Flashfood Launches New Platform: Flashfood for Independents

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Flashfood Launches New Platform: Flashfood for Independents

2024-07-23 21:31 Last Updated At：21:41

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 23, 2024--

Flashfood, the marketplace for affordable groceries, today announced the launch of Flashfood for Independents, a new offering designed specifically for independently owned grocers. This initiative will support local retailers by providing them with a flexible, efficient and easy-to-onboard solution to attract new customers, boost profits and provide access to affordable fresh food in their communities while reducing food waste.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240723953050/en/

"There are more than 27,000 independently owned grocery stores in North America that play a vital role in nourishing and sustaining their communities. But the already harsh and competitive retail climate right now is particularly difficult for independent grocers, who face unique challenges as small businesses," said Nicholas Bertram, CEO of Flashfood. "Our goal with this launch is to offer a supporting lifeline to these businesses, many of whom solve food access challenges issues in hyper-urban or rural areas. Our hope is to empower these grocers with a solution that brings more shoppers in-store and puts money back in their bottom line.”

Flashfood for Independents builds on the value-add of the Flashfood platform already available at more than 2,200 enterprise stores across North America, with participating grocers seeing an average 27% shrink reduction, one or more additional store trips per month and $20 in incremental sales per month. The new platform offers the same value but with flexible and customizable elements that fit the needs of independent grocers who may have unique store footprints, smaller teams or ever-changing inventory. The platform seamlessly integrates with the operations of independent grocers, enhancing their ability to respond quickly to market demands and operational needs.

The new platform is already live in more than 10 independent stores across North America, including Country Squire Foods in Chicago Heights, IL, Supermercado Mexico in Wyoming, MI, and Petique Boutique in Scarborough, ON. The platform will be launching in a number of Earth Fare stores later this summer, with plans to add more than 100 independent grocers by the end of the year.

Flashfood for Independents offers the following features and services:

"Independent grocers are truly at the heart of the communities they serve. A cornerstone of Main Street, these local businesses account for over $1 million in jobs across the county while also providing essential support for food banks, community groups, and more," said Greg Ferrara, President and CEO of the National Grocers Association. "Supporting your local independent grocer helps keep tax dollars in the community while providing a hub for gathering, economic development, and most importantly, nutritious food to feed families."

For more information about how this platform supports independent grocers, please visit flashfood.com/grocers.

About Flashfood

Flashfood is on a mission to feed families, not landfills. The marketplace app connects shoppers with fresh produce, meat and other groceries at up to 50% off. By partnering with retailers across North America, Flashfood offers shoppers nutritious staples at affordable prices, and reduces the amount of food going to landfills. Flashfood is a remote-first company currently partnered with more than 2,200 stores across 20 store banners, 20 states in the US and 10 provinces in Canada. For more information, please visit www.flashfood.com.

Following death of Hamas leader, Harris says it's 'time for the day after to begin' in Gaza

2024-10-18 10:38 Last Updated At：10:40

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Kamala Harris said Thursday that Israel's killing of Hamas' top leader offers "an opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza," talking plainly about next steps even as the pro-Palestinian demonstrators who gathered outside her campaign event underscored the complicated politics at play.

The Democratic presidential nominee said the war “must end such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination.”

“It is time for the day after to begin,” she said, speaking from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee just moments after the White House released President Joe Biden's statement on the death of Yahya Sinwar. Israeli officials said Sinwar was killed in a battle with Israeli forces in Gaza.

The administration's response to the killing of a chief architect of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel was carefully choreographed, leaving room for Harris to emphasize the push to end the war as she balances her loyalty to Biden.

With the presidential race at razor-thin margins and the election just a few weeks away, the vice president is seeking to solidify support in battleground states and shore up left flank voters who want to see an immediate end to the bloody conflict, some of whom threaten not to vote for her.

The Biden administration’s support for Israel has complicated her campaign push in metro Detroit, especially in Dearborn, an area home to the nation’s largest Arab American community. The death earlier this month of a Dearborn resident killed in south Lebanon ignited more anger in the traditionally Democratic area.

Speaking Thursday in Flint, Michigan, Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said she was hopeful for an end to the violence.

“Have the hostages returned and have a solution for long-term peace in the region. That’s everything that I think is so important. And, you know, any chance that we can do that, I think would be welcomed by so many people,” she said.

At Harris' next stop in Wisconsin, at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, her remarks focused on Trump and his falsehoods around the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Trump is “increasingly unstable and unhinged, and will stop at nothing to claim unchecked power for himself," she said.

William Schauberger, a 24-year-old political science major, said ahead of Harris’ rally that he wasn’t optimistic about prospects for resolving the conflict in the Middle East regardless of the election results. He deemed the loss of life in Gaza “straight up genocide” and predicted “neither party will do anything about it.”

Harris has not proposed any policy shifts on Israel, and her remarks largely echoed Biden's statement. But she has, of late, faced increasing pressure to articulate how she would govern differently from Biden.

While Biden’s favorability ratings remain underwater, some of the biggest pieces of his legislative agenda, from infrastructure to lowering the costs of some prescription drugs, are popular, and signaling any daylight with the president on foreign policy at a time of global crises could be seen as reckless.

Biden's written statement on Sinwar's death — released as he was traveling to Germany for a visit with Chancellor Olaf Scholz — focused on how U.S. intelligence helped the Israelis pursue Hamas leadership and noted that Israel had every right to “eliminate the leadership and military structure of Hamas.”

“Today proves once again that no terrorists anywhere in the world can escape justice, no matter how long it takes,” Biden said.

He said he would speak with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “congratulate them, to discuss the pathway for bringing the hostages home to their families and for ending this war once and for all, which has caused so much devastation to innocent people.”

Karnowski reported from La Crosse, Wisconsin, and Long from Washington. Associated Press writers Scott Bauer in Milwaukee and Todd Richmond in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Joey Cappelletti in Flint, Michigan, contributed to this report.