April 30, 2014Common Market Picks Progress to Get Farm Fresh Food to the City Socially conscious food distributor uses cloud-based solution to connect farms with urban hospitals, schools
BEDFORD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Progress (NASDAQ: PRGS) today announced that socially conscious food distributor Common Market, has deployed software built on the Progress OpenEdge application development and SaaS platform to help urban communities in the Mid-Atlantic region more easily obtain healthy, fresh produce from local farmers. By automating its entire operation, Common Market has made a significant impact on the local farm-to-city problem, growing its business 20-fold over six years to serve 200 customers through its work with 75 local farmers.
As the gap between the farm and the consumer has widened, it has impacted some of the most vulnerable communities. In Philadelphia, some residents lack access to enough nutritious food to maintain a healthy lifestyle. According to a survey, over 22% of the citys residents are classified as food insecure the highest rate in the entire state of Pennsylvania. This lack of access in the region inspired Tatiana Garcia-Granados and her husband to found Common Market in 2008. The company provides schools, hospitals, universities, grocery stores and workplaces with fresh produce grown by the regions sustainable farmers.
Initially, Common Market was able to manage its operations using QuickBooks. However, as it grew, Common Market needed more scalable and automated tools. They began working with Philadelphia-based software provider and Progress partner, Integrated Management Solutions, to implement its Food Connex Cloud Food Management System. The cloud-based solution utilizes the Progress OpenEdge product to allow Common Market to work in real-time with high levels of transparency and traceability. In addition, it does not require on-site IT support or hardware, enabling the company to keep costs low, while easily integrating with the existing accounting system.
Common Market now relies on Food Connex Cloud for its entire operations, from purchasing, pricing, and invoicing to inventory management and real-time sales reporting. Powered by Progress, Food Connex Cloud helped Common Market make their vision of getting food from the farm to the wholesale customer efficient and cost-effective, creating a niche for itself in the good food economy - providing food that is healthy for the body, green for the planet, fair for the worker and affordable for everyone.
Executive Quotes:
Tatiana Garcia-Grandos, CEO at Common Market, said, Food Connex Cloud has helped us achieve our vision of getting food from the farm to the wholesale customer efficiently and cost-effectively - with just one order, one delivery and one bill. We are able to identify the food source throughout the process of distribution so that our customers know exactly what they are getting and from where. We provide our farmers name and location on each case of food, as well as on each invoice so our customers can be confident that they are getting the freshest local produce available.
Paul Hernandez-Cuebas, president of Integrated Management Solutions, said, Our marketplace cant support more expensive databases. The OpenEdge application provides us with a lower cost of ownership, high reliability and lower maintenance costs, making it a great fit for our industry.
John Goodson, chief product officer at Progress, said, Common Market is a prime example of how the cloud and application development technology can have a real, positive impact in local communities. The automation capabilities of the OpenEdge product and the larger Progress Pacific platform have enabled Common Market to grow at an average rate of 57% over six years, and more importantly, allowed them to serve a group in need. Were proud to be a long-standing partner with Integrated Management Solutions and to support the good work of Common Market.
Additional Resources:
Full Common Market case study
Progress Corporate Blog
Progress App Dev Blog
Follow conversation about Progress OpenEdge at #OpenEdge
Follow conversation about Progress Pacific at #PRGSPacific and #PaaS
Follow Progress on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google
About Common Market
Common Market is a mission-driven distributor of local foods to the Mid-Atlantic region. Its mission is to strengthen regional farms while making the local bounty accessible to communities and the institutions that serve them. The company provides the infrastructure to connect public and private schools, hospitals, universities, grocery stores and workplaces to good food grown by the regions sustainable farmers. Find out more at http://www.commonmarketphila.org.
About Integrated Management Solutions
Headquartered in suburban Philadelphia, the Integrated Management Solutions Food Connex team brings over 100 years of management experience in the food distribution industry and over 20 years in software development. The company provides no-nonsense yet innovative, food software solutions and support services to processors and distributors of all sizes and shapes. Integrated Management Solutions Food Connex customers, located all over the United States, range from full-line distributors to distributors and processors who specialize in all types of meat, poultry, seafood, produce, dairy, grocery and specialty items. For more, please visit: www.foodconnex.com.
About Progress Software Corporation
Progress Software Corporation (NASDAQ: PRGS) is a global software company that simplifies the development, deployment and management of business applications on-premise or in the cloud, on any platform or device, to any data source, with enhanced performance, minimal IT complexity and low total cost of ownership. Progress Software can be reached at www.progress.com or 1-781-280-400
