Private label products – particularly in the food and beverage business – have traveled a long road to mainstream success. Historically considered “low budget” brand name alternatives made of inferior materials – thus the lower price – private label brands have managed to earn respectability, especially over the past decade.

Costco is a textbook example of private label success. The members-only warehouse wholesaler originally wanted to stock a brand-name soft drink on its shelves but couldn’t negotiate the price they wanted. So, in 1995, Costco came up with its own soda and added its now-ubiquitous Kirkland Signature brand name, named after Kirkland, Washington, the company’s headquarters.

Kirkland Signature products typically account for anywhere between a quarter and a third of the company’s total sales. Kirkland Signature sales exceeded $50 billion in 2022, making it one of America’s largest consumer packaged goods brands in terms of sales.