HGTV/YouTube Erin Napier of HGTV's "Home Town"
Erin Napier is in a pickle. On February 8, 2023, the popular HGTV host tweeted a lengthy plea to one of her family’s favorite food brands, Grillo’s Pickles, begging the company to improve its packaging due to all the spills and splashes she’s endured. Her funny Twitter thread received lots of feedback from others on the platform who said they’re equally frustrated with the difficult-to-open containers, but too in love with the pickles to give up on them. Napier also got a response directly from the company, which tickled all the pickle fans following along.
Erin Napier Says Her Entire Household is ‘Addicted’ to Pickle Brand
Grillo’s Pickles have become a national sensation despite the company’s humble beginnings. After a job opportunity at Nike fell through in 2008, owner Travis Grillo decided to make large batches of pickles using his family’s century-old recipe and sell them out of the trunk of his ’84 Cutlass Supreme in New England, according to Inside Hook.
With quirky merchandise and a taste people loved, the brand slowly took off. By 2020, the company says it had pickles on the shelves of 10,000 retailers nationwide including Whole Foods and Target. But Napier’s amusing rant about the brand’s hard-to-open, clear plastic containers struck a chord with many consumers who feel her pain.
Around 8 a.m. on February 8, Napier decided to speak up about it online in a series of tweets directed at the company.
She wrote, “@GrillosPickles we need to talk. everyone in my house is addicted to you. so much so, that we tell everyone we meet to try grillos. which brings me to this.. (a thread)”
.@GrillosPickles we need to talk. everyone in my house is addicted to you. so much so, that we tell everyone we meet to try grillos. which brings me to this.. (a thread)
The mom of two continued, “im opening multiple pickle containers weekly and nearly losing fingers and/or gushing that delicious pickle water all over my shirt and/or counters. i struggle like a two year old trying to put on sneakers, hurt myself”
In her third tweet, Napier wrote, “it’s like those commercials where someone gets a concussion trying to zip their suitcase. you have the power to do this grillos. you’ve made the worlds greatest pickles. let’s find a better container situation and save our fingers and shirts, and save the world???”
Napier’s tweets clearly hit a nerve, because many fellow pickle lovers began chiming in to agree, including her best friend — and frequent “Home Town” guest — Mallorie Rasberry.
Rasberry wrote, “I literally just cleaned up a pickle mess this morning,” to which Napier quipped, “of course, when you were preparing the customary pickle sammy for breakfast”
@mallorieraz of course, when you were preparing the customary pickle sammy for breakfast
One person who’d experienced the same issue multiple times replied, “Pickle juice tidal wave across my kitchen counter every time. Best pickles though!”
Another wrote, “Preach it! Twice I have come home from Costco and the container has broken open in my insulated bag. Nothing like cleaning pickle juice off the rest of my refrigerated items!”
Someone also posted a link to a YouTube tutorial on how to open and re-seal Grillo’s Pickles containers. She wrote, “They have a how to video, so I guess a lot of people have complained”
In less than 20 minutes, Grillo’s Pickles replied to Napier’s amusing Twitter rant, writing, “Thanks for the love! We know the container can be frustrating. We’re working on finding a better option but it’s been a lot more challenging than we anticipated!!”
Napier then replied, “i will persevere! the juice is worth the squeeze” and added a laughing emoji.
Erin Napier Doesn’t Want Her Kids on Social Media Until They’re ‘Grown’
Discovery+/HGTVErin and Ben Napier look at a tablet in “A Christmas Open House”
Though Napier frequently uses social media, including posting life updates on Instagram and live-tweeting as episodes of “Home Town” air, she has said that she’s relieved she didn’t have access to it growing up.
In an Instagram post on December 22, Napier listed the many different creative activities she was involved in as a teen and then wrote, “I am so thankful I grew up without the crushing pressure of social media. As a highly sensitive artistic kid, the criticism or silence of ‘likes’ would’ve hurt me deeply. It would have shaped me into someone, something else.”
Napier referenced a video she’d shared in her Instagram Stories featuring Kate Winslet talking about kids and social media, Napier wrote, “In short, this is a place for adults who know who and what they are. Who have the discernment to discard what isn’t useful.”
Napier shared that she and her husband Ben Napier, along with their closest friends, have an agreement that they won’t buy their kids smartphones before they’re “grown.”
In February 2022, Napier used her Instagram Stories to address followers who’d been making unkind comments on her posts.
She wrote, “Let’s talk about something. There has been some extra rudeness happening in the comments for the last week or so. If you feel like you’re the kind of person who could leave your unsolicited rude opinion laying around on social media, go ahead and unfollow me so I don’t have to do it for you. We aren’t a good fit, you see. It’s you, not me.”
That April, Napier revealed on Instagram that she’d taken an unannounced 40-day break from social media for Lent, letting a friend post all work-related updates for her.