Patricia Bergman Price Check: The History of Kroger Co. The story of Kroger began in 1860 with the birth of founder Bernard Heinrich Kroger. B.H. Kroger, as he came to be known later in life, was the son of German emigrants who had settled in Cincinnati, Ohio, in the search for a better life. His father, Johan Kroger, was the proprietor of a dry goods store that served their primarily German-American community (Dobbert 231). It was through exposure to his father’s dry good business that young B.H. began to hone his business instincts. After his father died in 1873, Kroger was forced to drop out of school to help support his family through a series of positions as a clerk and door-to-door salesman. In 1883, at the age of twenty-three, Kroger partnered with his friend, B.A. Branagan to found the Great Western Tea Company, with the motto: “Be particular. Never sell anything you would not want yourself” (Kroger Corporate Website). …show more content…
Kroger’s success can be attributed to his almost obsessive dedication to quality and service. Furthermore, Kroger insisted upon the lowest possible prices, instructing his manages to “run the price down as far as you can go so the other fellow won’t slice your throat.” Kroger was one of the first entrepreneurs to successfully cut out the middlemen between the store and the customer, a tactic that would later be employed by such successful companies as Wal-Mart and