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Champions of quality products and optimum supplier-retailer partnerships, the 2017 inductees into the Private Label Hall of Fame have left indelible legacies, forever influencing the development and marketing of store brands.

The late Peter Brennan, who led Daymon Worldwide from 1994 to 2006 and worked for the organization for 33 years altogether, died on Feb. 6 before learning of his induction. The other three inductees — Tom Chaffee, a longtime leader at Presto Products; Bob Mariano, a former CEO of Dominick’s and later Roundy’s; and Gary Smith, a 40-year veteran of Safeway — express pride at being selected into the Hall of Fame.

Selection criteria

Each year, the Private Label Manufacturers Association (PLMA) and Store Brands solicit nominations from a wide range of executives involved in the manufacturing, marketing or distribution of private brand goods. Those selected for the Hall of Fame have served as leaders in store brand development and innovation; advanced the growth of store brands through the creative use of marketing, merchandising and promotions; contributed significantly to store brand technology in terms of manufacturing, packaging, label design or quality assurance; and/or served as a champion of store brands within their own companies, business communities and the consumer marketplace.

This year’s honorees join the 51 other visionaries inducted into the Hall of Fame since its inception in 2006. To see the complete list, visit the PLMA’s website at plma.com and click on “Hall of Fame.”

Tom Chaffee: A passion for private label and helping people

In 1973 Tom Chaffee took a job with Presto Products to sell private label products — and to help people in the process.

Chaffee was in his early 20s and fresh out of the Air Force when he interviewed with Presto, an Appleton, Wis.-based manufacturer of value-added store brand products. When Chaffee was told in the interview that what he’d be selling would help budget-minded consumers save money, he knew that private label would be a good career choice.

“As I heard more about the job, I realized it was what I wanted to do,” Chaffee says. “It was about helping consumers.”

That he has done, spending 43 years in private label and helping countless consumers along the way.

“I can tell you that my career in private label was pretty special to me,” Chaffee says.

Chaffee spent 36 years with Presto and eventually became Presto’s vice president of sales. A career highlight occurred in 1998 when Presto, behind Chaffee, secured The Kroger Co.’s business for its plastic bags, wrap, containers and related products.

Chaffee moved to Cincinnati, where Kroger is based, to oversee the business. Nick Hahn, former director of Kroger’s corporate brands who worked for several years with Chaffee on the project, says Chaffee never overpromised and under-delivered on anything related to the business.

“When you’re dealing with hundreds of suppliers, all you can do is hope that the people you are dealing with are honest and have integrity,” Hahn says. “Tom was at the top of the list in both of those regards.”

Hahn, who was inducted into the Private Label Hall of Fame in 2007, nominated Chaffee for induction this year.

Monte Wood, the private brands manager at Eden Prairie, Minn.-based Supervalu, was also a Chaffee and Presto customer. Wood says Chaffee is the best salesperson he has ever had.

“He brought you quality products and sold them with integrity,” Wood says. “He was always honest and never said anything bad about the competition.”

Wood credits Chaffee with taking the entire private label business of plastic bags, wraps and containers to another level.

“Because of some of the large accounts he called on, he was instrumental in changing that marketplace and driving market share in a category that is now 60 percent private label,” Wood says.

In 2009, after spending 36 years with Presto, Chaffee joined Manawa, Wis.-based Sturm Foods, which manufactures dry groceries for private label, as director of new business development and trade relations. Sturm Foods was acquired by TreeHouse Foods in 2010. Chaffee retired from the company in February 2016.

Chaffee also has the distinction of being the only member of the Private Label Manufacturers Association to serve three terms as chairman of the board of directors. Serving on the executive committee, he was elected first vice chairman in 2009 and almost immediately had to step in to assume the duties of chairman when Peter Pappas, CEO of private label food supplier Clement Pappas & Co., became ill. Chaffee was subsequently elected to the position of chairman in 2010 and was re-elected the following year.

Chaffee says he was “kind of blown away” upon hearing of his induction into the Private Label Hall of Fame. His peers, however, were not.

“He belongs,” Hahn says.

Chaffee has spent the last year “blowing off steam,” like a lot of new retirees do. He has golfed and hunted and spent time with his family and friends. In the near future, Chaffee plans to dedicate much of his time to various charities.

After all, Chaffee is as passionate about assisting others as he was about his work in private label.

“I’m going to continue my work of helping people,” he says.

Peter Brennan: Evangelist for private brands

Peter Brennan, who died last month at 69, impressed everyone he came in contact with, say his former colleagues at Daymon Worldwide, where he worked for 33 years, serving as president from 1994 to 2006.

