“Statistics say that if international food waste were a country, it’d be the third leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions behind the U.S. and China.” – Flashfood CEO Josh Domingues
Flashfood is a new app that allows customers to buy high-quality surplus food from local retailers at a discounted price.
How it all started
“When we go to the grocery store we’re always looking for [items] with the longest shelf life, but what that does is it takes away some of the love from stuff that’s closer to the ‘best before date’” –CEO Josh Domingues
The idea came to be when chef Paula Domingues was catering an event in downtown Toronto a few years ago. At the end of the event, she had to throw out over $4000 worth of food. While on her way home, Domingues called her brother to express how bad she felt for having to throw out all that food while she passed by so many people on the street who couldn’t afford anything to eat.
For the following months, the two Domingues siblings recruited a team to help them find a solution to this problem. During this time, Josh realized the vast negative impacts that food waste had on the environment.
What the app is all about
Flashfood sends users notifications of food deals going on in their area and allows them to purchase them directly through the app.
Users get to enjoy high-quality food with a 30-40 per cent discount off the original sale price.
The food purchased through the app is food that grocery stores and restaurants are going to throw out soon because of the surplus they have. This doesn’t mean there’s an issue with the food, just that there’s too much that won’t be purchased. CEO Josh Domingues says the discounted food is days, weeks, and even months away from the ‘best before date.’
Domingues adds that the company will be launching a rewards program within the next few weeks to allow users to save even more money on their purchases
Partnering with Farm Boy
Domingues is grateful to Farm Boy for being “innovative and forward thinking” and allowing them to test out the pilot project.
With the help of retailers like Farm Boy, Domingues says that “in less than a year since launching the app, [they]’ve helped divert over 3100 meals that would’ve otherwise ended up in a landfill.”
The app can now be used to shop at all three Farm Boy locations in London.
