More dip, less drip: Heinz hopes new ketchup packets solve longtime complaints
By APThursday, February 4, 2010
Heinz revamps ketchup packets
PORTLAND, Ore. — The ketchup packet has been around for more than 40 years, and complaints about it for nearly as long: too messy, too small, too hard to open. Now H.J. Heinz Co. is unveiling the first major packaging change to the to-go condiment.
The new design has a base that’s more like a cup for dipping and also a tear-off end for squeezing. It holds three times as much ketchup.
Heinz has long struggled to find a design that did all that that could also be sold cheaply enough.
The company recently made a solution a top priority. It even bought its design team a minivan to give their ideas real road tests.
The new packet is in test markets and will roll out at some fast-food restaurants in the fall.
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