In 2017, Aldi announced they were planning on becoming a major competitor in the US grocery
store market, investing a mind-blowing $3.4 billion into current and future American endeavors.
If you don't have an Aldi near you now, one might be popping up soon.
So, what can you expect?
Here's the fascinating history behind this up-and-coming US chain.
Mom and Pop shop
Aldi is a multi-billion dollar, global company, but it started with a single grocery store
in Essen, Germany called the Karl Albrecht Spiritousen and Lebensmittel shop.
Karl Albrecht and his wife opened their doors in 1913, but it wasn't the elder Albrecht's
first career choice.
It was only after emphysema brought his work in the mines to a halt that he opened the
store.
Their sons, Theo and Karl, took it over in 1945, and later took the company global.
And believe it or not, that original location is still open today.
Both brothers served with Germany during the war, and when they returned home, it was to
a post-war Germany that clearly had no use for all the fancy extras that grocery stores
typically came with.
They developed their spartan business plan based on what they knew post-war shoppers
wanted: a good product, full stocks, and affordable prices.
Short-staffed
Aldi is a different kind of grocery store when it comes to staffing, and according to
their recruitment guidelines, there are only four different positions they fill: store
manager, assistant store manager, store assistant, and caretaker.
Job descriptions on their site are frustratingly vague, and according to people who have worked
there, that's on purpose.
According to responses on Indeed, staffing is kept to a minimum with only eight to 10
people being employed at each store.
This low level of staffing may be part of the reason they're able to keep prices so
low, but it also stresses out the employees.
More than 2,000 employees reviewed Aldi on the UK employment site Glassdoor, and only
about half would recommend working there.
There's a definite trend in what people have to say, too, with employees saying that while
the pay, benefits, and opportunities are good, they often found a difficulty in balancing
work life with their home life, and even getting enough hours to make the money they needed.
Skimpy staffing and penny-pinching can be seen all the way down to their shopping carts,
which shoppers have to pay a deposit to even use.
You'll get the money back, as long as you're a good citizen and return the cart, but it
simply has to do with their bottom line.
When customers return their carts, Aldi doesn't need to pay someone to do it.
When they close at 9PM, earlier than many grocery stores, they also \ save money on
staffing and overhead.
And when you see food in crates on shelves, rather than the usual display, that's also
to save bucks.
It just takes less time to put a whole box of food on the shelf, which helps when you're
required to clear a whole pallet of stock in 30 minutes.
So if your bagboy seems stressed out, don't worry, it's not your fault.
Nic fit
Today, there are actually two different Aldis: Aldi Nord and Aldi Sud, or North and South.
In the 1960s, Theo and Karl Albrecht couldn't agree on whether or not they were going to
allow their stores to sell cigarettes.
So, instead of compromising, they divided the company in half.
Theo took the north while Karl took the south.
You can tell the difference by looking at the logo: North's logo is a basic blue and
white, South's logo is orange and blue.
It's the southern Aldi that's a bit fancier, and when it came time to expand to the rest
of the world, those countries were divided up, too.
Stores in areas like the UK, Ireland, and Australia are all Aldi Sud, while you're shopping
at Aldi Nord if you go into France or Poland.
Trader Who?
There's only one country where Aldi Nord and Aldi Sud share pieces of the grocery store
pie, and that's in the US.
You wouldn't know it, though, and that's because Aldi Sud does business as Aldi.
Aldi Nord goes by another name: Trader Joe's.
Shocking, we know!
But Trader Joe's is just an Americanized version of Aldi.
Many elements have changed, but some remain, especially private labeling and a definite
lack of advertising.
It all makes sense now, doesn't it?
Making dough
In November 2010, hundreds of Aldi stores across Germany created a major controversy…
over fresh baked bread.
According to Aldi, their "Backofen" machines would spit out freshly baked rolls, made to
order, in a matter of seconds.
While Aldi claimed the machines were a "technological innovation," the German Bakers' Confederation
said they were an affront to the country's centuries of baking traditions, and that Aldi
was outright lying about how fresh-baked the bread really was.
By the time Aldi and the bakers met in court in 2011, 1,770 Aldi Sud stores were equipped
with the machine.
Courts ordered Aldi to let them inspect the machines, but Aldi said no, saying that they
were protecting trade secrets.
The German Bakers' Confederation claimed false advertising and accused Aldi of skimping on
ingredients.
It's not all bad food news, though.
For your health
Despite the controversies surrounding Aldi's business practices, they've also made some
unquestionably positive moves in the interest of public health and the environment.
In 2015, Aldi announced they would no longer manufacture or sell products with partially
hydrogenated oils, artificial and synthetic coloring, or added MSG.
According to CEO Jason Hart, about 90 percent of the products sold at Aldi are their own
brand, so that gives them some serious control over the ingredients in the food they sell.
If you haven't noticed a difference yet, you won't.
They didn't make the announcement until after they'd already done it.
But that's not all.
In 2016, Aldi announced that any suppliers who wanted to keep selling their products
to the grocery chain needed to phase out any and all pesticide-containing chemicals that
were harmful to bees by 2017.
Their requirements went above and beyond the partial ban previously written into law by
the EU.
You like honey?
And, well, every fruit and vegetable ever?
You're welcome.
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