVH and perhaps nearly every associate at ROFDA, membership is rewarding.

“You get to know influential people in the business and you start doing more and more together,” Wright said. “It’s just a snowball effect.”

The RAC is comprised of associate members, and its mission is to “provide valuable feedback and direction for the board members and the ROFDA president, Jeff Pederson, to consider when mapping the future direction of ROFDA as an organization,” Wright said.

“As RAC chairman, I can definitively say that the ROFDA board is comprised of great leaders that are truly great listeners,” he said. “The RAC has been fortunate enough to make several recommendations to keep ROFDA relevant, and the board and Jeff have been great about listening and adopting many of the ideas.”

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Sean Wright

From page 16

RAC members, elected by the ROFDA board, are people committed to the success of the organization.

“The RAC board members must believe in the independent grocer, be interactive at ROFDA and give productive feedback that represents the associates’ perspective,” Wright said.

The current RAC board was elected in late fall 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the U.S. Wright said the restrictions due to COVID meant the in-person conferences were canceled, which was difficult for the organization as it is “so heavily dependent on relationships and in-person events. We were put in a very challenging position, as was the board and planning committee. We had to think differently during that time because we moved to virtual events.”

They worked hard to add value to the associates and members during Zoom calls.

Wright noted while many companies and organizations scaled back services during that time, ROFDA members decided to push forward a more aggressive agenda and future.

“It’s been very rewarding to witness the transformation,” he said. “I think ROFDA is better off due to the strategic planning and action steps that were taken, mainly because of the collaboration by the boards.”

As RAC’s mission is to provide feedback to ROFDA’s board, Wright said it made a presentation on what its board members thought could be done to keep ROFDA relevant for many years going forward.

“This industry changes in a second,” he said. “So how do we change to stay ahead of the curve and stay relevant and impactful? In my opinion, that’s the RAC’s mission – to give the appropriate feedback to the ROFDA board so they can make the decisions that are best for ROFDA.”

About a year into the current RAC’s term, it met with the ROFDA board and made several recommendations. At the time, there was “a lot of feedback that ROFDA was in need of some change,” Wright said.

First, the RAC board asked the ROFDA board to invest in hiring a full-time spokesperson for the organization. That ended up being Jeff Pedersen, which was an excellent initial step forward.

Second, it asked that share groups be opened to include associates, expanding them and letting the associates present solutions to those groups.

Third, as ROFDA is the Retail Owned Food Distributors of America and is all about the independent grocer, it asked that the board invite retailers to the conferences.

Fourth, the group requested to look at revising ROFDA’s bylaws, which stated that members are limited to cooperative wholesalers only. The RAC suggested opening ROFDA to new potential members that have the same singular goal: servicing the independent grocer.

Fifth, it requested the ROFDA board and RAC meet at every conference to go over objectives and priorities going forward and “talk openly about what we can do to better ROFDA on a continuous basis.”

“We felt like that line of communication was really important and we needed to continue to do it,” Wright said.

RAC “swung for the fences” in its recommendations and felt like it “hit a home run” when the ROFDA board adopted all five, according to Wright.

“It was really an exciting time and I cannot commend the ROFDA Board enough,” he said. “These are high-powered CEOs that hear many ideas and suggestions all the time, but they really listened and acted.”

Wright thinks ROFDA has “made transformational changes that will keep the organization a leader in the industry for years to come.”

When the ROFDA board invited a group of retailers to this year’s spring conference, Wright said hearing them talk about their concerns was a “breath of fresh air. It helped clarify so much what the associates and member wholesalers should be focusing on.”

“Because at the end of the day, the retailers are the ones we have to support,” he said. “They’re the ones out there on the front lines, servicing the consumers, and we need to do all we can to support them. It was critical to hear their comments on what keeps them up at night.

“I can only speak for myself, but during these specific comments I looked at my GVH colleague sitting next to me and said, ‘We can help make a difference for the retailers.’ It’s really shaped our direction as a company moving forward.”

