🍅 Heinz Ketchup: The King of Condiments | 33

Summary

The Best Idea Yet: Heinz Ketchup – The King of Condiments | Episode 33 Summary

Released May 27, 2025 by Wondery

---

Introduction

In Episode 33 of The Best Idea Yet, hosts Nick Martell and Jack Crivici-Kramer delve deep into the flavorful history of Heinz Ketchup, exploring how this iconic condiment became a household staple. From its humble beginnings to its dominance in the global market, the episode uncovers the untold stories, bold innovations, and strategic risks that propelled Heinz to the forefront of the food industry.

---

Origins of Heinz: From Horseradish to Ketchup

[04:37] The story begins in 1869 Pittsburgh, where a young Henry J. Heinz, at just 25 years old, introduces his first product: pure horseradish. Unlike competitors who used fillers like wood chips and leaves, Heinz promises a pure, unadulterated product in clear glass bottles, setting the stage for his commitment to quality and transparency.

Henry Heinz (Narration): "There's nothing to hide in his clear glass bottles." [05:05]

Driven by his mother's strong moral values, Henry seeks to revolutionize the adulterated food market by offering products that are both convenient and healthy. Recognizing the potential of housewives seeking time-saving yet safe food options, Henry partners with L. Clarence Noble, and together they establish Heinz, Noble & Co. Incorporated in Pittsburgh.

---

Facing Adversity: The Long Depression and Bankruptcy

[11:15] Just as Heinz begins to flourish, the Long Depression of the 1870s hits, severely impacting sales and causing Henry to overextend his company by purchasing entire harvests of cucumbers and cabbages. This overextension leads to unsold inventory and financial strain.

Henry Heinz (Diary Entry - [14:02]): "A man is nowhere without money. It is hard to lose trade money, friends and reputation, and even parents in trouble."

Bankruptcy ensues in 1875, forcing Henry to lay off hundreds of employees and auction off assets. Facing public shame and personal despair, Henry's family steps in to save the company, injecting $86,000 (equivalent to today’s money) to help rebuild.

---

Rebuilding with Integrity: Innovations and Ethical Practices

[16:27] Determined to avoid past mistakes, Henry commits to avoiding debt and overseeing every aspect of the business. He adopts vertical integration, ensuring control from soil to customer, and instills a strict moral code, symbolized by a notebook labeled "mo" (moral obligations).

Henry's dedication to quality leads to significant innovations:

• Vertical Integration: Controlling every stage of production to maintain quality.
• Advanced Inventory Control: Implementing first-in, first-out methods to prevent spoilage.
• Commitment to Cleanliness: Providing employee changing rooms, clean uniforms, and even on-site manicures to ensure product purity.

---

Breakthrough in Ketchup: Branding and Marketing Genius

[26:19] While traveling through New York, Henry is inspired by a billboard advertising "21 styles of shoes," leading him to adopt the number 57 as a branding symbol for Heinz. This specificity not only differentiates his product but also evokes curiosity and trust.

Henry Heinz (Reflective - [27:21]): "Five is his lucky number and seven is his wife's lucky number. That's good enough for Henry."

The "57 Varieties" slogan becomes a cornerstone of Heinz's branding, enhancing brand recognition and consumer trust. Henry pioneers several marketing strategies:

• Electric Billboards: Designing New York’s first electric billboard to display the 57 varieties.
• National Advertising Campaigns: Placing a "57" sign on a San Francisco hillside visible from trains.
• Heinz Exhibit in Atlantic City: Creating a free museum attraction that boosts sales by 30% in its first year.

These efforts cement Heinz’s status as a leading ketchup producer, outpacing competitors and establishing a loyal customer base.

---

Regulatory Challenges and Industry Impact

[35:46] As issues like exploding ketchup bottles due to fermentation emerge, Henry is motivated to develop a preservative-free ketchup. Inspired by Dr. Harvey Wiley’s Poison Squad, which tested food preservatives on volunteers, Henry recognizes the impending regulatory shifts and the growing public demand for pure foods.

Facing skepticism from competitors, Henry takes a bold step:

• Preservative-Free Formula: Creating ketchup without benzoates or harmful chemicals, relying instead on high-quality tomatoes and natural preservation methods.
• Aggressive Marketing: Launching attack ads that discredit competitors' use of preservatives, even fabricating threats of government confiscation to sway public opinion.

Though President Theodore Roosevelt later validates his approach by deeming benzoates safe in limited quantities, Heinz’s early adoption of pure ingredients garners consumer trust and positions the brand ahead of regulatory changes.

---

Heinz’s Dominance and Lasting Legacy

[38:21] By 1906, with the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act, Heinz becomes the largest ketchup producer in the U.S., outstripping competitors who are forced to adopt similar preservative-free practices. Henry’s commitment to quality, transparency, and innovative marketing ensures that Heinz ketchup remains the preferred choice for consumers.

Jack Crivici-Kramer: "It's not necessarily about being better. It's about being different... by also being better."

Despite Henry Heinz's passing in 1919, his legacy endures as Heinz continues to dominate the ketchup market, with over 197 million Americans using Heinz ketchup in 2020.

---

Takeaways and Reflections

Jack Crivici-Kramer: "It's not necessarily about being better. It's about being different... from going with the K spelling of ketchup to the 57 variety slogan to the pursuit of higher quality ingredients, Henry succeeded by choosing options that were different and that set him apart by also being better."

Nick Martell: "Investors are living in a world five years ahead. Henry Heinz was building for the world he believed would eventually come, not the world that he was currently living in."

The episode emphasizes the importance of differentiation, ethical practices, and forward-thinking strategies in building a lasting brand. Henry Heinz's story is a testament to resilience, innovation, and the power of maintaining core values amidst adversity.

