In early 2018 as part of The Kroger Company’s transformation plan, it committed to growing and developing asset-light, margin-rich alternative profit streams by leveraging the company’s unique set of assets, capabilities, traffic, and data to drive growth.  These alternative profit streams enable reinvestment back into the business and into areas that matter most to its customers.

PearlRock Partners is one of the strategic investments that Kroger is making in Ventures to support this initiative.

Through membership in PearlRock Partners, Kroger is excited to be a stronger participant in the emerging brands space: helping founders foster the innovation and growth of their brands and helping Kroger customers find the brands and products they want.

Along with its capital contribution to PearlRock Partners, Kroger has committed its collective resources as America's largest grocer to help emerging brands grow both at Kroger and at retailers across the world. These resources include distribution, merchandising expertise, data and analytics (through Kroger's data science subsidiary 84.51°), and, in some cases, manufacturing and sourcing support.

While The Kroger Company is a member of PearlRock Partners, investment decisions and brand-level strategy are managed by a team fully dedicated to growing PearlRock Partners and its portfolio brands, independent of The Kroger Company.

A PearlRock Partners investment in a brand does not include an expectation of exclusivity to Kroger from portfolio companies.