THE MEANING BEHIND HEINZ “57”

Here’s something everyone knows:  The best ketchup is Heinz. 

Here’s something NOT everyone knows:  The famous 57, in “Heinz 57”, doesn’t mean anything.  It’s not a year, or several ingredients or “varieties.”  Andrea Payne, the head of marketing at Heinz, says, “The ’57 varieties’ label was surprisingly selected at random by founder Henry Heinz in 1896.

“The number itself technically has no real purpose, even back then, there were more than 57 varieties.”

The company has talked about this before, and there’s a quote online about how Heinz said he chose “5” because it was his lucky number, and the number “7” was his wife’s lucky number.

However, he’s also said the number “7” was selected specifically because of the “psychological influence of that figure and of its enduring significance to people of all ages”, whatever that means.