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Generic Brands


Landomatic

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I’ll admit, I used to think generic brands (or store brands or whatever) were for poor people.  And always assumed that the generic was, at best, maybe as good as the worst non-generic brand.  Also kind of always assumed they were like a few cents cheaper than the name brand shit.

Well...what started as kind of a joke (long story), recently led us to buy a TON of generic store brand stuff from Target.

Not sure if it’s all in our head or what, but I’ll be damned if every single thing has not only been as good, but way better than any name brand shit.  I keep eating stuff expecting “this will probably suck” and every single time I’m like “ holy shit that’s some of the best (full in the blank) I’ve ever had.”  I’ll seriously put everything up against just about everything I’ve ever had from any grocery store.

And it wasn’t just a few cents cheaper, it’s all like half price or a dollar or two cheaper per item.

So...

1) How do they do that / who’s making these superior products for pennies on the dollar?

2) Do y’all have any others that I’m missing out on?  Or am I alone in this?

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47 minutes ago, Shaddie said:

Aldi stuff is 90% better than store brands. Very few things we have had from there were not better than known brands. 

And a shit load cheaper. 

This is true. Aldi is HEB on German steroids. It wins on supply chain dominance, but still devotes a ton to food r&d for its product to remain at or above major brand quality.

Edited by bigcigar
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1 hour ago, Landomatic said:

1) How do they do that / who’s making these superior products for pennies on the dollar?

2) Do y’all have any others that I’m missing out on?  Or am I alone in this?

When I worked for HEB anything under the HEB brand was either the leading brand packaged under the HEB label or beat the leading brand in 80% of blind taste tests.  Hill Country Fare was the lower level generic brand.

I'm guessing Kroger has a similar program as they have Private Selection brand and Kroger brand.

Edited by ShaggyBevo RIP
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It's a little different with food since there are legitimate "grades" to produce and meet and dairy.  But more and more in-store brands are buying up the foodchain and offering those better quality foodstuffs at a significant discount.  

What should have always been apparent to consumers, but thanks to slick marketing, it's not---is that consumer perishables, dry goods, etc.  Those generic brands are the exact same fucking thing as their premium brand colleagues.  Do you really think the Gap has three separate and distinct factory complexes spread throughout SE Asia.  One with highly paid, skilled craftsmen making Banana Republic chinos from only the best materials.  And then another more modest facility with great raw materials and content talent making great Chinos for the Gap.  And then a subpar shithole with crappy thread making chinos for Old Navy?  Do you really think that's the case?  It's one big complex, and they just smack on different labels at the very end because Americans are fucking dumb.  

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1 hour ago, ShaggyBevo RIP said:

When I worked for HEB anything under the HEB brand was either the leading brand packaged under the HEB label or beat the leading brand in 80% of blind taste tests.

This makes sense.  I’m guessing Target is the national HEB model.  And that works for me.

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I’m generally fine with generics.

Meanwhile, I was fucking this blonde milf that owned a coffee stand along a busy highway. She made a lot of money.

Anyway, after a couple of months i asked her out to dinner. She said I’d love to see you but I’m too tired to go out. Maybe bring takeout? After going back and forth, we agreed that I would make dinner at her place. I text from the supermarket neat her place: do you need anything. She tells me to pick up Q-tips

The large container of generic storebrand Q-tips were on sale so that’s what I bought.

Oh shit, she was not happy. I was informed, in no uncertain terms, that generics we’re not acceptable when it came to anything to do with female make up, or feminine hygiene products

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30 minutes ago, Lobo said:

It's a little different with food since there are legitimate "grades" to produce and meet and dairy.  But more and more in-store brands are buying up the foodchain and offering those better quality foodstuffs at a significant discount.  

