Arrivederci Trader Joe’s Pomi

Pomi Marinara Sauce Discontinued at Trader Joe’s?

After months of speculation and eagerly asking store managers at the SoMa, Arguello, and North Beach Trader Joe’s, Grubgirl has pieced together enough rumors to quietly accept that Pomi ain’t coming back at TJ’s.

Background:
Pomi was the lone marinara sauce in a box at the store – supposedly the freshest of jarred or canned sauces, and it avoided any tinniness that can come with canned sauces. Although it’s still sold at upmarket establishments like HomeChef and Mollie Stone’s, somehow TJ’s was able to get the stuff at a bargain.

Grubgirl heard different stories from different managers at different San Francisco locations.

These included:
“we must be out of stock,”
“our store doesn’t carry it because our selection is more targeted to the yuppies [who don’t cook?!] – maybe the more family-friendly store on Arguello would have it,”
“i was the store manager at the store who said that their selections are different; and they’re not, we dont’ carry it anymore,”
“check back in a week,”
“our buyers aren’t buying it because the dollar is weak right now,”
“the vendor failed some quality control and is trying to right those issues now,”
“something happened with Parmalat so I think they can’t ship it to us anymore,”…

…and so on. That’s why I don’t call the TJ hotline — I can get more interesting responses if I just ask the right people in the know.