Who Makes Supermarkets "Own Brand" Labels?

djrickyb

To kick things off it is a well known fact that Heinz make Tesco Beans but use tomato paste rather than fresh tomatoes, as they for their own.

I've read a fair bit about Tesco Wheat Biscuits being made by Weetabix and have confirmed this..... at least in my own mind.
The Nutritional Values for both products are identical and if you open the top flap of the Tesco brand is says that the shape is protected under...

"Community Trade Mark Number 834150"

which just happens to be the same as Weetabix.

Anyone know with certainty about other products?

[Deleted User]

I think a lot of it is covered already here but perhaps you are right, the food could be sorted out from other products.

geordie_joe

djrickyb wrote: »

I've read a fair bit about Tesco Wheat Biscuits being made by Weetabix and have confirmed this..... at least in my own mind.

Based on the two facts below?

djrickyb wrote: »

The Nutritional Values for both products are identical

Are they? Do you know this for certain or have you just read it on some web site and believed it?

djrickyb wrote: »

and if you open the top flap of the Tesco brand is says that the shape is protected under...

"Community Trade Mark Number 834150"

which just happens to be the same as Weetabix.

So what does that prove? It proves Weetabix own the copyright to the shape of the biscuit. There's nothing to stop them allowing another company to use the shape, and taking royalties for every biscuit sold. The company paying to use the shape would still have to display the copyright notice.

Also, two different companies can't protect the same shape. Protecting the shape means you own it/invented it. Two different companies can't have invented it and own it.

Storck

geordie_joe wrote: »

Also, two different companies can't protect the same shape. Protecting the shape means you own it/invented it. Two different companies can't have invented it and own it.

I don't think they said, or were implying that two firms had protected it. They were using the fact to show that it was the same firm, in this case Weetabix.

geordie_joe

Storck wrote: »

I don't think they said, or were implying that two firms had protected it. They were using the fact to show that it was the same firm, in this case Weetabix.

Two different companies, displaying the same copyright notice does not mean they are the same company. All the notice says is the shape is protected, it does not say the makers of the contents of the box own the copyright.

Many companies use things that are copyrighted/patented and pay the owner royalties. They still have to display the copyright notice on the items.

The notice on the box only says weetabix own the copyright on the shape of the biscuit, it does not mean they made the biscuit.

hells_2

Aside from the Weetabix debate....

I sometimes visit a large storage warehouse which until recently has been full to the gills with Cranberry Sauce, Mint Sauce, Mustard, you name it.
Every brand you could imagine from Aldi to Ocean Spray.

All made in the same factory, but with different labels on. And of course, all sell for different prices.

chesky369

... and probably with different ingredients.

Maddysmam

My husband works for a factory packaging loads of foodstuffs which end up in supermarkets as own brands - exactly the same products just different names on the bags.

I used to work for Rowntrees years ago and they produced loads of stuff such as jellıes, Sunpat peanut butter, choc spread, cocoa etc - they also made all the equivalent own brand products which were a fair bit cheaper.

But it doesn't follow that all own brand stuff is made by big companies alongside their own - you can tell by the taste :rotfl:

Not_a_Newbie

I used to work for a company that made chicken products for KFC, BK, M&S, Walmart etc etc.

If the item was a whole chicken breast then the product was virtually the same across our various customers (apart from seasoning and some additives). If the item was a reformed product then who it was made for determined the level of 'true' meat and the level of other bits of the chicken in the product.

Generally M&S and for the other supermarkets higher own label products like Tesco Finest, there was alot more breast meat in the product than the lower value label products.

Value brands aren't cheap for nothing!!

salfordms

Well the same company that makes marks and spencer cakes makes them for asda and tesco too, those bakewell tarts are all the same!

park cakes!

el_gringo_3

Maddysmam wrote: »

But it doesn't follow that all own brand stuff is made by big companies alongside their own - you can tell by the taste :rotfl:

True - I often visit a crisp and snack manufacturer. The supermarket own brands for a certain snack are taken from the beginning and end of the line, as the mixture is strongest and most consistent in the middle.