*By Amanda Weston*
Grocery chain Kroger launched a new delivery service Wednesday to compete with industry giants Amazon and Walmart.
[Kroger Ship](https://ship.kroger.com/) offers more than 50,000 products to online shoppers in Cincinnati, Houston, Louisville, and Nashville. The chain aims to lure new customers with curated options, free shipping for orders over $35, and discounts.
Online shopping accounts for about 2 percent of the American food-and-beverage market, but it's rapidly expanding.
"When you look at all these new channels in the industry, they are growing extremely, extremely fast," Yael Cosset, Kroger's chief digital officer, said Thursday in an interview with Cheddar.
This isn't Kroger's first attempt at online delivery. The grocery chain has offered delivery service from almost half its 2,800 stories through Instacart.
The new service represents the chain's ambition to make shopping easier for its customers ー and help keep its brick and mortar businesses stable.
"The direct interaction with some of the fresh assortment ー produce, meat, seafood, cheese ー experiential engagement is still very important to them," he said. "They do, however, still want the convenience and simplicity that a digital engagement can offer."
Kroger is going up against Amazon, a formidable competitor, [which sold](https://www.wsj.com/articles/kroger-to-launch-grocery-delivery-service-1533117720) about $650 million worth of food items in the second quarter, up 40 percent from 2017.
As for Kroger Ship's future, Cosset said digital partnerships will also play a major role in growth.
For more on this story, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/kroger-introduces-kroger-ship-delivery-service).
With ridership down some 85 percent — and a return to normal still a way off — data suggests New Yorkers are swapping their MetroCards for car keys and taking to the streets.
Cheddar's Need2Know Podcast for Wed., June 17, 2020.
Cheddar's Need2Know Podcast for Tues., June 16, 2020.
Emma Bengtsson, executive chef at Michelin two-star Aquavit, transformed her high-end restaurant into haute takeout in the midst of the coronavirus as the New York City restaurant scene awaits the go ahead to reopen.
Recent data shows that Quibi isn't gaining as much traction with viewers as one might expect, especially with the initial subscribers' three-month free trial period wrapping up in a few weeks.
Six former eBay Inc. employees have been charged with waging an extensive campaign to terrorize and intimidate the editor and publisher of an online newsletter with threats and disturbing deliveries to their home, including live spiders and cockroaches.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday that existing civil rights law protects LGBT people from discrimination in employment.
Michael James Nuells was a contractor working with Disney. He served as a special events manager in the Parks, Experiences and Products division overseeing the technology and digital team, before his contract was terminated early amid the pandemic.
What exactly "defund" means in practice varies depending on who you're asking, but the broader goal is simple: funnel money away from law enforcement into other public programs.
The problem of homelessness continues to get worse in Los Angeles County. The number of homeless people counted over the past year jumped nearly 13% to more than 66,000 and officials fear another spike due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
