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Sedano’s teams with tech firm to launch ‘robotic supermarket’

Automated e-grocery fulfillment center to serve 14 stores

Russell Redman

October 3, 2018

3 Min Read
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Sedano’s Supermarkets and e-grocery automation startup Takeoff Technologies have partnered on what they call the “first robotic supermarket.”

In the next month, Takeoff plans to launch an automated, hyperlocal fulfillment center that will serve 14 Sedano’s stores in the Miami area and offer grocery pickup services to the Hispanic supermarket chain’s customers.

“We are excited to partner with Takeoff at the forefront of this groundbreaking robotics solution,” Javier Herran, chief marketing officer for Hialeah, Fla.-based Sedano’s, said in a statement.

The system works as follows: Customers place their grocery orders via a mobile app, and the orders are received and processed by Takeoff’s automated fulfillment facility, with the support of Sedano’s staff. Takeoff said the artificial intelligence-enabled robots can assemble grocery orders of up to 60 items in several minutes, a fraction of the speed — and cost — of current manual-picking options.

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“This model gives us the ability to leap into the e-grocery industry, develop a new level of employment opportunities and continue meeting the needs of our valued consumers by offering an affordable and convenient online service,” said Herran.

Overall, Sedano’s operates 34 stores in Florida’s Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Orange and Osceola counties.

“Sedano’s is a great partner for kicking off our solution, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to work alongside them in providing a turnkey e-grocery solution. We’re robotizing the supermarket, which has never been done before,” said Max Pedro, co-founder and president of Waltham, Mass.-based Takeoff. “This is the first of many deployments we are working on, and shoppers will soon see more local grocery stores with micro fulfillment centers.”

Takeoff said it’s currently working with five regional and national U.S. retail chains and plans to deploy several automated fulfillment sites next year. The company is targeting compact, vertical spaces to develop hyperlocal facilities that are an eighth the footprint of a typical supermarket.

Retailers use their existing e-commerce platform or Takeoff’s customized user-interface solution for taking online grocery orders. Acting as a hub, the automated fulfillment centers provide a lower cost-to-serve by covering the expense of order assembly and last-mile delivery/pickup.

“Grocers have been dipping their toes in e-grocery for years. Now it’s time to jump in with both feet,” said Jose Vicente Aguerrevere, co-founder and CEO of Takeoff. “Our automated, hyperlocal micro-fulfillment center enables grocers to thrive in e-grocery.”

For the robotics technology, Takeoff has an exclusive agreement with Knapp, a global provider of automated warehouse solutions. Sites for Takeoff’s fulfillment centers include urban and suburban locations. The company noted that retailers can use its solution to leverage underutilized real estate and turn existing stores into micro distribution centers.

In an August interview with grocery advisory firm Brick Meets Click, Aguerrevere and Pedro said Takeoff works with retailers to identify 8,000- to 10,000-square-foot spaces in existing locations for its automated fulfillment system, which includes robotics plus e-commerce, online inventory management, customer service, reporting and analytics functions. The robotics can pick up to 900 items per hour versus 60 items for manual in-store picking, and the system can process 3,500 online grocery orders weekly week per location for a two-hour service.

Takeoff added that former Ahold USA CEO James McCann, now CEO of McCann Investments and Advisory, has joined the Takeoff Advisory Board and is an investor. The tech firm also has closed Series B financing led by Forrestal Capital, bringing the total capital raised to $46 million.

At a recent roundtable discussion with Supermarket News, Jefferies analyst Christopher Mandeville noted that automation will play a bigger role for grocery retailers as they rationalize their online and brick-and-mortar operations.

“I think automated fulfillment from the store level, particularly when it comes to center store items, is going to be meaningfully important on a go-forward basis in order to cover all of your fixed and operating costs for the four walls,” Mandeville said.

About the Author

Russell Redman

Senior Editor
Supermarket News

Russell Redman has served as senior editor at Supermarket News since April 2018, his second tour with the publication. In his current role, he handles daily news coverage for the SN website and contributes news and features for the print magazine, as well as participates in special projects, podcasts and webinars and attends industry events. Russ joined SN from Racher Press Inc.’s Chain Drug Review and Mass Market Retailers magazines, where he served as desk/online editor for more than nine years, covering the food/drug/mass retail sector. 

Russell Redman’s more than 30 years of experience in journalism span a range of editorial manager, editor, reporter/writer and digital roles at a variety of publications and websites covering a breadth of industries, including retailing, pharmacy/health care, IT, digital home, financial technology, financial services, real estate/commercial property, pro audio/video and film. He started his career in 1989 as a local news reporter and editor, covering community news and politics in Long Island, N.Y. His background also includes an earlier stint at Supermarket News as center store editor and then financial editor in the mid-1990s. Russ holds a B.A. in journalism (minor in political science) from Hofstra University, where he also earned a certificate in digital/social media marketing in November 2016.

Russell Redman’s experience:

Supermarket News - Informa
Senior Editor 
April 2018 - present

Chain Drug Review/Mass Market Retailers - Racher Press
Desk/Online Editor 
Sept. 2008 - March 2018

CRN magazine - CMP Media
Managing Editor
May 2000 - June 2007

Bank Systems & Technology - Miller Freeman
Executive Editor/Managing Editor
Dec. 1996 - May 2000

Supermarket News - Fairchild Publications
Financial Editor/Associate Editor
April 1995 - Dec. 1996 

Shopping Centers Today Magazine - ICSC 
Desk Editor/Assistant Editor
Dec. 1992 - April 1995

Testa Communications
Assistant Editor/Contributing Editor (Music & Sound Retailer, Post, Producer, Sound & Communications and DJ Times magazines)
Jan. 1991 - Dec. 1992 

American Banker/Bond Buyer
Copy Editor
Oct. 1990 - Jan. 1991 

This Week newspaper - Chanry Communications
Reporter/Editor
May 1989 - July 1990

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