Lucky’s Market, Boulder’s feisty independent natural foods grocer, has entered into a partnership Friday with one of the largest corporate grocers in the U.S., Cincinnati, Ohio-based Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR).

The financial terms of the deal, in which Kroger has acquired a “significant” stake in Lucky’s, were not disclosed. Kroger is the parent company of King Soopers, which has a major presence in Boulder County, as well as City Market stores, which operate on Colorado’s West Slope, among other locations.

Lucky’s Vice President of Marketing Ben Friedland said the cash infusion will allow Lucky’s to expand much faster nationwide. To date, the company has 17 stores in 13 states. Its first store, opened in 2003, is on North Broadway in Boulder. It opened its second store in Longmont in 2013.

“We’re really excited about it,” Friedland said. “It’s going to help us put Lucky’s out there in ways we could not have done before.”

Kroger Co., with more than $1 billion in annual sales, controls 16.2 percent of the supermarket and grocery segment in the U.S., outpacing the Albertons and Publix chains, according to IBIS market research.

It is also the largest seller of organic and natural foods in the U.S. through such store brands as “Simple Truth,” said Jessica Adelman, Kroger’s group vice president for corporate affairs.

Its stake in Lucky’s is its first affiliation with an independent natural foods grocery chain, Adelman said. The company is hopeful it will have the same success with Lucky’s as it has had with its own organic brand, Simple Truth, which generated millions of dollars in sales in the first two years after its launch in 2012.

“We wanted an offering for our customers who are interested in natural and organic foods, and we wanted it to be affordable,” Adelman said. “We liked the fact that Lucky’s considers itself the natural and organic food grocer for the 99 percent.”

Mainstream food companies, faced with often stagnant sales, have boosted their attempts to cash in on the much faster-growing but smaller natural foods segment.

Friedland said Kroger reached out to Lucky’s with an eye on how to capitalize on what Lucky’s has accomplished in the natural foods world.

“It’s certainly a unique partnership,” Friedland said.

Boulder County has long served as a launch pad for independent natural food grocers, including such iconic brands as Wild Oats and Alfalfas, which at one point competed, then merged, then were acquired by Whole Foods. Alfalfa’s has since relaunched as a small, independent natural foods grocer.

One of Alfalfa’s founders, Mark Retzloff, said the Lucky’s deal with Kroger is similar to deals that have been playing out nationwide in the past year.

“The food industry continues to consolidate,” Retzloff said. The new(er) Alfalfas, for which Retzloff serves as chairman, remains independent and is growing slowly, having recently opened a new store in Louisville.

Crafting a deal with Kroger is an important step for Lucky’s, he said, and it makes sense.

“Kroger sells more natural and organic food than anyone else in the U.S. But these independent retailers do things well in terms of serving their customers. And they have higher demographics with people whose baskets are larger. They are also often in places that are too small for stores like Kroger to enter,” Retzloff said.

Another natural foods veteran, former Wild Oats chief financial officer Mary Beth Lewis, said the deal is “a continuation of the trend in which traditional food companies acquire their way into the natural foods business. It allows them to acquire expertise they don’t have.”

“If Kroger is smart, it will leave the Lucky’s brand intact. And I think they will. In general, when traditional food businesses come in, they have done a good job of letting these brands grow,” said Lewis, who now teaches marketing at CU’s Leeds School of Business.

How the partnership will play out physically in stores isn’t clear yet, Friedland said.

“There are a lot of things still to be determined. But there is no intention for Lucky’s to change. The next step is for both companies to sit down and determine how Kroger can help Lucky’s and how Lucky’s can help Kroger,” he said.

Kroger shares closed up slightly at $38.32 Friday afternoon. Its 52-week range is $27.32 to $42.75.