Why Some Trader Joe's Products Have Long, Pun-Filled Names

Trader Joe's is known for its low-price deals, but it's the labels that tend to steal the spotlight. Some names get straight to the point — Cauliflower Gnocchi tells you exactly what you're buying — while others read like the start of a joke. This Strawberry Walks Into a Bar, a cereal bar available at the store, turns breakfast into something that sounds like a bit. The mix of practicality and wordplay is deliberate, and over time, it's become one of the company's most recognizable quirks.

In a recent episode of Inside Trader Joe's, co-hosts Tara Miller and Matt Sloan explained that every label starts with intent. Sometimes the idea behind a name feels so clear that the product ends up molded around it, rather than the other way around. And once in a while, a playful phrase just sticks. Something gets said in a brainstorming meeting that earns a laugh and makes its way onto the shelf. Take the Pound Plus chocolate bar, which earned its title from its hefty slab of imported chocolate. That small twist sums up Trader Joe's whole approach: playful but precise. Every label, pun, and inside joke is designed to catch the eye and keep grocery shopping from feeling like a chore. For Trader Joe's, the fun starts before you even open the package.

Trader Joe's steals aren't limited to frozen dinners or snack aisles. The names often feel like hidden deals, too. Some sound like punchlines, others like riddles, but all add to the sense that shopping there is part treasure hunt, part grocery run. Names like, "These Peanuts Go on a Date" and "Everything But the Bagel Seasoning" might look like throwaway jokes, but they've become cornerstones of the brand's charm. Even when the humor's subtle, it makes a carton of eggs feel more interesting than it has any right to be.

The ideas behind those names can start anywhere. Sometimes the label comes first, and the team builds the product to fit it; other times, one tiny detail, like a flavor, shape, or story, gives it its edge. Avocado's Number Guacamole, for instance, slipped in a sly reference to Italian scientist Amedeo Avogadro, whose "number" inspired the pun. It's the sort of wink you catch once and never forget.

It's this mix of wit and accessibility that keeps the store feeling more like a personality than a chain. From sly science jokes to Henry Hotspur's Hard Pressed for Cider, one of its many Thanksgiving-worthy products, Trader Joe's shows that even grocery packaging can have a sense of humor.