Trader Joe's: The Masked Grocery Giant

For a company that's reached near cult status in the eyes of many conscious foodie consumers, we know surprisingly little about both the products sold in Trader Joe's stores and the general operating practices of the niche grocery darling.

As our own Sarah Parsons reported back in June, Trader Joe's repeatedly ignores calls from consumer groups to disclose where its organic products come from. And it's not just organic products that hide their true sustainability behind the Trader Joe's private label. In a recent, unprecdented look into the corporate practices of Trader Joe's, Fortune notes that some products like Trader Joe's tortilla chips are actually manufactured by companies like Frito-Lay, the PepsiCo subsidiary that has been farm-washing its way across the country with its mobile greenhouse.

But that's not all. Did you all know that Trader Joe's is not even an American-owned company? Oh yes, it's true.

While the Monrovia, C.A.-based company remained in the hands of its founder Joe Coulombe until 1979, since that time, it belongs to German grocery tycoon Theo Albrecht, the same man behind the Aldi chain of grocery stores here in America and the Aldi Nord empire in Germany.

It's easy to see why Trader Joe's success has ballooned despite the company's refusal to give any details about its products or its operations. Since consumers (for the most part) have no idea who owns the company or where its products come from, all they judge the company on is the friendly staff, wide selection of relatively low-cost organic and natural foods, and the neighborhood feeling Trader Joe's works hard to craft in each of its stores.

This model of convenience shopping has its roots in the very beginning of large-scale food retailing. Where previously consumers had to rely on a patchwork of outlets to procure food, the emergence of regional, chain grocery stores in the 1920s gave consumers the coveted ability to shop for everything in one place.

But most importantly for advertisers, the advent of grocery stores made consumers captive audiences for the sales pitches and slogans of thousands of different products and companies. This is what Trader Joe's has excelled at as a business. By using so many private label offerings in its stores, the company has intertwined the branding of both the stores themselves and the goods it offers. Therefore, when shoppers have a positive experience at the store, they associate this experience with the products and vice-versa. Almost no other company (except maybe Apple) has been able to accomplish this feat.

I’m all for giving credit where credit is due, and Trader Joe’s certainly deserves some props for making healthy, organic and (sometimes) local food accessible to shoppers on a budget. But in order to walk-the-walk of its sustainable mantra, the company must do a better job of allowing consumers know exactly where its private label items really come from. Sign our petition asking Trader Joe's to disclose where it sources its organic products.

Photo credit: post406