“Following in the footsteps of Daymon founders Milt Sender and Peter Schwartz, Peter Brennan was one of the key evangelists for private brands in the United States, beginning in the 1970s,” notes Daymon CEO Jim Holbrook. “His expertise and ability to influence and motivate retailers to leverage the power of their own brands was magnificent. Many a retailer made private brands a strategic pillar because of Peter.”

John Ruocco, a grocery industry consultant based in the Dallas area, remembers fondly the first time he encountered Brennan — in 1972. Then working for American Home Products, Ruocco had just relocated to Detroit and asked five supervisors who reported to him for the name of the best person at American Home to introduce him to the city’s retailers. The supervisors all recommended Brennan, who then was only 24 years old.

“I met Peter early in the morning at a diner,” Ruocco recalls. “We were going to have breakfast, talk a little bit and go out and look at stores. But we remained at the diner until 2 p.m. and had both breakfast and lunch.

“Peter knew more about the market than anyone else. He was brilliant. I was just blown away.”

Ruocco later persuaded Brennan to join him at Daymon, his new employer.

In his earliest years with the company, Brennan helped manage the A&P account in Cleveland, Ruocco recollects, noting that at the time Daymon was a brokerage business that drew commissions from private label suppliers while helping retailers develop and implement their private brand programs.

What set Brennan apart during that period was his deep understanding of the need for better and more strategic relationships with suppliers and his recognition of the tremendous potential of store brands in the grocery sector.

Until Brennan was named director of supplier relations, a new position at the time, Daymon’s account managers across the country often preferred to work with different private label vendors, Ruocco explains. Brennan strategically streamlined Daymon’s approach to bringing high-quality, visionary suppliers and retailers together.

“Each of us back then had been doing our own thing,” remembers Thomas Schulke, who nominated Brennan for the Hall of Fame and now works for CHEP. “Peter was moved into a position where he became the mastermind between developing relationships with vendors and working strategically to ensure that Daymon was aligned with those manufacturers that were positioned to take private label where the more progressive people realized it needed to go.

“He had to convince all of us mavericks within Daymon that we needed to trust him,” Schulke continues. “That was a hard sell because we each had our own little fiefdom. But he was able to accomplish that.”

Dan Muller, who worked for Brennan during two stints at Daymon and now is a national sales manager for Merisant, emphasizes that “Peter redefined the private label broker.”

His leadership ability recognized from the beginning, Brennan rose rapidly through the ranks at Daymon to become a partner and then president and vice chairman of the company. He was a highly analytical thinker but also personable.

“Whenever you spent time with him, it fueled your interest in the industry, your excitement to be a Daymon associate and your motivation to be better at your job,” says Dave Harvey, Daymon’s vice president of thought leadership. “He possessed that wonderful skill of focusing on the moment so that when you spoke to him, he was fully concentrating on you and your question. Simply put, Peter was a relationship person. He made all associates feel valued — regardless of title.”

Bob Mariano: Revolutionized ‘own brand’ concept

Although honored to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, Bob Mariano is quick to point out that he has always viewed the definition of “own brand” to be much more than private label packaged goods. A grocery retailer’s brand, he says, is the complete impression it makes on customers through the synergy of its private brands, unique specialty offerings, fresh-prepared food, deli and bakery items, the produce and meat departments, in-store events, and store ambiance.

The Mariano’s banner in the Chicago area exemplifies his philosophy, attracting customers with its hip, cosmopolitan vibe, affordable prices, and blend of made-to-order stations, ethnic food, piano music, and atmosphere of adventure and fun.

“All of these parts differentiate the brand for customers and add to their shopping experience,” Mariano says.

Mariano began his grocery industry career in 1967 as a part-time deli clerk at a Dominick’s Finer Foods supermarket in Chicago. His passion for quality and leadership ability evident from the beginning, he served in roles of increasing responsibility before being named president and CEO of Dominick’s in 1995. He left the company after it was acquired by Safeway in 1998.

In 2002, Mariano became the chairman and CEO of Milwaukee-based Roundy’s Inc., which operates several Wisconsin chains. He launched Mariano’s Fresh Market in 2010 with a store in Arlington Heights, Ill.; the banner now includes 40 stores.

Retiring last September, Mariano currently serves as a strategic adviser to Cincinnati-based The Kroger Co., which acquired Roundy’s, including Mariano’s, in 2015.

“When I first met Bob, he was the senior vice president of perishables at Dominick’s and I was the vice president of groceries,” remembers Don Fitzgerald, a group vice president at Roundy’s. “Back in the 1980s and 1990s, he understood the role of the own brand and how important that was to the retailer and, more importantly, to customers — in terms of making that connection with them and creating loyalty.”

