Securing access to fresh food for Canadians
FoodX provides technology to help eGrocers scale online services while giving Canada’s front line workers and most vulnerable safe and reliable access to fresh food.
VANCOUVER, CANADA – August 11, 2020
When British Columbia went into lockdown at the end of March, the event exposed weaknesses in the local food supply. Basic items, like yeast, flour and eggs, disappeared from shelves, and essential workers and people living in quarantine had reduced access to fresh food and groceries.
The situation triggered a shift in strategy for Canada’s Digital Technology Supercluster (DTS). This organization helps local businesses collaborate with technology firms to improve communities and their economic health. In April, they changed course and established a COVID-19 funding opportunity for local businesses to explore digital solutions to the unique challenges the virus presented.
FoodX Technologies also pivoted after seeing a seven-fold increase in online grocery orders with one of its clients. The company wanted to develop the capability within its eGrocery Management System to optimize order planning and packing. This would ensure that vulnerable individuals, who could no longer safely shop in stores, had access to high quality, fresh food.
DTS, FoodX Technologies and its partners collaborated on a three-month feasibility study to help Canadian grocers improve the way they manage inventory and ship food to their customers. By mid-July, they had built and tested a cloud-based inventory management tool that increase throughput 50%, reduced the amount of food waste generated in the process, and could be scaled nationally and globally.
As a result of the project’s success, DTS has increased its financial support for the collaboration from C$300,000 to C$2.6 million. With this support, FoodX and its partners can expand their Fresh offering to more retailers to ensure that Canadians continue to have reliable access to fresh, high quality groceries throughout this pandemic.
By adopting FoodX, an e-Grocery management system that both manages food quality and freshness while optimizing fulfillment and delivery, grocers can profitably deliver fresh food from farm to consumers with less waste.
For consumers this means greater food security at a time when many grocery stores are struggling to keep their shelves stocked with enough fresh, quality products.