What should have always been apparent to consumers, but thanks to slick marketing, it's not---is that consumer perishables, dry goods, etc.  Those generic brands are the exact same fucking thing as their premium brand colleagues.  Do you really think the Gap has three separate and distinct factory complexes spread throughout SE Asia.  One with highly paid, skilled craftsmen making Banana Republic chinos from only the best materials.  And then another more modest facility with great raw materials and content talent making great Chinos for the Gap.  And then a subpar shithole with crappy thread making chinos for Old Navy?  Do you really think that's the case?  It's one big complex, and they just smack on different labels at the very end because Americans are fucking dumb.  

There is one factory, but it is perfectly capable of producing different levels of OBJECTIVE quality.

Stitch counts and the like actually make a difference.

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20 minutes ago, Gil Bang said:

I’m generally fine with generics.

Meanwhile, I was fucking this blonde milf that owned a coffee stand along a busy highway. She made a lot of money.

Anyway, after a couple of months i asked her out to dinner. She said I’d love to see you but I’m too tired to go out. Maybe bring takeout? After going back and forth, we agreed that I would make dinner at her place. I text from the supermarket neat her place: do you need anything. She tells me to pick up Q-tips

The large container of generic storebrand Q-tips were on sale so that’s what I bought.

Oh shit, she was not happy. I was informed, in no uncertain terms, that generics we’re not acceptable when it came to anything to do with female make up, or feminine hygiene products

Tell the bitch to deal with it...is what I'd say.  But I had a generic q-tip fall apart in my ear and had to have it tweezed out. No argument on my part.  

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2 hours ago, ShaggyBevo RIP said:

When I worked for HEB anything under the HEB brand was either the leading brand packaged under the HEB label or beat the leading brand in 80% of blind taste tests.  Hill Country Fare was the lower level generic brand.

I'm guessing Kroger has a similar program as they have Private Selection brand and Kroger brand.

Kroger private label sucks ass compared to HEB branded stuff.  Some of it might beat Hill Country Fare items..

HEB produces a shit-ton of their own stuff, like their chips.  They are VERY good at what they do.

Being in West Texas now makes me miss HEB more than ever...not that they were ever open.

 

Two things I won't buy on any generic label- chocolate syrup and the velveeta cheese for queso.

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4 minutes ago, slorch said:

Kroger private label sucks ass compared to HEB branded stuff.  Some of it might beat Hill Country Fare items..

HEB produces a shit-ton of their own stuff, like their chips.  They are VERY good at what they do.

Being in West Texas now makes me miss HEB more than ever...not that they were ever open.

 

Two things I won't buy on any generic label- chocolate syrup and the velveeta cheese for queso.

Kroger Private Selection ice cream is nothing short of amazing.

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Just now, dcbc said:

Kroger Private Selection ice cream is nothing short of amazing.

agreed.  the cherry amaretto chocolate chip stuff is f'ing awesome.

Creamy Creations holds its own too.

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Just now, slorch said:

agreed.  the cherry amaretto chocolate chip stuff is f'ing awesome.

Creamy Creations holds its own too.

Moose Tracks is the shit, too.

HEB has a Lemon Cookie flavor that is mind blowingly good.

Edited by dcbc
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3 minutes ago, Llewelyn Moss said:

Every time I come across this topic on Reddit, people rave about Costco’s house branded Kirkland stuff. Everything from food to socks to golf balls. 

What says the Surly commenterati?

Their salted cashews are bomb.  Eat the shit out of them every time I visit my mom in Houston.  She keeps them in the freezer.  Magic snack.

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9 hours ago, Llewelyn Moss said:

Every time I come across this topic on Reddit, people rave about Costco’s house branded Kirkland stuff. Everything from food to socks to golf balls. 

What says the Surly commenterati?

I don’t shop at costco so I’m not familiar with the full product line but I do their paper towels are the shit.  generic paper towels are usually tissue paper that dissolves on contact with liquid but the kirkland towels are as good as any premium brand.  that’s a big deal. 

Edited by futureman
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58 minutes ago, futureman said:

I don’t shop at costco so I’m not familiar with the full product line but I do their paper towels are the shit.  generic paper towels are usually tissue paper that dissolves on contact with liquid but the kirkland towels are as good as any premium brand.  that’s a big deal. 

