Kroger CEO makes price decision as costs surge | Official Website of Louis Velazquez, entrepreneur, finance guy and tech innovator

Grocery store sticker shock isn’t going away anytime soon.

The average household spends $6,224 on groceries annually, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s nearly double the average spend of 2010, which was just $3,624.

Even as shoppers increasingly hunt for discounts and trade national brands for private labels, the weekly shop is still eye-wateringly expensive. For many families, it’s the rising costs of everyday staples like meat, milk, eggs, and produce that have made even routine grocery trips feel significantly more expensive.

But Kroger’s CEO Greg Foran says he has a plan to help lower those essential costs for consumers — and shoppers could notice the changes sooner rather than later.

Kroger says cheaper groceries are coming

In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Foran said Kroger is looking to make big price cuts across all 21 of its grocery chains.

“The reality is, the basket has to come down,” he told the outlet.

Foran says the price cuts are designed to make Kroger more competitive with leading grocery retailers like Walmart (Foran’s former employer), Costco, Trader Joe’s, and Aldi.

“I think about our business a bit like a Formula One race. There’s a lead group of cars that are doing a very good job,” he said. “Our objective is to get out of the midfield and start lapping faster, make up the gap on the first-group cars and then ideally pass them.”

Kroger has already been making strides to lower basket costs.

An April pricing study from Bank of America Research Analyst Robert Ohmes that was e-mailed to TheStreet found that the price gap between Kroger and Walmart has decreased from 14% in 2025 to 10% in 2026.

The widest price gap between Walmart and Kroger exists in categories like meat (25%), dairy (14%), and produce (7%), while there’s just a 2% gap in the center of the store items.

“Not everyone’s basket is the same,” Foran told Bloomberg. “[The price cuts] need to be across thousands of products, and it has to be something that passes the commonsense piece with customers.”

Kroger CEO Greg Foran says the company plans to cut prices across thousands of products over the coming months.

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Lower prices are only part of the plan

Foran is no stranger to getting grocery chains into fighting shape.

Over the course of his tenure at Walmart, he helped make stores cleaner, easier to navigate, and more appealing to shoppers, while lowering prices and improving fresh food assortment. His work led to three straight years of increases in quarterly same-store sales for the retailer.

Based on his success at Walmart, Foran says he has a similar plan to improve Kroger’s revenues.

Pricing is a key part of that strategy, but Foran says Kroger is also investing in stronger customer service, better employee training, fresher food offerings, popular products, and e-commerce improvements.

“Our objective is to execute what we think is a very clear, sensible plan,” Foran told Bloomberg. “We want to be America’s best grocer.”

The push comes at a critical time for Kroger. In 2027, the company plans to open between 70 and 80 new stores, nearly double the openings it has planned for 2026. Those expansion plans are expected to increase both capital expenditures and operating costs, putting even more pressure on Kroger to grow revenue.

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For some investors, lowering prices while expanding operations could create concerns about Kroger’s margins.

And while Foran declined to quantify the investment the company would be making to bring prices down, he did offer some reassurance that it was being careful not to sacrifice profitability throughout the process.

Grocery chains typically operate on razor-thin margins, so lowering prices for consumers while keeping their own bottom lines healthy can be a difficult balancing act. But Foran says Kroger will be taking a multifaceted approach that includes importing its inventory directly and using technology more effectively. The strategy will allow the grocer to lower costs at the register while keeping it in the black.

For shoppers battered by years of rising grocery costs, however, even modest price relief could make a meaningful difference.