Heinz began his entrepreneurial ventures selling grated horseradish door to door, but he was soon moving on to bigger and better things. With the introduction of a new type of tomato ketchup, Heinz’s second business was off with a bang. The ketchup proved extremely popular on the market, and quickly became the company’s main focus. Heinz called the company “tomato-obsessed” and was soon the owner of the world’s largest tomato processor.
In 1888, Heinz bought out his two partners and renamed the company the HJ Heinz Company. From tomatoes, Heinz moved on to other processed vegetable products: celery sauce, pickled cucumbers, sauerkraut, and vinegar. Jams, jellies and a host of other condiments soon followed. Heinz’s reputation for quality products was growing thanks to his refusal to use anything but the freshest ingredients. Under his personal guidance, Heinz ensured that every vegetable and herb used in his recipes was picked at the very peak of its freshness and carefully sorted.
As Heinz’s product line continued to expand, he began to focus more carefully on marketing. In 1896, Heinz became infatuated with the number 57. He decided to give his company the slogan of “57 Varieties” despite the fact that it was already producing over 60 products at the time. Indeed, as the company expanded, 57 would prove far too low a number, but it stuck nevertheless. Heinz plastered the new slogan on billboards, in magazines, and everything else he could think of.
That same year, Heinz’s success was such that he had become not only a millionaire, but also known throughout the country as the “Pickle King.” Soon, Heinz was out to conquer the rest of the world too. Believing that the world was his market, Heinz sent his sales force overseas. One by one, the company entered markets in all of Africa, the Orient, Australia, Europe, and South America. It would come to have over 6000 product varieties in 200 countries, which would bring in over half of the company’s sales.
Heinz stayed on as president of the company he had founded until his death at the age of 74. By that time, the HJ Heinz Company had more than 25 food processing plants, 40,000 acres of land under cultivation, and over 6,500 employees. Heinz was succeeded by his son, Howard, who continued to expand his father’s vision, and guided the company through the difficult times of the Great Depression. He would take the company in new directions, including ready-made soups and baby food. Under the later control of Heinz’s grandsons, the company would go public.
Today, Heinz continues to reign as one of the world’s leading brands, with subsidiaries that include Del Monte, Catelli, Classico and Ore-Ida. The company has revenues in excess of $9.4 billion and over 41,000 employees. Its range of products extends from ketchup to frozen foods, beans, soups, and more.
By the time of his death, Heinz had come a long way from his days of peddling his mother’s vegetable products door-to-door.
57 Varieties of Success: The HJ Heinz Company Takes Off
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