Tops expands Flashfood program, on track to hit 1M pounds of food rescued
Tops Friendly Markets is expanding its program with Flashfood, a digital marketplace that provides shoppers with access to heavily discounted food nearing its best-by date, to 18 additional Rochester, N.Y.-area stores. The latest expansion of the Flashfood program brings the total number of Tops stores offering Flashfood to 68 across western New York.
The Williamsville, N.Y.-based full-service grocery retailer with 149 stores in New York, northern Pennsylvania and Vermont introduced the Flashfood program to six stores in August 2020 and 44 additional locations throughout 2021. Since then, Tops and Flashfood have saved shoppers more than $2.4 million on their grocery bills and diverted 985,358 pounds of food from reaching landfills, according to a news release.
The food saved amounts to over 350,000 family meals, and the equivalent emissions saved from diverting the food from landfill are of over 1 million miles driven by the average passenger vehicle, the release said. With this latest expansion, Tops and Flashfood expect to hit 1 million pounds of food waste saved in the coming weeks.
“Part of Tops’ core mission is eradicating hunger and Flashfood is an innovative tool that allows us to provide quality product at a discounted price helping with the bottom line, all while diverting it from landfills,” Jeff Culhane, senior vice president of merchandising for Tops Friendly Markets, said in the release. “After expanding the program to 50 stores, we are thrilled to grow our footprint with Flashfood even further in the Rochester market to help more Tops shoppers save on groceries and continue our mission of reducing our carbon footprint.”
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With continued inflation challenges, food insecurity continues to impact families across North America and specifically in New York, where one in seven children face hunger, says Tops pointing to data from Feeding America.
More than 2.5 million users have turned to Flashfood as a way to save up to 60% off high-quality items nearing their best-by date, such as meats, dairy, seafood, fresh fruits and vegetables. Shoppers can browse and buy discounted food items directly through the Flashfood app on their mobile phone, and then pick up their order from the Flashfood Zone located inside their participating local Tops Friendly Market store.
The latest Tops Friendly Markets and Flashfood expansion will include five new Rochester locations and new participating locations in Albion, Avon, Canandaigua, Farmington, Greece, Hamlin, Henrietta, Hilton, Irondequoit, Ontario, Spencerport, Walworth, and Waterloo, N.Y.. Additional Tops Friendly Markets locations partnering with Flashfood can be found on the Flashfood website.
“It’s exciting when we can expand our presence with leading retail partners like Tops Friendly Markets,” said Josh Domingues, founder and CEO of Flashfood. “To expand our partnership for a second time demonstrates not only Tops Friendly Markets’ commitment to sustainability, but our ability to make an impact for both shoppers and the planet. Together, we look forward to bringing even more grocery deals to New York families.”
Flashfood is an app-based marketplace striving to eliminate retail food waste by connecting consumers with discounted food nearing its best-by date. The mobile app operates in over 1,600 grocery locations throughout the U.S. and Canada, according to the company. Shoppers can buy items from grocery retailers through the Flashfood app and pick them up in-store at discounted prices while collectively reducing food waste.
To date, Flashfood says it has diverted over 65 million pounds of food, saved shoppers over $175 million and more affordably fed hundreds of thousands of families. Flashfood is currently working with The Giant Co., Meijer, Tops Friendly Markets, Loblaw, Martin’s Markets, VG’s, Family Fare, Ren’s Pets, Stop & Shop, Giant Food, Save A Lot and Giant Eagle. Flashfood is a free app available on iOS and Android.
