KANSAS CITY, MO – (July 1, 2023) – Jesse Himango has been named chief operating officer of Empower Fresh Co., headquartered in Kansas City, MO. Founded in January 2023, Empower Fresh continued the development started in 2018 of a revolutionary new web-based software solution that modernizes North American independent grocers’ produce departments.
Himango’s Empower Fresh position is announced by Anthony Totta, the firm’s president and chief visionary officer; Mike Nicometo, CEO; and Tim Vaux, chief finance officer.
For independent retail operations – from produce buyers’ offices to the backroom cooler and display floor – Empower Fresh answers the inherent advantages of the conglomerate grocery chain competition.
Himango said both produce directors and managers need this software, adding that he is surprised it took so long for such technology to reach the fresh industry sector.
“Jesse is a highly competent, passionate FreshXpert who adds more octane to the Empower Fresh solution,” Totta said. “His interests and strong background are perfect for our oncoming development at Empower Fresh. When he was a teenager, he not only worked various capacities within a grocery store, but as a hobby, he and his brother developed computer hardware and software. Those are the critical components of what we’re driving at Empower Fresh.”
Himango observes that, until now, all grocery technology was oriented to counting no-shrink cans, bottles, and boxes. “There was never any software for fresh departments to track costs, margins, shrink, information on competitors’ pricing, and even tools for ad writing and forecasting available for fresh departments.”
Other services made possible by the secure, proprietary software solution are the ability to input in-store new case costs, new sizes, and weights, whichfresh produce departments previously had to manually enter. “We take that off directors’ and managers’ plates. Managing produce becomes that much simpler!”
More broadly speaking, Himango adds that “Fresh technology is really coming on in recent years. Retailers cannot afford to fall behind technologically. If you are behind the curve, it will cost your business financially. This has been needed for a long time.”
Himango is a second-generation grocer. He clerked for Cub Foods whileattending college in Illinois in 2000-2003. He was a Cub produce department manager for 10 years before working his way up in the industry, with SpartanNash and Gordy’s Markets, before six years as senior category manager for Fresh Thyme Markets.
Himango loves the produce departments because, uniquely within a grocery store, “the produce rack is still an art form. Hands are critical to building beautiful displays, and product experience and creative perception are essential for product quality. Not everything has a shelf code.” Produce departments are exciting because they still center on “touch, feel and impulse.”
Empower Fresh was conceived and founded by industry consultant Totta, who observed disadvantages independent retailers face in competing with broad-based data mining at the fingertips of well-staffed, large corporate produce operations.
For more information, see http://empowerfresh.com/.
The Empower Fresh word mark and logos are registered trademarks owned by the Empower Fresh Company.
Empower Fresh Company is the developer of a cloud-based software solution that modernizes the produce department of independent grocers in North America. Their proprietary software solution delivers real time actionable intel that empowers fresh produce teams to make strategic business critical daily decisions impacting fresh produce department performance.