---

Notable Quotes

• Henry Heinz (Diary Entry): "A man is nowhere without money. It is hard to lose trade money, friends and reputation, and even parents in trouble." [14:42]

• Jack Crivici-Kramer: "It's not necessarily about being better. It's about being different." [41:03]

• Nick Martell: "Investors are living in a world five years ahead." [41:35]

---

Fun Facts

• Heinz Remix Machine: In 2024, Heinz introduced a remix machine allowing customers to customize their ketchup flavors, leading to innovative products like pickle-flavored ketchup.

• Mars Edition Ketchup: Heinz developed a ketchup variant mimicking Mars-like growing conditions to showcase long-term food production possibilities on the planet.

---

Conclusion

Episode 33 of The Best Idea Yet masterfully chronicles the rise of Heinz Ketchup, highlighting how Henry Heinz's unwavering dedication to quality, ethical business practices, and innovative marketing transformed a simple condiment into a global phenomenon. This episode not only celebrates the legacy of Heinz but also offers valuable lessons in branding, resilience, and strategic foresight for entrepreneurs and business enthusiasts alike.

---

Follow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery App or your preferred podcast platform to explore more stories behind the products you love.

Transcript

[Nick Martell]

Wondery subscribers can listen to the best idea yet, early and ad free.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Right now, join Wondery in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.

[Nick Martell]

Wondery. Jack, I'm going to need you to help me whip up some culinary justice.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Okay?

[Nick Martell]

I'm going to give you some big questions over here, and you need to tell me. Food crime or food fetish? Okay, Nick, is this combination a guilty pleasure or a flavor felony?

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Now, this is just for me personally.

[Nick Martell]

Yeah, just for you personally. But, you know, you are speaking to society right now. You have a microphone. You've got an influence.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

All right, hit me.

[Nick Martell]

Pineapple on pizza.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Food fetish.

[Nick Martell]

Peeling chicken nuggets before you eat them.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

That is all I did as a kid. Food fetish.

[Nick Martell]

Olive oil on ice cream.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Food crime.

[Nick Martell]

Fruit as a dessert.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Food fetish.

[Nick Martell]

All right, but what about this one, Jack? Ketchup on a hot dog.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Food fetish. Who doesn't want ketchup on a hot dog?

[Nick Martell]

I think it depends on your age. You kind of mature out of that one once you turn 13, don't you?

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Do you? I didn't get that memo.

[Nick Martell]

Today we're talking about the king of condiments that also changed everything about food safety. Ketchup, specifically, Heinz ketchup.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Did you know that ketchup is found in 97% of American households? That is product penetration we've never seen before.

[Nick Martell]

Or did you know that Heinz specifically sells over 650 million bottles of ketchup every single year?

[Jack Revici Kramer]

That's almost two bottles for every American every year.

[Nick Martell]

Today, the Kraft Heinz Company is one of the largest food and beverage brands in the world, with a market cap between 35 and 40 billion dollars. That is more than General Mills, it is three times more than Campbell's, and it is ten times more than Wendy's.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

But let's be real. Hold the mayo and the mustard. Ketchup is Heinz's Holy grail condiment.

[Nick Martell]

But, Jack, that recipe didn't just appear in a bottle one day.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

It was the brainchild of Henry J. Heinz, a young entrepreneur who struck it big, hit rock bottom, and then built himself back up again. And in the process, this guy developed a ketchup that disrupted the entire food industry.

[Nick Martell]

The story of how Heinz ketchup went viral includes the first ever electric ad and an intervention from President Teddy Roosevelt. It involves exploding ketchup bottles and Heinz nearly bankrupting his entire extended family, plus.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

A radical chemist who led a group called the Poison Squad.

[Nick Martell]

We're also going to give you the real story behind that mysterious number 57 that's on the label.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

It's one of the smartest tricks in the history of marketing.

[Nick Martell]

And we're going to connect Heinz ketchup to a Kendrick Lamar diss track. Jack, can you smack the sides of that bottle over there?

[Jack Revici Kramer]

You're supposed to tap the bottom, I think, not the sides.

[Nick Martell]

Yeah, we. We'll get to the bottom of that by the end of the show.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Here's why Heinz tomato ketchup is the best idea yet.

[Nick Martell]

From Wondery and T Boy. I'm Nick Martell.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

And I'm Jack Revici Kramer.

[Nick Martell]

And this is the best idea yet. The untold origin stories of the products.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

You'Re obsessed with and the bold risk takers who made them go viral. I got that feeling again. Something familiar but new. We got it coming to you. I got that feeling again. They changed the game in one move. It's how they broke all the room.

[Lindsey Graham]

Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wondry's American Scandal. In our latest series, a social worker in Tennessee becomes rich and powerful by selling babies on the black market. By the time her crimes are exposed, she's made a fortune and destroyed hundreds of families along the way. Follow American Scandal on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Sirloin steak. Check. Potatoes. Check. Green beans. Check. It's 1869 and you're in a local market in Pittsburgh, shopping for Sunday dinner. As you stroll outside and look through your basket, you suddenly realize you forgot the condiments. As you turn back around, you run smack into a 25 year old kid with small mutton chops on his cheeks, mop of hair on top, and an oversized bow tie. He bobbles a glass bottle in both hands and then writes it just before it crashes to the ground. Phew.

[Nick Martell]

That kid is Henry. Henry J. Heinz. The very guy whose name would one day become synonymous with ketchup. But not quite yet. At this point in our story, he's got stains on his apron and holes in his shoes and his very first product. It's horseradish.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

He holds the clear glass bottle to the light and tells you to peer into it as he explains that his horseradish isn't like his competitor. They use filler ingredients, like, get this, wood chips and leaves.

