Associated Food Stores (AFS) has been honored with Instacart’s Wholesaler Partnership Excellence Award at the 2026 Independent Grocer Award Winners ceremony, held during the recent NGA Show.
The Salt Lake City-based wholesaler was recognized for its close collaboration with Instacart during the onboarding process and its hands-on approach in supporting member retailers transitioning to Storefront Pro and Storefront platforms.
The typical timeline for onboarding a retailer onto Instacart’s e-commerce platforms is one year. By taking a leadership role in managing the transition, AFS helped accelerate the process for its member grocers.
“We realize there were some challenges with the transition,” said Glen Keysaw, EVP of Value Chain at AFS. “However, now that we are past the initial onboarding, we are starting to see many wins that show we’re on a great path and have a modern commerce platform that our retailers can use to build solid e-commerce businesses off of.”
AFS has reported accelerated deployment of features across its member base since the holiday season, including digital coupons that can be redeemed in e-commerce stores, personalized and shoppable digital ad experiences, and digital ad scorecards that provide deeper insights into shopper engagement. Other capabilities now available to retailers include branded store apps, fulfillment options in supported areas, push notifications and business-to-business solutions.
“I want to personally thank our retailers, Paul Pugh, Thomas Horne, Kellar Sirstins and our partners at Instacart for helping to make this happen,” said Jason Sokol, VP of Marketing at AFS. “This project is a true reflection of what a 1AFS project can look like.
“It was a difficult lift for all of us, but we are on an incredibly exciting trajectory as we enter into 2026.”
AFS operates as a retailer-owned cooperative serving independent grocers throughout the Intermountain West. Member banners include Fresh Market, Lin’s Fresh Market, Macey’s, Dick’s Fresh Market and Dan’s Fresh Market.
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