Kroger Announces Launch of Wellness Your Way Festival

Kroger is taking its focus on wellness to a bigger stage, announcing this week the launch of the Wellness Your Way Festival to be held in Cincinnati from October 4-7, 2018 at the Duke Energy Convention Center.

The festival is a partnership between The Kroger Company and Inclusion Companies LLC as well as Grammy Award nominated singer Jewel and beverage incubator L.A. Libations.

The three-and-a-half day event will include industry summits, but will be largely consumer facing, featuring product demos, workshops, yoga and other group exercises, concerts, and film screenings. The festival includes a food show expo where food and beverage brands will be able to purchase booths, however the brands must have a positive score in Kroger’s OptUp app which recommends better-for-you products to consumers. Day passes for the festival are $10.

“From a consumer perspective it will be a very informative and entertaining experience and a way for them to learn about ‘better for you products’ with the help of the Kroger OptUP app,” said Carese Bartlett, marketing director for Wellness Your Way Festival. “The festival app is designed to enhance the overall experience at the festival and to help festival goers walk through the 4 stages of living a healthy lifestyles; Know Yourself, Nutrition and Hygiene, Fitness and Inspiration.”

According to L.A. Libations CEO Danny Stepper, who is on the event board, the organizers are in talks with both large CPG companies and emerging startups in the food and beverage space to be featured at the festival’s expo.

“It’s a great opportunity to showcase the emerging side of what these big CPGs are getting into,” Stepper said. “But it’s also a great opportunity for a young brand to get on the radar at Kroger.”

Jewel, told BevNET that her passion for healing and wellness has carried over into her music and other creative endeavors.

“This festival fits perfectly with my life long passion and focus on helping people to become whole humans,” she wrote in an email.

The festival will feature speakers including health and wellness advocates Tony Horton, Brendan Brazier, Debbie Matenopoulos, Michael Symon, Liz Shanahan, and a keynote speech by Body by Jake founder Jake Steinfeld. Musical performances will include Jewel, Gavin DeGraw, and Nick Lachey.