The Kroger Co.
Explore The Kroger
Core profile pages, annual revenue records, and related research hubs for this company.
The Kroger Co.
Explore The Kroger
Core profile pages, annual revenue records, and related research hubs for this company.
Company History
Founded 1883 in Cincinnati, Ohio
Barney Kroger opened a grocery business in Cincinnati in 1883 with a practical merchant idea: buy directly, keep quality consistent, and pass savings to shoppers. That mix of cost control and trust still explains the company more than a century later.
Barney Kroger founded the Great Western Tea Company in Cincinnati, Ohio, on April 3, 1883, with $372 in borrowed capital—the seed investment for what would become the largest traditional supermarket chain in American history. His commercial philosophy centered on the elimination of middlemen through direct sourcing from manufacturers and growers, a competitive insight that enabled lower prices and higher quality than competing merchants who operated through wholesalers. Kroger expanded aggressively through the late 19th and early 20th centuries, incorporating his name into the business through the 1902 rechristening as the Kroger Grocery and Baking Co. And taking the company public in 1916 on the Cincinnati Stock Exchange. He pioneered in-house bread baking as a form of vertical integration, establishing a precedent for the company's extensive private-label manufacturing operations. In 1928, at age 67, Kroger sold his personal stake in the business to a trust led by Lehman Brothers for approximately $28 million, equivalent to over $500 million in 2025 dollars. He died on July 7, 1938, having established the commercial infrastructure for a company that would serve American consumers for well over a century after his retirement.
Barney Kroger opens the business that becomes The Kroger Co.
Kroger expands significantly through the Fred Meyer transaction, adding multi-department and western U.S. scale.
Kroger gains a stronger Southeast and Mid-Atlantic premium grocery footprint.
The proposed Albertsons merger is blocked, forcing Kroger to refocus on standalone execution.
Kroger appoints Gregory S. Foran as CEO and board member, beginning a new operating chapter.
Kroger's acquisition of Fred Meyer Stores for approximately $13.5 billion in 1999 was the largest in the company's history at that time and represented a transformative geographic and format expansion. Fred Meyer operated approximately 800 stores across the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, Mountain West, and Mountain States, primarily in large-format multi-department locations selling groceries alongside clothing, electronics, hardware, and jewelry. The deal gave Kroger immediate scale in markets where it had limited or no presence and added a premium multi-department format capability that complemented its supermarket-focused portfolio.
Kroger acquired Matthews, North Carolina-based Harris Teeter Supermarkets for approximately $2.5 billion in January 2014, adding 227 stores across the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states and a premium supermarket banner with a strong reputation for fresh food quality, store cleanliness, and customer service. Harris Teeter operated in markets including Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham, the Washington D.C. Metro area, Richmond, and coastal Carolina markets where Kroger had limited or no presence. The acquisition provided immediate scale in high-growth Sunbelt markets with attractive demographic profiles.
Kroger's acquisition of Roundy's Inc. For approximately $800 million in 2015 added three distinct grocery banners: Pick 'n Save and Metro Market in Wisconsin, and the premium Mariano's banner in the Chicago metropolitan area. The deal represented Kroger's entry into the Chicago market—one of the largest U.S. Metro areas in which it had lacked significant presence—as well as a meaningful expansion in Wisconsin, where Pick 'n Save was the leading conventional supermarket banner. Mariano's, positioned as a premium urban grocery experience, provided Kroger with a format for urban and affluent suburban markets that differed from its traditional suburban supermarket model.
Kroger's acquisition of Vitacost.com, an online natural health and organic food retailer, for approximately $280 million in 2014 represented an early strategic move to build digital commerce capabilities at a time when most traditional grocery retailers were still treating e-commerce as a peripheral experiment. Vitacost operated as a pure-play online retailer selling vitamins, supplements, natural foods, and health products through its website, with a customer base concentrated in the health-conscious consumer segment that Kroger was simultaneously trying to capture with its Simple Truth organic brand launch.
Kroger's acquisition of Chicago-based meal kit company Home Chef for approximately $700 million in 2018 reflected a strategic judgment that the meal kit market represented a meaningful opportunity to win higher-frequency, higher-basket purchases from millennial households seeking the convenience of meal planning without the full commitment of restaurant dining. Home Chef was the third-largest meal kit company in the United States at the time of the acquisition, with a subscriber base of several hundred thousand households and a direct-to-consumer subscription business complemented by a growing in-store retail meal kit presence.
Kroger was founded in 1883 by Barney Kroger.
Early product focus, operating discipline, and customer relationships shaped Kroger's expansion.
Kroger's latest annual results and leadership updates mark the current chapter of the company.
This profile summarizes the founding, expansion, leadership, and modern strategy eras.