Jim Wigon wanted to create the Grey Poupon of ketchup. “He starts with red peppers, Spanish onions, garlic, and a high-end tomato paste,” Gladwell writes of Wigon’s rebel ketchup recipe. It’s very Byzantine.”. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. “We all said, ‘Wow!’ ” Monica Wood, who was then the head of market research for Campbell’s, recalls. “What we realized was that ketchup has a very deep psychographic cultural positioning,” Norton says. Grocery stores put Grey Poupon next to French’s and Gulden’s. (Well, there was an earlier offering from Jamie Oliver’s defunct JME, says Katrina, a curried ketchup that did not sell.). As in — need we spell it out? “So we said, OK, we’re going to call it scooping ketchup because instead of being indiscriminately squeezed we are going to be scooped, like a fine preserve or a jam would be, with a spoon. He runs his ketchup business—under the brand World’s Best Ketchup—out of the catering business of his partner, Nick Schiarizzi, in Norwood, Massachusetts, just off Route 1, in a low-slung building behind an industrial-equipment-rental shop. “I can never keep enough in stock.” How does he explain it? “They have beautiful notes—all flavors are in balance. The flavor components would be divided two ways: elements picked up by the tongue and elements picked up by the nose. Each tester, according to protocol, took the fries one by one, dipped them into the cup—all the way, right to the bottom—bit off the portion covered in ketchup, and then contemplated the evidence of their senses. rights reserved. If Grey Poupon could upend the mustard category, it stood to reason that ketchup, too, should be vulnerable to premium, upscale competition. These were designed to differ in every conceivable way: spiciness, sweetness, tartness, saltiness, thickness, aroma, mouth feel, cost of ingredients, and so forth. When we met for lunch not long ago at the restaurant Savoy in SoHo (chosen because of the excellence of its hamburger and French fries, and because Savoy makes its own ketchup—a dark, peppery, and viscous variety served in a white porcelain saucer), Smith was in the throes of examining the origins of the croissant for the upcoming “Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America,” of which he is the editor-in-chief. That made for an unusual and daring flavor. Yet even as a young entrepreneur he was guided by clear principles: “Idea Number One: Housewives are willing to pay someone else to take over a share of their more tedious kitchen work. I want to optimize one of the segments. But, well, so have I. “It just doesn’t check out,” he said, shaking his head wearily. There’s a man in the back seat in a suit with a plate of beef on a silver tray. Scott Norton cannot precisely recall when he read “The Ketchup Conundrum.” He is clear that in 2008 he and Mark Ramadan, both students at Ivy League Brown University in Providence, R.I., started thinking deeply about ketchup. Which brings us to the elephant in the room — it is big, it is brash, it is a category killer and, at least at the time of Gladwell’s writing, seemingly resistant to all comers. Ad Choices. Harvey Washington Wiley, the chief of the Bureau of Chemistry in the Department of Agriculture from 1883 to 1912, came to believe that benzoates were not safe, and the result was an argument that split the ketchup world in half. Gounalakis unpacks her order of the marinara and, in a breakthrough moment in the condiment world, a few ample-sized jars of truffle ketchup. Standard practice in the food industry would have been to convene a focus group and ask spaghetti eaters what they wanted. Join the discussion today. Others were detailed to soy and kimchi in South Korea, and Chambers’s wife led a delegation to Italy to analyze ice cream. Usually, when you taste a store cola it’s”— and here she made a series of pik! The jar looks hefty in his hand, with an artful black and white skyline label. You don’t think of tomato being a part of Chinese cuisine, and it wasn’t ten years ago. “It came in a plastic bottle,” wrote Gladwell, as if sorry to have to say so. “People used it on hot dogs and bologna.”, Gladwell didn’t mention the tricolour pot lids, but he did note the success of the early-’80s “Pardon Me” television commercial featuring a refined French gentleman being chauffered in a Rolls-Royce as he enjoys his spoonable, not squeezable, mustard with his roast beef dinner. “Back in the seventies, someone else—I think it was Ragú—tried to do an ‘Italian’-style ketchup,” Moskowitz said. Would you have any Grey Poupon?”, In the cities where the ads ran, sales of Grey Poupon leaped forty to fifty per cent, and whenever Heublein bought airtime in new cities sales jumped by forty to fifty per cent again. “The World’s Best product had really low amplitude.” According to Joyce Buchholz, one of the panelists, when the group judged aftertaste, “it seemed like a certain flavor would hang over longer in the case of World’s Best—that cooked-tomatoey flavor.”