Kartano/Lidl

[harryc]

Has anyone found out who the producer is of the Lidl brand 'Kartano?' It would seem to be in Finland.

IMO Kartano articles seem to almost always miss the mark - tastes are a bit 'off' - I've often wanted to contact the producer to give some kind of feedback and maybe get some positive reaction. It rarely seems to be a case of it being a cheaper product - unless you think that doing some real 'kitchen tasting' would be an expensive stage in the production. Lidl's own 'customer service' is no place to comment on anything - it might as well be called 'Mappi Ö' - as per most 'customer service' systems these days with the note that if it is actually the PRODUCER you MAY get some real info.

In looking for brand info in Finland, I did run across this interesting article - it surely sets out some food for fodder - pun intended:

http://yle.fi/aihe/artikkeli/2013/10/03 ... -paketissa

[atas]

From what you describe, it sure seems like a Finnish product.

[harryc]

My thought that they were Finnish meant only that their product repertoire seems to be Finnish - and that they might be accessible (phone, etc.) - it also would be interesting to compare their 'own brand' with the corresponding Lidl item.

(There's no reason Finnish charcuterie can't be of excellent quality - their bacon and raw sausage 'culture' probably needs more years of experience. (btw - Finnish processed meat products - salami, metwurst, ham, paté, etc. - were far better decades ago even if the range was smaller - the consolidation into only a few companies has not been helpful re quality.)

[Rip]

Has anyone found out who the producer is of the Lidl brand 'Kartano?'

There is most likely no single producer. That is to large extent the idea with these shop own brands - they change to another producer if they get cheaper offer and probably most consumers don't notice a thing.

A few of the products actually state the manufacturer, with others it might be possible to decipher some EU production location code.

Based on what you can find online at least some of the sausages used to be made by Atria.

[onkko]

Are you finnish or lived your life here, if yes then are you an average finn who buys lidl products?
This is something marketed in finland to finns and it has been made to "approve acquired taste so it sells". Sorry for you.
I really think lidl has "test groups" of finns or atleast market tests.

Contact Lidl, you arent deciding what they buy so contractors wont care about you.

[harryc]

There is no "finnish" taste.

Yes indeedy - there IS Finnish taste - or should I say Finnish NON-taste - and more accurately - WAS.

I gave been here as an adult almost 5 decades and been living in Helsinki ( - and also been eating in some 60 countries.)

Then and even for many years after I came --

- 'Mausteet' meant ketchup, salt, pepper, mustard - and if it was a sophisticated place: HP sauce.
- I had to get many herbs by post from NY - including Oregano
- I had to take olive oil back from Greece in my suitcase
- Likewise for Durum pasta/spaghetti (it's the ONLY real pasta)
- Had to get fresh champignons from Stockholm
- there was ONE pizzeria in the whole of Finland
etc etc

I had a food importing company and sold Stockmann some of their first 'exotic' products.

There would be enough material to write a small book on Finnish food 'culture /and lack of it .'

Things began to change in later 70's with cheap trips to Spain and Greece. The big change happened when the Lisenssivirasto closed shop in 1993 - with EU membership in view thanks to the disappearance of the USSR

Travel and free trade resulted in Finland leaving the Nakki Syndrome and joining the world.

-------------------------

As for calling Lidl - did you ever try it? I have many dozens of times - they're often polite (and sometimes not)
but haven't a clue about the actual products. At least when I call Fazer, Raisio, Snellman, HK, etc. they often DO handle a product question - and sometimes I get some very interesting info too - and also very often some crazy stuff like Nestle telling they put a lot of sugar in their cereals because they did market research and found kids like sweeter cereal - DUH - .
A food 'contractor' will almost always also have their own brand so there are 'product people' available if you can dig them out. Lidl has absolutely NO interactive feedback channels where you can actually talk to someone who knows about a particular product and they won't set up a 'get back to you on that' - if you don't believe me - just try it.