Washington, D.C. – The National Grocers Association Foundation (NGAF) has wrapped up the POS Nutrition Incentive Workgroup, successfully creating a core functionality document for efficient and accurate nutrition incentive POS solutions. This workgroup was brought together in partnership with the Nutrition Incentive Hub and featured representatives from 23 different non-profits and government agencies.
Over the course of several months, these representatives worked to reach consensus on the common functionality needed in POS systems to offer nutrition incentive solutions. Nutrition incentives allow grocers to provide extra food dollars to low-income shoppers so they may purchase more fruits and vegetables.
Peter Relich, an expert in standard development in the electronic payments community (who also was the chief architect of today’s EBT system), facilitated the group and was impressed with the efficiency and enthusiasm of all involved. “The workgroup was actively engaged in creating a set of requirements that will facilitate the implementation of future programs,” Relich said. “The effort and dedication of the workgroup resulted in the development of a concise and complete requirements document in a short period of time.”
“The big takeaway from all of this is that 23 people came together on behalf of the entire nutrition incentive community and worked together to create something that everyone has agreed to abide by if POS developers will build these solutions,” added Ted Mason, retail technology consultant for NGAF Technical Assistance Center which serves as the grocer resource for nutrition incentives.
Thus far, several POS developers, dealers, and manufacturers have supported the document, including DUMAC/RORC, ECRS, Interstate POS, IT Retail, LOC, NRS, POS-Plus, S4 Solutions, Shift4/POSTEC, Truno Retail Technology Solutions.
The NGAF encourages all POS developers and manufacturers to use this document as a starting point for their solution to enable their retailers across the country to take advantage of these beneficial programs.
About NGA Foundation
The NGA Foundation is the 501(c)3 nonprofit arm of the National Grocers Association. The Foundation provides independent retailers with tools to develop more effective recruiting programs, enhance retention efforts and bolster professional leadership development opportunities for employers. For more information, visit www.ngafoundation.org.
About the Nutrition Incentive Hub
The Nutrition Incentive Hub is a coalition of partners, created by the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program National Training, Technical Assistance, Evaluation and Information Center (GusNIP NTAE Center), that supports nutrition incentive projects, including SNAP incentives, and produce prescription projects. The GusNIP NTAE Center is led by the Gretchen Swanson Center for Nutrition. In partnership with Fair Food Network, they assembled the Nutrition Incentive Hub, a coalition of evaluators, researchers, practitioners, and grocery and farmers market experts from across the country dedicated to strengthening and uniting the best thinking in the field to increase access to affordable, healthy food for those who need it most. The GusNIP NTAE Center is funded through a cooperative agreement and supported by Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program grant 2019-70030-30415/project accession 1020863 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Learn more at https://www.nutritionincentivehub.org.
About NGA
Washington, D.C.-based NGA is the national trade association representing the retail and wholesale community grocers that comprise the independent sector of the food distribution industry. An independent retailer is a privately owned or controlled food retail company operating a variety of formats. The independent grocery sector is accountable for about 1.2 percent of the nation’s overall economy and is responsible for generating more than $250 billion in sales, 1.1 million jobs, $39 billion in wages and $36 billion in taxes. NGA members include retail and wholesale grocers located in every congressional district across the country, as well as state grocers’ associations, manufacturers and service suppliers. For more information about NGA, visit www.nationalgrocers.org.
