Supermarket own brand identical to branded products

sinny65

There's an article in dailymail where people found original hula hoop packets in their multipack of aldi own brand hoops. They're obviously manufactured in same factory, only thing different is the packaging. Do you know of any other supermarket own brand products that are identical to the "original?

optogirl

sinny65 wrote: »

There's an article in dailymail where people found original hula hoop packets in their multipack of aldi own brand hoops. They're obviously manufactured in same factory, only thing different is the packaging. Do you know of any other supermarket own brand products that are identical to the "original?

loads of supermarkets do this - they contract the likes of Premier Dairies Or Dawn or Kellogs to make their cereals/juices/whatevers and package in own brand packaging

The_Valeyard

Weetabix?

Hande hoche!

Keepers choice biscuits. Bashed up biscuits from some of the main brands.

Noddyholder

Bread, milk, biscuits,dogfood.

MOH

Great investigative journalism from the daily mail there. There's tons of them, it's hardly a secret.

Cookie_Monster

err, all of them?

suicide_circus

The_Valeyard wrote: »

Weetabix?

Massive difference between Lidl weetabix and the brand name. I wish there wasn't as I'd much rather buy the cheaper one but the lidl one is ropey

godtabh

Valeo Foods do contract manufacturing for all the main shops. All the branded products they make can be got unbranded. Generally the ingredients arent the same quality but very little difference. The mark up they get is less also

Of course own brands are made by named brands!
There's hardly a Dunnes stores factory producing thousands of own name brands!

prinzeugen

They are not identical however. Yes they may be made in the same factory, but the ingredients vary depending on who the customer is.

Channel 4 did a good documentary a few years back on this. The factories make stuff to the shops recipe using ingredients supplied by the shops.

The one I remember was prawn mayo sandwiches. M&S and Lidl both had them produced in the same place.

The bread, prawns, mayo and even the butter was different.

murpho999

prinzeugen wrote: »

They are not identical however. Yes they may be made in the same factory, but the ingredients vary depending on who the customer is.

Channel 4 did a good documentary a few years back on this. The factories make stuff to the shops recipe using ingredients supplied by the shops.

The one I remember was prawn mayo sandwiches. M&S and Lidl both had them produced in the same place.

The bread, prawns, mayo and even the butter was different.

But that makes sense as you would pay more in M&S than Lidl for a sandwich.

seamus

optogirl wrote: »

loads of supermarkets do this - they contract the likes of Premier Dairies Or Dawn or Kellogs to make their cereals/juices/whatevers and package in own brand packaging

Some of it's identical, some of it's made in the same factory but it's not identical.

For things like milk obviously it's the same. Milk is milk, there's only one ingredient.

But other stuff with multiple ingredients is made on a production line. When Tesco go to a manufacturer looking for their own-brand stuff, the manufacturer gives them the list of ingredients, and the price of each. Tesco then tweaks the recipe to suit their budget - either using less of some ingredients (or more of others), or swapping out entire ingredients for a cheaper alternative.

When the factory is then running off a Tesco batch, it loads the Tesco recipe into the computer and the machine produces the Tesco product. This doesn't just go for the product itself, but the packaging too. Hence why own-brand stuff is often less fresh, or has less longevity than branded stuff; cheaper packaging.

So while many products are produced by a brand name in their own factory, that doesn't actually mean that the end product is identical.

This is why the Lidl cornflakes are a little bit chewy and get stuck in your teeth, while the branded ones produced in the same factory are that little bit crunchier and fresher.

sozbox

Same factory different receipies. Not news really.

draiochtanois

This post has been deleted.

Cee-Jay-Cee

Prawn snaps from Aldi are Skips. Identical taste size/shape but half the price

evolving_doors

draiochtanois wrote: »

For dairy products you can check as there is a plant id on the wrapper.

If the plant id is the same then the product is exactly the same

Not necessarily though, the location is the same but the item might be manufactured to a different spec on a different line.

Tesco batteries are made by Duracell.

The_Valeyard

The_Valeyard wrote: »

Weetabix?

Aldi and dunnes stores ones tastes nearly like weetabix, nice and crunchy and hits the spot. Lidl one is very different, not nice, turns to a saliva-depleting mush.

I assume Aldi mcgraths tea is "made by" Barry's tea

whoopsadoodles

optogirl wrote: »

loads of supermarkets do this - they contract the likes of Premier Dairies Or Dawn or Kellogs to make their cereals/juices/whatevers and package in own brand packaging

Kellogs "don't make cereals for anyone else."

chakotha

I've found Centra branded foodstuffs are quite good quality and reckon they are well known branded products.

