Aldi To Turn Off Lights To Save Money

[HCal]

Aldi had no milk yesterday, except for specialty milk. No whole, 2% or skim milk in any size. Just the vegan and lactose-free milks.

There was a sign saying they are out due to "change of supplier". So I'm wondering who they are changing to. It used to be DFA (former Dean Foods) plant 06-10. My guess is they will switch to Producers or Rock View.

But I am surprised they couldn't plan this better. They should be able to time the change so there is no interruption in supply, especially for such a basic item.

Any idea how long they were out of stock for? Being out of stock for a day on conventional milk is pretty pathetic but I've seen stores miss deliveries, mess up orders, etc. and that may happen, but it is pretty rare, and usually a weather issue in my area during the winter. However many stores contact a local vendor and get that very high priced milk in so they at least have something to sell.

With the amount of available milk capacity in SoCal and the many available suppliers there is no excuse for any sort of an interruption like this to occur. I suggest you let Aldi's corporate office know your thoughts on this matter. I also wonder if they are out of stock for too long if this will impact their ability to accept WIC. Milk is a key needed item and it is a major disservice to WIC customers for a store that advertises itself as WIC-accepting to not have the WIC items available.

No idea how long they were out of stock for, I don't go to Aldi very often. However I went back today and they had plenty of milk, the same type as before. No apparent change in supplier. Perhaps it was just an excuse.

I then went next door to Smart & Final and found that they had changed suppliers. Their dairy category is apparently now from Producers rather than DFA. Interesting development considering they had been with Dean for years. Since I'm in the central valley, I'm curious if this change is regional or chainwide. They also had Berkeley Farms as their premium brand, which I thought was odd until I remembered that Producers bought the mark in the bankruptcy. Glad to see they are doing something with the name, I wonder if they still think it was worth $3 million though.

[storewanderer]

No idea how long they were out of stock for, I don't go to Aldi very often. However I went back today and they had plenty of milk, the same type as before. No apparent change in supplier. Perhaps it was just an excuse.

I then went next door to Smart & Final and found that they had changed suppliers. Their dairy category is apparently now from Producers rather than DFA. Interesting development considering they had been with Dean for years. Since I'm in the central valley, I'm curious if this change is regional or chainwide. They also had Berkeley Farms as their premium brand, which I thought was odd until I remembered that Producers bought the mark in the bankruptcy. Glad to see they are doing something with the name, I wonder if they still think it was worth $3 million though.

NorCal/Reno Smart & Final has always gotten milk (branded and/or private label) from Berkeley Farms (even back when Dean owned Model Dairy in Reno, the local Smart & Final got the milk from the CA Berkeley Farms plant; and their Smart Foodservice which did not sell any private label milk always got branded Dairigold Milk from WA). So it may be some kind of extension of that deal that has existed in NorCal for 25+ years.

Producers bought Model Dairy in Reno out of the Dean mess and they managed to get the Model Dairy branded product slotted in some places like Smiths who hadn't sold it in a while but it may be gone again from there (Smiths often gets some Meadow Gold milks from ex-Dean on their truck that were filled in Utah). They seem to basically be surviving in Reno by filling gallon jugs of milk for WinCo, Wal Mart, and Sam's Club and filling half pint cartons for the schools (they keep almost losing that contract every time it comes up for renewal). Producers also owns the Sunnyside label and fills the Raleys/Save Mart Sunnyside/Bayview milk but all of that is coming from a CA plant rather than being filled in Reno for whatever reason. Most everything else is being produced in CA.

Back in the 90's, the Reno Model Dairy plant filled all private label milk for Raleys, Scolaris, WinCo, Albertsons, Super Kmart, and some packer label for Costco (I forget the name). They also supplied all of the local convenience stores (most of those use either Crystal, Meadow Gold, or Darigold now). Model also made ice cream, sour cream, cottage cheese, and was a giant producer of those little restaurant type half & half containers. Dean cut their activities to basically just gallons of milk for a few large chains and so far Producers has not changed that.

So it is sort of odd in Reno that Producers has a lot of capacity that is not used, and the Producers supply chain does supply private label milk to almost every store here but the stuff for Smart & Final comes from one CA plant, the stuff for Raleys/Save Mart comes from another CA plant, and only the stuff for a couple chains Wal Mart, and WinCo, comes from the Reno plant.

[HCal]

NorCal/Reno Smart & Final has always gotten milk (branded and/or private label) from Berkeley Farms (even back when Dean owned Model Dairy in Reno, the local Smart & Final got the milk from the CA Berkeley Farms plant

Do you know where they were getting milk after the Berkeley Farms plant was shut down in 2020? If they still had Berkeley Farms brandeded milk, then it would be from Producers in either Fresno or Reno. So perhaps S&F decided to switch to Producers in SoCal as well, in order to have a supply agreement for the entire chain.

[storewanderer]

NorCal/Reno Smart & Final has always gotten milk (branded and/or private label) from Berkeley Farms (even back when Dean owned Model Dairy in Reno, the local Smart & Final got the milk from the CA Berkeley Farms plant

Do you know where they were getting milk after the Berkeley Farms plant was shut down in 2020? If they still had Berkeley Farms brandeded milk, then it would be from Producers in either Fresno or Reno. So perhaps S&F decided to switch to Producers in SoCal as well, in order to have a supply agreement for the entire chain.

The plant code has been 6-407 at Smart & Final since that time. As I recall before that it was a 6-21 plant code.

[mbz321]

Aldi is already not the best lit store.

Bringing this back up as I'm on vacation right now in South Florida and popped in a nearby Aldi store and actually did notice the lighting was horribly dim! I've never noticed anything like it at the stores in my home of PA. Given they've only been in the region for what, 10 years or so now, it definitely wasn't an issue of it being an old store.