The Major Name Brand Behind Walmart's Great Value Bread

When Walmart launched the Great Value private label in 1993 it was to provide shoppers with high-quality groceries and home products that didn't break the bank. But behind the Great Value label are often brands like the one that makes the Cheesecake Factory's famous brown bread — Sara Lee. Sara Lee is the name brand that makes Walmart's Great Value Bread along with other Great Value items, including coffee and K-Cups. Sara Lee makes the white bread, whole wheat bread, and sourdough bread sold under the grocery giant's private label.

Recalls are one way to discover what brands are behind private labels. In 2015, Bimbo Bakeries (which owns Sara Lee) recalled several bread products, including Great Value Bread, after a light bulb broke; leading to concerns over the presence of glass. When perusing the aisles of Walmart, don't be surprised when you find both Great Value and Sara Lee labels on bread packaging. You won't, however, find the same price points. A loaf of white bread from the Great Value label will run you around $1.20, depending on your area, while a loaf of classic white bread from Sara Lee costs $2.62. Despite the price and packaging differences, the ingredients are largely the same. With ingredients and quality consistent between them, some may wonder why customers bother with brand labels in the first place.

Just like the privately-owned milk processing facilities that make Walmart's Great Value Milk so cheap, other private label items are able to maintain lower price points thanks to their ability to give retailers more control over branding, cost, and quality. The Great Value private label has long been marketed as a way for shoppers to save money on thousands of different items. Walmart has used the efficiency of private label branding to launch other labels that bring quality and savings while being entirely different from Great Value, like its Bettergoods brand.

Sara Lee is far from the only manufacturer to partner with retailers like Walmart, and Walmart isn't the only retailer that partners with companies for its private label products. Stores like Target, Kroger, and Trader Joe's all have manufacturing partners behind their private labels helping them build customer loyalty through affordable off-brand products. Finding which companies are behind private label products is easier than it used to be, with much of the information available online. Some companies are more private about who's working behind the scenes. You can always compare ingredient lists or monitor recalls (which you should be doing anyway for your own safety) if you really want to know who's making your favorite Great Value goodies.