Aldi expansion

Some years ago DD watched a program about Aldi and it explained the company's brand policy of not having own brands with a recognisable name, but instead inventing a 'brand' name for every product they produced. Each name being appropriate to the product, for example tinned tomatoes had an Italian name, champagne a French name and frankfurters a German brand name.

This way it encouraged customers, who would never economise by being seen buying a Tesco own brand or Waitrose Essential, but were delighted to shop in Aldi, because all the products had brand names on them. Not brands they recognised, but they were brands, so they were happy thinking that they had shopped cheaply, but no-one who didn't shop in Aldi would know.

Jalima I made the point you made earlier and like you got no response, people prefer to shut their eyes and ignore thinking about any exploitation that might be happening, all that matters is that they pay less.

I believe there was a program about Aldi exploitation of their staff, expecting them to do unpaid overtime, by coming in 15 minutes before their shift started and staying on after it finished. Some were also not being paid the minimum wage.

But heigh ho, providing customers can buy their food cheap - and most of them are not poverty stricken single mothers or poor pensioners trying desperately to eat and pay their heating bills.

Also though you may not recognise some on the brand names on the tinned goods in Aldi and Lidl a high proportion are actually from UK factories. Premier foods being one of them.

I think in most of Europe, excluding Germany, there are more Lidl supermarkets than Aldi. Although there is a very good Aldi near the Eurotunnel at Calais. I have never seen a better vaiety of fruit and vegetables in any supermarket. When we come yo England we always go to Aldi for our gammon joints to take home with us. They are the best tasting and such a ressonable price. On our last trip I bought 4 swede in Sainsbury for 90 pence each. When we got to Aldi they were 37 pence each so my DH picked up 4 more. They are not available in Portugal unless you go to Iceland in the Algarve. Guess which ones went a bit wrinkly first? Yes the ones from Sainsbury.

I think that's how it works, Busset
Although I must say that some farmers 'seconds' are better than the 'firsts' of others.

A friend went ' Glamping' on a farm and they were given a tour. The farmer said his beef went to Waitrose but any that wasn't as good a shape went to Aldi. Near my French holiday home we have the choice of 4 Lidls ,including a new one ,all very similar to UK Lidl branches.There is one Aldi Marche which isn't very good and is very different to the UK Version

Actually, I don't know how they can sell papaya at 49p - someone, somewhere is losing out (the farmer?) or else the fruit has been subsidised by the government of the country producing it.

I travel nearly 4 miles to go to Aldi every week for my shopping. Very soon I will only have to travel 1.5 miles as a new Aldi is about to open in my own town. I can't wait. Feel very exited.

It may have been Papaya or some similar tropical fruit on sale in Aldi at 49p
The same day in Waitrose, the same type and size of fruit/ same stage of ripeness was on sale at between £2 and £3.
When asked why, the buyer explained that she liked to think the Waitrose quality was somewhat higher. I said 'Oh no it isn't' but consider that it is such discrepancies that have led to the fall in Waitrose profits

The Aldi italian blend ground coffee is excellent, and at least £1 per pack cheaper than the big brands. They keep their prices down by having multi tasking staff who will stock shelves and then go to the check outs when needed, you will never see anyone sitting at an Aldi checkout twiddling their thumbs. They also do not have staff standing behind a deli, butchery, fish counter waiting for customers. This all cuts costs. DS likes high protein breakfast cereal, I buy one in Aldi for £1.69 and the nearest equivalent in Sainsburys was well in excess of £3.00. Their dishwasher tablets, washing tablets, bleach, washing up liquid are all good, and many have the Good Housekeeping stamp on them. They are not perfect, sometimes we need to pop to Sainsburys for some items, but the bulk of our shopping is done efficiently and quickly in Aldi........as long as we can avoid browsing the very interesting central aisle........

Just to answer the remark about supporting 'foreign' companies instead of British.
When Aldi say they source locally they mean local. Soft fruits come from farms within a 10 mile radius. Fresh veg also local - far more so than those trucked the length of the country. As granny 23 pointed out meat (and fish) are mostly sourced nearby.
My GCs enjoy the variety of breakfast cereals which are not heavily advertised and are reasonably priced.
No complaints from me - no overcrowding, no parking issues.

Aldi and Lidl sell a great deal of British produce, employ huge amounts of staff ( and pay them better than most other supermarkets) and as far as I am aware, pay all their taxes, so the argument about being a 'foreign' supermarket is, I think, irrelevant, especially when one sees their car park full of German made cars!

When our local Aldi was being built, a friend said to me 'you should fight that. They sell cheap booze and their car park and your area will be full of drunks swigging from cans and bottles.' I was worried, but it's a lovely store, inside and out with no such problems.

Someone, I can't remember who, said they were at the checkout in Aldi and a very well-to-do looking/sounding woman in the queue was talking into her phone saying 'I won't be long, I'm just in Waitrose'

I buy all our wine and gin in Aldi, happily packing them into my Waitrose bottle carrier. Snobbery certainly doesn't exist here. Mothers of children attending the local well known, expensive private school can be seen stuffing their trolleys so full they struggle to push them to the 4X4.

Walk round Waitrose and you'll hear just as many Eastern European languages as you will local accents.

Sainsbury's is my favourite for wide aisles, choice and good service. I don't spend much in there though because I've already been over the road at Aldi.

Jailma there are LOADS of Lidl throughout Greece, not so many of Aldi.
Yes, we did see Lidls- several in fact, but I think Aldi withdrew altogether for some reason

Aldi is brilliant,I used to work in Tesco and shopped there as I had a discount card.But when I left, and found Aldi discovered fruit and veg much better quality,as is there meat products.Have to try non branded goods,some are better,I prefer proper Weetabix for instance.

I thinl I have mention this before on Gransnet but here goes again. We have a huge slaughterhouse on the outskirts of a local town. All the meat is locally sourced and it provides well paid employment for many people.

The meat is graded at the slaughterhouse depending on quality A+, A, B, C D. D goes for pet food, C to cheaper takeaways etc. B to Morrisons, ASDA, Tesco, A to M&S, Waitrose and Sainsburys. The A+ goes to top end restaurants and .... ALDI.

We have a new Aldi about 13 mins drive away and it’s excellent! The meat and cheese, sausages, bacon and cooked meats are as good as Waitrose and considerably cheaper.
Tinned goods such as tomatoes, coconut milk etc., are such good value as is their gin and wine!
There are only a few items I have to buy elsewhere.
If I do have to shop at my local supermarket, Morrisons, my bill is at least £20 more !

Aldi's pretty good- we have specific things that are cheap there (ground coffee £1.90! perfectly adequate lemon cheesecake 69p! pots of salad, feta cheese parcels, smoked mackerel...) Having got them, we go to Tescos (obviously much more choice) for the rest. Really cuts the cost!

Jailma there are LOADS of Lidl throughout Greece, not so many of Aldi.

I can't help wondering, and worrying, why Aldi and Lidl are cheap. What are they paying their suppliers and what terms do they demand?

Lovely to see Aldi and Lidl giving the (overpriced) likes of Waitrose, M&S and Booths a bit of a scare.

I agree mabon1!

I know wealthy people who shop in Aldi. Don't be such a snob. We all have to eat and if you are willing to pay Waitrose prices then good for you, their stuff if no better than Aldi but of course Aldi does not have such a wide choice, but hey ho their prices are great.

I regularly shop at our local Lidl here in France. They give out the announcements in English as well as French. I was surprised at 12.50pm to hear in English "closing till one". Thinking there was a sudden emergency only lasting the next 10 minutes I galloped to the tills. Then the penny dropped - "till" = "checkout" !!