2023 Game Changers: Odds & Ends, Misfits Market
As consumer demand for private label products grows, retailers and suppliers continue to up their game bringing to market a bevy of new products across multiple categories. Product launches over the past year show a continued effort to give consumers high value items that offer retailers the opportunity to differentiate from their competitors.
For the third year, Store Brands is honoring those in private label that are pushing the boundaries and driving the industry forward. Below are the people, product innovations and brands that are this year’s Game Changers.
Odds & Ends, Misfits Market
Four years ago, Misfits Market set out to challenge the inefficiencies that exist in the traditional food supply chain. That effort included the April 2022 debut of the company’s Odds & Ends private label product line, which serves as an outlet to weave food rescue opportunities into the e-grocer’s assortment.
The company partners with farmers and producers to reduce waste while delivering quality products at affordable prices across the United States. Named one of Store Brands’ 2022 Retailers to Watch, the Misfits Market team works to continue finding ways to rescue food from less desirable outcomes, leveraging Odds & Ends’ quickly-increasing brand equity and popularity with customers. This results in truly mission-driven product development, at many times allowing for additional revenue streams for farmers and producers while also providing a value to customers.
An example is the Odds & Ends Organic Pumpkin Puree, which is from a portion of its producer’s pumpkin crop with a higher than typical brix content. While slightly beyond the typical specification allowed by other customers, Misfits Market welcomed these cans into their private label for customers to make pumpkin pie at a value and prevent the farmers from experiencing a loss.
Another example is the Odds & Ends Dark Roast Ground Coffee. The direct-trade coffee blend features a “misfit” blend of beans from Brazil that still yields a premium cup of coffee while providing fixed, stable prices to growers to shield them from market volatility and losses.