Misplaced Pages

#24975

55-694: The Fair Food Program is credited with helping eradicate modern-day slavery and forced labor on participating farms and has extended its protections to workers in 10 states and nine crops domestically. Several current participating buyers in the Fair Food Program have pledged their support for expanding the enforceable protections for workers in the three countries with pilot farms, including Mexico, Chile, and South Africa. Major participating buyers include McDonald's, Walmart, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, and Yum Brands. In spite of pressure and protests, some supermarket chains, including Kroger and Publix , refuse to join

110-693: A 5 percent market share. By 1982, it withdrew from the California market. Kroger opened stores in Florida under the SupeRx and Florida Choice banners from the 1960s until 1988, when the chain decided to exit the state and sold all of its stores; Kash n' Karry bought the largest share. In the 1970s, Kroger became the first grocer in the United States to test an electronic scanner and the first to formalize consumer research. Although Kroger has long operated stores in

165-529: A Fair Food Agreement with CIW. Other fast-food chains and food retailers followed suit. Despite this success, in 2007, the Florida Tomato Growers, which is the state's largest tomato producer, slowed the CIW's progress. They threatened farms with $ 100,000 worth of fines if they passed through "penny per pound" monies. In 2010, Pacific Tomato Growers and Lipman, two of the nation's largest producers, signed on to

220-404: A century before this rumor became reality, when Kroger announced in 2022 that it would acquire Safeway's parent company, Albertsons . In the 1930s, Kroger Grocery and Baking Company became the first grocery chain to monitor product quality and to test foods offered to customers. It also became the first company with a store surrounded on all four sides by parking lots. In 1932, the company tested

275-490: A definitive merger, bringing Roundy's chain's 166 primarily Wisconsin based chains under Kroger ownership. The merger is valued at $ 800 million, including debt. The acquisition, which brought Kroger back to Wisconsin after a 43-year absence, will retain the Roundy's, Pick 'n Save, Mariano's, Metro Market and Copps names, along with its Milwaukee operations. (Within a year-and-a-half, however, Kroger had rebranded all Copps locations to

330-463: A few stores to Jewel . Kroger would later return in 2015 upon its acquisition of Roundy's . Kroger entered the Charlotte market in 1977 and expanded rapidly throughout the 1980s when it bought some stores from BI-LO . However, most stores were in less desirable neighborhoods and did not fit in with Kroger's upscale image. Less than three months after BI-LO pulled out, that company decided to re-enter

385-485: A major portion of them in its headquarters state of North Carolina. Doing so, Kroger acquired Harris Teeter's click-and-collect program, which allows online ordering of groceries. Some industry experts saw this as a competitive move against online grocers such as AmazonFresh . The Harris Teeter acquisition marked Kroger's return to the Charlotte market after a 25-year absence. It also allowed Kroger to enter Asheville for

440-580: A market-leading presence in Nashville and initially promised to keep the five remaining Harris Teeter stores open when it acquired the chain, but the market "did not support Harris Teeter's future business plans". Two Harris Teeter stores were closed outright, and three closed temporarily while being converted to the Kroger brand (one of these would undergo a major remodeling and replace a neighboring Kroger store). On November 11, 2015, Kroger and Roundy's announced

495-483: A much smaller presence and the SuperValu-supplied stores are virtually nonexistent, though in all of these cases, Walmart remains a major competitor and Aldi is the only other supermarket with any market overlap. Kroger entered the competitive San Antonio, Texas , market in 1980 but pulled out in mid-1993. On June 15, 1993, the company announced the closure of its 15 area stores. From 1984 to 1986, Kroger exited

550-673: A pilot project after it opened a grocery store in Indianapolis. The facility, which was surrounded by a 75-car parking space, allowed the company to determine the close relationship between parking facilities and gross sales. Beginning in 1955, Kroger began acquiring supermarket chains, expanding into new markets. In May, Kroger entered the Houston, Texas , market by acquiring the Houston-based 26-store chain Henke & Pillot . In June, Kroger acquired

