ALDI & LIDL Food and Drink Worth Trying?
Discussion
IanA2 said:
SpeckledJim said:
The good stuff in Lidl is as good or better than anything in any of the other supermarkets.
And some of it is a lot better....
Yesterday evening we had a couple of Lidl's 30 day aged steaks (£3.79 each?) and assuming Waitrose could have matched the quality they would have wanted the best part of a tenner each. They were so, so tender. Also a bottle of Cremant de Saumur (which you don't see often enough in the UK) for just £8.99!
V8mate said:
IanA2 said:
SpeckledJim said:
The good stuff in Lidl is as good or better than anything in any of the other supermarkets.
And some of it is a lot better....Yesterday evening we had a couple of Lidl's 30 day aged steaks (£3.79 each?) and assuming Waitrose could have matched the quality they would have wanted the best part of a tenner each. They were so, so tender. Also a bottle of Cremant de Saumur (which you don't see often enough in the UK) for just £8.99!
I don't know exactly how Aldi works, but Lidl's consistent high quality is, imo, because they have fewer lines which allows their buyers to have tighter/closer relationships with their suppliers.
I really don't want to go into a shop and see 40 yards of breakfast cereals.
Actually, as I don't eat them......
IanA2 said:
Yup, I resent spending any money in WaitNotSoRoses these days, so rarely do. Just wish we had discovered Lidl earlier.
I don't know exactly how Aldi works, but Lidl's consistent high quality is, imo, because they have fewer lines which allows their buyers to have tighter/closer relationships with their suppliers.
I really don't want to go into a shop and see 40 yards of breakfast cereals.
Actually, as I don't eat them......
I find Aldi and Lidl to be interchangeably good. Each has product winners; each has products slightly less good. And because they'll switch supplier for an item without a monent's thought, products you like are at risk of suddenly being better or worse than before.I don't know exactly how Aldi works, but Lidl's consistent high quality is, imo, because they have fewer lines which allows their buyers to have tighter/closer relationships with their suppliers.
I really don't want to go into a shop and see 40 yards of breakfast cereals.
Actually, as I don't eat them......
And it's sometimes disappointment abounds when they only get a limited run of a product in and you find it's great... and then gone. I'll sometimes Tweet them a bit of product support if that happens; they both have very switched on web teams.
Waitrose is a disaster. Poor availability, slipping service standards, mediocre quality (especially in meat and fresh produce) and oh those prices!
And the sad thing is, I'm happy to pay extra for good products and good service.
We're very lucky to have local (i.e. UK) format German discounters; as a Kraut I grew up with them, but they are now so much better in the UK than they are back in the Fatherland.
IanA2 said:
I don't know exactly how Aldi works
I do. It's a simple model and involves them doing a bit of bottom-feeding on the back of the other retailers. They spend nothing on NPD, innovation or quality improvement and fill the shops with "me-too" products that they get from the manufacturers who already make for the other boys. They then carry out reverse auctions against a specification that they put out to tender. As a result they get stuff that's just as good as the other retailers (because it's the same formulation...doh!) and pay nothing for it because the manufacturers can knock it out nearly at cost just to fill up the line capacity. It all contributes to overheads after all. It's like going into a half-empty hotel at 11pm and offering them £30 for a room that night, for one night only, against the sticker price of £70. They will take it, and they are fools if they don't, because the place is standing there anyway, the staff are paid anyway and the only cost is cleaning 1 more room and supplying 1 more breakfast. For £30? Go on then.This model can only work while the other retailers drive quality and development. It's like me buying a serviceable car for £500-600 and running it until it dies. It relies on the previous owners having taken a massive hit over the course of 10 years or so and then selling it cheap with 90-odd k miles on the clock when it's good for twice that. If the supply of those people dries up and everyone keeps their cars until they are wrecked, I'm buggered. But they won't.
The big retailers, especially Tesco, do LOTS of work behind the scenes to drive quality systems. Their TFMS (Tesco Food Manufacturing Std) is bloody impressive, I have to put it in place for Tesco products and whenever I read it I find myself smiling at stuff in it and thinking "oh, you clever bugger, that's smart". They really do put the time in. That quality of work doesn't get done for free. However Aldi ride in on the coattails of the likes of Tesco, and that is for nothing.
battered said:
IanA2 said:
I don't know exactly how Aldi works
I do. It's a simple model and involves them doing a bit of bottom-feeding on the back of the other retailers. They spend nothing on NPD, innovation or quality improvement and fill the shops with "me-too" products that they get from the manufacturers who already make for the other boys. They then carry out reverse auctions against a specification that they put out to tender. As a result they get stuff that's just as good as the other retailers (because it's the same formulation...doh!) and pay nothing for it because the manufacturers can knock it out nearly at cost just to fill up the line capacity. It all contributes to overheads after all. It's like going into a half-empty hotel at 11pm and offering them £30 for a room that night, for one night only, against the sticker price of £70. They will take it, and they are fools if they don't, because the place is standing there anyway, the staff are paid anyway and the only cost is cleaning 1 more room and supplying 1 more breakfast. For £30? Go on then.This model can only work while the other retailers drive quality and development. It's like me buying a serviceable car for £500-600 and running it until it dies. It relies on the previous owners having taken a massive hit over the course of 10 years or so and then selling it cheap with 90-odd k miles on the clock when it's good for twice that. If the supply of those people dries up and everyone keeps their cars until they are wrecked, I'm buggered. But they won't.
The big retailers, especially Tesco, do LOTS of work behind the scenes to drive quality systems. Their TFMS (Tesco Food Manufacturing Std) is bloody impressive, I have to put it in place for Tesco products and whenever I read it I find myself smiling at stuff in it and thinking "oh, you clever bugger, that's smart". They really do put the time in. That quality of work doesn't get done for free. However Aldi ride in on the coattails of the likes of Tesco, and that is for nothing.
