Recently, we were shopping at our local market and discovered that Barilla pasta sauce had redesigned its jar. While the new jar is rather nice, it is two ounces smaller and costs the same price. We decided to email them to see why…
To: Consumer Relations
Subject: Re: Barilla Pasta Sauce in Jars

I am distressed to discover that the reason Barilla has been absent from the shelves of my local supermarket is to liquidate the old style of jar in favor of the new, which, while aesthetically pleasing, contains 2oz less of sauce and is being sold locally for the same price.

Having been a loyal Barilla customer for years, I am a bit disappointed at this tactic, which disguises what is effectively a price hike, as the new jars will cost as much as the old but will contain less product. I would much rather that you retained the 26oz jar and, if you felt it necessary to adjust your pricing, did so.

While I will likely continue the purchase of Barilla sauce, as it is currently the best pasta sauce I have found, this change may encourage me to sample the products of your competitors to see if any of them are now up to my standards.

Their response:

Thank you for your recent inquiry to Barilla America, Inc. Barilla is the best selling pasta company worldwide, and we take pride in our product, right down to every last package. For over 125 years, four generations of the Barilla family have maintained the tradition of producing the finest pasta and sauces in the world.

We developed a new jar which consumers have told us better reflects our Italian heritage. This new jar is more expensive for us to produce than our original design, and we chose to decrease the size of our jar rather than increase our pricing. We came to this decision after conducting research in our test kitchen comparing the performance of 26 and 24 ox of sauce in a variety of recipes. In these tests, we found the two quantities performed the same.

Thank you for taking the time to let us know your thoughts. We hope that you continue to purchase and enjoy Barilla Pasta & Sauces.

Regards,
Consumer Relations
Barilla America, Inc.
www.barillaus.com

So…Barilla’s hypothesis is that promoting their Italian heritage is something we the consumer should pay for. We are all for being proud of one’s heritage…but we personally don’t think that we should pay for it. We’d rather have our two ounces, which certainly benefits most of us more.