Dive Brief:

• Flashfood, a digital marketplace focused on food waste prevention, has appointed Nicholas Bertram, former president of The Giant Company, to its newly created position of president and chief operating officer, according to a Thursday press release.
• In line with the food waste company’s expansion efforts, Bertram’s role will involve accelerating growth and further developing innovation.
• This news comes as the grocery industry continues to put more emphasis on sustainability efforts surrounding food waste.

Dive Insight:

Flashfood’s appointment of Bertram indicates the food waste company is looking to continue rapidly expanding its retailer partnerships. The firm currently works with more than 1,500 grocery stores and has diverted more than 65 million pounds of food waste since its founding in 2016.

Flashfood, which works with grocers to make food that is nearing its best-by date available to consumers via an app marketplace, is currently partnered with Meijer, Giant Eagle, Save A Lot, Food Lion and other chains.

Bertram will work closely with Josh Domingues, Flashfood’s founder and CEO, along with the company’s internal department leaders to focus on furthering Flashfood’s app service and combating food waste, the press release noted.

“Nick has seen how the level of waste experienced by grocers represents billions of dollars in lost revenue and understands the massive impact this also has on our planet,” Domingues said in a statement.

During his time as president of The Giant Company, a position he held from January 2018 to August 2022, Bertram put an emphasis on reducing the grocery company’s food waste output and focused on other sustainable initiatives. In June 2021, the grocer rolled out the Flashfood app service chainwide following a successful pilot that began in early 2020. 

Prior to working for the grocery company, Bertram held an executive role at Jewel-Osco and a number of roles at Walmart. Since resigning from The Giant Company, Bertram has been appointed as founding member of food waste firm Divert’s advisory board. He also holds a non-executive role on the advisory board of Peco, a Philadelphia-based electricity and natural gas supplier.