By Errol Schweizer
Source: Forbes
Food4Less is a high volume, California-based division of Kroger that caters to value-oriented shoppers. The busy stores are reportedly among the most profitable in their respective divisions. Yet after years of being underpaid and overworked to keep up with post-pandemic customer demand, workers at Food4Less are standing together for better pay rates and store safety measures.
Kroger is the U.S.A.’s largest full service supermarket, with over 10% national market share and over 20% market share in most of California and the west coast. As a grocer, it is second only to Walmart in sales. Banners such as Ralph’s, Smith’s, Harris Teeter, QFC, Fred Meyer and Vitacost are among the other chains acquired by and absorbed through Kroger’s aggressive expansion strategies over the years. While growth has slowed recently, the grocer sold over $150 billion in groceries in 2023 and generated over $2.2 billion in profits. The chain has grown over 20% in sales since the pre-Covid era because, like most grocers, they took advantage of supply chain strains to raise prices above the rate of received costs increases, leading to record profits throughout 2021, 2022 and 2023. Kroger is also among the most tech-savvy retailers, with extremely effective customer data acquisition, omnichannel fulfillment, loyalty programs, retail media and digital marketing that also informs their product assortment, merchandising, pricing and store layouts.
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