CINCINNATI, May 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Kroger Co.
(NYSE: KR) today announced the Go Fresh & Local Supplier
Accelerator, a new partnership program inviting American growers
and producers to apply for the opportunity to work with the
retailer. The program, sponsored by Gourmet Foods International,
will enable Kroger to discover new suppliers to support the
continued expansion of its fresh departments – including produce,
deli, bakery, meat, seafood, dairy, specialty cheeses, and floral –
and its commitment to being Fresh for Everyone™.
Starting today and through May 31,
suppliers can apply to join the Go Fresh & Local Supplier
Accelerator, which will be held in Cincinnati in August. In collaboration with
Efficient Collaborative Retail Marketing and RangeMe, Kroger's
category management and fresh director team will review
applications in multiple rounds, selecting 15 finalists (one
finalist per region per category) to attend the event. All
finalists will present to a panel of judges during a pitch session,
with one overall winner selected from each region. The prize
package for the five overall winners includes product placement on
shelf within Kroger's Family of Companies; recommended partnerships
with Gourmet Foods International; and business development coaching
from Kroger merchandising and sales leaders as well as PearlRock
Partners CEO Brian Kelley, a 30-year
consumer product industry veteran and former president of Keurig
Green Mountain and Coca-Cola Refreshments.
"At Kroger, our Fresh for Everyone mission is anchored in
consistently and creatively providing fresh and affordable food to
our customers," said Dan De La Rosa,
Kroger's group vice president of fresh merchandising. "We're
dedicated to fostering innovation and investing in local, regional,
and small businesses that make the best of food accessible to all.
Our first Go Fresh & Local Supplier Accelerator is an extension
of our commitment and we're eager to invite suppliers of every size
to participate, providing the potential to grow our businesses
together."
Kroger welcomes growers and producers to apply to the relevant
regional categories below, in alignment with the following regional
versus local grouping criteria:
- Regions:
-
- Region 1: QFC, Fred Meyer,
Ralphs, and Food 4 Less
- Region 2: Fry's Food Stores, Smith's, King Soopers, City
Market, and Dillons
- Region 3: Kroger Houston,
Kroger Dallas, Kroger Delta, and
Kroger Nashville
- Region 4: Mariano's, Metro Market, Pick 'n Save, Kroger
Central, Kroger Michigan, Kroger
Columbus
- Region 5: Kroger Atlanta, Kroger Mid-Atlantic, Kroger
Louisville, Harris Teeter and Kroger
Cincinnati-Dayton
- Groupings:
-
- Local:
-
- Small producers;
- Located in-state or the immediate market;
- Community-inspired and locally relevant items;
- Merchandised in less than approximately 100 stores.
- Regional:
-
- Larger producers;
- Cross state and division boundaries;
- Still locally relevant to customers;
- Merchandised in approximately 100 or more stores.
"Kroger is committed to offering the best assortment of fresh
products enabled by an innovative portfolio of suppliers. In 2020
alone, we invested $4.1 billion in
diverse suppliers — a 21% increase versus the previous year — and
we're working with intention to scale that number to $10 billion by 2030," said Stuart Aitken, Kroger's chief merchant and
marketing officer. "The Go Fresh & Local Supplier Accelerator
will help us achieve our goal as well as advance our freshness
commitment in our nearly 2,800 stores and across our Kroger.com
e-commerce services, including Pickup, Delivery, and Ship."
To apply and learn more about the Go Fresh &
Local Supplier Accelerator, visit
TheKrogerCo.com/GoFreshLocal.
Media Assets
To download Kroger store and fresh
department photography, visit here.
About Kroger
At The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), we are
dedicated to our Purpose: to Feed the Human Spirit™. We are nearly
half a million associates who serve over nine million customers
daily through a seamless digital shopping experience and 2,800
retail food stores under a variety of banner names, serving America
through food inspiration and uplift, and creating
#ZeroHungerZeroWaste communities by 2025. To learn more about us,
visit our newsroom and investor relations site.
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SOURCE The Kroger Co.