Address Today’s Grocery Supply Chain Challenges with FHI NOW®

As retailers and wholesalers in the grocery supply chain, you need to be experts at managing change. No other industry demands the agility and flexibility it takes to handle such a broad variety of products. From dry goods to general merchandise, perishables to produce, shelf stable to frozen — successfully warehousing and distributing grocery products calls for a unique combination of speed, accuracy, and adaptability.

As if handling that breadth of products isn’t challenging enough, maintaining the fast pace of constant inbound receipts from suppliers and outbound shipments to replenish stores has gotten even harder in an era of supply chain disruptions and transportation capacity issues. Without a steady, reliable workforce, meeting these demands can be extremely challenging. 

Fortunately, there’s FHI NOW®. Our on-demand labor solution has been serving grocery warehouses across the U.S. for more than 30 years. FHI NOW provides reinforcement to keep your grocery operations on track.

Our teams of experienced associates and supervisors help stabilize operations experiencing rapid growth, staffing shortages, or seasonal volume spikes. By supplementing an existing workforce, FHI NOW allows your grocery operation’s management to refocus on its top priorities. 

With FHI NOW, your grocery operation can…

• Respond to ongoing labor shortages 
• Adapt to shifting volumes
• Address fluctuations in customer demand
• Balance inventory levels
• Adjust to supply chain disruptions
• Minimize the impact of out-of-stocks
• Enhance inventory visibility 
• Increase accuracy and productivity

For operations struggling to keep their warehouses staffed due to labor shortages and high turnover rates, FHI NOW delivers qualified, experienced associates — led by a dedicated supervisor — at a fixed cost. These professionals bring an average of 14 months of experience working in the unique environment found in grocery warehousing. 

In an industry where margins are razor-thin and business costs continue to rise, having reliable, dependable labor already trained in the nuances of grocery handling helps control costs. FHI NOW associates understand how to:

• Receive and handle a diverse array of grocery products, including refrigerated and frozen items, perishables, beverages, dry goods, and general merchandise.
• Properly handle temperature sensitive and fragile items to prevent spoilage and damage.
• Inspect and verify temperature monitoring data associated with received inventory to ensure product freshness and consumer safety.
• Quickly and safely sort mixed pallets of product for putaway or immediate distribution to stores.
• Pick individual items, cases, and pallets of stored goods to fill store replenishment and omni-channel e-grocery orders fulfilled on last-mile delivery routes.
• Efficiently build mixed pallets of products to match store planograms.
• Properly document receipts to prevent inventory discrepancies, “lost” product, and out-of-stocks. 
• Accurately gather batch and lot data to meet regulatory track-and-trace requirements.

The grocery supply chain is unlike any other. When you are faced with labor challenges, you need reinforcements from a company that knows what they are doing.  For over 30 years, FHI has built a reputation in the grocery distribution and logistics industry for delivering the highest levels of experience, professionalism, safety, and commitment to Hard Work Done Right®. Need immediate help? Your operation can have a qualified, professional, experienced team of FHI NOW warehouse associates on site within 72 hours. 

Ready to take the next step? Click here to schedule a call and take control of your grocery operation today.