Grocery store food choices in different places.

Manatee

Manatee

Well-known Member
Location
Florida
Many moons ago when we lived up north Entenman's bakeries made delicious rum cake. Once we left Long Island we never saw it again. Entenman's other cakes etc are widely available in many states.
In Arizona we could buy Snap Pack puddings in Key Lime flavor. It is non-existent here in Florida where key lime originated.
Other items are personal choice like Campbell's Manhattan Clam Chowder, you have to really hunt for it.

Who decides what each store will carry, and how is it chosen?
 

That's a great question, Manatee. 30+ years ago when I moved from the midwest to Montana, I missed finding Lawry's Seasoned Salt, Durkee's Sauce and Hostess Cupcakes & Twinkies. This was in the 80's when Seasoned Salt didn't come in 25 varieties like it does now. It seemed like Hostess products were everywhere except Montana .
 
If it's any help manatee, Entenmens is available on Amazon. Here in Florida, they are available in most stores. When I lived in upstate NY, I worked for Friehofers bakery which made several Entenmens products and they made some of ours.
 

Manatee, I have no idea who selects items for stores. Sure wish I knew. As an X New Yorker living in the south for over 20 years have had to change brands on many things.
 
It is a good question. We have an Entenmann's outlet not far from us (N.J.) and I never saw the rum cake you speak of. Their products are SO good! Others may not have my taste but I have trouble finding Campbell's Pea soup. I love it. It comes like a paste that has to be watered down. I'm not talking about the split pea with pork in it. That does seem strange that you couldn't find the Key Lime pudding in Florida of all places.
 
Pappy that's interesting that both companies made each other's cakes. I grew up in CT with Entemann's and never saw the rum cake either.

My parents came from PA and the only time I saw Tastee Cake was when we went to visit PA each year. They do sell in CT now but years ago, they didn't.

Who does decide which groceries a market will carry? I suppose their "experts", but I hear that FL suffers from lack of items that sell well in New York and New England. That's strange since so many of FL residents come from up here, at least half the year.
 
In most cases, who decides what product a store carries, is...cost and profit. Every year our company had to bid for the stores private label products. For example: if the store brand bread is $1.29 and the brand name bread is $3.99....it is the same loaf of bread, just labeled in a different package.
And, of course, there may be some bidding wars going on in the back room. A few perks might help buyer decide, too.
 
We have Entemann's in New Jersey. I miss Jane Parker products. That was A&P's baked goods. A&P has slowly gone out of business in my area. Even as a kid my mom would buy their products. Now I am on the lookout for sweet potato patties. All the stores carried them until a couple of years ago. You could get them frozen or refrigerated. I don't know the brand name but they came in a flat Styrofoam container,covered in plastic wrap. 6 or 8 in a package. They heated up quickly in the microwave and had a really smooth consistency. Great when you were in the mood for a sweet potato but didn't have the time to bake one.
 
Ruth n Jersey said:
We have Entemann's in New Jersey. I miss Jane Parker products. That was A&P's baked goods. A&P has slowly gone out of business in my area. Even as a kid my mom would buy their products. Now I am on the lookout for sweet potato patties. All the stores carried them until a couple of years ago. You could get them frozen or refrigerated. I don't know the brand name but they came in a flat Styrofoam container,covered in plastic wrap. 6 or 8 in a package. They heated up quickly in the microwave and had a really smooth consistency. Great when you were in the mood for a sweet potato but didn't have the time to bake one.
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Me too, especially the old Spanish Bar Cake!
 
Pappy said:
Loved their Spanish bar cake and they carried Spaulding donuts. The sugar donuts were so good with coffee.
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I was a fan of Spaulding peanut sticks and glazed cake donut sticks, I think they called them coffee sticks!

We had a man that lived down the street named Wally. Wally had an independent bread route. He bought his products from Durkee and Spaulding then delivered them to small mom and pop restaurants, stores, schools and individuals out in the boondocks. Wally would always give us a good deal on his day old bread and pastries.

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When I worked for Millbrook bread co., Spauldings have a small depot just down the road from ours in Marcy, NY. One of their drivers and I would trade products quite often. I gave him Taste- tee-cakes and he give me donuts.
 


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