605-526: A supplier code of conduct), the FFP established the Fair Food Standards Council (FFSC), a third-party monitor to audit suppliers, investigate worker complaints, and provide educational programs for workers. By 2011, the Fair Food Program in its current form was fully functioning, with Participating Buyers, Growers, as well as human rights investigators from the Fair Food Standards Council. Walmart joined

SECTION 10

#1732854968025

660-502: A survey querying human rights experts about effective means of worker representation in the economy. They found that “The Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ Fair Food Program was the most widely cited example when Oxfam asked 23 experts about effective ways for workers to represent themselves.” Kroger The Kroger Company , or simply Kroger , is an American retail company that operates (either directly or through its subsidiaries ) supermarkets and multi-department stores throughout

715-497: A timekeeping system to prevent wage theft, freedom to speak without retaliation for voicing complaints or grievances, a premium pay generally referred to as an extra “penny per pound” of produce harvested that raises wages, and housing conditions compliant with state and federal regulations. The Code of Conduct further mandates periods of rest for workers during the hottest months of the year, as well as mandates access to water, bathrooms, and shade. The Fair Food Standards Council (FFSC)

770-547: Is a third-party monitoring group, ensures farms’ compliance with the Code of Conduct. According to the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, two unique driving forces behind the Fair Food Program are that workers are empowered to be the monitors of their own rights, and that it is backed by meaningful market consequences for farms that do not follow the Code of Conduct. The CIW has also developed a consumer-facing "Fair Food Label" to help promote

825-465: Is an independent human rights monitoring body ensuring the implementation of the Fair Food Program. The FFSC performs field audits interviewing a majority of farmworkers on each participating farm seasonally, operates a 24/7 confidential hotline maintained by Spanish, Haitian Creole, and English-language speakers allows workers to anonymously voice complaints regarding living and working conditions, and sends reports of code of conduct violations to growers in

880-565: Is owned by Kroger), and Food Lion. The Hannaford locations in these markets were purchased from Delhaize by Kroger as a condition of Delhaize's 2000 acquisition of the Hannaford chain, which had previously competed against Food Lion, also owned by Delhaize. Walmart Supercenters are also major competitors in both markets, and the chain briefly competed against Winn-Dixie , which has now exited Virginia. In 2001, Kroger acquired Baker's Supermarkets from Fleming Companies, Inc. Albertsons exited

935-583: Is the largest supermarket operator in the U.S. by revenue and the country's fifth-largest general retailer. The company is one of the largest American-owned private employers in the United States . Additionally, Kroger is ranked No. 25 on the Fortune 500 rankings of the largest U.S. corporations by total revenue. It is frequently listed as being a good dividend stock for investors in 2024. About two-thirds of Kroger's employees are represented by collective bargaining agreements , with most being represented by

990-488: The Huntsville - Decatur area of northern Alabama (as a southern extension of its Nashville, Tennessee , region), it has not operated in the state's largest market, Birmingham , since the early 1970s, when it exited as a result of intense competition from Winn-Dixie and local chains Bruno's Supermarkets and Western Supermarkets. Kroger built an ultra-modern dairy plant (Crossroad Farms Dairy) in Indianapolis in 1972. At

1045-730: The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). In 1883, 23-year-old Bernard Kroger , the fifth of ten children of German immigrants , invested his life savings of $ 372 (equivalent to $ 12,164 in 2023) to open a grocery store at 66 Pearl Street in downtown Cincinnati. The son of a merchant, he ran his business with a simple motto: "Be particular. Never sell anything you would not want yourself." He experimented with marketing products his company had produced so that his customers would not need to patronize separate stores and farms. In 1884, Kroger opened his second store. By 1902, Kroger Grocery and Baking Company had been incorporated. By this time,

1100-468: The CIW boycotted Taco Bell for almost four years, the company agreed to sign a Fair Food Agreement, committing the company to pay a “penny more per pound” on its tomatoes, to be passed on as wage bonus to tomato harvesters, and to work with CIW to improve conditions in the fields. College campuses were a major impetus for this agreement; twenty-two colleges banned Taco Bell from operating. The CIW then targeted McDonald's for two years; in 2007, McDonald's signed

