Retail Watchers

A few days ago, I was at a Kroger on Walnut St in Garland, TX. While I was there, I walked over to the snack aisle to pick up some Cheese-It's and noticed this:



How these Ahold products made it all the way through Kroger's distribution network, I do not know. I certainly would not expect the employees at this particular store to care one bit, as this store is consistently one of the worst-run Kroger stores I have shopped at (and is one of the few truly poor Kroger locations in the DFW area). My guess is the products were likely incorrectly packaged in a Kroger case pack at the factory, so there was no way of knowing that the product inside was not Kroger-branded until it reached its final destination.

What experiences have you guys had with weird distribution mishaps like this?

A year or so ago, I found some Lucerne cheese slices in a College Station H-E-B. I didn't buy it, but I think I have a picture of it somewhere.

pseudo3d wrote:A year or so ago, I found some Lucerne cheese slices in a College Station H-E-B. I didn't buy it, but I think I have a picture of it somewhere.

Actually, now that you mention it, I also saw some Signature Kitchens product (bread crumbs, if I remember correctly) in a closing Minyard Sun Fresh which was a former Albertsons (the Northwest Highway/Ferndale location). As an Albertsons, the store would have been receiving Essential Everyday product, so this batch had to have been a misshippment.

We've had a few of those around here - sometimes really odd brands from other areas and sometimes just a different store brand from nearby. Although I don't know that they ever made it on a regular shelf like that, usually wound up in a clearance area somewhere.

Seems it might be more likely in some areas (for instance in New England where at least a few of the chains use the same wholesaler for distribution it would be much easier to send the wrong item to a particular store).

Then there was the odd situation of C&S owning the remnants of the Grand Union chain for a time in NY/VT - in that case they weren't accidentally sending other stores branded items there, but (at least I think) sending items that needed to be sold quickly (short dated) to those stores since they owned them, thus no one could complain that they were other stores brands (basically using the stores they owned as a clearance shop for items that were overstocked to avoid just having to throw them out).

In all likelihood, you're getting the same product as the "actual" generic brand and it will likely be rung up as such. Remember, these generic branded food items are probably getting outsourced to another company. For instance, a company known as Double B Foods that produces basically the some of the microwaveable stuff you can get at stores (egg rolls, kolaches, etc.) and you can see on their website that there are Ahold branded quesadillas down there (link). Given that Double B Foods is located and based in Meridian, Texas, that means that those frozen products are shipped at least 1,200 miles away, and it's likely mistakes will be made, and it shows up in a store miles away from where it's "supposed" to.

I've heard that some discount food stores have EVERYTHING that washes up there, so you can get things from Meijer, H-E-B, and Publix all in one trip.

architect wrote:A few days ago, I was at a Kroger on Walnut St in Garland, TX. While I was there, I walked over to the snack aisle to pick up some Cheese-It's and noticed this:
What experiences have you guys had with weird distribution mishaps like this?

The shelf tag lists it as the Kroger brand. Probably the same manufacturer for both companies and they messed up on the labeling.

I have't come across cross-brand food like that, but a few years ago I did catch a stack of baked goods trays in a Vons in Coronado with Fred Meyer and Glencourt (?) branding...


Vons; Coronado, CA by Aaron Slater, on Flickr

In the olden days (Pre 2000 or so), most of the larger grocers still had a large amount of in-house manufacturing that covered this, and kept it from happening. As the major companies have consolidated and downsized, manufacturing has been cut and outsourced. Because of this, one plant may be making supplies for 5-7 different companies. I thought Kroger still had a large manufacturing business, but evidently that doesn't stretch out to the snack category.

I once saw Giant Eagle butter at Kroger, under the same circumstances.

It's no question why these things happen: Suppliers make private-label products under contract for multiple brands, and occasionally the wrong packaging will be used. As far as I know Kroger still makes its own crackers, but Kroger has an entire subsidiary (Inter-American Products) devoted to contract manufacturing for other store chains and distributors.

These things surely present headaches for the cashier, though. I wouldn't expect an Ahold UPC to be in Kroger's point-of-sale database.

Andrew T. wrote:I once saw Giant Eagle butter at Kroger, under the same circumstances.

It's no question why these things happen: Suppliers make private-label products under contract for multiple brands, and occasionally the wrong packaging will be used. As far as I know Kroger still makes its own crackers, but Kroger has an entire subsidiary (Inter-American Products) devoted to contract manufacturing for other store chains and distributors.

These things surely present headaches for the cashier, though. I wouldn't expect an Ahold UPC to be in Kroger's point-of-sale database.

Kroger's not the only one, I know Lucerne Foods used the "Better Living Brands" name first when actually marketing to other chains (source), but I don't know if they make products that aren't bound for ABS/SWY. Albertsons does own Praters Food through United, which is in a number of other stores in private and own-brand packaging.

I didn't know Kroger's brands made stuff for other stores. Wonder what America's Beverage Company also produces.