Kroger’s New CEO Called Out His Own Stores After Visiting 100 Locations
Greg Foran walked into the role of Kroger’s CEO in February 2026 with a reputation for fixing broken retail operations, and he immediately put it to use. Within his first 15 weeks on the job, he visited more than 100 of the grocery chain’s roughly 2,700 locations. What he found was not a company in crisis but one that had quietly drifted from its potential, and he said so publicly, with unusual candor, during the chain’s first-quarter earnings call.
The Scorecard From the Aisles
Foran’s store tour produced a frank three-way assessment. According to the CEO, two out of every five Kroger locations were in strong condition. Another two out of five were performing at a moderate level. The final one in five needed meaningful improvement. Taken together, those numbers mean roughly 60% of the chain’s stores were falling short of what Foran considers acceptable, a gap he described as “one of our biggest near-term opportunities” and a direct drag on the company’s overall performance.
The Problem With Being Inconsistent
At scale, inconsistency is expensive. Foran told investors that Kroger performs well and attracts loyal households when its stores operate at a high standard, but that slipping execution across even a fraction of locations translates to lost sales and eroded trust. He cited a specific turnaround: a store running negative comparable sales that reversed course within a single day of focused effort by its team. “It’s amazing how quickly you can get it turned around,” he said, “and the impact it has on sales.” The fix, in his view, starts with leadership physically showing up.
A Chain That Lost Its Edge
Kroger’s slide did not happen overnight. McMullen spent 11 years as CEO before resigning in March 2025 following an internal ethics investigation, with interim CEO Ron Sargent holding the position until Foran’s appointment. Analysts at R5 Capital have argued that the chain’s strongest period predated McMullen’s tenure entirely. During those years, Kroger leaned heavily on promotional pricing while rivals like Walmart built everyday low-price discipline, a structural mismatch that quietly undermined its competitive standing with cost-conscious shoppers.
The Price Gap That Customers Notice
Pricing is where Kroger’s decline shows most clearly. According to a Consumer Reports study that used Walmart as its baseline, a standard basket of groceries at Kroger ran 14.8% higher than at Walmart. Costco customers, by comparison, saved 21.4% on the same basket. Foran acknowledged the problem directly, telling investors that promotions had become too complicated and that Kroger’s price position had not kept pace. The goal, he clarified, is not to undercut every rival but to make value feel clear, consistent, and trustworthy.
Fixing the Pricing Without a Race to the Bottom
Foran has been deliberate about what closing the price gap actually means. He has no intention of competing purely on low prices, a battle Walmart is built to win. Instead, his target is competitive consistency: prices that feel fair without requiring customers to hunt through complex promotions to find them. Kroger has historically relied on loyalty discounts and weekly deals, a structure that rewards frequent coupon-clippers but leaves casual shoppers feeling uncertain about whether they are getting a good deal.
The Geographic Advantage Nobody Is Talking About
While analysts catalog Kroger’s problems, some see a structural asset its competitors cannot easily replicate. RTMNexus CEO Dominick Miserandino argues that Kroger holds some of the best neighborhood retail real estate in the country, a dense local footprint that neither Walmart nor Costco matches. If Foran can layer personalized digital value onto that physical presence, the combination could offer something neither big-box rival easily delivers: relevant, localized pricing and product selection at a neighborhood scale.
The Digital Piece That Could Change Everything
Kroger’s digital business turned profitable for the first time in Q1 2026, with e-commerce sales growing 19% year over year. The company’s retail media network, which sells highly targeted advertising to consumer brands using loyalty card data, saw profit grow more than 20% in the same quarter. Analysts at Morgan Stanley and UBS have cautioned that Kroger’s dependence on third-party delivery platforms like Instacart and DoorDash creates risk, particularly as AI-driven commerce begins to reshape how customers discover and order groceries.
Small Fixes, Large Stakes
Jeff Hall, president of CX Group, frames the recovery in operational terms: sustained improvement at Kroger’s scale comes from executing hundreds of small things correctly, every day, across thousands of stores. Customers do not evaluate corporate strategy; they notice stocked shelves, available staff, and efficient checkout. GlobalData Managing Director Neil Saunders has made a similar point, arguing that Kroger has long held the scale advantages to compete aggressively but has repeatedly failed to capitalize on them. Foran’s presence in the aisles is an attempt to close that gap from the ground up.
The Work Is Just Beginning
Kroger enters the second half of 2026 with a clearer-eyed CEO, a profitable e-commerce operation, and a specific plan for closing the execution gap between its best and worst stores. The structural advantages are real: loyal customers, valuable location data, and a neighborhood footprint that took decades to build. Whether Foran can translate those assets into consistent performance is the central test of his tenure.
