If you’ve driven around Over-the-Rhine at any point this summer and fall, you’ve probably seen them. A group of animal rights activists have been protesting outside Kroger headquarters and around the neighborhood nearly every single day since May.
Late last month, their protests escalated dramatically when nine members of the organization Animal Equality were arrested for chaining themselves to the front door of Kroger’s headquarters. Those nine activists will appear in court Friday for a pre-trial hearing on charges of criminal trespassing or resisting arrest.
So why are they doing it?
In 2016, the grocery store giant promised to sell only 100% cage-free eggs by 2025 and reaffirmed that promise in 2018. But in 2022, the corporation quietly announced it would no longer meet that goal, saying the “cage-free egg supply continues to outpace customer demand,” according to a company statement.
For Animal Equality president Sharon Núñez, Kroger going back on its promise is a slap in the face to animal rights activists all over the globe.
“We have been working worldwide to end cages for animals, specifically, cages for hens. This is one of the cruelest systems that exists, where these birds can’t even spread their own wings, and they spend their entire lives living on top of wire,” she said. “This is unacceptable, and we’ve been campaigning for the last five months to ask Kroger to meet with us to work towards a path forward.”
Kroger has claimed it met with members of Animal Equality, but Núñez refuted that.
“I have been doing this work for many years, and at this stage of a campaign, a company at least tries to engage with you. This has not been the case for Kroger,” she said. “We have, to this day, not received a single email or call from Kroger, which is very surprising.”
CityBeat reached out to Kroger for comment earlier this week, but has not received a response.
To escalate their campaign even further, Animal Equality has opened an office at 914 Race Street, which is just steps away from Kroger’s headquarters on Court Street. Now that the organization has set up shop in town, Núñez promised “new, intense, highly visible actions in Cincinnati” on a regular basis, similar to the door chaining event that occurred in September.
In the past, claims of affordability and supply chain costs have been common arguments against going cage-free; however, Núñez said that in states where caged-hen eggs are completely illegal, eggs aren’t any more expensive. She showed evidence of a Kroger store in Lambertville, Michigan, where Kroger’s in-house brand of cage-free eggs are listed at $1.79 a dozen. Just a few miles away in Toledo, Ohio, Kroger’s caged-hen eggs are the same price.
“If Kroger can sell a dozen cage-free eggs for $1.79 in Michigan and a dozen caged eggs for the same price just ten miles away, it needs to explain why affordability supposedly prevents it from fulfilling its yearlong pledges about shifting to cage-free eggs,” she said.
She also cited a recent report by the Center for Responsible Food Business that showed one in three Kroger stores in Ohio are overcharging customers and a 2024 federal court case where a Kroger executive testified under oath that the company had intentionally hiked the price of necessities like milk and eggs beyond the scale of inflation as more reasons she doesn’t believe “affordability” is Kroger’s main goal.
“Kroger is a $150 billion company, and what it wants to do when it comes to cage-free eggs is to pass the costs onto shoppers. But Kroger has already made the decision to sell cage-free eggs where it’s had to for the same price,” she said. “Kroger knows exactly what it’s doing. They can easily move towards a cage-free future, but putting it on consumers and putting it on affordability is just a straight-up lie.”
As for when the protests will stop? Well, that’ll be when Kroger finally decides to sit down with the organization.
“Our ask is reasonable. We’re asking for them to sit down with us and negotiate. We’re not asking them to go cage-free overnight. We’re not asking them to do something extreme or radical. We’re simply saying work with us, and we can be of help,” she said. “Have an in-person meeting with me … and let’s work together on a reasonable path forward to eliminate cages for good.”