For associates, the access and relationships found in ROFDA provide great benefits.

“I can speak for the RAC in saying that we love ROFDA as an organization, and we have all gleaned tremendous value from participating in it,” Wright said. “Our goal is to be good stewards of ROFDA and leave it better off than when we started serving on the RAC board. I believe we have made great progress in bettering

ROFDA, and we will continue to work on creating future value as we move forward.”

For potential ROFDA associates, Wright advised, “If you want to help the independent grocer survive and thrive, and your company has benefits that can help them, then you will want to be part of this organization. The access level at ROFDA is unparalleled in the industry, and there is no shortage of opportunity for any associate fortunate enough to be invited. ROFDA is a growing organization that is a big part of the grocery industry, and it is a noble cause to service the independent grocer.”

Wright added that it has been rewarding to be a part of ROFDA and to serve as chairman of the RAC. “The other RAC members that I get to collaborate with –they’re incredible.” He noted when the five RAC members get together and meet, “the ideas and the commitment level that come out of these calls is fantastic.”

“Working with ROFDA members and associates for the betterment of the organization and, ultimately, that of the independent grocer has been great. It’s just been a blessing to be a part of it. My goal as chairman is to leave the RAC and ROFDA in a better place than where we started. And we’re working hard to do that.”

BRdata president touts benefits of ROFDA membership

ROFDA associate member BRdata offers software solutions to independent grocers and wholesalers. The Melville, New York-based company has been a ROFDA member since 2014, according to John Abbene, president.

“We write software solutions for the independent grocery industry, everything from back office, inventory, sales reporting…an end-to-end enterprise solution, from the wholesaler to the consumers is what we offer,” he said.

Abbene has attended every ROFDA conference since BRdata became an associate member. The company began developing solutions for grocery wholesalers in the early 2000s, which was when he learned about ROFDA and was invited to join by a wholesaler member.

Abbene, who is a member of the ROFDA Advisory Committee, said he always tells new members that his only regret is not joining the organization when he first had the opportunity.

ROFDA’s “amazing” conferences are his favorite to attend.

“They make it more of a real destination and networking event for the spouses,” he said. “It’s not like every other business event that you attend, where it’s kind of business as usual. The ROFDA conferences have always been different.”

Through those conferences, Abbene said he was able to build relationships with the ROFDA wholesalers. Now, seven of the eight are BRdata customers. “That is absolutely based on attending ROFDA conferences, no doubt.”

He noted access to the CEOs of ROFDA members is a key benefit of membership for the associates.

“I can say, with confidence, that all those CEOs know me. I’ve built up relationships with them, and that never would have happened without ROFDA,” he said. “There’s no way you would have access to the CEOs and then be able to build up a relationship with them and their trust…no way you would have this type of access to the CEOs outside of this event.”

According to Abbene, the ROFDA speed-dating meetings are crucial in getting started with building the relationships with the members but added that the follow-up meetings are “where you’re really making the deal and selling your solutions after making the initial contact.”

As a member of the RAC, Abbene said serving in that capacity has been “an incredible experience.”

“We feel like we’ve accomplished a lot in the two-plus years that we’ve been in… there’s a lot of talent on that board – a lot of leaders of companies – and we all came together” and made suggestions to the ROFDA board, he said. Among the current RAC’s initial presentation was the proposal to include retailers at the conferences.

John Abbene

The ROFDA board took the RAC’s suggestions and “ran with it, which was amazing. It’s one of the best conferences that I attend, and now it’s double,” he said of including the retailers. “It really takes the conference to another level.”

One example of BRdata benefiting from being an associate is its relationship with ROFDA member AWG. Abbene recalled that when Jeff Pedersen, current ROFDA president, was working at AWG, he had asked for a meeting.

“It was one of the speed-dating meetings with Jeff, and I was able to get a meeting at his office in Kansas City. Then Jeff got me a meeting in front of his team,” he said. “Now, we’re rolling out our pricing solution to support all of AWG’s stores. They’re using our new solution. That literally never would have happened without ROFDA, no chance.”

