KROGER NAMES FOUR VETERAN EXECUTIVES TO KEY MANAGEMENT POSITIONS

CINCINNATI, OH, November 7, 2002 -- The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) today named four veteran executives to key management positions within the Company.

Robert E. Zincke, 59, has been promoted to senior vice president of the Company, with responsibility for several retail divisions. He has held a number of significant positions during his 38-year career at Kroger. For the past 12 years, he has been president of Kroger’s Southwest Division, which operates 212 stores in Texas and Louisiana. He joined Kroger as a management trainee in 1964. Mr. Zincke will be based at Kroger’s corporate office in Cincinnati.

William H. Breetz Jr., 48, has been promoted to president of Kroger’s Southwest Division. He has been executive vice president of that division for two years, with responsibility for operations. Prior to that, he served as vice president of merchandising for Kroger’s Cincinnati Division. Mr. Breetz joined Kroger as a clerk in 1972 and later was promoted to store management and merchandising positions. He will be based in Houston.

Darrell Webb, 44, has been appointed president of Fred Meyer Stores, which operates 133 stores in five western states and is based in Portland, Oregon. He has 22 years of experience with Fred Meyer and Kroger. Since 1999, he has served as president of Quality Food Centers, a division of Kroger that operates 86 stores in Washington and Oregon. Prior to that, Mr. Webb was group vice president of national procurement for Kroger, with responsibility for integrating buying and merchandising strategies across the Company. He joined Fred Meyer in 1980 as a management trainee in store operations. Mr. Webb later held management positions in merchandising and was named group vice president for non-perishables at Fred Meyer in 1997.

A new president will be named at QFC at a later date.

Michael J. Donnelly, 44, has been promoted from group vice president to senior vice president, with continued responsibility for drug/GM merchandising and procurement. Before being named group vice president in 2001, Mr. Donnelly had been president of Fry’s, a division of Kroger based in Arizona, since March 2000. Prior to that, Mr. Donnelly served as vice president of merchandising at Fry’s for five years. He began his career at Fry’s Food Stores of California in 1978.

Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, Kroger is one of the nation's largest retail grocery chains. At the end of the second quarter of fiscal 2002, the Company operated (either directly or through its subsidiaries) 2,447 supermarkets and multi-department stores in 32 states under approximately two dozen banners including Kroger, Ralphs, Fred Meyer, Food 4 Less, King Soopers, Smith's, Fry's and Fry's Marketplace, Dillons, QFC and City Market. Kroger also operates (either directly or through its subsidiaries) 782 convenience, 439 fine jewelry stores, 307 supermarket fuel centers and 41 food processing plants. For more information about Kroger, please visit our web site at www.kroger.com.

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