Associated Food Stores received the Wholesaler Partnership Excellence Award at Instacart’s 2026 Independent Grocer Award Winners ceremony held during the recent National Grocers Association event.
The Salt Lake City-based wholesaler was recognized for its collaboration with Instacart throughout the onboarding process and hands-on approach to supporting the transition to Storefront Pro and Storefront platforms.
Onboarding a retailer onto Instacart’s e-commerce platforms typically takes up to a year per retailer. By taking a greater lead in the transition process, Associated Food Stores accelerated the timeline for its member retailers.
“We realize there were some challenges with the transition,” said Glen Keysaw, EVP of value chain at Associated Food Stores. “However, now that we are past the initial onboarding, we are starting to see many wins that show we’re on a great path and have a modern commerce platform that our retailers can use to build solid e-commerce businesses off of.”
Since the holidays, Associated Food Stores has seen accelerated deployment of features across all member retailers, including digital coupons with the ability to use coupons in e-commerce stores, personalized and shoppable digital ad experiences and digital ad scorecards providing better insights into how shoppers engage with ads.
Additional capabilities now available include store apps, fulfillment options in supported areas, push notifications and business-to-business solutions.
“I want to personally thank our retailers, Paul Pugh, Thomas Horne, Kellar Sirstins and our partners at Instacart for helping to make this happen,” said Jason Sokol, VP of marketing at Associated Food Stores. “This project is a true reflection of what a 1AFS project can look like. It was a difficult lift for all of us, but we are on an incredibly exciting trajectory as we enter into 2026.”
Associated Food Stores (AFS) operates as a retailer-owned cooperative serving independent grocers across the Intermountain West. Member banners include Fresh Market, Lin’s Fresh Market, Macey’s, Dick’s Fresh Market and Dan’s Fresh Market.
[RELATED: AFS Expands Instacart Solutions To Member Retailers, Banners]