Signature Selections: Reflections from Our Private Label Director

In the 14 years that I'd worked at my prior employer, I never once met the owner. But in 2001, Jim Kowalski himself interviewed me to become Kowalski's Bakery Manager. He asked me, "If I throw you the keys to this place, what are you going to do with them?" I was so scared! I'm not sure what I said, but it was something along the lines of, "I'm going to make Kowalski's the best bakery in town!" I feel the same way about our Private Label program, which I started directing around 2014. We aim to have the best private-branded products of any independent grocer – not just in the Twin Cities, but anywhere. A big part of that is because many of our items come from our own recipes. That's pretty uncommon in this business. We're lucky to have a team that has the skills to be able to do that. They're an impressive group representing a wide swath of departments, with great palates and a wide range of food interests.

Having a fantastic team is important because private label is hard! So many things have to line up just right in order to get the products we want on our shelves. But private label is also fun! I am always on the hunt for the next winner. I love seeing the sales go crazy when customers really love something that we've put a lot of work into creating.