Taste test: How do store brands compare to name brands?

NBC's Savannah Sellers checks store brand foods against name brand foods in a taste test.
Posted 8/8/2022, 11:15:12 AM Updated 8/8/2022, 11:17:09 AM

up and down the supermarket aisles

Shoppers are looking to save a quick buck if it's

cheaper and it's the same thing

Then why wouldn't I buy it with prices of groceries

up 12% in the last year

More and more people are ditching brand names for generic

store products

Most things like let's say a bag of chips or

mac and cheese

Are you totally cool with the store brand a couple

of things that I don't do store brand for like

kind of sketch up and things like that

But I think that the savings you're getting is not

we're sure they're saving money but at what price We

headed to the sensory lab at Ohio State University where

Professor chris saw diamonds runs taste tests for major companies

But the idea is to get consumer feedback as companies

are developing products to see how well products are like

how they preferred over potential competitors

Okay

Ready Alright

We asked them to test four common brand name products

against their store made counterparts

33 volunteers took part

I like the way these look at these definitely taste

better

The samples are prepared in a kitchen then sent through

a trap door to the participants

First up potato chips tasted almost a little like they've

been out for a while

Oh so we have a clear favorite

Yeah 2 69

The winner

The verdict 48% of respondents preferred lay's original chips while

36 preferred the target version virtually a toss up

Next came serial everyone has a different opinion

Yeah

So you can tell this one's a bit more dry

Okay

The first one here cheerios was the clear winner preferred

by 70% compared to just 12% picking the walmart brand

Then came peanut butter

I'm trying to see like what's the nutty flavor of

it I think I do like this one more 5

68 But they're both good

39% preferred giant Eagles store brand compared to 36% for

Jeff

A virtual tie

Go ahead and hit next

I joined for the next part of testing which facial

tissue would get my vote feel different

So normally you wouldn't necessarily be aware of those dramatic

differences

Right But when you have these this one is way

softer

Okay

Alright

You have a preference for 91 Kleenex

The resounding winner 67% preferred their tissues while only 18%

pick targets version

The testers were surprised to learn how they voted cereal

and peanut butter

Wait so are we conditioned to like certain brands more

than others Unique flavor profile It's different from Pepsi

That's different from some of the generic brands continue to

buy that because that's the profile that I like

But at the end of the day researchers say the

differences may be little to non existent

In often cases for generic brands it's still the name

brand that's making them right So they're just slapping a

different label on it when it comes out of the

end of the pipe

A little food for thought

Next time you visit the grocery store savannah sellers NBC

news columbus Ohio

Okay

Hold on 1/2

I'm gonna come around