Kroger …
Kroger’s story began in 1883 when Barney Kroger invested his life savings of $372 to open a store at 66 Pearl Street in downtown Cincinnati. The motto was simple, “Be particular, never sell anything you would not want yourself.” As the Nation’s largest grocer with nearly 2,800 stores in 35 states operating under 28 different names, Kroger meets their customers’ changing needs by making fresh food accessible to all.
In the 1900’s grocers typically purchased bread from local bakeries then resold it. Barney, who was a born innovator, was always looking for new ways to serve customers. Barney reasoned that bread being the most basic of staples, was something he sold a lot of. He realized that if he could bake the bread himself, he’d cut costs and offer customers a fresher loaf at a lower price. So, instead of shopping at a Butcher, baker, and a grocer, Barney knew it would be more simple to buy everything in one stop. In 1901, Kroger became the first grocer in the country to establish it’s own bakeries, followed by integration of the meat department. That was innovation number one, one stop shopping, innovation number two was private label manufacturing. Barney decides to sale sauerkraut and sell in his stores. Today, Kroger operates 35 food manufacturing businesses in America that make everything from bread, cookies, milk, soda pop, ice cream, and peanut butter. Around 40% of private-label items are made at a Kroger manufacturing plant. Grocery delivery was innovation number 3. Barney would saddle his horse Dan and deliver groceries. Today, Kroger delivery would make Barney smile as to how far it has come. Innovation number 4 is Product Quality Monitoring and testing. In the 1930’s Kroger was the first grocery chain to routinely monitor product quality and scientifically test foods. In 2012 they were awarded the Black Pearl Award, which is awarded to only one company each year by the International Association for Food Protection. Innovation 5 is The Electronic Scanner, in 1972 Kroger became the first grocer retailer in America to test an electronic scanner. Kroger pioneered a faster checkout program that has reduced checkout time to less than 30 seconds.