This recipe is a big dill.
A Boston-based pickle company is suing a Latest Jersey rival, claiming it stole a 100-year-old recipe to make products sold at Whole Foods.
Grillo’s Pickles filed a second lawsuit against Patriot Pickles products sold under the Whole Foods 365 brand. The 2 were partners from 2012 to 2021 until they fell out, WCVB reported.
The corporate has accused Patriot Pickle of using its proprietary formula in products sold nationwide at the popular supermarket chain.
“Patriot Pickle tries to cash in on Grillo’s 100-year-old family recipe and our trade secrets,” Company President Adam Kaufman he said in an announcement.
“It is an enormous breach of trust and disappointment that after nearly a decade of partnership, our former co-packer, Patriot Pickle, has breached our agreements and is producing a near-identical line of pickles for certainly one of our largest retailers, threatening to permanently harm our business.”
![Grillo's claims Patriot Pickle (pictured) made false claims about pickles that allowed Patriots Wahlberg brand pickles to compete with their bread and butter pickles.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/Pickle-1.jpg?w=1024)
Patriot Pickle’s launched its 365 product at a reduced price at Whole Foods – where Grillo’s Pickles are also sold – during the most profitable time of the 12 months for pickles sales, threatening the sale of the Boston pickle maker, in accordance with the lawsuit.
“The grievance alleges access by Patriot Pickle to Grillo’s proprietary formulas and equipment, use of an identical ingredients and organic acid profile tests as evidence of Patriot’s use, and disclosure of Grillo’s trade secrets, in violation of the Trade Secret Protection Act, Florida Uniform Trade Secrets Act and contracts between Grillo’s and Patriot,” the company said.
Grillo’s first lawsuit, filed in January, alleged that Patriot made false claims about its pickles that allowed Patriots Wahlberg brand pickles to compete with bread and butter pickles.
Grillo’s Pickles began in 2008 with an old family recipe that the owner, Travis Grillo, sold from a hand-built wood pickle cart at events in and around Boston, in accordance with the WCVB.
The corporate was purchased in 2021 by King’s Hawaiian Holding Co. Inc. based in California.