Ralphs Apparently Dropping Van de Kamp's Bakery Brand Name

California. No non-grocery posts.
trainman
Stock Clerk
Stock Clerk
Posts: 28
Joined: August 26th, 2009, 9:48 am
Been thanked: 3 times
Status: Offline

Ralphs Apparently Dropping Van de Kamp's Bakery Brand Name

Post by trainman »

Blog post: Ralphs Ditches 'Van de Kamp's' Name, Rebrands Its Store-Brand Bread Under 'Kroger'

I had that notice printed at checkout when I bought a loaf of Van De Kamp's bread this past weekend. To be honest, I'm a little surprised they'd kept the Van de Kamp's brand name until now. (For some time, the label designs for the bread products have been the standard Kroger brand designs, just with a Van de Kamp's logo instead of Kroger.)
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Ralphs Apparently Dropping Van de Kamp's Bakery Brand Name

Post by storewanderer »

Another mistake. How much did it really cost them to have some bags with VDK labels shipped to that Kroger-owned bakery plant that makes these breads?

Also that Catalina Coupon message is not really telling the full story as the wide pan wheat and variety (country white, buttermilk, etc.) breads are actually being rebranded as Private Selection Bread (not Kroger).

The VDK label has deep ties to SoCal (or at least, the old SoCal) and a rich history. The label survived through many mergers.

I noticed they have phased out the Fred Meyer/Country Oven and Smiths names on bread packages as well in recent months. But all of the bread over at King Soopers still had the King Soopers/City Market labels as of a couple months ago... something may have changed since then.

May as well rebanner everything to Kroger. I suspect sign costs are the only thing stopping them.
klkla
Posts: 1614
Joined: February 24th, 2009, 3:26 pm
Been thanked: 2 times
Status: Offline

Re: Ralphs Apparently Dropping Van de Kamp's Bakery Brand Name

Post by klkla »

Unfortunately the Van de Kamps brand name is not well known by people under a certain age. They went out of business around 1990 so it's been a while since younger people have experienced the actual quality that Van de Kamps was known for years ago.

The products with that name since then are just Van de Kamps in name only. They licensed the name but the quality was never the same.
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Ralphs Apparently Dropping Van de Kamp's Bakery Brand Name

Post by storewanderer »

There is a definite quality difference between the Van De Kamp product made in the SoCal plant and the stuff that Smiths passes off as private label bread here in Reno (I think it is produced by Bimbo and it is not very good quality stuff; real inconsistent actually which is strange).

I have never had a chance to compare if the Van De Kamp product was the same exact formula as other Kroger Private Label breads are that are made in company owned bakery plants. Perhaps it is now. But the Van De Kamp line did seem to be more extensive with more flavors and more products than the other divisions.

In any case like you are saying and like I referred to in my old post, Van De Kamps is a brand of "the old" SoCal.
Bagels
Assistant Store Manager
Assistant Store Manager
Posts: 823
Joined: August 20th, 2018, 11:54 pm
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 12 times
Status: Offline

Re: Ralphs Apparently Dropping Van de Kamp's Bakery Brand Name

Post by Bagels »

storewanderer wrote: January 8th, 2019, 6:06 pm Another mistake. How much did it really cost them to have some bags with VDK labels shipped to that Kroger-owned bakery plant that makes these breads?

Also that Catalina Coupon message is not really telling the full story as the wide pan wheat and variety (country white, buttermilk, etc.) breads are actually being rebranded as Private Selection Bread (not Kroger).

The VDK label has deep ties to SoCal (or at least, the old SoCal) and a rich history. The label survived through many mergers.

I noticed they have phased out the Fred Meyer/Country Oven and Smiths names on bread packages as well in recent months. But all of the bread over at King Soopers still had the King Soopers/City Market labels as of a couple months ago... something may have changed since then.

May as well rebanner everything to Kroger. I suspect sign costs are the only thing stopping them.
It’s a great move IMO. Companies such as Macy’s and Delta Air Lines have credited their survival and turnaround toward the establishment of a unified, premium brand. It was only a decade ago Kroger began attempting to do the same, ditching its local brands in favor of unified, national ones. IMP, they should’ve went all the way — the Ralph’s and VDK names are laregely irrevelant to today’s Southern California.

