Last updated on April 2nd, 2020
In a time of stress and difficulty, local grocers and other affiliated businesses are doing what they can to make life just a little bit easier. As the Covid-19 pandemic continues, some Southwest business are reaching out to their communities.
Brookshire Grocery Co. will open all its stores on Easter Sunday, which is has never done before, to try to help its customers. USAA and Sodexo are partnering to provide curbside meals and grocery pickup for USAA employees, and Symphony RetailAI is offering Symphony RetailAI Hub: Covid-19 Insights, a web portal that contains must-read insights, news and big ideas for the FMCG retailer and CPG manufacturer communities.
Brookshire Grocery Co. stores to be open on Easter to serve communities
As an essential business dedicated to serving customers during this unprecedented time, Tyler, Texas-based Brookshire Grocery Co. (BGC) says all Brookshire’s, Super 1 Foods, Fresh by Brookshire’s and Spring Market stores will be open Easter Sunday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“As a Christian company, BGC has traditionally prided itself on observing Christmas and Easter holidays but recognizes the calling to serve our neighbors during this difficult time,” said Brad Brookshire, chairman and CEO for BGC. “Our founder, Wood T. Brookshire, believed it was his God-given calling to serve humanity through the grocery business. Today, we are also serving God by serving man during these times. It was not an easy decision to break from our 92-year history on closing on Easter, and we do not take it lightly.”
“Our customers have recognized our employee-partners as heroes for their service on the front lines, and we are committed to being there for our customers through this,” said Trent Brookshire, chief operating officer for BGC. “We have no way of knowing when this pandemic will be over, but we want our customers to know we are here for them. We are incredibly thankful for our employee-partners’ continued dedication and selfless service to our customers, and we are glad they will be home with their families for Easter dinner.”
Most BGC stores are receiving daily deliveries and employees are stocking throughout the day to replenish. BGC is working with suppliers to address any outages stores may be experiencing. To support all customers in the 150 communities it serves, BGC stores have limits on certain high-demand items.
Brookshire’s, Super 1 Foods and Fresh by Brookshire’s curbside hours will 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The store’s personal shoppers fill customers’ orders by selecting the freshest products available and carefully following any special instructions. Orders are delivered to customers’ cars at their scheduled pick-up time in the curbside parking area.
BGC is a regional family-owned grocery business that employs almost 14,000 individuals throughout Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas. The company operates more than 180 stores under its banners, along with three distribution centers and corporate
USAA, Sodexo partner to offer on-campus curbside meal, grocery pick-up for USAA employees
USAA and Sodexo offer a new and unique benefit to the nearly 35,000 USAA employees nationwide. Beginning this week, USAA employees will have access to curbside pick-up of meals and essential grocery food items across its corporate campuses.
USAA employees can place daily weekday orders for same-day curbside pick-up of prepared meals and grocery food items, such as produce, milk and eggs. Following a successful pilot program at the company’s San Antonio, Texas, headquarters campus, this service has expanded to USAA’s regional campuses in Plano, Texas; Tampa, Florida; Phoenix, Arizona; and Colorado Springs, Colorado. The pre-made meals are offered at half-price, while the grocery items are sold at cost.
The idea for the new service came from a USAA employee who voiced concern for fellow employees who may be facing challenges as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
“In these unprecedented times, many basic essentials have become difficult to find and acquire for many American families,” USAA President and CEO Wayne Peacock said. “Thanks to the care and commitment of one of our employees, we were made aware of a need and worked quickly with Sodexo to provide many of our 35,000 employees with a convenient, low-stress way to feed their families. USAA is committed to ensuring our employees have the resources they need to continue serving our members while adhering to crucial social distancing and protective measures.”
Several USAA campuses are in communities where orders to limit social activity have been established. As such, this curbside pick-up service is available to USAA employees who are working from home, as well as those who continue to work from the company’s offices.
The success of this initiative is due in large part to the work of the Sodexo team supporting USAA. In just four days, Sodexo was able to modify its pre-pandemic plans for take-home meals to support this innovative solution.
“We are committed to supporting USAA employees and their families during this difficult period,” said Mark Spinelli, VP of operations for Sodexo Dining at USAA. “Within the first few hours, we received more than 275 orders. No matter where USAA employees are working, we are thrilled to provide fresh and nutritious meal options every day.”
This new curbside meal service is the latest offering by USAA to support its employees during the coronavirus pandemic. The company’s other efforts have included:
- Completed transition of nearly 100 percent of its workforce to work from home.
- Providing up to three weeks of emergency pay for Covid-19 related illness, childcare issues or situations where employees are unable to work from home.
- Ensuring USAA medical plan participants who use network providers won’t have to pay out-of-pocket expenses for testing, diagnosis and prescribed medication for Covid-19.
- Waiving deductibles and coinsurance for Covid-19 doctor visits and treatments.
Separately, USAA and The USAA Foundation Inc. have donated $4.4 million to military-focused nonprofits, local food banks, blood donation centers, shelters and other organizations like the Texas BioMed Research Institute to support America’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
More information about all the ways USAA is helping employees, members and our communities is available at www.usaa.com/coronavirus.
The USAA family of companies provides insurance, banking, investments, retirement products and advice to 13 million current and former members of the U.S. military and their families. Founded in 1922, USAA is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas.
Sodexo North America is part of a global, Fortune 500 company with a presence in 67 countries. Sodexo is a provider of integrated food, facilities management and other services that enhance organizational performance, contribute to local communities and improve quality of life for millions of customers in corporate, education, healthcare, senior living, sports and leisure, government and other environments daily. The company employs 160,000 people at 13,500 sites in all 50 U.S. states and Canada, and indirectly supports tens of thousands of additional jobs through its annual purchases of $17 billion in goods and services from small to large businesses.
Symphony RetailAI launches Covid-19 Insights Hub
Dallas, Texas-based Symphony RetailAI, a global provider of integrated AI-enabled marketing, merchandising and supply chain solutions for FMCG retailers and CPG manufacturers, has launched the Symphony RetailAI Hub: Covid-19 Insights, a web portal that contains must-read insights, news and big ideas for the FMCG retailer and CPG manufacturer communities.
Symphony RetailAI’s hub will assist the retailer and CPG community in their day-to-day pursuits to serve the needs of shoppers around the globe.
The Symphony RetailAI Hub: Covid-19 Insights contains these and other actionable insights:
- Data-driven insights covering consumer behavioral trends, merchandising challenges and implications for forecasting and supply chain;
- Industry news highlighting how retailers are innovating and responding to the current crisis;
- Quick facts and figures; and
- Big ideas, tales from the field and creative strategies for dealing with the crisis.
“The global impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is reaching every aspect of retail, and information is changing hourly,” said Kevin Sterneckert, CMO, Symphony RetailAI. “We have created the Symphony RetailAI Hub: Covid-19 Insights to communicate actionable insights for retail and CPG companies. This hub is available today and offers recommendations, areas of specific focus and opportunities where companies can serve their consumers better. It’s critical that retailers serve the needs of their global FMCG customers while, at the same time, not losing sight of how today’s trends impact future strategy and tactics.”