[Nick Martell]

Oh, that's what that taste is.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

And then they hide the truth with an opaque green or brown bottle so you can't see it. But Henry makes you a promise. His product is pure and unadulterated. There's nothing to hide in his clear glass bottles.

[Nick Martell]

I'm Curious. I'll keep listening, Jack.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Then he goes full Glengarry Glen Ross and hits you with the second selling point. His product will give you your time back. You won't have to grade it yourself at home. No more bruising your knuckles or having your eyes tear up from the strong smell.

[Nick Martell]

Interesting angle here. A horseradish whose value proposition is saving time.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

One less thing to worry about. And you certainly don't want to feed your family wood chips. So you take one of Henry's bottles. It's the first Heinz product you've ever tried, but it certainly won't be the last.

[Nick Martell]

Henry is the oldest of eight children in a German immigrant family. His mom is a devout religious woman who's filled her kids like mason jars with strong moral values. She is big on mantras like, do all the good you can do, not live for yourself. Really? This whole family is big on hard work and doing the right thing. That's their style.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Henry's been selling produce from his family garden since he was nine years old. Like a young Martha Stewart with seven other siblings to help support. He's got the work ethic down.

[Nick Martell]

He's also living up to those high moral standards. He's only 25 right now, but he sees the food industry landscape, and he knows that there is something wrong with it. Like, he's not exaggerating when he says that wood chips and leaves are ending up as filler in the food products.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

And that's not even the worst of it. Big food manufacturers are also tossing chemical preservatives into everything, like copper sulfate to make canned beans look greener and fresher. Adding formaldehyde to sour milk to make it taste sweeter.

[Nick Martell]

Jack, I believe the term for this is food crime, as we were saying before. Exactly.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

But, Nick, can you sprinkle on some context to the time here?

[Nick Martell]

This is the 1860s. It is decades before the government intervenes and regulators get involved in the food industry. The Food and Drug Administration that we all know today is. It isn't even established for another 50 years.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

There's no nutrition facts on the labels. There's no federal health standards to worry about. Saturated versus unsaturated fats. Jack, forget about it.

[Nick Martell]

The balance of power at the time lay with business, not with the consumers. Now, policy experts today, they would call this information asymmetry. Jack and I, we call it the Wild West. A Worcestershire sauce.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Henry doesn't think consumers should be misled like that. He literally calls his horseradish, which actually began as his mom's recipe, pure and superior. To all the others on the market, Henry's also strategic. At this young age, he has recognized a target customer better than most VC pitch decks do today. He's particularly in tune with housewives who want more convenient food options that don't take all day to prepare. But they don't want convenience at the cost of the health and safety for their family. Henry's pure and superior horseradish. It's a great start to this strategy, and he thinks to himself, hey, maybe there's something bigger here than a single root vegetable.

[Nick Martell]

So here's what Henry does. He meets up with his Pittsburgh buddy, L. Clarence Noble. By the way, always a sign of money if you're just going by the first initial on this thing.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Also a sign of money if your last name Noble.

[Nick Martell]

Yeah. Well, his last name, Noble, does align with Henry's devotion to moral values. But it might as well be short for nobility, too, because Mr. Noble happens to be pretty, pretty, pretty wealthy. So Henry asks him, hey, you want in on this horseradish venture? I got moms lining up the block at the nearby market just to refill their jars.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Absolutely, he says. He grabs his brother, and they tap their family's trust fund. In 1869, the trio found Heinz, Noble & Co. Incorporated in Pittsburgh, Pa. Their hero product is their horseradish, but they eventually expand across the garden, adding pickled cucumbers, sauerkraut vinegar, and this popular creamy celery sauce to their product line. If you're serving sausage in Pittsburgh, odds are it's complemented by something that these guys are selling.

[Nick Martell]

But, Jack, here's where Henry really gets ahead of his time. He insists on creating a brand. Now, he's not the first person to do this, but he is right on the cutting edge at the time. There's Jim Beam, the bourbon, and there's Arm and Hammer, the baking soda, but nothing much else. Henry even beats Pillsbury to the branding punch.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Again, we're a few years after the Civil War here, and in food history, brands didn't really exist yet. Food tended to be sold wholesale to grocers pretty much by the barrel. Everything you bought at the store was a commodity. There weren't Quaker oats on the shelf. There were simply oats.

[Nick Martell]

But here's Henry's thinking. He wants people to realize the superiority of his product, and he wants them to associate it with his brand and then come back time and time again. So he starts with the packaging, knowing that the package will help create the brand recognition.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Exactly. His name is literally on the line. But because he's got that brand association. He's even more of a stickler for quality control. If any of his horseradish goes bad, there's an obvious person to point to Heinz. So he pioneers inventory control methods that were ahead of their time, like first in, first out, to ensure he's turning product around before it's gone bad.

[Nick Martell]

Or Jack, how about this one? Henry tells the grocers that if they notice any early signs of mold, he, Henry, will buy back that spoiled product to avoid the bad rep that is.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

A high standard for excellence. And all of this plays out beautifully for Henry. He and his partners are one of the fastest growing companies in the city. To expand their business, they take out loans. And over the next few years, they make enough money to buy 100 acres of farmland, two dozen horses, 12 wagons, even a whole vinegar factory in St. Louis. And they start to expand nationally.

[Nick Martell]

But just as Henry is hitting his stride and disrupting your dinner, it all comes crashing down. Because in 1873, the depression arrives.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Are we a little early for the Great Depression?

[Nick Martell]

Yeah, we are, we are, we are, man. But this is actually the first depression, the one called the Long Depression. Now, unless you studied econ history, you don't typically read about this one. But this long depression is going to shatter Henry's bottled goods dreams.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Henry and his partner Clarence are making a deal with a farm out in Illinois. They want to buy cucumbers and cabbages, but the farm will only sell to them if they agree to buy the entire harvest.

