Kroger is getting into the flash-food business, expanding its partnership with surplus grocery app Flashfood.
The companies are expanding their partnership to all 100-plus stores in Kroger’s Mid-Atlantic Division, bringing discount past-their-peak fresh groceries to customers in Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky. The program underwent a pilot launch in 16 stores in the Richmond, Virginia, area last summer.
Leaders from both Kroger and Flashflood lauded the partnership.
“From the start, our Richmond customers have embraced Flashfood,” said Kate Mora, president of Kroger Mid-Atlantic. “The expansion throughout our Mid-Atlantic division is a natural next step,” Mora noted in a press release.
She added that the expanded partnership will ensure less salvageable food ends up in landfills. Flashfood’s CEO also praised the program.
“In a short amount of time, the impact Kroger and Flashfood have been able to accomplish for their local communities — improving access to affordable, healthy food — is something I’m incredibly proud of,” said Jordan Schenck, CEO of Flashfood. “Together, we’re building a modern, data-driven shrink management system that supports Kroger’s waste reduction goals while helping more families access the food they need.”
Kroger ranks No. 6 in Digital Commerce 360’s Top 2000 Database. The database ranks North America’s largest online retailers by their annual ecommerce sales. Furthermore, Kroger is No. 1 in the database’s Food & Beverage category, though it competes with Mass Merchants — Walmart and Target — that rank higher in the Top 2000 for online grocery sales.
How the Kroger partnership with Flashflood works
Customers download the Flashfood app and peruse available items at nearby stores. They buy directly in the app (no money changes hands in-store), then head to the store to pick up their order.
The Flashflood partnership with Kroger comes at a time when customers are grappling with rising food prices as supply chains get snarled because of the U.S. and Israel’s war against Iran.
Michael Schiferl, a senior food industry public relations consultant in La Grange, Illinois, with a broad background in the grocery business, said the partnership makes sense.
“Grocers moving from ‘discount bins’ in stores to ‘digital deals’ on soon-to-expire foods is a smart move,” Schiferl said. “While Americans overwhelmingly still shop in physical grocery stores, digital ties to grocery shopping go far beyond delivery or curbside pickups alone.”
He added that shoppers are already used to digital apps tied to loyalty programs, coupons and other promotions.
“The phone has become an essential tool for shopping store aisles — as important as the grocery cart,” Schiferl said.
Discounting food prices
Schiferl noted that customers also are used to sales on everything from day-old bread to discontinued flavors.
“Having the option to purchase foods at a discount, particularly as people feel pinched by food inflation, is a win-win-win: for customers, the stores and reducing food waste,” Schiferl said.
Schiferl also said the partnership is in line with grocery stores increasingly using digital tools to manage inventories, change prices and track shopping patterns.
“It makes sense to offer surplus or near-expiration foods at a discounted price digitally,” Schiferl said.
Meanwhile, research by Flashfood shows that each store offering the products reduces county-level food insecurity by an average of 0.090 percentage points — reaching an estimated 146,000 people nationwide.
“These numbers tell a clear story about the durability of our food system and how innovation can facilitate getting people the food they need,” Flashfood’s Schenck said. “The most nutritious food is more expensive today than it was a year ago, but retailers still need to offer it at affordable prices without burning their margins. The solution lies in addressing waste. Perfectly good food is going to landfills instead of dinner tables, which hurts consumers and burns revenue for the grocers at the same time.”
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