Supermarket own brand identical to branded products

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.

stefanovich

Deleted User wrote:

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

I remember buying tea in lidl once. I nearly puked at the taste. This was about 16 years ago mind.

stefanovich

Deleted User wrote:

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

I remember buying tea in lidl once. I nearly puked at the taste. This was about 16 years ago mind.

maxwell smart

I did hear some time ago that there are only 3 companies in the world who don't make stuff for other companies

Coca Cola
Nestle
Unileaver

So the products from these companies (while knock offs are available) are not made in their factories (which is why they have kept their own factories when most other companies sub contract out food production)

Cloudio9

I think some people would be surprised by the results if they blind tasted own-labels side by side with the branded version.

I remember reading about an experiment in Dublin a few years ago, which involved blind tasting stout and most people couldn't identify which was Guinness, Murphy's or Beamish.

People are good at describing various food and drink as "****e" "muck" or "piss" until the label is removed.

stefanovich

draiochtanois wrote:

This post has been deleted.

Avonmore supermilk is an exception.

stefanovich

Prices can be inflated due to brand names but cheap food is cheap for a reason. I never shop in Lidl as most of their stuff is ****e.

MyStubbleItches

Uncle_moe wrote: »

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

SuperValu mayonnaise is, to my taste, as good as hellman's and is only 75c for the squeeze bottle.

stefanovich

MyStubbleItches wrote:

SuperValu mayonnaise is, to my taste, as good as hellman's and is only 75c for the squeeze bottle.

Wonder what kind of oil they use.

maxwell smart

maxwell smart wrote: »

I did hear some time ago that there are only 3 companies in the world who don't make stuff for other companies

Coca Cola
Nestle
Unileaver

So the products from these companies (while knock offs are available) are not made in their factories (which is why they have kept their own factories when most other companies sub contract out food production)

Yeah but 2 of those brands cover almost everything in their sector. :pac:

Hande hoche!

maxwell smart wrote: »

I did hear some time ago that there are only 3 companies in the world who don't make stuff for other companies

Coca Cola
Nestle
Unileaver

So the products from these companies (while knock offs are available) are not made in their factories (which is why they have kept their own factories when most other companies sub contract out food production)

Kellogg's used to have something along the lines of we don't make cereal for anyone else stamped on their boxes. Not sure if that's still the case.