Smucker, Trader Joe's and a Battle Over PB&Js

Summary

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The Journal.: Smucker, Trader Joe's and a Battle Over PB&Js

Date: October 28, 2025
Hosts: Ryan Knudsen & Jesse Newman

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Episode Overview

This episode delves into the escalating legal clash between food giant J.M. Smucker (maker of the iconic Uncrustables) and Trader Joe’s over their competing crustless peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. While the battle is superficially about a frozen snack, the hosts reveal a deeper struggle for control and influence within American grocery stores: the rise of private label (store brand) products and the mounting pressure they put on traditional name brands.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. PB&J Taste Test & Setting the Scene

• Ryan Knudsen conducts a playful PB&J “interview” with his 2-year-old son, Bedford, comparing Smucker’s Uncrustables with Trader Joe’s lookalike. Bedford’s verdict? “Same.”
• Insight: Even experts (aka toddlers) can’t tell the difference—illustrating why food conglomerates feel threatened by similar, lower-cost store brands.
• “Are these sandwiches the same or different?” — “Same.” (Ryan Knudsen & Bedford, 01:11)

2. Why Smucker is Suing Trader Joe’s

• Smucker alleges that Trader Joe’s private label sandwich is an “obvious copycat” infringing on Uncrustables’ trademark—specifically the shape, the crimped edges, and even the packaging.
• Details Sought by Smucker:
  • Complete halt of Trader Joe’s sandwich production
  • Destruction of all infringing products and materials
  • Monetary damages
• “They say they want Trader Joe's to deliver up to Smucker for destruction all products, containers, labels, packaging, wrappers… Need I go on?” (Jesse Newman, 13:42)

3. The Evolution of Private Label Brands

• Past Stigma: Store brands once carried a reputation for being inferior “knockoffs”—plain packaging, low quality, a choice of necessity not preference.
  • “The Perception was that they were knockoffs, cheap generics that were less good quality…and I always envied the kids who had national brands like Coke and Pepsi and Twinkies. Like, I thought they were rich.” (Jesse Newman, 05:45)
• Modern Appeal: Retailers like Trader Joe’s, Aldi, and Costco have transformed store brands into desirable, high-quality, even trendy alternatives.
  • Packaging is fun and eye-catching.
  • Products are often seen as cool, especially among millennials and Gen Z.
  • Rising inflation and financial pressures boost their attractiveness.
• “Stores have really changed their goal with their own brands...now it’s not just to copy or emulate national brands, but it’s to beat them.” (Jesse Newman, 07:16)

4. A Battle for Power: Market Share & Perception

• Shift in Consumer Habits: Private label products now account for 20% of all store sales—a growing slice markedly nibbling away at established brands.
  • “One in $5 that a consumer spends at a store is on a private label product...There’s a feeling that they are very much in ascendance.” (Jesse Newman, 08:52)
• Big Food’s Defensive Moves: With sales threatened and brands struggling to remain relevant, major food companies have increasingly turned to lawsuits as a line of defense against copycat products.
  • Recent lawsuits referenced:
    • Lululemon vs. Costco (yoga pants)
    • Mondelez vs. Aldi (cookies)
  • “One response that the big brands are having...is that they’re suing.” (Jesse Newman, 09:13)

5. What's at Stake for Smucker?

• Uncrustables is a near $1 billion brand, critical to Smucker’s strategy—especially after recent financial strain (e.g., $5 billion purchase of Hostess).
• The company “has a lot to protect.”
  • “Uncrustables has to keep working for Smucker. They're going to try to pull out all the stops to protect their business.” (Jesse Newman, 10:54)
• Trader Joe’s has not publicly responded to the lawsuit.

