Flash Food refrigerators are in every Meijer and many Family Fares in West Michigan.
GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan – As the cost of food continues to rise, we are all looking for ways to save money at the grocery store.
In this week’s 13 On Your Side Money guide, Meredith TerHaar introduces you to a new app that can save you 50% or more on produce, meat, and dairy.
It’s called Flash Food. We shot this story last Thursday, so keep that in mind when we talk about expiration dates.
Maybe you’ve seen the large refrigerator underneath in the front of your local Meijer or Family Fare and had no idea what it is.
Enter the man who created it.
“We basically took the discounted food rack, made it look great and put it on his cell phone,” explained Flash Food CEO Josh Domingues.
“Shopkeepers have a lot of food that is approaching its expiration date and what often happens is that they have to remove it from their shelves because they get other foods that must stay on the shelf, so Flash Food is an application that allows the merchant takes that food that still has two or three days of shelf life, marks it 50 percent and publishes it in the application. We send a notification to our users who see the offer through their phone, pay through their phone And they sort it out. Food in the store the same day, “Josh said.
Local cookbook author and Flash Food user Kate Bolt shows us how it works at the store. You are picking up your order so we can see the savings.
Kate bought Atlantic salmon. The normal cost is $ 7.99 but with Flash Food it is $ 3.99. She plans to freeze it to use another day.
Organic chicken tenderloins are another great example. The price would have been $ 10.39. With Flash Food the price is $ 4.94.
The fresh vegetable trays were in the Flash Food refrigerator four days before their expiration date. They were also in the middle.
The Toronto-based startup launched in Michigan in early 2021 and is already making a big impact.
“To date, we have diverted more than 30 million pounds of food that would have ended up in landfills and have saved shoppers nearly 90 million on their grocery bills,” Josh said.
Flash Food coolers are inside every Meijer store and many West Michigan family fares, all you have to do is download the free app. Visit their website for more information.
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