Food waste isn’t just an environmental issue; it’s an economic one. In this episode, we sit down with Esther Cohn from Flash Food, a Canadian-founded tech company that rescues groceries destined for landfill and offers them to shoppers at a discount.

Discover how Flash Food is making sustainable shopping simple, saving families money, helping grocers cut waste, and preventing over 150 million pounds of food from ending up in landfills. We’ll talk about how the idea came to life, how the app works, and why making sustainability affordable might be the key to lasting change.

Listen to learn:

• How Flash Food connects shoppers with discounted groceries nearing their best-before date
• The environmental and economic impact of rescuing food waste
• Why accessibility and affordability are essential to sustainability
• How changing our mindset about “waste” can help us all make a difference

Download the Flash Food app and start saving money and food today

https://flashfood.com/?showgettheapp=true

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Disclaimer: 

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Today's story is a little different. It's not just about keeping food out of the landfill, it's about helping families put affordable meals on the table.

Flash Food is a tech company with a simple idea, rescue perfectly good food before it gets thrown away and offer it to shoppers at a big discount. That food stays out of the trash and families save money. Joining me today is Esther Cohn, VP of Communications and Public Affairs at Flash Food, to walk us through how the idea came to life, how it works, and what kind of impact it's having on households and communities across North America.

Esther, thanks so much for being with me today.

Esther: Thanks for having me. Happy to be here.

Esther: So Flash food was founded in Canada in 2016, and we were really founded to solve the problem of food waste at the grocery store.

So, as I'm sure you're digging into, food waste is a massive problem across really all sectors of the food system. Um, but retail is is one area where there's a great deal of food waste. It's actually a relatively small percentage compared to at home food waste, which is a, you know, the bulk of it. But, Retail's much easier to control. There's, you know, where it's happening to some extent. We know why it's happening and we have levers that you can pull in store to reduce food waste. Whereas at home it's sort of a black box. We don't know how much food people are wasting and we can't control their behavior when they're at home.

So we were founded specifically to address the problem of food waste in the grocery store. And we would, were founded by an entrepreneur in Canada who had this theory that he lived right at the time, lived right above a grocery store in his apartment complex, and he had a theory as he was sort of walking the grocery aisle to say this, you know, beautiful cut of salmon that was sort of preseasoned at the store.

This is expiring today. He asked the guy what happens after this? They said, oh, we have to throw it out. He said, you know, I bet if I live right upstairs, if I knew. This was going to be thrown away today and I could buy it for half off. I would do that. And so that was sort of the theory that, that founded flash food.

Bri: Oh, that's super cool. What, what a, what an origin story to, you know, live above, yeah. Uh, live above a, uh, grocery store and kind of have this idea, this, this, you know, light bulb moment. And so some, for someone who's never used flash food before it, it's an app, but can you tell us a little bit about how it works?

Esther: So it's an app, as you said, downloaded on for many traditional, uh, app store, Google, apple, that sort of thing, and what you'll see when you open it up is a map screen of all the participating locations in your area. So we partner directly with grocery stores who list items on the app that they have in store that are either in surplus or nearing their best Buy date, or maybe it's a seasonal item that they know they're no longer gonna sell in store, and they'll pull it off the shelf.

So they list on flash food for up to 50% off its traditional retail price. So as a shopper you can see a little store icon of all the ones in your area. You click on that store, it'll show you what they have to offer that day, or you know that minute and you add it to your cart. And from there it's a pretty traditional e-commerce experience.

And then you can go in store, grab your rice or your pasta, whatever else you needed for your recipe, and then pick up your flash food order on the way out.

So our number one selling item on the app is a produce box. So it's a 10 pound box of mixed fruits and vegetables that sold for $5. And it's an incredible deal. People are really excited about it. You, you know, they're posted every day at these stores and there's a photo so you can kind of see what you're getting.

Sometimes they're more, you know, root, veg, fall themed. Sometimes they're a little more, you know, fruit, fruity ci, citrus. Um, so. Look out for the fostered produce box. They're a huge hit. People love them. We've sold over a million already this year. Like they really do wonderful and produce is a huge part of food waste specifically.

