Kroger announces fulfillment center coming to greater Cleveland
Kroger is continuing its operations with the Ocado Group, as the grocery giant announced a new Customer Fulfillment Center (CFC) coming to northeast Ohio.
The new facility will allow customers in the greater Cleveland area to get better delivery access to Kroger’s own brand products. The news follows recent announcements of fulfillment centers in Indianapolis, North Carolina, Atlanta, and Oklahoma City.
"Kroger is incredibly excited to expand our delivery business in our home state and provide northeast Ohioans access to thousands of fresh and popular products, including our industry-leading Private Selection and Simple Truth brands, through our CFC," said Gabriel Arreaga, Kroger's senior vice president and chief supply chain officer. "The Cleveland region facility is an accelerant to our strategy to achieve the doubling of our digital sales and profitability rate by the end of 2023, and we're eager to provide a rewarding experience for our new customers in northeastern Ohio and Pennsylvania and create new jobs for individuals passionate about technology, engineering, operations, logistics and transportation, inventory and quality management, and customer service and engagement."
After placing an order via Kroger.com or the Kroger app, customers in regions where a CFC is located have groceries delivered by a Kroger Delivery associate in a temperature-controlled van. Kroger Delivery is a vertically integrated network, enabling coverage of up to 90 miles from the hub location in Cleveland. As customers' orders near their delivery times, automated bots inside the facility retrieve products from “The Hive” which are presented at stations for items to be sorted for delivery. Once completed, orders are loaded into a temperature-controlled Kroger Delivery van, which can store up to 20 orders.
The CFC will measure 270,000 square feet and is expected to create up to 400 new jobs. It's expected to become operational 24 months after the site breaks ground and will service areas in northeastern Ohio and Pennsylvania. Kroger partnered with JobsOhio and Team NEO for the project.
"We are excited to bring Kroger and Ocado's second automated warehouse to Ohio,” said Luke Jensen, CEO of Ocado Solutions. “As this site develops and goes live, it will be instrumental in delivering fantastic grocery experiences and exciting job opportunities to households across Cleveland, Pennsylvania and beyond. Today's announcement marks another milestone to developing Kroger's seamless fulfillment ecosystem across the U.S. Ocado's proven technology will allow Kroger to achieve the lowest cost-to-serve in the market, combined with the best freshness, accuracy and service in grocery delivery."