Research Paper

Bernard Heinrich Kroger

Introduction

Bernard Kroger was a prominent figure in the early years of the modern retail industry. His vision of providing quality products at a low cost revolutionized the grocery industry. Kroger's success was due in part to the numerous innovations he implemented throughout his stores, including the first large-scale bakery, automated cash registers, and new marketing techniques. Kroger's dedication to providing superior customer service also set a new standard for the industry. To get all of your food to consume, just imagine having to visit numerous supermarkets. All of that changed when Bernard Kroger founded the first grocery store, known as Kroger, that offered groceries, meat, and baked goods all under one roof. To be specific was Bernard Kroger's credo when he founded Kroger. Never ever sell something you wouldn't want to purchase yourself. Bernard Kroger had a clear goal in mind: to build a prosperous supermarket that would make it easier for many people to buy their food.

Early Life

Bernard Kroger was born on January 24, 1860, in Cincinnati, Ohio. His parents were Johan Heinrich and Mary Gertrude. Also, they were German immigrants. Bernard was the fifth child out of ten children. Bernard's family lived off of their parents' dry goods store. His parents shut the store down due to the 1873 economic crisis. Since his parents' store was closed, he had to drop out of school at 13 to support his parents. He first worked at a drugstore but ended up leaving because his Christian mother didn’t like that he was working on Saturday and that was the day they went to church. So instead Bernard decided to be a farmhand. He got paid six dollars a month and had to sleep at the farm because it was far away from his house. He was also able to make eighteen dollars after three months. He finally decided to quit because the owner was always rough on everyone so he walked 37 miles back to Cincinnati. He also said, "I shall never forget that first night I spent away from home. Although I was only fourteen and weighed only one hundred pounds, my job on the farm was that of any man” (Bernard Heinrich Kroger).

Beginning of Career

Drawing on his skills in the dry goods industry, Kroger accepted several jobs as a clerk and door-to-door salesman in Over-the-Rhine after his less-than-triumphant return to the city. Kroger started looking for potential places for his firm after preserving the operations of a nearby grocer who later declined to accept him as a partner. At the age of 23, Kroger invested $372 (about $8,350 in 2010), the equivalent of his life savings, and he and his buddy B.A. Branagan, an Irish immigrant, established the Great Western Tea Company at 66 East Pearl Street in Cincinnati (Bernard Henry ¨Barney¨ Kroger Sr). Despite an endless capacity for effort, the new businessmen rapidly had their determination put to the test. Branagan was on a delivery run in the store's brand-new wagon when the first disaster occurred. Branagan sped across the tracks, hoping to beat a train and make his delivery on schedule. He was able to get away unscathed, but the wagon and the company's lone horse weren't as fortunate. The total losses were nearly $500 (around $11,200 in 2010), which was unquestionably a significant blow. The Ohio River soon overflowed its banks, causing one of the worst floods in the history of the city. The river flowed through downtown Cincinnati, passing by Kroger's shop, and rising to a height of 71 feet (Kroger). By the time the water had subsided, Kroger had lost $350.When Kroger started his company, the economic climate was challenging and complex. Kroger's experience served as an example of the devastation caused by the numerous potential losses and calamities always lurking around the corner. Unfazed, Kroger persisted and within two years acquired his partner and friend. He opened four other stores in Cincinnati shortly after, expanding his business. “By the time other people were taking down their shutters, I already had seventy-five dollars in the till” (Bernard Heinrich Kroger).

Significant Accomplishments 

Early on, Kroger developed marketing plans to attract potential customers to connect with its expanding customer base. Tiny illustrated cards featuring children at play and courting couples were given out to his earliest tea and coffee customers. His first store, and each one that followed, featured prominent, eye-catching displays; as one newspaper put it, "the front of Kroger stores look more like billboards than grocery stores."(Bernard Heinrich Kroger). These cards had the name and location of the Kroger shop embossed on the backs. Later, as the company grew, red and gold delivery wagons bearing the Kroger logo and the locations of its stores rumbled through Cincinnati's streets, imprinting an unforgettable picture on everyone who saw them(Kroger Company History Timeline). Two hundred horses and wagons were regularly delivering goods to stores by 1908 (Kroger Company History Timeline). When a friend observed how many people had compared the wagons to those used by traveling circuses. The wagons from Kroger were so well-known that after one accidentally ran over a tiny puppy, the dog's owner, eight-year-old Albert Remke, penned a letter pleading, "Mr.K (Bernard Heinrich Kroger). We will be extremely grateful if you could bring us another puppy to replace the one your wagon murdered, Kroger. Unfortunately, it is unknown whether Kroger ever gave a response. The wagons were recognizable to all, and even a young youngster connected them to Barney Kroger, so that much is certain. Along with using customer cards and brightly painted wagons, Kroger extensively promoted its supermarket goods (Bernard Heinrich Kroger). In Cincinnati's several newspapers, Kroger often ran advertisements that made good use of large print and graphics of specialty items. They frequently occupied entire pages in the Sunday morning issue, which was a novel tactic at the time. With the rise of mail-order catalogs, Kroger distributed tailored circulars in periodicals aimed at local markets and far-flung areas like Appalachia, enabling potential customers to benefit from the Kroger experience without ever having to enter a store. In 1916, Bernard implemented self-service in his businesses, allowing his customers to browse the shelves on their own and carry their purchases home as opposed to receiving products from a counter and having them delivered. Purchases were made with cash and carried, as opposed to the customary credit and delivery. People often take for granted the ease of buying all of their food in one spot, but this practice is barely a century old. (Bernard Heinrich Kroger) (Kroger Company History Timeline) ( Kroger)

Impact on the World

Kroger, a very wealthy guy, wanted to assist individuals who had hardships similar to those his own family endured. B.H. began his charitable work in 1903 by paying for 5,000 schoolchildren to visit Cincinnati's Coney Island, an amusement park that was located outside of the city. By funding the Anti-Tuberculosis League and establishing Kroger Hill's Farm for anemic and tuberculous children, Kroger continued to assist Cincinnati's most fortunate youngsters. At the outset of the Great Depression in 1929, he spoke before the Cincinnati "Community Chest," a civic organization tasked with allocating money to deserving charities. B.H. provided his own incentives for giving in a speech intended to encourage donations, saying, "I will never forget the days of my boyhood how the poor took care of the needy, sharing their pitiful goods with their neighbors." Kroger was giving, on average, around $30,000 per year to various charities, most often anonymously. In August 1935, he gave $4,000 (equivalent to $63,500 in 2010) to help reopen the city playgrounds. Self-service shopping was first made popular by Kroger, a forerunner in the supermarket industry. Instead of making clients wait for deliveries, he let them visit his stores, shop, and carry the goods home themselves. All of the items were plainly marked with the prices.

Lessons Learned From Their Life

Despite being the son of German immigrants, Kroger believed that focusing on economic interests and cooperation would be more beneficial than on ties to one's background and ethnicity. These prophecies of mutual benefit, of course, turned out to be less than accurate, and German-Americans found their devotion called into question with the start of the "war to end all wars" and America's eventual engagement in it. Like German-Americans across the nation, the German community in Cincinnati came under attack. German culture came to represent both broad treason and the pervasiveness of the enemy, the "Hun.".In Cincinnati, German-named streets were altered, groups were dissolved, and speaking German was practically outlawed, at least in public. A German Cincinnati historian stated that those Germans who want to survive showed "a favorable public dedication to all things American," including "supporting the American war effort on a local scale." The biggest newspaper in Cincinnati at the time, the Enquirer, wrote on its front page in 1918 about the perils of "Kaiserism."