Winn-Dixie parent retools house label

Chefs, test kitchen craft three new product lines of generics costing 20-30% less than name brands.

Winn-Dixie’s parent company is revamping its generic brands in hopes of winning customers over with both low prices and products that taste as good as their more expensive counterparts.

Southeastern Grocers, a supermarket chain that operates stores under four brands, including Winn-Dixie and Fresco y Más, has created a test kitchen and “sensory lab tasting facility” as part of its effort to improve the taste and quality of its roughly 3,000 private-label items.

The company has already tested more than 2,330 of its private-label products. So far, roughly 2,260 of those items have been reformulated, the company said.

Some of the reformulated items have already started to hit store shelves. Others are expected to be rolled out in the coming months, said Ian McLeod, president and CEO of Southeastern Grocers.

McLeod said the company’s goal is to price its private-label products 20 to 30 percent below comparable name-brand items, while offering the same quality and taste as more expensive lines.

“If you can’t taste the difference, why pay the difference,” McLeod said.

McLeod said he began focusing on the company’s private labels shortly after taking over as president and CEO about 20 months ago.

“When I tried some of these items, some I really liked, and others I felt could use a bit of improvement,” he said. “If I am the CEO and we have products with our brand on it, if I’m not prepared to eat it, why should I expect our customers to?”

McLeod points to the company’s canned chowder soup, which he said he found so bad that he asked that it be pulled from store shelves. After reformulating the recipe, McLeod said the soup is now better than its name-brand rivals.

McLeod and his senior management team have been heavily involved in the revamp. While some grocers turn to outside agencies to develop private-label products, McLeod said the chain has created its own “private-label development team,” which includes several chefs.

McLeod said both he and his senior managers spend time in the test kitchen each week trying private-label products and weighing them against the competition. The company has also assembled “tasting panels” to put the products to its customers.

The company has also focused on health-conscious customers. Officials said they are also work- ing to remove trans fats, high-fructose corn syrup and artificial colors and flavors from products.

Southeastern Grocers plans to offer three different private-label product lines:

■ S E G r o c e r s E s s e n t i a l s , which the company says offers “dependable quality at an affordable price.”

■ SE Grocers, which offers items that have been developed to taste as good, if not better than established brands already in the market but at significantly lower prices.

■ Prestige, which the company said offers “an indulgent experience, at an incredible price.”

Winn-Dixie, headquartered in Jacksonville, has 518 grocery stores, 145 liquor stores and 393 in-store pharmacies throughout the five Southeastern states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi.