Friday, July 3, 2015

57 Varieties

     Follow this timeline to learn about Pittsburgh's most famous product:

1876 After selling horseradish, pickles and sauerkraut, Henry John Heinz launches Heinz Tomato Ketchup in Sharpsburg, PA.  His product is sold in a keystone shaped glass bottle.

1896  The slogan "57 Varieties" is developed, even though by that time Heinz has over 60 items in production.

1937  Heinz establishes a tomato breeding program to develop and grow proprietary hybrid tomato varieties designed specifically for ketchup.

1948  A rival emerges when brothers Joseph and William Hunt begin selling their Tomato Catchup.

1968  Heinz introduces individual foil packets for distribution

1969  President Nixon states that he likes to start his day with cottage cheese and ketchup.  Breakfast of Champions?

1975  Carly Simon sings "Anticipation" in a Heinz commercial and "The Taste That's Worth the Wait" slogan is born.

1981  The Reagan administration proposes classifying ketchup as a vegetable on the federal school lunch program, but the proposal fails to gain approval.

1983  Squeeze bottles debut in grocery stores.

1990  Heinz introduces the first fully recyclable plastic bottle.

2000  Green ketchup is sold to the public.

2002  The upside down ketchup bottle is developed.

2011  Heinz introduces tomato ketchup blended with balsamic vinegar

Today  Heinz sells 650 million bottles of ketchup annually, and 2 single serve ketchup packets for every human being on the face of the earth.



No comments:

Post a Comment