Farm Stores Rolls Out New, Innovative Program to Enhance Customer and Franchisee Experiences

In the food and grocery industry, it can be difficult to stand out. But Farm Stores—a hybrid of your neighborhood grocery store, bakery and quick-service restaurant—has a long history of offering services that can’t be found anywhere else.

The brand’s drive-thru model is completely unique. Farm Stores is the only franchise that gives customers the ability to purchase fresh products and prepared food without ever leaving their car. Consumers have been relying on the brand’s 60 plus locations across Florida to provide their groceries for more than 60 years. And now, Farm Stores is giving its fans another reason to visit its locations: Farm Stores 4.0.

“In true Farm Stores tradition, we’re driving innovation efforts across the entire grocery shopping industry. This new program—Farm Stores 4.0—is something that’s never been done before. By introducing new technology to our franchise system and boosting our operational efficiency, we’re able to provide an even better experience for our customers and local business owners,” said Maurice Bared, Farm Stores’ COO.

Farm Stores 4.0 is a three-part experience. The first part revolves around the inner workings of the store. The brand’s locations are being equipped with high speed ovens that improve efficiency by over 50-percent, as well as top of the line walk-in freezers. By eliminating the possibility of spoilage and speeding up the time it takes to prepare fresh food, these new appliances improve Farm Stores’ standards and quality system-wide.

The brand is also adding a freshly squeezed orange juice service to its list of popular services. When customers drive up to their local Farm Stores, they’re able to have freshly squeezed, made-to-order orange juice delivered to their car within one minute. The juice is available in both quarts and 16 ounce glasses.

“It’s unheard of to be able to drive up somewhere, hit a button and get a glass of freshly squeezed OJ. The same goes for our freshly baked bread—I don’t know of any other grocery store where you can have bread baked, wrapped and delivered to your car within five minutes,” said Bared. “It’s services like these that continue to separate us from other major grocery chains in the industry.”

The second part of the new Farm Stores 4.0 experience centers on technological innovation. The brand is rolling out a new cloud-based POS system that’s integrated with a mobile app. The app is store-centric, meaning customers are able to search through a specific stores’ inventory before placing an order. Customers will also be able to place their orders online before picking them up at their neighborhood Farm Stores, or even have their orders delivered to them. Lastly, the brand is giving the outside of its locations an enhanced and upgraded look.

Farm Stores 4.0 is just starting to hit the brand’s locations—a handful of stores are currently utilizing the new technology, with two more stores set to launch the program this summer. Going forward, the brand expects that this model will add more revenue to its franchisees’ bottom lines.

“This program isn’t just advantageous for our consumers—it’s also beneficial for our business owners. By utilizing the latest technology that’s designed specifically for the Farm Stores brand, they’re able to tap into a new group of consumers,” said Bared. “Farm Stores 4.0 is going to help franchisees grow their businesses, ultimately fueling the brand’s future expansion efforts.”