Andrew Reeves ([info]schizmatic) wrote,
@ 2009-02-22 16:45:00
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Current mood: ecstatic

The Joy of Discovery
Many years ago, in 1994-1995, I had a cookie that I really, really enjoyed, namely the Keebler Toffee Sandy. It was the same shortbread cookie as found in the Pecan Sandy, but with bits of toffee in it instead of pecan. Well, sometime in late 1995-early 1996 Keebler discontinued this cookie. I was heartbroken. How could a thing so wonderful come into my life and then vanish?

Well, the other day [info]pauldrye mentioned to me that he remembered either Sobey's or Loblaws having a cookie very similar to the one I'd described. I searched Loblaws, but no luck. This afternoon, while going to buy a DVD and some wine, I stopped into Sobey's on a whim. And to my amazement, there on the shelf was a box of cookies. It was a different company than Keebler--the brand was Compliments--and the package was different, but there was no mistaking the cookie within. I had found my long-lost cookie, and was filled with joy and rapture. My cookie is back.


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[info]pauldrye
2009-02-22 10:48 pm UTC (link)
Ha! I'm glad I vaguely-sort-of remembered them then!

Compliments is their store brand, which means there's some minor manufacturer out there making them. I'd guess Keebler outsourced to them, or sold them on consignment, whoever they may be.

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[info]schizmatic
2009-02-22 10:49 pm UTC (link)
It's just odd to see a long-dead cookie resurrected under a different label.

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[info]pauldrye
2009-02-22 10:55 pm UTC (link)
Well, it may not have been long-dead. There's a whole undercurrent of snack makers who do regional and/or dollar store work in the candy, cookie, and chips lines. They only intrude on our consciousness when we're in their region or someone picks them up. (Go to the dollar store one day and closely examine the food aisles. It's social archaeology.)

If I had to guess, they've been made all along but up east somewhere. Sobey's is a Maritime outfit, so they would have sourced store brands to food manufacturers there and in New England and...voila! Lazarus Cookie.

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[info]schizmatic
2009-02-22 10:57 pm UTC (link)
Which would probably mean that Keebler discovered them, brought them nationwide, and then dropped them a short time later. So who knows, these cookies may have been out there for a while and I never new. The ins and outs of regional food brands and what penetrates what regions is something I find both strange and fascinating.

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[info]pauldrye
2009-02-22 11:13 pm UTC (link)
The thing I like about regional brands is that regional tastes vary and can carry local products that would flop nationwide. Something that puts you very much in the minority where you live can be popular someplace else, so with luck you find something for you that no national chain will supply

See the Quebecois ketchup potato chips, for example. My own thing is a maple sugar cream candy I adore, but that's from some no-name manufacturer that only sells to Dollarama.

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