6. The Broader Trend: Lawsuits as a New Norm

• Smucker’s aggressive defense isn’t isolated—similar intellectual property fights are breaking out across industries, reflecting how seriously established brands take the private label threat.
• Private brands now carry cultural cachet, with younger consumers especially enthusiastic about “house brands.”
  • "And so...it's really just another sign of trouble for big food companies...They are fighting fires on so many fronts and most importantly, people are buying less of their products." (Jesse Newman, 14:45)
• At heart, it’s about maintaining relevance and control as shoppers’ habits and allegiances shift.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Big food companies are worried that store brands are going to eat their lunch.” (Jesse Newman, 02:17)
• “The thing that used to be a stigma has almost completely flipped onto its head.” (Ryan Knudsen, 08:09)
• “They're not just afraid of being copied—they're also afraid of being replaced.” (Ryan Knudsen, 15:11)

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Key Timestamps

• 00:05 — PB&J taste test with Ryan’s son, Bedford
• 01:44 — Framing the legal fight: Smucker sues Trader Joe’s
• 04:15 — Definition and history of private label/store brands
• 06:13 — Transformation of store brand reputation in the 1990s and 2000s
• 08:26 — The impact of inflation and the surge of store brands
• 09:13 — Big brands increasingly sue over intellectual property
• 10:19 — The strategic importance of Uncrustables to Smucker
• 12:34 — Smucker’s legal targets: not just Trader Joe’s
• 13:38 — Smucker’s demand: total destruction of Trader Joe’s PB&J’s
• 14:08 — The trend: lawsuits beyond frozen sandwiches (yoga pants, cookies)
• 15:11 — Broader significance: big food's precarious position in the market

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Conclusion

This episode uses a delightfully nostalgic product—a PB&J sandwich—to tell a much deeper story: a fundamental shift in American grocery aisles, where once-maligned store brands are now prestigious, popular, and a real threat to the giants of “Big Food.” The Smucker vs. Trader Joe’s battle is about much more than one snack; it’s about generational change, competition, and the brands’ struggle to stay relevant in the face of evolving consumer tastes.

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Transcript

[Ryan Knudsen]

Over the weekend, I went into my kitchen to conduct a very serious, hard hitting interview. What is your name? Bedford. What's your full name?

[Jesse Newman]

Bedford Kendallson.

[Ryan Knudsen]

An interview with my son, Bedford. And how old are you two? And who am I, Daddy? I wanted to ask him about one of his favorite foods, the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. So we've got two sandwiches here. Okay, let's open them up. Specifically, I wanted to ask him about two competing versions of the PB and J the Uncrustable, which is made by J.M. smucker and an alleged copycat made by Trader Joe's. If you're unfamiliar, these packaged sandwiches both contain peanut butter and jelly on white bread. They're both crustless, crimped at the edges. They kind of look like giant round dumplings. They're both stored in the freezer and thawed. Before eating. I wanted to know from an expert like my son, is it yummy?

[Jesse Newman]

It's yummy.

[Ryan Knudsen]

Whether he could tell the difference between the two. Are these sandwiches the same or different? Same. The same. The sandwiches do look a little different. One is a bit bigger and the bread has a slightly different texture.

[Jess from the Journal]

But.

[Ryan Knudsen]

But my 2 year old didn't seem to notice. And that's exactly what's keeping big food companies awake at night. This month, JM Smucker sued Trader Joe's for trademark infringement, saying that Trader Joe's private label version, AKA its store brand, is a quote, obvious copycat and should.

[Jesse Newman]

Be destroyed on its face. This is a story about a fight over peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. But you know, if you dig a little bit deeper, it's really the story of this like decades long battle for power in American grocery stores. And it's a battle between, you know, name brands that have reigned for a really long time and the private label products that are stealing more and more market share.

[Ryan Knudsen]

How would you describe the worry that big food sort of has right now when it comes to the threat overall from private label products?

[Jesse Newman]

Well, in a nutshell, big food companies are worried that store brands are going to eat their lunch.

