(WWJ) Meijer is expanding their effort to reduce food waste with reduced prices.
Using the Flashfood app on their phones, Meijer customers can buy perishables approaching their sell date by as much as 50 percent off the regular price. Company officials say they were able to keep thousands of pounds of food out of landfills during the pilot program at four metro Detroit Meijer stores last fall. The program will expand to the rest of the Meijer chain starting next month.
This follows a test of the app that went well at a handful of metro Detroit supercenters that allows customers to purchase food nearing its best-buy date at a reduced price.
Using the app, customers can purchase close-dated fresh food items, including meat, produce, seafood, deli and bakery products, at up to 50 percent off, and then pick them up.
The purchased food will be stored in a refrigerator or storage rack located in the front of each of the participating Meijer stores until picked up by the customer.
“Food is at the core of what we do, and we are constantly looking at ways to minimize in-store waste because it’s the right thing to do for our communities and our customers,” said Don Sanderson, Group Vice President of Fresh for Meijer. “We are excited to work with Flashfood and learn how much food can be spared from landfills.”
Flashfood is a Canadian-based company that allows retailers to upload surplus close-dated foods to an app that are available for purchase. To use it, customers go to the app, select a Meijer store, choose the items they want to purchase and pay for them directly on the app. Then, they go in store to pick up their items and confirm their order with customer service.
“Bringing the Metro Detroit community the ability to buy such great food at huge discounts while reducing food waste is exciting. Meijer is a well-respected market leader focusing on innovation and it’s evident through our partnership. Both teams are thrilled about the impact we’re bringing to market in this pilot,” said Josh Domingues, Founder & CEO of Flashfood.
In addition to testing the Flashfood app, Meijer has a Food Rescue program that donated more than 10.6 million pounds of food in 2018 to local food banks. Meijer has also put food waste created during the manufacturing process of its foods to better use. For example, waste from Meijer dairy facilities in Tipp City, Ohio and Holland, Mich. are being turned into animal feed, and fresh food byproducts from Middlebury, Ind. and Lansing, Mich. are sent for anaerobic digestion and being turned into compost.
“Reducing food waste is an important goal at Meijer,” said Erik Petrovskis, Director of Environmental Compliance and Sustainability for Meijer. “There are creative solutions throughout a food’s life cycle that can reduce landfill use and production of greenhouse gases, and I’m pleased we’re looking at another in-store option that benefits our customers.”