Tapping into The Source: Retail Business Services Pilots Private Label Wine
Retail Business Services profiled Jonas De Maere and the launch of the Private Label Wine Project — a three-year initiative to bring quality private label wine to Ahold Delhaize USA’s grocery banners.
The Project
Retail Business Services entered 2019 with a new sourcing initiative: a three-year Private Label Wine Project led by Jonas De Maere, Wine Import Manager, drawing on his prior experience as Wine Buyer for Delhaize Belgium. The project was designed to make quality domestic and international private label wine available to the four ADUSA banners — Hannaford, Food Lion, Stop & Shop, and Giant Food.
The project traces back to a single phone call in spring 2017, when a Wine Category Manager from Hannaford reached out to understand how Delhaize Belgium handled private label sourcing, blending, and distribution.
From Vineyard to Store Shelf
“Our vision is to add variety to the category with private label alternatives. We’re exploring sourcing tasteful, quality wines that can save for the companies and customers while attracting new shoppers as well.”
In practice, this involved vineyard visits around the world, evaluating barrels, studying maturation processes, and assessing soil and vines — then managing the full operational chain of transportation, importation, and distribution.
“It’s a very involved process that we help facilitate from the vineyard all the way to store shelves. This system allows us to control the quality and cost, which enables us to offer consumers interesting wines at a preferable price compared to the more established brands.”
The first product to reach shelves was Artie, available at Hannaford, with further launches planned across Food Lion and Peapod.