You grab the store-brand box of cereal, hesitate for half a second, then put it back and reach for the name brand. Sound familiar? Most of us have done this, convinced we’d be sacrificing quality for a cheaper label. Here’s the thing though: that assumption might be costing you hundreds of dollars every single year, for absolutely no reason.
The food industry has one of the best-kept secrets hiding in plain sight. Ex-factory workers, industry insiders, and investigative consumer researchers have been pulling back the curtain on it for years. The truth is stranger, and honestly way more interesting, than you’d expect. Let’s dive in.
The Industry Runs on a System Most Shoppers Don’t Know Exists
Bringing a store-brand product to market usually starts like this: a national retailer sees that a certain name-brand product is selling in big numbers, but it’s a little expensive, which means there’s an opportunity for a more affordable store-brand version. So they turn to a co-packer. Think of it less like a food industry secret and more like a perfectly legal arrangement that everyone in the business knows about, but almost no one tells the customer.
Most private-label store brand products are manufactured by third parties. A vice president of The Kroger Company stated that approximately 60% of their private-label products are outsourced. That’s a staggering number when you stop and think about it. Kroger is not some small regional chain.
Most retailers prefer to keep the identity of their suppliers private, and accordingly have non-disclosure clauses in their contracts, making it difficult to determine the producer of a private-label product. In a few cases though, the manufacturer is allowed to mention it publicly, is revealed through a product recall, or in rare instances, is stated on the product itself. That last part about recalls is where things get truly revealing.
Store-Brand Cookies: Same Dough, Different Wrapper
Years ago, one factory worker at Sunshine Biscuits described making and packaging cookies under their own brand, then packaging the same cookies under three separate store brands like Safeway, Milgrams, and A&P, all from the same batch of cookie dough. Same batch. Same vats. Same ovens. Just a different box waiting at the end of the line.
As that former worker pointed out, there are only so many food processing plants, so store brands had to come from them. It’s less expensive for smaller companies to contract with established plants, and the bigger plants can control their market exposure. It’s a bit like renting a kitchen. The chef changes, the plates change, but the stove and the recipe stay the same.
The snack food industry uses co-packing extensively. A large snack manufacturer with a big factory can efficiently produce massive quantities of cookies or chips, and it’s often more cost-effective for them to run their lines for other clients, like store brands, than to let the machinery sit idle. Idle machinery is lost money. No factory wants that.
Kirkland Coffee: Starbucks in Disguise?
As recently as 2023, Starbucks was responsible for roasting significant amounts of the coffee beans that ended up on Costco shelves in Kirkland-branded bags. Beyond the flavor similarities, other clues included subtle Starbucks branding and mentions on Kirkland coffee packaging. Honestly, that wasn’t even a secret at the time. It was printed right there on the bag.
It’s no secret that Starbucks once supplied Kirkland’s whole-bean house blend, with packaging that proudly advertised the brand logo along with the words “Custom roasted by Starbucks Coffee Company.” The Seattle brand also supplied Kirkland’s whole-bean espresso and decaf blends. However, the logo disappeared from all three around the beginning of 2024. The partnership shifted, but the quality standard didn’t necessarily follow.
Kirkland Signature brand K-cups are made by Green Mountain Roasters, a partnership created in 2012 that continued throughout mergers and name changes. Green Mountain Roasters merged with Keurig, and after some reshuffling, is now part of the Keurig Dr Pepper conglomerate. Most importantly, Green Mountain still makes Kirkland Signature K-cups. So the K-cup you grab from Costco? That’s a Keurig product, in Kirkland clothing.
Great Value Cereal: Kellogg’s and General Mills Without the Price Tag
It turns out that many of Walmart’s Great Value cereals are probably made by the exact same companies that sell the name-brand product, including Kellogg’s and General Mills. Let that marinate for a second. You’re loading your cart with cereal made in the very same plant as Frosted Flakes or Cheerios, just wearing a white box.
Kellogg’s is behind some of the Great Value boxes of cereal you can find on Walmart’s shelves. The recipes and ingredients are slightly different between the two brands, but the Great Value line is marketed as a cheaper alternative to the more popular name-brand option. Slightly different in recipe, sure. Massively different in price.
Walmart’s cereals like Toasted Oats or Crispy Rice are often produced in the same plants that make Post and General Mills classics. The flavors, crunch, and even box sizes are nearly identical. Kids usually can’t tell the difference, and parents can save over a dollar per box. Over time, that adds up to real money.
Applesauce: Same Equipment, Same Materials, Different Label
One worker at an applesauce production facility confirmed making the main name brand as well as other brands such as Kirkland, Great Value, and Aldi’s brand. The same equipment and materials are used for all products; the only thing that changes is the packaging materials. Read that again. Same equipment. Same materials. Just a different label slapped on at the end.
Usually the store brand, also known as private label, is made by the same company as the name brand. Sometimes the recipe is modified to save some cost, and other times it is the exact same product. It’s hard to say for sure in every individual case, but the applesauce world seems especially straightforward in this regard. Fruit is fruit.
When it comes to products like sugar, flour, and baking basics, they are processed and stored the exact same way. Sugar is sugar, and flour is flour. The only difference between the store and major brands is price and packaging. There’s a lesson buried in there that applies well beyond the baking aisle.
