Pirkka is a

private label A private label, also called a private brand or private-label brand, is a brand owned by a company, offered by that company alongside and competing with brands from other businesses. A private-label brand is almost always offered exclusively by th ...

brand used by grocery stores owned by the

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

Kesko sv, Kesko Abp , logo = Kesko logo.svg , logo_size = 150px , type = Julkinen osakeyhtiö , traded_as = , foundation = , location_city = Helsinki , location_country = Finland , key_people = Mikko Helander (President and CEO), Esa Ki ...

chain. The first Pirkka products came onto the market in 1986. In February 2013 there were over 2200 Pirkka products.Laatu ja edullisuus ovat Pirkka-sarjan menestystekijöitä
Kesko 28 February 2013. Accessed on 11 November 2013. About 80% of Pirkka brand products made by Kesko are

foodstuff Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is inge ...

s. Pirkka is listed in the "Well known brand names" list kept by the Finnish patent and register office.

History

Pirkka was the first private label brand with a large selection in Finland. Pirkka was preceded by the "Sinivalkoiset" (Blue and White) brand, but it did not have the same personal brand appearance as Pirkka. The first Pirkka brand products were basic daily household products, such as baking margarine, crisp rye bread, pea soup, washing powder, diapers and shampoo. During the first five years the number of Pirkka products grew to over 300 and during the first ten years to over 500. In 1996 ecological products were launched into the Pirkka series, with the "Luomu" ladybug as its symbol. In 1999 Pirkka started cooperation with the Fair Trade association, and the Pirkka Fair Trade coffee was launched. Pirkka brand products previously had pre-printed price labels, but they were removed in September 2001, when the new Pirkka logo was also taken into use. In 2013 the product line includes almost a hundred ecological products and about 40 Fair Trade products.

Criticism

An investigation done by

Finnwatch Finnwatch is a Finnish civic organisation focused on global corporate responsibility. It seeks to promote ecologically, socially or economically responsible business by engaging companies, economic regulation and public discussion. Behind Finnwat ...

in spring 2012 revealed

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

and workers' rights violations at two

Thai Thai or THAI may refer to: * Of or from Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia ** Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand ** Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand *** Thai script *** Thai (Unicode block ...

factories producing private label products. Kesko announced it would act to fix these problems.

Rankings

MTV3 MTV3 ( fi, MTV Kolme, sv, MTV Tre) is a Finnish commercial television station. It had the biggest audience share of all Finnish TV channels until Yle TV1 (from Yle) took the lead. The letters MTV stand for Mainos-TV (literally "Advertisement ...

selected Pirkka brand coffee as the winner in its blind tasting test of eight different coffees in January 2013. The Pirkka brand two-bladed

safety razor A safety razor is a shaving implement with a protective device positioned between the edge of the blade and the skin. The initial purpose of these protective devices was to reduce the level of skill needed for injury-free shaving, thereby reduc ...

came second after the

Gillette Gillette is an American brand of safety razors and other personal care products including shaving supplies, owned by the multi-national corporation Procter & Gamble (P&G). Based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, it was owned by The Gil ...

Fusion in the Yle TV1 '' Kuningaskuluttaja'' "three hard ones" test in 2011. In the previous year, Pirkka brand

Karelian pasties Karelian pasties, Karelian pies or Karelian pirogs ( krl, kalittoja, singular ''kalitta''; Olonets Karelian: ''šipainiekku''; fi, karjalanpiirakat, singular ''karjalanpiirakka''; russian: карельский пирожок ''karelskiy pirozhok' ...

came second in the same test after

Fazer Fazer () is one of the largest corporations in the Finnish food industry. The company was founded by Karl Fazer in 1891, as a "French-Russian confectionery" in central Helsinki. Today, it employs over ten thousand people across Finland, Sweden, R ...

's Vuoksi pasties. In 2012 the '' Pirkka'' magazine owned by Kesko ranked six different grill sausages ( HK

Kabanos Kabanos (; plural: ''kabanosy''), also known as cabanossi or kabana, is a long, thin, dry sausage usually made of pork which originated in Poland. They are smoky in flavor, and can be soft or very dry in texture depending on freshness. Typically ...

si Original, Pirkka A-class grill sausage, Atria Wilhelm Perinteinen, Snellman Eetwartti, Portti UkkoPekka and Tapola Viiden tähden rillimakkara) and selected Kesko's Pirkka sausage as the best.Pirkka A-luokan grillimakkara on kesän varma grilliherkku
''Pirkka'' 6-7/2012. Accessed on 29 July 2012.

References

External links

* {{commons category-inline, Pirkka
Pirkka products
at K-Ruoka Food product brands