You’ve developed a new and exciting product, and you’re ready to get it in the hands of consumers. To do that, you’ve decided to turn to one of the largest supermarkets in the US – Kroger. However, after reviewing Kroger’s Supplier Hub, you quickly learn that becoming a vendor/supplier for Kroger requires a lot more than just the product itself. One of the items required is insurance.
Insurance sounds simple enough, however, with various coverage types, limits, and endorsements needed to fulfill Kroger’s insurance requirements, it can get confusing quickly. In this article, you’ll learn exactly what Kroger requires, what the policy covers, and how to get a certificate that meets your requirement quickly.
Kroger Suppliers’ Insurance Requirement:
This is the full insurance requirement in your Kroger Suppliers’ Contract. Don’t worry, we’ll break it down in the next section!
General Liability
Each Occurrence: $3,000,000
Damage to Rented Premises: $300,000
Products / Completed Operations Aggregate: $3,000,000
Additional Insured Vendors Coverage: CG 20 15 07 04 or its equivalent
Personal & Advertising Injury: $1,000,000
General Aggregate: $3,000,000
Auto Liability (for any supplier whose employees or agents will be driving onto any premise owned or leased by The Kroger Co. or making delivery on behalf of The Kroger Co.)
Any Auto: Yes
Combined Single Limit – Bodily Injury and Property Damage: $1,000,000
Workers Compensation
Statutory Limits: Yes
Employers Liability
Each Accident: $500,000
Disease Policy Limit: $500,000
Disease Each Employee: $500,000
The following wording must be included in the description of operations box on all certificates:
“The Kroger Co. and its subsidiaries, affiliates, directors,
officers, agents and employees are Additional Insureds with
respect to General Liability and Auto Liability”
“All insurance policies (excluding Workers’ Compensation)
are Primary and Non-Contributory to any other insurance
owned, secured or in place by The Kroger Co.”
A Waiver of Subrogation in favor of The Kroger Co. applies
to all coverages (excluding Professional Liability) evidenced on
the Certificate of Insurance
Certificate Holder Name and Address:
The Kroger Co. and Kroger’s affiliates and subsidiaries
C/o The Kroger Co.
1014 Vine Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202
Additional Notes:
a) Required coverage limits can be achieved through a combination of Primary & Excess Liability coverage. Excess
coverage must “drop down” for exhausted underlying aggregate limits of liability coverage. b) In certain instances, “Claims
Made” policies may be acceptable with automatic tail coverage of 5 years.
Self-funding or self-insurance of liability, other than workers’ compensation and/or automobile liability is allowed, so long as
Supplier or Supplier’s Parent maintains a net worth of at least $100,000,000.
Let’s Break it Down:
To understand your requirement, and get a certificate of insurance that checks all of the boxes on the first try, we’ll break Kroger’s Insurance Requirement into Coverages, Limits, Endorsements, and Extras.
Coverages & Limits
General Liability: $3M
General liability covers third party injury and property damage. Typically, this coverage already includes the details they’ve listed, apart from “damage to rented properties,” which defaults to $100K (rather than the $300K required). Make sure to specify to your broker that you need $300K, or purchase a pre-made policy with all of the requirements built in.
Automobile Liability: $1M
You’re only required to have auto coverage if you or your employees will be driving to any Kroger property, or delivering on behalf of Kroger.
Workers’ Compensation: Statutory
Statutory workers’ compensation means that you have to meet the legal limits determined by your state. In most cases, if you don’t have any employees, you won’t be required to purchase workers’ compensation. Look up your state requirements here, or purchase a pre-made policy which will automatically include them.
Employers’ Liability: 500K
This coverage is purchased along with workers’ compensation. If you’re not required to purchase workers’ compensation, you can ignore this requirement as well!
Endorsements
Additional Insured
Adding Kroger as an Additional Insured means that they’re protected by your policy as well. You’ll need to make sure you have the wording exactly correct on your certificate of insurance, or they’ll request a new one. To ensure your certificate is correct, read the following wording to your broker, or purchase a pre-made policy with the endorsement built in.
“The Kroger Co. and its subsidiaries, affiliates, directors, officers, agents and employees are Additional Insureds with respect to General Liability and Auto Liability”
Primary & Noncontributory
In addition to your coverage extending to Kroger, this endorsement means that in a case where either of your insurance policies would cover a claim, yours will pay out first. Again, the wording on this endorsement will need to say the following exactly:
“All insurance policies (excluding Workers’ Compensation) are Primary and Non-Contributory to any other insurance owned, secured or in place by The Kroger Co.”
Waiver of Subrogation
This final endorsement means that once your insurance company pays for a claim, they can’t go back and try to recoup any costs from Kroger’s insurance company. This is the exact wording that should be on your certificate:
“A Waiver of Subrogation in favor of The Kroger Co. applies to all coverages (excluding Professional Liability)”
Extras
Certificate Holder
Listing Kroger as a Certificate Holder allows them to receive information and updates on your policy, like early cancellation notices. Make sure you have the following name and address exactly correct on your Certificate of Insurance:
The Kroger Co. and Kroger’s affiliates and subsidiaries
C/O The Kroger Co.
1014 Vine Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202
Carrier Rating: A- or Better
If you already have insurance, you can search for your carrier’s A.M. Best rating here.
Self-Insurance
If your company, or your parent company, have a net worth of at least $100,000,000, you may be allowed to self-insure, or forgo purchasing insurance with the understanding that you’d pay out any claims yourself.
Excess Liability
You’re allowed to meet the required limits through a combination of “Primary” and “Excess” liability. For example, you could purchase a $1M General Liability policy, and a $2M Umbrella Liability Policy to meet the $3M requirement.
Claims Made Policies
In some cases, you may be allowed to purchase a “claims made” policy (rather than an occurrence policy), but it must include “tail coverage” for 5 years. General Liability is almost always written as an occurrence policy. However, it’s a good idea to check with your broker / agent or purchase a pre-made policy to be certain.
Where to Get it
The best way to know that you have a certificate of insurance that exactly meets Kroger’s Supplier Insurance Requirements, is to purchase a pre-made policy with all of the coverages, limits, endorsements, and additional details built in.
The pre-made policies also come with a Live Certificate of Insurance, which allows you to easily update and share your certificate when you get a contract with another retailer, like Target or Whole Foods.
If you already have an agent or Broker you enjoy working with them, be very specific about your business and your requirements.
Once you have your Certificate of Insurance, upload it into your Vendor Record within Kroger’s Supplier Information Management (SIM) Program.
The Kroger Policy is only available to businesses registered in the United States. To register your business in the US, visit Bizfilings.com.
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