Trader Joe’s is known for selling private-label goods, but those products are made somewhere. In an ongoing “Generic Foods Investigation” in the Faster Times Amy Westervelt offers a guide of some of Trader Joe’s products, who makes them, what the brand-name equivalent is, and how much is saved buying the private label over the brand name.
For instance, Westervelt reported Trader Joe’s European-Style Yogurt is manufactured by Straus Family Creamery. Straus sells the product as the branded product Straus Organic Yorgut, and shoppers who buy Trader Joe’s brand rather buying Straus Organic Yogurt save $.80. Trader Joe’s Frozen Spinach Pizza comes from Amy’s Kitchen, and Trader Joe’s Shells and Cheese is also known as Annie’s Shells and Cheese by Annie’s Homegrown.
Additionally, she noted all products in Trader Joe’s stores are pasteurized, which makes them off-limits for those following the raw food diet. Some of its products, like nuts and almond butters, are labeled raw, but Westervelt said these, too, are pasteurized.
Westervelt promises information on Wal-Mart’s and CostCo’s private label lines in future installments.
In a separate article, Westervelt gives a bit of Traders Joe’s history and, as many in the natural product industry will disagree, said Trader Joe’s is “a business that operates in the shadows.” She said Aldi, which she describes at the German equivalent of Wal-Mart, bought Trader Joe’s in the late 1970s. Because it keeps its inventory low, and private label product offerings high, she said Trader Joe’s is one of the most profitable grocery retailers in the country. She noted the friendly neighborhood store image also helps.
As far as operating in the shadows, she alleged, “Trader Joe’s wasn’t giving its customers the information they needed to make informed decisions,” regarding its seafood policy, until recently.
For its private label manufacturers, Westervelt said Trader Joe’s will first carry the branded product, then work a private label deal by declining to further carry the branded product. Westervelt used no named sources of this information, however.