It's been fun and educational reading the February issue of Connections. It is a loaded with comments from Osco managers reporting their experiences over their careers of growth and development. I am pleased to say I knew them all and worked with them on various projects. The beat goes on!!
When I left Osco in 1993, I joined three other fellows (nonOsco) to form a company called Confab. Our mission being developing private label programs for retailers using their name as the brand. We chose diapers, sanitary products, and incontinents as our starting categories.
We spent 3 months hiring scientific professionals who could test for quality, performance, and looking for manufacturing capacity to deliver quality products. We knew we'd be adding more plants as we grew. The key for our existing was to deliver quality products for the stores label at lower costs for lower retails than comparable brand items. Quality was a must. Our quality had to compare with that of the national brands and be more profitable for our customers. As good as the best, selling for less with more profit to our retailers. A huge effort, but we did it.
Of the four of us, one sold on the west coast, one on the east coast, and I handled the midwest. Our fourth was in charge of manufacturing and quality control.
Some chains started with diapers or sanitary incontinents, and others bought the entire package. The program has been very successful. Here in the midwest, I sold to Jewel, Osco, Walgreens, Kroger and Target, among others.
I retired in 1995. There were just the four of us when we started, but when I left we had 137 in our payroll department.
If your travels bring you near to Lake Forest, give me a call and we can discuss old times! My number is (847) 604-1662. I'm down to a walker and a wheel chair, but otherwise in fairly good shape.
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