Latest news with #ZeroHungerZeroWaste
Business Wire
31-07-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Flashfood and Kroger Announce Pilot to Expand Affordable Grocery Access in Richmond
BUSINESS WIRE)--Flashfood, the leading affordable grocery app, has partnered with the Mid-Atlantic Division of The Kroger Co. to introduce its program across 16 Richmond-area Kroger stores. The rollout offers local shoppers significant savings on groceries while supporting Kroger's commitment to sustainability, affordability and healthy food access. Through the partnership, Richmond-area customers can purchase fresh groceries in surplus or nearing their best-by date—including meat, dairy, produce, and baked goods—at big discounts through the Flashfood app. Items are then picked up from designated Flashfood zones inside participating Kroger stores. 'Kroger's leadership in operational excellence makes them an incredible partner to demonstrate what Flashfood can deliver when executed at scale,' said Jordan Schenck, CEO of Flashfood. 'We're thrilled to be kicking off this partnership and to support Kroger's impactful Zero Hunger, Zero Waste program. Together, we're not only expanding access to fresh, affordable groceries in Richmond – we're also demonstrating how innovation can leverage surplus and end-of-life food to serve communities, support retailers and keep good food out of landfills.' In its recently published 2024 Impact Report Flashfood demonstrates the role food waste plays in today's affordability, health and nutrition crisis. In a 2025 shopper survey, 70% of Flashfood shoppers reported a healthier diet since using Flashfood, and 65% report eating more fruits and vegetables. This is a powerful health outcome, and the partnership with Kroger is an important step to achieving the availability required. It's a tech-driven, scalable solution that drives value on both sides of the marketplace. 'At Kroger, we're always looking for innovative ways to serve our communities, reduce our environmental impact and move closer to our Zero Hunger Zero Waste goals,' said Mid-Atlantic Division President Kate Mora. 'Our partnership with Flashfood helps us achieve all three. This app is another resource for customers who are looking for affordable options to feed their families while also keeping perfectly good food out of landfills. It's a win for our community and the planet.' With this expansion, Flashfood is now available in more than 2,000 stores across North America. To date, the program has diverted over 140 million pounds of food from landfills and saved shoppers more than $355 million on groceries. For more information, including a list of participating Kroger locations and to download the app, visit About Flashfood Flashfood is on a mission to feed families, not landfills. The app marketplace connects shoppers with fresh produce, meat and other groceries at up to 50% off. By partnering with retailers across North America, Flashfood offers shoppers nutritious staples at affordable prices, and reduces the amount of food going to landfills. To date, Flashfood has rerouted more than 140 million pounds of food from landfills while saving its shoppers more than $355 million on their groceries. Flashfood is a B-Corp certified company currently partnered with more than 2,300 stores across North America. For more information, please visit About Kroger's Mid-Atlantic Division: The Mid-Atlantic Division operates more than 100 stores in Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio. Based in Richmond, Virginia, the Mid-Atlantic Division employs about 18,000 associates. Kroger is dedicated to eliminating hunger in the communities it serves through partnerships with nine Feeding America food banks and numerous local organizations. The grocers Zero Hunger | Zero Waste efforts are aimed at ending hunger in Kroger communities and eliminating waste in stores by 2025. Kroger also supports breast cancer research, the military and their families and more than 4,000 nonprofit organizations. Last year, Kroger Mid-Atlantic donated 16.5 million meals to charity and 3,606,296 pounds of food to food bank partners.
