Kroger Wellness Festival provides free family fun — and a boost for ‘better for you’ brands

On a sun-kissed weekend last September, more than 200,000 people gathered in downtown Cincinnati to move, learn and grow together.

People of all ages and walks of life participated in fitness demos, danced to live music and sampled a vast assortment of free "better for you" products from new and established brands.

The Kroger Wellness Festival, one of the largest free health and wellness festivals in the United States, will be back and bigger than ever on Sept. 27-28. In anticipation of even larger crowds this year, the popular festival is moving to a new location on Fifth Street in downtown Cincinnati.

Since 2022, Advantage Solutions has produced the family-friendly event on behalf of Kroger - one of more than 500 special events produced by Advantage's experiential services division each year, in addition to more than 130,000 in-store demonstrations.

The Kroger Wellness Festival is, by far, the largest event produced by the team.

"We're so proud to partner with Kroger on this remarkable and uplifting event," said Lisa Haubner, senior vice president of customer experience for Advantage. "The whole mission of this festival is to help people live healthier lives. All are welcome and appreciated."

People participate in a fitness demo at last year's Kroger Wellness Festival.

The festival's more than 200 food and experiential offerings will be focused on the Kroger Wellness Festival's six core pillars of transformation: balance, breathe, care, move, play and uplift.

"We're excited to bring the Kroger Wellness Festival to a larger location with two full days of free, interactive health-centered programs that focus on fitness, mindfulness and overall wellness," said Colleen Lindholz, president of Kroger Health.

Certainly, the festival will have no shortage of star power.

The Friday night concert, presented by Campbell's, will feature Third Eye Blind and Saturday's concert, presented by GoGo squeeZ®, will feature Jason Derulo. Other celebrities scheduled to appear include three-time MVP and World Series Champion Alex Rodriguez, Food Network star and James Beard-award winning chef Maneet Chauhan, New York Times bestselling cookbook author Chrissy Teigen, philanthropist and MMA star Dustin Poirier and former WNBA player and registered dietitian nutritionist Briana Butler, among many others.

More celebs will be announced as the festival draws nearer. Importantly, festivalgoers will also be able to participate in fitness activities, cooking demos, workshops and panel discussions.

On Saturday afternoon of the festival, Advantage's Andrea Young will take the stage to moderate a panel on inclusion. Young, chief operating officer of experiential services, will be in conversation with Laurie Hernandez, a trailblazing Latina gymnast who won gold and silver medals at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Children pose for a photo at the 2023 Kroger Wellness Festival.

The mission of the healthy lifestyle festival is in lockstep with Advantage's core value of putting people first, Haubner said.

The festival also provides a significant lift to brands seeking to grow awareness of healthier products. At last year's festival, more than 3 million product samples were provided.

Shoppers were more motivated to buy those products long after the festival concluded, according to a study conducted by the 84.51° data science firm, which tracked sales of the products 12 weeks prior and 12 weeks after the event.

As one example, grocery products sampled at the festival posted an average unit per store lift of 156% in the 12-week period following the event. New brand customers and repeat sales were also up significantly, per the study, which focused on sales in the Cincinnati area.

"When people have the opportunity to try new products, they're empowered to make healthier choices at the grocery store," Haubner said. "And that can have a transformative power on their lives."

Let it be known that the Kroger Wellness Festival is also just a heck of a good time.

For more information, visit the Kroger website.

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