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Something we shouldn't be seeing this far east of the Rockies
By adamg on Sun, 05/23/2021 - 1:22pm
Tim Colby spotted these jars, which should only be seen west of the Rockies, at the Westwood Wegmans today.
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Comments
Label shortage?
It's all fine as long as you dont get miracle whip by mistake....yuck
It is ...
the _West_wood Wegmans.
The new
Smokey and the Bandit just isn't the same.
Well, we got a problem here
You see, you run that Best Foods east of the Rockies, that's called bootleggin'. And that's against the law.
can someone go buy me a jar
If they have the regular kind, can someone buy me a jar? I'll pay.
I want to do a taste test with Hellman's. Best Foods (their parent) says there's no difference, but people in the regions say otherwise.
I remember when I went to CA for the first time eons ago.. two commercials stuck out.
Best Foods Mayo. Same commercial, same actors, same graphics, except instead of "Bring out the Hellman's, and bring out the best" its "Bring out the Best Foods, and bring out the best".
The Jewelry Exchange commercials. Same commercial. Same store. same people waving at the end. Except instead of it being the "Jewelry Exchange in Sudbury" it was the "Jewelry Exchange in Burlingame"
That and getting gas at a "Standard" Gas station was a trip. (vs Chevron)
Recall when I lived in LA-
Recall when I lived in LA- and the JE there was in Tustin- Also recall when Stop & Shop used to sell Stagg Chili- which is a Hormel brand- after I'd never seen it before I lived out there
Wegman's has some other products I usually don't see in this area- Medford one carries NJ Taylor ham/ pork roll and Carvel ice cream cakes
haha
I think Market Basket sells some carvel cakes... I think. (I know they are brand name).
But yeah I lived in LA for a bit as a teen, Atlanta as an adult, and know of different regional brands (hey I like grocery trivia!). And I always love going into Ocean State or Job Lot or some 'close out' store had some stuff in brands I knew where other regional brands.
I was buying Albertson's (pre-Shaw's) & Safeway canned veggies a while back at Ocean State.
And ironically its the reverse... My friend in SF (same person I stayed and saw TV commercials above) shopped at his version of Ocean State and see Stop & Shop/GIANT (pre-unified branding) or Shaw/Star (pre-Albertson's) branded items.
So we'd talk over AIM and he'd ask me "How are stop & shop peas" or "Shaw's cake mix", and I'd ask him "How's Safeway's mac & cheese?" or "Albertson's Flour"
Too funny.
upstate NY influence on product availability
Wegmans is the only place I know that carries Vernors Ginger Ale, a Detroit native product. A local Star Market had some for a few months last year, but no longer. It's readily available in parts of NY state.
Also it's the only store here that I've seen that has a labeled frozen pierogi section, albeit mislabeled "Pierogies" (pierogi is plural; pieróg is singular but no one uses that because you don't eat just one). FWIW the fresh ones they sell are better.
Vernors at Target
I have spotted Vernors at Target, but I am not confident enough to say that it is consistently stocked at all local Targets. This was also a few years ago, fwiw.
People's Drug
I lived in DC when the regional chain People's Drug was bought by CVS. Before they started rebranding the stores all of the commercials on tv started ending with a new musical tagline "People's Drug" which was the same as the "CVS" closing jingle for their commercials. I thought it was a funny bit of subliminal advertising to get people in the mid-Atlantic used to the new chain.
Standard
The Chevron Standard sign was different from the Amoco Standard sign, two different brands with the same name sold in different states. It all has to do with the breakup of the Standard Oil monopoly, giving us Socony (Mobil), Sohio, Esso, Standard of California (Chevron), and more. Almost all the Chevron stations with a Standard brand have been converted to Chevron signs, but a very few (one in San Francisco, one in Las Vegas) keep the Standard brand so Chevron can protect its right to the trademark. Google will show you pictures.
Standard Gas Station
I only mention that standard gas station because I vaguely remember brand new ones being built as "Standard" but converted to Chevron at one point. I'm guessing ~early 80s. When I was in CT, but it could have been elsewhere.
Dad/Mom took me and my sis on lots of camping road trips in their new 1983 Chevy Chevette 2 door hatchback (with a Sears X-Cargo enclosed roof rack!). We went all over the northeast.
But then again I was small, and I can't seem to find anything on the interwebs to support this, so I hafta accept that I'm getting old and mushing memories. Sigh.
I just distinctly remember thinking I've seen that chevron-styled Standard logo before when I first was taken there in SF years ago. When I was a kid and the branding changing.
ah well thanks interwebs for confirming that I should prob start looking into retirement communities soon & take up shuffleboard.
The remaining visual ties to
The remaining visual ties to Standard Oil here on the east coast were mostly at Amoco. Until bought out by & converted to BP stations a decade or two ago, Amoco had horizontal oval sign, mostly blue & red & black if I recall correctly, and torch motif - very much the same as the Standard of Ohio signs.
Why shouldn't we see them
Why shouldn't we see them east of the Rockies? Best foods is a brand, and they have some stuff on the market here, don't they?
labeling
on all their products... and this goes beyond mayonnaise. Its salad dressings, sauces, etc
East of the Rockies its Hellman's
West of the Rockies its Best Food
Outside of mayo, the products inside the containers are identical. It just has another label.
Its interesting because there's a cost to doing this (a big one, in fact). But Best Foods has been running two labels for decades, and continued with Unilever. I guess Unilever sees value in continuing the separation.
Factoid
I looked up the Wiki info to see if Best Foods was still its own company (its not, of course). but to further add to the cost of running two identical brands, check this out:
Not being able to buy national spots like most products.. all because the label on a package is different for a same product in a different region.
Interesting..
Source
Momentum
I don't eat much Mayo but decades of Hellmann's ads are in my head. I'm a store-brand type of guy but would reach for the Hellmann's if it was on sale.
Best Foods, which I had not previously known of, sounds like a cheap knock off you'd find in an Job Lot.
So that might be why they don't consolidate. They might fear doing so would ruin the image they've tried to cultivate since adults were kids.
Of course, they could probably just call it "Hellmann's Best Foods" be done with it.
“Funny”
I grew up on California and moved to Boston in 97. Point of that anecdote is that I had no idea what was wrong with this picture until someone pointed out the name on the label. “Best Foods” just looks perfectly normal to me.
Best Yet
You may be thinking of “Best Yet,” which is the house brand of C&S Wholesale Grocers. They supply Village Market in Roslindale (and many other stores) and Best Yet is the lower priced generic brand.
Duke’s Mayonnaise
I remain steadfastly unimpressed. Let me know when Duke’s crosses the Mason-Dixon line.
Dukes?
Isn't that called Martha's Vineyard Mayonnaise north of the Sound?
The jingle makes much more sense
Bring out the BEST FOODS and bring out the best!
Makes far more sense that way. That's what I heard growing up.
Who is Hellman?
Ahem
And apparently the German for "Bring Out the Best" is "Bring Out the Best:"
I'd swear I'd seen some Best
I'd swear I'd seen some Best Food products here in Boston before. Either at a Wallgreen's or a Bodega somewhere.
Believe your eyes, as they
Believe your eyes, as they say.