Many people aren’t aware that Ralph’s, Smith’s, King Soopers and Kroger share common ownership - despite the heavy presence of the Kroger name in each chain and a nearly identical interior package.
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Ralphs Apparently Dropping Van de Kamp's Bakery Brand Name

Post by storewanderer »

Bagels wrote: January 8th, 2019, 10:50 pm
storewanderer wrote: January 8th, 2019, 6:06 pm Another mistake. How much did it really cost them to have some bags with VDK labels shipped to that Kroger-owned bakery plant that makes these breads?

Also that Catalina Coupon message is not really telling the full story as the wide pan wheat and variety (country white, buttermilk, etc.) breads are actually being rebranded as Private Selection Bread (not Kroger).

The VDK label has deep ties to SoCal (or at least, the old SoCal) and a rich history. The label survived through many mergers.

I noticed they have phased out the Fred Meyer/Country Oven and Smiths names on bread packages as well in recent months. But all of the bread over at King Soopers still had the King Soopers/City Market labels as of a couple months ago... something may have changed since then.

May as well rebanner everything to Kroger. I suspect sign costs are the only thing stopping them.
It’s a great move IMO. Companies such as Macy’s and Delta Air Lines have credited their survival and turnaround toward the establishment of a unified, premium brand. It was only a decade ago Kroger began attempting to do the same, ditching its local brands in favor of unified, national ones. IMP, they should’ve went all the way — the Ralph’s and VDK names are laregely irrevelant to today’s Southern California.

Many people aren’t aware that Ralph’s, Smith’s, King Soopers and Kroger share common ownership - despite the heavy presence of the Kroger name in each chain and a nearly identical interior package.
In general a lot of conventional grocery store customers are fairly detached. They will shop at the most convenient store and not thinking so far as to who owns what chain. Out in the west, there are many people who are not even aware Kroger is a store name and just think it is some kind of generic store brand. I think switching to a common private label for most items was fine as it created a distribution efficiency, a buying efficiency, etc. (it was always sort of odd to see the random banner brand items mixed among the Kroger items) but it was strange the past 5-6 years how they kept banner brands on milk, bread, and eggs at most banners and on random other items at certain banners (Fred Meyer and King Soopers/City Market seem to have the most items that still have their own name as of last year).

Maybe we have reached a point that the regional nameplates are meaningless. But I still remember how 1999 went when Albertsons converted Lucky... maybe it was less about the name and more about that their converted store format was overpriced and the name already had a less than good reputation in California. Maybe Kroger could flip the switch tomorrow and convert the various nameplates to Kroger and, if they keep the same store format, mix, and pricing that is generally well liked by customers, and most customers out west have no pre-conceived negative ideas about Kroger, it would work out okay for them.

It is difficult to know how things would have turned out for Macy's had they kept the regional nameplates. If managed properly, it may have worked. Macy's is still pretty uneven depending what location you go into and what region you are in... there is a major variance in the quality of their stores.

For an airline it is much different than retail and due to the nature of that business you need a single global brand.
buckguy
Store Manager
Store Manager
Posts: 1003
Joined: January 31st, 2017, 10:54 am
Has thanked: 3 times
Been thanked: 61 times
Status: Offline

Re: Ralphs Apparently Dropping Van de Kamp's Bakery Brand Name

Post by buckguy »

I wouldn't call Delta a premium brand. Among other things, their gate agents seem incapable for filling a plane efficiently. the one positive of their merger with Northwest is that the flight attendants no longer hide in the back of the plane and they actually notice if someone isn't wearing a seatbelt.
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Ralphs Apparently Dropping Van de Kamp's Bakery Brand Name

Post by storewanderer »

buckguy wrote: January 11th, 2019, 7:31 am I wouldn't call Delta a premium brand. Among other things, their gate agents seem incapable for filling a plane efficiently. the one positive of their merger with Northwest is that the flight attendants no longer hide in the back of the plane and they actually notice if someone isn't wearing a seatbelt.
Calling Delta a premum brand is akin to saying Food 4 Less is Kroger's "premium" banner. Oh well, there is another website to complain how much I hate Delta.
pseudo3d
Posts: 3851
Joined: November 12th, 2015, 7:01 pm
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 77 times
Status: Offline

Re: Ralphs Apparently Dropping Van de Kamp's Bakery Brand Name

Post by pseudo3d »

Bagels wrote: January 8th, 2019, 10:50 pm
storewanderer wrote: January 8th, 2019, 6:06 pm Another mistake. How much did it really cost them to have some bags with VDK labels shipped to that Kroger-owned bakery plant that makes these breads?

