Case Study: Associated Foods, Inc.

Associated Foods, Inc. Saves Time, Protects Customers with Instant Recall Notification System

Situation

Based in Salt Lake City, Utah, Associated Food Stores, Inc. (AFS) is an independent, retailer-owned wholesale distributor providing warehouse facilities and services to more than 400 grocers in eight western states. AFS employs more than 1,400 people and ships more than 750 truckloads of merchandise each week.

AFS gets word of a bad product recall via its tracking service and from monitoring the websites of various government agencies. During the fall and summer of 2007, bad food recalls—many Class 1 and 2 life-threatening situations—were occurring almost daily.

The previous AFS recall notification system consisted of a phone tree for manual phone calls, faxes, and e-mails to more than 400 managers of member stores and 18 AFS employees.

The time-consuming manual system required several days just to complete all of the required outgoing calls, a great concern for Associated Foods, especially when handling Class 1 and 2 recalls.

“Each of the phone calls needed 10 to 20 minutes of explanation,” says Kevin Woodward, AFS’ strategic analyst and reclamation manager.

Then Woodward learned that tainted product recall notifications can be automated.
“Saving time was the primary reason we decide to automate our product recall notifications” he says.

Solution

Instant Recall from BellTower Technologies. This emergency notification service has given Associated Food Stores the ability to:

• Make hundreds of product recall phone calls in seconds;
• Ensure a consistent message with each call;
• Confirm receipt of the notification in real-time, by location;
• Immediately report the expected quarantine time, by location;
• Prove their good efforts as needed with a detailed, permanent audit trail, and;
• Drastically reduce the time required to notify member stores of a recall, reducing cost and liability, and bolstering brand protection.

As of March 2008, AFS had used Instant Recall for 10 actual product recalls, including several that were Class 1 or 2 situations.

“With Install Recall, we are now getting the bad stuff off of our store shelves a week ahead of the competition,” Woodward says. It now takes perhaps three hours to reach everyone instead of several days. “Instant Recall fits my needs so well; I felt I didn’t have to look any further. I wanted and found a company willing to customize its product for my needs in BellTower Technologies.”

“I can even see other uses for Instant Recall,” Woodward notes. “HR could use it for broadcast calls to employees, including those in the warehouse who don’t have e-mail.” By the end of April 2008, the phone numbers for all 400+ managers of the member stores will be in the Instant Recall system, fully automating AFS’ recall communications and providing life saving service to its customers.

About BellTower Technologies

BellTower Technologies LLC provides emergency notification services under the Instant Recall brand (for food and product recalls) and the RedPhone brand (for government and university crisis management and business continuity and disaster recovery). Developed over a five-year period, the company’s breakthrough technology gives client organizations a centralized command-and-control communications platform that enables, standardizes and simplifies best of breed emergency communications across applications and organizational boundaries. BellTower Technologies is based in Dallas, Texas and can be reached at 888-400-4786 or online at www.instantrecall.com or www.belltowertech.com.