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Interesting, and agrees with the anecdotal trend I've seen playing out the last few years. Summarized as: you must appeal to a niche (cheapest, healthiest, bes

Interesting, and agrees with the anecdotal trend I've seen playing out the last few years. Summarized as: you must appeal to a niche (cheapest, healthiest, best tasting). Brands matter less. I remember a few years ago reading that Tide detergent is one of the most recession proof items in the store. People are due hard loyal to it. What's shocking to me, but that this point shouldn't be, why did it take Kraft decades to try different flavors of Mac and cheese? Was the landscape and desire to be more competitive really so weak? Store brands are made in the same factories, with the same ingredients. And they're still profitable at 1/2 the price. Makes you wonder how much you've been spending on just brand names. Fitness foods are interesting because there's so many trends and niches: protein, gluten free, low carb, dairy free. And people pay through the nose for them.

PaulHoule 2y ago
It's complicated. Some store brands are legendary in quality and value like Aldi's house chocolate bars. Many store brands are identical, equal or close to the name brands. I'd say the P&G cleaners like Tide and Dawn are a bit better than most competitors (all the claims that they make on their TV commercials are backed up.) Brand extension is a major phenomenon for big brands: I don't know about the Mac and Cheese space but look at how many variety of Cheez-It there are now or how many kinds of Coca-Cola you might find at the gas station now. For a long time I preferred Annie's Mac and Cheese to Kraft because they had not switched to the yucky milk protein concentrate that Kraft and most of the store brands did and I remember it as an affordable premium brand in the 1990s and since. I just saw this news https://www.thedailymeal.com/1667720/review-annies-now-cheesier-mac-and-cheese-delivers-more-what-we-already-love/ https://www.thedailymeal.com/1667720/review-annies-now-chees... which I think is interesting because even if the reviewer liked it it's pretty clear that they reduced the dairy content and made up for it with salt, cornstarch and lactic acid.

PaulHoule 2y ago

It's complicated. Some store brands are legendary in quality and value like Aldi's house chocolate bars. Many store brands are identical, equal or close to the name brands. I'd say the P&G cleaners like Tide and Dawn are a bit better than most competitors (all the claims that they make on their TV commercials are backed up.) Brand extension is a major phenomenon for big brands: I don't know about the Mac and Cheese space but look at how many variety of Cheez-It there are now or how many kinds of Coca-Cola you might find at the gas station now. For a long time I preferred Annie's Mac and Cheese to Kraft because they had not switched to the yucky milk protein concentrate that Kraft and most of the store brands did and I remember it as an affordable premium brand in the 1990s and since. I just saw this news https://www.thedailymeal.com/1667720/review-annies-now-cheesier-mac-and-cheese-delivers-more-what-we-already-love/ https://www.thedailymeal.com/1667720/review-annies-now-chees... which I think is interesting because even if the reviewer liked it it's pretty clear that they reduced the dairy content and made up for it with salt, cornstarch and lactic acid.