A letter from our CEO
Greg Foran
Fellow Shareholders
When I joined Kroger earlier this year, I got straight to the thing I enjoy the most – walking our stores, distribution centers and manufacturing facilities.
I watched how our customers shopped – what they put in their carts and what they left on the shelf. I heard from associates across the company about what is going well and what we need to do better.
I found a lot to be proud of.
Kroger serves more than 11 million customers a day. Our stores support communities across America, run by associates who know what their neighbors need and want. The company’s Our Brands portfolio competes with national brands on both quality and affordability. Our eCommerce business is growing quickly and is set to be profitable this year for the first time in the company’s history. We have industry-leading data and insight capabilities. Few retailers start with a foundation this strong, and even fewer have this much room to grow from it.
With that in mind, today, we have a gap between where we are and becoming the best Kroger we can be – and I am relentlessly focused on closing that gap as fast as possible.
When I joined Kroger earlier this year, I got straight to the thing I enjoy the most – walking our stores, distribution centers and manufacturing facilities.
I watched how our customers shopped – what they put in their carts and what they left on the shelf. I heard from associates across the company about what is going well and what we need to do better.
I found a lot to be proud of.
Kroger serves more than 11 million customers a day. Our stores support communities across America, run by associates who know what their neighbors need and want. The company’s Our Brands portfolio competes with national brands on both quality and affordability. Our eCommerce business is growing quickly and is set to be profitable this year for the first time in the company’s history. We have industry-leading data and insight capabilities. Few retailers start with a foundation this strong, and even fewer have this much room to grow from it.
With that in mind, today, we have a gap between where we are and becoming the best Kroger we can be – and I am relentlessly focused on closing that gap as fast as possible.
Building on a solid foundation
Kroger must operate more efficiently. From sourcing products to managing goods and services, to structuring the organization, we need to move faster and take better advantage of our near-national scale.We are working to free up resources so they can create the most value. Every dollar saved goes somewhere specific – lowering prices and improving the customer experience.
Our Brands has an important role to play in this equation. Growing our owned brand penetration will help our customers save while improving shareholder value. Every time a customer picks one of our brands instead of a national brand, we earn better margins and they get a better deal. This year, we are improving quality by reformulating our products, refining ingredients and benchmarking against the best items we can find. When customers choose an Our Brands product, we want them to know they made the smartest choice in the aisle.
Investing in affordability
Value is more than the price on the shelf. It’s the right combination of affordability and quality — and it is what earns customer loyalty. Customers should find everyday prices they trust, paired with promotions that are simple and easy to understand.
We are lowering prices and sharpening our promotions so value is easy to see. Our customers need to trust they will find the best prices on the high-quality products Kroger is known for. That’s why we are taking a disciplined look across our operations to unlock cost savings – and reinvesting those dollars directly into lower prices for our customers. This includes how we source products, how we manage our supply chain and how we modernize our work through initiatives like the Kroger Capability Center. This work is complementary – the savings we generate today become value our customers receive tomorrow.
Growing our footprint in stores and online
I have real conviction in our business model. It is highly efficient and offers customers an experience our competitors simply cannot match: Fresh food, real value, broad assortment and genuine convenience. When a customer walks into a Kroger store and finds exactly what they need, at a price they trust, with associates who are ready to help – that is the experience we are building toward. In every store, every visit. Kroger has all the ingredients required to win in food retail, and Kroger is built to lead.
That is why we are laying the groundwork to open more new stores and complete more
renovations than in previous years, growing new stores by 30% in 2026. We will also evaluate a range of formats, including smaller and medium-sized stores, so we can serve more customers in more communities.
eCommerce is one of our most important growth engines. We are extending our reach through
third-party delivery that prioritizes profitability alongside growth. As eCommerce grows, it fuels our retail media business, which creates value for our suppliers and generates profit we can reinvest in lower prices for customers.
Underpinning all of this is our investment in technology, including AI. Used well, it helps us understand the neighborhoods we serve, spot problems before they grow and give our associates simpler tools to do their jobs. We have many examples live today, including a
program that helps fresh products move through our supply chain faster and at a lower cost. This means customers get better quality and we operate more efficiently. Technology will not replace good operators, it will make good operators better. That’s how we intend to use it.
As I told you in March, I’ve been in the food business long enough to know what good looks like. It starts with the customer, builds with consistent and disciplined execution, and requires a team who wants to win.
In my four months at Kroger, I’ve seen the foundation, the assets and the people. It’s on me to make sure we move with the speed and conviction this moment demands to provide a better experience for our customers, remove barriers for our associates, and deliver strong returns for our shareholders.
I remain incredibly excited to be on this team and look forward to what we will achieve together.
Thank you,
Greg Foran
CEO, The Kroger Co.