H.J. Heinz Co.Dip & Squeeze packets are scheduled to be in fast-food restaurants by the end of the year.The H.J. Heinz Co. made a bit of a splash Thursday unveiling a better single-serve package for ketchup. If the new Dip & Squeeze package can do for the Pittsburgh food company what upside-down ketchup bottles did, management could be onto something big. Meanwhile, the company is taking steps to address industry health trends, with plans to cut the sodium content of its main ketchup brand and to offer an alternative to those who don't want high fructose corn syrup on their hot dogs.
In popping open its new ketchup packaging, Heinz said it had worked for two years to improve on the single-serve packet that has made messes everywhere. The new package, designed at the company's Cranberry research center, lets users either peel off the cover and dip, or tear off the end of the ketchup-bottle-shaped container and squeeze the contents out. It's sort of a combination of a container for chicken nugget dipping sauces and a traditional packet.
"Heinz believes Dip & Squeeze is one of the best packaging innovations in half a century, and it is due to our company's intense focus on new product development that meets consumer needs and preferences," said Michael Mullen, vice president of corporate and government affairs, in an e-mailed response.
Packets that make ketchup and mustard available to fast-food customers and ball park diners have long been considered both a blessing and a hassle. Almost a decade ago, the satirical outlet The Onion wrote an item about an Erie man who accumulated 350 packets of ketchup in his pantry because he didn't know what to do with the extras.
And, in 2006, when activist investor Nelson Peltz was fighting for seats on the Heinz board, his group's list of suggested improvements included offering "peel and dip" ketchup containers at quick-serve restaurants. The issue didn't seem to be new to Heinz executives, who noted they offered something along those lines in other countries.
Dip & Squeeze packets are scheduled to be in fast-food restaurants by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, like everyone else these days, Heinz is cutting back on salt. The company promised to reduce sodium content in its ketchup by 15 percent beginning this summer.
Campbell Soup Co. last week announced plans to cut the sodium in V8 vegetable juice, on the heels of a December announcement it would cut sodium in its SpaghettiOs line. The New York City health department has been making sodium reduction a priority of late.
Yet another issue in the industry has been the presence of high fructose corn syrup in many products. Some see it as a factor in the nation's obesity problems. Heinz will begin offering a ketchup line in March made with sugar instead.
The company's shares closed Thursday at 42.86, down $1.16 on the day.
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