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Thread: In The Grocery Section, Disappearing Store Brands

  1. #31
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    I was under the impression that store brands were made by name brand companies that had extra capacity.
    There are also manufacturers the specialize in "store brands".
    Many canneries would process product without labels and then just pull from inventory and label them when they got an order.
    Sure ,the cheaper product might be made in same factory ….but I think that stuff always gets carefully measured
    “too much salt,”the overly ripe tomatoes and …perhaps a small bug.
    All the above is likely correct in its own way.

    There used to be more canneries than there are today.

    Some national brands have their own canneries and only produce their own products.

    Some national brands have canneries that produce their own and also produce products with labels for "house labels" or other regional labels. They may run the same product or the formula may change. After all, if consumers want an economy product why not make it for them and get paid for their capacity.

    From my own experience with one product, garbanzo beans, one local retailer has very small beans with more liquid than another retailer with larger beans and not as much water. The national brand has the largest beans with a higher bean to water ration. In this case the retailer with the larger beans also has their own canning facility. I have not purchased garbanzo beans from the third retailer in the area nor do I know if they have them in their own store label. We do not shop there often.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  2. #32
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mel Fulks View Post
    I don’t buy the “same product” different label thing . My Dad was really thrifty and sometimes tried cheaper brands , but most of the time
    he found them lacking . Sure ,the cheaper product might be made in same factory ….but I think that stuff always gets carefully measured
    “too much salt,”the overly ripe tomatoes and …perhaps a small bug.
    For things like prepared food they don't use the exact same recipe. When building a plant to make a product you want to have a little excess capacity so if demand is higher than normal or if one machine breaks you can recover. When you reach a point where the demand for your product levels out making extra product to sell as a store brand can be done at a lower price. Your fixed costs, like the price of the machines, doesn't change and you've already built the price to pay off the machines into the price of your product so it's just consumables and the extra labor that get priced in. When it comes to energy some of these machines can't easily be shut down so you have to pay the electricity bill no matter what so making a product with them actually helps pay the bill. Kenmore is an example of this.

    I'm sure there's also companies like Jim says. They are in business to make stuff for store brands. The are set up to make adjustments quickly to switch from brand to brand. But their profit margins are most likely much smaller and a supply disruption can impact them easier.

    Usually when a name brand has a recall you find out all the store brands they make or their products go into.

  3. #33
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    To add on to what Alex posted it is better for a cannery to keep running products to sell at a lower price than to shut down a line and layoff workers even for a short period of time.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  4. #34
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    I worked in retail for 25 years.
    Often we made more profit on the store brand vs the name brand. Just because you pay more dont always = more profit for the store.
    Also if you could get customers to purchase and like your store brand,They were locked in to only buy from your store. Name brand is sold by everyone.
    Last edited by Dave Lehnert; 08-09-2022 at 11:23 PM.
    "Remember back in the day, when things were made by hand, and people took pride in their work?"
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  5. #35
    Quote Originally Posted by Bill Dufour View Post
    I shop at Grocery Outlet which is discount close out store started in Berkeley California right after the war. Only place I have ever seen many east cost brands. Interesting to see USA products labeled in Japanese and Arabic etc.
    Problem is you buy one to try it and they will never have more, ever. So if you like it go back the next day and stock up.
    Many items are the older bigger sizes pulled off tore shelves to be replaced by smaller packages.
    Bill D
    I call Grocery Outlet the "Used Food Store" , have to watch out for expiration dates on their merchandise.

  6. #36
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rollie Meyers View Post
    I call Grocery Outlet the "Used Food Store" , have to watch out for expiration dates on their merchandise.
    Some friends of mine call it that or "Second Hand Foods."

    Sometimes items on or past pull date are heavily discounted. Yogurt and puddings at ridiculously low prices are fine if you can use them up in a few days. Sliced meats and many other foods I tend to look for the pack with the longest out pull date, even when shopping the conventional grocers.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  7. #37
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    We've taken to doing most of our shopping at Aldi, where we've found most of their store brands are as good as name brands, with a few exceptions. And they carry a lot of imported European products which have been interesting. I have not noticed shortages, but occasionally a shelf will be sold out, I think because they dont keep large inventories of products in the back room. Manager told me they never know what will be coming in on the weekly truck delivery.
    < insert spurious quote here >

