Kroger plans to slash 3,000 corporate jobs over the next three years, according to an internal memo by CEO Greg Foran obtained by The Enquirer.
The cutbacks would mean eliminating more than a third of Kroger’s roughly 8,200 corporate staff. Though no details were outlined in the memo, the restructuring will also disproportionately affect the supermarket giant’s hometown of Cincinnati as well as hubs in Charlotte, North Carolina, where the grocer has a cluster of tech positions, and Portland, Oregon, the old headquarters of Fred Meyerbefore it was acquired in 1999.
“Our business is becoming leaner, more focused and more competitive,” Foran wrote in the Oct. 12 memo to employees. “This transformation will also result in fewer roles across the company,
which means we will reduce our corporate workforce across many functions.”
Kroger is cutting deeper into corporate jobs
Foran pledged to reinvest the savings back into Kroger’s “frontline associates.” He said details of the cuts would “start being communicated” in the months ahead.
The restructuring is arguably Foran’s biggest move sincetaking the helmin February. While he announced a $1.7 billion takeoverbid of Pittsburgh-based regional grocer Giant Eagle, the new cuts envision a much smaller corporate function.
By contrast, Procter & Gamblewhen it announced a 7,000-headcount reduction in June of 2025, noted the goal was to cut office jobs by 15%. Proportionately, Kroger’s cuts are a much bigger bite: more than 35%.
The corporate restructuring is the latest in several recent cuts
Kroger cut more than 1,000 corporate jobs last year amid its 11-month search for a new outside CEO and eight months after Foran was hired. A former head of Walmart’s U.S. store operations, Foran has pledged to cut costs tofund lower prices for shoppers.
Kroger made several other cuts in 2025 as it prepared for a new regime: It cut 50 stores (although originally announced 60 would close); it also shuttered three of its robotic warehouses (in Florida, Maryland and Wisconsin) as it restructured its home delivery operations; and it shut down two of its three company-operated 1883 comfort food restaurants.
While Foran did not provide an estimate of how much Kroger will save from the cuts, it could easily be hundreds of millions of dollars. Assuming the affected workers only make $75,000 in pay and benefits, the company could save $225 million.
Kroger is huge U.S. grocer
A Fortune 500 company based in downtown Cincinnati, Kroger operates nearly 2,700 stores in 35 states and the District of Columbia, including 77 in Greater Cincinnati. The company employs 403,000 workers, including nearly 20,000 in the Greater Cincinnati region.
The retailer operates stores under the Kroger banner name as well as Fred Meyer, Ralphs, Harris Teeter, Pick ‘n Save, Dillons, King Soopers, Mariano’s, Fry’s, QFC and others.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Kroger memo discloses plan to slash thousands of corporate jobs
