Federated Foods Refreshes Private Brand Assortment
With demand for private brand products continuing to grow, Federated Foods has given its Better Valu private label a refresh with a newly designed logo to enhance the overall look of products in the line and catch the eyes of shoppers in stores.
The new design was unveiled at Federated’s Buying Show held recently in Chicago. Better Valu apple juice is the first product to undergo the redesign and will soon be available to retailers.
Additionally, Federated’s show highlighted its new Fed Procure branch and the company’s continued efforts on social media to connect with consumers and encourage retailers to use the digital assets it provides to engage with their shoppers.
The new initiatives were unveiled by Federated during its annual show where attendance figures exceed pre-pandemic levels.
Store Brands spoke with Bill Bradshaw, vice president of Sales at Federated, and Christina Fogal, Federated’s marketing coordinator, about some of the company’s new initiatives.
STORE BRANDS: What were some of the reasons attendance at this year’s show was strong?
BILL BRADSHAW: We had a live show in 2022 but I think concerns by some about COVID kept attendance figures lower. But those concerns have gone away. Also, our new Life Every Day brand is really starting to take off and expand into more items, and customers are starting to see the results of that transition. They are excited about our brand and want to see what more is available.
SB: We’ve seen a great deal of growth throughout the private brands segment. Are Federated’s customers looking to continue that growth and as a result want additional new products?
BB: They are. We have a list of about 400 items that our customers collectively want us to work on. The issue going forward will be manufacturing capacity and the minimums suppliers have put on products. I'm trying to start a new program right now, and I can't get a supplier to quote me unless we do 25,000 cases a year. That's a lot of cases when the average (minimums) used to be 3,000 to 5,000 cases a year. So there'll be challenges meeting new requests.
The key difference being is, (our customers) don't want a value program that just copies the first label program. They want a value program that is different quality-wise. Whatever brings that cost down, that's what's important to them. So they don't want us to just come up with another four-pound sugar that isn’t any different than the Life Every Day sugar or their national brand equivalent product.
SB: With the manufacturing capacity issues facing product suppliers, is lack of labor the biggest issue they are facing?
BB: Yes, labor is still an issue. My understanding from suppliers is that their ability to get ingredients and packaging has improved and they are stocking up. But many suppliers who used to run three shifts a day are still only doing one full shift and maybe a half a shift because they can't get employees. That is definitely still providing constraints.
SB: What steps has Federated taken to update its Better Valu assortment?
BB: From a packaging standpoint, we revamped the design and added more color. But we kept the new look simple as this is our value tier line. We currently have 62 items, but we're going to increase that to 200 items over the next 14 months. The goal is that we will have products that will drive costs down. We want to give every consumer an option on the shelf that gives them the lowest retail, but still giving the store an opportunity to make a profit on the items. That's our goal for Better Value going forward.
SB: As demand from your customers for new products continues to increase, what changes is Federated making to its sales and/or product development teams?
BB: Right now, we're focused on expanding our sales team as we are getting a lot of new customers coming onboard. So we're going to be expanding our sales team over the summer, and then this fall we'll be reviewing our category development team to see what processes we need to put in place and if we need to hire for 2024.
SB: How is Federated’s efforts to expand its social media presence to connect with consumers evolving?
CHRISTINA FOGAL: During the show, we provided our customers with a demonstration of what we’re doing on social media. We’re getting the word out more and seeing more people reach out to us to connect. We’re creating (product) videos that we can share with our customers. These videos can be used by a store on social media or as part of advertising. We have the tools available for them to use and our goal is to reach more customers to expand our program.