Trader Joe's Brand flour Artisan Ingredients Discuss Trader Joe's Brand flour in the Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart forums; Quite a few times. The flour is great. A little pricey, but you can't beat it. There is a wood-fired ...

[james]

Quite a few times. The flour is great. A little pricey, but you can't beat it. There is a wood-fired bakery in Freestone, near our old house in Sonoma county CA, that uses Giustos exclusively, which is how I got to know it.
James

[james]

Also, they have a wide range of flours, which is fun.
James

[telehort]

I love Giustos flour, they are a bit more expensive than other 50# bags at my local Restaurant Depot, but I think they are worth it.
I get a 50# of the Peak Performer for about $20

[james]

What's the name of your restaurant supply company? Or, is it Restaurant Depot? :-)

I guess I should write to Giustos and locate their nearest retail outlet.
James

[Jraducha]

$20 is a great price for the high performer...That is about 5 dollars less then AZ wholesale price.

[telehort]

I do get it at Restaurant Depot in Sacramento. They carry the Peak Performer, but not the Ultimate Performer, I have tried a few emails to Giustos about the difference, but haven't heard back. The new Whole Foods in our area uses Ultimate Performer, I asked a manager if I could buy a 50# off them and he took a few minutes to go through his books and look things up and said yes I could for $73 a bag. I literally laughed at him and walked out.

[james]

Here is the latest on TJ's flour. I received a pleasant, though vague email from TJ's customer service. Here is my reading: they make it clear that King Arthur also does not operate their own mills, which could lead you to guess that TJ's simply went upstream to purchase flour from the same contract mills who make KA.

That said, who contracts to buy the grains? KA/TJ or the mill? It's worth noting that TJ sells the same White Whole Wheat that KA brought to market with some fanfare a few years ago.

What do you think?

The flour itself seems to work very well.
James

*********************

From TJ's on April 7, 2009

Hi James,

Thank you for writing to us about our switch to Trader Joe's
label flour. We are happy to have carried King Arthur Flour for over 10
years, they are a good company and are very good at marketing the King
Arthur brand. However, in order to continue to give our customers a
high-quality flour at an impossibly low price, we needed to switch to
the Trader Joe's label.

Like King Arthur, we do not own mills or produce our own baking mixes,
we must contract with others to produce our flour. It did not make
sense for us to continue to pay costs associated with marketing a brand
name, when we can contract for flour of comparable quality and pass the
savings on to our customers. Due to non disclosure contracts we cannot
disclose who mills our flour. The retail for Trader Joe's Flour is
$2.99. We hope you will give Trader Joe's Flour a try.

Thanks for your interest in our products, and thanks for shopping at
Trader Joe's! If you have any further questions please don't hesitate to
contact us.
Sincerely,
Trader Joes
Customer Relations

[Les]

Originally Posted by james

which could lead you to guess that TJ's simply went upstream to purchase flour from the same contract mills who make KA.

I feel your thinking is right on. OEM is the way the world is going. It's like LCD TV's - everyone is buying the same screen from Panasonic or Samsung (I don't recall which one rules). I am going to give it a try because the stated price is CHEAP.

Thanks James,

Les...