Western Family Foods was founded as the Pacific Mercantile Cooperative on March 3, 1934 by a group of retailer-owned grocery wholesalers. Western Family Foods was established December 19, 1963. The company supplies independent grocery store

Grocery store

A grocery store is a store that retails food. A grocer, the owner of a grocery store, stocks different kinds of foods from assorted places and cultures, and sells these "groceries" to customers. Large grocery stores that stock products other than food, such as clothing or household items, are...

s with store brand

Brand

The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...

s. It is based in Tigard, Oregon

Tigard, Oregon

Tigard is a city in Washington County, Oregon, United States. The population was 48,035 at the 2010 census. As of 2007, Tigard was the state's 12th largest city. Incorporated in 1961, the city is located south of Beaverton and north of Tualatin, and is part of the Portland metropolitan area...

.

It distributes the Western Family, Shurfine

Shurfine

Shurfine International is a distributor of private label and store brands for independent supermarkets and convenience stores throughout the United States...

, Shursaving, MarketChoice and Better Buy brand

Brand

The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...

s which are used in many independently-owned supermarket

Supermarket

A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...

s.

Product incidents

On October 11, 2007, food manufacturer ConAgra asked stores to pull its Banquet

Banquet Foods

Banquet Foods is a subsidiary of ConAgra Foods that sells various food products, notably frozen pre-made entrées, meals, and desserts.Banquet was founded in 1953, with the introduction of frozen meat pies. Banquet first hit the store shelves in 1955, offering frozen dinners. Soon after that,...

 and generic brand chicken and turkey pot pies because of 150 cases of salmonella poisoning in 31 states being linked to the consumption of ConAgra pot pies, with 20 people hospitalized. By October 12, a full recall was announced, affecting all varieties of frozen pot pies sold under the brands Banquet, Albertsons, Food Lion

Food Lion

Food Lion LLC is an American grocery store company headquartered in Salisbury, North Carolina that operates approximately 1,300 supermarkets in 11 Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states as well as Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia under the Food Lion, Harveys Supermarket, Bloom, Bottom Dollar...

, Great Value, Hill Country Fare, Kirkwood, Kroger

Kroger

The Kroger Co. is an American supermarket chain founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cincinnati, Ohio. It reported US$ 76.7 billion in sales during fiscal year 2009. It is the country's largest grocery store chain and its second-largest grocery retailer by volume and second-place general retailer...

, Meijer

Meijer

Meijer, Inc. is a regional American hypermarket chain based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Founded in 1934 as a supermarket chain, Meijer is credited with pioneering the modern supercenter concept in 1962. About half of the company's 196 stores are located in Michigan, with additional locations in...

, and Western Family.