[Nick Martell]

Now, it's 1875 at this point, and in any other year, that's not a huge issue. But the Long Depression is affecting everyone, and no one is shopping for anything beyond the essentials. In that economy, you're not spending your paycheck on a premium brand.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

But Henry knows people have to eat, and at least his company is offering shelf stable foods. So he does some back of the napkin math to estimate the Illinois harvest. And then he tells Clarence, sign the deal. We'll be fine. As Warren Buffett says, be greedy when everyone else is fearful.

[Nick Martell]

So Heinz gets greedy during this moment of economic fear by purchasing an entire harvest. But then, the long Depression. It only gets worse.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Keyword, long Depression.

[Nick Martell]

From Carnegie Steel Mills to the Pennsylvania oil fields, it seems like the whole country grinds to a halt. Henry's got product piling up in his warehouses and spoiling before he can even move it. And he's struggling to make weekly payroll. Oh, and Clarence is blaming Henry for overextending the entire company.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

By the fall Henry is hanging on by a thread. He's got a wife and two kids at this point, plus all his employees to think about. He's strained and he's exhausted. He's just trying to keep the company afloat.

[Nick Martell]

Well then, Jack, of course, the cucumber and the cabbage crop numbers come in and the harvest is huge. It is way more than he and Clarence expected. And simply put, there's just not enough money to pay for all of it.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

So Henry begs the local banks in downtown Pittsburgh to help him. When that doesn't work, he turns to friends and family for loans. His dad, Mr. Heinz, mortgages his own business, plus the family home to raise money for his son's venture. Henry is grateful, but he's also concerned. If he goes down, everyone's coming down with him.

[Nick Martell]

So Henry desperately is trying to right the ship here. But as 1875 comes to a close, he's just gotta face the facts. He is $50,000 in the red, and there is no way to raise the cash. He has no choice. And Henry Hines files for bankruptcy.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

For Henry, this feels like the bottom of that proverbial pickle barrel.

[Nick Martell]

You've gotta lay off hundreds of employees.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

His horses, his wagons, his farmland all get auctioned off.

[Nick Martell]

And his parents house and his dad's business, they get put up for sale.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Friends and neighbors who lent him money turn their backs on him when they see him in the street. Even Clarence turns on him publicly, blaming him for the company's failures.

[Nick Martell]

Henry just can't even bear the shame of it. He and his wife change churches so they don't have to face everyone in the pews. Not that Henry's even going to church because he is so depressed he stays in bed for weeks. Honestly, Jack, out of all the stories we've covered, I don't think there is a single entrepreneur who has lost so much as Henry Hines did. In this moment, the only thing he.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Still has is his health. On Christmas Day, still in bed, not a present in sight, Henry writes this in his diary. A man is nowhere without money. It is hard to lose trade money, friends and reputation, and even parents in trouble. I am more blamed because I did the financing.

[Nick Martell]

I mean, Jack, that just says it all. It's like a Dickensian tragedy. He is having more than just a rough holiday.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

But thankfully, Henry's family doesn't turn on him like everyone else does. It's actually the opposite. On New Year's Day, 1876, the Heinz family calls a family meeting. The adults get together in the family living room. They Light a fire. And they announce they're going to help Henry rebuild his company. His brother John and his cousin Frederick, pitching the equivalent of about $86,000 in today's money to get it back off the ground. This family, they're not cutting their losses. They're doubling down.

[Nick Martell]

Henry feels indebted to them, but he also feels motivated. He runs around the room, hugging and shaking hands, swearing to each and every family member he is going to work harder than anyone they have ever seen to make up for all of this support. Henry Heinz has learned a whole lot of lessons from his company's fall.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

This time, he's going to avoid debt at all costs. No bank loans, no Heinz bond issuance, just equity financing. If he doesn't have the cash to do something, he's not going to do it fair. And he's going to personally oversee every aspect of the business. Henry calls it soil to customer, essentially vertical integration. Meanwhile, Henry gets a $125 salary to run the company. $125. That's roughly $3,500 today. Not exactly a major CEO's pay.

[Nick Martell]

But Henry, he's willing to take the hit. He'd have nothing without his family. And so he's determined to get it right this time.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

He starts carrying a notepad with him at all times, labeled mo, as in moral obligations. It's a callback to his mother's teachings to always live a moral life.

[Nick Martell]

And in this notebook, he makes a list of how much he owes every single Heinz and Noble. He's going to pay them all back first, and then, then he can take the company to new heights from there.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Now, legally, he doesn't have to repay those debts. They were all wiped away in the bankruptcy. But practically, he does need to work with these suppliers again if he's going to succeed with this new business. And morally, he still owes them. Which leads to his new goal. Become solvent within the next four years.

[Nick Martell]

We should point out that is a way easier said than done. Everyone in Pittsburgh, they know about Henry's bad luck and bad credit, and they are hesitant to work with him ever again. But Henry, he stays the course and he focuses on the basics. Vinegar, sauerkraut, and pickles. This time, he doesn't want to get too big too fast.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

But Henry's a dreamer, a doer, and he just can't help himself. He hasn't told anyone this yet, but there's another product tempting him that he thinks will change everything. It is risky. It is a little funky. But if he does it right. He might just become the king of condiments. Okay, so back before the bankruptcy and that vulnerable diary entry, Henry had actually been playing with the idea of tomato cats up as his next big thing for Heinz.

[Nick Martell]

Jack did say cats up, not ketchup. Because back then, cats up was the popular way to say it. The exact origin of the word. It's a little murky now. It is possible this came from the Chinese word cuts up, which translates to seafood pickle juice, which sounds delicious.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Point is, Henry sees an opening in the market. Most catsups cost between a dollar and $3 per pint, which at the time is several days pay for most Americans. But Henry thinks he can beat that price point and offer something at the mid tier range.

