Saturday, February 6, 2010

What Took So Long?


Opening a travel size ketchup packet has always been one of those irritating life chores like getting an Advil from a child-safe bottle. Now news that finally, we dunkers will have to struggle no longer! A great idea and long overdue. Thanks, Heinz!

From Andrew Heining at The Christian Science Monitor:

Dip? Squeeze? Yes. New ketchup packaging from Heinz gives fast food fans a choice.

For Heinz, that's the desired change on-the-go eaters will find when new ketchup packaging goes into circulation this fall. It's one of those "huh, never knew that much thought went into that" tales – the quest for the perfect ketchup packet. But as a look into the world of Heinz shows, a great amount of research, trial-and-error, and thought is applied to the problem of spilled and wasted ketchup.

The old packets, we learn, originated in 1968, and have never been perfect for everyone. Whether it was the problem of one-handed opening, at-the-wheel eating, or just a personal preference for dunking, there have long been complaints with the ubiquitous single-serving condiment package.

The new design seeks to please two once-divisive camps – dunkers and squeezers. Prefer to dip your fries? Peel off the top. Want your ketchup where you put it, without spreading with a knife? Rip off the tip and squeeze away. Also appeased by the revamped packet are people like this Horizons writer's brothers, who seem to have made it a personal life quest to use as much ketchup as possible: a new Dip & Squeeze packet contains three times as much ketchup as the old design.

No comments: