How does a brewery get its beer in Trader Joe?

I believe all Buying for the West is done from their California HQ, though there may be a Buyer down there who specializes in beer and wine for just OR or OR/WA. From my experience in Buying (not at TJ's), it's a mix of the Buyer going out and finding new vendors and vendors approaching the Buyer. TJ's may also work with a broker who is involved in seeking new businesses/products for TJ's and helps vendors get in front of TJ's Buyers.

In theory, a brewery with enough product to distribute should be able to contact TJ's and set up a meeting to present its lineup to the Buyer. As with most things, in practice there's usually more to it than that.

 

Might they work with a local distributor? My TJs carries Bale Breaker, a couple things from Hales, and some other random stuff, and they all are brands carried by one house up here.

 

Those magnums also appeared on TJ's shelves around Southern California about 20 years ago. I certainly did my part to help them fly off said shelves.

TJ's got all kinds of unexpected things as one-offs back in those days. English beers, including the exceptional Usher's 1824 Particular strong ale, would show up for a month or two and never reappear. So would beers from the east coast or midwest which had unreliable distribution in the area, like Dogfish Head. One Christmas season we got mixed 12-packs of Goose Island beers.

 

I've always been interested to hear about how they get breweries to make beers for them. Unibroue does their holiday Ale ever year, Firestone Walker used to make their shelf six packs, Hales has done stuff in the past and more recently Bruery and Modern Times have made exclusive beers for them.

 

I worked for a couple local companies that made TJs branded stuff, and it's just basically a contract. You might approach TJs with your product (in my case kitty litter and organic cereal) and they'll be interested, but want their name on it, so you package it that way. Or, they see your product, and approach you about making it for them. I'd suspect it's likely not different for beer.

 

Some (not all) Kirkland Signature products are like that. In my experience, the people who set up those arrangements are long past caring if the partner company is "cool." I wouldn't be surprised if TJ's private label dept. saw Firestone Walker as "a brewery with available capacity for a reasonable cost." I'd guess the one-offs and probably the Unibroue holiday beer are special projects the Buyer works on.

 

Modern Times made a (really quite good) NE style IPA that's exclusively sold at Trader Joe's and the brewery. There's gotta be some cool factor involved on that deal.

 

Should have clarified my last sentence re: one-offs as Buyer projects meant that there was probably some enthusiasm for MT or other breweries involved on TJ's part. For all I know, one or more of the TJ's execs are beer nerds and steer projects toward cooler-than-average breweries, or it's something entirely different than any of my theories, but playing the averages and having a glimpse into private label business at a different company, my money's on the person who arranged the Mission St. contract brews choosing FW for strictly business reasons.

 

I'm always surprised that there hasn't been a cool beer made for Kirkland Signature in the past. Guess whoever is in charge doesn't care about beer.

 

There's a handful of ways in which it would have been my dream job, but about 100 reasons why it was never going to happen (in case Craig's lurking, I'll hear you out if you want to try to change my mind ).

 

Yeah, given the general quality of product put out under the Kirkland brand, I've had the same thought. Maybe just not the right person, in the right slot, at the right time?

 

I'm okay with that, as I was happy to pay below-market prices for a stellar pale ale, even if the brand name was not particularly inspiring.

 

Yeah, that was a fridge staple for me. IIRC, it was a blend of DBA and Pale 31, both damn fine beers in their own rights, and I almost felt guilty grabbing sixers for $6. Almost.

 

I foolishly pitched Black Raven in 2011 at a time when BR couldn't have possibly handled the volume ("Look at Stacy's Pita Chips!").

I've always thought Georgetown would have been a good candidate, given Costco's SODO roots. Great product at a fair price, works in bulk. Keg sales at Costco aren't gonna happen, but at Costco's scale in Seattle or the Puget Sound, I'm pretty confident something could've happened. And if I'd known then what I know about Fremont now... it probably wouldn't have made a difference.

 

OK, in a tangent, on a topic I have zero knowledge of, what if: what SharpTunes brewing was solid, and growing, but needed a bit of help getting over a hump. If SharpTunes approached a Costco or TJs and basically said; " we need some cash to expand. Instead of us getting a bank loan, what if y'all spot us, and we'll supply you house brand product, for the duration of the contract." Is that a thing that might actually happen in the real world? Or, do those types of places only want to work companies that have established themselves, and are fairly solvent?

 

Costco has engaged in lots of school building and other aid projects at 3rd world product sources that they don't talk about publicly, but I don't know of Costco doing any infrastructure/capital investment in the US. They have sometimes helped promising US suppliers on the bubble find other revenue opportunities or start with a subset of locations so that Costco isn't a perilously large percentage of the supplier's total business. Other places like TJ's may have similar stories, or they may do things totally different, I don't know.