Trader Joe's = lightning rod

This morning my wife got a petition in her email, on the subject of overuse of antibiotics in meat. Once again, the petition singled out Trader Joe's -- not because Trader Joe's meat has more antibiotics than anyone else's, but because the petition's organizers recognize that Trader Joe's is a strong brand with a devoted following that probably skews liberal.

Trader Joe's is more and more often finding itself awkwardly shuffling its feet and looking down while it explains that even though many of its fans blur the distinction between 'all-natural' and 'organic', if it doesn't expressly say 'organic' it isn't. I once had a customer tell me that one reason she loved Trader Joe's was that all the meat was "raised cruelty-free". I wanted to say, "Uh, you realize all these animals were killed, right?"

The way to deflect criticism would be for a little transparency from the head office in Monrovia. Dan Bane could hold a press conference and openly discuss the issue. If they asked me to write his statement, I'd write this...


We understand consumers' concerns with the overuse of antibiotics. Trader Joe's sells lots of organic meat which is raised without antibiotics. Because it costs more to raise organic meat and maintain an organic certification, that meat, of course, sells for a higher price. The meat we sell that is not labeled 'organic' comes from the best sources we can find, at prices we think many of our customers demand. 
       We're often pressured by vocal advocacy groups. As a company however, we tend to listen to our customers. Our customers do get to tell us whether they want antibiotic-free meat, and they do so by choosing organic products. If more and more of them decide to buy organic, rest assured that a larger and larger percentage of our selection will be organic.

That approach, along with informative in-store signage and clear labeling, would make Trader Joe's a hero and source of public education on the issue. It would influence other stores and could shape large-scale farming practices. Everyone in the U.S. would be healthier if they ate less meat, of higher quality, and Trader Joe's could lead that charge. Sadly, the company's culture of secrecy virtually guarantees that won't happen.

Trader Joe's tops one customer survey, flops another

A survey of over 6,000 people by Market Force recently concluded that Trader Joe's has the most-satisfied customers, and the ones most likely to recommend the store to others.

Quel surprise, eh? Or not.

What I find interesting about the Market Force survey is that it supports the thesis of my book, "Build a Brand Like Trader Joe's".

You can see that when customers are asked to rank the 'empirical' factors like price and selection, Trader Joe's rarely figures. Obviously, its fans like the selection of unique items, so it does well in selection, but that's it.

By contrast, when it comes to the touchy-feely criteria, Trader Joe's rocks it...

...though one has to wonder about that "Fast Check-out" ranking! They must have limited their survey to shoppers who buy groceries before noon on Mondays and Tuesdays. But seriously, folks; as I note in my book, a cheerful checkout clerk undoes the frustration of those long checkout lines. That's what this survey reflects.

My premise, that the staff is what really creates the Trader Joe's brand experience, is supported by some of the many comments that have cropped up online, in the wake of this story breaking.

And, as I note in "Build a Brand Like Trader Joe's", the way you get that superior staff interaction is by paying a little more. Increasingly, customers are aware of the implications of shopping in stores that refuse to pay a living wage...

Meanwhile, in other survey news...

It seems as if Consumers Union, the activist arm of the respected magazine Consumer Reports, timed the release of information about its own Trader Joe's survey to coincide with news about its #1 status among grocery customers generally.

Consumers Union has been working hard for the last year or two to make Trader Joe's the poster child for its campaign to reduce antibiotic use in the livestock industry. It surveyed over 1,000 Trader Joe's customers and learned that...

• 87 percent of Trader Joe's shoppers agreed that supermarkets and meat suppliers should work together to avoid giving food animals antibiotics unless they are sick, compared to 79 percent of other store shoppers
• Only 23 percent of Trader Joe's meat shoppers were aware that the store sells meat raised on antibiotics but 72 percent were concerned about this policy

I address the disjunction between what Trader Joe's does, and what its customers think it does in my book.

For more information on the antibiotics in TJ's meat issue, click here.

Talking the talk, walking the walk. TJ's called out on antibiotics in meat

Trader Joe's incredibly strong brand makes it a target for activists who believe that its customers are likely to share their political and environmental views. The question is, what are CEO Dan Bane's views?

Meat Without Drugs, a coalition supported by the Consumers Union, The Center for Science in the Public Interest and the Environmental Working Group is calling on Trader Joe's to become a leader in the fight against the insane overuse of antibiotics in the livestock industry. 


The coalition is asking Trader Joe's to sell meat raised with the minimal use of drugs. The standard they're calling for is not some idealistic, ultra-organic farming practice that's totally impractical. It's merely to limit the use of antibiotics to demonstrably sick animals, instead of preventively treating entire herds. The current practices have profound and short-sighted implications on human health.





Readers of Build a Brand Like Trader Joe's know that Trader Joe's is quick to point out that its products are nominally free of GMOs, preservatives, and artificial colorants. But, in spite of its open, friendly, 'organic/healthy' vibe, the chain has typically been a follower, not a leader, on issues like farm-workers' rights or sustainable fisheries.


I'll be pleasantly surprised if this campaign gets a quick, positive response from the faceless head office in Monrovia. [The TJ's head office is in Monrovia, California, not Monrovia, Liberia -- MG]

Trader Joe's subject of misguided YouTube campaign

Consumers Union, the non-profit owners of the respected Consumer Reports brand, has ramped up its efforts to make Trader Joe's a flagship retailer, and break the addiction to large-scale 'preventive' use of antibiotics on U.S. industrial scale farms. 

 Working under the NotInMyFood.org umbrella, activists staged a media event last week at Trader Joe's first NYC store. That event is now the subject of this YouTube video:

   

The video's well-done, for what it's worth. But elsewhere on the NotInMyFood.org site, the Consumers Union folks mistakenly characterize Trader Joe's when they write, "We are calling on Trader Joe’s, a leader in environmentally conscious food sourcing, to help end a meat production practice that is a serious danger to public health."

I mean this in the nicest way, because anyone who's read "Build a Brand Like Trader Joe's" knows that, overall, I admire the company. But Trader Joe's has definitely not been a leader in environmentally conscious food sourcing.

In fact, Trader Joe's is not a vertically integrated company. All of the products sold under the Trader Joe's brand are outsourced. And since many of Trader Joe's suppliers are in the food preparation business, not the food-growing business, even those suppliers have no easy way of knowing whether or not livestock operators are abusing antibiotics.

Trader Joe's also has a famously lean head-office staff. Buyers simply don't have the time or manpower to police two layers deep into the supply chain. The company could insist that suppliers assure it that they, in turn, are sourcing meats that aren't loaded with antibiotics. But even that measure would be meaningless unless it was policed. And I can guarantee you that it will be a long, long time before Trader Joe's spends a cent on lab testing.

As I've noted in the past, Trader Joe's incredibly strong cultural brand makes it a lightning rod for this kind of protest. It's unlikely to work, and I doubt that it's causing its famously insular CEO Dan Bane any lost sleep.