STiR coffee and tea magazine

30 STiR coffee and tea / Issue 6, 2018 (December / January 2019) By Dan Shryock P rivate label products, coffee and tea included, are rapidly improving their product quality and introducing innovation to capture the attention of price- conscious consumers who want good products at great prices, industry ob- servers say. "I believe quality has been one of the key drivers in the growth of private brand," says Clay Dockery, Massimo Zanetti Beverage USA's corporate brands division v.p. Private label coffee sales in all forms reached $1.39 billion in 2017, according to the Private Label Manufacturers Association (PLMA). Ground coffee under private label garnered a 15.1% share and $1.2 billion in sales last year, PLMA reports, while whole bean sales gained 16.2% of the market and $73.8 million in sales. Flavored coffees and substitutes under private labels performed even better. Flavored coffee took a 20.5% market share and flavored coffee substitutes earned 30.8%. Soluble coffees came in at 9%. Massimo Zanetti's coffee portfolio is rich with household names for US consumers. Chock Full O'Nuts, MJB, and Hills Bros. are three of many familiar domestic brands. The list grows with the company's international products, topped by Segafredo Zanetti. Yet the total amount of coffee Massimo Zanetti produces for its private label cus- tomers represents a significant amount of their total offerings. And, Dockery says, all production is subject to rigid quality control. "I often share with people that private brands have developed a second line of quality visibility," Dockery says. "Retailers also have very robust quality assurance pro- grams. You have two checks for quality when purchasing a private brand." Angelo Campanella, Club Coffee's vice president for channel development in the United States, says private label coffee offers quality on par with major brands. "I've seen a lot of parity," Campanella says. "Coffee is a commodity, there's no se- cret recipe. There's been a lot of quality improvement [among private label products]. There are a lot that rival if not beat national brands in taste and quality. The American consumer understands that the private label is broadly accepted." Massimo Zanetti's coffee assembly line Private Label Coffee: Making a Name for Itself NuZee's single-serve pour over

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