Abbene said ROFDA associates are presented opportunities to meet with the leaders of the wholesalers. “It’s really what you make of it. If you could get them interested where you can take the next step, it’s really amazing what you can do with it.”

Partnership has been ‘beneficial’ for Wells Enterprises

Wells Enterprises Inc. is a “proud supporter and long-standing partner” of the Retail Owned Food Distributors organization.

According to Mark Gallagher, sales leader, working closely with ROFDA as an associate member has been very beneficial for the company’s Blue Bunny and Halo Top ice cream brands.

“Being a partner provides Wells the opportunity to build mutually beneficial business plans as well as meaningful relationships,” he said.

“We appreciate the strong involvement of ROFDA member leaders from all functional business areas including technology, finance, logistics and sales that provide members with great insights and recommendations. We look forward to continuing working together for another 60 years.”

Wells Enterprises is the largest privately held, family-owned ice cream and frozen treat manufacturer in the United States. The company was founded in 1913 in Le Mars, Iowa, the “Ice Cream Capital of the World.”

Wells produces more than 200 million gallons of ice cream annually, including signature brand Blue Bunny, the Bomb Pop, Blue Ribbon Classics and Halo Top.

Relationships, access to CEOs perks for Givex

Bill Gray, president of Givex USA Retailer Services based in Marietta, Georgia, said he is impressed with the ROFDA organization.

Givex is a global fintech company providing omnichannel services for retailers. Services for grocery retailers include shopper engagement tools (points program, digital coupons, fuel

integrations, targeted marketing) websites and many other innovative services, including e-commerce integrations and Community Rewards.

“When Givex purchased Loyalty Lane and Media Solutions – a longtime associate member of ROFDA – in February 2022, they became a ROFDA partner,” Gray said. While he has attended just one ROFDA conference, it made an impact.

“Building relationships is the cornerstone of our company and ROFDA believes in those same values,” he said. “Communicating directly with the retailer and warehouse leadership teams helps us understand the needs of the market and aids us in delivering services that meet those demands.”

Givex has a “very good relationship” with many of the ROFDA warehouse members and other vendor partners. Gray said he knew ROFDA President Jeff Pedersen, an industry veteran, from when Pedersen worked at AWG, describing him as “an amazing man and force of nature.”

While talking with customers over the past several years, Gray has heard the challenges that retailers have been faced with. Those include keeping staff

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Mark Gallagher

Bill Gray

employed, supply chain disruptions and dealing with inflation.

At the spring 2022 ROFDA conference, these same concerns were echoed by attendees as issues that kept them up at night. “The Givex acquisition now provides us the ability to quickly deliver innovative solutions to help combat these issues,” he said.

Givex will be a vendor partner in the newly formed Retail Technology Share Group at the fall conference. Gray said the company will give a “state of the industry” as seen from a shopper engagement and technology standpoint.

“Personalizing the shopper experience, driving more trips and increasing sales. That’s what Givex shopper engagement is all about,” he said. “We’ve been doing it for over 15 years.”

Gray said he enjoys the camaraderie of the ROFDA conference and the ability to build relationships with other industry leaders.

“It’s nice to be able to sit down and have a conversation with the CEO of a warehouse or other industry leader, discuss business, then have a drink and play a game of competitive shuffle board,” he said. “The unique way ROFDA conferences mix the social component with the industry-share component is very good.”

Since its beginning more than 20 years ago, Givex has grown into a global fintech company providing merchants with customer engagement, point of sale and payment solutions, all in a single platform.

Givex is integrated with more than 1,000 technology partners, creating a fully end-to-end solution that delivers powerful customer insights. The Givex platform is used by some of the world’s largest brands, compromising about 116,000 retailer locations across more than 100 countries.