Bri: And so by the numbers listening about this app and learning about, so it's obviously aimed at reducing food waste through those items that are maybe nearing their best before or their expiry date.

How much food has flash food kept outta the landfill or any other numbers that you wanna share with us to show the impact of how you guys are helping this issue?

Esther: To date, flash food has diverted over 150 million pounds of food from landfill, and at the same time saved our shoppers about $330 million on the groceries collectively.

So it's a massive impact. It, it really is. And I think, When we were first founded, as I was talking about, we were, we thought the problem we were solving was food waste, and that's what we were designed to do. But as we started growing and reaching more shoppers and hearing from the shoppers, what they were saying is, the food waste piece is nice, but I use you because I can get half off chicken and half off my produce.

Bri: Yeah, absolutely. In a time when we're living with, you know, rising food costs and it's amazing and wonderful to address food waste and help that environmental side.

Yeah. But oftentimes these issues are so, there's so many things baked into them. There's, there's social factors, there's environmental, there's economic factors, and so it's interesting to hear that a lot, that some people are saying, well, I don't necessarily use the app. Just for the environmental piece, it's, it's, I'm saving money.

And I think that's, that's an interesting perspective on, you know, I, I view this when I reached out to you to say, oh, this is wonderful. You guys are tackling food waste. But that's not the only impact. Um, and, and to hear how much money families are saving by using this app, you know, it's, it's a double-edged sword.

It's, it's, um, it's perfect because you're attacking two things at once. You're putting money in people's pockets and you're also keeping food outta the landfills.

Typically, you're gonna pay what they've called a green tax, right? If you want something that's more sustainable, you're gonna pay more money for it. And so in a way we, you know, we kind of see it as we're subverting that a little bit by saying, we're gonna make this product cheaper and more attractive to you as a consumer.

And then on top of that, it also happens to be the more sustainable option, which I think is why it works.

Bri: And, and going back to earlier in our conversation, you mentioned that, you know, grocery stores are, are not the biggest piece of food waste. Um, it's a piece of it, but most of it's coming from home.

Um, you know, how, how do you, do you guys communicate with your users about maybe reducing food waste at home? Like now you have this item, how do you make sure that it actually gets used at home?

and wasting less food at home because that's core to the mission of Flash Food. At the same time, we don't wanna be preachy and we don't wanna guilt people into changing their behavior because at the end of the day, just by using flash food, you are being more sustainable. Everything you buy in flash food would've been previously thrown away, and so you're already doing a great job.

I think a happy medium would be to. Make ourselves sort of a source of content and a source of resources for people who do want to take that extra step and try something at home. You know, we partner just looking at sort of social media and influence strategy. We partner with, um, you know, chefs and other content creators online who are making some of that great stuff and putting some of that on our, on our feed as well.

Kind of a convoluted answer, but I think it's a little bit of both. And we wanna be a resource without being, A nuisance

Bri: and going back again to, to the grocery piece. I was reading through, I believe it was your annual, annual report, maybe your impact report you guys have recently partnered with, um, independent grocery stores, um, as opposed to maybe those larger chains.

Why, why was that an important move for flash food when it comes to, you know, saving money for people, for, for families, and also reducing food waste?

Esther: well, the independent sector of the grocery industry is big. It, it's not insignificant. So in terms of the food waste reduction piece, it's important that we reach that category of groceries as well.

And it also enables us to, you know, flex into maybe kind of higher income communities for folks who are shopping at their local co-op, right? How can we get there as well? And make sure folks know we're not just available for people who are have a constrained income, but for people who just wanna save money regardless of where you sit on the income spectrum.

So it was important to us to reach independent groceries as well.

Bri: Yeah. Improving that accessibility, you know, it's not only helping, perhaps to reduce some food insecurity if you're able to reduce the, the cost of food for people, but, you know, allowing this program or this app to be accessible to other people and, and to the point of the grocery stores.

Esther: In Canada, our largest partner is Loblaw, so we're in all of their banners across the country, around 800, 900 stores.

