The Unexpected Southern Location That's Home To Kroger's Biggest Deli

These days, it's not enough just to have a deli in a grocery store. Customers are looking for a more well-rounded experience — in particular, they're looking for a grocery store where they can do all of their grocery shopping and pick up a customized sandwich for lunch at the same time. It's why chains, such as Publix and Wegmans have become such a hit. Although some Krogers are no strangers to delis in the store, a brand new deli experience just hit the hole-in-the-wall town of Edgewood, Kentucky.

It seems like you really can teach an old dog new tricks, as the oldest grocery chain in the U.S. recently opened the "deli of the future" just a hop, skip, and a jump away from its headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio. On September 19, 2025, Kroger welcomed customers to the massive, 6,500-square-foot deli inside its brand new, 108,000-square-foot store, which it dubbed the "Delicatessen." This was no small feat for the grocery giant, the result of a $25 million investment that the company hopes to use as the blueprint for more mega-delis to come.

While the new deli will serve classic Kroger prepared foods, the real draw of the thing is its made-to-order feature, where customers can approach and order food the same way they would at any streetside deli. The "Kroger Carvery" will allow customers to make sandwiches with fresh meat, such as the Steakhouse Sandwich, the Italian Pork Philly, the Portobello Mushroom Panini, and much more. There will also be a selection of hot sides, including mac and cheese and collard greens, along with prepared salads like tuna and chicken salad, which might just improve Kroger's place as one of the best grocery stores for hot food.

Made-to-order foods will be crafted in the open-style kitchen where guests can watch. Various seating throughout the area is meant to give customers a place to enjoy their meal in the store before finishing their grocery shopping rounds. The new president of Kroger's Cincinnati-Dayton division, Jake Cannon, told the Cincinnati Business Courier that the restaurant-inspired deli concept is the result of the company "trying to understand where the customer is heading and how [it] meet[s] them there with ready-to-eat foods." Kroger is already the grocery store with the rewards program that will save you the most money, though it seems that the company is no stranger to keeping things exciting with new additions and fresh ideas.