Trader Joe’s is beloved by its shoppers for having good prices and a constant flow of surprising new treats. A new type of dark chocolate bar? A new tea flavor? A new dipping sauce? Sure, I’ll try it!
A new investigation from food publication Taste says that some small food brands believe that Trader Joe’s has ripped them off — copied their product and cut them out of a potential deal.
Unlike a regular grocery store, Trader Joe’s carries mostly only its own private-label brand — it sells a big yellow cereal box of “Joe-O’s” instead of Cheerios, for example.
For some packaged items, the Trader Joe’s version is made by a well-known name brand under a private labeling deal. Trader Joe’s doesn’t make those deals public, but it can be easy to guess what a product is a “dupe” of. Eater analyzed FDA recalls to uncover which name brand made a white-labeled Trader Joe’s version. As of Eater’s analysis in 2017: Stacy’s pita chips also made the Trader Joe’s pita chips, Naked made their green juice, Tribe made the classic hummus, and so on.
According to the Taste report, in certain cases, Trader Joe’s has shown interest in a small brand, asked for samples and more information under the premise of doing a deal with the brand — and then turned around and made a highly similar product on its own.
Read full story at Business Insider.
