Who Makes Kroger Milk in 2024? The Complete Expert Guide

Kroger has set up an extensive milk production and supply chain enabling it to offer affordable pricing to customers. Let‘s analyze Kroger‘s sourcing, ethics and competitive edge when it comes to milk.

Broad Sourcing Network

Kroger has partnerships with over 38,000 dairy farms across 48 states to source raw farm-fresh milk. The company‘s own dairy team manages these relationships. Some key details:

• Over 80% of the dairy farms are family-owned, located mostly across the Midwest and Northeast regions.
• The farmers ensure certified humane standards for raising cows. Kroger audits the farms every 3-4 months focusing on feed quality, cleanliness, antibiotics use etc.
• The dairy cows primarily feed on a balanced diet of hay, grains, corn and soybean byproducts suiting the weather conditions.

Data as of Nov 2022

This widespread sourcing reduces reliance on any one geography, allowing Kroger to mitigate risks from disease outbreaks, variations in crops or natural disasters – providing consistency of supply.

Major Dairy Processing Plants

Kroger owns and operates large-scale dairy plants to process the sourced milk. Some details:

Crossroad Farms Dairy, Indiana

• Established in 1972, Kroger‘s first dairy plant costing $40 million
• Has capacity to process and package 2 million pounds of milk and juice daily
• Employs over 500 people with strict quality control protocols

Vandervoort‘s Dairy, Texas

• Acquired by Kroger in 2000 with investment of $70 million
• 135,000 square-foot plant able to package 1 million units of milk and juice per day
• Supplies to over 220 Kroger stores in the region

Layton Dairy, Utah

• Purchased by Kroger in 2021 for $66 million
• State-of-the-art facility producing 280,000 gallons of milk weekly
• Serves Kroger-owned stores across Arizona and Utah

Owning these large dairy plants gives Kroger control over processing costs resulting in lower milk prices compared to competitors.

Growing Consumption of Organic, Non-Dairy Milk

Sales show rising demand for organic milk, almond milk and oat milk driven by perceived health benefits despite higher prices.

• Organic Milk

  • Kroger sells $225 million worth of organic milk annually
  • Category growing at 15% year-over-year on increased interest in organic products

• Almond Milk

  • Kroger almond milk sales doubled in 2022 to $56 million
  • Popular with lactose-intolerant and vegan consumers

• Oat Milk

  • Emerging as fastest growing segment, with Kroger sales at $32 million
  • Up almost five times since 2020 attributed to low environmental impact

Through its Simple Truth brand and strong private label product portfolio, Kroger caters well to this growing demand for alternate dairy options.

Is It Ethical?

Kroger has committed to sourcing all of its 23,000+ Our Brands products in a responsible manner by 2025. On milk specifically:

• It conduct‘s third-party social compliance audits of dairy farms using a detailed framework covering

  • Animal welfare
  • Biosecurity
  • Hygiene and milk safety
  • Farmer livelihoods

• 99% of audited dairy farms successfully achieve compliance demonstrating Kroger‘s high ethical standards

• By 2030, Kroger aims to reduce greenhouse gas emission in dairy supply chain by 30% through feed quality, manure management and energy efficiency initiatives

The Kroger Advantage

Integrating forward right from own dairy procurement to packaged milk distribution via company plants gives Kroger edge in:

• Managing costs and keeping milk prices affordable
• Making higher margin on milk compared to competitors
• Responding faster to growing consumer preferences
  • Boosting organic milk inventory
  • Adding more non-dairy options

Through this end-to-end control, Kroger continues to strengthen its milk portfolio and value proposition for customers.