Johnny Brown came to Atlanta in 1976 on a Baseball Scholarship to Clark College. His lifetime dream was to Pitch in the Major Leagues for the Atlanta Braves! Brown lettered for 4 years and was voted Most Valuable Player in 1980! Brown majored in Mass Communications believing that after his career in Baseball that he would become a Sportscaster.

Upon graduation Brown played Semi Pro Baseball and went to several tryout camps. One of his College classmates called him one day and said he had a job at Kroger! Brown remarked that he did not go to college to work at a Grocery Store! 6 months later Johnny reluctantly applied at the Disco Kroger in BuckHead and vowed he would not be there long! While continuing to play Baseball, Johnny looked up one day and realized that he had now been at Kroger for 9 years! He put his degree to use and applied for the Management Program at Kroger and was accepted. 3 years later Brown was promoted to Store Manager on Old National Highway in 1992.

Brown began to form relationships with the Community and soon found his passion to serve! In 1994 Brown was moved to Kroger City Center on Stewart Avenue and formed partnerships with all the Schools in the community. In May of 1995 Brown was chosen to open the New Kroger City Center on Cascade Rd. Brown met many of Atlanta’s Community, Political and Sports Icons while working at Kroger! His work in the Community garnered him numerous awards such as The Barney Kroger Award (named after the founder of Kroger), for the Atlanta Division and later for the entire Kroger Company! Brown also received The Kraft National Community Service Award, The Atlanta Mayor’s Community Service Award and the Atlanta City Council Service Award! Brown worked with several other African American Store Managers to raise more than $1.5 Million for UNCF through the Annual Kroger UNCF Casino Night! Brown also helped F L Stanton win over 300 tickets for Students to attend the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta! After 5 years Brown opened his 2nd new Store, located on Cascade and 285! Ironically, Brown has been a member of the Philadelphia Baptist Church off Cascade Rd. for more than 42 years! The church is located 2 miles between both stores on Cascade and Brown is the Chairman of the Deacon’s Board!