Kroger: Keeping Stores Safe

What is Kroger doing to keep its stores safe and its workers healthy?

We are taking these steps to protect our customers and associates:

In Our Stores  

• Cleaning commonly used areas more often, including cashier stations, self-checkouts, credit card terminals, conveyor belts, and food service counters, and cleaning shelves when restocking products.
• Sanitizing restrooms more frequently and restocking with supplies, including soap, paper towels, and hand sanitizer.
• Adding extra hand sanitizer at cashier stations, food service counters, and all Pharmacy, The Little Clinic, and Starbucks locations.
• Wiping down shopping carts, baskets, and equipment.
• Partnering with our suppliers to replenish high-demand preparedness products.
• Continuing to provide our customers with free disinfectant wipes at our store entrances to sanitize their shopping carts or baskets.
• Continuing to expand pickup and delivery services and contactless payment solutions like Kroger Pay.
• Maintaining industry-leading best practices for safe food handling.
• Airing a healthy habits message via in-store radio to encourage customers to practice good hygiene and social distancing.
• Testing one-way aisles in select markets to its effectiveness as a measure to further support physical distancing.
• Limiting the number of customers in our stores to no more than 50% of the building’s maximum capacity. In areas where mandated, we will follow the local and/or state agency’s guidance.

For Our Customers  

• Encouraging our customers and associates to follow the CDC’s suggested hygiene practices to reduce the spread of the virus.
• Recommending that our customers also practice safe food handling at home.

For Our Associates  

• We are encouraging our associates to wear protective masks and gloves, and we’re working hard to secure these resources for our associates. Supply has started to arrive for our associates, and we anticipate all locations having personal protective equipment (PPE) within the next several weeks. We continue to advocate to government officials at all levels for help securing a priority place in line for all grocery workers – after health care workers – to have access to protective masks and gloves.
• We have installed plexiglass partitions at many cash registers, customer service desks, and pharmacy counters, to further promote physical distancing. Also, we are adding educational floor decals to promote physical distancing at check lanes and other counters.
• We are encouraging our associates to closely monitor their health and if they exhibit flu-like symptoms (fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills, and fatigue) at work, they should go home and contact their doctor. If an associate has flu-like symptoms at home, they should not come to work.
• Kroger has enacted Emergency Leave Guidelines, allowing paid time off for associates diagnosed with COVID-19, placed under mandatory quarantine by their medical provider because of COVID-19 and paid time off for self-isolation and symptoms as verified by an accredited health care professional. All eligible associates will receive their standard pay for up to two weeks (14 days).
• For those affected by COVID-19, the organization has also made $5 million available through the Kroger Family of Companies Helping Hands fund to provide financial assistance to associates who face hardship due to COVID-19, including lack of access to childcare and for those considered higher-risk.
• We are providing access to mental health services and other benefits to support associates’ mental and physical well-being during this stressful time. We’re also offering an associate hotline to ensure benefit questions are answered quickly.

What advice do you have for shoppers coming into the stores?

We are asking our customers to be patient and be kind to one another and our associates.  Additionally, please shop responsibly and purchase what you need, knowing that we will continue to replenish stores.

What options do shoppers have to access groceries if they want to avoid shopping in the store?

Delivery and pickup at the store are both available.

When do you think the supply chain for everyday items like toilet paper and paper towel will return to normal?

Our inventory is strong and we feel confident with supplying needs for our stores. Both continue to keep getting even stronger. We still have trucks arriving to stores every day to ensure we are doing our best to meet the demand during this unprecedented time. We want to ensure all our customers have access to in-demand products. We are working closely with our suppliers to replenish our inventories.