Ketchup Gets Innovative
Development opportunities in the ketchup category lie in unique flavors and easy-to-use single-serve packets.
Americans love their ketchup — and why not? It tastes great in, on or with so many foods: meatloaf, burgers, fries and more.
But to keep consumers shopping on the store brand side of ketchup, retailers will need to approach product development with both new and emerging trends in mind.
Trends with traction
In a 2004 article in The New Yorker, author and staff writer Malcolm Gladwell asked the question: "Mustard now comes in dozens of varieties. Why has ketchup stayed the same?"
That reality has been changing in recent times. Matthew Hudak, U.S. research analyst with Euromonitor International, Chicago, notes that innovative ketchup flavors currently are trending.
To illustrate this reality, he points to Heinz, which unveiled a tomato ketchup blended with balsamic vinegar — instead of the traditionally used white vinegar — a little more than a year ago. Originally introduced as a limited-edition product available only via Facebook, the ketchup saw strong enough sales to earn it a full-time placement in brick-and-mortar stores.
Heinz's latest flavor is its limited-edition Tomato Ketchup Blended with Real Jalapeño. When the product hits store shelves in January 2013, it will be the second spicy ketchup offering from the company, with the first being Heinz Hot & Spicy Ketchup.
At least one private label ketchup manufacturer is trying to help retailers one-up Heinz in the spicy sector. The Fremont Co. of Fremont, Ohio — which already offers its own equivalent to Heinz's Hot & Spicy Ketchup for private labeling — recently introduced not just one, but two more spicy ketchups for retailers' store brand programs: Jalapeno Hot & Spicy Ketchup and Chipotle Pepper Hot & Spicy Ketchup. Mike Hackbarth, Fremont's vice president, private label, says the new items meet both ethnic and mainstream consumers' demand for spicy foods.
But retailers looking to roll out ketchup flavors not offered by the national brands should consider looking to the foodservice channel. Mary Chapman, Chicago-based Technomic's director, product innovation, points to several innovative restaurant ketchups, including a smoky ketchup (served with sweet potato fries) from Mimi's Café, a sriracha ketchup (served with cheesesteak eggrolls) from the Continental Midtown, and a salsa ketchup (served as a burger topping) at Cheeseburger in Paradise.
Trends on the horizon
More and more Americans are seeking ways to cut back their sugar consumption, and ketchup brands haven't done much in the way of sugar reduction. Looking ahead, Hackbarth says he sees opportunities in ketchups made with alternative sweeteners.
To help retailers out here, Fremont introduced the industry's first stevia-sweetened ketchup, which contains 25 percent less sugar than the company's regular ketchup. Available for private labeling, the product made its debut at the Private Label Manufacturers' Association's 2012 Private Label Trade Show in November.
"Within four years, Truvia — the leading stevia brand — has become the number-two branded sugar substitute and the number-one natural sugar substitute in the U.S.," Hackbarth notes. "Its popularity as a sugar substitute in the baking aisle and as an ingredient among beverages and foods is growing significantly."
As for what's to come in packaging, Daniel Granderson, an analyst with the Packaged Facts division of Rockville, Md.-based MarketResearch.com, expects brands to innovate "beyond packets."
"For all the deliciousness they contain, ketchup packets can be messy [and] hard to open, and often simply don't provide enough ketchup," he says.
As an example here, Granderson points to Heinz's Dip & Squeeze single-serve ketchup packets, which hold three times as much as traditional ketchup packets. The packets are squeezable — and also can be used for dipping.
"Other ketchup manufacturers are likely to pursue their own solutions to the 'ketchup packet conundrum,'" he explains.