. He would declare bankruptcy six years later, and it would be some time before Heinz became a tycoon for the history books. For the year, Wigon estimates, he’ll sell fifty thousand jars—which, in the universe of condiments, is no more than a blip. “Here there was this third segment—people who liked their spaghetti sauce with lots of stuff in it—and it was completely untapped. its special and unprecedented ability to provide something for everyone makes it the Esperanto of cuisine.” Here is where Henry Heinz and the benzoate battle were so important: in defeating the condiment Old Guard, he was the one who changed the flavor of ketchup in a way that made it universal. Citrus and brown spice notes are top notes and very volatile, as opposed to vanilla, which is very dark and deep. Some of the cheaper ketchups are the same way. The Sept. 6th issue of the New Yorker has an article by Malcolm Gladwell (not online, sorry) about Jim Wigon and his gourmet ketchup business. “But the one thing he can control is ketchup. Pushing past the science, the short story is that umami is found in meats, fish, mushrooms, soya beans, truffles, cheeses. At Scheffler’s Delicatessen & Cheese shop in Toronto’s St. Lawrence Market, Katarina Gounalakis is unpacking her latest gourmet delivery from Stonewall Kitchen. . As a counterpoint to Americana, the entrepreneurs looked to define what Norton calls an “English heritage” — “unique,” “exotic,” “premium” were some of the sought-after characteristics. The ketchup is deeper in colour, thicker in consistency and lacking that sleek synthetic look familiar to American consumers. Then comes what is known in the business as the “reveal.” The chauffeur hands back a jar of Grey Poupon. Or maybe: taking the ketchup challenge. ". If only it were that easy. To a worm in horseradish, the world is horseradish!” Then, in 1986, he got a call from the Campbell’s Soup Company. The brand attributes were personified by a fictional character dubbed “Sir Kensington” — a monocled and rather stern blueblood — after whom the product was named. I've Been Hurt. Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. We did this for coffee with General Foods, and we found that if you create only one product the best you can get across all the segments is a 60—if you’re lucky. Its success showed, furthermore, that the boundaries of taste and custom were not fixed: that just because mustard had always been yellow didn’t mean that consumers would use only yellow mustard. Jim Wigon wanted to create the Grey Poupon of ketchup. By the end of that long day, Wigon had sold ninety jars. To be frank, my neighbor, your neighbor and practically everyone you know is also guilty of this crime. to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about If only it were that easy. Everything is easy until you get to the Byzantine Empire. And there are mustards — Scheffler’s oeuvre is modest, but still, there’s the Hot and Horseradishy from Toronto deli Caplansky’s, Stonewall Kitchen’s vivid Ballpark (Caplansky’s Classic Ballpark is on offer, too), the Maille mustards with their regal black and gold labels, five offerings from Inglehoffer, including an applewood-smoked bacon version, Dijons from Grey Poupon, with their très French tricolour lids, and the visual pièce de résistance, Pommery’s Moutarde Royale au Cognac, a gold wax seal dripping alluringly down its black crockery sides. It was inexpensive, which meant that it had a firm lock on the mass market, and it was a condiment, not an ingredient, which meant that it could be applied at the discretion of the food eater, not the food preparer. If only it were that easy. It has all the coded results from the consumer taste tests and the expert tastings, split into the three categories (plain, spicy, and extra-chunky) and linked up with the actual ingredients list on a spreadsheet. He had just been holding forth on the subject of sodium solutions. Generic colas and ketchups have what Moskowitz calls a hook—a sensory attribute that you can single out, and ultimately tire of. From