Grocery giant Kroger is almost ready to deliver in Miami. How do you place an order?
The Miami arrival of Kroger, the largest supermarket company in the United States, is just about here.
Spokeswoman Andrea Colby says Kroger should have its first South Florida location — in Opa-locka at 14150 NW 56th Ct., Suite 100 — by mid-May.
The Cincinnati-based Kroger is hiring about 200 workers total in logistics, as drivers and in human resources, Colby said. They will work out of the Opa-locka location. More employees will be hired soon because Kroger plans to open locations in Broward and Palm Beach counties this summer.
So while a lot of people will soon be busy inside Kroger locations in the tri-county area, you won’t be one of them. That’s because Kroger, which has 2,726 supermarkets and affiliates across 35 states, isn’t opening brick-and-mortar stores in South Florida.
Instead, the Publix competitor will function in South Florida as an online grocery shopping company. Think of it like Amazon.
That’s how Kroger has already been operating in Florida with its $55 million central fulfillment center based in Groveland, about 30 miles west of Orlando. The 375,000-square-foot hub can serve customers in a 90-mile radius, according to Kroger. Through its accompanying spoke facilities, Kroger is delivering throughout Central Florida, as well as Tampa and Jacksonville.
Kroger will operate the same way in Miami-Dade in the coming weeks and later this summer in Broward and Palm Beach.
The Opa-locka site is a spoke facility that will deliver orders placed online to a 90-mile radius via a fleet of blue Kroger delivery trucks.
Publix tried its own online ordering and home delivery system, Publix Direct, in South Florida. But in 2003, Publix scrapped the service after it failed to catch on with customers.
READ MORE: Publix is getting some new competition. And this grocer isn’t even opening a supermarket
So you have questions? We have some answers.
How can I apply for one of these Kroger jobs?
First, how does one go about getting one of the Kroger jobs in Opa-locka, and later at the spoke facilities in Broward and Palm Beach counties?
You can apply online at jobs.kroger.com.
According to the South Florida Daily Business Journal, which first reported on the job offers, Kroger’s Miami-area hiring is part of a plan to fill 23,000 positions nationwide in retail, e-commerce, manufacturing, supply chain, merchandising, logistics, corporate, pharmacy and healthcare.
“We are very actively recruiting folks who are bilingual, as well,” Colby said. The South Florida market is populated by those fluent in English, Spanish and Creole.
According to the Daily Business Journal, Kroger pays $17 for hourly employees. For employees with benefits, the rate starts at $22 an hour.
How do I shop at the Miami Kroger?
Shopping at Kroger will be like how you shop on Amazon. Visit kroger.com or download the Kroger app.
If you’re a new customer, enter your ZIP Code so you can see if there’s delivery available in your area. Kroger has a 90-mile radius from its spoke locations.
Select the grocery items you want and you will have the option to click on whether you will accept substitutions, Colby said. For instance, if your favorite Driscoll’s blueberries are out of stock, perhaps you’ll accept Hippie Organics instead. Or not. You can make this clear on your order.
How much do I pay for delivery?
Kroger charges a $9.95 delivery fee for each order. If you join Kroger’s Boost membership program, you can pay a $59 annual fee and get free deliveries for a year as long as your order is $35 or more each time.
Do I have to tip the delivery driver?
You don’t have to tip your delivery driver, Colby says. Drivers’ name tags say, “Your smile is my reward. No tipping, please.”
That’s because ”we pay our drivers a great wage that we feel prevents them from the need to accept it,” Colby adds. “So that’s a huge differentiation point for those gig workers who are looking for that tip on top of the delivery fee that a customer is already paying.”
Note: Publix has had a no-tipping policy in its stores since the 1970s.
How is my order bagged and put on the truck?
After your order is transferred to Kroger’s fulfillment center in Groveland, where frozen foods are stocked in freezers, robots roam the center’s aisles and fill the orders. Your order then gets to the Opa-locka spoke by tractor-trailer, offloaded onto the refrigerated delivery trucks by staffers who are trained to separate the goods so they get to you in optimal condition. Frozen foods are packed with dry ice.
The trucks are set up so that cold stuff stays cold and other stuff doesn’t.
“So that bananas don’t turn brown because they’ve gotten too cold but ensuring that frozen stuff is still staying frozen, so your lettuce is staying crisp and your ice cream arrives as ice cream and not a milkshake.”
For those who like to keep track of numbers, Colby estimates that the Miami spoke location in Opa-locka should have about 200 associates doing the work. The Tampa facility has 150 workers and Jacksonville has 125.
How long will it take for my order to arrive?
Your order should arrive the next day.
At Groveland, deliveries start at 6 a.m. and run into the evening. The new spoke facilities, like in Opa-locka, are not geared yet for 6 a.m. start time, Colby said. The delivery hours in South Florida will be 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
You will get an alert on arrival time. There is a one-hour window. So if you ordered on a Monday and your order is announced for 9 a.m. Tuesday delivery, figure on one of those new blue Kroger trucks to arrive at your door between 9 and 10 a.m. that day.
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This story was originally published May 4, 2022 at 4:35 PM.
