Most store brands are made by contract manufacturers to the stores specifactions. It’s rare for a store to directly manufacture their own goods in the food industry. This is because a store only needs a given type of facility for a few days a month, making it uneconomical to operate it themselves.

That's starting to change a little.

https://www.eater.com/2018/12/11/18136019/costco-rotisserie-...

"At the center of the move is the company’s $4.99 rotisserie chicken. In 2014, Costco reported selling 78 million of these processed, four-pound birds a year. In order to guarantee a steady supply and maintain the price, Costco fixed its eye on Nebraska as the best place to start raising and processing its own supply of chickens, and “break free of the monopoly” held by companies such as Tyson and Pilgrim’s Pride, much like it did for sausage and hotdogs with its Kirkland plant in Tracy, California."

Wonder how the extreme flooding in NE is affecting that.

> I believe a number of the Kirkland products are just rebrands.

Store brand products are almost invariably made by manufacturers that have their own, non-store brands. Retailers aren't investing in buying production facilities for every kind of product they want a store brand for, they are paying manufacturers in the industry to make a store brand, which may or may not be distinct (aside from packaging) from products sold under non-store brands.

I noticed that there is a type of cookie I see at multiple grocery stores, that appears exactly the same in terms of the photos and ingredients, and after having bought the walmart variation and the variation at another local supermarket which seemed exactly the same, I saw it at a third. But it turned out there was something wrong with it there. I don't know whether it was the same factory making it to a cheaper spec, it was a bad day and they screwed it up, or there are multiple unrelated competitors making almost identical things.

And it isn’t necessarily the same product everywhere. Canadian Kirkland shampoo is different than the US.

I’ve heard toilet paper is regional.

Probably a lot of other products, and I somehow think their dog food might be.

Yeah to me Kirkland on the label just means that Costco had a hand in selecting and vetting the product, and since they typically focus on carrying one kind of a certain product, I can assume the quality standards are high enough.

I don't care who actually made it, as long as it does what it says it does

Not quite sure what you mean by "rebrand" but this doesn't necessarily mean it's the same as another product but with a Kirkland label.

I think all K-Sig products are rebrands: the coffee beans are Starbucks (see the bag), the beers and liquors are brewed/distilled by one of the big three brewers (see the bottles)... I was about to type more but found a thorough Quora explanation: https://www.quora.com/Is-Costcos-Kirkland-Signature-brand-re...

The CNN article sort of side steps the issue, but does consistently call Kirklnad Signature a “brand” as opposed to “product line” or the like.

There is no question about it. Costco outright says they are.

They buy enough quantity, put there own label on it.

But not the rotisserie chicken.