Dave Aldridge, vice president of the grocery store division for Seattle's Best Coffee, a subsidiary of publicly traded AFC Enterprises, says the deal was cut because the grocery market is "a high growth segment" for company.

The Kroger Company, headquartered in Cincinnati, operates 2,354 supermarkets and multi-department stores in 31 states under nearly two-dozen banners. Seattle Coffee Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Atlanta-based AFC Enterprises, franchises and operates 119 Seattle's Best Coffee and 19 Torrefazione Italia cafes in eight countries worldwide, and has more than 5,500 wholesale customers, including restaurants, foodservice, airlines, and hotels.

In early trading Friday, stock in AFC Enterprises was trading at $18.43 per share, off 18.75 cents from Thursday's close. On March 22, 2001, the stock traded at a 52-week low of $16.12. It's 52-week high of $21.25 came 17 days earlier, on March 5. Stock in Kroger was trading at $25.81, up 23 cents from Thursday's close. The stock's 52-week high came in December, when shares traded for $27.93. It's 52-week low of $16.68 came in April of last year.