Today, more than 100 years after Clarence Saunders opened the first “self-service” grocery store in Memphis, Tennessee, the fundamentals of the supermarket are still the same as envisioned by Mr. Saunders--convenience, options, and choice.

At the turn of the 20th century, modern refrigeration was reshaping the world as we know it. The ability to process, transport, store, and merchandise fresh meat, dairy, and produce was being transformed by the “modern” convenience of commercial refrigeration.

The 1930’s would bring modern refrigeration into the grocery stores with the first systems designed specifically for stores, the first self-service frozen food display case, and the first self-service cases for meat, dairy, and produce.

Although there have been changes in refrigeration technology, population, demographics, and customer appetites and tastes, there has always been the need to service and replace the equipment used to refrigerate and display our food.

But strangely, the ability to identify parts, get pricing, and determine lead time for the parts and service hasn’t fundamentally changed over the past 100 years. Because of these inefficiencies, stores now need to be sure the following questions are always asked:

• How much revenue is sacrificed while waiting for new parts without any idea of when parts will arrive?
• How much productivity has been lost tracking down suppliers and following up?
• How low is employee morale due to frustration?

The founders of SimplySourceful have over a combined 60 years of experience in analytics, commercial refrigeration, operations, and customer service. They have identified the pain points most commonly found in the procurement of even the most basic replacement parts.

SimplySourceful is founded on the principles of leveraging technology, analytics, best practices, and unrivaled customer experience to provide the most common replacement parts for the retail grocery industry. SIMPLE!