Can I sue if I slip and fall at Food 4 Less?

By Michael Shemtoub, trial attorney, Beverly Law. Updated November 2026.

Beverly Law is not affiliated with Food 4 Less.

Who owns Food 4 Less

Food 4 Less belongs to The Kroger Co. A 2021 Kroger fact sheet calls Ralphs and Food 4 Less “divisions of The Kroger Co.” (Kroger fact sheet), and the Food 4 Less website carries a Kroger copyright and sends visitors to Kroger’s corporate site for company information. In its annual report for the fiscal year that ended January 31, 2026, Kroger reported 2,697 supermarkets in 35 states and the District of Columbia (Kroger Form 10-K).

The same report says Kroger uses a combination of insurance and self-insurance to provide for potential liability that includes workers’ compensation, automobile and general liability. A shopper’s injury claim usually falls in that last group, so the adjuster who calls you about a Food 4 Less fall may be handling it for Kroger’s own program rather than for an outside insurer.

Where the stores are

Food 4 Less’s own store directory, checked in November 2026, lists 97 grocery stores in three states (store directory).

Food 4 Less has no stores in Washington. This page covers California law, since that is where nearly nine in ten of its stores are.

Report the fall, then ask for these records

At the store, tell the manager on duty what happened and ask that an incident report be written. Write down the manager’s name, the time and any report number. If you are able, look up and note where the cameras point. If you want a written record outside the store as well, the Food 4 Less help center says customers can reach representatives by chat, phone call or a contact form (Contact Us). Keep whatever reply you get.

Then a written request should go to the company, usually from a lawyer, asking it to keep:

1. Video of the spot and the nearby aisles from at least an hour before the fall until you left the store
2. The sweep or floor inspection log for that area for the whole day
3. The store’s written policy on how often the floor must be checked and how employees are trained to sweep
4. The names of employees assigned to that area and of anyone who cleaned up afterward
5. The incident report and any photos employees took

Why a full hour of video? In the case described below, the store’s own manager said Food 4 Less required a recorded inspection and sweep of the sales floor at least once per hour. Footage that covers the whole window shows whether that happened and how it was done.

The California rules that apply

A Food 4 Less appeal about a sweep log

In Gomez v. Food 4 Less of California, Inc., an unpublished Court of Appeal decision filed March 10, 2023, a shopper slipped on grapes and fell. Food 4 Less pointed to its video, which it said showed an inspection of the area at 1:39 p.m., an employee pushing a dust mop over the exact spot at 2:14 p.m. and the fall at 2:17 p.m. The trial court granted summary judgment for the store, noting that an inspection happened 38 minutes before the fall and a sweep three minutes before it.

The Court of Appeal reversed. Four employees had testified they were trained to sweep in an “S” or zigzag pattern, and the shopper argued the video showed the employee walking in a straight line. The court held there were triable issues about whether the inspection and sweep were reasonable, which bore on whether Food 4 Less should have known about the grapes. That was so even though the shopper said she did not know how the grapes got there or how long they had been on the floor.

Two cautions. The opinion is unpublished, and under rule 8.1115 of the California Rules of Court it generally must not be cited or relied on by a court or a party in any other case, so it is not precedent for your claim. And reversing summary judgment only sent the case back toward trial; it did not decide who was at fault. Its practical point stands: a log entry is a claim about what an employee did, and the video can test that claim.

What this means for your case

If you fell at Food 4 Less, the question to ask early is what the store’s records say happened in that aisle before you went down. Get medical care first and follow the checklist in what to do after a slip and fall. Our page on slip and fall evidence explains what each record proves, and slip and fall with no witnesses covers falls nobody saw. Check the dates on our slip and fall deadline page, and read whether a slip and fall is worth suing over before you talk numbers with an adjuster. Our California store fall page covers falls at other large chains. More answers are in our injury FAQs.

Common questions

Related pages

Injury law FAQs

Important: This page is general information, not legal or medical advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case is different; talk to a lawyer about yours. Texas cases are handled by the firm’s Texas-licensed attorneys, Joyce Ondich and John Efstathiou. Last reviewed: November 7, 2026.