34 • URNER BARRY'S REPORTER / VOL. 18, NO. 4 / FALL 2023
Grocers throw away between $5-$10,000
worth of perfectly good food daily;
about a $37 billion loss yearly. But Josh
Domingues is working on a way to change
that. In March 2016 Domingues founded
Flashfood, a company that is helping
thousands of people feed their families
more affordably while also cutting down on
food waste.
Flashfood has partnered with more than
2,000 grocery stores to reduce the amount
of food that they throw away. According
to the USDA, most shelf-stable foods are
indefinitely good and frozen meats are safe
to eat for over a year past their "best by"
dates, which are suggested dates indicated
by the manufacturer, and stamped on food
items to highlight peak freshness and
quality. But hundreds of pounds of fresh
meat, chicken and produce are thrown
away as they approach those dates.
Sometimes, up to two weeks before.
Shoppers simply need to download the
free Flashfood app to access heavily
discounted foods that are still good, but
nearing their expiration date. As items
approach their best by dates-meat,
poultry, fish, produce, dairy and more-
grocers catalog them to the Flashfood
application. Consumers then shop on
Flashfood: Aiding the world
and stretching wallets
Say goodbye to waste…
the app for said items and receive a
competitive discount of upwards of 50%.
Boxes of up to 10 pounds of fresh fruit
and produce are sold for $5 each. The
purchase is made through the app and
then the order is picked up from a zone
designated for Flashfood shoppers at
stores they already shop in.
"The company's mission is to eliminate
retail food waste by offering retailers
and shoppers a simple and affordable
way to feed families, not landfills," a
spokesperson for the company told Urner
Barry's Reporter. "Everyone benefits from
a food system without waste. Flashfood
offers affordable groceries to everyday
shoppers, helps retailers recover lost
profits and achieve their sustainability
goals, and benefits the planet by reducing
harmful emissions at landfills and
conserving the natural resources pouring
into food production."
While rotting food decomposes in landfills,
nutrients of that food never return to the soil
and thus produce methane, a greenhouse
gas far more potent than CO2 that has the
strength to pierce through the ozone layer.
Flashfood has single-handedly kept 70
million pounds of food from landfills.
Then there is the post-pandemic inflation
issue, which has brought immense
uncertainty to consumers budgets and
lifestyle. Grocery prices rose more than
10% over the last year and continue to
fluctuate. Customers have had to opt for
cheaper cuts of meat and more processed
foods that can extend shelf life and a dollar.
Flashfood has saved their shoppers almost
$200 million in the last two years.
Flashfood is in its own lane. The company
is exclusively and simultaneously offering
dense discounts to customers while
eliminating food waste and giving back to
the community.
Article contributed by Natasha Estremera
nestremera@urnerbarry.com
"The company's mission
is to eliminate retail food
waste by offering retailers
and shoppers a simple
and affordable way to
feed families, not landfills."
Screenshots taken from the App Store for the Flashfood app.