News
Shaheen Brothers Foodservice Goes with Ai2 Suite
Foodservice Distributor Takes Unified Approach to Order Entry
CHICAGO – January 28, 2010 – Software developer Ai2 today announced the addition of Shaheen Bros. Foodservice of Amesbury, MA to its customer family. Shaheen will implement a variety of solutions from the software provider, covering inside and outside people, as well as customers placing orders online.
“The suite approach is one of our greatest strengths as a company,” said Ray Walsh, Vice President of Sales for Ai2. “Shaheen’s salespeople, customers, managers and inside reps are all going to be on the same page at all times, with regularly updated information.” Walsh said Shaheen chose Ai2 for its versatility and commitment to the foodservice industry. “Our suite can save them time every day while being easy to use, and that’s part of why [Shaheen] went with us,” said Walsh.
Shaheen will use POET® for outside salespeople, City Desk for inside salespeople, and WebWriter for customers. POET, an acronym for Portable Order Entry Tool, is an application that allows a mobile sales representative to handle orders, returns, accounting information, margin management and other daily functions. The majority of Ai2’s clients are in foodservice, but Walsh stressed that POET is a powerful solution for all types of distributors. POET® runs on Windows on almost any notebook, netbook or pen tablet PC and is fully compatible with Windows 7. POET is a replacement for Ai2’s flagship notebook solution, OrderWriter. The other solutions Shaheen will implement are City Desk for its inside salespeople and WebWriter for its customers.
Shaheen Bros. had its beginnings in the 1920’s when Peter Shaheen purchased a horse and cart and began selling fresh produce in Lawrence, Massachusetts. The company added frozen foods in the late 1940’s and canned goods in the 1950’s. The need for additional space prompted a move to a larger location on Haverhill Street in Lawrence in 1963. In the early 1970’s Shaheen Bros. joined CODE, which is now known as UNIPRO. This is a group of independent foodservice distributors who, by combining their purchasing power, have remained competitive with larger national distributors. UNIPRO has now grown to do over $34 billion per year in sales. The move to the current Amesbury location took place in January of 1989. Shaheen Bros. territory stretches along the coast from southern Maine to Boston, west to Worcester and north to the lakes region of New Hampshire. For more on Shaheen Brothers, visit www.shaheenbros.com.
Ai2 (formerly Access International) is a 24-year old software firm headquartered in downtown Chicago. Their applications are used by over 40,000 users each day to capture over 40 billion dollars in sales each year. Ai2 improves the order entry process for some of the nation’s largest distributors in foodservice, convenience store, grocery, beverage, hardware, medical, beauty and industrial supply. For more information about Ai2, visit www.ai2.com.
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Ai2 Media Contact
Ray Walsh
(800) 835-3200