Lori Latta '75 returns to campus for PolyConnect lunch

Lori Latta ’75 arrived on campus Wednesday afternoon with a bag full of delicious snacks for the fourth PolyConnect lunch of the year. More than 45 students gathered to hear her speak about her path to becoming the vice president of Product Innovation at Trader Joe’s. After describing her personal and professional journey, she answered students’ many questions about her work at Trader Joe’s.
 
Lori grew up in a family who cared deeply about food: “It’s in my DNA,” she says. She often watched her mother test the latest food trends and spent every summer at Jameson Ranch Camp in the southern Sierras of California. It was there that she learned about cooking and sustainability, which guided her later in life. After receiving her bachelor's degree in French from Middlebury College, she made plans to attend The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. Her course changed when she was offered a job from fellow Poly alum, Ken Frank '74, as the assistant pastry chef at Michael’s in Santa Monica. She spent a few years working with world-class chefs before making the transition to assisting a food consultant in New York. She quickly decided to move back to California, where she began her career at Trader Joe’s developing the company’s private label products.

She later decided to leave Trader Joe's and try her hand at stock trading and management. However, she landed back at Trader Joe’s after receiving an offer for a temporary position that has since evolved into a career spanning more than 20 years and has taken her to every corner of the planet as the vice president of product innovation.
 
Just as everyone had hoped, Lori brought a variety of snacks that she developed and sourced for Trader Joe’s private label. As the students snacked, she shared stories of her work visiting suppliers in places like Thailand, Turkey, Colombia, and Japan. She spoke of the variety of people with whom she has had the opportunity to interact and the sometimes surprising locations where she sources new products.
 
Students presented Lori with many thought-provoking questions. In response to a student’s question about sustainability, Lori noted that Trader Joe’s places a significant emphasis on being mindful of their environmental footprint and their customers' trust in that. They make every effort to design more efficient, and oftentimes compostable, packaging. However, Lori really won over the hearts of students when she revealed that she was responsible for developing a popular favorite — Cookie Butter. Lori said she loves working at a place that is loved by so many people and creating products that become staples in the everyday home. “If you know what you’re passionate about, go after it,” she told students.
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