Yahoo
16-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Newsweek Names Kroger One of America's Most Trustworthy Companies
Retailer recognized for outstanding associate, customer and investor trust scores CINCINNATI, June 16, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), America's grocer, today announced it has been recognized by Newsweek as one of "America's Most Trustworthy Companies" for 2025. "We work to earn trust every day by delivering great quality food at low prices, offering dependable employment with opportunities for fulfilling careers, caring for our communities and rewarding shareholders," said Ron Sargent, Kroger's Chairman and CEO. Companies earn this distinction from three main public pillars of trust – associate trust, customer trust and investor trust. The ranking reflects Kroger's continued efforts to provide customers with fresh, affordable food, employees with a workplace that respects and values every associate, and neighbors with a commitment to create communities free from hunger and food waste through Kroger's Zero Hunger | Zero Waste plan. Since launching Zero Hunger | Zero Waste in 2017, the retailer has directed more than 3.9 billion meals to feed hungry families in local communities. To learn more about Zero Hunger | Zero Waste, visit here. The Kroger Co. has been named a 2024 top place to work by the American Association of People with Disabilities and Disability:IN™, was honored by Handshake for excellence in early career hiring, named a best workplace for diverse professionals by Mogul, earned recognition from Newsweek as One of America's Greatest Workplaces for Diversity and ranked among Computerworld's Top 100 best places to work in IT. Visit to learn more about pursuing a career in roles that enhance the customer experience at Kroger. About Kroger At The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), we are dedicated to our Purpose: To Feed the Human Spirit™. We are, across our family of companies more than 400,000 associates who serve over 11 million customers daily through an eCommerce experience and retail food stores under a variety of banner names, serving America through food inspiration and uplift, and creating #ZeroHungerZeroWaste communities. To learn more about us, visit our newsroom and investor relations site. View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE The Kroger Co.
Yahoo
27-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Where Kroger's pledge to get rid of plastic bags by 2025 stands
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Seven years ago, the Ohio-based grocery chain Kroger pledged to get rid of plastic bags in all of its stores by 2025. Kroger made the announcement in August 2018, stating it would phase out single-use plastic bags and transition to reusable bags by 2025. The commitment included all of the brands Kroger owns, including grocery chains Dillons, Ralphs and QFC. See NBC4's previous coverage in the video player above. Battle of central Ohio bagel shops ends as owners reach settlement In an editorial published in the Cincinnati Enquirer at the time, Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen wrote that the waste generated by the bags at the company's over 2,700 stores – including its subsidiaries – would drop by 123 million pounds per year. The plan was part of Kroger's 'Zero Hunger Zero Waste' initiative, which aims to address a variety of social and environmental issues, such as food insecurity. The announcement stated the plan would begin with Seattle-based supermarket QFC, which has a total of nearly 60 locations in Washington and Oregon. QFC completely eliminated single-use plastic bags by April 2019. While Kroger saw success with QFC, it seems its goal to eliminate plastic bags across all of its stores by 2025 has fallen flat, considering numerous locations still use plastic bags. However, the original announcement did not specify if Kroger's commitment was intended to be accomplished by Jan 1, 2025, or by the end of the year. The company claims it has made progress toward eliminating plastic bags, with Kroger's 2024 environmental, social and governance report stating 'more than 700' of the stores owned by the company have stopped offering single-use plastic bags to date. New Big Lots owner to auction leases of several central Ohio stores The 2024 report still listed phasing out single-use plastic bags as a goal with a target year of 2025. However, the company did not mark the goal as 'on track' like some of its other initiatives, but rather an 'area of focus.' The company said differences in state and local politics have complicated reducing single-use plastic bags, but did not get into specifics. The annual report states Kroger 'remains focused on finding feasible ways to reduce the amount of single-use plastic grocery shopping bags used in our stores.' The report did not say when, or if, plastic bags will be phased out. A prior report from 2020 stated the company was on track to reach the goal of eliminating the single-use bags by 2025. In 2021, Kroger said it was developing a roadmap for the goal amid 'pandemic-related disruptions,' but still listed its status as on track. However, in 2022, the company changed the goal's standing from 'on track' to an 'area of focus,' where it remained in 2023. Plastic bags frequently end up in landfills or the ocean, with animals often ingesting them, according to the Center for Biological Diversity. The nonprofit also claims that it takes 1,000 years for a plastic bag to degrade in a landfill. Ohio State students honor, celebrate championship team Multiple other retailers have eliminated their use of plastic bags to help reduce the negative environmental impacts they can cause. Whole Foods stopped offering plastic bags in 2008, becoming the first American grocer to do so, according to the company. Trader Joe's followed suit in 2019 and Aldi in 2023. Some states, such as New York and California, have laws banning single-use plastic bags. Kroger, and other grocery chains, have removed single-use bags in states that require it. Kroger did not respond to a request for comment regarding its future goals and expected timeline when it comes to completely eliminating single-use plastic bags. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
