Kroger expands delivery to south Florida

The Kroger Co. opened a new spoke facility in south Florida. This facility opening means customers can access Kroger's selection of fresh items delivered directly to their door by Kroger associates.

"We are thrilled to connect more Floridians to the Kroger Delivery shopping experience, which brings thousands of digital coupons, valuable fuel points and the freshest products directly to customers' doors," said Bill Bennett, Kroger vice president and head of E-commerce. "Whether they are using the Kroger app or browsing our weekly ad at Kroger.com, customers can enjoy fresh, high-quality, affordable groceries delivered by best-in-class uniformed drivers."

The 60,000-square-foot spoke facility will work in conjunction with the Groveland, FL, fulfillment center. All orders are picked at the products' peak freshness within the Groveland facility. Associates carefully assemble orders and place them in climate-controlled vehicles to travel to Miami, serving communities between Port St. Lucie in the north to Homestead in the South, on both the east and west sides of I-95. Once the orders arrive, they are checked and placed on refrigerated delivery trucks that deliver directly to customers' doors, ensuring cold and frozen products remain at the perfect temperature from the supplier to the customer's refrigerator.

"We've been working closely with the Kroger team since they started looking to expand to South Florida and knew this was a geography that would offer significant growth potential," said James Kohnstamm, executive vice president of the Miami-Dade Beacon Council. "From a customer standpoint, we have over a million households and hundreds of new residents relocating to Miami each week. From a workforce standpoint, we have a deep bench of talent with expertise in cold chain and logistics management, as well as multiple startups dedicated to driving innovation in the trade and logistics space."

The expansion to south Florida, including Miami represents an extension of a collaboration between Kroger and Ocado Group, a world leader in technology for grocery e-commerce.

Kroger currently operates customer fulfillment centers in Monroe, OH, Groveland, FL, Forest Park, GA, Pleasant Prairie, WI, Dallas, Romulus, MI, and Aurora, CO, with additional customer fulfillment centers slated for California, Frederick, MD, Phoenix, Cleveland, Charlotte, NC, as well as south Florida and the Northeast.