Safeway Trades Exclusive Private Label Recipes

Safeway has decked out stores for summer with "Great grilling" displays and signs offering preparation tips and exclusive recipes that feature the company's own private-label products as ingredients.National brand partners are conspicuously absent from the 28 entree, side dish and dessert recipes developed in cooperation with Sunset Test Kitchens. Likewise, displays offering the recipe booklets and grilling tips feature Safeway's own logo and generic grilling graphics. The only obvious support for brands is provided by small shelf talkers that call out numerous products that could be useful for summer cookouts, such as ketchup and pickles.Downloadable versions of the recipes and grilling tips are featured on Safeway's web site, and the company's circulars also support. Private-labels used in the recipes include Rancher's Reserve beef; Safeway Select olive oil, mayonnaise, mustard, beverages, jam and ice cream; Lucerne dairy products; and O Organics eggs, cheeses and lemonade.Developing strong store brands is a key driver in Safeway's turnaround strategy, chief marketing officer Brian Cornell said in a Feb. 28 presentation at Information Resources Inc.'s Reinventing CPG & Retail Summit in San Francisco. (See "Safeway Gets Comfy with Lifestyle Format" in Related Articles.) The chain has contemporized the look of its proprietary brands with a consistent approach and an icon system that calls out each product's health and wellness, safety, convenience and environmental attributes.Brands are not entirely locked out of the summer fun at Safeway, however. PepsiCo, for example, has received ample secondary display space for its Superman Returns spectaculars, while several other brands drove in Cars-themed displays and promotions.Safeway, Pleasanton, CA, operates 1,801 stores under seven banners in 22 states.

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