1155-531: The Charlotte market, and in 1988, Kroger announced it was pulling out of the Charlotte market and put its stores up for sale. Ahold bought Kroger's remaining stores in the Charlotte area and converted them to BI-LO. In 1978, sixteen retail members of Parkview Markets Inc., filed an anti-trust lawsuit against Kroger. Kroger had a number of stores in the Western Pennsylvania region, encompassing Pittsburgh and surrounding areas from 1928 until 1984 when

SECTION 20

#1732854968025

1210-614: The Department of Labor's Bureau of International Affairs announced a partnership between the U.S. Government and Fair Food Standards Council to expand the program internationally to Mexico, Chile, and South Africa. The Fair Food Program is also currently being adapted to the fishing industry, with a pilot program launched in 2022 to protect fishermen in the United Kingdom. Since the Fair Food Program's inception, participating buyers have paid nearly $ 40 million in premium pay to farm workers and

1265-507: The Fair Food Program on January 16, 2014. The company sells 20% of the United States’ fresh tomatoes. Walmart additionally agreed to help expand the Program outside of Florida and expand into other crops. The Fair Food Program is credited with eliminating cases of forced labor from farms inside the Fair Food Program. In addition, the Fair Food Program is reported to have dramatically transformed

1320-584: The Fair Food Program. A series of interlocking mechanisms define the Fair Food Program: large retail corporations become Participating Buyers, who agree to only source relevant produce from farms that follow the Fair Food Program's code of conduct by signing an agreement with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW). In turn, farms, or Participating Growers, which follow the worker-developed Code of Conduct gain access to sell their produce to Buyers with preferential ordering. The Fair Food Standards Council, which

1375-656: The Fair Food Standards Council has resolved thousands of issues raised by worker complaints and its own audits. “‘When I first visited Immokalee, I heard appalling stories of abuse and modern slavery,' said Susan L. Marquis, dean of the Pardee RAND Graduate School, a public policy institution in Santa Monica, Calif. 'But now the tomato fields in Immokalee are probably the best working environment in American agriculture. In

1430-759: The Houston market was strengthened when Kroger bought several stores from AppleTree Markets , which were former Safeway stores in early 1994. In 1998, Kroger merged with the then fifth-largest grocery company Fred Meyer , along with its subsidiaries, Ralphs , QFC , and Smith's . In the late 1990s, it acquired many stores from A&P as it exited many markets in the South. Kroger also swapped all ten of its Greensboro, North Carolina -area stores in 1999 to Matthews, North Carolina -based Harris Teeter , for 11 of that company's stores in central and western Virginia. Kroger in turn would acquire Harris Teeter 15 years later. Long

1485-688: The Krambo Food Stores, Inc. of Appleton, Wisconsin . In July, it purchased Child's Food Stores, Inc. of Jacksonville, Texas , and operated 25 supermarkets in Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana. In January 1956, the company bought out Big Chain Stores, Inc., a chain of seven stores based in Shreveport, Louisiana , later combining it with the Childs group. All of these chains adopted the Kroger banner in 1966. During all

1540-541: The Michigan Market. In 2008, Kroger began a partnership with Murray's Cheese of New York City. Murray's Cheese counters within Kroger stores sell a variety of artisanal cheese from all parts of the world. On July 9, 2013, Kroger announced that it would acquire the 212 stores of Charlotte-based Harris Teeter in a deal valued at $ 2.5 billion and that it would assume $ 100 million in the company's outstanding debt. Harris Teeter's stores are in eight Southern states, with

1595-618: The Pick 'n Save banner.) In April 2016, Kroger announced that it had made a "meaningful investment" in the Boulder, Colorado -based Lucky's Market , an organic foods supermarket chain that operated 17 stores in 13 states throughout the Midwest and Southeast United States. In February 2017, Kroger withstood large community protests after announcing the closing of two smaller-sized Louisville-area stores. Despite high store volumes and high population densities,

