New Best Choice from the Bakery Items Kick Off Differentiation of AWG’s Flagship Brand in Fresh Departments
KANSAS CITY, KAN.- Best Choice®, the flagship of Associated Wholesale Grocers, Inc.’s (AWG) private brands portfolio, is enhancing its presence in fresh perimeter departments such as bakery, produce, meat and seafood. This update features a new look and product innovations aimed at helping AWG member retailers stand out from the competition.
“We want to develop products that people are proud to put in their carts and that help AWG member retailers differentiate themselves from the competition,” said Dan Koch, AWG Group Vice President of Fresh Sales and Merchandising. “Consumers’ appetites for private brands products in the fresh departments continue to grow, so we’re making sure to meet this desire by offering great fresh products at a value in attractive packaging.”
Starting with the bakery department, Best Choice is launching new and existing items in redesigned packaging with the tagline: from the Bakery. The first items to launch with the updated branding are mini angel food cakes, along with soft-baked cookies in clamshell packaging. Available in six varieties, both mini and regular size, the new cookies build upon the current bakery portfolio that includes frosted sugar cookies, cupcakes, and mini brownies and cinnamon rolls. All existing bakery items will shift to the Best Choice from the Bakery look later in 2024, as well. In total, close to 20 items will make up the initial Best Choice from the Bakery portfolio.
“Our decision to update and expand the Best Choice brand is on point with trends and consumer requests, especially in the mini-size subcategory,” said Tye Anthony, AWG Chief Merchandising and Marketing Officer. “Mini-size bakery items continue to grow in popularity as our research shows that ‘snacks’ are the second most popular eating occasion for consumers to choose sweet baked goods. We want AWG member retailers to be on the cutting edge of these trends.”
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Best Choice’s produce, meat and seafood items will receive similar branding updates. Produce and meat products will be developed under Best Choice from the Farm, while seafood items will be named Best Choice from the Sea. Each department’s name calls back to the roots of the food, underscoring the product’s freshness and the quality consumers have associated with Best Choice for almost 40 years.
“We’re leveraging the consumer trust associated with Best Choice to ensure customers can find the brand’s quality and value throughout AWG member retailers’ stores with a range of unique and proprietary items,” added Anthony. “All of these new products carry the AWG Brands’ 100% Customer Satisfaction Guarantee and undergo rigorous quality control testing before coming to market.”
Brand alignment was a priority when developing the expansion of the fresh departments. The new look is a visual promise to consumers that they can connect the same quality and value of Best Choice center store products, including the 100% guarantee, to fresh products. In addition, brand recognition is a growing strength of Best Choice. Using the Best Choice name helps consumers find additional products from the brand they already trust.
ABOUT ASSOCIATED WHOLESALE GROCERS, INC.
Associated Wholesale Grocers, Inc. (AWG) is the nation’s largest cooperative food wholesaler to independently owned supermarkets, serving 1,100 member companies and more than 3,400 locations throughout 33 states from 9 wholesale division support centers. Consolidated sales for AWG in 2023 were $12.4 billion. In addition to its cooperative wholesale operations, the company also operates subsidiary companies that provide certain real estate and supermarket development services, and pharmaceutical products. For more information, visit AWGinc.com.