[Nick Martell]

He's also thinking that he can just flat out make a better tasting version. The ones that are on the markets already, they're usually made of rejected tomato trimmings and waste, and then they're dyed with coal tar to make them look bright red.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Tar is how they dyed the ketchup.

[Nick Martell]

What's the result of that crazy concoction known as catsup?

[Jack Revici Kramer]

At the time, a catsup full of seeds, lumps, and not fresh at all. But consumers are okay with it because they don't know any better. There's never really been a unifying flavor of ketchup. Henry himself even experimented with a walnut cats up first.

[Nick Martell]

But Henry's got a competitive advantage. Super fresh tomatoes. In fact, he literally breeds better varieties of tomatoes to maximize their ripeness. Because the riper the tomato, the higher the levels of natural pectin it has. And that is the complex carb that naturally aids in preservation. But it is smooth. And that combo of consistency and taste, it means Henry is actually able to sell it with the 50% markup.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

But remember, Henry is building a brand. So he does one more thing to make his product stand out on the shelf and demand that premium price. He uses the far less popular name for the condiment. He calls it Heinz Tomato Ketchup.

[Nick Martell]

Ketchup. He did it. But Henry's biggest challenge yet wasn't creating the perfect recipe. It's stopping him from becoming a ticking time bomb that could shatter his restored reputation. Literally.

[Kristen Thorne]

Last year long crime brought you the trial that captivated the nation. She's accused of hitting her boyfriend, Boston police officer John o' Keefe, with her car. Karen Reed is arrested and charged with second degree murder. The six week trial resulted in anything but resolution.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

We continue to find ourselves at an impasse. I'm declaring a mistrial in this case.

[Kristen Thorne]

But now the case is back in the spotlight, and one question still lingers. Did Karen Reed kill John o' Keefe?

[Jack Revici Kramer]

The evidence is overwhelming that Karen Reed is innocent. How does it feel to be a cop killer, Karen?

[Kristen Thorne]

I'm Kristen Thorne, investigative reporter with Law and Crime and host of the podcast the Retrial. This isn't just a retrial. It's a second chance at the truth. I have nothing to hide. My life is in the balance and it shouldn't be.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

I just want people to go back to who the victim is in this. It's not her.

[Kristen Thorne]

Listen to episodes of the Retrial exclusively and ad free on Wondery.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

So our man Henry Hines has just introduced his tomato ketchup to the market. And just like his horseradish a decade earlier, he's using clear glass bottles to prove he's not got anything to hide, ingredients wise.

[Nick Martell]

Although we should point out we can't say the same for his competition because they are still using opaque bottles to cover up the fillers and chemicals and tar in their products. And nutrition labels ain't a thing yet, so consumers don't punish the competition for using chemicals. And again, tar.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Even though people, children are dying because of chemicals added to their food, like.

[Nick Martell]

Formaldehyde in milk, not everyone's aware that the food they're buying from the store is the culprit here. But business is all about timing. And luckily for Henry, a new pure foods movement is afoot in the United States, and people start calling on their representatives to make some regulations.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

And Henry's thrilled about that. He believes fighting for pure foods is the right thing to do. It also happens to be good business. For him, it's a win win. He sees the future of food safety, and he knows it's better to get on this train now rather than to try to play catch up.

[Nick Martell]

And we see smart CEOs do this in other industries all the time. They get ahead of the regulators. Like, didn't carmakers basically do the same thing as well?

[Jack Revici Kramer]

They added seatbelts voluntarily, knowing that the laws would require them soon.

[Nick Martell]

Well, a century earlier, over at Heinz, Henry is about to double down and commit early to that same idea.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

And around this time, he hears about a French scientist named Louis Pasteur.

[Nick Martell]

As in pasteurization, like the pasteurized milk that's in your fridge? Yeah, that Louis.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

So Henry establishes a sanitization process in his factories that's like a century ahead of its time.

[Nick Martell]

And check these factories were already pristine enough to, like, lick the ketchup off the floor. But then Henry goes next level. He has his workers heat all the containers to 240 degrees to kill any microorganisms before even packaging the products.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

There's a lot of costs associated with that kind of move. There are, but he's banking on consumers giving him credit for it.

[Nick Martell]

Well, then he kicks things up another notch with another really expensive idea.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Providing employee changing rooms and clean uniforms so that employees don't bring their contaminated commuting clothes into the factory.

[Nick Martell]

Okay, but Jack, this is my favorite one. Heinz even starts offering an on site manicurist. What you can get like a mani pedi for free at the ketchup factory.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Because he doesn't want dirty nails packaging that celery sauce. Yeah, Other companies don't want you to see how the sausage gets made. Heinz is the opposite. He is setting an example, a new standard of sanitization and doing so voluntarily.

[Nick Martell]

But Jack, we know that disruption requires technology. And what is his new technology?

[Jack Revici Kramer]

He embraces refrigeration. Scientists are saying that chilled foods last longer without pumping them with chemicals. Same goes for new vacuum sealed can technology and jars that are just hitting the market. He'll take advantage of any method that lets him sell more products by lasting longer, especially if they don't require chemicals.

[Nick Martell]

Henry Hines is boiling bottles. He's providing clean worker uniforms, he's giving them showers. He's shellacking cuticles with free manicures. I mean, his upfront costs are way more, but he is banking that all of this will pay for itself in higher sales. And what do you know, man? Customers start flocking to the Heinz brand because they trust the products.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

You know who else is suddenly giving Henry the time of day? All of his old creditors. He promised that he would pay them back even though the law didn't require him to. And by 1879, he manages to do just that. That's right.

