Shopping
ICYMI: How Do Trader Joe's Products Get Their Names
In this episode of Inside Trader Joe's, hosts Tara Miller and Matt Sloan explore the intriguing process behind how Trader Joe's names its products. From straightforward descriptions to whims...
ICYMI: How Do Trader Joe's Products Get Their Names
Shopping •
0:00 / 0:00
Interactive Transcript
spk_0
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
spk_0
Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2.
spk_0
You look that up.
spk_0
Maybe.
spk_0
But would a Trader Joe's product by any other name taste as sweet?
spk_0
Ah, yes.
spk_0
To be or not to be a topic for a podcast episode, that is the question.
spk_0
Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1, and yes, let's make this an ICYMI
spk_0
in case you missed it, episode of Inside Trader Joe's.
spk_0
ICYMI, how does Trader Joe's name its products?
spk_0
And do product names matter?
spk_0
Very carefully and yes.
spk_0
Some things at Trader Joe's have names that just sound like what they are.
spk_0
So very descriptive.
spk_0
Very descriptive.
spk_0
Things like cauliflower and yokey.
spk_0
That tells you it's a little pillow pasta type thing, but it's made with cauliflower.
spk_0
Very straightforward.
spk_0
Sometimes we go a little fanciful, we go a little whimsical.
spk_0
Like, hold the cone ice cream cones.
spk_0
It tells you what it is, but it also it's like hold the cone.
spk_0
Why is it called that?
spk_0
We take the whole process of naming our products pretty seriously,
spk_0
and oftentimes going really straightforward makes the most sense.
spk_0
Mandarin Orange Chicken, for example.
spk_0
You know what's in that bag.
spk_0
We did that with something else.
spk_0
It's a bag of soft chewy candy that we call just the lobsters,
spk_0
and it's literally just that.
spk_0
It's the lobster shaped candies from the Scandinavian Swimmers bag.
spk_0
They're the red ones, and that's the one that everyone seems to like the most.
spk_0
So we have occasionally a bag of just the lobsters available.
spk_0
It's like the center cut of the tenderloin in Scandinavian Swimmers terms,
spk_0
just the lobsters.
spk_0
Everyone knew what they were getting, right?
spk_0
They saw the bag, they see the shape.
spk_0
Oh, that's from the Scandinavian Swimmers bag.
spk_0
I love those lobsters.
spk_0
When we decide to do something a little bit different,
spk_0
what's the why behind that?
spk_0
I guess essentially we believe that grocery shopping can be fun
spk_0
that it does not have to be a chore.
spk_0
And when you bring the things that you buy from your Trader Joe's home,
spk_0
we'd love to extend that experience to your cupboard, to your freezer.
spk_0
So maybe you open the pantry and you see that this strawberry walks into a bar.
spk_0
That's on purpose.
spk_0
Right. So that's a couple decades ago.
spk_0
Yeah, it's been a while now.
spk_0
Yeah, I think that we've sold that product,
spk_0
which is ostensibly a strawberry filled cereal bar.
spk_0
Yep.
spk_0
We've sold that product for a really long time.
spk_0
There's nothing super exciting about it.
spk_0
There's nothing truly innovative about it.
spk_0
It's just really good and we sell it at a great price.
spk_0
So I think the thinking internally was,
spk_0
let's make it sound like fun because it is fun.
spk_0
And it's different than saying, I want a strawberry cereal bar.
spk_0
It's like, I want the strawberry walks into a bar.
spk_0
And that led to a whole line of those products.
spk_0
So there's this apple walks into a bar.
spk_0
There's this pumpkin walks into a bar in the fall.
spk_0
A whole bunch of different options.
spk_0
Absolutely.
spk_0
And so we took the opportunity to set up a cereal bar
spk_0
with the opening of a joke.
spk_0
And then we spin off that these peanuts go on a date in a bar
spk_0
or these sprinkles walk into a cookie
spk_0
or even riffing on our own joke.
spk_0
I mean, hopefully someone somewhere gets this.
spk_0
It's fun.
spk_0
It makes your grocery shopping a little more fun.
