More than two years after pausing free samples due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Trader Joe’s is bringing back tasting stations to multiple locations.
In a statement to TODAY Food, Trader Joe's Public Relations Manager Nakia Rohde confirmed that demo is back in stores.
"We are bringing it back with a new approach. We want to focus a little more on new products. Things not necessarily on your shopping list but things we’re excited to share," Rohde said in an email. "Customers can stop by their neighborhood store and talk to the Crew to find out what’s new."
Customers have been celebrating the return of the grocery chain’s free samples on social media.
One Twitter user posted a close-up of special Halloween cookies being offered at one Trader Joe’s.
Another shopper also shared a photo of a sampling station at a Trader Joe’s in San Francisco and tweeted “Nature is healing; samples are back at Trader Joe’s.”
A Tik Tok user uploaded a video of her enjoying a granola snack in one store.
“Possibly the best day ever!” she captioned the clip. “The world has officially returned to normalcy.”
Following the COVID-19 pandemic, sampling was removed from Trader Joe’s locations and the grocery store adapted a new policy for customers to try products.
In 2020, Trader Joe’s PR director Kenya Friend-Daniel spoke to TODAY about finding a different way for shoppers to taste new foods.
“In accordance with current health and safety guidelines, in general we are not providing food and beverage samples in our stores,” he said at the time. “We still encourage our customers to discover products by trying them, and we do this by reminding them that if they buy a product and don’t like it, they can return it for a full refund.”
Other popular chains like Costco reintroduced samples months ago.
Costco’s tasting stations returned in Dec. 2020, but recipe demonstrations were presented behind plexiglass. The store also shifted to handing out prepackaged “dry samples.”
“Our Demo Service is in the process of returning to our warehouses around the world,” a representative for Costco told TODAY at the time. “This process will be managed with CDC and local health department guidance in each region where we do business. Based on these guidelines product demonstrations may look different in different regions.”
It looks like both Trader Joe’s and Costco shoppers will be able to indulge in all the tasty, pumpkin-flavored treats they want, just in time for the fall season.