[Nick Martell]

Heinz wins back their trust. And he's completely out of debt, one whole year ahead of his self imposed deadline.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

So let's do a little annual financial report for Heinz Inc. 2.0. After four years in business, he's now got 200 employees. And his annual sales are around $6 million in today's money. It's enough that in February of 1885, nine years after relaunching the company, Henry is finally released from bankruptcy.

[Nick Martell]

And now, with his slate clean, this Pittsburgh dreamer has an even bigger vision.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Henry stares out the window at New York's limestone buildings as his train barrels through the city. He's taking in the passing Billboards and thinking about work like always. Even though he's solved his financial problems and he's got a great new product, he still wants more. By his own account, Henry is a workaholic who struggles to turn off for the day. The trauma of his early bankruptcy still haunts him. If you start talking to him about the weather, he's thinking about how that will affect vinegar prices. Just then, he does a double take and focuses on one of the billboards in particular. It's an advertisement for 21 styles of shoe. Something about it makes Henry lean in. He wants to know what all 21 styles are. He's run through as many styles of shoes as he can come up with in his head.

[Nick Martell]

Okay, there's the steel boot, the wingtip, the oxford. Have crocs been invented?

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Yeah. But he falls short. What else has the shoe company dreamed up?

[Nick Martell]

That number 21, it sticks with him. It's just so imperfect that it's perfect. It generates this sense of curiosity. And that is the ideal example of how specificity sells. When Baskin Robbins later boasts about having 31 flavors, there's just something alluring about it. It's so particular, it implies. Implies it's curated, tested, trustworthy, exactly the values that Henry has scripted in the book of morals he carries in his.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Suit pocket, he starts thinking about numbers. He makes over 60 products by this point, but 60 doesn't sound as cool as 21 does.

[Nick Martell]

No, Jack, that's too round.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

So then he lands on it. What about 57?

[Nick Martell]

57. Okay. Jack was 57. The number of tests he'd done, the number of relish recipes he sent to the folks focus groups.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

It's actually even simpler. Five is his lucky number and seven is his wife's lucky number. That's good enough for Henry. 5. 7. By the time he hops off the train, he rushes to his offices and tells his marketing department he's got a new slogan for the team. 57 varieties.

[Nick Martell]

Within a week of that fateful train ride and seeing that life changing billboard, Henry has his new 57 variety slogan on every can, package and newspaper ad. And the response they make. 57 different things. These guys, they must definitely know what they're doing. It is so specific, it must be thoughtful.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Heinz will actually keep pumping out that slogan for over a century. Open your fridge, look at the bottle that's in there. You'll see the number 57 right at the top.

[Nick Martell]

57 varieties might be Henry's most famous marketing idea, but it's not the only one that he scribbles down in that little black entrepreneurial book. He starts placing ads on the side of streetcars alongside railroads. He even goes national with his advertising campaign to put a huge 57 sign on the hillside in San Francisco so train passengers can spot it from the window.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Henry personally helps design New York's first Electric billboard at 23rd street and 5th Avenue. That's what a pioneer he was in marketing now.

[Nick Martell]

Yet Henry goes even further. He he also buys an entire pier in Atlantic City and sets up a giant Heinz exhibit. This whole thing is entirely free. And after its first year, the publicity gives Heinz a 30% sales bump.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Over the next 46 years, this museum draws in an estimated 50 million people. This level of heavy advertising helps create brand recognition that his competition is too far behind to easily even taste. He knows that if you're in the store and you have to decide between two ketchup brands, you'll go with Heinz because you actually know the name. But Henry's marketing isn't the only forward thinking aspect of his business plan. This whole time he's still been trying to crack the code on preservation and he needs to get on it before it explodes. Literally. The midwestern sun beats down on the concrete as the sounds of young kids playing make believe fill the air. In St. Paul, Minnesota, 12 year old Emma Settley and her friends are messing around in an empty lot doing whatever kids did before iPads because this is 1903 after all. Emma spots ketchup somewhere on the ground. This isn't a Heinz bottle, it's some other brand. She picks it up and shakes it because that's what kids do. And that's when it explodes. The bottle shatters, glass ricocheting and hitting Emma. Her friends see her covered in a red substance and everyone screams.

[Nick Martell]

Now Emma is pretty seriously injured from that bottle. Glass gets stuck in her hand, her wrist, her leg. Thankfully though, she's okay.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

In the end, the story shows up in newspapers across Minnesota. And it's not the only incident like this. There have been reports of exploding bottles for years now. The fermentation process of ketchup had the potential for gas to build up and cause bottles to explode. And there was still no FDA or FTC around to deal with this.

[Nick Martell]

But when our man Henry Heinz sees the story, he's particularly interested now with stories of exploding bottles scaring the public, he sees another opening in the market. He can both increase his profits and increase the health of the nation if he could just crack the code to a safe chemical free ketchup.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

He's thinking there must be some sort of highly acidic formula that will kill all the bacteria and also crucially, won't explode from fermentation.

[Nick Martell]

So Henry tasks his research lab with finding a solution for a shelf stable chemical free ketchup. His researchers tinker with the sugar, the vinegar and the spice levels, and they feel like they're right on the cusp of a breakthrough, but they just can't quite figure it out.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

They promise Henry he'll have a solution to the preservation issue soon, but it can't come soon enough because Henry's about to get a visit from the poison squad.