Peanut Butter: Peter Pan’s Undercover Brother
In 2006, a Salmonella contamination forced a recall of multiple batches of both Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butters. The tainted spreads were recalled nationwide, but not before infecting at least 625 people across 47 states. The Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butters were both created at a single plant in Georgia. A recall is a brutal way to discover two products share the same factory, but it’s definitive proof.
The texture, color, and flavor of Great Value peanut butter and its name-brand counterpart are nearly identical, with only minor differences in sweetness. By skipping marketing and brand overhead, Walmart can offer the same smooth spread for significantly less. It’s proof that generic doesn’t always mean generic in taste.
Consumer taste tests with peanut butter have been revealing. In one test across three different store brands, none of the kids could tell the difference, and a few actually preferred the store brand. I think that result speaks volumes. Children are brutally honest food critics.
Store-Brand Bread: Only the Wrapper Changed
One former factory worker recalled that at the Wonder Bread factory, the only change between products was the bread wrapper itself. One factory. Multiple brands. The loaves rolling off the same line, getting wrapped in different paper before hitting store shelves across the country.
The 20-ounce loaves of Great Value White Bread from Walmart are actually made in the same bakery as Sara Lee products and many other brands. Sara Lee. Same bakery. That’s not a rumor anymore. It’s the kind of thing that slowly reframes every grocery run you’ve ever taken.
Meijer brand bread is made by Bimbo Bakeries USA and Sara Lee. Bimbo Bakeries, for the record, is one of the largest baking companies in the world, with dozens of brand names under its umbrella. When a company that size fires up their ovens, they’re not baking for just one label.
Ketchup and Condiments: ConAgra’s Hidden Empire
Great Value Ketchup is essentially Hunt’s with more vinegar and garlic. It’s made by ConAgra, the same company that makes Hunt’s. ConAgra is a food giant that most shoppers have never heard of by name, yet they’re eating its products constantly under dozens of different labels.
Condiments like ketchup and mayonnaise rely on highly standardized production and bottling processes. A major manufacturer can easily produce a large batch of a product and bottle it under several different labels, including their own premium brand and a store’s private label. The store-brand version might use a slightly different recipe, but it’s often produced with the same quality control in the same facility.
Many consumers who did blind taste tests found little to no difference between Great Value ketchup and its name-brand rivals. The tang, thickness, and balance of sweetness all hit the same familiar notes. The bottle looks different. The flavor? Let’s just say it’s a very close conversation.
Store-Brand Pancake Mix: Krusteaz in a Great Value Box
Walmart shoppers who want delicious Saturday morning pancakes at a lower cost might be pleased to know that Krusteaz is the company behind the assortment of Great Value pancake mixes. Krusteaz, for those who don’t know, is one of the most well-regarded pancake mix brands in America. This is not a cut-rate producer.
The ingredient lists between the Krusteaz Light and Fluffy Buttermilk Complete Pancake and Waffle Mix and the Great Value version are almost identical. The main difference is that dextrose is listed higher in the Krusteaz version, which also lists modified food starch as one of its components, while Great Value does not. That’s an almost absurdly minor distinction for what is essentially the same breakfast product.
Baked foods and baking items were major dollar-sales growth drivers for private brands, including pancake mixes, which rose nearly a quarter in store-brand sales in just one year. Shoppers are figuring this out. The data shows it clearly.
Trader Joe’s Snacks: Name Brands in Disguise
Trader Joe’s Pita Chips are made by the leading brand Stacy’s and repacked for TJ’s, then sold at a discount. Stacy’s Pita Chips is a widely recognized snack brand. You’ve probably paid full price for them at another store without blinking. At Trader Joe’s, you’re getting the same product for less.
Trader Joe’s Pistachios are made by the Wonderful Pistachios company, and Trader Joe’s Smoothies are made by juice manufacturer Naked. These aren’t small or obscure manufacturers. Wonderful Pistachios and Naked are household names that spend enormous amounts on advertising. At Trader Joe’s, you skip the ad budget and keep the product.
Despite the names you see on store-brand products, most retailers don’t actually make them. Some grocery chains like Safeway and Kroger have their own dairy farms, bakeries, and meat processing plants, but for the most part, retailers outsource the manufacturing of these products to other companies and just slap their brand on it. Honestly, once you know this, the whole grocery store starts to look completely different.
The Numbers Behind the Label: A Booming Industry
In 2025, total sales of store brands reached $282.8 billion, an increase of $9 billion year-over-year and a new record across brick-and-mortar and online supermarkets, drug chains, and mass merchandisers. Total sales of store-brand units were up to 68.7 billion, also a record. Store brands set all-time highs in both market share metrics, moving up to 21.3% in dollar share and 23.5% in unit share.
Circana’s research found that nearly seven in ten consumers view private label as similar or superior to name brands. That’s a dramatic shift in perception that’s happened relatively quickly. For decades, store brands were seen as the bargain-bin fallback. Now they’re a deliberate, informed first choice.
Since stores don’t spend money on national advertising campaigns for their products and the packaging is kept relatively basic, they can sell for less. To put it in perspective, when you buy a national brand product with a generic option available, you are essentially paying up to 30% more for a pretty label. Thirty percent more. For a label. That is a staggering price to pay for something you’re going to throw in the trash or the recycling bin.
The next time you’re standing in that grocery aisle, hesitating between the name brand and the store brand, remember what those ex-factory workers have been quietly telling us all along. The food inside is often identical. The only real difference is what’s on the outside. What would you do with the money you’ve been spending on packaging? Worth thinking about the next time you reach for the shelf.
