Experienced Eater Tours the New Kroger Marketplace

Key Takeaways

• A series first: Hardin County's go-to foodie review team visited a grocery store — the new Kroger Marketplace on Ring Road
• The inside impressed: wide variety, specialty items, and the grab-and-go selection they went hunting for
• The parking lot did not: between the traffic circle and "37 ins and outs," parking was the adventure
• The trip ended with a mandatory dessert stop at Baskin-Robbins across the street
• Also a first: the segment ran fully remote, with Britten narrating the walkthrough video live on air

Summary

The Experienced Eater has a format: go somewhere in Hardin County, eat, react honestly. This week Britten and Michele stretched it somewhere new — the brand-new Kroger Marketplace on Ring Road, the store the county has been talking about since opening week.

Armed with a camera and a mission to scout the specialty and grab-and-go offerings, they filmed a full walkthrough and narrated it live on the show — a double first for the segment: first grocery store, first fully remote edition.

Full Article

"Hey guys, Experienced Eater here. We're in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, and we're going to come check out the big, bad, brand new Kroger."

That's how Britten opened the walkthrough video, and the delivery set the tone for a segment that knew exactly how funny it was to review a grocery store — and did it anyway, with the same enthusiasm the McDowells bring to a plate of ribs.

The mission was specific: with a store this size, what does it offer for specialty items and grab-and-go eating? The answer, per Britten: plenty. "They've got all kinds of stuff — about anything you need," he reported, sounding genuinely impressed by the range. The Marketplace format is a different animal from a standard grocery, and the walkthrough footage showed the scale of it.

The one deduction came before the front door. "The parking lot's a little crazy," Britten admitted, describing the approach — the traffic circle, the turn lanes, what he counted as "37 ins and outs." His verdict on the lot design: "left up to somebody that has no..." — he trailed off diplomatically, and the panel filled in the rest with laughter. Once parked, smooth sailing.

The segment itself was a technical adventure too. This was the first fully remote Experienced Eater — Britten ran the video from his end while narrating live, candidly walking the audience through his workaround when the first playback method fought him. "This is the first remote one we've done," he told the crew, juggling screens. "If you tell me to mute, if you tell me to pause, I won't really be able to — but let's get it." It's just Britten and Michele running things day to day right now, wearing many hats, and the show ran on their improvisation.

And because standards matter, the trip concluded across the street at Baskin-Robbins — because no Experienced Eater outing, even a grocery run, ends without dessert.

Where should the McDowells go next? The comments are open.