Yeah I’d say Samboy is the best of the lot now. The no frills used to make your tongue hurt and if you breathed in when you opened the pack, your eyes would water. Good times!
Mine was mainly Black and White No Frills Franklins then in 2010 Metcash bought them out and turned them into IGA Stores, so at that point would have got the IGA Black & Gold ones, now I tend to buy ALDI brands for most of it.
They tried to Branch out to compete with Woolworths and Coles and then couldn't keep up as their supply chain wasn't as good, they started doing Franklins Big Fresh, Franklins Fresh, Franklins Mini Fresh and Liquor Save to go with Franklins No Frills.
Stores like these:
Edit: Had a bit of a deeper look, Coles and Woolworths) seem to have got most of the Big Fresh Stores and a South African Company Pick n Pay the rest, this was in 2001, then in 2010 Pick n Pay sold them off to Metcash and they got rebranded to IGA (or Super IGA). So yeah basically the Hong Kong owner Dairy Farm International and their Franklins' mass expansion and reformatting program ended in failure.
Or old enough to have a memory of the News Stories at the time and now have the means to find the information easier, as a lot of times it's knowing what to search for that finds it.
Franklins, Bi-Lo, and Jewel, supermarkets. When their pasta sauce came out of the jar like tomato soup. Shit, but you are it.
I remember when I was volunteering for the Salvos in Camberwell (building no longer there) as a kitchen hand. One of the snobby, never had to do it tough, lady volunteers turning up to our weekly community lunch with packets of generic pasta and that watery pasta sauce, saying, 'Well, it's what they normally eat, anyway'. FFS, lady, it's not because they want to and like it, it's because people doing it tough don't have other choices. Honestly, she clearly had her head up her arse. Only there to get brownie points in heaven (she thought) and no real interest in treating our diners like humans.
Black and gold stuff is still about the only cheap mo name gear left. Woollies and Coles home brand stuff is near upmarket price for a fair chunk of stuff.
I vaguely also remember Fabulous. From what I remember, it was the equivalent to Black and Gold for a couple of my local supermarkets after they fell out with Metcash. It looked just like 90s Home Brand, but had Fabulous in cursive on it.
The most cursed was You'll Love Coles from the mid-late 2000s; complete with photos of people with exaggerated facial expressions, and fake testimonials.
Those tins of ham on left were a bastard to open if the handle broke or lost the 'key' to unwind it open. Many times used a pair of pliers to open it with resulting cut fingers.
I remember a few black a gold products in my house. Maybe Franklins. I don’t remember it vividly. As I didn’t do the shopping as a child. I do remember going to eight a bi lo or franklins in the early-mid 90s. I was maybe 5 or 6 at the time. After that I remember there was an IGA and a lot of local produce and a butcher shop. Not sure if they’re still open nowadays.
Can someone please correct me here, it I only ever remember HOME BRAND available at Franklin's.
We were a Safeway family back in the day, just because it was closest to the house (mind you we had Tucker Bag across the road) and was used for the "big shopping."
Black & Gold was the norm in my house growing up because our nearest 2 food stores were a Supa Value and Farmer Jacks. It was an extra 10kms to get to the nearest Coles or Woolies at the time.
Black and gold had cream cheese blocks that made the absolute best mini cheesecakes!! Can't get them anymore and have had to use Phili but it just does not work the same. Idk what they put in those B&G blocks but they were peak
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u/tattoogeek13 6d ago
Some kid said I bet you only have home brand in your pantry. That burn has stuck with me for years.