Relationships ‘build bridge’ between history, future of retail industry

The relationships nurtured by the ROFDA membership “build a bridge between the history and the future of the retail industry,” according to Storewise CEO Chris Greco.

Founded in 2018, ROFDA associate member Storewise “exists to help independent grocers rise against competitors by creating software that automates manual tasks and reduces errors; protecting profits, guaranteed,” Greco said. He added that the Overland Park, Kansas-based company is honored to be a member of ROFDA.

Independent grocers partnering with Storewise “realize an increase in gross margin dollars, plus gains in time and reduction in labor that have wowed some of the most progressive and sophisticated grocers. More importantly, the Storewise platform can fund itself,” according to Greco.

“Beyond the software platform, we provide retailers with a seasoned blend of technologists, former grocery operators, CPG professionals and support specialists ready to work together and strengthen one of the most important businesses in the world.”

He said ROFDA membership is an important way to support the needs of independent retailers and gain insight into the issues to solve across retail and wholesale.

“ROFDA allows us to listen to the needs of the industry, ensuring current and future solutions are relevant and timely. Participating in RODFA allows us to show grocers what’s possible with our technology, while listening and learning from industry veterans.”

Talking about the benefits of being an associate member of ROFDA, Greco said the grocery industry is “steeped in historic knowledge and tradition.”

“There’s a lot that can only be learned from the men and women who’ve helped to establish modern grocery practices. At the same time, innovation and competition is taking place at an unprecedented pace, and we’re locked arm and arm with the independents to make them better. It’s Storewise’s No. 1 core value – Love the Independents.”

RODFA membership validates direction and creates valuable relationships.

“Share groups, particularly around technology, loss prevention and pricing strategy, all play to our strong suits and enable us to pair with retailers who themselves

are exploring comprehensive and cost-effective technology solutions,” Greco said.

He noted that ROFDA members are engaged in the industry, not stagnant.

“There’s a tremendous opportunity for us to strengthen and evolve our platform based on the insights we gain through ROFDA members,” he said. “Partnering with business-minded people who demand thorough, well-thought-out decision making – those are ideal partnerships for us.”

At the spring ROFDA conference, a group of retailers were invited and discussed “what kept them up at night.” Greco said hearing from those retailers was “impactful.”

“We understand what keeps them up at night, and we’ve built elegantly simple solutions to solve those very problems. Getting information directly from grocers on the front lines of the industry lets us know we’re growing in the right direction. We’re meeting real needs, with real tools designed for busy people.”

By creating direct lines of communication through ROFDA, Greco said the Storewise team is able to “create simple, no-fuss solutions for otherwise costly and labor-intensive problems. It’s gratifying to see that kind of impact, particularly as it relates to price management and loss protection.”

He cited three recent examples. “With just a few clicks, a retailer stopped a twoyear internal theft ring. Another with operations across three states is generating a 12 times return and a 20-plus store retailer corrected $78,000 in errors for a single week.”

‘Blown away’ by how much above, beyond conference went

ROFDA associate member Circle the Wagons, based in Houma, Louisiana, is a group purchasing organization that focuses on not-for-resale commodities and services, engineered and built for the independent grocer.

The company also introduces new and innovative products, services and solutions to address opportunities for foot traffic growth, unique avenues for sales, unique opportunities to look at revenue to be produced from dead space in the store, according to Barton Howard, co-founder and chief development officer.

Prior to Circle the Wagons, Howard had worked with Rouses Markets in Louisiana but never had an opportunity to interact with ROFDA. He became familiar with the organization after his friend, Jeff Pedersen, announced he was joining it as president in February. Howard said he wanted to support Pedersen in his new venture.

As a new associate member, Howard said he attended his first conference in the spring.

“ROFDA, to me, was kind of a key that fits into a hole to unlock a lot of understanding to how the industry works. It’s heavily focused on developing relationships, and with good relationships comes good business,” he said.

