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GOURMET NEWS MARCH 2019 www.gourmetnews.com Retailer News RETAILER NEWS 1 0 BRIEFS Kroger Promotes Stuart W. Aitken to Senior Vice President, Alternative Business The Kroger Co. has announced a key promotion in support of "Restock Kroger" and beyond with the appointment of Stuart W. Aitken to the newly-created role of Senior Vice President, Alternative Business, effective February 3, 2019. In this role, Aitken will assume oversight for Kroger's successful existing alternative profit businesses, including 84.51° and Kroger Personal Finance (KPF), and also lead the development of a full portfolio of alternative businesses to support the transformation of Kroger's growth model. He will continue to serve as Chief Executive Officer of 84.51° and oversee Kroger's marketing function. Kroger Announces Technology Leadership Succession Plan Christopher T. Hjelm, Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer for The Kroger Co., will be succeeded by Yael Cosset, Kroger's Chief Digital Officer, effective May 1, 2019. Hjelm will remain Executive Vice President, reporting to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rodney McMullen, until his retirement on August 1, 2019. Cosset will assume responsibility for the Kroger Technology function in addition to his current Kroger Digital portfolio. GIANT Launches GIANT DIRECT, Powered by Peapod GIANT DIRECT, Powered by Peapod, a new brand, debuted in February in the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania with the opening of its new GIANT DIRECT, Powered by Peapod e- commerce hub. Part of a $22 million investment in Lancaster County first announced by the company in June 2018, the 38,000 square- foot hub adds approximately 150 jobs to the local economy. In partnership with Peapod Digital Labs, GIANT DIRECT, Powered by Peapod allows the company's e-commerce centers to offer a pickup option in which online orders are delivered directly to customer vehicles that have pulled up outside. The new hub also features a walk-up vestibule with easy-order tablets. GIANT DIRECT, Powered by Peapod replaces the branding model of "Peapod by GIANT." To emphasize this customer-facing change, GIANT DIRECT, Powered by Peapod also comes with a new contemporary logo that expresses to customers, "Direct from us, to you." Ralphs Promotes Kendra Doyel to Vice President of Merchandising Ralphs, a subsidiary of The Kroger Co., has announced that Kendra Doyel has been promoted to Vice President of Merchandising for the company, effective February 3. She reports to Mike Murphy, President of the Ralphs division. Doyel succeeds Victor Smith, who was recently promoted to President of Kroger's Delta division. Kroger Launches Zero Hunger | Zero Waste Innovation Fund The Kroger Co. has launched a Zero Hunger | Zero Waste Innovation Fund in support of its plan to end hunger in its communities and eliminate waste across the company by 2025. Kroger is inviting in- novators to submit proposals for ideas and solutions to prevent food waste through March 4, 2019. The company is commit- ting up to $1 million in grants for the first cohort to inspire and capture the innova- tive thinking to fix the paradoxical prob- lems of widespread hunger throughout the U.S. combined with the waste of up to 40 percent of the food that's grown in the country. Kroger's Zero Hunger | Zero Waste Inno- vation Fund is a signature program of The Kroger Co. Zero Hunger | Zero Waste Foundation, a new public charity designed to catalyze collective action and direct re- sources where they are needed most to help transform Kroger communities. For the inaugural open call, Kroger will award grants ranging from $25,000 to $250,000 per project, prioritizing emerg- ing technologies and ideas focused on food waste prevention. Proposals will be evaluated by the board of directors for The Kroger Co. Zero Hunger | Zero Waste Foundation, as well as an advisory council of leaders from World Wildlife Fund, Feeding America, ReFED, Kroger Tech- nology, and 84.51°. Criteria includes alignment with Kroger's Zero Hunger | Zero Waste plan, potential for positive im- pact in U.S. communities served by the Kroger Family of Companies, ease of im- plementation, geography, and measurabil- ity and scalability. Applicants must submit letters of intent by March 4, 2019 to receive a chance to be selected as finalists and provide full appli- cations for grant consideration. Grant re- cipients will be announced in the spring, and grantees will receive access to Kroger leaders and partners; the potential to test their solution with the Kroger Family of Companies or a partner; networking op- portunities with program peers, industry experts and investors; visibility through case studies, showcases and promotional content; and the option to apply for follow- on funding. Kroger introduced its Zero Hunger | Zero Waste commitment in September 2017, pledging $10 million to support new ideas and concepts. To learn more about the inau- gural call and how to apply, visit innovation fund.kroger.com and follow the journey at #ZeroHungerZeroWaste. GN Bi-Rite Market Continued from PAGE 1 giving the place an artful new life. Bi-Rite stayed in The Mission through it all, ever since it first opened it doors nearly 80 years ago. Brothers Joe and Bill Cordano built the market in 1940, then sold to Jack and Ned Mogannam in 1964. Ned's son, Sam, grew up working at the market, but went into the restaurant busi- ness, opening several successful restau- rants — until 1997, when Ned asked him to come back. Sam came back from foodservice with fresh ideas for Bi-Rite, taking the helm in 1998. He wanted to maintain the store's original familiar feel as a neighborhood market, but he added a kitchen to serve up prepared foods, and made it his mission to work directly with farmers. Now, Bi-Rite has grown organically into a family of six businesses that employs about 300 people. Bi-Rite Creamery was the creation of pas- try chefs Anne Walker and Kris Hoogerhyde, who sold their creations through Bi-Rite. Their talents out- grew their kitchen, and they found a new home in the creamery just down 18th Street. The creamery makes ice cream from scratch, using organic dairy from Straus Family Creamery just north of the Bay Area. Because of the lines that form there daily, the staff has to set up velvet ropes every morning just to keep things or- derly. By 2008, the leadership team decided to move the conversation around food from the store to its own space, where customers could meet the farmers who grow the food, right next to the creamery. They called it 18 Reasons, which became Bi-Rite's nonprofit opera- tion. The space is used for tastings, nightly dinners and classes, and also the Cooking Matters program, which teaches basic cooking skills to low-in- come community members. Bi-Rite's original location, with all the fresh attention, started getting too busy. "There would be days when we had a line going all the way out the door," said Stefan Morin, General Manager of Bi-Rite Market. "We got crowded out." So that year, they opened a second location in the Western Addition N e i g h b o r h o o d , less than two miles away. This location was larger than the original. That same year, Bi-Rite took some of the pressure off its in-store kitchens and expanded into catering by opening its com- missary in the Bayview District. The com- missary — just like the two markets — is noted for its wide selection of world- renowned cheeses, making it perfect for high-class entertaining. The most recent addition to the Bi-Rite family of business opened in the Civic Cen- ter in October 2018, in the form of Bi-Rite Cafe, when the Helen Diller Family Founda- tion extended an invitation. The foundation was adding new life to the area, which was known for being a bit of a food desert. And even though the business has grown from a small family operation, it still has the same family feel it used to, for staff and cus- tomers alike. As customers walk in the door, they're often greeted by name, and they'll often stay to chat for as long as two hours — to learn about where their food comes from, to learn about pairing food and just to catch up with the crew. Everything fresh in the store is farm- direct. That shortens the supply chain, connects customers to their food, makes sure food is fresh and allows the maxi- mum amount of dollars to get to the per- son who's responsible for making the product. "That's the definition of a com- munity business, is that's it's a regular part of the community, not one that op- erates outside the community, not ex- empt from the community," said Morin. "Without this community, we wouldn't have a business." GN

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