1650-557: The Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Akron, and St. Louis markets. The company cited that higher wages for union employees made it unable to compete. The chain closed several stores around Flint, Michigan , in 1981, which were converted by local businessman Al Kessel to a new chain called Kessel Food Markets . Kroger bought most of these stores back in 1999 and began reverting them. Several other Michigan stores were sold to another Flint-based chain, Hamady Brothers , in 1980. The Hamady acquisition

1705-554: The San Antonio and Houston markets in early 2002, selling many of the Houston stores to Kroger. In 2004, Kroger bought most of the old Thriftway stores in Cincinnati, Ohio , when Winn-Dixie left the area. These stores were reopened as Kroger stores. In 2007, Kroger acquired Scott's Food & Pharmacy from SuperValu Inc. , and in the same year, also acquired 20 former Michigan Farmer Jack locations from A&P when A&P exited

Fair Food Program - Misplaced Pages Continue

1760-562: The U.S. began experiencing a severe economic recession . The recession had two significant and related effects on Kroger's operations in the region. One of them was that the highly cyclical manufacturing-based economy of the region declined in greater proportion than the rest of the U.S. , which undercut demand for the higher-end products and services offered by Kroger. Kroger sought wage rollbacks in several areas during this time period including in Western Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio,

1815-756: The United States. Founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cincinnati, Ohio , Kroger operates 2,719 grocery retail stores under its various banners and divisions in 35 states (mostly in the South, Midwest and West) and the District of Columbia. Its store formats include 134 multi-department stores , 2,273 combo stores , 191 marketplace stores , and 121 price-impact warehouse stores . Kroger operates 33 manufacturing plants, 1,642 supermarket fuel centers, 2,254 pharmacies, 225 The Little Clinic in-store medical clinics, and 127 jewelry stores (782 convenience stores were sold to EG Group in 2018). Kroger's headquarters are located in downtown Cincinnati . The Kroger Company

1870-485: The West Virginia Panhandle and Michigan. The second effect of the economic recession was to worsen labor-management relations, causing a protracted labor strike in 1983 and 1984. During the strike, Kroger withdrew all of its stores from the Western Pennsylvania market, including some recently opened "superstores" and "greenhouses", selling these stores to Wetterau (now part of SuperValu ), who promptly flipped

1925-562: The [worker-driven social responsibility] program, investigates complaints from farmworkers and conducts field audits on farms. This creates a virtuous constant feedback loop, in which complaint resolutions provide for ongoing monitoring and enforcement complemented by the broader investigations and more expansive changes enabled through audits and corrective action plans. As a result, WSR programs are better at enforcement than corporate-established initiatives, resulting in real-life improvements for workers.” Moreover, in evaluating long-term changes in

1980-524: The acquisition of the seven-store Hiller's Market chain in Southeast Michigan, and that it would operate all but one of those stores under the Kroger banner. In June 2015, Kroger eliminated the Harris Teeter brand from the crowded Nashville, Tennessee, market, where its growth had been stunted by aggressive competition since it entered with six stores in the early 2000s. Kroger has traditionally had

2035-600: The acquisitions, in September 1957, Kroger sold off its Wichita, Kansas , store division, which consisted of 16 stores, to J. S. Dillon and Sons Stores Company , then headed by Ray S. Dillon, son of the company founder. In October 1963, Kroger acquired the 56-store chain Market Basket, providing them with a foothold in the lucrative southern California market. Prior to this time Kroger had no stores west of Kansas. Kroger, however, failed to make significant headway, only managing

2090-441: The company had grown to forty stores and sold $ 1.75 million worth of merchandise each year. In addition, Kroger became the first grocery chain to have its own bakery. In 1916, Kroger company began using self-service shopping. Before this, all articles were kept behind counters. Customers would ask for them, then clerks would deliver them to customers. In 1929, it was rumored that Safeway would merge with Kroger. It took nearly

