Who makes ALDI Little Journey brand formula?

ALDI Little Journey brands don’t list the manufacturer, and ALDI won’t tell you who it is.

April 2019: It’s evidently Perrigo Nutritionals who make formula for Walmart, Sam’s Club, Target, Kroger, CVS, Walgreens, and Aldi. Note about the link, just click you’re not interested and that’s that. Thanks for the tip Kelly!

This sentence here will contain the actual ALDI Little Journey manufacturer(s) when I find them.

Much like Costco’s Kirkland Select label the true manufacturer unlisted,  customer service won’t tell you, and they’ll actively work to sweep your question away from the public eye.

It’s not as sinister as it sounds as a note, it’s just some CSRs doing their job attempting to make you not find out that the manufacturer of Similac Brand is also probably the manufacturer of an Aldi Similac knockoff. As a note, I’m not sure this is the case, but it’s likely.

Companies like Abbott Nutrition (Similac,) often make custom baby cocktails (like the ones they made for Costco) so that these stores can offer the semblance of a choice, or a slightly modified version of the main brand that babies may or may not like better.

The get to sell their product, let another company handle the advertising or promotion, and generally it’s set up so that it becomes less expensive and as lucrative for a company to make a generic to compete with their own brand than it is to convince the world that your baby will explode if they have store brand baby chow.

It’s also just a good business move for them as whether the formula is on the shelf at a higher or lower price all their formula is on the shelf and people are coming to you. They also get a lot of advertising from pediatricians who get informed about the how bad the generic Brand X is by Brand X.

It looks like there may be two manufacturers for their formula products just based on what they’re comparable to (and packaging,) which throws another wrench in the gears attempting to find out who makes what.

I wrote to ALDI asking about the Little Journey manufacturer as the entire internet searching was getting me nowhere and got the following:

August 25, 2016
Case # 307460
Dear Mr. King,

Thank you for contacting us regarding our products.

This item is an ALDI private label item. ALDI private label brands are made exclusively for ALDI and are only available for purchase in ALDI stores. Our products are not meant to be sold in any other grocery or retail establishment. Unfortunately, due to confidentiality agreements with our suppliers, we are not able to disclose their information made, manufactured or produced outside of the US.

Kind regards,

ALDI Customer Service

This is basically the same response I got from Costco when trying to find out their manufacturer.

Some interesting things to note

ALDI Little Journey brands just hit the US market and is advertising that they’re pediatrician recommended. While most places I’d take that with a grain of salt my bet is they’re confident sticking this claim on their brand spanking new US product because it’s produced by a major manufacturer.

The savings on the ALDI products is about in line with what you expect to see at a Costco or Sam’s club, meaning major manufacturer is producing house brands.

It looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and says it’s comparable to a duck. It’s probably manufactured by duck.