Family Dollar Divisional Vice President Mary Rachide explains, "We went through a comprehensive program to upgrade the quality of the brand and we wanted to make sure that the brand and the messaging and the packaging really re-inforced everything that we had done to improve the quality of what was inside the box."
Already, the Family Gourmet line includes over 120 commonly bought products, and there are more to come.
"At Family Dollar, you can expect to save about 30-40% when you compare Family Gourmet items to the national brands," Rachide says.
We asked customers to compare the taste of several Family Gourmet items to the name brands.
Jennifer Brown says she usually buys name brands -- like Club crackers. But when she compared the $3-a-box Club crackers to the $1.60-a-box Family Gourmet version -- she found she preferred the Family Gourmet.
"It's just the flavor," she said. "It tastes good. I actually honestly thought it was the Club."
Little Nicole Chatary didn't taste much difference between the Cheez-Its , which sell for $2.25 a box and the Family Gourmet version that costs $1.10 less.
"Both of them are good," she said.
And though Ed Reed liked the name-brand Oreos better than the Family Gourmet cookies, he found the price difference -- $1.50 a box instead of $2.35 a box -- to his liking.
"I can adjust to the other cookie for 85 cents," he said.
And if you go to Family Dollar's website, you can often find coupons that will cut the Family Gourmet prices even more. Click here for coupons and store locations.
