Secret sausage border battle: Hormel sues Johnsonville, claims former employee stole recipe

AUSTIN, Minn. (FOX 9) - Hormel Foods is suing its cross-border competitor, Johnsonville, over allegations it solicited former employees to expose company trade secrets. 

Court documents accuse Johnsonville staff of a "coordinated effort to interfere with Hormel's confidential, proprietary, and trade secret information" when it hired Hormel employees who later worked to disseminate proprietary company material.  

Hormel Foods vs. Johnsonville lawsuit

What they're saying:

The lawsuit claims that Brett Sims, the former director of operations for Hormel Foods, was hired by Johnsonville in 2023. He then solicited another Hormel employee, Jeremy Rummel, to share information related to Hormel's product formulas, processing procedures, acquisition targets, and marketing strategies.

Sims is also accused of soliciting several other Hormel employees in management positions to resign and join Johnsonville. 

As director of operations for Hormel, Rummel oversaw and was extensively involved in the production of Hormel's sausage products.  

According to the lawsuit, Rummel accepted a job offer to work with Johnsonville, and then began to forward "highly sensitive confidential, proprietary, and trade secret information to his personal email account." Rummel allegedly did this before informing Hormel of his intent to resign. 

Hormel officials then interviewed Rummel and confronted him about the emails. The lawsuit claims that Rummel initially denied emailing confidential information, but admitted to it when presented with evidence of the emails. 

Hormel claims that after the interview, while Rummel was still their employee, he traveled to Sheboygan, Wisconsin, where Johnsonville is headquartered. He then allegedly spoke to Johnsonville's Chief Legal Officer and its outside counsel after being confronted by Hormel officials to "develop a plan to protect his new role at Johnsonville." 

The lawsuit accuses Rummel of emailing the business files to his personal account "at the direction of and/or in cooperation or anticipated cooperation with Johnsonville, for the sole purpose of enabling Johnsonville to interfere with Hormel's business." 

Hormel released a statement on the lawsuit, saying, "Hormel Foods does not typically comment on pending litigation, but we do believe that our complaint speaks for itself."

Timeline:

The lawsuit includes several dates to show the lengths allegedly taken by the accused parties to unlawfully obtain Hormel trade secrets. 

• November 25, 1991: Sims begins employment with Hormel Foods.
• June 5, 2000: Rummel begins employment for Hormel Foods.
• Dec. 11, 2019: Rummel signs a non-compete, non-solicitation contract with Hormel Foods.
• Dec. 16, 2019: Sims signs a non-compete, non-solicitation contract with Hormel Foods.
• June 2023: Sims accepts the position of Chief Supply Chain Officer at Johnsonville.
• April 2025: Rummel accepts employment at Johnsonville but does not inform Hormel. Rummel then uses his Hormel email account to send trade secret information to his personal email.
• May 21, 2025: Hormel discovers that Rummel sent information to his personal account.
• May 22, 2025: Hormel interviews Rummel and confronts him with evidence of the email activity. Rummel initially denied the allegations before admitting to sending the emails that contained confidential information. Rummel also admitted that "Sims had been soliciting him for employment with business competitor Johnsonville since 2023."
• May 27, 2025: Rummel tells Hormel that a forensic collection kit for his cell phone can be sent to an address in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Lawyers for Hormel allege the address was the home of Brett Sims', which is also near the Johnsonville corporate headquarters.
• May 30, 2025: Hormel terminates Rummel for cause due to breach of Hormel's Code of Ethical Business Conduct.

What's next:

Following Rummel's termination, Hormel states it sent a letter to Johnsonville's chief corporate development and legal officer detailing the unlawful behavior of his employees and asked for "a number of assurances from Johnsonville."

The lawsuit states that Johnsonville refused to provide those assurances. 

Hormel is now hoping for a judgment that will reward it damages from the breached agreements with its former employees as well as a requirement that all disclosed trade secret information be retrieved, returned and/or destroyed.

The other side:

FOX 9 has reached out to Johnsonville for a response and will update this story if one is received.