spk_0
You're walking down an aisle and you're in front of a refrigerated case
spk_0
and you see a package of something called Avocado's number guacamole.
spk_0
Like, what the heck is that about?
spk_0
And then you read the package and you realize that we named it that
spk_0
because it has so many avocados in every product
spk_0
and Avogadro's number is this ginormous never-ending number.
spk_0
So we thought, what a fun opportunity
spk_0
and we couldn't resist that little bit of a pun, a play on words.
spk_0
And sometimes the plays on words.
spk_0
Well, they're just getting at the reason for being
spk_0
take a long-standing type of chocolate bar pound plus.
spk_0
Trader Joe's pound plus bars have been around four decades.
spk_0
Why are they called pound plus?
spk_0
Well, they're from Europe and the measurement system is metric
spk_0
and it's a standard, not normal retail-sized chocolate bar.
spk_0
It's 500 grams.
spk_0
But 500 grams in the standard American way of measuring
spk_0
comes out to 17.6 ounces.
spk_0
So it's a little more than a pound.
spk_0
Do you get a pound plus 1.6 ounces of chocolate?
spk_0
I will take that pound plus bar any day.
spk_0
I think some of the other sort of more fun
spk_0
and yet descriptive product names.
spk_0
I was thinking about this Midnight Moo,
spk_0
which is Trader Joe's version of Chocolate Serup.
spk_0
Perhaps its most common use is to make chocolate milk, right?
spk_0
So it's like a dark milk.
spk_0
Midnight Moo, you're getting the milk from a cow.
spk_0
There's a whimsical cow on the label of the product.
spk_0
Everybody in my house just calls Chocolate Serup Midnight Moo.
spk_0
So sometimes we are almost inventing a name
spk_0
for a category of things or just having a bit of fun
spk_0
with something that might be new to us,
spk_0
but we didn't necessarily invent.
spk_0
So whether it's unexpected chatter
spk_0
or synergistically seasoned popcorn,
spk_0
that's just us having a little bit of fun.
spk_0
Sometimes the fun can come from just being very plain.
spk_0
Just mango slices?
spk_0
Are just mango slices?
spk_0
These are dried mangoes unsulfured, unsweetened,
spk_0
and that name is exactly descriptive of what they are.
spk_0
Sometimes descriptive names or descriptors,
spk_0
as they're known in the industry,
spk_0
can go on and on like chili and lime,
spk_0
flavored, rolled corn tortilla chips.
spk_0
The way it's said, what was in the bag
spk_0
and it seemed to work okay.
spk_0
Another sort of whimsical name,
spk_0
but also very descriptive name that happened here,
spk_0
I don't know, probably close to 10 years ago now,
spk_0
was everything but the bagel seasoning.
spk_0
It's ubiquitous now.
spk_0
And that's a twist on a classic,
spk_0
not-trader-jose-invented idea of the everything bagel.
spk_0
It's just all the seasoning bits except for the bagel.
spk_0
But we took that idea and we kept going with it.
spk_0
So over time we've had the everything
spk_0
but the ilote seasoning,
spk_0
which is kind of like all the flavors
spk_0
that are on a classic ilote or esquitas corn.
spk_0
In the fall season,
spk_0
we have everything but the leftovers seasoning,
spk_0
which is like a riff on Thanksgiving dinner in a jar.
spk_0
It's fantastic.
spk_0
Or easy to use, ready to drink cocktails
spk_0
where you have everything but the bartender.
spk_0
Yes, and those are really, really good.
spk_0
And those are available where we sell spirits, obviously.
spk_0
We have a margarita, we have a cosmopolitan,
spk_0
we have a couple of additional ones coming
spk_0
at some point in the future.
spk_0
So that's something that is continuing to happen.
spk_0
That really is meant to be descriptive.
spk_0
You don't need the bartender here.
spk_0
We've done all that work for you.
spk_0
So you have everything you need.
spk_0
Love that.
spk_0
All right, Matt, we've talked about a lot of product names.
spk_0
Here's the question though.
spk_0
How do we come to these names?
