Socially conscious food distributor uses cloud-based solution to
connect farms with urban hospitals, schools
BEDFORD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Progress
(NASDAQ: PRGS) today announced that socially conscious food distributor
Common Market, has deployed software built on the Progress® OpenEdge®
application development and SaaS platform to help urban communities in
the Mid-Atlantic region more easily obtain healthy, fresh produce from
local farmers. By automating its entire operation, Common Market has
made a significant impact on the local farm-to-city problem, growing its
business 20-fold over six years to serve 200 customers through its work
with 75 local farmers.
As the gap between the farm and the consumer has widened, it has
impacted some of the most vulnerable communities. In Philadelphia, some
residents lack access to enough nutritious food to maintain a healthy
lifestyle. According to a survey, over 22% of the city's residents are
classified as "food insecure"—the highest rate in the entire state of
Pennsylvania. This lack of access in the region inspired Tatiana
Garcia-Granados and her husband to found Common Market in 2008. The
company provides schools, hospitals, universities, grocery stores and
workplaces with fresh produce grown by the region's sustainable farmers.
Initially, Common Market was able to manage its operations using
QuickBooks. However, as it grew, Common Market needed more scalable and
automated tools. They began working with Philadelphia-based software
provider and Progress partner, Integrated Management Solutions, to
implement its Food Connex Cloud Food Management System. The cloud-based
solution utilizes the Progress
OpenEdge product to allow Common Market to work in real-time with
high levels of transparency and traceability. In addition, it does not
require on-site IT support or hardware, enabling the company to keep
costs low, while easily integrating with the existing accounting system.
Common Market now relies on Food Connex Cloud for its entire operations,
from purchasing, pricing, and invoicing to inventory management and
real-time sales reporting. Powered by Progress, Food Connex Cloud helped
Common Market make their vision of getting food from the farm to the
wholesale customer efficient and cost-effective, creating a niche for
itself in the "good food" economy - providing food that is healthy for
the body, green for the planet, fair for the worker and affordable for
everyone.
Executive Quotes:
Tatiana Garcia-Grandos, CEO at Common Market, said, "Food Connex Cloud
has helped us achieve our vision of getting food from the farm to the
wholesale customer efficiently and cost-effectively - with just one
order, one delivery and one bill. We are able to identify the food
source throughout the process of distribution so that our customers know
exactly what they are getting and from where. We provide our farmers'
name and location on each case of food, as well as on each invoice so
our customers can be confident that they are getting the freshest local
produce available."
Paul Hernandez-Cuebas, president of Integrated Management Solutions,
said, "Our marketplace can't support more expensive databases. The
OpenEdge application provides us with a lower cost of ownership, high
reliability and lower maintenance costs, making it a great fit for our
industry."
John Goodson, chief product officer at Progress, said, "Common Market is
a prime example of how the cloud and application development technology
can have a real, positive impact in local communities. The automation
capabilities of the OpenEdge product and the larger Progress Pacific
platform have enabled Common Market to grow at an average rate of 57%
over six years, and more importantly, allowed them to serve a group in
need. We're proud to be a long-standing partner with Integrated
Management Solutions and to support the good work of Common Market."
Additional Resources:
Full
Common Market case study
Progress
Corporate Blog
Progress
App Dev Blog
Follow conversation about Progress OpenEdge at #OpenEdge
Follow
conversation about Progress Pacific at #PRGSPacific
and #PaaS
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and Google+
About Common Market
Common Market is a mission-driven distributor of local foods to the
Mid-Atlantic region. Its mission is to strengthen regional farms while
making the local bounty accessible to communities and the institutions
that serve them. The company provides the infrastructure to connect
public and private schools, hospitals, universities, grocery stores and
workplaces to good food grown by the region's sustainable farmers. Find
out more at http://www.commonmarketphila.org.
About Integrated Management Solutions
Headquartered in suburban Philadelphia, the Integrated Management
Solutions Food Connex team brings over 100 years of management
experience in the food distribution industry and over 20 years in
software development. The company provides "no-nonsense" yet innovative,
food software solutions and support services to processors and
distributors of all sizes and shapes. Integrated Management Solutions'
Food Connex customers, located all over the United States, range from
full-line distributors to distributors and processors who specialize in
all types of meat, poultry, seafood, produce, dairy, grocery and
specialty items. For more, please visit: www.foodconnex.com.
About Progress Software Corporation
Progress
Software Corporation (NASDAQ: PRGS) is a global software company
that simplifies the development, deployment and management of business
applications on-premise or in the cloud, on any platform or device, to
any data source, with enhanced performance, minimal IT complexity and
low total cost of ownership. Progress Software can be reached at www.progress.com
or 1-781-280-4000.
Progress, OpenEdge, and Pacific are trademarks or registered trademarks
of Progress Software Corporation or one of its subsidiaries or
affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Any other names contained
herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Progress Software
Rick Lacroix, +1 781-280-4604
rlacroix@progress.com
or
LEWIS
PR
Kim Karelis, +1 617-226-8844
kim.karelis@lewispr.com
Source: Progress Software Corporation
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