PITTSBURGH, Pa. -- Heinz here, ketchup maker since 1976, has a new cap to solve the problem of "ketchup plasma," better known as the watery stuff that accidentally drips onto a bun, or other food on a plate, if the person dispensing the ketchup forgets to shake it first.
The trap cap, as it's called, is a "packaging innovation that will make the ketchup experience more enjoyable," said Deb Magnus, spokeswoman for Heinz. Water collects on top of any pureed food, such as applesauce or, case in point, ketchup. It needs a shake or a stir to get it back together. It took Heinz one year to come up with a multimillion dollar solution.
The inside of the new cap has a reservoir that collects the watery residue, while the center of the nozzle features a thin tube to direct the ketchup out. It will be on store shelves within 60 days, in time for the summer barbecue season, as Heinz intended. The price of the ketchup will remain the same, and the label will call attention to the new cap.
"Ketchup is promotion-driven," commented Randy Slentz, category manager with Save Mart Supermarkets, Modesto, Calif. "When ketchup is promoted at a really hot price, people stock up. If you run out, it's no big deal. Most people don't go running out to replenish it. They wait for a sale.
"I need a trap cap with mustard, too. I get water all over my sandwich," Slentz added.
Jerry Bloom, a category manager with Clements Market, Portsmouth, R.I., said he stocks an item called Big Foot, which holds a bottle of ketchup upside down so all the ketchup runs to the top, making it easier to squeeze it out. "I saw them at [the] FMI [trade show] last year. We sell them with the ketchup," he said.
Heinz is the leading ketchup manufacturer in the United States, generating $275.9 million of the $505 million category for the year ended Jan. 30, 2000, and its share keeps increasing, according to Information Resources, Inc., Chicago. Hunt's is the next leading brand, with sales of $95 million, a drop of 5.7%; private-label ketchup is third, with sales of $83.5 million, an increase of 1.6%; and Del Monte is fourth, with sales of $44.99 million, an increase of 3%.
Other new types of packaging to hit store shelves recently include the 16-ounce plastic squeeze bottle patented by the makers of Doodleberry jam, Columbia Empire Farms, Sherwood, Ore. In production since 1998, the translucent bottle is molded with an oval base. The bottle is hot-filled, and "that is why they use clarified polypropylene," explained Lisa Hill, account executive at Lane Marketing, Portland, Ore.
The closure of the "kid-friendly" bottle is a flat top, which makes it possible to invert the bottle for storage on a refrigerator shelf, she said.
