Welcome to Kroger’s Go Fresh & Local Supplier Accelerator
At The Kroger Family of Companies, we are Fresh for Everyone™. Being Fresh is more than providing the freshest food to our customers, it’s also encouraging innovation and creating a unique experience for our customers and associates through events such as this. It’s our promise to help people thrive by making the best of food accessible to all.
We have been a supporter and advocate of small businesses since our founding as a local grocer in 1883 in Cincinnati, Ohio. We’re excited to launch this Go Fresh & Local Supplier Accelerator experience to offer additional opportunities for Fresh suppliers of every size to collaborate and help our businesses grow, succeed and innovate.
As a member of the Billon Dollar Roundtable, we continue to partner with many small, regional and diverse businesses in creative ways, including by investing in incubators, expanding relationships with existing partners, hosting and participating in supplier accelerators much like this one, and through partnerships with leading organizations like the National Minority Supplier Diversity Council and Women’s Business Enterprise National Council.
Through the Go Fresh & Local Supplier Accelerator, we look forward to using this platform to discover new U.S.-based small- and diverse-business enterprises to bring Fresh local and regional products to our shelves.
If you have a Fresh local or regional product to offer our customers and are interested in joining America’s largest grocery retailer, I personally invite you to apply. And while you’re here, take a look at our E-book especially created for small businesses interested in launching or expanding their retail presence.
Sincerely,
Dan De La Rosa
Group Vice President
of Fresh Merchandising, The Kroger Co.
What We’re Looking For
We’re seeking innovative, FRESH new items to expand our local and regional offerings across the country. This includes Produce, Floral, Deli, Bakery, Specialty Cheese, Dairy, Meat & Seafood commodities.
Watch for more information to come about our next Go Fresh & Local Supplier Accelerator if you’d like to partner with The Kroger Family of Companies to expand in one of these commodities.
Our Fresh Departments
Getting Your Start in Retail: Kroger’s Small Business Resource Guide, Making the exciting journey of bringing your offering to market a little easier
Russell McCall, Owner/Founder of Gourmet Foods International
“As America’s interest in and appreciation for gourmet food grew in the mid-80s, so did my little Cheese Shop in Atlanta, GA. Kroger was one of our first wholesale retail accounts over 30 years ago. Kroger was eager to pioneer unique products that had a story and tasted amazing. Their ability to understand small business obstacles helped GFI become a best-in-class importer, distributor, educator, and marketer in the specialty food space.”
Ryan Ford, President and Founder, Seven Hills/The Virginia Beef Co.
“At the start of the pandemic, our orders stopped and we were facing layoffs. After one phone call, Kroger realized we could fulfill their need to supply beef they desperately needed and figured out how to do business with us. What really strikes me is that Kroger as a corporation was able to act so quickly and got us set up to do business with them within hours. From the beginning, Kroger expressed interest in local product and wanted to develop a long-term relationship, which has since led to us developing the Virginia Beef Co. that’s now in more than a dozen local Kroger stores.”
80 Acres Farms
“As a pioneer in the vertical farming space, it’s been challenging to reach consumers consistently. We are grateful for Kroger’s broad distribution and commitment to fresh food that has enabled access to our local products to many more communities across the Midwest.”