Um. We just launched our independent product sort of last summer, so we're about a year in. We have about a hundred independents on so far, but hoping to increase that number. You know, we're at new stores every day, so, um, we also really encourage anyone who's listening, if you have an independent store in your town that you think would benefit from flash food or you wanna see flash food there, um, reach out and we will make it happen.

Bri: What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs? We talked about the founder of flash food and, and how this idea came to be. What advice do you think flash food would give to other entrepreneurs or community leaders who want to tackle food waste?

Esther: Find a specific area that you can actually make change.

It's such a big problem, and there the problem is occurring at so many places in the food system, at the farm, at the distribution center, at the retailer at home, that being able to have a very specific and focused solution that tackles one specific point of call it failure in the food system, I think is a way better way to go than trying to have some large umbrella solution that solves the whole problem.

Nonprofit side of things. There's obviously government stuff working on it as well, and that's all important. But if you're an entrepreneur and you're trying to create a solution that has legs, it needs to be economically viable.

Bri: \ You know, you know, this season people have been listening through the whole way.

This is a really big issue, like you've mentioned, and it can seem a little bit overwhelming. There are solutions like we've talked about. There's, there's flash food. We have different organizations we're speaking to this season, but despite the challenges and despite maybe the the large nature of this problem, what personally gives you hope when it comes to reducing food waste and, and making food more affordable for everybody?

it would be great if we all had public transportation available. It's costly to build, but reducing food waste is actually extremely economical. And so whether that's at the home or whether you're a business owner or a restaurant operator, it actually is in your best financial interests to address this.

And I think that that is a really good. Sign for the future.

Another thing I'll bring up is that young people particularly are really interested in solving this problem. It's lands as totally absurd to them that we waste as much food that we do, and they're really interested in the world of solving that.

And I think, um, we see a world where we sort of connect this generation that is now extremely proud of, you know, thrifting clothing and reusing clothing, um, and having them look at food that way.

Potentially.

That's what we're hopeful about.

Bri: Yeah, the culture is changing. Times are changing, and I definitely think that this is an issue that. Goes across, you know, political, um, affiliations and divides, and it's an issue that, that we can all come together and solve it. It's, to me, it's so solvable. Um, so I, you know, I'm so glad to see Totally.

Apps like Flash Food, all the different organizations that we've chatted with, uh, this season, and I'm sure. You know, there will be more that pop up, um, through the next couple of years as we, as we aim to reduce, uh, food waste.

I'm doing a series, a video series right now where I interview chefs who work in restaurants about food waste in the kitchen, and you know, why does this exist? What do you do about it? What is sort of this restaurant's philosophy around food waste?

Um, and. We've been getting a lot of really interesting responses, and these are people who think every day, all day about food, right? It's their profession. And at the same time, they're running a business that, you know, they have to purchase ingredients and then turn them into dishes and remain profitable while they're doing that.

And so food waste has kind of a different, they're not thinking about it from a. moral or ethical perspective, it's a, a resource that they purchase and then have to make the most of. So it's just been a very interesting approach to it. And one of the conversations I had was that. You know, one of the chefs said, oh, I, I actually kind of hate the term food waste because it only becomes waste if you throw it in the trash can.

Just, you know, blend them up with some yogurt and their sauce, right? They, I think it helps to, I don't know, lighten the, lighten the mood a little bit in your kitchen.

Bri: Yeah, that's a great point that, that food waste, it's not waste until, until you throw it away. And I think that's something that, you know, even in my communications through the podcast so far, like in conversations is, well sometimes we're, I was talking with a, with a food rescue in Lacombe, Alberta, and they rescue food, um, and then they give it back to the community at no cost. And I kept calling it food waste. And then now thinking back, I'm like, well, it's not food waste at all, because they're saving it. Yeah. And so, you know, shifting that mindset and, you know, having a little bit of fun with it and, and just thinking of it in a different way can, can really help.

Thanks so much to Esther for joining us and to the entire flash food team for showing us that food waste isn't just an environmental issue, it's an economic one too. If you'd like to learn more about the app or see if it's available near you, check out the show notes, and if this episode got you thinking about waste at the grocery store or your grocery bill itself, consider sharing it with someone who might appreciate a few extra savings and a lot less waste.