What Company Is Behind Trader Joe's Juice Smoothies?

Trader Joe's offers a wide variety of foods at low prices, with some of its best items being in the frozen food aisle. The store is known for carrying quality, in-house brands with no artificial flavors or preservatives. So, it is a solid grocery store option for conscious eaters. That said, there are an array of companies behind its private label items, like Bakkavor Foods which has been linked to the store's hummus line, but many of them remain a mystery. Ever wonder which company is behind the store's line of nutritious juice smoothies? Well, people have scoured the internet for answers.

In a 2017 interview, Eater spoke with former store crew member Mark Gardiner, who revealed, "Suppliers aren't allowed to say they supply Trader Joe's products, and Trader Joe's never willingly talks about who their suppliers are." Therefore, it is hard to confirm what companies are behind the grocery store items, though there is substantial evidence to support various correlations.

For instance, many outlets report that the popular Naked Juice company is behind Trader Joe's juice line because the two brands offer similar flavors with nearly exact ingredients and have a shared history with the FDA.

Eater states that they reviewed FDA and USDA recalls to uncover some of the big-name companies behind Trader Joe's private label offerings, one of which was PepsiCo, who owned Naked Juice until 2021. The greatest piece of evidence relating the two brands is that Naked Juice had a recall of its products in 2008 over yeast and lactic acid bacteria after supplying them to Trader Joe's. 

It can also be noted that the Naked Juice juices and Trader Joe's smoothies share similar ingredients. For instance, Trader Joe's Mango juice mainly contains the following ingredients: Mango puree, apple juice, orange juice, banana puree, lemon juice, natural flavor, and beta-carotene powder. All seven of those ingredients are also listed as the ingredients in the Naked Juice's Mighty Mango drink.

The same similarities are noted between Trader Joe's "Very Green" juice and the Naked Juice Green Machine, however, the private label contains a smaller amount of banana puree and no kale in its ingredients.

While this information may come as a shock to some, it is worth noting that many stores outsource the production of their private-label brands. Walmart's Great Value has been linked to companies like Sara Lee and Kellogg, while Aldi's, whose products are about 90% of in-house brands, is said to work with companies like House of Flavors and Smith Foods.