Ush1

Deleted User wrote: »

I assume Aldi mcgraths tea is "made by" Barry's tea

Roberts and Roberts I believe.

andekwarhola

It's amusing when Aldi or LIDL not only produce near-perfect facsimiles of brand items but also give them a cheekily similar name that is a clear pisstake.

Cervantes2

Deleted User wrote: »

Aldi and dunnes stores ones tastes nearly like weetabix, nice and crunchy and hits the spot. Lidl one is very different, not nice, turns to a saliva-depleting mush.

Lidl cereals are awful.

cml387

Cervantes2 wrote: »

Lidl cereals are awful.

I thought so too, until I tried their Fruit and Fibre. Damned if I can tell the difference to the Kellogs version.

draiochtanois

This post has been deleted.

PMBC

cml387 wrote: »

I thought so too, until I tried their Fruit and Fibre. Damned if I can tell the difference to the Kellogs version.

Agree. Also Tesco's own brand fruit and fibre cereal, some years ago anyway, was a very good product

valoren

It's standard practice I'd imagine from a manufacturing perspective.

Reminds me of Dr Pepper who leverage off Coca Cola and Pepsi's bottling plants to bottle their drinks instead of financing their own plants or independent bottling companies.

Widdershins

My mother in law told me fabric conditioner is identical but labeled differently according to brand, but it isn't, some of them are weaker and more diluted and a completely different colour. She uses caps and caps full of the cheaper stuff to compensate!

Uncle_moe

I still can't find an own brand cereal that tastes anything like the branded ones. I'll try the fruit and fiber and see what it's like, the Tesco one was like cardboard though.

RhubarbCrumble

chakotha wrote: »

I've found Centra branded foodstuffs are quite good quality and reckon they are well known branded products.

Centra are part of Super Valu/Musgraves so all their stuff is coming from the same place.
I forgot to get chocolate digestives in Aldi recently (less than a euro and very nice) and decided I wasn't paying almost €3 for a packet of McVities in Tesco so picked up a packet of Centra's own for a euro. I wasn't expecting a whole lot to be honest, but they were very tasty.

seachto7

palm oil

Uncle_moe

RhubarbCrumble wrote: »

I forgot to get chocolate digestives in Aldi recently (less than a euro and very nice) and decided I wasn't paying almost €3 for a packet of McVities in Tesco so picked up a packet of Centra's own for a euro. I wasn't expecting a whole lot to be honest, but they were very tasty.

Anything other than McVitie's digestives is just sacrilege. Even cadburys and jacob's biscuits are poor substitutes.

A few products are never the same like mayonnaise, cereal, biscuits, chocolate and tomato ketchup

Graces7

Cervantes2 wrote: »

Lidl cereals are awful.

Not; the malted wheaties are excellent. Better than shreddies and half the price

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Graces7 wrote: »

Not; the malted wheaties are excellent. Better than shreddies and half the price

You have to accept that, for many things, people have different tastes. I too think Lidl cereals are particularly awful. No price saving would make me eat them.

Now, Lidl biscuits are excellent; with the Tower Gate brand better than McVities. But that's just my tastes.

happypants

Uncle_moe wrote: »

Anything other than McVitie's digestives is just sacrilege. Even cadburys and jacob's biscuits are poor substitutes.

A few products are never the same like mayonnaise, cereal, biscuits, chocolate and tomato ketchup

Agreed. I've tried all most brands of ketchup and none compare to Heinz.

fussyonion

I tried Tesco's Fruit and Fibre twice and both occasions, they were seriously lacking any fruit or nuts.
The bag was all flakes with a measly few raisins here and there.
It was so bad I wondered if they'd made a mistake, hence why I bought them again to double check, but no they were the same.
So unfortunately, it has to be Kellogg's Fruit n Fibre for me.

Tesco's Cream Crackers are 26c and taste identical to Jacob's.

Aldi and Lidl's version of Doritos are nothing like Doritos. They're a lot drier and taste nothing like their competitors.

Aldi's chocolate digestives are a little grittier than McVities but they taste ok.

Lidl and Aldi's version of Penguin bars (Seal) taste identical to Penguins.

mickoneill31

Lidl Rich Tea biscuits taste just like the branded version but cost about €0.30

Capt'n Midnight

suicide_circus wrote: »

Massive difference between Lidl weetabix and the brand name. I wish there wasn't as I'd much rather buy the cheaper one but the lidl one is ropey

Lidl do Weetabix 72 packs offers at the same price as the generics. So just buy the real thing.

Then again the Chinese owners of Weetabix have just sold it to a US company. So it could go the way of Cadbury

Munstermissy

I had a summer job in an ice cream factory years back. The orange splits for Dunnes were the exact same as what we packed into their own branded product but half the price. Same was for the ice cream tubs

fullstop

prinzeugen wrote: »

They are not identical however. Yes they may be made in the same factory, but the ingredients vary depending on who the customer is.