[Ryan Knudsen]

Welcome to the Journal, our show about money, business and power. I'm Ryan KNUDSEN. It's Tuesday, October 28th. Coming up on the show, what a fight over PB and J's reveals about the growing power of store brands.

[Jess from the Journal]

Hey, it's Jess from the Journal. Thanks for being a listener of our show. If you're looking for more deeply reported stories like we share every day, consider becoming a subscriber to the Wall Street Journal. Visit subscribe.WSJ.com TheJournal to subscribe now.

[Ryan Knudsen]

My son is not the only person in my household who loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. In fact, if I was forced to choose one thing to eat for the rest of my life, I'd probably choose the PB and J. And not only is it one of my favorite foods, it's also the subject of one of my favorite children's songs.

[Jesse Newman]

By Raffi oh, one for Da da one for do do do do. That song.

[Ryan Knudsen]

My colleague Jesse Newman knows it too.

[Jesse Newman]

Sing it for me.

[Ryan Knudsen]

A peanut butter sandwich made with jam. One for me and one for David Amrah. The peanut butter and jelly sandwich is Also beloved by J.M. smucker, the food giant that makes uncrustables. The company started selling the product in the 1990s, and it's grown into a more than $900 million business. Smucker's Uncrustables.

[Archive Announcer]

All the goodness of a PB&J without the crust.

[Ryan Knudsen]

But JM Smucker's lawsuit against Trader Joe's is about more than just a single sandwich. It's about a growing threat of something called private label brands. What is this term, private label? What does that mean? Can you define it for us?

[Jesse Newman]

Sure. So private label, or sometimes they're called store brands. This refers to products that are sold by supermarkets as an alternative to name brands.

[Ryan Knudsen]

For a long time, private label products, which are sometimes called generics, house brands or store brands, were not very cool. They were developed to meet a very specific consumer need.

[Archive Announcer]

The unemployment rate soared to 8.2% nationwide last month.

[Ryan Knudsen]

During the 1970s, when a wave of inflation started to strain budgets, stores started producing cheaper, more generic versions of popular products.

[Jesse Newman]

So I saw an ad for some old products, old store brands.

[Archive Announcer]

Eagle offers you even greater savings with generics, a new, no frills value choice.

[Jesse Newman]

And they just had these plain yellow or white packaging with big black lettering that said dog food or orange flavored drink or cherry pie filling.

[Archive Announcer]

Just look for the plain yellow and black generic label and save even more on nutritious food and serviceable household products.

[Jesse Newman]

These products, they tend to be less expensive than name brands, but retailers really like them because they are often more profitable. So they're cheaper to produce. They don't carry the big marketing costs. They're just often a cheaper alternative.

[Archive Announcer]

Generics, the no frills value choice from Eagle, the food expert.

[Ryan Knudsen]

What kind of a reputation historically have private label products had in the past?

[Jesse Newman]

So for a long time, store brands had a real stigma to them. The Perception was that they were knockoffs, cheap generics that were less good quality. The products themselves were okay. You know, we've heard from readers who wrote in to say, you know, look, when I was growing up, money was tight and my family bought store brands. And I always envied the kids who had national brands like Coke and Pepsi and Twinkies. Like, I thought they were rich. So they really had a sort of negative connotation.

[Ryan Knudsen]

By the 1990s, though, retailers like Trader Joe's were offering more than just nondescript boxes. The packaging had eye popping art and personality.

[Jesse Newman]

Trader Joe's comes on the scene and their products are fun and exciting.

[Ryan Knudsen]

Some items were recognized for their quality and developed a cult following. And beyond Trader Joe's, other retailers upped their private label games too.

[Jesse Newman]

Aldi has grown in popularity. And these are stores that sell mostly private label products. You can also think of Costco. You know, they launched their Kirkland signature product in 1995. And these, I would say all of these stores have had a real hand in, you know, in sort of turning the tide or changing the perception on store brands.

[Ryan Knudsen]

While the perception of private label brands used to be just low budget knockoffs, over time retailers started investing more in their products, improving their packaging and making them better.

