12 Oct 2026 5 min read Suppliers

To Our Quiet Readers: You Are Not Alone

We see you reading, and we notice the quiet. Here’s why there is nothing to fear in learning, applying and sharing what you read, and why you are not alone in this mad, mad industry.

We need to talk about you. Yes, you, the person reading this right now.

Every week these posts go out, and every week we see them land. They get opened. They get read, sometimes twice. Links get clicked, and the same names come back week after week. And then, quiet. Hardly a comment. Hardly a reply.

So we have been wondering why.

Maybe You Are Thinking One of These

"If I comment, will someone judge me for not already knowing this?"

"If I use this at work, will it look like I borrowed someone else's playbook?"

"Could engaging here come back to bite me with my employer, my client or a Category Manager down the road?"

If any of those sound familiar, let us put your mind at ease. None of them could be further from the truth.

The People Reading This Are the Ones Who Care

Here is what we actually see. The people opening these posts are not the ones coasting through their week. They are the ones who are engaged with their work, who want to understand the why behind the ask, and who want to walk into their next Kroger meeting a little more prepared than the last one.

Reading about what you do for a living is not a confession that you are behind. It is proof that you are ahead of everyone who is not reading at all.

It Is Right There in the Name

Our goal at Cincinnati CPG Edge is simple, and it is in the name. We want to give you an edge, a leg up on the others. We want to share a lifetime of learning, make you better at what you do, and at the end of the day, make you a better vendor.

We will never claim our way is the only way. There are a lot of right answers in this business. But what we share comes from several decades of working with dozens of retailers and thousands of brands. It has been tested in real category reviews, real promotions and real hard conversations. It is tried and true.

What We Share, and What We Never Will

Everything you read here comes from two places. The first is real working life, the lessons real people learned doing this job, often the hard way. The second is the public record: earnings calls, press releases, trade publications and Kroger's own public vendor documentation, recapping what Kroger is doing as a retailer, as an investment and as the reason so many of us have a job today.

We never share anything said in confidence, anything from a private meeting, or anything that would break the trust between a vendor and its retailer. That is a line we do not cross, because we work in this industry too.

So using what you read here in your day to day work is not a risk. It is the whole point. Take it, adapt it, put your own spin on it and make it yours.

Nobody Trained Us for This

Whether you are a CPG manufacturer, a broker, a distributor, or a founder, owner or CEO, and whether you started last month or have been at this for 50 years, here is a truth nobody puts in the job description: none of us were trained for this. We all learn as we go.

Some of us figure it out alone. Some of us find a mentor, strong or not so strong. Somehow, we make it.

And we have all had that moment. Someone says, "This needs to be done, and it needs to be done now!" You nod, swallow hard, and quietly think to yourself, "I have no idea how to do this."

If that was you this week, welcome. You are in very good company. Every one of us has been there, and some of us still get there a few times a week.

Everyone Is Reinventing at Once

Kroger is in the middle of reinventing itself, as we covered in Who Kroger Is Becoming. So are many of the industry's middle of the pack retailers. They are all in a phase of change, working to become something they are not yet today. And that change rolls downhill to every person who helps those retailers along the way.

Think about how many people it takes to sell one box of cereal. Someone developed the recipe. Someone planned the production run. Someone negotiated the cost, built the promotion calendar, set up the item and pitched it in a category review. Someone mapped it to a planogram, shipped it to a warehouse, drove it to the store, put it on the shelf, and resolved the deduction three months later.

There are hundreds of people behind every sale of every item. When the retailer changes, every one of those jobs changes with it. That is a lot of people figuring it out in real time. You are one of them, and that is exactly why this place exists.

Two Easy Ways to Join the Conversation

No pressure and no risk. Just pick the one that feels right.

1. Leave a comment. Scroll down to the Member discussion section at the bottom of this post. Ask a question, push back, or add your own experience. If you learned something the hard way, there is someone out there who needs to hear it.

2. Share a post that hit close to home. Send it to a co-worker, a friend, your boss, the new hire, or the person you are mentoring. If you are not sure where to start, our catch-up list has the posts readers come back to most.

And if there is something you want us to cover, tell us. The best ideas come from the people doing the work every day.

Most Importantly, Share It With Your Tribe

This is the way we all learn.

If a post made you think, do not keep it to yourself. Share it with your tribe, your friends, your co-workers and your team. Bring it up in your next group meeting. Put it on the screen and talk it through. Ask the room, "Is this us?"

Some of the best lessons in this business were never taught in a classroom. They were passed along in a hallway, on a drive between store visits, or in a team huddle on a Monday morning. One person learns something the hard way and makes sure the next person does not have to.

Whatever it takes, share it. When one of us gets better, we all get better. That is what making us all better vendors is really about.

You Are Not Alone

We hope you find something here worth reading, something worth applying, and something worth sharing with anyone who is just like the rest of us: seeking knowledge, seeking answers, or looking to be a mentor with real life ways of working.

There is nothing wrong with reading, learning, sharing or commenting. You are simply trying to get better at what you do for a living, and that is something to be proud of.

This is a mad, mad industry. Nobody has to figure it out alone.

Found this helpful? Pass it along to a colleague who works with Kroger. Great insights are better shared.

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From Cincinnati CPG Edge, keeping you in the Kroger know.