Bernard Kroger
Founder of the Kroger supermarket chain and grocery innovator.
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He founded the Great Western Tea Company in 1883 with a friend, which later became the Kroger grocery chain.[1] By the end of World War I, his business had grown from a local shop into a national enterprise.[1]
Key facts and history
Kroger quit school at age thirteen to support his family after his parents' dry goods store failed during the 1873 economic downturn.[2][3] Kroger then worked as a door-to-door salesman for tea companies and turned around a failing grocery, earning a $3,100 profit.[4] In 1883, he invested his life savings of $372 with friend B.A. Branagan to open a store at 66 Pearl Street in Cincinnati.[4][1] Kroger pioneered the low-cost, self-service grocery model and was the first grocer to mark sale prices on individual items.[5]
He was also the first to include fresh meat departments in grocery stores, acquiring a meat packing company in 1904.[6] After working for six dollars monthly as a farm laborer near Pleasant Plain, Ohio, he caught malaria and then traveled 37 miles on foot back to Cincinnati.[7][8] The highest number of stores Kroger ever operated was 5,575, reached in 1929.[9] In December 1927, a Wall Street syndicate headed by Lehman Brothers purchased Kroger's company for $28 million.[10]
On July 21, 1938, Kroger suffered a fatal heart attack at his summer residence in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.[11]
What the cited sources add
The Garrison biography notes that Kroger's mother, Mary Gertrude, was born in Elve, Westphalia, and was a strict disciplinarian who kept the family store's books.[1] Garrison also states that Kroger's first store featured eye-catching displays that looked "more like billboards than grocery stores"[1] The same source reports that Kroger described his business formula as "First: Do it first"[1] Garrison records that Kroger's advertisements used large print and illustrations of specialty items.[1]
When asked about the single greatest factor in his success, Kroger answered "Advertising"[1]
References
- Garrison, "Bernard Heinrich Kroger (1860–1938)", www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org. facts only, no text reused. immigrantentrepreneurship.org
- Wikipedia, "Bernard Kroger" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Charles F. Philips. "A History of the Kroger Grocery and Baking Company" in National Marketing Review, Vol. 1, No. 3 (Winter 1936), p. 204 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Bernard Kroger" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Smith, "Food and Drink in American History: A 'Full Course' Encyclopedia [3 volumes]", Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2013, p. 516 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Bernard Kroger" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Smith, "Food and Drink in American History: A 'Full Course' Encyclopedia [3 volumes]", Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2013, p. 516; Garrison, "Bernard Heinrich Kroger (1860–1938)", www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Bernard Kroger" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Cincinnati – A Guide to the Queen City and Its Neighbors", The City of Cincinnati, Ohio, 1943, p. 343 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Bernard Kroger" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Kroger Purchases Big Meat Business", The Kentucky Post and Times-Star, October 20, 1904 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Bernard Kroger" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Garrison, "Bernard Heinrich Kroger (1860–1938)", www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Bernard Kroger" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Lee, "The Name's Familiar – Mr. Leotard, Barbie, and Chef Boyardee", Pelican Publishing, 1999; Garrison, "Bernard Heinrich Kroger (1860–1938)", www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Bernard Kroger" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Kroger Began 130 Years Ago Today", The Cincinnati Commercial Tribune, July 1, 2013 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Bernard Kroger" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "B. H. Kroger Dies – Estimate Estate to be $20,000,000", The Cincinnati Post, July 22, 1938; "Kroger Grocery Co, Likely to be Sold", The New York Times, December 6, 1927; Phillips, "A History of the Kroger Grocery & Baking Company", Sage Publications, Winter 1936; "B. H. Kroger Resigns", The Cincinnati Enquirer, November 25, 1931 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Bernard Kroger" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Kroger Rites Will be Held in Cincinnati", Dayton Daily News, July 22, 1938; ; "B. H. Kroger Dies", The New York Times, July 22, 1938 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Bernard Kroger (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Bernard Kroger (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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