47 Facts About Bernard Kroger

Bernard Heinrich "Henry" Kroger was an American businessman who created the Kroger chain of supermarkets.

Bernard Kroger allowed customers to enter his stores, shop with prices clearly marked on every item and take the merchandise home themselves instead of waiting for a delivery.

Bernard Kroger was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the fifth of ten children of German immigrants Johan Heinrich and Mary Gertrude Bernard Kroger.

Bernard Kroger's family lived above the dry goods store his parents owned.

Bernard Kroger quit school and went to work at age thirteen to help support his family.

Bernard Kroger quit his first job in a drug store because his Christian mother objected to his working Sundays.

Bernard Kroger then worked as a farmhand near Pleasant Plain, Ohio for six dollars a month.

Bernard Kroger hated his employer, contracted malaria, quit and walked thirty-seven miles back to Cincinnati.

Bernard Kroger married Mary Emily Jansen and with her had seven children, although his oldest son died in 1899.

Bernard Kroger then began working as a door-to-door salesman for the Great Northern and Pacific Tea Co.

Bernard Kroger turned the failing grocery around, earning the store a $3,100 profit.

Bernard Kroger is credited with the creation of the successful low-cost, self-service grocery chain model that persists today.

Bernard Kroger's innovations include being the first grocery to individually mark the sale price on every item and starting the practice of giving a premium to every customer who bought coffee or tea.

In 1912, Bernard Kroger was the first grocer to use automobiles as delivery vehicles.

Bernard Kroger purchased a fleet of 75 Ford Model T's, replacing 200 horses and delivery wagons in Cincinnati.

Bernard Kroger pioneered combining grocery stores with a bakery and later added formerly stand-alone meat markets to his retail grocery store concept.

Bernard Kroger advertised extensively in local papers as early as 1895, which he felt led to his success.

Bernard Kroger always paid suppliers cash for their products and gained price advantage by buying products in bulk.

Bernard Kroger was the first grocer with an internal quality control lab founded in 1921 and the first to introduce scientific consumer research.

Bernard Kroger was adept in using the public's sensitivity to price in marketing the goods offered in his stores.

Bernard Kroger continuously expanded his market area, reaching into Kentucky with new locations in the 1890's.

In 1902, Bernard Kroger continued his acquisition program, buying 14 Dayton, Ohio grocery stores from the Cincinnati Grocery Co.

Bernard Kroger stores appeared Missouri in 1912 and Indiana in 1924.

In 1899 Bernard Kroger called for all other retail grocery stores to join his effort to limit retail grocery store hours by closing at 7:00 pm.

Bernard Kroger retained the remaining 6,000 shares for himself and advertised those shares would never be sold.

Bernard Kroger was the first to include fresh meat inside US grocery stores.

Bernard Kroger advertising told homeowners if they provided their phone number "we will take pleasure in calling you up every morning for your order".

In 1908 Bernard Kroger purchased the Great China Tea Company and the Schneider Grocery and Baking Company.

Bernard Kroger initiated another round of capital expansion, valuing the company at $2,500,000.

Bernard Kroger sold the company in December 1927 for $28,000,000 to a Wall Street banking syndicate headed by Lehman Brothers.

Bernard Kroger resigned from the company's board of directors in 1931.

In 1900, Bernard Kroger invested in the creation of Provident Savings Bank and the Provident Trust Company.

Bernard Kroger was elected president of the bank in 1904.

In typical fashion, Bernard Kroger set about to grow the assets of the bank.

Bernard Kroger sold his holdings in the bank in 1928, shortly before the Wall Street Crash of 1929.

Bernard Kroger was chairman of the board of the bank at the time of his death.

Bernard Kroger was appointed a director of the Cincinnati branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and served in that capacity until 1936.

Bernard Kroger served as president and director of the First Bank of Palm Beach.

Bernard Kroger built the 17-mile inter-urban electric commuter railroad and roadway between Cincinnati's Erie Avenue near Red Bank Road and the west side of Milford.

Bernard Kroger then extended the line from the center of Cincinnati to Blanchester, Ohio.

Bernard Kroger said if nominated, he would accept and make the bid for governor because "the conditions in the state of Ohio are ripe for a business administration of its affairs".

Bernard Kroger was involved in many charitable ventures, including the opening of parks, donations to zoos, and medical research.

Bernard Kroger immediately funded a factory where blind adults could produce brooms and mops which Bernard Kroger sold in his stores, passing all of the sales proceeds to the Welfare Association.

Bernard Kroger was a benefactor in the Cincinnati area fight against childhood tuberculosis and anemia.

In 1916 Bernard Kroger offered to spearhead fundraising to double the capacity of the camp.

Bernard Kroger donated five tigers for the Cincinnati Zoo's new Tiger Grotto in 1934.

Bernard Kroger noticed a request for "a fine cow, preferably Holstein, for the babies" in the hospital's 1929 newsletter and sent "a generous check".