Cox's Foodarama

OVERVIEW

Owned and operated by Carrol Cox since the first store opened in Houston in 1973, Cox’s Foodarama, Inc. is an independent grocery chain with 18 locations in Houston and San Antonio, Texas. Operating under the Foodarama and La Fiesta banners, Cox’s Foodarama is known as “The Store That Saves You More.” Loyal customers appreciate a strong neighborhood focus, top-quality produce and meat, valuable in-store coupons, unmatched store cleanliness, easy-to-find products, and everyday low prices.

SOLUTION

To meet the challenge, Cox’s Foodarama turned to TRUNO, Retail Technology Solutions for its ISS45 POS software and retail-hardened Fujitsu TeamPOS terminals. Within five short months, Cox’s Foodarama implemented ISS45 POS software and Fujitsu TeamPOS terminals at all checkout counters and customer service centers in its 18 stores.

Cox’s Foodarama first rolled out the new software and terminals to its 10 Foodarama stores located in Houston, and then focused on its eight La Fiesta stores located in San Antonio, switching over one to two stores per week until the project was completed. In total, Cox’s Foodarama installed more than 160 terminals across 18 stores.

Bobby Lopez, operations supervisor of Cox’s Foodarama, described how Cox’s Foodarama has moved forward from an “antiquated” POS environment.

“Now we feel like we’ve kept up with the times,” he said. “We felt the courtesy booth was antiquated – there were no registers. Now we have register records of all transactions. Before, we were recording them in an outdated mode. The project pulls the whole company into one format where all the stores are using the same process – everything is standardized and systematic now.”

RESULTS

As part of the implementation, Cox’s Foodarama completely switched its POS software platform over to ISS45, in addition to replacing all POS hardware with Fujitsu TeamPOS dual-screen terminals. Bobby Lopez, operations supervisor of Cox’s Foodarama, credited the new ISS45 POS software and TeamPOS terminals with increasing scanning speed by 100 percent. He added that other benefits being leveraged across all 18 Cox’s Foodarama locations include:

• System stability and reliability that have downtime problems associated with the previous POS system.
• Tight integration of ISS45 software with custom store balancing greatly eases the entry of daily and weekly POS reports, resulting in pinpointed accountability across the organization.
• Printed records of all courtesy booth transactions – including money orders, bill payments, check cashing services and Western Union orders – which allow customer disputes and questions to be quickly researched and resolved.
• Hand ledgers have been replaced with integrated spreadsheets that are automatically populated with totals.
• Courtesy booth customers can now use debit cards to perform certain transactions, enabling Cox’s Foodarama to offer shoppers greater convenience.

Kim Amador, Cox Foodarama office manager, said that employees and customers have both reacted positively to the new POS system. Employees appreciate the ease of use and training associated with the StoreNext platform, while customers compliment the attractive terminals and how quickly and easily the store can now handle their checks and card payments. “We were impressed by the demonstrations and training TRUNO did for store managers and supervisors. We are very comfortable with TRUNO and their services.”