Dive Brief:
- C&S Wholesale Grocers announced on Wednesday the launch of Sol Select, a new private label brand.
- The line includes more than 250 frozen, center store, household and dairy products.
- All of Sol Select’s packaging is written in both English and Spanish.
Dive Insight:
C&S said that it leaned into “Hispanic influences” for Sol Select, noting that the logo is inspired by the sun and Spanish Talavera tiles while the packaging is adorned with “colorful, bilingual labels.” Only a handful of products under the brand feature flavors and ingredients tied to Hispanic cuisine.
Sol Select’s assortment includes an array of breakfast cereals, popular ice cream flavors, frozen pizza, dry baking mixes, rice, beans, mac & cheese and other grocery staples. The line also features Mexican hominy, mayocoba beans and tostadas.
The launch of Sol Select comes at a time when the Hispanic and Latino consumer demographic has around $4 trillion in buying power, making them a heavily influential shopper cohort.
Sol Select is now stocked at select C&S banner locations, including Grand Union and Piggly Wiggly, and is available to the supplier’s independent retail customers. The newly launched line will become available at D&W Fresh Market, Family Fare and Martin’s Super Markets as well as all of SpartanNash’s independent retail partners this summer, according to the announcement. C&S agreed to acquire SpartanNash last June, establishing a combined company that consists of 60 distribution centers, serves about 10,000 independent retail locations and owns more than 200 grocery stores.
Amid its rapid store growth, C&S has also ramped up its involvement in international grocery as well as U.S.-based multicultural retail. Within the past year, C&S has expanded its reach outside the U.S. to supply Caribbean and Central and South American retailers and became the primary supplier for a Hispanic grocer in Florida.
Catherine Douglas Moran contributed reporting.
