FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA CONTACT: CHELSEY SMITH, 865-524-8888
VIC Rebrands as Aisle Ahead, Inc. and Acquires BigOven®Acquisition combines VIC’s innovative, full-featured grocery retail solution with BigOven®popular recipe app for home cooks
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. and SEATTLE, Wash. (Jan. 25, 2018)—Today Steve Siopsis, President and CEO of VIC LLC, announces the acquisition of BigOven® and rebranding of VIC to form Aisle Ahead, Inc. Aisle Ahead is the first end-to-end digital solution for the grocery industry, connecting millions of shoppers with grocers, from decision through checkout and beyond. The newly formed company offers a full-suite of software solutions, data, and API’s that help grocers better understand customers, reach more shoppers, improve margins, and seize new multi-channel sales opportunities, allowing the combined company to complete the “last mile” between home cooks and retail.
“Aisle Ahead’s portfolio unites VIC’s powerful and flexible digital consumer engagement and ecommerce platform with BigOven’s massive recipe database, knowledge of home cooks, personalization infrastructure, blogger network, API, and social network,” said Siopsis. “The combination allows us to deliver ideal solutions for any grocer wishing to compete effectively, after hearing the wake up call from Amazon and Whole Foods.”
With the transaction, BigOven’s Founder and CEO, Steve Murch, joins Aisle Ahead’s board of directors. “BigOven is delighted to be part of Aisle Ahead. Millions of home cooks rely on BigOven to find recipes, plan meals, and create grocery lists,” said Murch. “Aisle Ahead has the right tools to make BigOven even better.” The combination uniquely positions the combined company to complete the buyer journey, serving cooks from their point of inspiration to organizing solutions, to finding the right ingredients at the right price.
Established in 2004, the BigOven® (www.bigoven.com) mission is to get home cooks organized and inspired, both in the kitchen and on-the-go. Its award-winning free app for iOS and Android each rank 4.5/5 stars and has been downloaded over 13 million times. The app offers innovative features such as “Use Up Leftovers”and has a food blogger network of over 4,000 food bloggers. BigOven® also powers the industry-leading Smart Kitchen API (api2.bigoven.com)that allows third parties to add recipe and grocery list solutions to their apps and websites, which is in use by major consumer software and electronics companies. No changes are planned for any of these features or points of service.
