Where do food manufacturers and retailers use AI first?
Food manufacturers and retailers start where data comes together by hand: orders from retailer portals, prices and terms, sales by retailer, store checkouts. AKARA Solutions builds AI agents into these workflows, connected to merchandise management, ERP and point of sale. Your sales back office only reviews what stands out. AKARA has been developing its point-of-sale system for retail chains for more than 15 years.
Our services for food and retail
Every service tailored to food manufacturers, store chains and retailers, from the order to the checkout.
AnalysisWe map your current processes: how orders, prices and sales figures get into your system today from portals, lists and invoices.Examples
Examples: the path of an order from the retailer portal to the sales order; data sources: merchandise management, ERP, retailer portals, point of sale; time and errors per workflow, measured on your numbers
ConsultingWe recommend target processes with AI and define for each step what AI agents take over and where your experts sign off. For each use case, we calculate what it brings in margin and working time.Examples
Examples: target process for ordering, price maintenance and reporting per retailer; business case per use case, ranked by value; roadmap for plant, head office and stores
Implementation and integrationWe build AI agents into ordering, price maintenance and reporting, work with your real data and connect merchandise management, ERP, retailer portals and point of sale.Examples
Examples: orders from retailer portals as finished sales orders; sales by product and retailer at the push of a button; point-of-sale system with central management of prices and assortment
Operations and infrastructureWe run your applications and the systems they run on, from head office to the checkout in the store.Examples
Examples: operation, monitoring and maintenance, ongoing or until handover; checkouts that keep working without internet; model selection and cost control
Compliance and securityWe check point-of-sale obligations, data protection and the EU AI Act at every step. We provide what your audit needs.Examples
Examples: checkouts with a technical security device and export for tax audits; classification under the EU AI Act; access rights and data flows with your IT
TrainingIf you want, we train your sales back office, sales team and store managers alongside the project, on your own workflows and at our academy.Examples
Examples: live seminars at our AI Academy in German, also at your site; key users at head office and in stores; Claude training for business and development teams
How do orders from retailer portals get into the system without retyping?
An AI agent reads orders from retailer portals and retailer files and creates them as finished orders in your merchandise management or ERP system. Your sales back office only reviews what stands out. Electronic data interchange (EDI) covers only part of it: in 2024, 28.77 percent of the revenue of German food manufacturers with ten or more employees ran through EDI.
We already work with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, the successor to Navision, on behalf of a client.
Orders from retailer portalsOrder in the systemBack office reviewsFood manufacturers
Taking over orders from retailer portals
Orders from retailer portals and files land in your system as finished sales orders. Your back office reviews what stands out.
Prices and terms
How does AI check prices, terms and promotions?
The AI agent reconciles prices, promotions and invoices and flags discrepancies before they cost margin. Prices and amounts come from your database, never from the AI. Your finance team resolves the discrepancies the agent flags.
Terms and promotionsPrice check per productFinance approvesFood manufacturers
Checking prices and terms
The AI reconciles prices, promotions and invoices and flags discrepancies before they cost margin.
Sales by retailer
Which product still makes money with which retailer?
The AI agent merges sell-through, orders and invoices and shows, for each product and retailer, what sells and what costs money. Your sales team decides with the current week's numbers. For manufacturers every term counts, because German grocery retail is highly concentrated: in 2025, EDEKA, REWE, the Schwarz Group and ALDI together accounted for more than 90 percent of nationwide grocery retail sales.
How do retail chains manage checkout and assortment centrally?
With a point-of-sale system that manages prices and assortments centrally and keeps working in every store even without internet. AKARA Solutions has been developing such a system for retail chains for more than 15 years. The German bakery trade alone counted 8,659 businesses with around 35,000 branches at the end of 2025.
Store checkoutsClosing and discrepanciesHead office reviewsStore chains and retailers
Managing stores and checkouts
Manage prices and assortments centrally, review checkout closings, flag discrepancies. Every checkout keeps working, even if the internet goes down.
Checkouts, data protection, EU AI Act
What applies to checkouts, data protection and the EU AI Act?
Checkouts sign every transaction via a certified technical security device (TSE), mandatory in Germany since January 1, 2020. We set that up as well. Before building, AKARA Solutions agrees with you on where the AI runs and which contracts apply. The EU AI Act has largely applied since August 2, 2026, and the AI literacy obligation under Article 4 since February 2, 2025; the obligations for high-risk systems under Annex III apply from December 2, 2027.
Data sourcesMerchandise management, retailer portals, checkout: the AI only reads what you approve. What it reads is stated in the project description.
Data protectionWe configure where the AI runs and which contracts apply based on your requirements, and we define both before building.
Point-of-sale obligationsCheckouts sign every transaction via the technical security device and provide the export for the tax office audit. We set up both.
Running AI agents securely
How secure is an AI agent in our workflows?
Before launch, AKARA Solutions defines what an agent may do and which data from merchandise management, retailer portals and checkout it can access. We test whether it can be manipulated, for example through instructions someone slips into emails or documents. Every decision is logged, and your experts sign off where their judgment matters.
PermissionsBefore launch, we agree with you on what the agent may read and do.
Protection against manipulationWe test the agent against instructions someone slips into emails or documents.
LogEvery decision the agent makes is logged and remains traceable.
Code reviewWe review code that AI helps write like any other code.
Case study, retail and food
Point-of-sale system for a retail chain
Starting point
Point-of-sale systems from general retail know nothing about baking lists or store deliveries. In stores with a shaky connection, such as at train stations or in rural areas, a checkout outage means lost revenue.
Solution
A dedicated point-of-sale system with 13 services: prices and assortments controlled centrally, every checkout keeps working without a connection. Signing via the technical security device and export for the tax office audit are built in.
Result
In development and continuous operation for more than 15 years, safeguarded by more than 600 automated tests.
13Services
15+Years of development
600+automated tests
“I used to wait for phone calls or daily reports. Today I manage prices, assortments and staff centrally and have the numbers I need for real decisions.”
Maximilian Sparre Managing Director, Bäckerei Sparre (translated from German)Client testimonial: food manufacturer
“AKARA Solutions supports us from order reservations and production planning with a queue to ERP integration. The team understands how our business works and delivers solutions that hold up in everyday use.”
Sven Johannsen Managing Director, Meyn Hof KG (translated from German)