  8. #38
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    Not a store brand, but I’ve found quite a few flavors of coffeemate liquid creamers to be disappearing right now. I seem to be pretty picky on flavors and brands. I really only like 2 flavors, both of which are severely limited right now.
    It helps that I like black coffee too, so there’s always a fall back- but I miss my morning ‘starter’ cup of creamered joe
    (I have 1 cup before work of creamer, the rest of the day is black. And on Sunday I treat myself to all my cups having creamer)

  9. #39
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    Quote Originally Posted by Adam Grund View Post
    Not a store brand, but I’ve found quite a few flavors of coffeemate liquid creamers to be disappearing right now. I seem to be pretty picky on flavors and brands. I really only like 2 flavors, both of which are severely limited right now.
    That subject probably deserves its own thread. There are a whole bunch of very random but oddly specific things that are either almost unobtainable or disappear for a month only to reappear as inexplicably as they went. My current examples:
    Progresso tomato rotini soup
    MayBud gouda cheese (the red-wax 'hockey pucks')
    Kona coffee (except some obscenely expensive stuff online)
    Trader Joes cocktail sauce
    Fancy Feast cat food in any flavor not containing salmon
    Balance Bars cookie dough flavor
    Some odd flavor of Kashi cereal that GF likes and I can never remember the name of
    (Hey, I did say "oddly specific"...)
    Yoga class makes me feel like a total stud, mostly because I'm about as flexible as a 2x4.
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  10. #40
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lee DeRaud View Post
    That subject probably deserves its own thread. There are a whole bunch of very random but oddly specific things that are either almost unobtainable or disappear for a month only to reappear as inexplicably as they went. My current examples:
    Progresso tomato rotini soup
    MayBud gouda cheese (the red-wax 'hockey pucks')
    Kona coffee (except some obscenely expensive stuff online)
    Trader Joes cocktail sauce
    Fancy Feast cat food in any flavor not containing salmon
    Balance Bars cookie dough flavor
    Some odd flavor of Kashi cereal that GF likes and I can never remember the name of
    (Hey, I did say "oddly specific"...)
    There was a Fancy Feast cat food drought for a while here - we were getting concerned about what to feed our little fuss-pots because the shelves really were bare but supplies have returned to near normal. There are a couple flavors of Progresso soup we like that we have not seen for any price. OTOH store branded soups have expanded a bit on their flavor selection.

  11. #41
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    Quote Originally Posted by Curt Harms View Post
    There was a Fancy Feast cat food drought for a while here - we were getting concerned about what to feed our little fuss-pots because the shelves really were bare but supplies have returned to near normal.
    Admittedly I haven't checked that one lately: we started feeding The Tiny Thing Of Evil all dry food a month or two back.
    She seems to like it...or at least doesn't puke it up nearly as often.
    Yoga class makes me feel like a total stud, mostly because I'm about as flexible as a 2x4.
    "Design"? Possibly. "Intelligent"? Sure doesn't look like it from this angle.
    We used to be hunter gatherers. Now we're shopper borrowers.
    The three most important words in the English language: "Front Towards Enemy".
    The world makes a lot more sense when you remember that Butthead was the smart one.
    You can never be too rich, too thin, or have too much ammo.

  12. #42
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rollie Meyers View Post
    I call Grocery Outlet the "Used Food Store" , have to watch out for expiration dates on their merchandise.

    I call it that as well or the food thrift store.
    Bill D

  13. #43
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rollie Meyers View Post
    I call Grocery Outlet the "Used Food Store" , have to watch out for expiration dates on their merchandise.
    We have Mike's Discount Foods locally. The store closest to me always used to stink like rotten food. They moved to a larger location and that location doesn't smell. Pretty much everything is at, or beyond, the sell by date. Heck, I was there in June or July and they still had Christmas candy and cookies I assume from the 2021 holiday season.

  14. #44
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    I found out in the last few months that those bake it yourself biscuits and crescent rolls can be frozen. Just thaw in the fridge overnight before use. Good to know when they hit 25 cents.
    Bill D

  15. #45
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lee DeRaud View Post
    Admittedly I haven't checked that one lately: we started feeding The Tiny Thing Of Evil all dry food a month or two back.
    She seems to like it...or at least doesn't puke it up nearly as often.
    We have a rescue that has a delicate tummy and will throw up most dry food a few minutes after eating it. We try to restrict him to wet food which he's okay with but it takes vigilance. We recently found a dry cat food intended for delicate tummies. He doesn't seem to throw that up. It's a national brand -- Purina? Might be worth a try.

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