Since the introduction of the Co+op Basics program, you may have noticed that many of these more affordable choices are from the Field Day brand. NCG has negotiated with United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI) for great pricing on these products to help your co-op stay competitive on pricing and product assortment in your local market.
Field Day offers everyday low prices on many popular grocery and household items, from cooking oils to dry goods. We like the Field Day line because most of their food products are certified organic and made in the USA (some items may have imported ingredients). To be certified organic, a product can’t contain GMOs, but for those products that are not certified organic, Field Day has made a commitment to non-GMO sourcing, as well. They also happen to meet our food quality standards for being delicious, which is essential!
Similar to a private label, Field Day is a controlled label owned by UNFI, NCG’s primary business partner. The products are available for purchase across the country by co-ops and small regional chains that don’t own their own private label. Sometimes we are asked why NCG doesn’t offer a private label program for co-ops, and the answer is that such a program requires the right mix of volume, distribution, retail commitment and financial investment. At this point in time, a private label program with the sort of breadth of products we have access to through our Field Day partnership is not feasible for NCG co-ops.
Since the introduction of Co+op Basics, NCG co-ops have become a major buyer of Field Day products, purchasing nearly one-third of all Field Day product sold! As a result, UNFI encourages, values and seeks out our input on behalf of food co-ops. However, we do not directly control the sourcing or manufacturing of this product line. Despite the popularity of Field Day since its introduction, NCG maintains strong relationships with many of co-op shoppers’ most popular national brands and we will always support and encourage co-ops to source and promote the local, fair trade, small-producer products that are a unique and important part of your co-op’s identity and brand.
To help answer any questions you or your co-op colleagues may have about Field Day products, we’ve created a Field Day FAQ for co-op staff. Please note that this document is not meant to be shared with your customers. Since rolling out an entire line of branded products like Field Day represents a change for most co-ops, we encourage you to share our Field Day newsletter copy with your owners and customers in your co-op’s newsletter to proactively address any concerns about sourcing or quality they may have. We are also working with Field Day to provide resources that make it easy for you to reference product attributes at a glance (non-GMO verified, organic certified, gluten-free, et al.) which we hope to have available in the near future.