[Lindsey Graham]

In the first half of the 20th century, one woman changed adoption in America. What was once associated with the shame of unmarried mothers became not only acceptable but fashionable. But Georgia Tann didn't help families find new homes out of the goodness of her heart. She was stealing babies from happy families and selling them for profit. Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wondery show American Scandal. We bring to life some of the biggest controversies in US History. Presidential lies, environmental disasters, corporate fraud. And in our latest series, a young adoption worker moves to Memphis, Tennessee and becomes one of the most powerful women in the city. By the time her crimes are exposed decades later, she's made a fortune and destroyed hundreds of families along the way. Follow American Scandal on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Experience all episodes ad free and be the first to binge the newest season only on Wondery. You can join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple podcasts, or Spotify. Start your free trial today.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

A group of young men, all dressed in three piece suits, take their seats in a Washington, D.C. dining club. Trays of meat, dishes of creamy butter and pitchers of milk are all laid out atop neatly pressed white tablecloths. A perfectly normal dinner setting, except for the sign that hangs on the wall that says only the brave dare eat the fare. Perhaps it's the sign, but the men hesitate as they reach for their food. They know this isn't any old dinner. This is an experiment, one they all signed up for when promised. Three square square meals a day and $5 a month to participate. But now that they've had a few of these dinners under their belts, some of them might be rethinking their choices because the food is making them sick on purpose. They glance to the front of the room where a stern looking man in his 60s watches them intently. His name is Dr. Harvey Wiley, a zealous chemist who cares about nothing as much as he does food safety and regulation so naturally, he's poisoning these men with food preservatives.

[Nick Martell]

This is the Poison Squad. It is the turn of the century, and back in Pittsburgh, Henry's heard all about Dr. Wily and this poison squad he's running. Wiley got 12 volunteers whose food he systematically poisons to see how their bodies react.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

It's a human trial that would 100% be illegal today, but the standards for human trials didn't even start getting talked about until the 1940s.

[Nick Martell]

So Dr. Wily, he's just plowing right ahead. He probably believes he's doing something moral here. He's sacrificing the health of 12 men in order to eventually protect the health of millions through better understandings of chemicals and their impact on human health. And, Jack, the very first preservative that's up on the menu over at the Poison Squad, you know what it is?

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Borax.

[Nick Martell]

Yeah, it's borax. Commonly found in cleaning solutions and enamel glazes. Anything that ends in racks, by the way, probably not going to be good for your body once they eat it. The Poison Squad gradually starts experiencing vomiting, headaches, uncontrolled trembling, and trouble focusing.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Wiley moves on to salicylic acid, then boracic acid, benzoic acid, potassium chromate, carbonate of soda, formaldehyde and benzoates.

[Nick Martell]

I don't know why they're even doing the test. I could have told you right now that's going to make you feel good, Jack.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

It's that last one, though, that he's trying to get lawmakers to ban first.

[Nick Martell]

It also happens to be the preservative of choice for the entire ketchup industry. Without benzoates, ketchup sours and the bottles explode. So obviously no ketchup producer is supporting Wiley's efforts.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

That is, except for Henry Hines. He's been following Wiley's work and he sees a macro change coming. The public is more aware of what they're putting in their bodies and what's making bottles of catsup explode. If consumer trust in the food supply drops, it's going to cost a lot more money down the road to win that trust back than it would cost to just improve the food itself today.

[Nick Martell]

It's actually a pretty clever cost benefit analysis he's doing here.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

And Henry's already working on his preservative free ketchup back in the condiment laboratory in Pittsburgh.

[Nick Martell]

True.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Finally, his researchers actually figure it out. This new version has no preservatives, but it does require a lot of high quality tomatoes to Compensate for that and those tomatoes have to be carefully boiled. And then you add twice as much salt, sugar and vinegar as your usual ketchup.

[Nick Martell]

Henry's new ketchup formula is good for society but bad for the margins. And that's why Henry's competitors ain't into this new, safer process.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

But Henry is thinking 30 years down the road again, he's taking another epic risk that he believes will pay off long term. The morally correct pure product isn't the cheaper beat him to the punch price offering. But he hopes he can justify his higher prices to his consumers.

[Nick Martell]

And bonus, if his competitors have to change their manufacturing techniques, then they'll lose money trying to catch up.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

This is when Henry pulls a move worthy of a Kendrick Lamar disk track. He launches a blitz on the rest of the industry with the biggest marketing move since the invention of the billboard. The focus of his marketing campaign. Attack ads.

[Nick Martell]

Yeah. Hines just starts ripping on his rivals.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

He takes out a two page spread in the Saturday Evening Post.

[Nick Martell]

It literally reads in block letters warning, the US Government says benzoate of soda in foods produces injury to digestion and health.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Then he starts advertising to local grocers, calling on them to get rid of any of the chemically preserved foods before the government starts confiscating them.

[Nick Martell]

This guy is just on the offense, man. It's full Kendrick.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

And the government never actually confiscates food like Heinz says they will. He just makes this all up to mess with his competition.

[Nick Martell]

Yeah, Jack, this is a really interesting move by Henry and an insight into his personality. On the one hand, he's a moral man who spends years devising a novel recipe for preservative free ketchup for the better of everyone's health. He's got a book of moral values in his jacket pocket right there.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

But he's also totally fine tricking the public with a really early example of misinformation. Now the rest of the ketchup industry isn't just going to roll over. They fight back. They even go so far as to call up the President of the United States for support. They say that Henry is lying about his preservative free ketchup recipe, that it's impossible to do it the way he says he can. And if they're forced to go down this road, it'll ruin the ketchup industry forever.

[Nick Martell]

Heinz is killing ketchup regardless of what other ketchup manufacturers say. Heinz's new extra thick preservative free formula, it's a fan favorite. By 1907, he's selling 12 million bottles a year, shipping all over the world, from London to Antwerp, Sydney to Bermuda. This is what you're putting on your burger, okay?

[Jack Revici Kramer]

But get this. The next year, Teddy Roosevelt has to personally get involved. The President puts together a board of scientists who find that benzoites are harmless if consumed in quantities of less than half a gram per day. Which, unless you're showering each morning in ketchup, you're not going to consume.

[Nick Martell]

So it looks like this wasn't even a risk at all.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

But the damage was already done by Heinz's ad campaign. Americans don't want to risk the preservatives, so when they're shopping, they reach for Heinz.

