Tops Friendly Markets is bringing Flashfood, a digital program providing shoppers with access to discounted food nearing its best-by date, to additional stores in New York state.
The stores include five in Rochester as well as locations in Albion, Avon, Canandaigua, Farmington, Greece, Hamlin, Henrietta, Hilton, Irondequoit, Ontario, Spencerport, Walworth, and Waterloo.
Since Tops first introduced the Flashfood program to six stores in August 2020 and later 44 additional locations throughout 2021, 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.
"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," said Jeff Culhane, SVP of merchandising for Tops, in a statement. "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."
More than 2.5 million people have used Flashfood to save up to 60 percent on items nearing their best-by date, such as meats, dairy, seafood, and fresh fruits and vegetables. Shoppers browse and buy discounted food items directly through the Flashfood app, then pick up their order from the Flashfood Zone inside participating local stores.
Related: Fresh Thyme Market, Merryfield Partner on Consumer Education; Machine Learning Helps Predict Food Crisis