The store brand: Harmons launches its own line of products--just don't call them generics.

• Author: Kinder, Peri
• Position: Lessons Learned

Take high-quality ingredients, local products and years of tradition: add to cart.

For more than 80 years, Harmons grocery store has provided Utah consumers with a unique shopping experience: the competence of a big chain with the feel of a small-town grocery store. By adding features like in-store chefs, cooking classes, store tours and an aggressive sustainability program, Harmons not only stays on top of trends, but has become a trendsetter.

The company's latest endeavor was creating its own private-label food products to offer healthy, fresh and organic options to its shoppers. Harmons spent several years developing the product line, vetting potential vendors and testing products for quality.

"Harmons is focused on quality," says Gordon Welch, Harmons private label sales director. "With our private-label program, we wanted to do something different in the industry. Although they'd been discussing it for years, Harmons got serious about the private-label line two years ago. It was kind of funny that we were already headed down that road before it became the popular thing to do."

Doing its homework

Welch was brought on to do extensive research into the creation of the private-label foods. By attending national specialty and natural food shows, he focused his efforts on finding quality items that met Harmons' standards of natural, organic, non-GMO and clean ingredients. It wasn't just about providing health food, it was about providing products that didn't have questionable ingredients.

One of the first items produced was a pasta product created by local pasta expert Debbie Chidester. It was a hit. Now the popular artisan crafted pasta products are a staple of the Harmons private label.

Then Welch moved on to finding canned tomatoes that were organic and non-GMO. The search for quality products and sources was intense, but with the grocery chain wanting its line to be unique and original, cutting corners was not an option. The Harmons organic canned tomatoes are processed the day of picking, steam peeled (instead of using chemicals) and put in BPA-free cans.

Now the store has more than 300 Harmons' brand products, with more being developed all the time. While many private-label items from other chains are bargain priced, Harmons offers two tiers of products that cater to different shoppers. The premium line focuses on quality and is comparably priced with leading product brands, while the value tier offers consumers excellent food at a...