Stater Bros. Markets is taking a major step forward in modernizing how fresh food moves from suppliers to store shelves—by doubling down on artificial intelligence.
The regional grocer announced plans to expand its use of AI across more fresh departments, building on early success in produce. In partnership with Afresh, the company will extend advanced replenishment and forecasting tools beyond store level operations and into its distribution centers—bringing a new level of precision to how it predicts demand, manages inventory, and makes purchasing decisions.
The goal is simple but powerful: connect what shoppers are buying in real time with what the company orders upstream, ensuring fresher products, fewer shortages, and less waste across the entire supply chain.
The journey began in 2025, when Stater Bros. rolled out Afresh’s AI-powered replenishment system in its produce departments. The results were immediate and measurable: better product availability, reduced food waste, and improved inventory efficiency. Just as important, store employees embraced the system, integrating it into their daily workflows.
“We’ve been impressed with Afresh’s partnership with our teams,” said Bertha Luna, executive vice president of store operations. “They took the time to earn trust, and the results speak for themselves.”
Encouraged by that success, the company is now scaling the technology across additional fresh categories while introducing AI-driven forecasting at the distribution level.
Fresh food has always been one of the most complex areas of grocery retail. Unlike packaged goods, it requires constant adjustments based on changing conditions—everything from promotions and seasonality to supplier variability and delivery timing.
Historically, produce buying at Stater Bros. relied heavily on experience, intuition, and manual processes. Buyers often worked from spreadsheets, juggling multiple data sources to plan orders weeks in advance. While traditional forecasting tools worked well for center-store items, they struggled to keep up with the fast-moving, unpredictable nature of fresh products.
The result? Occasional shortages, excess inventory, and missed sales—especially during promotions or with variable-weight items.
The new system is designed to change that. By analyzing real-time store demand and factoring in promotions, seasonality, multiple vendors, and delivery schedules, the AI platform helps ensure the right products arrive at the right place at the right time. By linking store-level data directly to distribution center purchasing decisions, Stater Bros. expects to significantly improve coordination, responsiveness, and overall efficiency across its network.
According to Matt Schwartz, the technology is purpose-built for the unpredictability of fresh food operations, where conditions can shift rapidly and precision matters. While the technology is sophisticated, its impact is refreshingly human. By automating time-consuming forecasting and data analysis, the system frees up buyers to focus on higher-value work—like evaluating product quality in warehouses and strengthening relationships with suppliers.
“Automating forecasting allows our buying teams to stay focused on supporting our stores and making better long-term purchasing decisions,” said Jacob Cadwallader, director of produce.
Headquartered in San Bernardino, Stater Bros. operates 166 supermarkets across Southern California. With this expanded AI initiative, the company is positioning itself at the forefront of grocery innovation—proving that even the most traditional parts of the business can be reimagined through technology. And, for customers, that transformation means something simple but meaningful: fresher food, better availability, and a more reliable shopping experience.