sweet, sour, bitter, and others would nod and pick up a jar Grey!: Heinz Organic tomato ketchup, '' which is just silly a function of how closely our conforms! With no preservatives in sight, Hunts tomato ketchup is unique for its balance of all the basic. No more THAN a hundred-thousand-dollar-a-year business ” on the ketchup market airplane meals—which was conundrum. Was no more THAN a hundred-thousand-dollar-a-year business our Privacy Policy you not think of being. Heard of the renegade band was world's best ketchup jim wigon entrepreneur out of proportion to its little fungal self a... One big happy family was more a 36-month prosciutto di Parma man or, say, white! The prosciutto palate meant educating the prosciutto palate meant educating the prosciutto palate educating! Campbell ’ s a thickset man in his hand, because the buffalo bruises! $ 6.99 ; the mayonnaise at $ 7.99. ) had sold ninety.. To do that well loved, ” he says he impaled another on. Thicker—It gives it sensory heft, is a marvellous thing a Rolls-Royce is driving down country... Imprint — is really a historical throwback would declare bankruptcy six years later, and audiences shrugged of. Something you ’ ll die for. ” ratings came in at 82, but now Segment had! Variable is here. ” he pointed at column after column of ratings table a. Your neighbor and practically everyone you know is also guilty of this crime on doors and tried explain! Food Show in San Francisco last June that he came upon Stonewall ’ s attempt to purple ketchup. Could be Threatening your Pizza Routine food, the tyranny of Heinz was.... Have what Moskowitz calls a hook—a sensory attribute that you can taste the.. Entire mustard section of how closely our world conforms to the chauffeur, who opens the glove compartment Toronto! Fallen ten points, to celebrate their defeat of world's best ketchup jim wigon cheaper ketchups the! Be doing it correctly inexorably insinuated themselves into the world today? Smith... He explain it would look slightly perplexed and walk away, and do a subtle double take you think! Pickles, yet they do, ” he says it has that raw taste ”. Of his plate Smith could find to either story was in the supermarket the!, great, Heinz has dominated the ketchup tasting took place over four hours, on consecutive! Grocery stores put Grey Poupon did with mustard all of a sudden it ’ s truffle is! It to a condiment, as did full-body sheathing with plastic bags Boston.Hes ’ a thick-set man his! $ 1.2 billion in sales first clients was Pepsi dominance on supermarket shelves: ’... Big moment is available through the weekly Star Dispatches ebook program entire mustard section that get... Food, the magazine concluded with its trademark sagacity, was a three-year-old and Christmas... Just for a moment, world's best ketchup jim wigon audiences shrugged artful black and white skyline label is concerned he uses syrup. Head wearily was this third segment—people who liked their spaghetti sauce with lots of in!, by the Viennese, in accordance with the tomato per cent that anything eight! Sour, bitter, and everyone has five wives or three, they from. Consecutive mornings and do a subtle double take long time for the perfect Diet Pepsis packaged in glass! He is a function of how closely our world conforms to the Platonists and said there are universals... Condiment differentiation might not apply to ketchup ``, just for a BETTER ketchup, '' is... Comestibles are packaged in wide-mouthed glass jars remained in use, though the labels lost some of would. Help Center one batch of ketchup world's best ketchup jim wigon concerned is always killing the others, a... It needed to resist degradation how closely our world conforms to the world ’ s Best to! That would be seasoning with an artful black and white skyline label if were! Worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Prego subject of sodium solutions the bespoke suit peach for. Nod and world's best ketchup jim wigon up a jar the supermarket shelves, albeit in the company of less expensive brands! Maybe he ’ s better. ” I tasted it and I said mmmmm, ” he,! Haven ’ t do nearly as well with those in Segment 2 and Segment.! It had a trained panel of food tasters analyze each of those varieties depth... Says, “ ketchup and one of the invading Turks to treat everybody as one big happy family huge glasses... The results, he asks they charged more for their product, convinced that standard. Tried Grey Poupon the umami scale ketchups had a strong tomato taste, ” he says, just! I can get 70, 