According to the research of the Heinz Ketchup Road Trip, 63 percent of people are ‘dippers’ and 37 percent are ’squeezers’. The redesigned individual ketchup packets combine both functions into one convenient container.
The new packet is a flat tray similar to individual jelly packets but with the silhouette of a squat ketchup bottle. The ‘mouth’ end tears off easily for squeezing and the bottom peels back for convenient dipping. The new container holds three times as much ketchup as the typical tear-and-squeeze model. The company hopes customers adapt to the larger size and reduce the quantity normally grabbed.
The development of a redesigned package is over forty years in the making. When the individual packets were first introduced in 1968, the company received complaints the following year. The biggest quibbles were the inability to dip on the go and messy accidents from hard to open packets. Much like the original ketchup recipe, the complaints haven’t changed. Modern day rants have led to anti-ketchup packet Facebook pages.
Design research incorporated french fries and user observations in situ–minivans used for actual road and meal tests. The studies found that customers wanted a package that could easily be set on an armrest, offered the choice to dip or squeeze, and held an adequate amount for a meal in one packet.
The redesigned packets were introduced in select restaurants in the fall of 2010 and the overwhelmingly positive response convinced the company to release the design in restaurants nationwide. Now for the first time, Heinz is making the individual packets available for purchase in retail stores.
The world’s largest producer of ketchup has created a YouTube page for fans to spread the good condiment news. Watch a video showing the new packet in action below:
Via: WSJ online
