The grocer is opening a new department also serving Miami, Florida and surroundings — celebrates its 90 new associates
MIAMI, February 1, 2023 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/– The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), the American grocer, today announced the opening of a new spokes factory in South Florida. Joined by the local community, Kroger celebrated the expansion of the delivery service and welcomed 90 new associates. This opening of the facility means customers can access Kroger’s incredible selection of fresh items, unique Our brands favorite national products and brands, plus personalized offers for the groceries most important to their families – all delivered right to their door by a friendly, professional Kroger associate.
Kroger delivery van
Kroger Delivery Associate
“We’re excited to connect more Floridians to the Kroger Delivery shopping experience, which brings thousands of digital coupons, valuable fuel points*, and the freshest produce right to customers’ doorsteps,” said Bill Bennett, Kroger Vice President and Head of E-Commerce. “Whether using the Kroger app or browsing our weekly Kroger.com advertisement, customers can enjoy fresh, high-quality, affordable groceries delivered by best-in-class uniformed drivers.”
The 60,000 square foot shelving facility will work in conjunction with the Groveland, Florida distribution center. All orders are picked at the peak of product freshness in the Groveland ease. Associates carefully assemble orders and place them in air-conditioned vehicles to drive to Miamiat the service of communities between Port Saint Lucie north to Homestead on the south from the east and west sides of I-95. Once orders arrive, they are checked and placed on refrigerated delivery trucks that deliver directly to customers’ doorsteps, ensuring that cold and frozen products remain at the ideal temperature from the supplier to the customer’s fridge. Learn more about pursuing a career with Kroger here.
“We have been working closely with the Kroger team since they started looking to expand to South Florida and I knew this was a geographic area that would offer significant growth potential,” said James Kohnstamm, executive vice president, Miami-Dade Beacon Council. “From a customer perspective, we have over a million homes and hundreds of new residents moving into Miami every week. From a workforce perspective, we have a large talent pool with expertise in cold chain and logistics management, as well as multiple startups dedicated to driving innovation in the field of trade and logistics.
Local customers can get more value when shopping for their favorite items by using Boost by Kroger Plus, the annual grocery delivery subscription that can save up to $1,000 per year on fuel and grocery delivery. Eligible customers can try the Boost subscription with a 30-day free trial and subscribe for as little as $7.99 a month. Additionally, new customers can enjoy $15 on their first three orders.
Kroger Delivery Explained
The expansion to South Floridaincluding Miami represents an extension of a collaboration between Kroger and Ocado Group, a global technology leader for grocery e-commerce. In 2018, the companies announced a collaboration to establish a delivery network that combines artificial intelligence, advanced robotics, and automation in a bold new way, bringing one-of-a-kind technology to America.
The delivery network relies on highly automated distribution centers. On the hub sites, more than 1,000 bots move on giant 3D grids, orchestrated by proprietary control systems. The grid, known as The Hive, contains bins filled with products and customer orders ready for delivery. As customer orders approach delivery deadlines, robots retrieve products from The Hive and present them to pick stations for items to be sorted for delivery, a process driven by algorithms that ensure items are packaged smartly. For example, fragile items are placed on top, bags are weighed evenly, and each order is optimized to fit in the fewest number of bags, reducing plastic usage. The bags are also recyclable, reflecting Kroger’s commitment to its Zero Hunger | Zero waste commitment to rid its communities of hunger and waste.
Kroger’s end-to-end refrigeration solutions keep groceries fresh once loaded into a custom refrigerated delivery van, which can store up to 20 orders. Powerful machine learning algorithms optimize delivery routes, taking into account factors such as road conditions and optimum fuel efficiency. Vans can travel up to 90 minutes with orders from the hub and hub-and-spoke facilities to make deliveries. Spokesperson associates will deliver orders within their service area, adding postcodes as demand increases.
Kroger currently operates customer processing centers in Monroe, Ohio, Groveland, Florida, Forest Park, Georgia (Atlanta), Pleasant Prairie, WI, Dallas, TX, Romulus, MI (Detroit) and Aurora, CO with additional customer processing centers planned for California, Frederick, MD, Phoenix, Arizona, Cleveland, Ohio, Charlotte, North Carolinaas good as South Florida and the Northeast.
*Customers in Jacksonville, Miami and Tampa can order fresh groceries for delivery on Kroger.com or the Kroger app, create a Kroger loyalty account, and earn points to save on fuel at participating Shell stations.
Multimedia assets
To download Kroger Delivery photography and video, visit here.
About Kroger
At Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), we are Fresh for Everyone™ and dedicated to our purpose: Feeding the Human Spirit®. We are, in our family of companies, nearly half a million associates who serve more than 11 million customers daily through a seamless shopping experience under a variety of banner names. We are committed to building #ZeroZeroWaste Hunger communities by 2025. To learn more about us, visit our writing and investor relations to place.
About Ocado Group
Ocado Group is a UK-based technology company admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange (Ticker OCDO). It provides comprehensive online shopping fulfillment solutions to some of the world’s largest food retailers and owns a 50% share of Ocado Retail Ltd in the UK through a joint venture with Marks & Spencer. Ocado has spent two decades innovating for online grocery, investing in a broad area of technology that includes robotics, AI and machine learning, simulation, forecasting and cutting-edge intelligence.
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SOURCEThe Kroger Co.
