A self-proclaimed member of the “Clean Your Plate Club,” Teri Rislov says throwing away food bothers her at her core. As the Sales Operations Manager for Distressed Foods at Conagra, that means Teri is always thinking of creative and out-of-the-box ways to keep their inventory out of landfills. While it sometimes keeps her up at night, it’s what she loves most about her job.
Since implementing Spoiler Alert in 2024, Teri has had new tools and functionality to not only keep food out of landfills, but also to streamline her processes, work more efficiently, and see a 20% improvement on cost recovery, a core KPI. We talked with Teri to learn more about how she uses Spoiler Alert, and how our platform has helped evolve how Conagra evaluates distressed and excess inventory as part of their overall business strategy.
20 Years of Distressed Inventory
As a 20-year veteran of the industry, Teri says she didn’t expect this to be her lifelong career, but she quickly fell in love with the people she worked with and never looked back. With that much experience, Teri understands the challenges when it comes to excess food.
“Every situation is different, so it takes some expertise of knowing the ins and outs of the secondary market to predict how certain items will perform,” says Teri. “But it also continuously takes a willingness to learn and pivot, and make informed decisions based on data.”
Reporting Data to Make Better, Faster Decisions
To help her and her team make smarter, faster decisions, Teri relies on Spoiler Alert’s post-sale analytics reporting tools, including Remaining Shelf Life Reporting and Leftover Reporting. “Before Spoiler Alert, I only had standard reports of what was sold and at what price,” says Teri. “Now, I’m able to communicate internally with our sales, brands, and finance teams much faster, and with more accurate and data-driven responses.”
Teri meets regularly with the sales, brand, finance, and other teams at Conagra for “DDD” (Distress, Donate, Destroy) calls, where they collaborate to report at-risk inventory to key decision makers. Spoiler Alert has given them more visibility into that inventory.
“I’m able to provide the teams with actual performance data on similar items, or even the same item, along with expected cost recovery and sell-through rates, which allows us all to make faster, more informed decisions,” says Teri.
Improved KPIs Leading to Evolution
“We started using Spoiler Alert not to change our KPIs, but to improve them,” says Teri. However, since implementing the platform, Teri says they’ve been able to use tools like reporting to help evolve how they track KPIs, looking at not just the how, but the why as well.
“If I said cost-recovery wasn’t our most important metric, I’d be lying,” says Teri. After a year of using Spoiler Alert, Conagra has seen a 20% improvement in cost recovery. More impressively, they’ve also seen significant reductions on inventory donations and destructions.
More broadly, Teri says her goals also include pushing product upstream, and taking inventory not just out of landfills, but moving them from donation into secondary sales, or from secondary sales into standard markets. “We’ve also seen strong reductions in our overall donations and destructions, which, taking food out of landfills and putting it where it should be, into mouths and hungry tummies, is what it’s all about!”
Beyond Reporting
Beyond the reporting tools that Teri uses to help make data-driven decisions, Spoiler Alert’s other features also make her job easier and more efficient.
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Working on a bi-weekly cycle, Teri uploads her inventory spreadsheet on Mondays, sets a deadline for bids on Wednesdays, and awards final bids by Fridays. While she focuses on reporting and administrative tasks in her non-bidding weeks, Teri says the same process that used to take her hours now maybe takes her minutes.
“Before Spoiler Alert, we were using an internal system that was very similar, and one I helped to develop and design. At first, I was a bit hesitant to switch. I knew my system, knew the functionality, and I was fearful of losing visibility into the inventory,” says Teri.
Now, Teri describes Spoiler Alert as a “one-stop shop” for distressed inventory, and uses it not only to source and award bids, but to negotiate and communicate with her buyers.
“I think one thing people wouldn’t necessarily know is how customizable Spoiler Alert truly is,” says Teri. “The processes can be used and developed to meet any team’s specific goals, and there’s not just one way to do things in the platform. I’m always looking at new and different ways I can use it to benefit my customers and Conagra.”
The Only Constant Is Change
As anyone working in distressed inventory knows, the only constant is change. Teri embraces that reality, and continuously questions how she can better use her expertise and knowledge in her work.
“Spoiler Alert allows me to do my job better,” she says. “It has given me the time to be more strategic. I am able to be more proactive and less reactive. And I can back up my opinions with real data, giving myself an additional layer of credibility."
If you’d like to find out more about how Spoiler Alert can improve your decision-making around distressed and excess inventory, get in touch with our team today.
