‘Don’t take your frustration out on Heinz:’ Leamington Mayor warns ketchup boycott could backfire

WINDSOR – Be cautious what you boycott.

The Condiment War: How ketchup was a rallying cry for Canadian nationalism

Little did Heinz realize that two years after closing its Leamington, Ont. plant lingering anger would play right into both your hands of 1 of its biggest competitors. Read on

The French’s-Heinz ketchup controversy, with Southwestern Ontario Ground Zero within the tomato war, has prompted calls for consumers to ditch Heinz ketchup in favour of rival French’s, a condiment-maker also known because of its mustard but which 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 extend to other products, including others made at Leamington’s Highbury Canco plant which supplies French’s.

Heinz labels still local

Ketchup giant Heinz might have brought out of Leamington after more than a century, however it continues to be biggest customer of Highbury Canco, which stepped directly into fill the processing void left by Heinz. “They contribute significantly to supporting our 410 full-time employees,” Sam Diab, president of the food processor, said of Heinz. Canada’s largest grocery chain, Loblaw, had decided to stop selling French’s ketchup, but abruptly reversed that decision last week amid a public outcry that triggered many complaints on social networking. The dust-up has even reached the corridors of power at Queen’s Park, with a Windsor-area NDP MPP leading a charge to get the Ontario legislature’s food services for everyone only French’s brand ketchup.

But dozens of popular Heinz products are still made at 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 The united states, Highbury Canco also exports some products, for example infant cereal, to 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 goods are produced in Leamington.”

Planting expertise in Leamington

The food giant is constantly on the operate its Heinz Tomato Seed business from Leamington, which supplies most of the processing tomato seeds used 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 right seed for the soil, designed for planting within the Canadian shield.”

Jobs almost doubled since 2014

Public resentment against Heinz has been growing since it closed its 108-year-old plant – Leamington’s biggest employer – in 2014. More recently, the organization, which merged with Kraft in 2015, announced plans to shut down its sole Canadian facility in St. Marys – moving which will eliminate more than 200 jobs. Leamington Mayor John Paterson said it’s up to consumers to exercise their choice in the supermarket. But boycotting all Heinz products would have a negative impact on Highbury Canco, he warned.

“They have an exclusive contract to create certain Heinz products,” noted Paterson. “They began with 250 employees, now they’re over 400. That’s in a matter of two-and-a-half years. So it’s really important consumers don’t place their frustration out on Heinz.”

Leamington owes a lot to Heinz, that’s an urban area 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 want to choose your ketchup, be at liberty, whichever way you want to go.”

Growth around the horizon

Diab said Highbury Canco hopes to expand its tomato paste business. “For all of us, making tomato paste is a part of our business. It’s a nice part, but it’s not our core focus,” he said.

Large-scale processors in California dominate its northern border American market, said Diab. “We’re very small in accordance with them. They’re running multiple lines and are capable of making tomato paste efficiently.”

But Highbury Canco could carve out a competitive niche targeted at customers inside a 300- to 400-mile radius of Leamington, said Diab.

“We are able to 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. “You will find all sorts of opportunities.”

gmacaluso@postmedia.com