Channel 4 did a good documentary a few years back on this. The factories make stuff to the shops recipe using ingredients supplied by the shops.

The one I remember was prawn mayo sandwiches. M&S and Lidl both had them produced in the same place.

The bread, prawns, mayo and even the butter was different.

The ingredients aren't supplied by the shops. The likes of M&S don't deal in ingredients, they are suppplies by third party ingredinents suppliers.

prinzeugen

fullstop wrote: »

The ingredients aren't supplied by the shops. The likes of M&S don't deal in ingredients, they are suppplies by third party ingredinents suppliers.

Not supplied maybe but sourced.

M&S will say to Wallace & Gromit "We want you to provide 5000kg of Wensleydale in xCm X xCm slices on X date for the production of sandwiches to order No 1234 to Soggy Baps Ltd.

A similar order would be made for ham, or whatever else was being used.

Soggy Baps Ltd gets the goods and makes the sandwiches using the stuff M&S has sourced.

That is how it usually works. BBC2 and Channel 4 have done this to death.

Same factory does not mean same product in different packaging.

That is why Lidl/Aldi can not use the " like brands, but cheaper " slogan anymore.

The only thing that is like the brands is the packaging. It is a form of parasitic trading.

Graces7

prinzeugen wrote: »

Not supplied maybe but sourced.

M&S will say to Wallace & Gromit "We want you to provide 5000kg of Wensleydale in xCm X xCm slices on X date for the production of sandwiches to order No 1234 to Soggy Baps Ltd.

A similar order would be made for ham, or whatever else was being used.

Soggy Baps Ltd gets the goods and makes the sandwiches using the stuff M&S has sourced.

That is how it usually works. BBC2 and Channel 4 have done this to death.

Same factory does not mean same product in different packaging.

That is why Lidl/Aldi can not use the " like brands, but cheaper " slogan anymore.

The only thing that is like the brands is the packaging. It is a form of parasitic trading.

What a wonderful expression.. Thank you!

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

I've always been a little weird about buying own brand stuff. With the exception of bread for some reason, I can't tell the difference between a good loaf and a cheap loaf. Though the Aldi version of kopperberg is sold in cafe en seine at like 6.50 a bottle so it can't be all bad

pgj2015

Aldi weetabix is exactly like the real thing and Lidl jafa cakes are also like the real thing.

odyssey06

prinzeugen wrote: »

Same factory does not mean same product in different packaging.
That is why Lidl/Aldi can not use the " like brands, but cheaper " slogan anymore.
The only thing that is like the brands is the packaging. It is a form of parasitic trading.

Just to be clear... it's parasitic trading if they're trying to con the consumer with sumilar packaging into buying their different product... I'm perfectly happy with own brand stuff as long as it's not trying to be something it isn't!

vicwatson

fussyonion wrote: »

I tried Tesco's Fruit and Fibre twice and both occasions, they were seriously lacking any fruit or nuts.
The bag was all flakes with a measly few raisins here and there.
It was so bad I wondered if they'd made a mistake, hence why I bought them again to double check, but no they were the same.
So unfortunately, it has to be Kellogg's Fruit n Fibre for me.

Tesco's Cream Crackers are 26c and taste identical to Jacob's.

Aldi and Lidl's version of Doritos are nothing like Doritos. They're a lot drier and taste nothing like their competitors.

Aldi's chocolate digestives are a little grittier than McVities but they taste ok.

Lidl and Aldi's version of Penguin bars (Seal) taste identical to Penguins.

Aldi also sell crackers at 26c and are perfect

As for aldi's "doritos" I find them much nicer, especially the cheese ones.

Eliseo Bitter Tyranny

Eliseo Bitter Tyranny wrote: »

You have to accept that, for many things, people have different tastes. I too think Lidl cereals are particularly awful. No price saving would make me eat them.

Now, Lidl biscuits are excellent; with the Tower Gate brand better than McVities. But that's just my tastes.

Yes the bourbon creams and chocolate digestives are nicer than real brands. Also, tescos cream crackers for 26 cent, as someone mentioned, are really good, whether they are the same as Jacobs or not.

Hande hoche!

odyssey06 wrote: »

Just to be clear... it's parasitic trading if they're trying to con the consumer with sumilar packaging into buying their different product... I'm perfectly happy with own brand stuff as long as it's not trying to be something it isn't!

Reminds of that McCamridge/ Brennan's dispute a while back.

Cloudio9

prinzeugen wrote: »

The only thing that is like the brands is the packaging. It is a form of parasitic trading.

Or turning that on its head, getting people to pay a premium for the intangible benefits of a brand is a form of parasitic trading.