GrubMarket is adding a new artificial intelligence (AI) use case to its operations, debuting a new tool to help food distributors cut through supply chain jargon.
The B2B ecommerce platform has upgraded GrubAssist, its AI assistant, so wholesalers and distributors can train it to recognize their company’s unique codes and terminology.
According to GrubMarket, this is crucial in an industry where unique naming conventions abound.
“One of the biggest challenges to widespread AI adoption in the food supply chain industry has been accommodating colloquial language used by employees and business terminology that inevitably varies from company to company,” said Genevieve Wang, GrubMarket’s chief software product officer, in a statement. “For instance, one company might utilize custom short codes in its product database, but, when using GrubAssist, users employ common, everyday language.”
How GrubMarket is using AI in GrubAssist’s enterprise dictionary
GrubMarket’s update — called AI Model Configuration and Enterprise Dictionary — is designed to bridge gaps in language and understanding.
The new feature lets businesses feed their unique jargon — such as codes, nicknames or product names — directly into GrubAssist. In practice, the AI “learns” these terms and maps them to the right data in an ERP (enterprise resource planning) system.
This creates “a way for our AI to dynamically understand and map the language used by employees of each specific company, enabling smarter and more accurate AI responses,” Wang explained.
In simpler terms, employees can ask questions in everyday language — such as “How many crates of apples do we have left?” — and GrubAssist translates that into the correct database query. Because GrubAssist AI now “knows” the context of each business’s terminology, it can pull up the right information quickly and respond in plain English.
GrubMarket says this helps food suppliers and distributors operate more smoothly in a fast-paced, high-volume environment. By sticking to the familiar lingo they’ve always used, employees can make quicker decisions with fewer errors, it says.
Where the new GrubMarket features will appear
The new feature, now available to all GrubAssist AI enterprise subscribers, integrates with major ERP and accounting platforms, including WholesaleWare (GrubMarket’s own cloud-based system), Famous, PICS, Thyme, Granite State Software and QuickBooks.
The company says data migration solutions are also available for other major systems.
According to GrubMarket, GrubAssist can be used via web or mobile, and supports both text-based chat and hands-free voice mode.
What GrubMarket does
GrubMarket, founded in 2014, connects farmers with consumers for home delivery. It also sells food to grocery retailers and restaurants. Walmart, Costco and Whole Foods are among its customers.
The online grocery seller and software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform says it now operates in all 50 U.S. states, plus parts of Canada, South America, Asia and Africa. It positions itself as a food technology firm focused on digitizing how food moves from farm to table.
According to Crunchbase, GrubMarket has raised at least $499.1 million from investors such as Tiger Global Management and BlackRock. In 2024, CNBC’s Disruptor 50 list valued GrubMarket at $3.5 billion.
GrubMarket’s expanding AI footprint
As part of its broader push to modernize food supply chain operations, GrubMarket has been steadily increasing its investments in AI.
In May 2024, the company acquired Butter for an undisclosed sum to boost its AI capabilities, with the goal of speeding up ecommerce and digital payments for smaller restaurants and grocers.
Around the same time, the company introduced AI Orders. The AI-powered tool automates order processing for food wholesalers and distributors.
Instead of manually handling orders that come in via phone, text, or email — often with vague or inconsistent details — AI Orders converts them into standardized digital orders and integrates them directly into a company’s ERP system. This reduces errors, speeds up processing and cuts labor costs while allowing sales reps to enter orders more easily, according to the company.
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