WHERE DOES ALDI’S FOOD COME FROM?

WHERE DOES ALDI’S  FOOD COME FROM? Aldi contracts out their products to the SAME food manufacturers that supply national brands.   The product ingredients are usually identical or very similar as they work with manufacturers to create their own store-line products that tastes the same or better than the leading brand. This is why 90% of the brands featured at ALDI are their “private label”!  So, are you surprised to learn that you  pay higher prices for national brands that may have come off the very same assembly line as Aldi’s private label items? 

A tour of a food processing company revealed that there are  many different companies they can for,  and Aldis was one of them.  Although the brand names were different the packages look surprisingly familiar.  On  the production line, the line stops workers changes the brand labels in the machine, then  restarts the line so different labels go  on.   A manager confirmed that there was absolutely no other difference in the actual product.

Aldi is growing very rapidly because what they do, works! Are you aware that Aldi now offers:

• FRESH ORGANIC PRODUCE, MEAT AND DAIRY –no added antibiotics, free of artificial growth hormones , animal by-products and other additives.
• LACTOSE FREE MILK AND CHEESE
  
• NO CERTIFIED SYNTHETIC COLORS, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED OILS (TRANS FATS) OR ADDED MSG  in their private-label products. Certified synthetic colors have been replaced with natural, plant-based ingredients such as beet juice or turmeric for coloring.
• “HIGH END” FOODS such as artisan cheeses, smoked salmon, quinoa, and coconut oil, are available.
• The CHOCOLATE at Aldi’s  Their great selection of  European chocolate is delicious AND relatively inexpensive. At Christmas time, wonderful prices and quality make it great gifts!   All of Aldi’s dark chocolate varieties are  excellent; smooth and tasty (no wax). Having lived in Austria for two years I know what a really good milk chocolate tastes like and I can once again enjoy that same quality with Aldi chocolates.
•  GLUTEN FREE – SimplyNature products  are free of more than 125 artificial ingredients.   liveGfree,their gluten-free line is up to 50% less than items that have a national brand label! See some of them here: Aldi Carries Gluten Free & Organic Foods
  

Aldi became one of the world’s largest food retailers by offering low prices. Their prices on fresh produce and packaged goods are already around 30% lower than Walmart’s. The  organic and gluten free lines makes them better to compete with Whole Foods.

Aldi shoppers are the biggest advocates Aldi has. Word-of-mouth is the key to their success.  Comments from Aldi customers:

• I used to be a real snob about where I shopped for groceries. However, when I kept seeing Range Rovers, BMWs, Mercedes,  etc. in the parking lot I decided to check it out. I learned that 90% of what Aldi offers are their private brand products. I have since noticed that those a bit more educated shop Aldi and the lesser educated tend to snark about it. LOL!
• I live in Germany and everyone shops at Aldi no matter what their economic status.
• Aldi’s demands quality  from their suppliers. Living and shopping in two different states over the past 19 years  I have found that the  products Aldi sells are equivalent and in most cases superior to big name grocery stores.

PRIVATE LABEL ALLOWS ALDI TO DEVELOP AND PROTECT THEIR BRAND IMAGE. 

Aldi has the highest standards and review all products thoroughly before distribution.

A stickler for inspecting suppliers facilities without notice,  Aldi will reject whole shipments that don’t pass their quality control. In addition to 3rd party blind taste testing,  exclusive brands  are tested at their food testing lab, at corporate headquarters, for  freshness, taste, and quality for every product that they sell to make sure it meets  the national name brands.  Many of their products taste BETTER than name brand products.   One commented, “Years ago I worked at a facility that supplied Aldi’s and they frequently called out for higher grade ingredients than other vendors.”

Aldi  keeps it all fresh at the store level by ensuring that products are sold within a reasonable time before expiration, etc.

HOW DOES PRIVATE LABEL ALLOW ALDI TO SELL FOR LESS.    No coupons for the Aldi private brand means lower overhead costs.  Coupons would slow down employees who would have to look at each individual coupon, wasting time for customers waiting in line behind the couponer, so they would have to hire additional cashiers to get people through the lines while someone has a handful of 20 cent off coupons she wants to use. Then Aldi would have to hire employees to sort and mail in the coupons to each manufacturer.