2145-794: The convenience store chain Kwik Shop . David Dillon , a fourth-generation descendant of J. S. Dillon, the founder of Dillon Companies, became the CEO of Kroger. In northeastern Ohio, Kroger had a plant in Solon, Ohio , until the mid-1980s. When that plant shut down, Kroger closed its northeastern Ohio stores in the Cleveland, Akron , and Youngstown areas. Some of those former Kroger stores were taken over by stores like Acme Fresh Markets, Giant Eagle , and Heinens . Kroger opened and had about 50 stores in St. Louis until it left

2200-557: The dominant grocer in western Virginia, Kroger entered the Richmond, Virginia , market in 2000, where it competes against market leaders Martin's (including former Ukrop's stores) and Food Lion . Kroger entered the market by purchasing Hannaford stores that either already existed or were being built in Richmond. Hannaford purchases also included the competitive Hampton Roads market, where it now competes with Farm Fresh , Harris Teeter (which

2255-762: The first time. Charlotte and Asheville had been the only large markets in North Carolina where Kroger had no presence. In 2013, Kroger announced that the spouses of the company's unionized workers would no longer be covered by the company's insurance plan. The company cited the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as a prime reason for the move. The benefit cut affected roughly 11,000 workers in Indiana. The company announced in April 2013 that full-time employees would maintain their health insurance benefits. In 2013, Kroger

Fair Food Program - Misplaced Pages Continue

2310-1098: The form of corrective action plans. The FFSC also works with the CIW to host on-the-clock education sessions informing farmworkers on participating farms of their rights and responsibilities under the program. Judge Laura Safer Espinoza, a retired New York State Supreme Court Justice is the current executive director of the FFSC. Ahold USA, Aramark, Bon Appétit Management Co., Burger King, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Compass Group, Sodexo, The Fresh Market, McDonald's, Subway, Trader Joe's, Walmart, Whole Foods Market, and Yum Brands. Ag-Mart Produce d/b/a Santa Sweets, Alderman Farms, DiMare Homestead, DiMare Ruskin, HarDee/Diamond D Triple D, Gargiulo, Lady Moon Farms, Lipman Family Farms, Pacific Tomato Growers d/b/a Sunripe Certified Brands, West Coast Tomato / McClure Farms, Smoky Mountain Family Farms, Fresh Tulips LLC d/b/a Bloomia, Araucania Flowers – Bloomia Chile, Sun Valley Wholesale Florist, Watkins Farm, Rancho Durazno, Hardee Fresh, Good Dog Farm. In 2005, after

2365-537: The local grocery chain Red Food , which was in turn bought by BI-LO in 1994. Today, Chattanooga is the only metropolitan market in Tennessee in which Kroger does not operate with the nearest location being Dalton, Georgia , with 2 stores (Walnut Avenue and Cleveland Highway). In the 1990s, Kroger acquired Great Scott (Detroit), Pay Less Food Markets , Owen's Market , JayC Food Stores , and Hilander Foods . Additionally,

2420-542: The market in 1986, saying that its stores were unprofitable. Most of its stores were bought by National , Schnucks , and Shop 'n Save . Most of the remaining Kroger stores in eastern Missouri and west-central Illinois became a western extension of the Central Division (headquartered in Indianapolis ). Kroger also experienced a similar withdrawal from Chattanooga, Tennessee , in 1989. Many of these stores were sold to

2475-460: The past three years, they’ve gone from being the worst to the best.'" Since its launch in 2011, academics and human rights experts have praised the Fair Food Program for its worker-driven approach to rights monitoring and enforcement. A decade-long, longitudinal study of human rights in supply chain programs conducted by the Institute of Multi-Stakeholder Initiative Integrity, published in 2020 cited

2530-406: The power of farmworkers, the study concludes: “over the 10-year history of the Fair Food Program, complaints by workers made to growers, who then report them to the Fair Food Program independent monitor, have increased. This suggests that at least part of the workforce now trust in the system enough to call their employer first, without fear of any retaliation.” In 2021, Oxfam Great Britain conducted

