CINCINNATI, OH – The Kroger Co. is moving forward with plans to introduce a new restaurant concept.

The retailer is reportedly set to open Kitchen 1883, a “fresh new take on American comfort food…feature[ing] a made from scratch menu, hand crafted cocktails, and a family-friendly atmosphere.” Local news sources WCPO Cincinnati and Fox19 Now both reported on the new format after postings advertising the restaurant appeared on-site at Kroger’s newest Marketplace store off U.S. 42 in Union, Kentucky—a suburb of Cincinnati.

Subsequently, job listings advertising positions including wait staff, bar employees, cooks, and dishwashers have been posted, advertising positions for “employees with a passion for people and the food that people love to eat…" And the company recently held a job fair, hosting walk-in interviews on September 7^th in nearby Florence, Kentucky.

The Cincinnati Business Courier has speculated that Kitchen 1883—named it seems after the year Barney Kroger founded the grocery store—could signal a shift in strategy as the company works to diversify and compete in the wake of Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods.

As we reported last month, Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen was recently interviewed by the Wall Street Journal; when asked about increased competition from an Aldi, Lidl, and an Amazon-owned Whole Foods, McMullen focused immediately on restaurants as a potential segment in which the company could court consumers’ dollars.

“I worry about all of them,” McMullen said about his competitors in grocery. “And I worry about restaurants. We operate in an industry that is $1.5 trillion in terms of how much people spend on food. If people are eating a meal, we want to get our fair share of that meal.”

This jump into restaurants also follows efforts by Kroger to expand its meal Prep+Pared Meal Kit offerings and expand its footprint, buying up smaller banners to bolster its position.

Could Kitchen 1883 signal a sea change in grocery? AndNowUKnow will continue to report.

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