A grocery store app is helping consumers save money on food getting close to its best-before date while also diverting waste from the landfill.
Flashfood launched at Real Canadian Superstores across the country this past summer.
“It’s been really successful for us this summer,” said Tarla Confiant, who manages an Edmonton Superstore. “This location in particular has been able to save our customers thousands of dollars and we’ve also been able to divert over 11,000 pounds of waste. It’s pretty exciting.”
Meat, fruits and veggies that might otherwise go to waste are listed on the app for significant discounts and shoppers can click on them and then pick them up at a Superstore location. The list of discounted items changes every day.
“All the items put into this app are an automatic 50 per cent of the retail price,” Confiant said.
“As a mother myself, I can use this program to save money with my grocery shops,” she added. “If you’re a family that’s on a budget for your food, this is a great way to save your money and get great-quality products for a highly discounted price.
“Most of us… buy large quantity items and package them up and freeze them. So we have short-dated items in these coolers, like meat or chicken or hamburger. You can easily pack it and save it for another day so you can feed your family and it costs pennies.”
Not only is it saving shoppers money; it’s also cutting down on the amount of food waste.
“It’s any food in the store that has an expiry date or produce item — a fruit or a vegetable — that is maybe not the quality that we’d like to sell it at full regular price,” Confiant said.
“Sometimes you have a bag of perfectly good produce or fruit or vegetable, and there’s one bad apple or one rotten lemon. We can… open the package, take those really good quality items and put them into boxes and sell them for a significantly discounted price to our customers.”
In stores across Edmonton, the app has helped customers save more than $41,000 on their grocery bills and more than 20,000 pounds of food from unnecessarily going to waste since the partnership launched.
Confiant said the Superstore she manages also partners with farmers and the Edmonton Food Bank to reduce waste.