When Clear Bottles Changed Food

Rea,

You know how sometimes you spot something others miss? Back in the 1870s, a businessman named Henry J. Heinz noticed something about food that would change how we eat.

After his first food company went bankrupt in 1875, Heinz looked closely at the food industry. What he saw bothered him. Food companies were selling ketchup in dark brown bottles to hide what was inside - poor ingredients, chemicals, and sometimes even spoiled food.

Heinz saw that customers couldn’t tell what they were buying. This was before food safety laws or ingredient labels existed. Companies put almost anything in their products - coal tar for coloring, borax as a preservative, and rotting tomatoes covered up with spices.

Instead of copying everyone else, Heinz tried something new. He made ketchup with good ingredients and put it in clear glass bottles so people could see what they were buying.

This simple idea worked well. When Heinz launched his ketchup, customers could see it was thick, bright red, and made with fresh tomatoes. He even invited health officials to visit his factory when other companies kept their doors closed.

People started choosing Heinz ketchup over others. His company grew quickly. By 1906, when America passed its first food safety laws, Heinz had already been following better standards for 30 years.

Today, Heinz sells more than 650 million bottles of ketchup yearly in over 140 countries. The company has lasted nearly 150 years because Henry Heinz saw a problem and fixed it in a way that helped customers.

Sometimes the best ideas come from seeing what others don’t. Like finding a hidden path in the woods that everyone else walks past, Heinz spotted a way to make food better by being honest when others weren’t.

Love, Abba

P.S. Did you know Heinz created his famous “57 Varieties” slogan even though the company actually made more than 60 different products? He just thought the number 57 sounded memorable!