Mid-Atlantic
Weekly Newsletter / March 25, 2016
Four Seasons Produce Inc.
We have launched our transition and partnership with Four Seasons!!!
Our first wave will come in today, March 25th. Our end goal is to move away from JIT and into stocked options over time.
To better help you, a document was published to the Mid-Atlantic site to help keep you informed of items we are able to simply transition to Four Seasons along with any new codes we had to create. In addition, we outlined all produce codes and where each are coming from along with cut off times (keep in mind, this will be eliminated with stocked codes over time!!!). This can be found on the "Produce Cut Off Times" tab in the same document. We will continue to communicate as well as update the document as we continue to transition to Four Seasons. Each Four Seasons item will be stocked and not JIT, so communication of new business is critical to our success.
The Four Seasons Produce link below is a great sales resource. Their site provides information on local farmers, as well as provides history on our new produce partnership.
New Item Requests
As a follow up to our meeting last month with each Market, we have created a SINGLE new item request form. There will be a few slight improvements to the process outlined below:
1. There will be two ways to submit new item requests. First, the established spreadsheet is a valuable time-saver and is recommended when a CDS is submitting multiple new items in one sitting. Second, the new item form can be used to populate one new item at a time. I have included a link below for both resources. I would imagine you will become comfortable with one format and stick with that, it is totally up to you!
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1I8VIYHAPcXsSpqrN8cyjoYXXPUfPCu2voYWuvgkK4Y8/edit#gid=0
Single:
https://docs.google.com/a/gfs.com/forms/d/1jQz6JEmpeVIMSydr0SBFcxvO0Jl_KnbCqlTypxH7ML4/viewform
2. Each CDS can send New Item Requests directly to newmaditem@gfs.com. This change will eliminate a potential delay in the process.
Note: The new single new item request form will be sent directly into the Master where the CDS can begin to track immediately (From approval/denial from you to sourcing). The spreadsheet will be shared with newmaditem@gfs.com as opposed to your MM.
3. We will continue gathering ALL new item requests in a Master-New Item Request Form. The form did change, due to written code established from the new single request form. This form will be live Monday, 3/28.
Results - Product Gaps: Sauces, Spices and Condiments
We received your feedback on Product Gaps: Sauces, Spices and Condiments survey. Marketing is taking action to to round out this subgroup and stock the items necessary for our market. You have the ability to review the responses as well as the feedback on each item. You will see these items in stock in the coming weeks, keep an eye out for inventory!!
Our next survey will consist of Dressings and Bases. We are leaning on you to round out our product mix by Subgroup, so please help by providing feedback.
Discontinued Blow Out Items- Need to Clean up the Slots
You will be directed to the Blow Out documents by clicking on the bar below.
New Items in STOCK!!!
520030 - Alexia Wedge French Fries, Redskin 6-2.5# - Lamb Weston
672913- Chicken Philly Steak 4Z - Olde Philly Brand
516032 - 6" All Meat Franks 2-5# - Berks
Long Inventory Blow Out
We are a bit long on inventory on these items. We are offering hot pricing on "long" cases to help stabilize inventory and avoid the dreaded and very expensive liquidation. Please note these items are not being discontinued.
Lets work together to ensure we do not liquidate. Please click on the link below to review all of the items we NEED your help on. The list reviews the items and the cases at risk.
Ole Mexican Foods- Representation Change
Ole Mexican Foods will be represented our market by Stillwater Provisions effective 3/30/2016.
Contact Information:
Barb Lutzi
410-404-0429
Looking for Point of Sale? We have you covered!
Building Your Business- How to Access Your BYB Folder
There seems to be some confusion on how to access your BYB folders.
1. Access your Google Drive
2. Type in "Your Name Building your Business" ie "John Smith Building your Business"
3. Your folder will pop up.
4. Click on your folder to access your files.
Mid-Atlantic Insider
Our weekly Insider can be found on the Mid-Atlantic site under Marketing Information.
This is a great resource to view market trends, new items, and discontinued items.
This weeks Insider will be posted on Monday, as it has not been released from Grand Rapids yet.
Price Increase - Reminder!
The tight supply on peppers has affected pricing on three of the GFS SKU's. Effective April 4, these three items are going up in price 17%. We are continuing to look for a packer label to help reduce short ships to customers. Will keep you posted as Learn more.
The affected SKUs are listed below:
466251 - PEPPERS BAN RING HOT 4-1GAL GFS
466220 - PEPPERS BAN RING MILD 4-1GAL GFS
107255 - PEPPERS CHERRY MILD 4-1GAL GFS