[Nick Martell]

It is one thing for a brand to become synonymous with a generic product like Kleenex for tissues, but it's something else entirely to make consumers actually think all your competitors are dangerous.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

And the rest of the industry is eventually forced to change their ways. In 1906, finally, the government passes the Pure Food and Drug act, prohibiting the sale of misbranded or adulterated food and drugs. It's the foundation for the fda.

[Nick Martell]

Finally, America's first food regulators.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Now, unfortunately for the rest of the manufacturers, they're a little late to the packaged food party. By 1905, Heinz is the largest producer of ketchup in the US by far. By 1915, most ketchups on the shelves are preservative free. But Heinz had the head start and had already firmly planted its flag as the dominant brand.

[Nick Martell]

Okay, Jack, do you remember that episode of Mad Men?

[Jack Revici Kramer]

People don't ask their children to pass the ketchup. They say pass the hines.

[Nick Martell]

Well, sadly, Henry Heinz didn't live much longer after he solidified total dominance of the ketchup industry in 1919. He died just six months short of his 75th birthday. But Heinz ketchup is still king a century later. In 2020, over 197 million Americans used Heinz.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Henry Heinz was a pioneer in so many things. Food free from chemicals and fillers. Transparency as a marketing strategy. Creating a brand out of a single number and misspelling your product to make it stand out on the shelves.

[Nick Martell]

Today, unless you're a connoisseur of artisanal ketchups who's trying to cause a rift in their family. When you go to the store, statistically speaking, you're picking up a bottle of Heinz. Now that we've heard this story on Heinz ketchup, Jack, I gotta ask, what is your takeaway?

[Jack Revici Kramer]

It's not necessarily about being better. It's about being different. From going with the K spelling of ketchup to the 57 variety slogan to the pursuit of higher quality ingredients, Henry succeeded by choosing options that were different and that set him apart by also being better.

[Nick Martell]

But we should point out, being different is a risk. Like your style could be rejected by the marketplace or by the people around you. But creating a new category and being the only person in that category, it's the best way to stand out.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Stop competing. Start differentiating. What about you, Nick? What's your takeaway?

[Nick Martell]

Okay, Jack, my takeaway is the best. Investors are living in a world five years ahead. Henry Hines was building for the world he believed would eventually come, not the world that he was currently living in. And we saw this when Heinz invested in a brand. He thought the world of commoditized Fox Food would end. So he slapped his label on the product with that name.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

And he did this when he eliminated preservatives and filler from his ketchup. He knew customers were moving towards foods without a ton of preservatives and that government regulations would soon follow.

[Nick Martell]

Looking five years ahead let him be a market leader. And then it was more expensive for everybody else to catch up.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

And now it's time for my personal favorite part of the show. The best facts yet.

[Nick Martell]

The crazy facts, hero stats and little details that we just couldn't squeeze in today's episode but we couldn't leave you without.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

I'll kick it off. Heinz recently debuted a remix machine. It's like a freestyle soda dispensing machine, but with sauces so customers and restaurants can mix their own flavors in like jalapeno or smoky chipotle into the ketchup. Heinz gets to use the data from these machines to see what customers want for future flavors.

[Nick Martell]

In fact, that's how Heinz got the pickle flavored ketchup that they released in 2024.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Here's another one. Heinz even made a special Mars edition ketchup using tomatoes grown on earth in Mars like conditions. It was all to show the possibility of long term food production on Mars.

[Nick Martell]

Heinz coming to a local Mars grocery store near you.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

And that, my friends, is why Heinz tomato ketchup is the best idea yet. Coming up on the next episode, the subject I've been most looking forward to this entire show.

[Nick Martell]

Bust out your flip flops and your floral button down. We're sinking into the story of the Tommy Bahama beach chair.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Follow the best idea yet on the Wondery app, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to every episode of the Best Idea yet early and ad free right now by joining Wondery plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.

[Nick Martell]

Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short [e-mail] survey the best idea yet is a production of Wondery hosted by me, Nick Martel.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

And me Jack Crevici Kramer. Our senior producers are Matt Beagle and Chris Gautier.

[Nick Martell]

Peter Arcuni is our additional Senior producer.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Our senior Managing Producer is Nick Ryan and Taylor Sniffin is our Managing Producer.

[Nick Martell]

Our Associate producer and researcher is H. Conley.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

This episode was written by Alex Burns.

[Nick Martell]

We use many sources in our research including Atlas Obscuras when every ketchup but one went extinct by Sam Lynn Sommer and H.J. hines a biography by Quentin Skrabik Sound.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Design and mixing by Kelly Kramerek Fact.

[Nick Martell]

Checking by Erica Janik Music supervision by.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Scott Velazquez and Joe Jolina Garcia for Freeson Sync.

[Nick Martell]

Our theme song is Got that Feeling Again by Blackalac. Executive producers for Nick and Jack Studios.

[Jack Revici Kramer]

Are me, Nick Martell and me, Jack Revici Kramer.

[Nick Martell]

Executive producers for Wondery are Dave Easton, Jenny Lauer, Beckman, Aaron o' Flaherty and Marshall Louis.

[Lindsey Graham]

As a contractor for the nsa, Edward Snowden had access to a range of top secret government programs. But as he learned more about these clandestine operations, he came to understand a devastating secret the government was conducting mass surveillance on its own citizens. Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wondry show American Scandal. We bring to life some of the biggest controversies in US History. Presidential lies, Environmental disasters, Corporate fraud. In our latest series, whistleblower Edward Snowden changes the national conversation about privacy on the Internet as he risks his own freedom and his family's well being. Follow American Scandal on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Listen to all episodes ad free and be the first to binge the newest season only on Wondery. You can join Wondery in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial today.