Also that Catalina Coupon message is not really telling the full story as the wide pan wheat and variety (country white, buttermilk, etc.) breads are actually being rebranded as Private Selection Bread (not Kroger).

The VDK label has deep ties to SoCal (or at least, the old SoCal) and a rich history. The label survived through many mergers.

I noticed they have phased out the Fred Meyer/Country Oven and Smiths names on bread packages as well in recent months. But all of the bread over at King Soopers still had the King Soopers/City Market labels as of a couple months ago... something may have changed since then.

May as well rebanner everything to Kroger. I suspect sign costs are the only thing stopping them.
It’s a great move IMO. Companies such as Macy’s and Delta Air Lines have credited their survival and turnaround toward the establishment of a unified, premium brand. It was only a decade ago Kroger began attempting to do the same, ditching its local brands in favor of unified, national ones. IMP, they should’ve went all the way — the Ralph’s and VDK names are laregely irrevelant to today’s Southern California.

Many people aren’t aware that Ralph’s, Smith’s, King Soopers and Kroger share common ownership - despite the heavy presence of the Kroger name in each chain and a nearly identical interior package.
Macy's as a unified brand has produced some really mixed results. It really diluted the brand, as a period about three years it went from a relatively exclusive brand (if somewhat devalued from the R.H. Macy days) found in New York, California, and large cities, to a commonplace brand found in small medium-sized cities across America, which highly diluted its customer base, and it wasn't until at least a year later that they finally tried some regional merchandising again. They're only considered "successful" if you match it up against JCPenney or Sears, which isn't a high bar to cross.
rwsandiego
Store Manager
Store Manager
Posts: 1242
Joined: April 3rd, 2016, 10:57 pm
Has thanked: 23 times
Been thanked: 55 times
Status: Offline

Re: Ralphs Apparently Dropping Van de Kamp's Bakery Brand Name

Post by rwsandiego »

pseudo3d wrote: January 14th, 2019, 9:22 am
Bagels wrote: January 8th, 2019, 10:50 pm
storewanderer wrote: January 8th, 2019, 6:06 pm Another mistake. How much did it really cost them to have some bags with VDK labels shipped to that Kroger-owned bakery plant that makes these breads?

Also that Catalina Coupon message is not really telling the full story as the wide pan wheat and variety (country white, buttermilk, etc.) breads are actually being rebranded as Private Selection Bread (not Kroger).

The VDK label has deep ties to SoCal (or at least, the old SoCal) and a rich history. The label survived through many mergers.

I noticed they have phased out the Fred Meyer/Country Oven and Smiths names on bread packages as well in recent months. But all of the bread over at King Soopers still had the King Soopers/City Market labels as of a couple months ago... something may have changed since then.

May as well rebanner everything to Kroger. I suspect sign costs are the only thing stopping them.
It’s a great move IMO. Companies such as Macy’s and Delta Air Lines have credited their survival and turnaround toward the establishment of a unified, premium brand. It was only a decade ago Kroger began attempting to do the same, ditching its local brands in favor of unified, national ones. IMP, they should’ve went all the way — the Ralph’s and VDK names are laregely irrevelant to today’s Southern California.

Many people aren’t aware that Ralph’s, Smith’s, King Soopers and Kroger share common ownership - despite the heavy presence of the Kroger name in each chain and a nearly identical interior package.
Macy's as a unified brand has produced some really mixed results. It really diluted the brand, as a period about three years it went from a relatively exclusive brand (if somewhat devalued from the R.H. Macy days) found in New York, California, and large cities, to a commonplace brand found in small medium-sized cities across America, which highly diluted its customer base, and it wasn't until at least a year later that they finally tried some regional merchandising again. They're only considered "successful" if you match it up against JCPenney or Sears, which isn't a high bar to cross.
In some cases, Macy's diluted the image of the brand they acquired, such as Marshall Field's. Although their stores fared better than most, Field's had some exclusives in their market that expired upon the Macy's takeover. It was a great for Nordstrom, Neiman-Marcus, and Saks.

Getting back to supermarkets, I think it really depends on the brand and its reputation. Lucky was known for being a value leader and Albertson's was not. The re-branding was a very bad idea. I truly don't think San Diego shoppers have much affinity toward the Ralphs brand. Maybe LA shoppers have more sentimentality towards it, but even there many of the Ralphs stores started out as a different brand (Hughes, Alpha-Beta, Boys, etc) so I'm not sure how well-loved it is. Not to mention a lot of their stores are in need of some serious attention.
Post Reply