What rules at Trader Joe’s is how things taste. Trader Joe’s believes in their employees to get the products to the shelves and in their customers’ feedback to keep them there. “Tasting Huts” throughout the stores offer generous mouthfuls of both new products and old favorites proffered up by conversational crew members who don’t ever look at you sternly if you take more than one or two tastes.
If new products don’t find a customer following validated by tastings and sales, their fate is sealed: they’re out. Trader Joe’s always rotates out the bottom 10 percent based on customer selection, sales, and feedback. The cornerstone of the Trader Joe’s experience, they know, is delivering great food at a good value, with some whimsy thrown in.