Most of us have a life outside of grocery shopping.   Shopping at Aldi is a super simple way to save money without the hassle of clipping coupons, checking multiple grocery ads watching for just the right sale to try to match coupons to sales, then go price match.  You can’t beat the savings and quality you will find at ALDI even without messing with coupons!  Remember, too that coupons are for many brand names whose products are loaded with high fructose corn syrup and artificial colors.

HOWEVER, CASH BACK/REBATE APPS  CAN BE USED AT ALDI! The one that gives you the most money back is: findnsave

 

WHAT IF YOU DON’T CARE FOR  SOMETHING YOU BOUGHT?   Aldi items are from the same suppliers as national brands. All divisions have the same core products  but the suppliers may vary from store to store. However, you might find that you do not like a  item from a particular Aldi store.    It may be a matter of personal preference because we all have differences in taste.     For example,  you might like Libby’s and say, for example that Aldi gets their canned from the same supplier as Del Monte uses and you still  prefer  the Libby’s. Well……

Quality is so important to Aldi that  they offer an awesome double back satisfaction guarantee. Go ahead and try a product to see if you like it. If you are not happy with the private label item, for any reason simply return the item with your receipt and Aldi will refund your money AND replace the item, with no hassle! What do you have to lose with a guarantee like that?  (*The Double Guarantee does not apply to non-food Special Buy items, alcohol or national brands.)

Small things that makes Aldi more efficient and thusn better for shoppers:

 

• QUARTER DEPOSIT FOR THE SHOPPING CART.    No employee is paid to retrieve carts from the parking lot, yet carts are  always available because people will return the cart to get their deposit back. Vehicles aren’t dinged by a cart, you never get a  cart that got hit it in the parking lot that has a mangled wheel and you aren’t frustrated with a cart blocking an empty parking spot. That 25 cent cart deposit is an ingenious solution to keep overhead costs down in order to help keep prices low.
•  NEED MORE THAN ONE CART? Some stores have yellow hooks on the front of the Aldi carts which allow you to attach a second cart or multiple carts together.
• BEST DAY TO GO? Wednesday morning when they open is the day they offer a special “Fresh Meat Special Buy.” Some weeks it’s brisket, some weeks it’s chicken breasts (family packs of large boneless, skinless, chicken breasts @ $1.89/lb  but usually it’s top cuts of meat at really low prices  (which are AMAZING).  In fact, if you see something in the weekly ad that you want,  get there early as these specials are always sold out fast as the cuts often come in limited amounts and once the specials are gone, they’re gone.   They don’t get another shipment. Some have said they have gone the day the ad came out and been told, “We sold out in 20 minutes.” (It is also one of their fresh produce days when  the produce comes in and is at its freshest.)
• AVOID SMASHED ITEMS AT CHECKOUT  Help the cashier by putting large items such as big packages of toilet paper, etc. on the belt first. Next,  put on things like a gallon of milk and larger or  indestructible stuff like the six cans of soup cans, bags of sugar and flour. Lastly, put on things that you don’t want crushed, such as eggs, bread, chips, bananas. It is just common sense to NEVER put eggs and bread up front as that would make them the first to be scanned and other things might get set on top of them.
• CHECK OUT IS QUICK thanks to multiple bar codes on every product which allows the UPC to be read with a single swipe.  Even when it looks like there is a line at check out, it goes fast!  And nobody slows you down with their manufacturers coupons. One woman bragged that she and her husband once went in, filled their  cart and made it through checking in a timed 10 minutes as Aldi was nearing closing time. That would NEVER happen at Walmart!
• DON’T FORGET TO TAKE YOUR OWN BAGS Of course you can use a box you find in there, or you can buy bags there but I prefer using my own reusable cotton ones.

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Yahoo! Finance: “Why Aldi is the Grocery Store of the Future” 

By 2018, there will be 2000 Aldi stores, and many more discount stores.  LIDL is also coming 2018.

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ONE MORE THING:  Do look at the packages as there are a few things from China, such as fruit cups and some fish. However, if the product does not state the country on the label , it was made in the USA.