Private label protecting its turf: still boasting strong sales, private-label meat and poultry products build their own brand equity.

It's a jungle out there when it comes to competing for shelf space and consumer dollars. But if branded meat and poultry products are considered the predators trying to secure new territory, then the private-label market is the pack leader protecting its turf.

Animal kingdom references aside, it is true that while major meat and poultry processors are making a name for themselves with their own brands, store brands of meat and poultry products are changing with the marketplace. Indeed, the private-label business is growing from several angles--as traditional suppliers like Mountaire Farms or Farm Boy Inc. continue their custom private-label programs, major players like Tyson Foods, Hormel Foods Corp, ConAgra Foods, and John Morrell are working both sides of the case, continuiug to promote their own brands and capitalize on store-brand opportunities.

The trend of competition spurring innovation has not gone unnoticed.

"Retailers are merchandising more 'premium' store brands. And more money is devoted to marketing store brands today," observes Mary Kay O'Connor, director of education for the International Dairy-Dell-Bakery Association (IDDBA), Madison, WI, which recently published a "Battle of the Brands" report.

Companies that supply meat and poultry items to supermarket chains, independents, club stores, and other venues agree that as competition heats up, products invariably improve.

"We've been in the private-label business over fifteen years. It started out [as] price, price, price, but our first concern is quality," notes Mark Howell, president of Crider Corp., a Stillmore, GA, supplier of private-label canned poultry--and soon, refrigerated and frozen poultry. "That is the big dynamic--consumers are paying more attention to quality, and the retailers are demanding it."

Tony Buono, vice president of marketing and sales for branded and private-label sausage maker Premio Foods, Hawthorne, NJ, agrees that value and quality are intertwined.

"In order for a private label to be successful in today's business environment, it must be equal to or better than brand ed. This carries across most private-label categories," he says.

By the numbers

Recent statistics bear out the fact that far from being nudged aside, private-label products are doing well. Total private-label sales have now reached $41.9 billion, a 2.4 percent increase over last year, relays the 2003 Private-Label Handbook published by the New York-based Private Label Manufacturers Association (PLMA).