‘Flashfood’ to Reduce Waste at Meijer With Discounted Food

Grocery stores selling food near its sell-by date for a discount is nothing new, but Meijer is streamlining the process across the Midwest by utilizing a new app after a successful test run at four of its stores.

Yesterday, Meijer announced that they will be using the Flashfood app at all of its stores.

Flashfood is a Canadian-based company that helps grocery stores sell food that's close to its sell-by date.

HOW IT WORKS

• Select a Meijer store from the Flashfood app.
• Choose food to purchase at up to 50 percent off.
• Pay for it on the app.
• Go to Meijer customer service to confirm order and pick up food.
• Food will be stored in a refrigerator or storage rack in the front of the store.

Flashfood was first used at Meijer last fall. Four Meijer locations were included in the pilot program including the Brighton, Waterford, Commerce and Howell locations. The pilot program saw over 1,000 users take part and reduced waste by more than 10 percent which Meijer says "diverted thousands of pounds of food from landfills."

The expansion of Flashfood into all 246 Meijer stores will begin in February with all stores using the app by the end of the year.