Speaking Volumes

Change, change is good, right? Not in my opinion. The last three weeks or so I've been looking for my favorite yogurt in Stop & Shop. Now, I'm a pain in the neck when it comes to shopping, and the dairy guy, Jim, cringes when he sees me coming. He knows I'm going to ask him for some product or other and this will mean he has to drop what he's doing and go take a look in the back to see if he has any stock or whatever it is I'm looking for. The "back" is like is a bit like a black hole to me as I've never seen it but it seems to have most things I'm seeking. Well, Jim hasn't been around the past few weeks, this having to do with cut hours and impending strikes at S&S. No one else truly has a clue but this week I had no choice but to ask the freezer guy if they (S&S) would be getting any of my favorite yogurt, Colomob, 32 oz, low fat Vanilla. Freezer guy comes and takes a good look. No, he doesn't see any and hey, there's no space for it either. A woman whom I've never seen but who is wearing a name tag tries to come to my rescue but then bursts my bubble when she tells me she heard Colombo will no longer be produced. Explains why I can't find it but boy, am I ticked. It's my favorite yogurt. She kindly offers me a 32 oz. S&S brand, non-fat yogurt, Vanilla, free of charge to try. Nice of her and of course I took her up on the offer. Not bad, but not my Colombo.

I decided to check out the story online. You can never just take grocery employees word for it that a product has been discontinued. In this case, lady with the badge was right. In a story in the Eagle Tribune, I read that the parent company, General Mills, has decided to drop the brand.

quoted from the Eagle Tribune:

Robert Colombosian , 84, has been a part of the company, now in Methuen, since he was 12. Yesterday, Colombosian said he was disappointed with the decision by General Mills.

"It is a big part of my life," he said. "It is all of it really."

"The worst thing (General Mills) can do is drop the brand," he said. "It is the oldest yogurt brand in the United States."

And I for one, agree. How do parents just discontinue kids. Easy, I guess, if you're a major company trying to market to the younger crowd. General Mills is pushing Yoplait, a much more flashy yogurt with more, well, all I can think of, is dazzle and is more expensive to boot.

To be fair...also quoted from The Eagle Tribune

"Howard Cannon, a spokesman for Stop & Shop, said General Mills had said it tracks all the numbers of sales of all its products and saw a reduction in sales of the Colombo brand and "General Mills opted to shut the product line down."

Still, Colombo has been in business since 1929 and like Frances Found, an 88 year old woman who enjoys Colombo Vanilla Yogurt each day, I'm going to miss my yogurt. A few stores are still carrying it, but for how long, who knows? Yep, maybe I should just get over it and find a new brand but I'm going to go out kicking!

Read the Colombo Yogurt Story at http://www.colomboyogurt.com/OurStory.aspx

200 recipes from 55 countries that feature the versatile cultured dairy product

Yogurt, yoghurt, youghourt : an international cookbook / Linda K. Fuller.