I've not seen anything in Lidl that's better than the Big 4, nor have I manufactured anything for either Lidl or Aldi that is better than the Big 4 products in the same sector. I have manufactured a lot of stuff that's identical. Best was a flapjack for M&S that we were not allowed to supply to the Big 4 but because M&S didn't regard Aldi/Netto/Lidl as competitors in their marketplace we were free to go ahead. Aldi sell an identical product, or at least did, for about half the price. When I say identical, I mean down to everything apart from the film wrap on the product. Same operator, a guy called Nigel, incidentally, and an all round good bloke. :-). We didn't even tell him who it was due to be made for, as far as he was concerned it was just so many mixes and off he went.
If Lidl are turning anything out that's better than the UK alternatives then it's possibly a me-too from the German suppliers that the UK retailers don't use. I can't think of any more probable explanations.
If Lidl are turning anything out that's better than the UK alternatives then it's possibly a me-too from the German suppliers that the UK retailers don't use. I can't think of any more probable explanations.
IanA2 said:
battered said:
IanA2 said:
I don't know exactly how Aldi works
I do. It's a simple model and involves them doing a bit of bottom-feeding on the back of the other retailers. They spend nothing on NPD, innovation or quality improvement and fill the shops with "me-too" products that they get from the manufacturers who already make for the other boys. They then carry out reverse auctions against a specification that they put out to tender. As a result they get stuff that's just as good as the other retailers (because it's the same formulation...doh!) and pay nothing for it because the manufacturers can knock it out nearly at cost just to fill up the line capacity. It all contributes to overheads after all. It's like going into a half-empty hotel at 11pm and offering them £30 for a room that night, for one night only, against the sticker price of £70. They will take it, and they are fools if they don't, because the place is standing there anyway, the staff are paid anyway and the only cost is cleaning 1 more room and supplying 1 more breakfast. For £30? Go on then.This model can only work while the other retailers drive quality and development. It's like me buying a serviceable car for £500-600 and running it until it dies. It relies on the previous owners having taken a massive hit over the course of 10 years or so and then selling it cheap with 90-odd k miles on the clock when it's good for twice that. If the supply of those people dries up and everyone keeps their cars until they are wrecked, I'm buggered. But they won't.
The big retailers, especially Tesco, do LOTS of work behind the scenes to drive quality systems. Their TFMS (Tesco Food Manufacturing Std) is bloody impressive, I have to put it in place for Tesco products and whenever I read it I find myself smiling at stuff in it and thinking "oh, you clever bugger, that's smart". They really do put the time in. That quality of work doesn't get done for free. However Aldi ride in on the coattails of the likes of Tesco, and that is for nothing.
1) they make you put a deposit down on a trolley so you bring it back and they dont hire someone.
2) they charge you for bags.
3) staff dont generally pack, saving time.
4) People multitask, so often the guy washing the floor could in fact be the manager.
5) they only have around 1000 lines in the store so the stores are smaller, also means they can increase sales volume and discounts.
6) they move stock around on large pallets and rarely unpack to put stuff on shelves separately.
7) stock is filled to the brim (cereals for example) so takes up less space for storage.
8) They dont generally advertise.
9) they dont generally have brand labels
It always used to be that Aldi/Lidl paid staff more than the mainstream supermarkets, but the staff are then expected to multitask, i.e. open and close tills every few minutes depending on queue depths and then rush across the store to continue stacking the shelves or emptying the bakery oven etc.
Truckosaurus said:
It always used to be that Aldi/Lidl paid staff more than the mainstream supermarkets, but the staff are then expected to multitask, i.e. open and close tills every few minutes depending on queue depths and then rush across the store to continue stacking the shelves or emptying the bakery oven etc.
I'm sure the average ALDI staff member is worth at least 2 average TESCO staff, in productivity terms. Good grief they earn their money. I think I'm tired when I get home; they must crawl across their thresholds and fall asleep in the hall.
As we arrived at Aldi last week the manager was mopping up a spillage just inside the door whilst answering 'Where do I find...?' questions and asking the till operatives if any had found a pair of glasses my O/H had left behind previously (one of them had). As soon as he'd done that he was off to unload a pallet of dried goods and as we left he was scurrying around the tills. We didn't see him pause for a second all the time we were in there; he definitely earns every penny of his salary.
Riley Blue said:
As we arrived at Aldi last week the manager was mopping up a spillage just inside the door whilst answering 'Where do I find...?' questions and asking the till operatives if any had found a pair of glasses my O/H had left behind previously (one of them had). As soon as he'd done that he was off to unload a pallet of dried goods and as we left he was scurrying around the tills. We didn't see him pause for a second all the time we were in there; he definitely earns every penny of his salary.
Hence the graduate scheme starts at £42k and goes up to £72k in 3 years! Plus an "audi A4 company car" which would probably be bottom spec, but non car people don't care about that! l354uge said:
Hence the graduate scheme starts at £42k and goes up to £72k in 3 years! Plus an "audi A4 company car" which would probably be bottom spec, but non car people don't care about that!
Many moons ago I applied for that. Went to an assessment centre/interview at their main place in Livingston, f
k me, their commitment to frugality isn't reserved just for the stores.Never seen such a bland, tatty, no frills 'head office' in my life.
As it was I remember them saying even at that stage you'd be grafting for your cash. Store managers are/were key holders and had to open and close for a start, and expected to pretty much do anything, anytime. So you start looking at the effective hourly rate... I gather at least at that time they had a significant management turnover.
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