A kind, thoughtful person, Mariano nonetheless has always had exceptionally high expectations for his products, whether a store brand cereal or fresh-baked muffins, and the employees who worked for him, Fitzgerald notes.

“Bob was obsessive about having the right amount of blueberries in the blueberry muffins, for example,” he says. “That was because it was our own brand, and he wanted it to be the right quality at the right price. He took this mission very seriously and would often leave a package with me and point out where we weren’t living up to the standards.”

As a manager, Mariano propelled his staff to excel, according to Fitzgerald.

“He pushes you and takes you to places that you otherwise wouldn’t have reached,” Fitzgerald emphasizes.

At Dominick’s and later at Roundy’s, Mariano was ahead of his time in insisting that private brand food products not just be national brand equivalents.

“In the area of food, it was a mandate that we exceed the national brands wherever possible in the eyes of the customer,” Mariano shares. “We also paid close attention to packaging and made sure that the packaging reflected the quality of the product inside the box, carton or can.”

Before debuting new private brand product lines, retailers need to fully understand their customers’ needs and wants, Mariano maintains. Besides analyzing shopper data and statistics from market research firms, he made a point of visiting stores and talking to customers and employees.

“You need on-the-ground research — being in the stores and asking employees and customers what they like, what they don’t like, and what they’re looking for,” Mariano says. “Having that interaction is critical to settling in on where you want to be.”

Gary Smith: Pioneer credits Safeway team

Gary Smith was honored to learn he was inducted into the Private Label Hall of Fame. But Smith, who spent 40 years of his distinguished career at Safeway, was also humbled.

“This is congratulations for our team,” says Smith, who headed the Safeway group that created and introduced the ground-breaking Safeway Select premium line of own-brand products in 1992. “I have a tough time accepting awards or recognition for a team effort.”

But Smith’s peers, while recognizing that Smith has no place for grandstanding, say he belongs in the Hall of Fame with the other private label greats.

“It is well-deserved,” says Rick Jones, who worked with Smith at Safeway for several years when he ran the retailer’s private label manufacturing operations in the 1990s. “Gary was a very creative proponent and marketer of store brands.”

Smith began his career at Safeway in 1961 when he was 19, stocking store shelves at night while going to college during the day. He was promoted several times at Pleasanton, Calif.-based Safeway and relocated several times during his career. In 1988, Smith moved to Oakland to oversee Safeway’s grocery operations there. Two years later he was also entrusted to oversee the operation’s marketing and buying decisions for private brands.

Smith felt Safeway had the chance to develop a compelling premium private label line to go with its value and national brand equivalent lines. He developed a team to develop products that were better tasting and of better value than the national brand equivalents — products that consumers could only purchase at Safeway.

“It was really unheard of at the time,” Smith says.

Smith and his team worked with a manufacturer to develop an own-brand cola to compete with Coca Cola and Pepsi. Then came high-end chocolate chip cookies, pasta sauces, salsa, pet food and other products.

“When the line came out, it was a redefining moment for private label in the industry,” Smith says. “It established the upper tier of private label products.”

Rick Davis, the former CEO of GA Communications, says Smith challenged himself to enter uncharted territory. Davis recalls when his company, which handled Safeway’s advertising for many years, presented a radical concept to Smith in 1994 to consolidate its 10 advertising divisions into one.

“It was based on new technology that allowed us to take digital photography, archive it and share it across a network,” Davis says.

Smith saw the merits of the concept and that it could save Safeway millions in the long run. But he also knew it was a gamble, considering it had never been done. Davis says Smith did his due diligence and assembled a group to study the concept. Convinced it would work, Smith went with it.

“The results of his decision were incredibly successful,” Davis says. “It was Gary’s vision — and I would add to that courage — that it would work.”

In 1995 Smith was named chief marketing officer of Safeway, a position he held until he left the company now owned by Albertsons in 2001. But Smith did not retire; he formed Encore Associates, a strategic advisory firm for consumer packaged good companies, and Encore Consumer Capital, a private equity firm. The 74-year-old is currently the chairman of the board for Encore Associates and an operating partner for Encore Consumer Capital. Smith is also on the board of directors at TreeHouse Foods, the nation’s largest manufacturer of private label foods.

Linda Nordgren, president and CEO of Encore Associates, nominated Smith for the Hall of Fame.

“It is his vision and passion that has for more than 40 years highlighted the value of great quality private label brands and is respected and admired by all those who know him,” Nordgren noted in nominating Smith. 

Aylward, editor-in-chief of Store Brands, can be reached at [email protected]. Schierhorn, managing editor of Store Brands, can be reached at [email protected].