Former Hormel employees allegedly steal secret sausage recipes and company intelligence, delivering them straight to competitor Johnsonville in a $8.5 billion market showdown that has now escalated to the courts.
Key Takeaways
- Hormel Foods has filed a lawsuit against Johnsonville and two former employees for allegedly conspiring to steal trade secrets, including proprietary sausage recipes and market intelligence.
- Former Hormel director Brett Sims, now Johnsonville’s Chief Supply Chain Officer, allegedly orchestrated the corporate espionage by recruiting other Hormel employees to share confidential information.
- Jeremy Rummel, another ex-Hormel employee, reportedly sent sensitive company information to his personal email before leaving to join Johnsonville.
- The legal battle highlights the high stakes in America’s competitive sausage market, worth $8.5 billion annually in supermarket sales alone.
- Hormel is seeking the return and deletion of all confidential data plus unspecified monetary damages, claiming Johnsonville refused to cooperate when initially confronted.
Corporate Espionage in the Meat Industry
Hormel Foods has taken decisive legal action against competitor Johnsonville, alleging that former employees engaged in corporate espionage by stealing trade secrets and bringing them to their new employer. The lawsuit centers on Brett Sims, a former Hormel director who now serves as Johnsonville’s Chief Supply Chain Officer, and Jeremy Rummel, another ex-Hormel employee. According to court documents, the pair conspired to unlawfully obtain confidential recipes and market intelligence critical to Hormel’s competitive position in the lucrative sausage market.
“Hormel is suing its archrival Johnsonville, alleging a former employee left with trade-secret recipes and market intelligence and brought them to the competitor,” reported Fortune magazine in their coverage of the legal filing.
The Alleged Conspiracy
Court documents reveal what Hormel describes as a “coordinated effort to interfere with Hormel’s confidential, proprietary, and trade secret information.” The timeline of events shows that both Sims and Rummel had signed non-compete agreements with Hormel in 2019. Despite these contracts, Sims joined Johnsonville in 2023 and allegedly began soliciting other Hormel employees to share company secrets. Rummel, who joined Johnsonville after Sims, allegedly forwarded “highly sensitive confidential, proprietary, and trade secret information to his personal email account” before his departure.
“Rummel was attempting to take Hormel’s confidential business information and trade secrets to Johnsonville for the express purpose of exploiting the information for Johnsonville’s benefit and to Hormel’s detriment,” states the lawsuit filed by Hormel.
High Stakes in the Sausage Market
The lawsuit underscores the intensely competitive nature of the American sausage industry. With consumers spending $8.5 billion on sausages and hot dogs in supermarkets last year alone, the economic stakes are significant. Los Angeles residents consumed over 27 million pounds of hot dogs in 2024, making it the nation’s leading hot dog market. These statistics highlight why proprietary recipes and market intelligence are so jealously guarded by manufacturers like Hormel, which produces popular brands including Spam and Applegate natural and organic meats.
“The sausage market is increasingly competitive, and improper use of confidential, proprietary, and trade-secret information, or wrongful competition or solicitation, could cause a manufacturer significant competitive economic disadvantage,” notes the lawsuit filed by Hormel.
Hormel’s legal complaint alleges that when confronted with evidence of Rummel’s actions, Johnsonville refused to cooperate with requests for assurances regarding the accusations. Instead, Rummel allegedly coordinated with Johnsonville’s legal team to protect his new role. This lack of cooperation ultimately led to Hormel filing the lawsuit seeking both the return and deletion of confidential data and unspecified monetary damages for the alleged theft of trade secrets.
Legal Implications and Corporate Response
Hormel terminated Rummel for breaching its Code of Ethical Business Conduct before filing the lawsuit. The case raises significant questions about employee loyalty, non-compete agreements, and the protection of intellectual property in competitive industries. Neither Sims, Rummel, nor any attorneys named in the lawsuit have responded to media inquiries from The Star Tribune or other outlets covering the case. Johnsonville has likewise remained silent on the allegations.
“Hormel Foods does not typically comment on pending litigation, but we do believe that our complaint speaks for itself,” stated Hormel in response to media inquiries about the case.
The outcome of this lawsuit could have far-reaching implications for how companies in the food industry protect their trade secrets and enforce non-compete agreements with departing employees. With billions of dollars at stake in the competitive meat processing industry, the case highlights the lengths companies will go to protect proprietary information and the severe consequences that can follow when those boundaries are allegedly crossed.
