Heniz Big Soup commercial from 1981

H. J. Heinz Company (NYSE: HNZ), commonly known as Heinz and famous for its “57 Varieties” slogan and its ketchup, is an American food company with world headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Heinz Logo

Perhaps best known for its ketchup, the H.J. Heinz Company manufactures thousands of food products in plants on six continents and markets these products in more than 200 countries and territories. Heinz ranked first in ketchup in the United States with a market share in excess of 50 percent. Moreover, its Ore-Ida label held more than 50 percent of the frozen-potato sector. Overall, the company claims to have 150 number one or number two brands worldwide. Breaking the company’s sales down by sector, ketchup, condiments, and sauces account for about 24 percent of overall sales; frozen foods (including Ore-Ida, Budget Gourmet, and Weight Watchers), 15 percent; pet products (9-Lives, Gravy Train, and Ken-L-Ration), 14 percent; soups, beans, and pasta meals, 12 percent; tuna, 12 percent; infant foods, 11 percent; and other, 12 percent. Geographically, about 55 percent of revenues are generated in North America, 26 percent in Europe, 11 percent in the Asia-Pacific region, and eight percent elsewhere.

The UK headquarters is in Hayes.  After opening its first overseas office in London in 1896, the company opened its first UK factory in Peckham, south London in 1905. This was followed by a second factory at Harlesden, north-west London in 1919.  A factory at Wigan opened in 1959. Heinz also has an infant feeding factory in Kendal, Cumbria. The site specializes in baby milks, previously under the brand of Farley’s, but now manufactures under the name Heinz Nurture. It currently has around 200 employees.

1970s TV comedy series The Goodies spoofed the Heinz baked beans adverts. Tim Brooke-Taylor was the beans boy who, because he could never get the poem right, was always hurt. In 2001 the Food Standards Agency of the Government of the United Kingdom found Heinz canned baked beans products to be contaminated with the hormone disruptor bisphenol.

In June 2009, the company introduced the prototype of the world’s smallest, portable microwave, Beanzawave. The microwave would be targeted at office workers and students and can be powered by a computer via a USB port. The size of the microwave is good for heating up coffee or tea or small items. It is also good for heating up Heinz’s hot snack line, Snap Pots, which is why it was created. The prototype was designed by microwave expert, Gordon Andrews and industrial designer, Stephen Frazer.

Info gleaned from Wikipedia