Meijer Expands Program to Keep Food Out of Landfills

1/21/2020

Food purchased through the app is stored in a refrigerator or storage rack located in the front of the store until picked up by the customer

Meijer is kicking its sustainability efforts into high gear by rolling out the Flashfood app to all of its stores beginning in February. The program allows shoppers to purchase foods such as meat, produce, seafood, deli and bakery items nearing their sell-by dates at discounted prices.

The grocer began piloting Toronto-based Flashfood in four Metro Detroit stores less than three months ago and has seen in-store food waste decrease by more than 10% with its introduction.

"In just a few months, we diverted thousands of pounds of food from landfills," said Don Sanderson, group VP of fresh for Meijer. "Minimizing in-store food waste is the right thing to do for our communities and our customers. We're excited to expand upon these efforts and offer this opportunity to all our customers."

Meijer uploads surplus close-dated foods to the Flashfood app at up to a 50% discount for shoppers, who then go to the app, select a Meijer store, choose the items they want to purchase and pay directly. Customers pick up their items items in store and confirm their orders with customer service.

In 2019, Flashfood said that it had more than 825,000 app downloads, diverted 5 million pounds of food from landfills, and saved customers $10 million. The app operates in more than 420 grocery locations in Canada, Michigan and Wisconsin.

"Our team is really impressed with Meijer's pace, their exceptional ability to execute with us and their commitment to meaningfully reduce in-store food waste in their communities," said Josh Domingues, the founder and CEO of Flashfood. "Going from a pilot to the decision to roll out chain-wide in less than 3 months with Meijer is indicative of how significant our collective impact is for everyday Americans. I can't wait for more Meijer customers to have access to the Flashfood app, save money on their groceries and collectively reduce food waste in an innovative, fun way."

Meijer operates more than 240 supercenters and grocery stores throughout Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Wisconsin. The Grand Rapids, Mich.-based company is No. 7 on PG's 2019 Super 50 list of the top grocers in the United States.