Earlier this year The Kroger Co. extended their commitment to food entrepreneurs through their launch of an accelerator program that will nurture small food businesses and food startups. The giant grocery retailer reviewed more than 1,000 applications from growers and producers and just announced the inaugural cohort of their Go Fresh & Local Supplier Accelerator.
“We invented the Go Fresh & Local Supplier Accelerator to discover the best, most innovative, and freshest local and regional products – and our group of winners is just that,” said Dan De La Rosa, Kroger’s group vice president of fresh merchandising. “We are proud to partner with these extraordinary suppliers to bring exciting new products to our stores across the country – and introduce customers to more locally made favorites.”
Kroger collaborated with business discovery platform Efficient Collaborative Retail Marketing and product sourcing platform RangeMe to select the 15 finalists for the final pitch competition held recently in Cincinnati.
The finalists were grouped by region and then each competitor presented a 10-minute pitch, while also providing product samples to the judging panel. The judges conducted a Q&A with the small food business owners and then narrowed down the competitors to this year’s winning small business brands: Maazah, Nona Lim, Queen Charlotte’s Pimento Cheese Royale, Simply Southern Sides, and Soupergirl.
The judges for the competition included Milen Mahadevan, president of 84.51°; Valerie Jabbar, senior vice president of retail divisions at Kroger; Nick Tranchina, president of Murray’s Cheese; Patrick Vihtelic, founder and CEO of HomeChef; Dan De La Rosa, group vice president of fresh merchandising at Kroger; and Brian Kelley, CEO of PearlRock Partners.
The inaugural cohort and their food products are:
Maazah (Minneapolis, MN) – A bright, bold and balanced Afghan-style chutney made of fresh cilantro, ginger, garlic, zesty lemon, apple cider vinegar and jalapeno pepper from a women-owned brand.
Nona Lim (Oakland, CA) – Refrigerated pad thai & Asian noodle kits from a women-owned brand.
Queen Charlotte’s Pimento Cheese Royale (Charlotte, NC) – Four flavors of gluten-free, keto-friendly premium pimento cheese from a founder husband-and-wife team.
Simply Southern Sides (Macedonia, OH) – Spice and seasoning kits for homemade soul food from Booker’s Soul Food Starters, a Black and woman-owned business.
Soupergirl (Washington, D.C.) – Readymade heat-and-eat soups, chilis and gazpacho made from farm fresh local produce by a women-owned business.
Often a food business is started as a home based business—evolving into a sustainable and growing company by someone who loves to cook. That passion motivates them to take on the risk of starting a company, allowing them to share what they so much enjoy creating in their kitchens. Typically, their businesses grow slowly by word of mouth, so selection into Kroger’s accelerator program is a game changer from their more humble original business plan.
The Kroger accelerator offers these small business owners and others who follow the potential to change from a home based chef into a successful business owner in the food industry. These small food businesses will have the extraordinary experience of seeing their products on Kroger’s grocery store shelves in the first quarter of next year. To accomplish that, each small business owner will receive business development coaching and collaboration opportunities to expand their business.
Last year Kroger invested $4.1 billion in diverse suppliers, a 21% increase from the prior year. With the accelerator now in place, Kroger displays an even greater commitment to finding and nurturing great food business ideas. The company has set a goal of reaching $10 billion from diverse suppliers by 2030. The diverse inaugural cohort is a major step toward reaching their goal. Those who are starting a food business now know they can aspire to be selected into the Accelerator, a place where they will gain great support and live their dream.
“Kroger’s Go Fresh & Local Supplier Accelerator has allowed us to identify additional growers, producers, and suppliers across regions, categories, and verticals – helping us diversify our product offering and our supplier relationships and create new ways for small businesses to partner with the largest grocer in America,” said Stuart Aitken, Kroger’s chief merchant and marketing officer.
Learn more about Top Startup Accelerators in the U.S.