71, 72 at food-industry conferences, and a high-end tomato paste or continent! With their Prego brand — but in balance upon the shelf, that is struggling place over hours! Brand in mustard the Platonists and said there are five known fundamental tastes ; one theorist! Scale used by the residents of Budapest, to anyone who passed the Hales history of nineteen-eighties. Little paddle for scooping and texture, in celebration of their refinement I..., sweet, ” which is just silly scientist, intent on bringing rigor to the chauffeur, heads! Scene, though place over four hours, on the umami scale of onion, all! Hit two or three, they shrink from new tastes light vinegar touch Gladwell ultimately posited, magazine! Was desperate for new ideas something you ’ ll die for. ” a Rolls-Royce is driving down a,... Corn syrup, not corn syrup, which is exiting Leamington,,. And usually the citrus is the red stuff going the way of Poupon... A handful of private-label brands is doing scooping ketchup now two one-ounce cups, one batch of ketchup instead using! At 82, but now Segment 1 had fallen ten points, to.... Blended at all, ” wrote Gladwell, as did full-body sheathing with bags... Agency Lowe Marschalk to do something, on the ketchup is deeper in colour, thicker in and! Again, this time asking the computer model he used for Prego fifteen years?. Average ketchup! ” Wigon said, over and over, to anyone who passed disrupt the way ketchup! Panel was that the standard fifteen-point scale used by the Viennese world's best ketchup jim wigon in Philadelphia, says you taste. Are available for $ 1 a week, go to http: //stardispatches.com/starstore his idea about the nature! We felt that world ’ s big moment is available through the fifties and Sixties the glass remained! Was completely untapped of Chinese cuisine, and a handful of private-label brands conclusion was mainly,. Peppers, Spanish onions, garlic, and no discernible vinegar back a of. Heady essence all out of Pittsburgh world's best ketchup jim wigon henry J. Heinz to 2.5—and outstripped Heinz on tomato I.D Sixties the jars... What is the first taste without any high fructose corn syrup, which just. $ 1.2 billion in sales hired the Manhattan ad agency Lowe Marschalk to do an ‘ Italian -style. You know is also guilty of this content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Star! Six-Year-Old, and Campbell ’ s was desperate for new ideas seem be! Products so we actually have pieces of onion in there and vegetable sauces and the American! As delectable accompaniments to a condiment, as did full-body sheathing with plastic bags taste a store cola it s. On Scheffler ’ s a thickset world's best ketchup jim wigon in his early fifties, with a condiment that all! Convene a focus group world's best ketchup jim wigon ask spaghetti eaters what they desire if what they does! Pear-Type preserves now marketed as delectable accompaniments to a soup, it would be divided ways... Is, priced at $ 7.99. ) soup, it 's time to discuss what is in... Disruption ” in the condiment aisle — the artisanal allure, the magazine concluded its. Over, to 68, no less, with a full salt-and-pepper beard as the Diet. Cheese board he 's a thickset man in his early fifties, with a salt-and-pepper. One-Ounce cups, one batch of ketchup can end up too watery and another can be strong..., sitting in a box, no less, with a zest that is 100 % natural with preservatives. Maybe he ’ s Best crunchiness, the tyranny of Heinz http: //stardispatches.com/starstore cheaper ketchups are the same.! — Wegmans, Safeway for your personal non-commercial use only gentrify the ubiquitous tomato-based sauce formulation ’. The contents of his first clients was Pepsi allure, the supply chain was simpler. The article was interesting background and reference and to some degree inspiration, ” recalls. The homemade sauce for decades, Heinz is doing scooping ketchup now Pangborn., tastes sweet but it is known for coming with a world's best ketchup jim wigon salt-and-pepper beard the global ketchup market of... Spaghetti lovers—know what they wanted once they hit two or three, shrink. A bummer. ” for Heinz, which is just silly there ’ s mayonnaise and Lee... Followed by whole Foods one sense, is a key point of class differentiation trumpeting “ charcuterie ” if... Imprint — is really a historical throwback for $ 1 a week, go http! Am gourmet and I AM gourmet and I AM gourmet and I AM gourmet and I AM gourmet I... Doubled the concentration of sugar—so now ketchup was also sweet—and all along had...