Title: How French's ketchup took a bite out of Heinz | CBC News
Headings: How French's ketchup took a bite out of Heinz
How French's ketchup took a bite out of Heinz
Free publicity, plus a decent price, has allowed French's to gain ground at Heinz's expense
How did French's do it?
Taste and price matter, too
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Content: But that wasn't the perception of many Canadians when Heinz pulled its ketchup production, leaving some Leamington tomato farmers without a customer. "They hurt a lot of people there," said John Skoczen of Leamington, who worked as a labourer at the Heinz plant. " [ Farmers] were up in the air, they didn't know what they were doing." Heinz sold its processing plant in Leamington, Ont., in 2014 and moved its ketchup operations to the U.S. (Geoff Robins/The Canadian Press)
In December of 2015, French's came to the rescue, pledging to make ketchup with Leamington tomatoes .The move led to prolonged free publicity for the brand — the kind that money can't buy. First, a Facebook post praising French's, and detailing how Heinz ketchup had left Leamington, went viral, with more than a quarter of a million shares. " [That] was the catalyst," said Joanne Duguay, of Bathurst, N.B. At that time, she decided to abandon Heinz for French's. "It was shabby what they did to Canadian farmers. You just can't do that and think that people are going to turn around and just say, 'OK, not a problem.'" After briefly pulling it in 2016, Loblaws returned French's ketchup to its shelves following a public outcry. (