Costco's Kirkland Signature is a private-label line produced by external manufacturers and sold under Costco's branding. White labeling cuts costs by avoiding investment in production facilities and extensive research and development while allowing customized packaging and pricing. Many Kirkland items are sourced from known suppliers — tortilla chips likely come from Mission Foods, Canadian whisky from Crown Royal, and some Scotch from Alexander Murray & Company. Product labels sometimes list the manufacturer, and other times determining the source requires investigation. White-label sourcing enables lower prices for comparable quality and supports membership value.
The "white" label here refers to the blank label that the reseller can customize with its own branding. In this case, all of the Kirkland products you find, from the tortilla chips to those super-cheap whiskies, aren't actually produced in-house by Costco. Its signature tortilla chips are most likely produced by Mission Foods, a company that specializes in Mexican food products.
For instance, the Kirkland Canadian Whisky is made by Crown Royal and, if you pick its line of Scotch, you've got California-based Alexander Murray & Company to thank (a company that handles the juices in everything from cheap blended Scotches to higher-end expressions like the 16-year Highland Single Malt). Some products will have the name of the source written right on the label, while others will need a bit of digging. It's actually some pretty fun detective work to learn where these products came from!
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