The Ketchup War: How Heinz & French’s turned the ‘Tomato Capital of Canada’ into a battleground

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Reddit Comments

Great story made better by beating "Big Business".

👍︎︎ 4 👤︎︎ u/cryptkicker130 📅︎︎ Mar 26 2023 🗫︎ replies

I only buy frenches now.

👍︎︎ 11 👤︎︎ u/WombieZolfDBL 📅︎︎ Mar 26 2023 🗫︎ replies

There will be sup

👍︎︎ 2 👤︎︎ u/Bootybootsbooty 📅︎︎ Mar 27 2023 🗫︎ replies
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♪♪ Brian Fernandez: Since Heinz decided to pull the plug on its Canadian plant in Leamington ♪♪ French's known for its mustard, stepped in and decided to make ketchup. ♪♪ They also decided to use those same Leamington tomatoes from Canadian farmers. We bought a bottle. Absolutely love it. Bye. Bye. Heinz. ♪♪ Back in 2016, that's how it all started, the Ketchup Wars. ♪♪ Scott Holland: Leamington's always been a Heinz town, a hundred years in one town. It's just incredible. Elliott Penner: French's launch ketchup. What's going on in Canada? Sylvain Charlebois: Something happened during the Ketchup Wars competition, they became more aggressive. ♪♪ Emily Ruby: Right now, we're sitting in the middle of the Heinz exhibit at the Heinz History Center. Pittsburgh is where H.J. Heinz is from and where he started the company. You find that people think that Heinz is a British company because of baked beans in England and probably in Canada as well, because of the huge plant in Leamington. Of course, we in Pittsburgh know it's ours but, it's cool to see that this company becomes so embedded in the communities where they are, where they have these factories. ♪♪ News clip narrator: Delivering the new processed food products that made the number 57 famous. Emily Ruby: Henry John Heinz starts the company in 1869. He knew if he could make a product that was packaged in clear glass, you could see what was inside of it. And it was something that could be relied on, that there would be a market for it, and he was correct. So he starts with horseradish and he expands from there into pickles, vinegars and eventually ketchup. ♪♪ By the 1890s, it's the most popular condiment. And Heinz is, you know, the number-one seller of tomato ketchup. They become the largest food processor in the world. They're one of the first American food brands to go global with their product. ♪♪ When Heinz starts the company, he wants his products all over the world. And he wants to process things as soon as they're picked from the field. But he needs more production facilities. So in 1909, they build that factory in Leamington. ♪♪ Scott Holland: The Heinz story for 100 years is an incredible story here because it's nothing but expansion. ♪♪ Leamington has always been a Heinz town. It was their main employer. Tom Keller: They made it a community and it worked really well because they contributed all the time, and they would have an annual picnic for their workers every year. You know, they kind of turned it into a family thing. Scott Holland: They were very generous to the town's citizens. Tom Keller: It was good for the town, to have, you know, a local employer like that, eh? You have a corporate sponsor for a lot of things. Scott Holland: Put money into parks, put money into baseball diamonds, hockey arenas. And that was always their tenet. They wanted to make life better. ♪♪ A hundred years in one town, for any company is just incredible. ♪♪ Mike O'Connor: Yeah. (chuckles) You want that beer... or you want that Heinz in there, don't you? Which side? Pick a side. Well, hi. We're, uh, welcome to Leamington, it's the most southernest place in Canada, this area here. Everybody and their grandparents have come to Leamington and seen this big old smokestack behind me, I guess you'd say. I'm from the Windsor area, so when I got into town and got a job, the locals were kind of thinking, 'Oh, man, how did you get so lucky to get into there full time?' Because they've been trying every season to get in and-- not, not as lucky, I guess. Since you know the history of that job, you think you're great for life, it's like, 'Wow, this place been here a hundred years. I just got the book.' Right on! And you tell your, brag to your wife, family, whoever, and friends. But, once you get your layoff notices and you start seeing the walls gettin' knocked down, it's a different story. Yeah. Tom Keller: You always knew that because it's, uh, it was American-owned, you knew it-- they could move any time. Mike O'Connor: Actually, that'd be the year it closed, 2014. They didn't pass these out, I found 'em in the box in the back room. Peter Mansbridge: We want to take you to Leamington, Ontario, now. More than 700 lost their jobs when Heinz closed the plant that had been there for more than a century. Scott Holland: In late 2013, Warren Buffett, who had ownership of the Heinz Company, decided that he was going to downsize many of his factories. Unfortunately, the Leamington Factory was one of the ones he deemed that was unnecessary. Sylvain Charlebois: They just went-- you know what? Who cares! It's Canada. Scott Holland: You're losing a tax base of probably half a million dollars a year. That was putting the funds for sewer improvements or better roads. It was a devastating loss. It was an abrupt end to the Heinz story here. Mike O'Connor: Well, I guess this would have been the future of Heinz ketchup made in Canada. It's just dumping out. It's gone and long