Target’s paper towels are solid.  Rolls might be a little smaller than the Bounty ones though.  Quality is the same if not better.

Forgot about Kirkland brand.  Yeah that’s good shit on just about everything.  You know, assuming you want a giant lifetime supply of whatever you’re getting.

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38 minutes ago, Landomatic said:

Forgot about Kirkland brand.  Yeah that’s good shit on just about everything.  You know, assuming you want a giant lifetime supply of whatever you’re getting.

If you’re going to go generic, you may as well double down and buy in bulk.

Anything bagged or canned, I don’t know if I care what brand it is. Anything fresh or cold I’m still a brand whore for whatever reason.

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17 hours ago, dcbc said:

Kroger Private Selection ice cream is nothing short of amazing.

Yeah. I had a college buddy who's dad ran the ralph's (now Kroger) Ice Cream plant out here.  It was there exclusive product, and it was damm good. 

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I will be damned if I ever buy name brand pet food.

There are plenty of high quality generic consumables for humans (the aforementioned Creamy Creations ice cream immediately comes to mind) but I literally don't give a fuck whether cat food is quality or not -- it's for a cat, who should just be grateful I'm feeding it at all.

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1 hour ago, Gil Bang said:

Yeah. I had a college buddy who's dad ran the ralph's (now Kroger) Ice Cream plant out here.  It was there exclusive product, and it was damm good. 

Thrifty ice cream was the gotdam bomb when I was a kid.  You could get a triple scoop for a quarter.

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2 hours ago, Gil Bang said:

Once, storebrand bleach was on sale so I picked up a few gallons of it. My housekeeper gave me an earful and told me that it’s OK for cleaning, but it’s not worth a shit for the laundry.

 

Straight Clorox homie.

#humblebrag

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I worked a brief stint in management at HEB (when it was open) there are approximately 200 employees at each store. The employees were the guinea pigs for each new product that was introduced. If 10% said a product wasn't satisfactory they tweaked the recipe. If it still wasn't good enough to get everyone on board, then they scrapped the product. The big product that came through when I was there were the fully cooked flame grilled frozen hamburger patties. Those fuckers are legit. HEB knows what they are doing, all of their house brands are pretty badass.

CHIEF

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On 7/13/2019 at 5:32 PM, Landomatic said:

 

So...

1) How do they do that / who’s making these superior products for pennies on the dollar?

2) Do y’all have any others that I’m missing out on?  Or am I alone in this?

 

1. Depends on the store. A lot of the major chain grocers have an agreement with name brand companies to produce the same product but just slap their generic store tag on them. So in some cases you can get the exact same product as the name brand through the "generic" store brand. Trader Joe's is a big one. Also depending on the product some grocers have little to no margin on a product using their own label. For example you have XYZ dairy that has a gallon of milk for $3.25 if you get the store brand of the same milk it might be $3.10 or whatever. 

The store is giving up the $.15 to offer XYZ dairy's product under their own label. And the store would actually prefer that you buy XYZ's dairy product because they would make more money off it. 

The problem it varies from store brand to store brand on who is producing their generics or if they are doing their own.

2. Noting more than what has already been added. For national chains Costco and Target are where we have had the most success with generic brands but as mentioned it's hit or miss with each item. 

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1 hour ago, JimmyHoffa said:

The store is giving up the $.15 to offer XYZ dairy's product under their own label. And the store would actually prefer that you buy XYZ's dairy product because they would make more money off it. 

seems like there would have to be some benefit to the store for purchasing their brand.  otherwise what’s the point?

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21 hours ago, Walden Ponderer said:

I will be damned if I ever buy name brand pet food.

There are plenty of high quality generic consumables for humans (the aforementioned Creamy Creations ice cream immediately comes to mind) but I literally don't give a fuck whether cat food is quality or not -- it's for a cat, who should just be grateful I'm feeding it at all.

For a cat, sure. For a dog I want to live/ be active with me for as long as possible I'm going to pay attention to what goes in to him. It makes a difference. 

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