[Jesse Newman]

You know, stores have really changed their goal with their own brands. So their goal in many cases now isn't just to copy or emulate the national brands, but it's to beat them.

[Trader Joe's Shopper]

What's going on, y'?

[Ryan Knudsen]

All?

[Trader Joe's Shopper]

I was at Trader Joe's. They said he's better than Ricci's. So let's see. I ain't gonna lie. It was perfect bite size.

[Ryan Knudsen]

Costco just dropped a vodka soda. So let's compare it to the OG High Noon. Nowadays, people brag about snapping up fines from store brands. Products are marketed as high quality.

[Jesse Newman]

Think about, you know, good and gather at Target or Whole Foods 365 brand. You know, especially with younger consumers, a lot of Gen Z and millennials, they just see store brands as fun and cool.

[Ryan Knudsen]

I think I would rather go one aisle over and get the Aldi Simply Nature Organic Salsa.

[Trader Joe's Shopper]

This is only $1.49 and this is a great deal. This is 8 ounces.

[Ryan Knudsen]

We have 11 exclusive Albertsons brands. And for lack of time here, I'm just gonna highlight my three I'm most passionate about. And that's their signature. So it seems like that thing that used to be a stigma has like almost completely flipped onto its head.

[Jesse Newman]

It's true. And the other big part of this is inflation. You know, the perception of store brands has changed, but the necessity for them has also changed. And it has driven more and more people to shift to store brands. Except this time around, you know, a lot of consumers are sticking with the store brand.

[Ryan Knudsen]

Private label market share has been climbing steadily for years. According to one market research firm, it accounted for 20% of total store sales over the past year.

[Jesse Newman]

So 1 in $5 that a consumer spends at a store is on a private label product. And there's a feeling that having a moment, they are very much in ascendance. They're sort of chipping away at brands market share and that's got food companies on the defensive.

[Ryan Knudsen]

And how are these big brands starting to fight back?

[Jesse Newman]

So one response that the big brands are having to more competition from store brands is that they're suing.

[Ryan Knudsen]

This brings us back to the fight we told you about earlier, the fight between Smucker and Trader Joe's over the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It sounds like a real sticky situation. You're sticky. I mean, talk about a crusty battle.

[Jesse Newman]

How many of these do you have, Ryan?

[Ryan Knudsen]

That's it. That's it. The showdown between Smucker and Trader Joe's is next.

[Jess from the Journal]

Hey, it's Jess from the Journal. Thanks for being a listener of our show. If you're looking for more deeply reported stories like we share every day, consider becoming a subscriber to the Wall street journal. Visit subscribe.WSJ.com thejournal to subscribe now.

[Ryan Knudsen]

Big food has encountered some big problems lately. Inflation, depressed sales, changing consumer habits. In Smucker's case, it's struggling to Digest A recent $5 billion acquisition of Hostess, the company behind Twinkies and Ding Dongs.

[Jesse Newman]

You know, Smucker, like other big food companies, is just dealing with a lot of challenges right now. They've got a lot to protect here with Uncrustables. You know, this is verging on a billion dollar brand and they just got to protect their golden goose.

[Ryan Knudsen]

That means that Tiny Sandwich is doing a lot of heavy lifting.

[Jesse Newman]

So Uncrustables has to keep working for Smucker. They're going to try to pull out all the stops to protect their business.

[Ryan Knudsen]

Okay, so let's just start with the basics here. What, what exactly is Smucker accusing Trader Joe's of?