gone, and I guess it ain't coming back. Former Heinz Employee: Workers in this company, pissed off, destroying a beautiful community and all the people that live in it. Mike O'Connor: It was the tomato capital of the world at one time. ♪♪ Goodbye ketchup. ♪♪ Tom Keller: So, I mean, these are still growing, that's why they're smaller. Brent Hodge: Is that the perfect one? Tom Keller: They're all perfect. (laughs) ♪♪ Mike O'Connor: A lot of people didn't understand that ketchup was 100% made in Canada for Canada and supplied only in Canada. ♪♪ Tom Keller: You know, when the season's on, it's, it's a lot of work to get that crop in. Dave Dyck: Tomatoes don't like it too hot, too humid, 'cause you face a lot of diseases. Tom Keller: It's an intense crop. Sylvain Charlebois: You can't just flick a switch and decide to grow tomatoes. Tom Keller: It's good for so many days and then after that you can't really sell it. So you're at a big disadvantage unless you have a home for all that much produce. ♪♪ (tractor humming) Nick Purden: What happens to a town when the major employer shuts the door? ♪♪ Tom Keller: We were kind of surprised. I guess we didn't realize when the hammer was going to fall. And I didn't have a contract the next year. For two years, I didn't have a contract to grow tomatoes. ♪♪ Scott Holland: French's realized there's a factory here and we might be able to make ketchup there. ♪♪ Elliott Penner: Hi, Elliott Penner, former President of the French's business. Before the turn of the century, R. T. French travels around in a wagon and he sells spices all over. And then he decides that he's going to get into the mustard business as we kind of know it today. And that changed the company for sure. That beautiful bottle of mustard. It's been in every special occasion. We are just so lucky to be on the table right with your three year old and your grandfather and your grandmother and the birthday party. We're there. And today, French's has been a global condiment business for over a hundred years. Kraft Heinz launches into the mustard category, and they're coming after us. As a cha--, as a, as a business, that's not nearly the size of Kraft Heinz, that's a tough thing to fight back. And normally what you would do is you drop back and you would just protect your base. That just didn't seem right for us. You know, we have a 100 year-old business that's just loved by so many. Why am I protecting that? I shouldn't be protecting that. And we thought, you know, we need to do is we need to challenge back in a different way. And that's when we launched ketchup ♪♪ In Canada, it was particularly important for us to do that using the tomatoes that came from Leamington. ♪♪ There was an opportunity that existed in this market and we wanted to be local and we thought this was a great opportunity for us to source tomatoes. I get a phone call and someone says to me, 'Hey, Elliott, have you seen what's going on in Canada?' 'Do we have a problem in Canada? What's going on in Canada?' 'No, there's this guy! And it's all over the press and he's talking about our ketchup.' Brian Fernandez: Hi there. I'm Brian Fernandez. I'm a small town construction worker, and I started the ketchup wars. ♪♪ When I went to the grocery store, we always pick up Heinz ketchup. And I noticed just below it, a new bottle by French's. ♪♪ What caught my attention was a big Canadian flag on the front. My wife told me about it. She said, you should read this article about how Heinz pulled out of Leamington, Ontario, and fired a bunch of people. Then French's came in, and those people that were laid off or fired, all had their jobs back. And so because of that, I decided to support French's for supporting Canadian workers. And then, I put it out there on February 23rd as a post, and I got a call from a Vancouver radio station saying, 'How do you feel about your post going viral?' I had no idea what he was talking about. He said, 'You need to go on your Facebook.' Ezra Levant: Did you see the hullabaloo over French's ketchup? Some Ontario guy started an online campaign to get everyone to buy French's ketchup instead of Heinz ketchup. CBC News Anchor: A social media post about French's use of Ontario tomatoes went viral. CNBC News Anchor: This is a rivalry. French's ketchup even slapping a maple leaf on its bottle to drum up Canadian support. Tom Keller: It caught fire that Heinz had closed and people were more than happy to jump to the French's. Scott Holland: There's a lot of people around this area that have switched to French's. Sylvain Charlebois: When Heinz decided to leave Leamington, I don't think they were fully aware of what was going on there. The community was able to rally and was able to secure some really important contracts. ♪♪ Brian Fernandez: When I did the post, I honestly did not expect the reception. Canadians don't like to get in a physical or, or verbal argument with anybody. It's like, 'Oh, please, thank you. Okay, no, I'm sorry I bumped into you,' kind of thing. But as you, as because of this post now proves, social media, if you push us back in the corner, we'll fight back. Tom Keller: A lot of people were upset over it and they were angry at Heinz, so they kind of wanted to boycott. Sylvain Charlebois: Habits are really hard to build. But something happened during the ketchup war competition. They became more aggressive. Jeannie Lee: Loblaws had originally said that it started stocking