And the top products at Trader Joe's are ...
Monrovia, Calif.-based Trader Joe’s celebrated its 50th anniversary this past weekend by identifying its top 50 private brands (plus a few more) based on suggestions from customers and staff. Trader Joe’s opened its first store in Pasadena, Calif., on Aug. 25, 1967.
Can we get a drum roll? The top 50 products (plus a few more) in no particular order are:
- Pockets o'Pita
- Brewed Ginger Beer
- Cold Pressed Matcha Green Tea Lemonade
- Organic French Roast Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate
- Organic Tea & Lemonade
- Red Refresh Herbal Tea
- Unsweetened Golden Oolong Tea
- Sliced Fresh Mozzarella
- Unexpected Cheddar
- Chicken Tikka Masala
- Gluten Free Cheese Pizza
- Hold the Cone!
- Mandarin Orange Chicken
- Mango & Sticky Rice Spring Rolls
- Premium Wild Salmon Burgers
- Sublime Ice Cream Sandwiches
- Corn & Chile Salsa
- Green Dragon Hot Sauce
- Organic Midnight Moo
- Organic Purple Maize Flakes
- Organic Sriracha & Roasted Garlic BBQ Sauce
- Organic Toaster Pastries
- Premium Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Seasoning Salt
- 13 Roses
- Orchids
- Kohlrabi Salad Blend
- Organic Broccoli Slaw
- Plumcots
- All Natural Boneless, Skinless, Chicken Thighs
- Bruschetta Sauce
- Carne Asade Autentica
- Mediterranean Hummus
- Mozzarella & Tomato Salad
- Spatchcocked Chicken
- Whole Milk Mango Kefir
- Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
- Dress Circle Crispy Crunchy Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Everything Pretzel Slims
- Five Seed Almond Bars
- Gochujang Almonds
- Just Mango Slices
- Sweet & Salty Kettle Corn
- Organic Corn Chips
- Peanut Butter Pretzels
- Restaurant Style Tortilla Chips
- Sea Salt & Sugar Dark Chocolate Almonds
- Triple Ginger Snaps
- Facial Cleansing Oil
- Super Green Drink Powder Chocolate Flavor
- Drive Thru Red Dry Hopped Red Ale
- Secco Mango Mangocini
- TJ's Grand Reserve Chardonnay Santa Lucia
- TJ's Highland Single Malt Scotch Bourbon
- TJ's Petit Reserve Meritage Paso Robles 2014
- Wish Flower White Wine
Trader Joe's also celebrated 50 years with an array of in-store festivities such as special giveaways, product tastings and 50-cent deals.
What’s more, the company announced the winners of its commemorative social media competition. Customers were asked to post on Instagram a photo that visually answers the question: How do Trader Joe’s products fit into my life today? The posted images required the hashtag #50yearsofTJsContest and a clever caption to be considered.
“Your photo will become part of a virtual TJ’s time-capsule, if you will — one that will live [on], preserved and immortalized, for generations to come on that pictorial platform known as Instagram,” Trader Joe’s stated.
The approximately 1,000 images entered in the competition were evaluated on overall creativity (50 percent), photo quality (30 percent) and caption cleverness (20 percent). After determining the five finalists, Trader Joe’s publicly posted those images to see which would garner the most “likes.”
Ultimately, the retailer decided to award $500 in Trader Joe’s gift cards to each of the five finalists (shown here) rather than name one top winner.