SpartanNash Targets Reducing Food Waste With Flashfood
SpartanNash is piloting the Flashfood mobile app at five of its West Michigan Family Fare stores, allowing customers and community nonprofits to purchase food nearing its best-by date at up to 50% off. Items include meat, produce, seafood, deli and bakery products.
Flashfood is a Toronto-based mobile app that operates in more than 440 grocery locations throughout Canada, Michigan — through a partnership with Meijer and now Family Fare — and Wisconsin — with Hy-Vee.
“Customer convenience is key with the app – and so is our ability to reduce food waste while increasing access to lower-cost fresh foods,” said Matt Bennett, director, retail consumer innovation at SpartanNash. “Our aisles are filled with a variety of perishable foods, and as we get near the best-by dates, we want to make sure customers know about the savings available to them. This app is a win-win for customers and the environment.”
The five participating Family Fare stores testing the Flashfood app are located at:
- 2245 84th St., SW in Byron Center
- 1415 E. Fulton St. in Grand Rapids
- 2755 Lake Michigan Drive, NW in Grand Rapids
- 1225 Leonard, NE in Grand Rapids
- 6127 Kalamazoo Ave., SE in Kentwood
After downloading the Flashfood app, customers can select a participating Family Fare store, choose the items they want to purchase, pay for them directly on the app, and then pick up their items and confirm their order at the customer service counter. The purchased food will be stored at the front of each participating Family Fare in refrigerators and on storage racks until the customer picks them up.
“Reducing food waste and building stronger communities are both important parts of SpartanNash’s corporate responsibility commitment,” said Meredith Gremel, VP, corporate affairs and communications. “At SpartanNash, we are always looking for positive changes we can drive as we ‘take food places’ in more socially responsible, environmentally sustainable ways, and the Flashfood app is another way we can do that – all while benefiting our store guests and community partners.”
SpartanNash’s core businesses include distributing grocery products to independent and chain retailers, its corporate-owned retail stores, and U.S. military commissaries and exchanges, as well as fresh produce distribution and fresh food processing. No. 33 on Progressive Grocer’s 2019 Super 50 list of the top grocers in the United States, the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based company serves customer locations in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, Europe, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Bahrain, Djibouti and Egypt. SpartanNash also operates 156 supermarkets, mainly under the banners of Family Fare, Martin’s Super Markets, D&W Fresh Market, VG’s Grocery, and Dan’s Supermarket. Through its MDV military division, the company distributes grocery products to U.S. military commissaries.
