Trader Joe's or Traitor Joe's?

[T_R_Oglodyte]

We Need to Talk About Trader Joe’s

Behind the bubbly cashiers in Hawaiian shirts, craveable snacks, and bargain-basement prices are questionable business practices that have many food brands crying foul at the company’s blatant and aggressive copycat culture.

tastecooking.com

This should be a fun thread!

 

[buzglyd]

Have you made it to San Marcos yet?

 

[easyrider]

Here is my gripe about Trader Joe's.

We don't have a Trader Joe's near us so when we do go to Trader Joe's we kind of stock up. I like the frozen tempura vegetable patties called Bird Nest. They are really tasty air fried. Anyway, I stocked up, maybe $100 worth of this product for the freezer. Couldn't wait to eat them. As soon as I had put these away I cooked a batch. It was kind of greasy. So I threw it out and grabbed another and cooked it up. Greasy again. I gave most of these away.

We also bought some of the seasonal squash sauce. Yuk. I left these on the counter and when anyone asked I said take a few and try it out. The regular spaghetti sauce was fine.

Bill

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Have you made it to San Marcos yet?

not yet. We take possession later this month.

 

[buzglyd]

not yet. We take possession later this month.

My wife is a regular at Trader Joe’s in Bressi Ranch.

 

[clifffaith]

I started the linked article while waiting for Cliff to come out of Trader Joe’s with his bottle of TJ brand scotch. I think they’d do very well with private label small brand items. All the TJ’s I’ve ever been in are in up scale neighborhoods. I don’t shop at TJ for price — I shop for different items that grocery chains don’t carry.

 

[dioxide45]

So the company doesn't really have any creativity at all and can't come up with their own recipes for the products they sell. They just steal it? Classy...

 

[pedro47]

We liked Trader Joe's products and their employees wearing Hawaiian shirts. . Their employees are very friendly. IMHO.

I just wish they would come to North Suffolk, Virginia.

 

[pedro47]

So the company doesn't really have any creativity at all and can't come up with their own recipes for the products they sell. They just steal it? Classy...

So the company doesn't really have any creativity at all and can't come up with their own recipes for the products they sell. They just steal it? Classy...

Do you really feel Trader Joe's is the only company that takes a small ideal from a small company and turned that item nto a huge marketing success item. LOL

That why there are Patients and Copyright Laws to protect people and small industries. IMHO.

 

[dioxide45]

Do you really feel Trader Joe's is the only company that takes a small ideal from a small company and turned that item nto a huge marketing success item. LOL

That why there are Patients and Copyright Laws to protect people and small industries. IMHO.

They probably aren't, but it seems to be a big problem with Trader Joe's. Unfortunately for companies in this space, you can't patent, trademark or copyright a recipe. Well, you can copyright a written recipe, but that only prevents others from printing it. Disney was sued a number of years ago due to patent infringement of ride technology on Rise of the Resistance. Both parties settled with neither really winning the case. The problem is the small businesses usually don't have unlimited cash to fight these things and the larger company wins because the small companies can't afford it and either don't bother to sue or give up.

Just because other companies do it doesn't make it okay for Trade Joe's to do it too. For Trader Joe's, a company that everyone holds some kind of halo over, you would think they do better. They just have the wool pulled over everyone's eyes.

 

[jp10558]

What galls me about this article / practice is it'd be one thing if somebody saw a recipe or food product doing well and then tried to make their own version and their own somewhat distinctive labeling. It's another when it's the company basically tricking another person to give them their recipe for free in the hopes they'll buy some from them eventually. And to then copy the "trade dress" I think it's called to try and fool people like "Tri Star" notebooks in dollar stores ...

It just seems so wrong to me.

At this point, I'd either charge Trader Joes some IP cost to explain the recipe and figure I'm just selling them the IP one time, or say no.

 

[WaikikiFirst]

company basically tricking another person to give them their recipe for free in the hopes they'll buy some from them

thanks much. I didn't want to read the whole article. I assume that is a great summary

 

[easyrider]

thanks much. I didn't want to read the whole article. I assume that is a great summary

I made it through a couple of paragraphs top and bottom. The last comment says it all.

For us, Trader Joes is more of a novelty type store since we don't have one nearby. On one timeshare trip we stopped in to TJ to buy some wine. The girls grabbed a few bottles. One of the bottle was a cheap $3 zin that everyone liked. We bought a couple cases to take home.

Bill

“The only way it’s going to change is if consumers do something about it,” she says. “But if they keep wanting the same cheap knockoff products, then Trader Joe’s is going to keep peddling them out.”

 

[WorldT]

It seems they didn't just copy the recipe, the copied the name/spelling which is not a word. Maybe they have a case?

 

[jp10558]

“The only way it’s going to change is if consumers do something about it,” she says. “But if they keep wanting the same cheap knockoff products, then Trader Joe’s is going to keep peddling them out.”

