Stop & Shop expands food waste-reduction program

Stop & Shop is expanding its efforts to tackle food waste.

Through a partnership with digital marketplace Flashfood, which offers shoppers the opportunity to buy food that is heavily discounted and nearing its best-by date, Stop & Shop is increasing the program to include 34 of its Massachusetts stores and 21 of its Rhode Island locations, the grocery retailer announced on Tuesday.

“We know that value and variety are important to our customers, and like Stop & Shop, many of our Massachusetts shoppers are focused on helping to reduce our carbon footprint,” said Holland Ricker, regional VP of operations for Stop & Shop, in a statement. “We’re proud of this recent expansion of Flashfood to our Massachusetts customers, and hope that shopping the Flashfood marketplace at Stop & Shop will help offer them sustainable shopping options with ways to also save significantly on groceries.”

The expansion is part of the grocer’s efforts this year to bring Flashfood into stores in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey as well.

“With sustainability-minded partners like Stop & Shop, we’re able to reduce more food waste while giving families a means to purchase quality fresh food for less,” said Josh Domingues, founder & CEO of Flashfood. “With 16-18% of Massachusetts households struggling with food insecurity, it is rewarding to know that our expansion will help improve accessibility to affordable food in the region.”

Using the Flashfood app, shoppers can select and purchase items nearing their best-by date and pick them up in-store. The app-based marketplace provides deals up to 50% off on items such as meats, dairy, seafood, fresh produce, baked goods and more, Stop & Shop said.

Since its debut in 2021, the partnership has diverted nearly 170,000 pounds of food from landfills, Stop & Shop said.

Operating in over 1,500 grocery locations throughout the U.S. and Canada, Flashfood works with other grocery retailers such as Save a Lot, Food Lion and Meijer.

Since its founding in 2016, the company has diverted more than 40 million pounds of food from landfills, Flashfood said.

Quincy, Massachusetts-based Stop & Shop, Ahold Delhaize USA’s largest brand, operates more than 400 stores throughout Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York and New Jersey.