“Quite honestly, I’m very impressed at the level of access someone gets, to understanding the industry as well as you can by even attending just one meeting and the welcoming attitude that everybody had for new members or new sponsors to come in. It was a very, very warm reception and very welcoming.”

Another thing that stood out to Barton was the ability to make a presentation to other ROFDA members.

“With a lot of new capabilities or solutions, technologies that are ever changing in the marketplace, to be able to go into an environment and present – even in a brief period of time, say 10 to 15 minutes – what you’re doing, what you’re working on and have literally hundreds, if not thousands of years’ worth of combined experience sitting in the room and capable of giving you feedback…that’s a very rare opportunity.”

In reference to ROFDA’s share groups, Howard noted that CTW was formed in a share group. He said the share groups, which now include retailers, allow participants to open up about opportunities for improvement or solutions that are needed.

Chris Greco

Barton Howard

From page 20

“Especially the vendor community, it really gives the opportunity to listen to very, very specific needs in the market,” he said. “Also it is a very unique opportunity to also look at whether or not some things that they’re doing or can do, should be added or adjusted.”

According to Howard, the share groups offer a “collaborative environment with both some of the largest and most respected wholesale distributors in the country – and their principals – to be on the same stage and interacting with and listening to the retailers, who are also some of the most well-known and respected in the independent industry. It’s just a really special place.”

Howard, who had participated in ROFDA’s share groups prior to becoming an associate member, said he had an idea of what benefits ROFDA could offer but the reality hit home at the conference.

“I was blown away with how much above and beyond it went from my initial expectations,” he said.

ROFDA conferences

‘reinvigorating’ for longtime attendee

ROFDA associate member Ric Larsen, president and CEO of DeJarnett Sales, said his relationship with the organization has helped his company “establish trust,

strength and unity with our customers and the ROFDA members. It’s helped us to work toward common goals, capitalize on opportunities and meet challenges head on.”

DeJarnett is a private label food broker. “Private label, exclusive brands is really our focus and specialty,” Larsen said. “So, for most of the ROFDA members, we work closely with them on developing and executing their private label programs.”

Networking with ROFDA members and associates is a “major benefit,” he said, adding they gain knowledge in the areas of best practices, customer service, exchanging ideas and education.

“ROFDA conferences have helped to build strong relationships with industry leaders.”

Larsen said DeJarnett has gained new customers and experienced sales and distribution growth throughout the organization’s membership base.

Larsen believes ROFDA’s conferences have been rewarding experiences. “The events and share groups have been educational and the industry speakers have been informative and motivating.”

He said inviting retailers to the spring conference was “a terrific idea.”

“It really added some feature benefits for ROFDA and its associates. It’s great having the retailers there because, at the end of the day, they’re working with the end consumer, merchandising, and selling our products,” he said.

According to Larsen, ROFDA conferences also are a “professional and comfortable environment” for transparent communications and forming relationships. “ROFDA’s always been rewarding. I’ve attended for a long time, and it’s always been great,” he said.

Ric Larsen

Share groups don’t complain, spend time seeking solutions

Steve Methvin, VP of product development with Dumac Business Systems in East Syracuse, New York, is an associate member of ROFDA. In speaking of his relationship with the organization, he noted the “significant technical challenges” that the independent grocer is facing right now.

“As a software partner, we need to hear how automation and artificial intelligence can be useful on the sales floor and in the management of labor, inventory and payments at the local-focused supermarket,” he said.

In looking at the benefits of ROFDA membership, share groups play a large role.

“The share group community within our independent supermarkets are not average,” Methvin said. “They won’t complain about how hard it is to be successful or suggest bold actions for somebody else to execute; they think like owners and spend their time looking for solutions that recognize the value of both innovative thinking and practical improvement.”

He also noted that, as a benefit of ROFDA membership, Dumac redirected its Cloud research and development investment “to specific areas that were better suited for quick wins with existing and potential customers. We connected with other technology partners on mutual issues facing independent supermarkets and created a hybrid training event to allow customers advanced training on multiple systems.”

