WINDSOR – Be careful that which you boycott.
The Condiment War: How ketchup was a rallying cry for Canadian nationalism
Little did Heinz know that 2 yrs after closing its Leamington, Ont. plant lingering anger would play right into both your hands of 1 of their biggest competitors. Read on
The French’s-Heinz ketchup controversy, with Southwestern Ontario Ground Zero within the tomato war, has prompted requires customers to ditch Heinz ketchup in favour of rival French’s, a condiment-maker also known because of its mustard but that also makes ketchup from tomato paste manufactured in Leamington.
Buying local – the tomatoes originate from Ontario’s tomato belt, in Essex County and Chatham-Kent – supports jobs and economic growth. But there are fears a Heinz ketchup boycott could include other products, including others made at Leamington’s Highbury Canco plant that also supplies French’s.
Heinz labels still local
Ketchup giant Heinz might have pulled out of Leamington after greater than a century, however it remains the biggest customer of Highbury Canco, which stepped in to fill the processing void left by Heinz. “They contribute significantly to supporting our 410 full-time employees,” Sam Diab, president from the mixer, said of Heinz. Canada’s largest grocery chain, Loblaw, had decided to stop selling French’s ketchup, but abruptly reversed that call a week ago amid a public outcry that triggered many complaints on social networking. The dust-up has reached the corridors of power at Queen’s Park, having a Windsor-area NDP MPP leading electric power charge to obtain the Ontario legislature’s food services to serve only French’s brand ketchup.
But a large number of popular Heinz goods are still made in the Leamington plant, including beans, tomato juice, canned pasta, infant cereal, chili sauce and vinegar, Catelli tomato sauce, Bravo pasta sauce and HP Sauce, said Kathy Murphy, a Toronto spokesperson for that Kraft Heinz Co.
Though its main market is North America, Highbury Canco also exports some products, such as infant cereal, towards the Middle East.
The plant also makes food service products for Heinz, like tomato soup, tomato juice, beans in tomato sauce and pure white wine vinegar, said Murphy.
“As a whole, over 70,000 metric tonnes in our products are manufactured in Leamington.”
Planting knowledge of Leamington
The food giant continues to operate its Heinz Tomato Seed business from Leamington, which supplies most of the processing tomato seeds utilized on farms in eastern North America, said Murphy.
The relatively small operation serves as a research and development hub for growers of Heinz tomatoes, she said. “They are fully aware the best seed for that soil, designed for planting in the Canadian shield.”
Jobs almost doubled since 2014
Public resentment against Heinz continues to be growing because it closed its 108-year-old plant – Leamington’s biggest employer – in 2014. More recently, the organization, which merged with Kraft in 2015, announced intends to turn off its sole Canadian facility in St. Marys – moving which will eliminate more than 200 jobs. Leamington Mayor John Paterson said it’s up to customers to exercise their choice at the supermarket. But boycotting all Heinz products would have an adverse effect on Highbury Canco, he warned.
“They have a unique contract to produce certain Heinz products,” noted Paterson. “They began with 250 employees, now they’re over 400. That’s within two-and-a-half years. So it’s vital consumers don’t place their frustration on Heinz.”
Leamington owes a lot to Heinz, that’s a town fixture for more than a century, he added. “Heinz was a huge benefactor for this municipality. We owe them a lot of thanks.
“But if you need to choose your ketchup, be at liberty, whichever way you want to go.”
Growth on the horizon
Diab said Highbury Canco wishes to expand its tomato paste business. “For us, making tomato paste is really a portion of our business. It’s a nice part, but it’s not our core focus,” he explained.
Large-scale processors in California dominate its northern border American market, said Diab. “We’re really small relative to them. They’re running multiple lines and therefore are capable of making tomato paste efficiently.”
But Highbury Canco could carve out an aggressive niche aimed at customers within a 300- to 400-mile radius of Leamington, said Diab.
“We can get product sent to those facilities beyond the Great Toronto Area or perhaps Ohio and be competitive. And that’s what we’re working on.”
Diab’s potential market includes everything from grocers to pizza chains, said Norm Beal, president of Food and Beverage Ontario. “There are all kinds of opportunities.”
gmacaluso@postmedia.com
