My friend told me (and now you can tell your friends that you heard it from a bloke on the internet) the following:
He has a friend - ex colleague actually - who is a buyer for COOP. Apprently, when all the bidding for the fruit and veg takes place, He is always under instructions to get the lowest possible quality (actually the instructions are cheapest but you know what that means). Apparently it is well known in the industry that the Brits (Tesco, Sainsbury's, ASDA etc) take the best for the UK, the other european nations then go in at various levels and at the very bottom of the pile, is Migros and COOP. They buy stuff knowing that it'll be rotting in a few days because its cheap. It doesn't matter apparently because the consumer is so "sure-in-their-own-minds" that because they are in Switzerland, it has to be the best..
So the next time you are looking at a mouldy rotten selection in COOP, remember that you should be shopping somewhere else.
The quality of food in Switzerland, whether it is Migros, Coop or other is much better than the quality of food elsewhere. I have actually tasted same foods from different countries and this proves my point.
Of course, considering that most of the vegetable produce is stored in controlled atmosphere chambers to make it last through the winter makes that strategy even harder to implement.
I worked for a food producer many years ago and I can tell you that many times there is not much difference between branded products and unbranded. Of course this depends on retailer who is buying. But difference was only packaging. Pack the product in branded packaging and it will be 30% more expensive. In unbranded packs (like M-Budget or any other) price is lower, but the product is the same.
As a supplier we do not care who is selling the product, we get the same price from everyone. It is the retalier or the brand company who has the higher margin on the product. For the original producer margin and production cost is always the same .
Mr Happy, you seem to have issues with COOP. Personallly they are my supermarket of choice mainly because not everything is Mbrand. Migros really get my back up and you can get useful things from COOP catalogue by cashing in your points
I agree with Nick and there is a flaw in the OPs original statement - I'm sure that all the local Swiss produce sold by Migros and COOP here has not been rejected by the likes of Sainsbury and Tesco.
It probably all depends on exactly WHAT the bidding is for: as far as daily fruit and veg go, a lot of the stuff on sale at Migros and Coop is actually from Switzerland (probably/maybe suppliers/growers under fixed contracts), so I don't really see Tesco et al bidding for those. You may be right on out-of-season asparagus from Spain, grapes from Chile and so on, but then if you buy strawberries in December you'd have to make allowances for quality anyway.
Are you serious? I'm honestly going to assume that this is your attempt at humour. If not, then tell us which other countries you are referring to and I'll pop them on a list of places to avoid?
Oddly enough I've also tried food in different countries (note the plural) and can honestly say that supposedly fresh produce bought in Migros and COOP is far inferior to the produce bought in other countries. If the queue at the checkout is long enough you can actually see the mould growing while you wait to buy it.
I try to buy fruit and vegetables from the market or from small Thai-Turkish-Greek-Italian-or-whatever stores. They tend to cost a little more but taste and last longer. Other than that, I find Migros quality to be much better than the quality of items found in compareable US stores. I much prefer Migros to Coop, but Coop carries some items that warrant going there once in a while...
Yep that is a valid point. In the states you can buy an apple that looks perfect and will probably keep for 3 months. If you pay more and buy organic, it may not last that long.... Most items sold here are already organic. For instance with meats they have to put a sticker on it if it contains growth hormones (ever buy a US steak here?).
i noticed the quality here was better than the uk as soon as i arrived. that said, there are some things that seem to go off quicker. market produce seems better in that regard. this isn't always a bad sign (americans at college always wanted to know why our milk and bread went off after a few days, and i know what their stuff tastes like and therefore which way i prefer it).
standard packaged meat is loads better too (variety and quality).
In the US we've a vast range of food quality, from the 'cheap' food at the big discount supermarkets, to the high end organics at organic stores eg. Whole Foods.
You've no real choices here.
Although the quality is not bad here, its nothing to rave about. If you spend the same in the US, you would be shopping at whole foods where the quality in my opinion is much higher.
We also have farmer markets on the weekends in almost any part of the country.
It seems many here are convinced that you don't hve any choices because you don't need them as the swiss products are simply the best. I beg to differ, some are good, but they're not the best accross the board.
I think that the biggest problem here is that when a Swiss product is available, no other product can enter the country. See for example tomatoes or apricots when they're in season. They are pretty much tasteless and far worse than other countries', but it's all you can get.
It's all part of the protection offered to swiss farmers. If swiss products were to compete in the EU market against Spanish, Italian or French products, they'd be crushed in seconds.
Same applies to artificial milk prices, and thank the lord that wheat is not extensively grown in switzerland.
nice tomatoes were one of the first things i noticed
whilst buying local is generally a good thing for taste i couldn't agree more on not artificially propping up the farmers/enforcing through legislation (and i'm from a farming family).