In looking toward the future of ROFDA, Methvin said Dumac thinks “the best is on its way.”

Group is ‘a true north star’ in guiding independent retailers

Nick Nickitas, general manager of local independent grocers at Instacart and founder of Rosie, said his relationship with ROFDA goes back to his first conference as a guest of Jim Reid of Olean Wholesale Grocers in 2014.

“ROFDA helped our team understand the power of channel partners and the connectivity between cooperative wholesalers across the United States more completely,” Nickitas explained. “As a regional company at the time, Rosie’s subsequent growth and success came in part from the partnerships we forged at ROFDA, as we expanded operations from the northeast to support retailers across the country.

“We’ve learned, listened and have truly enjoyed our time with the members and participants of ROFDA. Now, as part of Instacart, we plan to continue to lean into our strong partnership with ROFDA. We look forward to our continued work together as we build the technologies and best practices to help power local independent grocers – and more broadly – the future of the grocery industry.”

As Instacart is focused on serving as a retail enablement platform, Nickitas said it sees “incredible benefit” from the relationships and information ROFDA provides on the independent grocery industry.

“Wholesalers and member partners freely share information on their needs, expectations for future technology and customer behaviors. Because of this information sharing, we’ve made swift

business decisions to better support this part of the grocery ecosystem due to direct engagement and partnership with ROFDA wholesaler leadership and member companies.”

Nickitas also noted that ROFDA membership has provided tremendous benefits.

“We’ve hired key members of our team through our ROFDA networks, been introduced to wholesaler and vendor ecosystem partners who helped us serve independent grocers across the country, have had cold leads turned into deals and learned about the shifts into omnichannel and retailer brand loyalty in digital,” he said.

“We’ve also built incredible relationships that make working in grocery so much fun. The learnings we’ve gained from ROFDA have made us a stronger company and helped lead us to this stage in our corporate journey now as a part of the Instacart platform.”

He added that ROFDA has acted “as a true north star” in guiding independent retailers, cooperative warehouses and locally-focused grocery vendors for the past 60 years.

Please see page 24

Steve Methvin

Nick Nickitas

“While the landscape and players have changed, the organization has remained focused and committed to cooperatively utilize and leverage all available resources, industry best practices and business relationships to provide added value to independent grocers. We’re fortunate to have been invited in and look forward to collaborating with this incredible group for years to come.”

Members benefit from access to relationships, industry knowledge

Atlanta, Georgia-based Robinson Fresh “consistently delivers quality fresh produce that satisfies the growing demand for fresh fruits and vegetables,” said Hunter Winton, VP, west region. “We are always looking for leading organizations, such as ROFDA, to collaborate with.”

A trade organization, ROFDA is “built on a strong history of service, relationships and a feeling of pride in the communities they serve,” Winton said. “They truly care about the people, consumers, retailers, members and vendors and work together with them to help provide affordable food options for families while giving back to the communities

to help those in need.”

Winton said those fundamentals are important to Robinson Fresh, where “our mission is to help feed the world through fresh produce and complex supply chain solutions. This sits at the core of everything we do, and we pride ourselves on being part of the supply chain that delivers these nutritious and delicious fresh products to consumers and their families.”

Winton said one of the biggest benefits to being an associate member of ROFDA is the access to relationships and being able to tap into “a wealth of industry knowledge, service and growth.”

“Being a member of ROFDA provides us unique insights and a great opportunity to listen and learn from the members’ leadership teams. This knowledge is paramount to continuing to improve how we serve the members and their customers.”

Winton said ROFDA has allowed him to better understand how Robinson Fresh can improve its services to members to help them meet their unique challenges in each of their markets.

“It’s important for me to ensure the success of each individual member, as independent grocery is a key part of many communities. Independent grocers are, and will continue to be, a strong point of identity and culture in the communities they serve.”

Winton said he has enjoyed his membership in the organization.

“ROFDA is a great place to grow…professionally and personally.”

Hunter Winton