And I don't actually have a problem with cheap knockoff products as long as I'm not mislead into thinking they're the real thing (which I probably wouldn't be in Trader Joes, but I understand the designs have sometimes gotten dangerously close), but I do have an issue with someone making a knockoff tricking the original to giving them the recipe. This of course has always been the risk of outsourcing anything...

 

[easyrider]

And I don't actually have a problem with cheap knockoff products as long as I'm not mislead into thinking they're the real thing (which I probably wouldn't be in Trader Joes, but I understand the designs have sometimes gotten dangerously close), but I do have an issue with someone making a knockoff tricking the original to giving them the recipe. This of course has always been the risk of outsourcing anything...

There are definitely risks with outsourcing. Many inventions and products are outsourced for manufacturing to other countries only to be copied. I'm not sure I care though. I probably should care but I'm on the fence.

Bill

 

[BJRSanDiego]

It seems they didn't just copy the recipe, the copied the name/spelling which is not a word. Maybe they have a case?

If the original company had Trademarked the spelling with an extra "a" then I think that TJ's would have been on thin ice.

In Napa, there is a Stag's Leap Winery, a Stags' Leap Winery and a Stags Leap AVA. The first two are Trademarks and they fought for years in court over who owns the Trademark.

 

[davidvel]

Breaking news, breaking news, Trader Joes makes knock-off versions of popular products, often as good as or better than the original for less. The comment about TJ ripping people off that pitch products is just that a comment. TJ doesn't need the exact formula to make a similar. Their experts can buy the product, look at the ingredients, mix and match, taste, try again, until they get close or dare say better.

In other "breaking" news, COSTCO sells many items in bulk, at significant discounts over grocery stores and 7-11.

 

[dioxide45]

Breaking news, breaking news, Trader Joes makes knock-off versions of popular products, often as good as or better than the original for less. The comment about TJ ripping people off that pitch products is just that a comment. TJ doesn't need the exact formula to make a similar. Their experts can buy the product, look at the ingredients, mix and match, taste, try again, until they get close or dare say better.

In other "breaking" news, COSTCO sells many items in bulk, at significant discounts over grocery stores and 7-11.

If TJs can just buy the product, then why don’t they? Why have the maker come under the guise of wanting to private label their product. TJs is just scummy. Kinda like timeshare sales.

 

[davidvel]

If TJs can just buy the product, then why don’t they? Why have the maker come under the guise of wanting to private label their product. TJs is just scummy. Kinda like timeshare sales.

It's what one person claims, not millions. Every grocery store has private labels, TJs just does it better. They sell lots of non TJ brands.

 

[davidvel]

My wife is a regular at Trader Joe’s in Bressi Ranch.

Whose around here isn't?

 

[dioxide45]

It's what one person claims, not millions. Every grocery store has private labels, TJs just does it better. They sell lots of non TJ brands.

So Trader Joe’s didn’t solicit this company. They are lying in the article?

 

[davidvel]

So Trader Joe’s didn’t solicit this company. They are lying in the article?

C'mon dioxide, you're better than that. The article claims that it is "an open secret" (huh?) "that Trader Joe’s outsources inspiration for new products by targeting emerging brands under the guise of recruiting them to manufacture private-label items."

"According to these sources, Trader Joe’s commonly solicits product samples . . . before inexplicably abandoning the negotiations and releasing its own private-label versions of similar products at lower prices." Of course this is from an anonymous source, and hearsay claims by another, and a company that wants to keep themselves secret "to avoid unwanted media attention." Why do they need to "solicit samples" when TJ can just go buy the product itself?

To your question, which doesn't seem relevant to the accusations, I don't know who TJ solicits, but I am sure they solicit many companies. In fact they state in the article that they solicit companies for private label deals. Obviously, if they do or not, or if a deal isn't made, they are free to then create their own copycat. I haven't seen any evidence that any company claims that a TJ product has the identical chemical fingerprint of their product's formulation that was provided to TJ. It is just a bunch of speculation. TJ's experts can probably duplicate any product out there, within months. There are ways to chemically reverse engineer what is in a compound. No conspiracy theory required.

But you knew all that.

 

[dioxide45]

Why do they need to "solicit samples" when TJ can just go buy the product itself?

You still haven't really answered this question. Why solicit a company, have them come in and pitch, then abandon the effort and roll something out very similar later? I just think it is shitty to have them come in at all if they can reverse engineer on their own anyway.

The article also seems to mention two specific "baby brands" and names their representative at each that were spoken to. How are these anonymous sources and hearsay? In one instance, they basically admitted to knocking off labeling by agreeing to make changes to their labels to avoid confusion with the smaller brand. Though that was the anonymous source you speak of, which per your guidelines simply can't be believed.

While I wish it were less, I am glad I have only stepped into their stores perhaps five times in my life. I probably won't go back. We can certainly agree to disagree.

 

[dioxide45]

The article also suggest it is an "open secret in the consumer packaged goods industry". That doesn't mean you, I or anyone else would know about it. I am at least not in the consumer packaged goods industry.