spk_0
How does that happen?
spk_0
Well, someone working on a project,
spk_0
developing a product,
spk_0
could actually have a very crystal clear name in mind
spk_0
and they work to deliver a product that meets that name.
spk_0
Or sometimes, often times,
spk_0
there are conversations along the way in development
spk_0
through and at the tasting panel
spk_0
where we almost workshop among star cells
spk_0
and idea to say like,
spk_0
man, those are giant olives.
spk_0
Those might be the world's largest queen,
spk_0
seviano olives.
spk_0
And then it sticks from days long past.
spk_0
And that might lead us to the world's puffiest white cheddar corn puffs.
spk_0
To be fair, Guinness hasn't checked in with us on this
spk_0
but we think they're great and we think they live up to that moniker.
spk_0
But it's really just us coming up with ideas
spk_0
to make something noticeable
spk_0
and hopefully to peak someone's curiosity
spk_0
to get them to try something
spk_0
and to have a bit of fun themselves.
spk_0
So you just talked about the world's largest
spk_0
and I'm going to go to the other end of the spectrum
spk_0
and talk about teeny tiny avocados.
spk_0
Shrinking things is fun.
spk_0
We found an opportunity years ago
spk_0
to bring in these little tiny avocados
spk_0
that were like single-served size, no waste,
spk_0
no concern about your avocado leftovers going bad
spk_0
before you had a chance to eat them.
spk_0
The teeny tiny avocados have been hugely popular with our customers.
spk_0
So when our product developers came up with these little pies
spk_0
that were kind of like hand pies
spk_0
but not quite as big as a turnover,
spk_0
well, teeny tiny pies seem to just make perfect sense.
spk_0
That idea that works well for us,
spk_0
theme and variation
spk_0
where we have an idea and we see where else it's applicable.
spk_0
How else it fits?
spk_0
And this variation on a name,
spk_0
a theme that you see repeating in a few places around the store.
spk_0
We like to do that. It's fun for us.
spk_0
We do like to do that.
spk_0
And sometimes there are actually regulatory requirements here
spk_0
where we have to use the standard of identity.
spk_0
But rather than saying,
spk_0
here's this thing that's kind of like sushi
spk_0
but not exactly, you can eat it warm.
spk_0
We just use the Korean word Kimbap.
spk_0
Now admittedly, there are different ways to pronounce that.
spk_0
So we had to do some research and understand
spk_0
what the most generally accepted,
spk_0
phonetic form as spelled with our alphabet might be,
spk_0
Kimbap or speculose, speculose cookie butter
spk_0
or a spatchcock chicken.
spk_0
Those are real words.
spk_0
We didn't make them up.
spk_0
They might be new to you.
spk_0
They were new to me at some point too.
spk_0
And it's great to keep learning.
spk_0
It's great to keep learning.
spk_0
It's great to enjoy yourself when you're shopping for groceries.
spk_0
The entire ethos of Trader Joe's is,
spk_0
we'd like you to enjoy yourself while you're shopping for groceries.
spk_0
We'd like you to enjoy yourself while you're eating
spk_0
what you've shopped for at Trader Joe's at home.
spk_0
Absolutely.
spk_0
Among the joys of being here is taking part in great food.
spk_0
And if putting a fun name or even a really strangely long descriptive name
spk_0
of a product on the package helps you find a little bit of fun
spk_0
in your grocery shopping experience, we're all for that.
spk_0
I'm Tara Miller.
spk_0
Thanks for listening.
spk_0
And I'm Matt Sloan.
spk_0
And thanks for listening.
spk_0
I see why I am.
spk_0
I, in case you missed it.
spk_0
That's how Trader Joe's comes up with product names.
Topics Covered
Trader Joe's product names
naming products
grocery shopping fun
descriptive product names
whimsical food names
everything but the bagel seasoning
Mandarin Orange Chicken
Avocado's number guacamole
Midnight Moo chocolate syrup
strawberry walks into a bar
teeny tiny avocados
product naming process
grocery store experience
creative food branding
fun grocery shopping