Kroger to eliminate 3,000 headquarters jobs amid AI rollout

The largest standalone supermarket chain in the U.S. will reduce its office staff from about 8,200 to about 5,200 people. Media reports link the cuts to artificial intelligence, but in a letter to employees the CEO points first to too many layers of management.

Kroger plans to eliminate about 3,000 corporate positions, or around 37 percent of the 8,200 people working at headquarters and in administrative structures. The layoffs will be spread over three years. CEO Greg Foran presented the plan to employees in an internal memo and during a company-wide conference call on Monday, October 12. The information was reported by Reuters and industry outlet Grocery Dive.

According to Grocery Dive, Foran writes that the company has more layers, more handoffs between people, and more overhead than it needs. The goal is broader scopes of responsibility and faster decisions. The savings are meant to help lower prices, invest more in store employees, and compete better with Walmart, Costco, and Amazon.

Sources describe the role of artificial intelligence (AI) differently. Outlet pulsHR.pl, citing Bankier.pl and Reuters, points to the rollout of AI as the main reason for the cuts. Inc.com notes that in the memo the CEO does not blame AI, but speaks more generally about technology and excessive organizational complexity. Three weeks earlier, on September 22 at the GroceryShop trade show, Kroger announced an AI strategy that includes, among other things, training and tools for more than 400,000 employees.

This is another round of cuts at headquarters. In June 2025, the company eliminated about 1,000 corporate positions. Details of the current reduction, including the departments affected and the timetable, are to be announced in the coming months. The entire chain employs about 409,000 people.

For managers, this is an example of a major employer outside the technology sector flattening its office structure in parallel with the rollout of AI. The broader market picture is less clear-cut: earlier this year, economist Camelia Kuhnen of the University of North Carolina said that in the U.S. there are not yet visible layoffs resulting from workers being replaced by AI.