22 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY APRIL 9-15, 2026 www.montereycountynow.com moving donated foods to organizations serving those in need, and representatives from both consumer apps say there is no intention of competing with nonprofits for the surplus. “What we find is that Flashfood is capturing shorter lifespan items,” Cohn points out. “A lot of it is ready to go that day or in two days. Food is still going to waste.” “We provide a slightly different ‘last-mile’ solution,” explains Molly Sposato of Too Good To Go. “It is an easy way for businesses of all sizes to turn a potential loss into a win. Many Monterey Bay establishments have actually reached out to us.” The app companies process the transactions, turning a portion of the sale back to the grocery store or restaurant. It may represent a fraction of the original price, but partner businesses receive some compensation for foods that were otherwise destined for the dump. According to Sposato, use of the Too Good To Go app on the Monterey Peninsula and Salinas area has already saved more than 99,000 meals, or the equivalent of 268,026 kilograms of carbon dioxide. “Big impact starts with small actions,” she adds, noting that the company initially targets areas with high food density and an interest in sustainability, such as San Francisco. People in neighboring areas then become interested. “The app started with a hyper-local approach, and it’s certainly at the heart of our ethos.” Too Good To Go launched in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2016 and now exists in 21 countries. Flashfood owes its origins to the same impulse— to reduce food waste—but its beginnings are more humble. When Canadian former minor league hockey player Josh Domingues learned that his sister was forced to throw out $4,000 worth of leftovers from a catering gig, he picked up some imperfect produce and set out a streetside table as a test of his idea. The Too Good To Go app even updates users on their environmental impact. A single order picked up from Ad Astra, for example, apparently saved CO2 equivalent to 461 phone charges—or 8 kilowatts, which sounds less impressive. Flashfood tallies the dollar savings. “We did start out to solve the food waste problem,” Cohn observes. “But people tell us they appreciate getting good food at low prices. We heard that over and over.” The concepts, in other words, may be high-minded. For consumers, however, it matters that a few taps on the phone can score them a prized loaf of Ad Astra bread for just under $4 or a loaded box of produce from Lucky for $5. Since Flashfood began its partnership with Lucky and SaveMart, entering the California market in 2024, shoppers through the app have saved almost $700,000. At the Lucky locations in Pacific Grove, Sand City and Marina, the savings has topped $18,000. Features on a recent Thursday afternoon included pizza valued at $21 from Round Table in Marina for $6.99 or a $15 salad at Monterey’s Pizza My Heart slashed to $4.99. Whole Foods offered a bag of meat for $9.99 while the Lucky in Pacific Grove listed Columbus brand salame for half price, at $5.99. “Our biggest competition is how easy it is to throw something away,” Cohn says. ••• “Edible food” is a seemingly redundant phrase that perhaps needs some explanation. The phrase is part of a new vocabulary developed around the problem of food waste. Edible food refers to items that are still good for consumption, but instead end up in landfills—at a cost to Americans of an estimated $800 per person, each year. The phrase applies to prepared foods, like dishes from restaurants or deli sandwiches, packaged items, such as meats or ready-to-heat meals and produce unsold for various reasons, including freshness dating and appearance. “It’s a weird term, but we’re used to dealing with trash,” explains Zoë Shoats, director of communications Flashfood provides a refrigerator where participating grocery stores keep items for sale on the app, ready for customers to pick up. The food sold on the app would otherwise be thrown away. “WE’RE NOT LOOKING FOR PERFECT. WE WANT IT TO TASTE GOOD.”
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