This Is The Brand Likely Behind Trader Joe's Grainless Granola

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Private label products are popping up more and more to offer customers exclusive deals on products they already know and love. Many times, there are established brands behind the private label products you're picking up at the grocery store that you simply wouldn't recognize unless you did a little digging. The next time you're at Trader Joe's and you grab a bag of the Grainless Granola for your morning acai bowl, you can thank Wildway (or at least, you could in the past).

While Naked may be the brand behind Trader Joe's private label smoothies, according to our findings on the brands behind your favorite Trader Joe's snacks, it's lesser-known that Wildway most likely makes Trader Joe's sweet, colorfully packaged Grainless Granola. The information was quietly divulged back in 2017 when the Food and Drug Administration issued a recall for the product, citing "the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes," wherein Trader Joe's Grainless Granola was listed alongside other Wildway-branded products.

Post-recall, Trader Joe's Grainless Granola disappeared for a little while, but returned with noticeable differences. This could suggest a change in the manufacturer, or it could simply suggest a change in the granola's formula, much like the drastic change Costco made with its freshly baked muffins.

Way back in the day, granola was Trader Joe's first ever private label product, and although it shares several similarities with Wildway's grain-free granola, there are equally as many differences. Both granolas are a grain-free mixture of sweet and salty with base ingredients such as pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and sea salt — but that's where the similarities end. Wildway grain-free granolas are available in several flavors, such as dark chocolate strawberry, banana nut, and peach pecan. Meanwhile, Trader Joe's Grainless Granola comes in the singular coconut flavor. Trader Joe's product also uses tapioca syrup as a sweetener, while Wildway seems to prefer vanilla bean.

Wildway was founded by Kyle Koehler in 2012, though it didn't truly begin appearing on supermarket shelves until the following year. He began experimenting with a grain-free, simple-ingredient granola mix at local San Antonian farmers' markets, gaining street cred until catching a break with the business on a larger scale. Today, the brand touts not only a grain-free mix of products, but also qualifications like Regenerative Organic Certified, gluten-free, Certified Plastic Neutral, Non-GMO Project Certified, Climate Neutral, and much more. Besides potentially being the secret supplier for Trader Joe's Grainless Granola, Wildway grain-free granolas can be found at Whole Foods, HEB, Natural Grocers, Sprout's Farmers Market, Jimbos, and on Amazon.