Grocer Pod - Presented by AWG - Grocery, Marketing and more

Recently the AWG family of Brands expanded to include Wellwerks and Nüwerks. Vice President of AWG Brands Emily Detwiler, Step Change Innovations COO Joe Muttillo, and  senior dietitian and strategic advisor to the program Kristin Kirkpatrick, MS, RD, sat down with Sean Kosednar to discuss these two wellness brands new to AWG members.

Jon Cline, Owner, Chief Relationship Officer, & Doug Haworth, General Manager, from FMS Solutions , joined Sean Kosednar at the 2026 Innovation Showcase. The three talked about how FMS Solutions' accounting services and their Track-It solution can help AWG member retailers.

Andy Ruff , VP of Community Rewards at Loyalty Lane is back on Grocer Pod. He sat down with Sean Kosednar at the 2026 Innovation Showcase to discuss the company changing its name back to Loyalty Lane and all the ways AWG member retailers can leverage customer data through a loyalty program.

Carey Berger  from AWG's transition planning resources,  Crossroads , is back on Grocer Pod. He introduced Sean Kosednar to the newest member of the Crossroads team,  Darryl Miller ...a familiar face to AWG teammates and members. The three discuss Darryl's new role and how Crossroads can assist AWG member retailers navigate transition planning and everything it entails.

The AWG Family of Brands olive oil line has undergone recent assortment changes, including updated sizes and new items. What hasn't changed in nearly 20 years is the partnership with a single family-run manufacturing plant in Italy. Italian Imports President Jeff Bono joins Sean Kosednar on this week's Grocer Pod. They are discussing the farm-to-bottle journey of the Superior Selections by Best Ch...

Last month, AWG Family of Brands launched a new group of products. These items are designed to help AWG member retailers remain competitive and meet evolving shopper demands. AWG Brands Product Manager Tyler Olinger joins Sean Kosednar in the studio to discuss the success of previously launched items and introduce the new additions.

Vice President of AWG Brands Emily Detwiler joins Sean Kosednar in the studio on this week's Grocer Pod. They discuss all offerings from Pure Wonder by Best Choice™ and Paws Happy Life® just in time for National Pet Month in May.  

AWG Vice President of Meat and Seafood Heather DeLuca joins Sean Kosednar in the studio on this week's Grocer Pod. The two discuss how AWG member retailers can take advantage of meat's current popularity. 

Sean Kosednar is joined by Topco Associates LLC Senior Program Manager Jeff Vetstein and Senior Category Director, Indirect Spend Program Adam Binder at the 2026 Innovation Showcase. The three discuss various Not For Resale programs TopCo offers to AWG member retailers. 

Jason Skolak, General Manager for  Retail Data Systems , sits down with Sean Kosednar at the 2026 Innovation Showcase. The two discuss the benefits of electronic shelf labels. Jason also shares how AWG member retailers can save 10% on the cost of installing electronic shelf labels. 

In the first installment of episodes recorded at Innovation Showcase 2026, AWG SVP of Sales & Support James Neumann, AWG Advertising Manager Logan Bayless, and Breez AI Founder & CEO Tal Zlotnitsky sit down with Sean Kosednar to discuss the partnership between AWG and Breez AI. The four also talked about AWG launching SmartMeals™, Breez AI's new AI-powered meal planning tool, to AWG members.

Sean Kosednar was on the floor at the HGS Show talking with a variety of AWG teammates about show deals, trends, AWG Brands, Retail Marketing Network, the Hispanic category, and much more. 

January is Store Brands Month. To kick things off Sean Kosednar is joined by Cara Finger, AWG Brands Marketing Manager. The two talk about what AWG Brands is doing to celebrate.

AWG Brands' Marketing Success Kits include monthly recipes. Senior Marketing Specialist Rachel Frierdich is back on Grocer Pod to talk all about these recipes with host Sean Kosednar.

Larry Miller, Founder and CEO of  Smart Retail Solutions  joins Grocer Pod again this week. This time Larry and Sean discuss a new product called Scan-it® Mobile. Scan It is a cloud-based Whole-Store Ordering, Inventory Management, Shrink Loss Tracking, and Receiving System. If you are interested in learning more, contact  Larry Miller today.

AWG Executive Director, Deli, Bakery, & Food Service Michael Pursell and FMI Senior Manager, Industry Relations Andrew Brown join Sean Kosednar on this week's Grocer Pod. The three discuss how AWG member retailers can either add food service to their stores or enhance their current food service offerings. To read the white papers mentioned in today's episode, click  HERE  for Framework for Retail...

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and customers are looking for ways to save on their Thanksgiving spread. AWG Vice President, AWG Brands Emily Detwiler joins Sean Kosednar on this week's Grocer Pod to talk about all the Thanksgiving products offered by AWG Brands.

Since 2010, AWG has participated in 13 trips with Cruise Holidays. The 14th trip will take AWG members to Italy, Greece, and Croatia. Mark Comfort, co-owner of Cruise Holidays of Kansas City, Comfort Tours and Travel, joins Sean Kosednar on this week's Grocer Pod to talk about all the details about the 2026 AWG Member Trip . 

 Q4 2025 is fast approaching. That means AWG Brands Product Manager Tyler Olinger joined Sean Kosednar on this week's Grocer Pod to discuss the success of some previously launched items and introduce the additions to the AWG Brands lineup. Click here to learn more about the the new items being launched.

 In this episode of Grocer Pod, Ana Velazquez—Vice President at the Retail Learning Institute and IGA Coca-Cola Institute—returns to share how AWG University can help retailers cut costs and boost performance through effective staff training. Ana and host Sean Kosednar dive into the wide range of learning resources available, from onboarding to advanced retail strategies. If you're ready to elevat...

Recent changes allow states to apply for SNAP waivers modifying, state-by-state, what products will be SNAP eligible. AWG Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel Stephanie Becker is in the studio breaking down what this mean for AWG member retailers. Get the latest update of SNAP waivers for you state  HERE .

On this week's episode, we share a Learning Lounge presentation from AWG Innovation Showcase 2025. BRdata President John Abbene presents the ways AWG members can harness the power of AI to help their business.  

Digital media is crucial to AWG member retailers. Sean Kosednar sat down with ShoptoCook President and CEO John Thompson at the AWG Innovation Showcase in March. Thompson explained how AWG members can use digital media to not only get new customers but maintain their existing customers as well. 

AWG Brands Senior Marketing Specialist Rachel Frierdich joins Sean Kosednar in the studio to spotlight the power of AWG Brands' Marketing Success Kits. Each month, the AWG Brands team curates a fully themed, plug-and-play marketing plan designed to help AWG member retailers drive sales of private brand products. These kits make it easy to showcase the value and benefits of AWG Brands to customers—...

Sean Kosednar sat down with Founder and CEO of ProfitTrax Larry Miller at Innovation Showcase 2025 in March and learned all about how AWG members can harness the power of centralized data to improve their business.