The Kroger Co. Expands its Our Brands Portfolio

The Kroger Co. is expanding its exclusive Our Brands product lines.The company currently offers more than 30,000 Our Brands items, including food, beauty, personal care, pet and household essentials, many of which are made at one of the company's 38 U.S. production plants that employ 8,600 manufacturing associates.

"Our Brands sold a record-setting 8.2 billion units in 2016, which equates to customers choosing to add 1.25 million of our exclusive products to their shopping carts every hour that our stores are open," says Gil Phipps, Kroger's vice president of Our Brands. "Through innovation, we are committed to introducing new items monthly that give our customers a wide selection of choices and price points, and always guaranteed quality."

The foods in Our Brands, such as Kroger, Private Selection, Simple Truth, Simple Truth Organic and HemisFares, are specifically designed, rigorously tested and consistently evaluated, company officials say. Kroger's team of chefs, food scientists and culinary experts are constantly exploring, testing and inventing to enhance its offerings of organic, natural, premium, fusion, value and conventional eats.

In third-party blind taste tests, Our Brands has routinely outperformed competitive national brands and other private label foods, officials say. New flavor-forward and specialty products that Our Brands has introduced this year include: HemisFares Japanese Dry-Aged Red Miso; HemisFares Double Brewed Soy Sauce; Kroger Simply Baked French Fries with Olive Oil & Sea Salt;  Kroger Deluxe Funnel Cake Ice Cream; Private Selection Moroccan BBQ & Basting Sauce; Simple Truth Dairy-Free Paletas (fruit bars); Simple Truth Organic Blueberry Ginger Kombucha; and Simple Truth Organic Cold Brew Coffee.

Launching early next month, Our Brands will introduce Simple Truth Low Cow Lite Ice Cream, which is low calorie (240-280 calories per pint) and high protein (24 grams per pint). The first six flavors will include birthday cake, chocolate, lemon cake, mint chocolate chip, sea salt caramel and vanilla bean.

Along with the commitment to expand its Our Brands offerings, Kroger recently launched its Prep Pared meal kits pilot in select Cincinnati stores. Prep Pared meal kits offer restaurant-quality meals that are easy to cook in about 20 minutes.