In A Pickle: Grillo's Sues NJ Company Over Alleged Family Recipe Theft

WAYNE, NJ —A popular pickle brand is accusing their former North Jersey partner of trying to drive them out of business, by using a 100-year-old recipe to make pickles for other companies.

Grillo's Pickles originally filed the federal civil lawsuit in January, against Wayne-based Patriot Pickle as well as national brands Whole Foods and Wahlburgers (which was started by actor Mark Wahlberg and his brothers).

Grillo's is accusing Patriot Pickle of violating a nondisclosure agreement, and "using Grillo’s proprietary recipes and processes to produce new lines of pickles under the Wahlburgers and Whole Foods 365 labels." The Massachusetts-based company filed an amended complaint on Dec. 19 in New Jersey federal court, seeking punitive damages for misappropriation of trade secrets, breach of nondisclosure agreement, false advertising, and unfair competition.

The two companies had a co-packing relationship for almost 10 years, according to court documents: Grillo's entrusted Patriot Pickle with its 100-year-old secret family recipe to manufacture, label, package, and ship some their products.

Grillo's prides itself on providing customers "long-lasting, all natural pickles without artificial preservatives" and packages its pickles in a clear plastic container, which must be refrigerated. The two companies entered into a mutual nondisclosure agreement, in which Patriot Pickle agreed only to share Grillo's process or recipes on a need-to-know basis, the lawsuit states.

After they parted ways in 2021, Grillo's alleges that Patriot Pickle began using the secret recipe to create almost identical products for Wahlburgers and Whole Foods.

"Because these copycat products have enormous, built-in name recognition and are sold throughout the country, often at substantially discounted prices, Patriot’s actions threaten to drive Grillo’s out of business," the plaintiffs wrote.

Grillo's also contends that the Wahlburgers pickles were falsely labeled as having "no preservatives" and being "all natural" when they contained sodium benzoate.

Representatives for Patriot Pickle did not immediately return Patch's request for comment on Friday.