Heinz Tomato Ketchup

Heinz Tomato Ketchup is a brand of ketchup produced by the H. J. Heinz Company as part of Kraft Heinz. Heinz Ketchup holds 80% of the market share in Europe and 60% in the United States.[1]

Heinz Tomato Ketchup
A bottle of Heinz Tomato Ketchup
Product typeKetchup
OwnerKraft Heinz
CountryUnited States
Introduced1876
MarketsWorldwide
Previous ownersH.J. Heinz Company
TaglineIt has to be Heinz
Websitewww.heinz.com

History

First introduced as "Catsup" in 1876 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Heinz Tomato Ketchup remains the best selling brand of ketchup.[2][3] From 1906 it was produced without preservatives.[4] In 1907, Heinz started producing 13 million bottles of ketchup per year, exporting ketchup all over the world, including India, Australia, South America, Japan, Indonesia, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom. Heinz ketchup is often served at restaurants in the United States and Canada, as well as many other countries. As a condiment for many foods, such as french fries, chips, hamburgers and hot dogs, Heinz ketchup uses the slogan, "America's Favorite Ketchup." As of 2012, there are more than 650 million bottles of Heinz Tomato Ketchup being sold every year throughout the world.[5]

In January 2009, the label design was altered, with the illustration of a gherkin pickle that had adorned the label since the 1890s removed and replaced with an illustration of a vine-ripened tomato accompanied by the slogan "Upgrade To Heinz".[6]

In a recent American Customer Satisfaction Index poll of 10,644 consumers, H.J. Heinz Co. had the highest score of any food or beverage firm, higher than Kraft, Coca-Cola, and Nestlé.[7]

Production

Heinz manufactures all of its American tomato ketchup at two plants: one in Fremont, Ohio, and another in Muscatine, Iowa.[8] Heinz closed their plant in Leamington, Ontario in 2014.[9] The former Canadian plant is now owned by Highbury Vancouver to produce French's ketchup in Canada.

Globally, Heinz produces ketchup and other tomato sauces in factories the world over, including such nations as the U.K. and the Netherlands. Although Heinz touts "one basic recipe" for its mainstay ketchup, there are variations in this recipe tailored to national tastes, and dependent on the country of production.[10][11][12]

Varieties
Heinz Organic Tomato Ketchup

In addition to the standard ketchup variety, Heinz offers two varieties known as "Organic" and "Simply Heinz".[13] Both of these varieties' ingredients contain sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup.[13] Heinz offers several flavor variations: sriracha, jalapeño, and balsamic vinegar. Dietary requirements are addressed with no-salt-added and reduced-sugar varieties.

  • Limited Edition Heinz Tomato Ketchup blended with balsamic vinegar (left) and standard Heinz Tomato Ketchup (right)

Edchup
Ed Sheeran X Heinz ketchup

On June 5, 2019, which is National Ketchup Day, Heinz along with singer-songwriter and ketchup-lover Ed Sheeran released a limited edition ketchup product known as Ed Sheeran X Heinz ketchup, more popularly known by its portmanteau, “Edchup”. Heinz announced the release in an Instagram post on June 5, 2019. The post featured Sheeran posing with a bottle of “Edchup”. Ed Sheeran is a long-time ketchup lover. He made this apparent when he had the Heinz ketchup logo tattooed on his left arm.[14]

The bottles, which were 20 ounces each, were limited to 5 per order. The ketchup inside was no different than ordinary Heinz tomato ketchup. The bottle itself featured a unique label in which the title was “HEINZ TOMATO EDCHUP”. The labels of standard Heinz ketchup bottles feature a tomato hanging from its stem. On the ”Edchup” label the tomato is wearing glasses and has a leaf on the top of it which appears to be hair. The tomato on the label was designed to imitate Ed Sheeran.

EZ Squirt colored ketchup

From 2000 to 2006, Heinz produced colored ketchup products called EZ Squirt, which were available in squeezable containers and targeted towards young children.[13] The ketchup launched in green and red-colored varieties, which were later joined by purple, pink, orange, teal, and blue.[15] The Canadian version was labelled E-ZEE Squirt,[16] most likely because of the difference in the way that the letter Z is pronounced in the USA and the way it's pronounced in rest of the English-speaking world.

