It’s kind of a big dill.
Grillo’s Pickles is suing its former partner over a family recipe.
Talk about a relationship going sour.
Grillo’s Pickles, a local pickle maker, is suing its former contract manufacturer, alleging that the company stole Grillo’s secret recipe and used it to make its own pickles sold under the Whole Foods 365 brand. The lawsuit, filed June 27 in federal court in Florida, alleges that Patriot Pickle, of Wayne, N.J., produces a similar line of products that use the identical ingredients found in the century-old Grillo family recipe passed down to the founder by his grandfather.
The Whole Foods 365 brand pickles sit on the same shelves as Grillo’s, but sell at prices 30 percent lower, threatening “to cripple Grillo’s business at one of its biggest retailers and harm its customer base irreparably,” the lawsuit said.
Grillo’s is asking the court to block Patriot Pickle from using its recipe and order Patriot to remove the pickles allegedly based on Grillo’s recipe from store shelves. The Grillo’s lawsuit also seeks unspecified damages.
Patriot Pickle declined to comment. The company has not yet filed its response to the lawsuit. Grillo’s did not respond to requests for comment.
Grillo’s Pickles, headquartered in Westwood, was founded in 2008 by Travis Grillo, who began selling the pickles from a cart he wheeled around Boston. Today, Grillo’s Pickles are sold nationwide at more than 10,000 stores, including the Kroger grocery chain and retailers such as Target and Walmart, according to the company. Grillo’s was acquired in 2021 by King’s Hawaiian Holding Co., a California company known for its rolls and baked goods.
Grillo’s began working with Patriot Pickle in 2012, when the companies entered into a socalled co-packing deal in which Patriot manufactured pickles sold under the Grillo’s brand, according to the lawsuit. Under a mutual nondisclosure agreement, Patriot agreed not to share Grillo’s recipe, the lawsuit said.
Two additional agreements signed by both parties in 2015 and 2016 stated that “the name, recipes and formulations for Grillo’s Pickles remain the sole and exclusive property of Grillo’s Pickles, LLC,” according to the lawsuit.
Grillo’s ended the co-packing agreement in 2021, but the nondisclosure agreement remains in effect, according to the lawsuit. The complaint alleges that Patriot failed to destroy copies of the recipe and related notes as required by the
agreement.
“Patriot has not returned all its copies of Grillo’s trade secret recipes and processes,” the lawsuit said.
Patriot Pickle began making pickles under the Whole Foods 365 brand in 2023, according to the lawsuit.
Whole Foods 365’s Dill Pickle Spicy Spears, Dill Pickle Spears, Dill Pickle Whole, and Dill Pickle Chips all taste identical to Grillo’s versions of these flavors, the lawsuit said.
Both Whole Foods’ 365 Dill Pickle Wholes and Grillo’s Whole Dills contain cucumbers, water, distilled white vinegar, salt, garlic, dill, and grape leaves, according to an image of the pickles’ packaging in the lawsuit.
The market for pickles is competitive and growing, expected to reach $15.4 billion globally by 2032, up from $10.4 billion in 2023, according to the research firm Market Research Future.
Pickles are rising in popularity because they can be manufactured without preservatives and artificial chemicals, appealing to health-conscious consumers, according to Market Research Future.