A partnership years in the making has come to fruition as Kroger and Gatik have announced their collaboration. Together, the pair will use Gatik’s autonomous box trucks to transport fresh products from Kroger’s cutting-edge Customer Fulfillment Center (CFC) located in Dallas, Texas.
“Kroger is committed to creating a seamless shopping experience for our customers—whether that’s through home delivery, a store pick-up, or shopping in the store, and our collaboration with Gatik enables us to continue and enhance that experience,” said Ben Hamilton, Kroger’s Vice President, Logistics and Engineering Network Strategy. “What has always been important to customers is that they get what they need on time. But what we have seen through this collaboration is that as important as it is to be on time, it is also really important to have good customer service. With Gatik’s autonomous box trucks, we are able to be quicker with our deliveries, and focus more on the customer service side of things, which ultimately leads to happier customers and repeat customers.”
For eight months now, Gatik has made delivery runs multiple times per day, seven days per week across Kroger’s Dallas distribution network.
As Kroger works to provide a seamless shopping experience, these operations have become more proficient at speed, responsiveness, and frequency of fulfilling Kroger e-commerce orders.
“Texas is at the center of Gatik’s commercial growth strategy, so we’re very pleased to see the tangible benefits of our autonomous trucking solution realized through our partnership with Kroger,” said Gautam Narang, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Gatik, in a press release. “The support we’ve received from state and local officials throughout our journey in Texas has been phenomenal, and we’re excited to continue safely scaling our industry-leading Freight-Only operations in the state.”
Gatik's continued growth in the Texas market underscores its dedication to advancing the regional supply chain, providing safe and efficient autonomous middle-mile delivery services.
How will this partnership contribute to the evolution of the food supply chain? Stay tuned to DMN to see.
