USA – The American retailing company, Kroger has announced a strategic partnership with Lindsay Goldberg, a private equity firm to invest and foster growth in innovative consumer brands.

Through a newly formed platform called PearlRock Partners, the two are looking to help emerging consumer brands reach new customers and grow their business.

PearlRock Partners will be one of the largest data-driven investment vehicles focused on identifying, investing in and helping grow the next generation of leading consumer product brands.

The new platform will leverage Kroger’s merchandising capabilities and predictive analytics along with Lindsay Goldberg’s deep consumer expertise and nearly 20-year track record of investing in and supporting family-owned and founder-led companies.

“We are excited to add PearlRock Partners to our portfolio of high-growth alternative profit businesses that generate additional value from our core grocery business,” said Stuart Aitken, Kroger’s senior vice president of alternative business and CEO of 84.51°.   

“We are confident this partnership with Lindsay Goldberg will help discover and cultivate new brands that Kroger customers will love.

“We are transforming from grocer to growth company by deploying our assets to serve even more customers and create margin-rich alternative profit streams.”

The partnership is part of Kroger’s Restock Kroger, a transformational plan that seeks to redefine the food and grocery customer experience in America.

Through Restock Kroger, the company is leveraging its stores, logistics and data assets to create incremental new profit streams, which, in turn, drive investments to further redefine the customer experience.

The new growth model aims to drive new alternate profit streams for Kroger, and contribute to the small brand ecosystem, while helping emerging brands grow and thrive.

“We are thrilled to partner with Kroger to help grow tomorrow’s most successful consumer brands alongside the entrepreneurs who built them,” said Brian Kelley, a Partner at Lindsay Goldberg.

“Backed by a state-of-the-art predictive data platform, real-world consumer product expertise and unparalleled merchandising resources, these next-gen brands will be poised for growth and offer Kroger’s broad customer base greater choice, convenience and innovation.”