2585-425: The program in supermarkets. The Fair Food Program's Code of Conduct is developed by farmworkers and applies both to the working and living conditions of farmworkers. It contains zero-tolerance provisions such as forced labor, sexual assault, and systemic child labor mandating a farm's suspension from the program until they address the violations. More broadly, the code outlines a series of worker protections including:

2640-640: The program, effectively ending the industry boycott. Just months later, the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange signed onto the Fair Food Program, which began widespread implementation of the model. Through its nationwide campaigns, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers pressured growers that produce 90 percent of Florida's tomatoes to increase wages for their 30,000 workers and follow strict standards that mandate rest breaks and forbid sexual harassment and verbal abuse. Building on CIW's prior agreements with food industry buyers (e.g., passthrough payments and

2695-567: The stores to independent owners while continuing to supply them under the FoodLand and Shop 'n Save brands. Kroger's exit ceded the market to lower-cost, locally owned rivals, most notably Giant Eagle and the SuperValu-supplied grocers. (Kroger purchased Eagle Grocery company, whose founders went on to create Giant Eagle.) Kroger still maintains a presence in the nearby Morgantown, West Virginia , Wheeling, West Virginia , and Weirton, West Virginia / Steubenville, Ohio , areas where Giant Eagle has

2750-627: The time, it was considered the largest dairy plant in the world. Kroger exited the Chicago market in 1970, selling its distribution warehouse in Northlake, Il. and 24 stores to the Dominick's Finer Foods grocery chain. Kroger exited the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area in 1970, selling 16 stores to Quality Foods, which rebranded the stores to Piggly Wiggly . Kroger exited Milwaukee in 1972, selling

2805-615: The workers themselves and has gained a wide acceptance among buyers and farmers. It therefore follows a truly sustainable approach because it is not dependent on some [Corporate Social Responsibility] goodwill.” A 2022 study published in the Business and Human Rights Journal, finds that Fair Food Program's worker-driven model of rights enforcement in supply chains is more effective at safeguarding workers’ rights than corporate-backed initiatives or multi-stakeholder initiatives, writing “the same independent, third-party monitor, created specifically for

SECTION 50

#1732854968025

2860-769: The working conditions in portions of the agricultural sector in which it has participating farms. The FFP has been lauded by the United Nations as an “international benchmark” in the fight against modern-day slavery and called one of “the most important social-impact success stories of the past century” by the Harvard Business Review. Currently, the Fair Food Programs covers crops in 10 states including Florida, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, and California and includes tomatoes, peonies, tulips, cantaloupes, sweet potatoes, peaches, lettuce, dill, mint, and squash. In 2023,

2915-568: The “Fair Food Program, and the Worker-driven Social Responsibility model as leading examples of new “gold standard” with effective mechanisms for “empowering rights holders to know and exercise their rights.” In 2023, an academic study of the Fair Food Program published in the International Journal of Production Economics finds that “[The Fair Food Program] is unique in the sense that it has been developed and deployed by

2970-714: Was noted for carrying 17 out of 22 Red List species, four of which are in the top list of said species. On March 3, 2015, Kroger announced it would enter Hawaii , having registered with the state as a new business in February 2015. Kroger was planning to expand to Hawaii in 2006 but withdrew after it had already submitted registration. Kroger, which is in the process of looking for locations to open its first store, will face competition from Honolulu-based rivals Foodland and Times ; major retailers Safeway, Walmart, and Costco ; Japanese-owned Don Quixote; and Department of Defense-owned DeCA Commissaries. On May 1, 2015, Kroger announced

3025-716: Was short-lived. In 1982, Kroger sold the 65-store Market Basket chain it had operated for several years in southern California. The stores were reverted to the Boys Markets branding, after acquiring the chain. Boys Markets was acquired by the Yucaipa Companies in 1989. When Yucaipa acquired Ralphs , the Boys brand disappeared. In 1983, The Kroger Company acquired Dillon Companies grocery chain in Kansas along with its subsidiaries ( King Soopers , City Market , Fry's and Gerbes ) and

#24975