Meijer, Flashfood divert food waste

Meijer reports it has diverted 10 million pounds of food waste through its partnership with Toronto-based Flashfood. 

Since the expansion of the Flashfood app across Meijer stores in 2021, the company says customers have purchased 10 million pounds of food on the mobile app, which offers discounts on groceries nearing their sell-by dates. 

RELATED: Flashfood presents food waste impact report at ReFED 2023 

“Food is at the core of what we do, and we’re always looking for ways to cut down on landfill use because it’s the right thing to do for our customers and communities,” says Erik Petrovskis, director of environmental compliance and sustainability at Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Meijer. “Our partnership with Flashfood has already grown beyond our expectations, but this record achievement has us looking forward to the program’s future growth.” 

Meijer launched Flashfood as a pilot program at a handful of its supercenters in Metro Detroit in 2019. After reducing in-store food waste by 10 percent, Meijer expanded the offering to all its stores in 2021. Today, 264 Meijer stores offer the program, including all the retailer’s supercenters and grocery stores. 

Through the Flashfood app, customers purchase food nearing its sell-by date, including meat, produce, seafood, dairy and bakery products, at up to 50 percent off. According to Flashfood data, the most-purchased item from Meijer via Flashfood is the retailer’s produce box filled with various fruits and vegetables. Other top items purchased via the app are ground beef and Atlantic salmon. 

“We’ve seen amazing momentum in our partnership with Meijer, particularly after expanding availability of the app across all stores, and we’re thrilled to celebrate them as our first U.S. retailer to hit this major milestone,” says Brody Slacer, head of partner growth at Flashfood. “Working with Meijer has given thousands of shoppers access to affordable, high-quality groceries while reducing the impact of retail food waste.”