Peter Schwartz:
Visionary of Store Brand Synergy
By Peter Berlinski

“Peter Schwartz was continually thinking of unconventional ways to approach an opportunity or to solve a problem.” —Peter Brennan

“Some people say that Daymon’s approach to the private label business was a novel idea. I would say that everything that Peter Schwartz did was undertaken in a visionary manner. He was continually thinking of unconventional ways to approach an opportunity or to solve a problem,” says Peter Brennan, vice chairman of Daymon Worldwide Inc., based in Stamford, CT. “That was the characteristic of him that set him apart from others in our business.”

“Peter envisioned the concept of creating a sales and marketing organization dedicated to helping a retailer achieve the same quality level of private label products across all categories by developing a clarity of communications within the community of supplier partners.”

In essence, Schwartz believed a retailer could improve the quality of its private label products if it dealt with one company to interface with all of its various private label manufacturers rather than dealing with dozens of independent brokers representing individual manufacturers to all retailers in the market.

An Act of Serendipity

Schwartz believed that th CEO of a retailer needed to be involved in the development of his company’s private label program which was not the case back in the late 1960s, points out Brennan.

Schwartz first approached Allen Haberman, with his new business model. At the time, Haberman was the CEO of First National Supermarkets, based in Windsor Locks, CT.

At the same time, Milt Sender separately had developed a similar private label business model which he also presented to Haberman, following the Schwartz meeting with him.

As the story goes, Haberman said to Sender, “You know I just met a guy who was in here with the same idea. The two of you ought to get together.” In fact, Schwartz and Sender did meet.

On July 5, 1970, Peter Damon Schwartz and Milt Sender shook hands on a partnership that produced Daymon Associates, Inc. in New York City, and Vanguard Associates in Los Angeles.

That partnership formed the basis of one of the largest private brand companies in the world, with offices today in over 210 locations throughout the U.S. and 20 other countries around the globe.

Schwartz and Sender decided to use Peter’s middle name, Damon, for the company. Early on in their endeavors, they realized the need to add a “y” into the name to assist with pronunciation.

Some of the early customers were: Bohack (New York City), Purity Supreme (Boston), and FedMart (San Diego).

Daymon officers with Peter Schwartz before his death in 1994 include (seated, left to right) Ed Wright exec. vp, Peter Brennan vice chairman, Milt Sender chairman, Phyllis Pappas office mgr, Peter Schwartz co-founder, Angelo DiLullo vp; (standing, 2nd left) Dave Rogers senior vp, (4th left)John Ruocco vp, (6th left) Larry Salisbury vp, ( 8th left) Alex Miller pres., (10th left) Moe Krabbe vp. Others in photo can’t be identified.

In 1976 the partners formed C&M Marketing Company to do label package design procurement and inventory control for Daymon customers. Today that company has grown into Daymon Worldwide design, a full service design and creative services company dedicated to private label.

In 1987 Daymon International was started with its first customer, Commercial Mexicana in Mexico City. In 1988 Club Demonstration Services was formed which has become, with its offshoot Vanguard, one of the largest demonstration companies in the retail business in both the U.S. and Mexico.

In July 2003 Daymon Associates became Daymon Worldwide Inc.

Daymon currently has over 15,000 associates working throughout the world in our various business units. The company works in 21 countries and its expansion into new markets continues to grow. It works with 91 customers and more than 4,800 supplier partners throughout the world.
Peter Damon Schwartz

In 1994, following a courageous four-year battle with a very rare form of cancer, Peter Schwartz passed away shortly after the partners’ last collective business deal of securing a new headquarters for Daymon Associates in Stamford, CT, its current location.

Schwartz was one of the first students in the Agribusiness Graduate School program established at Harvard University in the early 1960s. Before enrolling in Harvard, Schwartz earned an undergraduate degree in history from Amherst College.

He drew upon his studies at Harvard and his work experience to develop his strategy on how to improve the role that private label food products played in the retail market.

Schwartz believed that the same effort and talent that went into the development, marketing and merchandising of the national brands could be put behind a supermarket’s own brand.

Thus Daymon was formed to work with supermarket chains and wholesalers while representing a full spectrum of private label supplier partners with a repertoire of professional merchandising and marketing services. The plan was to do all this on a national scale.

This may be a business concept that is clearly understood today, but in 1970 it was unknown within the industry.

At the time there were dozens of private label brokers in a market and each one of them represented supplier partners to every retailer in that market. Private label supplier partners were at a disadvantage because the brokers lacked the scale in which to offer them a full array of services comparable to national brands. On the other hand, brokers who were oriented towards the national brands treated private label poorly. Schwartz recognized that there was an opportunity to “professionalize” the private label business–to help the retailer reach its goals and objectives while at the same time fulfilling the needs of the supplier partner community.

Community Giving

Before his death, Schwartz helped to establish RIBAC–a cancer research and development group under the auspices of Dr. Kurt Isselbacher of the Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital.

“With funds contributed by Peter D. Schwartz, it was possible to recruit new and outstanding scientists to the Cancer Center of Massachusetts General Hospital who have made major discoveries to help patients with cancer,” says Brennan.

Peter’s widow Laurie, the associates of Daymon, and Milton Sender, continue to support RIBAC in his honor.

Says Brennan: “We have a motto in our company that says: ‘We like to do things that are noble, profitable and fun.’ This guiding principle resulted from the collaboration of Peter and Milt. Peter was an inspirational person. If he were here today, he would be very proud of what Daymon has become, but he would be more proud of what RIBAC has accomplished.”