Start-up FoodHero is accelerating its growth strategy within Quebec grocery stores by launching a pilot project at five Metro locations in Montreal: Metro Morgan, Metro Plus Dorion Sainte-Catherine, Metro Plus Domaine, Metro Plus de la Montagne and Metro Plus Anjou. It took 18 months to develop the anti-food waste app, which lets Quebecers enjoy significant savings on a wide variety of unsold products that are still fresh and perfectly good to eat.
The concept is simple yet effective: shoppers save up to 60% on unsold groceries, while grocers move these products and avoid the economic and environmental costs (in terms of CO2 emissions) generated by handling and transporting unsold goods to landfill sites.
The FoodHero app reached 200,000 downloads within several weeks, which clearly indicates the high level of interest towards food waste reduction tools.
“It’s a major concern not only for grocers, but also for consumers,” said Jonathan Defoy, FoodHero founder. “Here we really have a solution that can make the biggest impact and we’re thrilled that Metro is adding FoodHero to its existing anti-food waste initiatives.”
Since the program started, over seven tons of CO2 emissions have been avoided. This figure is set to rise sharply in the coming months as hundreds of stores have continued to join the program after it launched last May.
FoodHero: saving on groceries while fighting food waste
The FoodHero anti-food waste app is free and easy to use. Shoppers simply locate their nearest participating grocery store, fill their in-app shopping cart as desired and pick up their order when it’s convenient during the selected store’s business hours. The app features unsold products that are still perfectly good to eat, at prices marked down by 25 to 60%. New deals are added every day on a variety of foods, including meat and fish, fruits and vegetables, dairy products, eggs and even ready-made meals.
Grocers and users can track their impact on food waste reduction in real time, as measured in kilograms of food and CO2 emissions avoided, while also seeing how much money they’ve saved. Based on the average weekly transactions of its active users, FoodHero estimates that shoppers can save up to $1,500 a year.
“We’re interested in working with all grocery stores looking to reduce food waste,” said Defoy. “We’re already in talks with certain major U.S. players who want to introduce the app within their chains. In other words, we’ve set our sights on the international market.”