Saucy Sauce product line

In April 2018, Heinz announced the release of "Mayochup", a portmanteau of mayonnaise and ketchup that is a mixture of the two sauces,[17] because 500,000+ users voted "yes" in a Twitter poll asking Americans if they wanted to see it in stores. A number of Twitter users responded that such a mixture already existed as "fry sauce" and "fancy sauce".[18][19] The sauce arrived at U.S. retailers' shelves in September 2018.[20][17] It attracted some media attention in May 2019 when the phrase was revealed to mean "shit-face" in the Cree language.[21]

In March 2019, after the success of their Mayochup campaign, Heinz announced the release of two new portmanteau products to celebrate the company's 150th anniversary: "Mayomust", from mayonnaise + mustard, and "Mayocue", from mayonnaise + barbecue.[22][23][24]

In April 2019, Heinz released yet another portmanteau product, this time combining ketchup and ranch dressing to create "Kranch".[25] The new sauce received a mixed reception online,[26][27] with Newsweek saying that it "might seem as if Kranch is a flight of fancy from a drunken frat boy" but that some consumers were nevertheless interested.[28]

Packaging

Heinz ketchup is packaged in glass and plastic bottles of various sizes, as well as individual-serving condiment packets made of foil or plastic.[13] Larger amounts of ketchup are packaged either in metal cans, rigid plastic jugs, flexible plastic bags and in bag-in-box format. The larger containers can be fitted with pumps or placed into dispensers for bulk service. A bag containing 3 US gallons (11 L) is the largest offering intended for restaurants; an IBC tote containing 260 US gallons (980 L) is sold to food manufacturers.

In 2010, Heinz unveiled a new single serve cup for dipping and squeezing, called the Dip & Squeeze, that was intended to eventually replace the original packets.[29]

The Heinz Keystone Dispenser is a color-coded plastic dispensers, shaped to resemble the keystone part of the "Heinz 57" symbol, that accepts bags of condiments that include the original, low-sodium and Simply Heinz varieties of ketchup, along with several varieties of mustard, mayonnaise, ranch dressing and relish.

Glass bottles

Heinz introduced its octagonal glass bottle for the first time in 1889; the bottle was patented in 1890. While other glass bottle designs have existed, the octagonal glass bottle is still in use and is considered an "iconic" example of package design.[30] In the United States, the glass bottle commonly used by restaurants holds 14 ounces (400 g) of ketchup. A small bottle containing about 2.25 ounces (64 g) of ketchup also exists for hotel room service and other situations where it is desirable to serve individual meals with a more personal or luxurious presentation than might be perceived with the foil or plastic packets associated with fast food dining.

As ketchup has high viscosity and behaves as a pseudoplastic or thixotropic liquid,[31] dispensing from glass bottles can be difficult. Tapping the glass bottle causes the ketchup to become thinner and easier to pour. Heinz suggests, on its website, that the best place to tap the bottle is on the "57" mark. The New York Times has also claimed that the tapping the "57" mark is the best way to cause Heinz ketchup to pour smoothly.[32][33] Shaking the bottle or tapping in another place is also effective, however.

The "57" mark arises from an advertising statement that Heinz made "57 Varieties" of products. When Henry J. Heinz introduced the "57 Varieties" slogan, however, the company already made at least 60 products. The number is simply the combination of numbers Heinz and his wife considered "lucky".[34]

The "upside-down" squeezable plastic bottle, consisting of an opaque red bottle with a wide white cap located at the bottom, was introduced as a food service product in 2002. It allows ketchup to be dispensed more easily than was possible with the glass bottle, and permits the use of more of the ketchup in the bottle, as the contents will settle on top of the dispensing valve. The "upside-down" bottle is intended to be non-refillable. A similar bottle has been introduced in several different sizes at the retail/grocery level, but without the opaque red coloring.

Merchandising

The Heinz Ketchup logo, and its distinctive red colour, have been used in numerous licensed products. This includes clothing, mugs, pin badges and tomato flavoured cosmetics.[35]

A Heinz Ketchup cookbook was published by Absolute Press in 2007.[35]

In January 2020, Heinz and department store Fortnum & Mason launched tomato ketchup-filled chocolate truffles, as part of their Valentine's Day offering.[36]

In April 2020, Heinz launched a 570-piece ketchup jigsaw puzzle, where all of the pieces were identically red.[37]

Counterfeiting scheme

In 2012, a criminal scheme that repackaged bulk standard ketchup into bottles with counterfeit "Simply Heinz" labels failed when the transferred ketchup began to ferment and explode.[38]

