Meijer On Track to Complete Flashfood Rollout to All Stores After Delay

After COVID-19 caused delays in rolling out Flashfood to all its stores across the Midwest in 2020, Meijer is on track to complete implementation of the food waste reduction program this year.

To help cut down on in-store food waste, the program allows customers to purchase food nearing its sell-by date—including meat, produce, seafood, deli and bakery products—at up to 50% off on the Flashfood app for pickup at Meijer stores.

"Minimizing in-store food waste is the right thing to do for our communities and our customers," said Don Sanderson, group VP of foods for Meijer. "We're pleased to expand our relationship with Flashfood throughout our footprint and offer this opportunity to all our customers."

Photograph courtesy of Meijer

The Grand Rapids, Mich.-based retailer, which has 256 supercenters and grocery stores throughout Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Wisconsin, launched the app-based pilot program in November 2019 at a handful of stores in metro Detroit. After reducing in-store food waste by 10%, Meijer decided to expand the offering to all its stores across the Midwest. About 240 supercenters currently offer Flashfood.

This is the latest effort in the retailer's commitment to sustainability. Meijer has a Food Rescue program that donated 13.2 million pounds of food in 2020 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.