Joe Coulombe Quotes

“I concluded that I didn't have to find an optimum solution to Pronto's difficulties, just a reasonable one. Trying to find an optimum solution in business is a waste of time: the factors in the equation are changing all the time.”

“Time and again I am asked why no one has successfully replicated Trader Joe's. The answer is that no one has been willing to pay the wages and benefits, and thereby attract—and keep—the quality of people who work at Trader Joe's.”

“In a lecture at the University of Southern California Business School, I talked about this. A young woman raised her hand: 'But how could you afford to pay so much more than your competition?' The answer, of course, is that good people pay by their extra productivity.”

“Let's define health foods as foods grown with as few chemicals as possible, processed with as few chemicals as possible, and packaged as 'ecologically' as possible.”

“Trader Joe's first private label food product was granola. We installed Alta Dena certified raw milk, to the disgruntlement of Southland, and within six months were the largest retailers of Alta Dena milk, both pasteurized and raw, in California.”