Kroger and Walgreens Expand Exploratory Pilot

Innovative Kroger Express concept coming to Walgreens pilot locations in Northern Kentucky

Home Chef Express meal kits now available in 65 Chicago-area Walgreens stores

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Dec 04, 2018, 06:30 ET

CINCINNATI, CHICAGO and DEERFIELD, Ill., Dec. 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Kroger Co. and Walgreens today announced two initiatives, building on the exploratory pilot the companies announced in October, combining America's food and grocery authority with Walgreens global expertise in pharmacy, health and beauty.

Kroger and Walgreens are expanding their exploratory pilot to introduce Kroger Express and Home Chef retail meal kits. The concept will offer 2,300 Our Brands and national products, including meat, dairy, grocery and meal kits.

"We are redefining the customer experience in a variety of ways through Restock Kroger, including innovative partnerships like our test-and-learn pilot with Walgreens. We are excited to enter the next phase of the pilot," said Robert Clark, Kroger's senior vice president of merchandising. "The Kroger Express concept creates easy access to our most popular Our Brands products through a fill-in grocery shopping experience for Walgreens customers, and our Home Chef Express meal kits provide customers with an on-demand solution for tonight's dinner."

"We're pleased to continue working together to explore new concepts that expand product selection to provide a better shopping experience and greater value for our customers," said Richard Ashworth, Walgreens president of operations.

Kroger Express Coming to Walgreens

Kroger Express—a curated assortment of 2,300 products, selected using customer data and insights provided by Kroger subsidiary 84.51°—will soon be offered at the 13 Walgreens test stores in Northern Kentucky, near Kroger's Cincinnati headquarters. The Kroger Express selection will include Home Chef meal kits, national products and Kroger's popular Our Brands products, highlighting America's largest natural and organic brand Simple Truth, along with dairy, meat, produce, frozen and meal solutions.

The first concept is operational in Florence, Kentucky. The remaining 12 pilot stores will be operational early next year.

As announced in October, the participating pilot stores are offering a one-stop shopping experience where customers can access products from both brands and order groceries

on kroger.com for pickup at Walgreens. Kroger Express marks an expansion of the original offering.

Home Chef Express Meal Kits Now Available at 65 Chicago Walgreens Stores

Today also marks the launch of Home Chef Express meal kits in 65 Walgreens locations in the Chicago area.

The new offering enhances the reach of Home Chef's Express products, already available at certain Kroger Family of Stores, including select Mariano's stores in the Chicago area. During the pilot, Walgreens will offer three unique Home Chef Express meal kit options, with recipes rotating bi-weekly. Other recipes are available for delivery through homechef.com, where shoppers can find additional weekly variety.

Each meal serves two and starts at $8.50 per serving. Information about participating locations is available at homechef.com/grocery.

"Customers have responded favorably to the retail meal kits at our Mariano's stores in the market and other Kroger Family of Stores located in different cities. The Walgreens expansion provides more Chicagoans convenient access to a quick, simple meal," added Clark.

"Making Home Chef Express meals available at Walgreens is another way Home Chef is making meal time easy," said Pat Vihtelic, Home Chef CEO and founder. "The Express recipes, which cook in 15 minutes, are meals anyone can cook and everyone will love."

To view photography of the Kroger Express concept and Home Chef retail display in Walgreens, visit here.

About Kroger
At The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), we are dedicated to our Purpose: to Feed the Human Spirit™. We are nearly half a million associates who serve over nine million customers daily through a seamless digital shopping experience and 2,800 retail food stores under a variety of banner names, serving America through food inspiration and uplift, and creating #ZeroHungerZeroWaste communities by 2025. To learn more about us, visit our newsroom and investor relations site.

About Home Chef
Home Chef is one of the largest meal kit delivery companies in the U.S., with over 3 million meals delivered each month. Founded in 2013, Home Chef offers fresh, pre-portioned ingredients and easy to follow recipes delivered weekly and is designed for anyone to be able to cook and everyone to enjoy. The Chicago-based company delivers nationwide. For two years running, Home Chef has been rated #1 in customer satisfaction among leading meal kit companies, according to Market Force Information U.S. Grocery Benchmark Study. Home Chef is a subsidiary of The Kroger Co. Find out more and get cooking at www.homechef.com. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for live updates and delicious inspiration.

About Walgreens
Walgreens (walgreens.com), one of the nation's largest drugstore chains, is included in the Retail Pharmacy USA Division of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ: WBA), the first global pharmacy-led, health and wellbeing enterprise. Approximately 8 million customers interact with Walgreens in stores and online each day, using the most convenient, multichannel access to consumer goods and services and trusted, cost-effective pharmacy, health and wellness services and advice. As of August 31, 2018, Walgreens operates 9,560 drugstores with a presence in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, along with its omnichannel business, Walgreens.com. Approximately 400 Walgreens stores offer Healthcare Clinic or other provider retail clinic services.

SOURCE The Kroger Co.