The Giant Company brings Flashfood to more stores

After a successful pilot earlier this year, The Giant Company this month rolled out the Flashfood mobile app to another 33 stores.

From Toronto-based Flashfood, the app allows Giant customers to buy fresh food — including produce, meat, deli and bakery products — approaching its “best before” date at significantly reduced prices, in turn cutting back on store-generated food waste.

The Ahold Delhaize USA supermarket chain said Thursday that Flashfood is now available at a Martin’s store in Rising Sun, Md., and 32 Giant/Martin’s stores in Pennsylvania, including Columbia, Dover, Elizabethtown, Ephrata, Exton (two locations), Frazer, Gilbertsville, Kennett Square (two locations), Lancaster (Willow Valley Square), Leola, Manchester, Mt. Joy, Phoenixville, Pottstown, Quarryville (two locations), Red Lion, Royersford (two locations), Shrewsbury, Stowe, Thorndale, West Chester (four locations), West Grove and York (three locations).

“We understand that family budgets are tight, even more so in recent months, which often impacts accessibility to fresh foods,” according to John Ponnett, senior vice president of retail operations at The Giant Company. “With Flashfood, we are giving our customers that access to more fresh and affordable food, while also helping to reduce food waste.”

Related:The Giant Company targets food waste with Flashfood app pilot

Shoppers pick up Flashfood app orders the same day from the “Flashfood zone” inside the participating store.

By downloading the free Flashfood app, available on iOS and Android platforms, shoppers can browse deals on fresh items such as meat, produce boxes, bakery items and snacks that are nearing expiration. Purchases are made directly through the app, and shoppers pick up their order the same day from the “Flashfood zone” inside the participating Giant or Martin’s store. The purchased food is stored in a refrigerator or on a storage rack until picked up.

In the pilot, launched in May, Carlisle, Pa.-based Giant introduced the Flashfood app at four Giant stores in Lancaster (1008 Lititz Pike, 550 Centerville Rd, 1360 Columbia Ave and 1605 Lititz Pike.).

“In fact, 84% of our Flashfood customers told us that they can eat more fresh food because of this program,” Ponnett added. “We are excited to introduce Flashfood to more stores and more customers this month.”

To support the partnership, Giant and Flashfood are offering new users in Pennsylvania and Maryland $10 off their first purchase by signing up for the program online. Overall, the grocer operates nearly 190 Giant and Martin’s stores in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia.

“The Giant Company has shown it is a truly innovative grocer, with a tremendous commitment to serving its communities,” Eric Tribe, vice president of partnerships at Flashfood, said in a statement. “Our partnership is helping to ensure that perfectly good, surplus food is enjoyed by families and avoids ending up in landfills. In our pilot program alone, over 11,000 shoppers took advantage of great deals on Flashfood, and we successfully diverted tens of thousands of pounds of food from landfills in just 12 weeks.”

Related:Meijer goes chainwide with Flashfood

Other U.S. and Canadian grocery retail banners partnering with Flashfood include Loblaws, Real Canadian Superstore, Family Fare, Meijer, Tops Friendly Markets, NoFrills, Maxi, Zehrs, Dominion, Independent and Provigo.