Giant Eagle, Cub Foods, Festival Foods expand IoT-based asset monitoring

Several regional grocers are amplifying their efforts to ensure food safety and quality with Internet of Things (IoT) technology.

Giant Eagle, Jerry’s Foods (the largest Cub Foods franchisee in the U.S.) and Knowlan’s Super Markets Inc./Festival Foods of Minnesota are all renewing, upgrading and expanding existing rollouts of IoT connectivity solutions from SmartSense by Digi to improve operational efficiency and compliance in their stores.

Highlights from each implementation follow:

Giant Eagle Inc.

Over the last six years, Pittsburgh-based Giant Eagle has leveraged SmartSense digital task management technology at 216 pharmacies, 182 grocery locations and 128 convenience stores. Supporting food safety and quality, Giant Eagle relies on 32,000 SmartSense digital temperature monitoring devices to monitor critical food assets remotely, automatically, and continuously.

By responding to SmartSense alerts and executing prescriptive actions, Giant Eagle says it was able to maintain proper holding conditions for more than $72 million worth of product in 2023. 

Giant Eagle has now renewed its program with SmartSense while also expanding the deployment into fresh food manufacturing to help ensure efficiency, compliance and food safety standards.

"We are impressed with the SmartSense team’s ongoing commitment to innovative solutions and look forward to applying their data insights and prescriptive analytics toward our fresh foods manufacturing operations," said Vic Vercammen, VP of risk and chief compliance officer of Giant Eagle. "Our ongoing relationship serves as a testament to the impactful outcomes we have seen throughout our stores and pharmacies. We look forward to continuing our relationship, as food safety compliance and our customers remain our top priority."

Jerry’s Foods (Cub Foods)

In the past seven years, Jerry’s Foods has rolled out SmartSense throughout 23 locations to help ensure product freshness. Jerry's Foods is the largest Cub Foods franchise in the U.S., operating in the Twin Cities of Minnesota as well as in Wisconsin and in Florida. 

"The continued support from SmartSense helps us uphold our dedication to a customer-centric approach to business," said Dana Glade, director of retail operations at Jerry’s Foods. "Since our inception, Jerry’s Foods has remained committed to delivering quality perishables and customer experiences. The specialized support from SmartSense has provided us with the descriptive insights that we were looking for to keep food fresh and our customers healthy." 

Knowlan's Super Markets, Inc. / Festival Foods of Minnesota 

Minnesota-based grocer Knowlan's Super Markets, Inc. / Festival Foods of Minnesota, has worked with SmartSense for six years and has deployed SmartSense temperature monitoring solutions across 10 locations. 

"Our focus on food safety that delivers high quality foods continues to enhance with our digital temperature monitoring recording and alert program,” said Jason Herfel, president at Knowlan's Fresh Foods. "SmartSense solutions have continued to foster an even greater culture of food safety excellence that has been experienced throughout our stores by both customers and associates."

"Our mission is to provide our grocery customers with IoT solutions and automation tools," said Guy Yehiav, president of SmartSense by Digi. "We look forward to building on our progress through these extended relationships and value the trust our customers put in our team."