diff --git a/plugins/inputs/kafka_consumer/kafka_consumer.go b/plugins/inputs/kafka_consumer/kafka_consumer.go
index bc0d225c63c63..07c87199f3d28 100644
--- a/plugins/inputs/kafka_consumer/kafka_consumer.go
+++ b/plugins/inputs/kafka_consumer/kafka_consumer.go
@@ -14,10 +14,11 @@ import (
 )
 
 type Kafka struct {
-	ConsumerGroup  string
-	Topics         []string
-	ZookeeperPeers []string
-	Consumer       *consumergroup.ConsumerGroup
+	ConsumerGroup   string
+	Topics          []string
+	ZookeeperPeers  []string
+	ZookeeperChroot string
+	Consumer        *consumergroup.ConsumerGroup
 
 	// Legacy metric buffer support
 	MetricBuffer int
@@ -48,6 +49,8 @@ var sampleConfig = `
   topics = ["telegraf"]
   ## an array of Zookeeper connection strings
   zookeeper_peers = ["localhost:2181"]
+  ## Zookeeper Chroot
+  zookeeper_chroot = "/"
   ## the name of the consumer group
   consumer_group = "telegraf_metrics_consumers"
   ## Offset (must be either "oldest" or "newest")
@@ -80,6 +83,7 @@ func (k *Kafka) Start(acc telegraf.Accumulator) error {
 	k.acc = acc
 
 	config := consumergroup.NewConfig()
+	config.Zookeeper.Chroot = k.ZookeeperChroot
 	switch strings.ToLower(k.Offset) {
 	case "oldest", "":
 		config.Offsets.Initial = sarama.OffsetOldest