[Jesse Newman]

So Smucker sued Trader Joe's earlier this month, and they said that Trader Joe's sandwich is an obvious copycat. And Smucker's suit, their lawsuit alleges that Trader Joe's infringed on its trademark in a couple of different ways. It says that it infringed on their trademark by copying uncrustables. Copying the shape, their round pie like shape is what they call it. And then they refer to the distinct peripheral or undulated crimping around the edges. So essentially very scientific. Yes, essentially the markings around the edges that kind of hold the two pieces of bread together and keep all the peanut butter and jelly in. And they also are claiming that Trader Joe's copied parts of Uncrustable's packaging. And this would be the image of the sandwich on the Uncrustable's box in which there's a bite taken out of it and it shows you sort of the filling inside. And they're concerned about the blue color that they say Trader Joe's stole from their logo.

[Ryan Knudsen]

Smucker says it has no issue with others selling prepackaged frozen thaw and eat crustless sandwiches. But the company said its focus is on, quote, protecting the unique trademarked design that represents the high quality associated with the Uncrustables brand. It also says it wants to prevent consumer confusion. What has Trader Joe's said in response?

[Jesse Newman]

In its defense, Trader Joe's hasn't said anything thus far.

[Ryan Knudsen]

Trader Joe's isn't the only company Smucker has gone after. It's also accused regional snack companies of copying its Uncrustables. In 2022, Smucker sent a cease and desist letter to a Minneapolis startup called Gallant Tiger. The company's co founder said they responded to Smucker but never heard anything more, and the company didn't change its products. This summer, Smucker also settled a lawsuit with a frozen snacks company called Chubby. The company has ceased operations. So what is Smucker asking the court to do? What does it want from Trader Joe's to stop making the sandwich?

[Jesse Newman]

Yes. Well, they want a few things. They want to bar Trader Joe's from making any more of the sandwiches. And they also. They're looking for a variety of different monetary damages.

[Ryan Knudsen]

They're saying, give me your lunch money, essentially.

[Jess from the Journal]

Exactly.

[Jesse Newman]

And they don't just want the lunch money. They also want the lunch. They want Trader Joe's to deliver all of their products to Smucker to be destroyed.

[Ryan Knudsen]

They want to destroy all of Trader Joe's sandwiches? Yeah.

[Jesse Newman]

They say they want Trader Joe's to deliver up to Smucker for destruction all products, containers, labels, packaging, wrappers, signs, prints, banners, posters, brochures, literature, catalogs, Need I go on?

[Ryan Knudsen]

Oh, my goodness.

[Jesse Newman]

I will say when I went to buy the Trader Joe's version twice now, I've seen it at the store and it was almost sold out. You know, they were. There was very low stock.

[Ryan Knudsen]

In the past year, lawsuits like this have spread from battles over yoga pants.

[Jesse Newman]

Lululemon is suing Costco, accusing the retail giant of unlawfully trading on its reputation, goodwill and sweat equity for a battle over cookies.

[Ryan Knudsen]

Mondelez International Foods is suing Aldi Grocery stores. Mondelez claims Aldi copied its packaging for the store stores private label snacks. In a court filing, Costco denied that it infringed on Lululemon's intellectual property. Jesse expects lawsuits like these and the one between Smucker and Trader Joe's to become more common.

[Jesse Newman]

On the surface, this is a story about a fight over peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. But if you dig a little deeper, it's really the story of a decades long battle for power in American grocery stores. And so, you know, I would say that it's really just another sign of trouble for big food companies who are in the thick of it right now. They are fighting fires on so many fronts and most importantly, people are buying less of their products.

[Ryan Knudsen]

To Jesse, it's a sign of the precarious position big food is in. They're not just afraid of being copied, they're also afraid of being replaced.

[Jesse Newman]

And so these companies are just really struggling to stay relevant and they're trying not to lose control in grocery store aisles. But consumers are changing and they're trying to keep up.

[Ryan Knudsen]

That's all for today. Tuesday, October 28th. The Journal is a co production of Spotify and the Wall Street Journal. Additional reporting in this episode by Chris Kuo. Can you say thank you for listening?

[Jesse Newman]

Thank you for listening.

[Ryan Knudsen]

See you tomorrow. Great. Awesome. Betty, that was wonderful.