In September 2020, the International Business Times announced that Aldi would be making its
advent cheese calendars available in early November. The Emporium Selection Cheese
Advent Calendar is one of Aldi's most popular items, and it only costs $14.99. Even though
the quantity of cheese is small enough to fit in each day's square, the advent calendars are just
another instance of Aldi providing incredibly cheap cheese at a quality worth having.
Anyone who knows of Aldi knows about their cut-to-the-bone style
that allows for low prices that even Walmart struggles to compete with.
In 2019, CNN ran a piece in which Greg Foran, Walmart's US CEO, had this to say:
"I've been competing against Aldi for 20-plus years. They are fierce and they are good."
The article goes on to list several well-known examples of why Aldi runs so efficiently. For
instance, Aldi's shopping carts must be returned, which saves on wages wasted on cart runners.
However, these reasons don't completely explain why Aldi's cheese, in particular,
is so incredibly cheap. Aldi can get away with selling good supermarket cheeses at a low price
because of their practice of selling almost all their stock as a private label,
a practice best illustrated by their American counterpart, Trader Joe's.
The connection between Trader Joe's and Aldi stems from a separation of Aldi into Aldi Nord,
or North, and Aldi Süd, or South, in the 1960s. In 1971, as Mark Gardiner,
author of Build a Brand Like Trader Joe's, explains, Theo Albrecht,
the German owner of Aldi Nord, bought Trader Joe's. The Aldis seen in the US today belong
to Aldi Süd. They're competitors but operate according to the same logic.
Like Aldi, Trader Joe's relies heavily on private labels. Sara Nesbitt,
CEO of Coastal Carolina Soap, explained to Business.com what "private labeling" entails:
"[Private labeling] is selling products
a business makes under another company's or business's brand."
Additionally, it could also mean using an ingredient supplied by a separate
company to produce one's own product without attribution. The seller has to directly pay
for the product's creation but has the freedom to alter it before selling it.
"They're selling, Mortimer."
"Well, that's ridiculous."
This arrangement allows for the cheap prices that suck people into Aldi and Trader Joe's. By cutting
out the premade aspects of the product, the seller lowers the amount they need to charge to
make a profit. Furthermore, doing this allows the seller to change the product however they want.
This is why Aldi has an easy enough time producing all kinds of cheap cheeses and advent calendars.
Since they can develop their wares however they want,
they can opt to redirect some of their cheese into advent calendars,
an option unavailable when buying an already packaged product.
According to a pamphlet from the 2019 Private Label Trade Show,
the private label market has reached 25 percent of all US sales. While loyal shoppers at stores
like Aldi and the Aldi Nord-owned Trader Joe's certainly contribute to this number,
it more generally reflects how pervasive this hush-hush market practice is.
The extent of this secrecy grows apparent when you attempt to find out where these foods come from.
More than 90 percent of Aldi's products are private label, and their labels leave a lot
to the imagination. Its cheese offerings are given vague yet aspirational-sounding
names like "Emporium Selection" or "Specialty Selection" or "Happy Farms."
In 2017, Eater commented on this phenomenon in an article about the brands behind Trader
Joe's brands. In the piece, reporter Vince Dixon quoted from Gardiner's book, writing,
"Suppliers aren't allowed to say they supply Trader Joe's products
and Trader Joe's never willingly talks about who their suppliers are."
However, by looking at the FDA's recalls of certain Trader Joe's offerings,
you can discover that Naked Juice and Stauffer's animal crackers are among
the name-brand items Trader Joe's rebrands as its goods.
Trader Joe's also likes exclusive partnerships with private labels, as might Aldi. And cheese
lovers reap the benefits. Happy Farms' American cheese tastes like Kraft's version.
It may be Kraft-produced for all we know, but it's cheaper. As long as we can still buy decent
quality cheese at a low cost, we will happily put up with the mystery of private labeling.
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