Joint sourcing for more affordable, healthy and sustainable food in Europe

May 12, 2026 – Every day, millions of people decide what to put on the table. Those choices are shaped by taste and habit – but also by price, availability and trust. Behind every product on the shelf is a long journey, involving farmers, producers, processors and transport partners around the world. 

Ahold Delhaize’s local brands source products from more than 180 countries and work with over 15,000 direct suppliers. Together, they serve 77 million customers every week. For us, sourcing food responsibly is about more than where products come from. It is about working together across brands to make everyday food, safe, affordable and healthier – for as many people as possible – and to support the transition to a more sustainable food system. 

Ahold Delhaize’s European brands continue to raise the bar and expand their shared sourcing efforts, with the aim to support affordability, increase access to healthier food and build more resilient supply chains. 

Harmonizing across own-brand product ranges 
One of the most important ways our European brands are working together is by harmonizing products across their own-brand product ranges. For example, they might agree to harmonize their recipes, ingredients, and packaging for an own-brand pasta sauce product. This enables them to reduce complexity in packaging and logistics, consolidate volumes and pass savings on to customers. 

So far this year, the brands have identified hundreds of key value items across our six European markets – the Netherlands, Belgium, Czech Republic, Romania, Serbia and Greece – where we see further opportunities to harmonize products and take better advantage of our scale. These products – from bananas to yogurt to toilet paper – play a critical role in our value proposition: they are purchased frequently, strongly influence price perception, and show limited need for local differentiation. 

These efforts build on the work our European brands did in 2025 to ramp up their shared approach to sourcing in order to keep everyday essentials affordable for customers. Sourcing together and combining volumes enables the brands to buy ingredients and products more efficiently, plan further ahead, build stronger long-term relationships with suppliers, reduce unnecessary complexity in the supply chain, and lower costs. And the money they save can be invested back into affordable prices for customers.  

In 2025, our European brands expanded their joint sourcing portfolio with 167 new products, including 100 items in their Price Favorite range. By the end of the year each of the European brands offered over 900 Price Favorite products, providing customers with greater choice and value across their assortments. Overall, the brands added 1,450 new own-brand products in Europe last year. 

Innovating through own brands 
For our European brands, own brands are also a way to play a leading role in innovation by leveraging their deep local insights and strong development capabilities. Own brands enable them to launch differentiated products that help customers make better choices without compromising on quality or taste.  

Some recent successes are Albert Heijn’s renewed own-brand BBQ assortment with over 80 new products – launched right in time for the sunny weather. Alfa Beta’s award-winning own-brand range “AB close to the Greek land” highlights their commitment to high-quality products inspired by the richness of Greek gastronomy and local production. And Maxi Serbia has significantly stepped up their own-brand offering to support customers who have faced ongoing pressure on their household budget in the country. Innovations like these in Europe continue to inspire product development across Ahold Delhaize as we pursue our ambition of 45% own-brand sales. 

Making healthy and sustainable choices easier and more accessible 
Joint sourcing also plays a key role in helping customers eat healthier and more sustainably. In 2025, more than half (52.1%) of Ahold Delhaize’s own‑brand food sales came from products classified as healthy. This reflects years of work across brands to improve everyday products – reducing salt, sugar and saturated fat, and increasing healthier options – while keeping prices accessible. Because many of our brands work with the same suppliers, cooperating means improvements can be made at scale. When a supplier reformulates an ingredient or improves a recipe, that change can benefit multiple brands and millions of customers. You can see this approach in action at the local brands. 

At Albert Heijn in the Netherlands, working together with shared suppliers has helped improve the recipes of everyday own‑brand products – cutting back on sugar, salt and saturated fat while keeping prices affordable for customers.  For example, Albert Heijn reduced the sugar in all its own-brand products by the equivalent of 134 million sugar cubes in 2025. You can read more about Albert Heijn’s progress in making its own-brand products healthier in its 2025 Impact Report.  

At Delhaize in Belgium, the same joint sourcing approach supports a wide range of healthier own‑brand products, including reduced‑salt and reduced‑sugar options that are part of many families’ regular weekly shopping basket – not premium products, but everyday choices. In 2025, Delhaize also launched a selection of hybrid protein products that blend traditional meat flavors with the advantages of plant-based ingredients – based on inspiration from Albert Heijn. 

Working with suppliers at scale also helps our brands source more responsibly and reduce waste. For example, as they harmonize own-brand products, our European brands are also working to reduce packaging materials – particularly the use of virgin plastic – for these ranges. In 2025, we surpassed our target to reduce the use of virgin plastic packaging as a result of several brand initiatives to improve plastic own-brand packaging. 

Building for the long term 
Joint sourcing is not about quick wins. It is a continuous effort to build a food system that works for customers, suppliers, and communities. By working together to create more affordable, healthy and responsible product ranges, our European brands continue to unlock meaningful benefits for both customers and the planet. Because what happens at the source ultimately shapes what ends up on the shelf. 

To learn more about joint sourcing at Ahold Delhaize, watch Robert’s story below.