27th July: Ketchup and beanz

This date in 1900, the H.J. Heinz Company was incorporated. 10 things you may not know about Heinz products:

1. The company hasn't always been as successful as it is today. In 1875, it actually went bankrupt. Henry Heinz could only start up again by joining a company formed by his brother and his cousin and work as a manager, and after a few years he was able to take over again.
2. The first Heinz product ever was Horseradish sauce, made from Henry Heinz's mother's own recipe. Unlike other brands of the time, Heinz sold it in a clear bottle so customers could see the product before buying.
3. Tomato ketchup comes out of the bottle at 0.28 miles an hour. Any quicker than this and it's not thick enough and will be rejected for sale. If you can't wait that long, Heinz advises giving the bottle a firm tap on the neck, where the bottle narrows and this will make it flow more easily. Only 11% of people are aware of this fact.
4. That's a lot more than the number of people who know the recipe for the stuff - only 8-10 people know that.
5. When Heinz first adopted the "Heinz 57" slogan in 1896, he was already producing more than 60. He just liked the number 57. Today, it produces more than 100 times that number.
6. A million housewives everyday pick up a tin of beans and say: 'Beanz Meanz Heinz.' This slogan, created in 1967, was voted the top advertising slogan of all time by Creative Review magazine in 2012.
7. In the UK, 1.5 million tins of Heinz Baked Beans are sold every year. This is probably thanks to an unnamed Heinz executive who, in 1927, came up with a great idea to sell more beans - eat them on toast!
8. A serving of Heinz baked beans, or a can of cream of tomato soup, counts as one of your five a day.
9. You will find around 465 beans in a standard 415g can.
10. In the 1930s, Heinz salesmen were carefully selected. They had to be over 6 feet tall and impeccably dressed as well as being good at selling. They also had to be quite strong as their selling kit included vacuum flasks, pickle forks and olive spears and weighed about 30lbs.