There’s an app for groceries, too: students tour FreshDirect distribution center

A group of SUNY New Paltz business students got a first-hand look at the future of food retail at the Queens, N.Y. offices of FreshDirect, an online grocer serving the New York City region.

The trip included a tour of a distribution center and a lengthy Q & A with company leaders, including co-founders Jason Ackerman and Mike McInerny, who provided an overview of how the food industry is adapting to online retail, and what kind of logistical solutions FreshDirect has implemented to efficiently and accurately fill and deliver large numbers of wildly diverse grocery orders.

Many students who made the trip from New Paltz saw it not only as a learning opportunity, but as a chance to make contacts with prospective future employers.

“The visit to FreshDirect was a great networking and educational opportunity,” said Elizabeth Muzyka ’17 (Marketing). “The FreshDirect team was welcoming and offered great insight on what pursuing a career within the food industry may be like, and gave me a deeper understanding of some of the concepts we’ve talked about in class.”

This field experience is the fruit (awful pun intended) of a model, used widely by the School of Business, of partnering with regional start-ups, entrepreneurs and economic development organizations to support the growth of students and the local economy alike.

“The amount of effort our New Paltz Food Marketing partner, FreshDirect, put into hosting our students and turning the visit into a complete learning experience was incredible,” said Russell Zwanka, lecturer in food marketing. “This is what true partnership looks like – businesses showing our students how principles are being applied in the real world, and looking at our students as potential hires as they graduate. We cannot express enough thanks to the FreshDirect leadership team for their hospitality.”

Visit the School of Business online to learn more about their programs, and while you’re there, read about the growing suite of courses in Food Marketing at New Paltz.