French's ketchup back in 2014, but really saw very little interest and decided to stop carrying it, which makes retail sense. Brian Fernandez: The Ketchup War name actually started with Loblaws. At the time Loblaws decided that, you know, it's, this is a product that isn't selling a lot, so maybe we should just take it off our availability list. It coincided with my social media post. Because of that, for a good two weeks, there was a lot of protests saying, 'Why aren't you carrying this? This is a Canadian-made product!' Elliott Penner: For whatever reason, Loblaws decided it was a better decision for them. Clearly, that wasn't a good decision, and the consumer reached out and said, 'No, we don't think that's right.' There was protesting in front of stores. There was, you know, mail-in campaigns. There were people that were boycotting. Sylvain Charlebois: The ketchup wars were the first major case in Canada, where you saw consumers use the power of social media to influence the largest private sector employer in the country. In the food business, you want to do business with Loblaws. The maple leaf became very important. It gained currency in that section of the grocery store. Because French's wasn't really that Canadian. Elliott Penner: I mean, yeah, people would say, Hey, by the way, they're not Canadian. No one's Canadian, you know. And...that didn't matter so much to the consumer as you have to have that local attachment. Jeannie Lee: Remember, French's is still an American company. So it's not a matter of, you know, buying a product from a Canadian company. It isn't that at all. It was to support the Leamington farmers, that people... Carole MacNeil: People wanted to support Canadian farmers. Jeannie Lee: Well, exactly! Carole MacNeil: Loblaws looked like they were going to take the Canadian farmer product right off the shelf. ♪♪ Loblaws has changed its mind. It will keep stocking French's ketchup. Sylvain Charlebois: As soon as I saw Loblaws press release to admit defeat, that's a big deal. It's something I've never seen before and haven't seen since. Elliott Penner: I remember one of the retailers said, 'Come on, you know, you guys are masters at this. You set this up, right? And I am...on my mother, I don't know who Brian Fernandez was. He was a little guy who came out of nowhere. And he, he kind of changed the face of Canadian retailing. He was our consumer. He was somebody that cared about his community. He had become somewhat of a celebrity, you know, in his own right, and he deserves that. Brian Fernandez: For almost a month, I was eating free. Like people would recognize me and pay for my meal. Somebody recognized me in line and said, 'Hey, are you the ketchup guy?' I started to realize that although I'm just a small voice, a small voice can make a big difference in, in the country of Canada, and across the world. ♪♪ Scott Holland: The whole food processing story here in Leamington will always continue. Dave Dyck: We've been the capital of tomatoes here for, I don't know how many years for Canada, but the ground's gettin' more and more used for greenhouses. Mike O'Connor: Now the marijuana places are here and make the skies look beautiful at night. It's whatever you want it to be, especially in this area. We've got good farmland out here and good uh, good tomatoes. Elliott Penner: We didn't save Leamington. Leamington doesn't need to be saved. Inside of a lot of noise, is always a little story, a little thing, that if you miss, you miss the gem, you miss the nugget. And the nugget out of Leamington wasn't ketchup. It was the community, and it was how the community rallies and how people care. ♪♪ Scott Holland: The Heinz Company decided that they still needed some products made here. Brian Fernandez: Heinz products are now being made back in Canada, which is great. Elliott Penner: I want more manufacturing to come into Canada, and I think that will help a lot of folks. Mike O'Connor: We're still using local tomatoes that's still locally made in local farms. Scott Holland: We never dreamed that you'd have one major brand being made along with another major brand at the same factory. You please one company, you please another, and the money keeps rolling in to keep the factory sustainable. Sylvain Charlebois: What Leamington taught us is that you need to think strategically about networks. So if you had to pick amongst the participants of the war-- Scott Holland: If you go to some households, you'll still find that debate goes on. You might even find more than one brand of ketchup at a particular household. Brent Hodge: What ketchup do you have in your fridge? Dave Dyck: At my fridge? I would say it's probably French. Tom Keller: I have Heinz ketchup in the fridge. Mike O'Connor: Right now? I got President's Choice. Emily Ruby: Of course I have Heinz ketchup on my fridge! (laughs) Scott Holland: I do believe there's some Heinz in my fridge. Elliott Penner: You don't need to ask me that question. Brian Fernandez: French's. (laughs) ♪♪ ♪♪
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Channel: CBC Docs
Views: 388,265
Rating: undefined out of 5
Keywords: tomato, ketchup, Leamington, Ontario, Heinz, French's, farming, factory, condiments, groceries, social media, business, Ketchup War, CBC Short Docs
Id: TeVAxbcAr9k
Channel Id: undefined
Length: 17min 40sec (1060 seconds)
Published: Wed Mar 22 2023
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