H.J. Heinz, revolutionary inventor & marketing genius!

What is your favorite topping for a hot dog, or hamburger?
How about the best dipping sauce for your french fries?

For me, that answer is ketchup... and I must admit the only version I enjoy is HEINZ Tomato Ketchup! (I never did like that "yellow stuff"... Haha!)

 July 22 was National Hot Dog day - and that got me thinking about the wildly successful entrepreneur and inventor of ketchup, Henry John Heinz. 

In 1869 and the early 1870's, he started out by selling horseradish, pickles, and other sauces, but in clear jars so that customers could see the quality of his product. They called him a "marketing genius". 

Heinz eventually developed his business into a national, and international, company which made more than 60 food products, but one of its first products was tomato ketchup.

It's said that he developed the recipe in his mother's kitchen, trying to improve upon an old Chinese fish sauce, similar in name/ translation to "cat sup".

♦ Another Fun Fact ♦
My mother is from Pittsburgh, near where HEINZ was located, and to this day, she still pronounces ketchup as "catsup"!

Heinz was a Christian. At the beginning of his will Heinz wrote: "I desire to set forth, at the very beginning of this Will, as the most important item in it, a confession of my faith in Jesus Christ as my Savior" (Wikipedia). 

Through his business, Heinz innovated many revolutionary practices for employers and manufacturing back in the 1800's, including:

        > Fair treatment of his workers: providing free medical care, recreational facilities, as well as educational opportunities, etc.

        > Pioneered safe and sanitary food preparation: Heinz was one of the few companies to support the "Pure Food and Drug Act", which set the standard for maintaining cleanliness in factories in 1906 (delish.com).

What will your business and idea "legacy" say about you?

Jesus is the LIGHT of the world. As business people, business owners, inventors, entrepreneurs, let us make sure we are spending time with the Lord, so that He can illuminate and lead and guide our business tasks, day-to-day actions, vision for the future...

God loves YOU just as much as he loved H. J. Heinz, so expect God to give you innovative and revolutionary ideas, applications, approaches and more.

Tom and I have experienced this firsthand.

I love the story of Mr. Heinz because I love hearing how other men and women, who loved the Lord, were used to CHANGE the world.

Now, let's go have some ketchup!