Two teams of Bentley University sophomores placed second and third in the 2012 Price Chopper Ultimate Innovation Competition. The program challenges undergraduate and graduate college students to develop an original, creative, and innovative concept that would be relevant and meaningful to the northeast supermarket retailer.

In addition to a formal written proposal, each team made a formal presention at the end of April to senior company executives at Price Chopper’s headquarters in Schenectady, NY. Bentley was among six finalist teams from colleges and universities in the Price Chopper market area (Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont).

“What makes the awards all the more impressive is that all of the Bentley students were sophomores, competing against juniors and seniors from other schools,” says Bentley Professor of Operations Management Mark Davis, who coached the team with Jim Salsbury, Senior Lecturer in Operations Management.

Team members Rachael Dempsey, Sara Eldemery and Stephanie Filippetti took second place, receiving $5,000 for the project, “Methods to Increase Customer Value by Increasing Their Engagement with Price Chopper.” Third place team members Tomas Allen, Zachariah Brown, Conor Peal and Kenneth Ukaigwe received $3,000 for “Improving Employee Satisfaction at Price Chopper to Increase Customer Loyalty and Profits”

The competition challenges students to develop an original, creative and innovative concept that would be relevant and meaningful to Price Chopper in at least one of the following categories:

• Retail Store Operations
• Supply Chain/Distribution Management (Including Warehousing and Transportation)
• Merchandising/Marketing (Including Advertising or Public Relations)
• Human Resources (Including Training and Recruiting)

Proposals included associated costs, benefits to Price Chopper, a proposed timeline, and staffing requirements for implementation.