I don’t think Mr. Gardiner has a full appreciation of their supply chain.
I can see pretty clearly how a couple data points “at least at one point” - were rounded into a “almost all/ probably” conclusion - and I don’t support that one bit. That’s kinda lazy and sounds like common conartistry.
The TJ’s dairy stuff in our local Northern California store is mostly locally produced; their conventional products come from Berkeley Farms and their organic from Clover. Not sure about the yogurt but then I’ve never checked that.
You can check exactly where your dairy products come from on this website by entering the code printed on the container: http://whereismymilkfrom.com/. A friend of mine (who is a dairy farmer, in fact) showed this to me and I’ve been mildly obsessed with it ever since.
From Wikipedia
In the United States, Dr Pepper Snapple Group does not have a complete network of bottlers and distributors, so the drink is sometimes bottled under contract by Coca-Cola or Pepsi bottlers. Prior to the initial Cadbury Schweppes investment-turned-buyout, 30% of Dr Pepper/Seven Up products were produced and distributed by Pepsi bottlers, and another 30% by Coca-Cola bottlers. The remaining 40% were produced and distributed by independent bottlers (mainly consisting of Dr Pepper/Seven Up premerger regional bottlers) and the Dr Pepper/Seven Up Bottling Group. Currently, the majority of Pepsi and Coke bottlers bottling Dr Pepper are owned by PepsiCo and The Coca-Cola Company after their buyouts of their major bottlers.
Presently, Dr Pepper Snapple relies on its own bottling group to bottle and distribute its products in more than 30 states. Coca-Cola and Pepsi have essentially stopped bottling and distributing CSAB products in favor of in-house alternatives, although regional exceptions can be found.[41]
In Canada and Poland, Cadbury-Schweppes has licensed distribution rights to PepsiCo. In Mexico, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Finland, Austria, Czech Republic, Belgium, and Norway, Cadbury-Schweppes owns the trademark and distributes the product. In Romania, it can be found only in larger cities, imported from Belgium. In Portugal, Spain, France, Turkey, and Greece, it is almost impossible to find, as it is usually imported from the United Kingdom in particular supermarkets. In almost all of the other countries of the world, the Coca-Cola Company purchased the trademark from Cadbury-Schweppes and distributes the product. This mixed worldwide ownership of the trademark is due to antitrust regulations which prevented Coca-Cola from purchasing the rights everywhere. Dr Pepper is also available in Russia, South Korea and Ukraine. Although no longer locally bottled in Australia or New Zealand, Dr Pepper is imported and sold by United States Foods, and many other small retailers in Australia, with the UK (sugar) version sold in the British sections of Coles and Woolworths supermarkets. Dr Pepper is not available in Thailand, Italy, North Korea and Serbia. It is rarely sold in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, as it is imported from the United States.
Dr Pepper has been sold in Japan since 1973 and is widely available in greater Tokyo, Okinawa and parts of the Tōkai region, where it is distributed by local Coca-Cola bottlers. It is not actively marketed in other regions of Japan; Coca-Cola’s Osaka bottler began selling Dr Pepper in 1983, but pulled the product two years later due to low sales.
This is my biggest concern. There’s a reason why outfits like Pioneer test GMO crops on the most remote place in the USA - Kauai.
There is also pesticide testing going on as well. The whole thing causes quite a bit of friction on the island because a lot of locals are concerned and a lot of locals are in favor of jobs provided.
Show me another grocery store with such a high proportion of gluten free stuff that you’re actually willing to eat twice.
Burned too many times. I just get it at the Safeway next-door during my weekend to grocery store errand trip
So the revelation is that the food is made by different companies? Didn’t we already know that?
However they’re doing it, they’re managing to make some (in my opinion) great products at great prices. The only shocking thing to me is that the companies making their products make such crap under their own label.
And this quote is obviously not true to anyone who has done much shopping at Trader Joes:
The truth is that almost all of this is stuff that you can probably get at another store within a few miles of that Trader Joe’s in a different package with a different name.”
Obligatory classic:
Yeah, German’s make crappy products /s
And Kirkland products are not made by Costco OMG!!!
Not gunna read the whole thread, but I would like to point out that the TJ beer is made by Unibroue, the makers of the best and most declicious beers in the world.
Click baiting title is click baiting.
I deem your claim dubious.
So, essentially, the “author” of the article found an exposé, written/created by another person, cut and paste the main points and put their own name on the byline. No heavy lifting here.
It’s a solid formula that works in many industries, including the grocery industry.
Well done, Rusty, well done.
Any moron knows who makes all their stuff. How is this news? Giovanni makes a shampoo and conditioner as well as Desert Essence making a face wash and tea tree oil. Amy’s makes a lot of their stuff. It’s obvious.
I had no idea they were related.
The phrase ‘estranged brother’ brings to mind the DeMoulas. Estranged cousins (Arthur T. and Arthur S.) had inherited a grocery chain. When one took over the board of directors and fired the other from being CEO, the whole company went on strike - and most interestingly of all, were joined by the customers.
Lots of family and courtroom intrigue, but the thing that stands out most was that the one cousin was so able to inspire loyalty not only in his employees but also his customers, that they would stand up to protest and say “This is ours, you can’t have it.”
A decent overview: https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2014/12/21/why-market-basket-employees-are-our-bostonians-year/o3P4vXbnDO70tjVpfzoEBI/story.html
And background:
We know of one dangerous one, that being monoculture. When one GMO crop is considered ‘superior’ to other breeds, and grown instead of them, a lot of biodiversity goes away. Suddenly everything hinges on that one breed’s survival. A disease, parasite, weather, etc. that other breeds might be resistant to could wipe out vastly more amounts of food source than if many different breeds were being grown.
But as long as the geneticists survive to engineer a new resistant breed, it would probably only be a few years of famine. So not a huge worry.
As an insider in the past, here they got their supplies from local dairy farms (been to one, got to pet a cow) and a local yogurt factory (worked with people in one), and they’re good. The suppliers did have some challenges keeping up with all the growth and expansion while simultaneously trying to optimize their distribution for environmental impact as well as the usual metrics. Changes throughout the entire process from cow to consumer. But overall they were doing good at keeping the quality high.
Could be different where you are, of course, or since then. But if you find that the quality’s consistently bad, it’s good to let 'em know (if possible, the manufacturer). They do track that and adjust plans based on quality complaints. If they see a pattern of complaints from a particular location, they send inspectors to the store and do things like before-and-after inspections of shipments to see if there’s a problem in the transport.
It’s not exactly estranged. The Albrecht brothers’ father started the chain (Aldi is short for Albrecht Discount) but business wise they had a falling out in the 60’s regarding whether or not the store should sell cigarettes. Aldi Nord and Aldi Sud are in a bit of a weird position where while they are two different companies, they coordinate and work with eachother fairly closely moreso than compete, if I recall.
Makes sense, their hummus was always disappointing
Aw, well, whatever keeps you from throwing up. Safeway it is! 
Unibroue does make amazing, excellent beer. Highly recommended on my part as well, did not know they made brews for Trader Joes. There’s one in town but not close to me but it’s good to have that info in case i’m in the area.
