Kroger just announced its expanded partnership with Uber Eats—2,600+ stores across all its banners starting early 2026. But here's what actually caught my eye: they're also deepening their DoorDash relationship at the same time.

This isn't commitment to a single platform. It's hedging.

The Multi-Platform Play

Kroger's strategy right now looks like this:

• DoorDash: Full grocery assortment across 2,700 locations (late September expansion)
• Uber Eats: 2,600+ stores starting Q1 2026
• Plus their own delivery operations

You don't expand with two competing delivery platforms simultaneously unless you're making a strategic choice about not depending on any single one. That tells you something important about the delivery market right now.

Why Hedging > Betting

The conventional thinking is: pick your platform partner, go deep, win through scale and integration. But Kroger seems to be asking a different question: what if I don't have to pick?

By playing both DoorDash and Uber, Kroger gets:

• Leverage with both platforms - "We'll expand elsewhere if you can't meet our margins"
• Access to their customer bases - DoorDash's 50M+ monthly users, Uber's massive network
• Risk mitigation - if one platform changes terms or underperforms, they've got alternatives
• Customer choice - different users prefer different apps; why force them?

This is rational behavior in a market where the platform operators have outsized power. Kroger's too big to be dependent on Uber or DoorDash alone. So they don't pretend to be.

The Broader Consolidation Pattern

What's really interesting is how this fits into the larger delivery market consolidation:

• Grubhub partnered with Instacart to get 1,000+ grocery retailers instantly
• DoorDash and Kroger expanded their relationship
• Uber and Kroger just announced their expansion

These aren't mergers. They're strategic alliances that let companies access each other's infrastructure and customer bases while avoiding the regulatory nightmare and capital intensity of traditional consolidation.

It's actually smarter than building your own delivery network. You get immediate scale, proven logistics, and minimal regulatory risk. The platforms get more merchant supply. Everyone wins.

Here's What I Think Happens

Kroger's moved from "we need delivery" to "we need delivery options." That shift matters.

Over the next 18-24 months, you're going to see more major retailers doing this—not picking one platform partner, but working with multiple. Instacart, DoorDash, Uber Eats become genuine utilities that major grocers operate across rather than partner with exclusively.

For delivery workers, this is actually good. More options for merchants means more orders flowing through the network. More merchants competing for delivery capacity means consistent work. The gig economy's strongest markets are where supply and demand are genuinely fragmented—where workers aren't locked into one platform.

Kroger's doing the math and realizing that diversified delivery partnerships are better business than platform loyalty. That's the real insight here.