Private Label vs. White Label Chicken: What’s the Difference and What Does D&D Offer?

If you’re a grocery retailer, restaurant group, or food brand looking to put your name on a premium chicken product, you’ve likely encountered both terms. They’re often used interchangeably but they mean different things. Here’s a clear breakdown, and an honest account of what D&D Poultry does in this space.

What Is White Label?

White label means a manufacturer produces a standardized product that clients then sell under their own brand name. The product itself doesn’t change — only the label does. A retailer buys the product, puts their branding on it, and sells it as their own. The underlying recipe, format, and specifications are the same across all clients buying that white label product.

What Is Private Label?

Private label is more involved. The manufacturer develops or adapts a product specifically for one client — their recipe, their specifications, their portion sizes, their packaging requirements. The product is exclusive to that client. Nobody else gets it. Private label requires more upfront work — recipe development, testing, regulatory compliance, and an NDA — but the result is a product that is genuinely yours.

What D&D Poultry Has Been Doing for Decades

We’ve been producing both for Ontario grocery retailers and food brands for over thirty years. Some of Ontario’s most recognized grocery store chicken products are made in our HACCP-certified Toronto facility at 300 Milliken Blvd. We’ve worked with Longo’s, Mark McEwan’s, and others under arrangements that required us to keep their names confidential. Until recently, you’d never have known any of this. We made the product. They put their name on it.

Why We’re Now Launching Our Own Brand

Glacial Treasure — our own retail brand launching at Fortinos this June — is the culmination of thirty years of white label and private label experience. Three generations of the Dikeos family have been perfecting these recipes and processes. Betty, our VP of Sales and Marketing, Alex our Project Manager, Georgia our Finance Manager, and Bobby our Production Coordinator — every member of the second generation of this family — decided it was time to put our own name on what we make.

If you’re a retailer or food brand interested in white label or private label chicken manufacturing in Ontario, contact Darko Janovski at darko@ddpoultry.com or 416-609-9300. We sign an NDA on day one and go from there.