See also

References
  1. "Ketchup — Quartz Daily Obsession". Quartz.
  2. Meyer, Zlati. "Memorial Day BBQ: 7 fun facts about ketchup while you wait for it". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  3. "FOOD INDUSTRIES IN THE MID-ATLANTIC REGION." The Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Regional Cultures: The Mid-Atlantic Region. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2004. Credo Reference. Web. 1 October 2012.
  4. "Heinz Ketchup". heinz.com.
  5. "The First Name in Ketchup". H. J. Heinz Company. 21 October 2010.
  6. "The Kraft Heinz Company". Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  7. Higgins, Kevin (January–February 2004). "Competition Can't Ketchup to Heinz". Marketing Management. 13 (1): 22–25.
  8. Charles, Dan (September 2, 2019). "Meet The Man Who Guards America's Ketchup". National Public Radio. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
  9. "Ketchup giant H.J. Heinz Co. closes Friday in Leamington, Ont". Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  10. Albala, Ken. "A brief history of ketchup". The Conversation. Retrieved 2019-09-04.
  11. "Why Ketchup Tastes Different Around the World". WanderFood. 2011-09-20. Retrieved 2019-09-04.
  12. "Heinz Ketchup Story". Kraft Canada. Retrieved 2019-09-04.
  13. Simoncini, Melissa (2011). "Heinz Ketchup: A 135-Year History of Innovation" (PDF). Retrieved 5 Oct 2012.
  14. Peters, Lucia (June 2019). "Heinz Ketchup & Ed Sheeran Released "Edchup" Bottles & Here's How You Can Get One". bustle.com. p. 1. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
  15. "Take a lesson from Heinz: Make the old new". old.post-gazette.com. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  16. "Does anyone remember the coloured ketchup from back in the 2000's?". Imgur. May 13, 2014.
  17. Maura Judkis (4 October 2018). "How does Heinz's Mayochup stack up against other mayo-ketchup sauces?". The Washington Post. The Washington Post. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
  18. McCluskey, Megan (13 April 2018). "Heinz' New 'Mayochup' Sauce Incites Total Condiment Mayhem". Time. Retrieved 13 April 2018.
  19. Olumhense, Ese (April 12, 2018). "Heinz Teased 'Mayochup', a New Mayo and Ketchup Condiment. A Contentious Online Debate Ensued". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved April 19, 2018.
  20. "Heinz Mayochup". Kraft-Heinz, Inc. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
  21. "Heinz calls Mayochup meaning in Cree an 'unfortunate translation'". CBC News. 2019-05-22. Retrieved 2019-05-22.
  22. Meyer, Zlati (26 March 2019). "Where's the best place to hit the Heinz? 7 fun facts as ketchup maker turns 150 this year". USA Today. Retrieved 2019-03-30.
  23. Meyer, Zlati (26 March 2019). "Heinz turns 150: Some fun facts about the iconic ketchup maker". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2019-03-30.
  24. Judkis, Maura (2019-05-07). "Perspective | Kranch is the latest condiment mash-up we didn't need". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2020-11-14.
  25. Martin, Rachel (5 April 2019). "Heinz Launches 'Kranch'". NPR. Retrieved 2019-04-07.
  26. Jackson, Dory (4 April 2019). "Meet Kranch: Heinz's New Ketchup and Ranch Hybrid Sauce Sparks Mixed Feelings Online". Newsweek. Retrieved 2019-04-07.
  27. Wang, Philip (2019-04-05). "Heinz introduces 'kranch,' ketchup and ranch dressing mixed together". TheHill. Retrieved 2020-11-14.
  28. "Kranch, Heinz's new ketchup and ranch sauce mashup, sparks mixed feelings online". Newsweek. 2019-04-04. Retrieved 2020-11-14.
  29. Pearson, Jake and Jose Martinez (February 4, 2010). "A classic gets revamped! Heinz gives ketchup packet a makeover". NYDailyNews.com. New York.
  30. Verhaaf, Marcel (2011). The Heinz ketchup bottle. Amsterdam: BIS Publishers. ISBN 978-90-6369-230-8.
  31. Barry, Patrick L.; Phillips, Tony (10 August 2004). "The Great Ketchup Mystery". First Science.com. Retrieved 2009-06-09.
  32. Heinz.com. Retrieved April 28, 2011.
  33. Rawsthorn, Alice (12 April 2009). "An Icon, Despite Itself". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-06-09.
  34. "Heinz Trivia". heinz.com.
  35. "Food and drink under the Christmas tree". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 4 December 2019. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  36. Brown, Nancy (28 January 2020). "Heinz launches heart-shaped box of ketchup AND chocolate truffles for Valentine's Day". Entertainment Daily. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  37. Barr, Sabrina (13 May 2020). "Heinz releases 'ridiculously slow' 570-piece jigsaw that is entirely red". The Independent. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  38. Goldberg, Dan (18 October 2012). "Counterfeit ketchup caper: Exploding bottles leave major mess in Dover". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved 18 October 2012.

Further reading
  • Gladwell, Malcolm (September 6, 2004). "The Ketchup Conundrum". Taste Technologies (article series). The New Yorker. Retrieved July 16, 2017. Focuses on the reasons Heinz Tomato Ketchup dominates the ketchup market.
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