If you are old enough to remember “generic” items at the grocery store, those black-and-white packages of ice cream and soda and potato chips that weren’t as good as the “real” products but were a heckuva lot cheaper, you may be surprised to learn they’ve had a glow up since the 1980s.
A big one.
The preferred retail terminology is now “private label” or “store brand,” and they have become huge sellers for grocery stores, particularly as pandemic-fueled supply chain issues led to widespread food inflation in recent years.
Just this week, the Private Label Manufacturers Association (PLMA), which has been around since 1979, said store-brand products sold a record $282.2 billion in 2025, growing at nearly three times the rate of national brands. Store brand unit volume also set a new record, while national brand unit volume declined slightly.
Stores like Aldi and Trader Joe’s are not only known for their low prices. They’re driving traffic because they sell store brands consumers like, signature products they can’t find anywhere else.
But you run a restaurant. Why do you care about what kind of soap somebody is buying at the grocery store?
Because private label’s rip-roaring success says a whole lot about where your diners are right now.
They want a good deal, yes. But they also want something fun and different, something they can’t find at every chain.
In fact, 56% of consumers said their definition of a good value means food must taste great in addition to being a good price, according to a survey released earlier this month by the Consumer and Retail Group from Alvarez & Marsal. And nearly half (46%) of those surveyed said they’ve stopped visiting a fast-food restaurant because of declining food quality.
Look at the success of McDonald’s Grinch Meal late last year, which reportedly did so well that some restaurants ran out of the holiday socks that accompanied the meals. The meals came with a Big Mac or a 10-piece Chicken Nuggets, along with Shaker Fries coated in Grinch-y dill seasoning, plus a drink. The whole thing came in a Grinch-themed box, turning a low-priced, fast-food meal into a special occasion that resonated with diners.
Grocery prices have risen more slowly than restaurant prices in recent years. And, with the increasingly high quality of private-label products, consumers have become more comfortable cooking at home as a replacement for dining out. The quality gap between restaurants and home-cooked food is shrinking, given the explosion of refrigerated restaurant meals, specialty sauces, canned cocktails and high-end snacks.
(Just take a cruise through the Trader Joe’s freezer section. You could certainly assemble the fixings for a perfectly enjoyable cocktail party—no restaurant catering needed.)
Restaurants should pay some attention to the recent success of private-label products. For consumers, cost sensitivity doesn’t appear to be fading. If they can continue to make good-quality meals at home, diners will likely become even more suspicious about the “value” of their restaurant meal.