At a humble sandwich counter at a fishing pier in coastal Carolina, the following conversation takes place:<\/p>\n
\u201cCan I help you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, two BLT\u2019s please.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBread?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth on wheat toast\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAwright. You want any Duke\u2019s on those?\u201d<\/p>\n
Pause\u2026<\/p>\n
OK, here\u2019s what you need to know about the condiment business in the United States. First, most folks equate the word \u201ccondiment\u201d with a bottle that says \u201cHeinz\u201d on it. And that\u2019s understandable, Heinz Ketchup has been an icon since it was launched in Pittsburgh in 1879. Heinz has a stranglehold on the ketchup business, with a ridiculous 75% share of the market, and $278MM in annual sales. It\u2019s the king of condiments.<\/p>\n
Or, maybe not. There has been a recent cultural shift \u2013 unnerving to some folks \u2013 that resulted in a well-publicized moment a few years back. Somebody reported that ketchup sales had been for the first time outpaced by *GASP<\/strong>* sales of salsa! The report was served up as evidence of the impact of Hispanic immigrants into this country, and our adoption of their culture. What wasn\u2019t reported, however, is that the vast majority of salsa sold in this country is produced by mainstream American corporations, NOT by Hispanic immigrants themselves. The number one brand of salsa? That would be Tostitos, from Frito-Lay, with annual sales of $285MM, making it the #2 condiment brand in the United States, just ahead of Heinz ketchup.<\/p>\n Which raises the question: which condiment brand is #1? Well, it would probably give it away to say the product was invented by a Jewish deli owner in New York in 1905. The product was so popular that by 1917 the owner had closed his deli to focus exclusively on selling it as \u201cHellman\u2019s Blue Ribbon Mayonnaise.\u201d In 1932, his company was purchased by California-based Best Foods corporation, who had their own mayo brand. But Best Foods respected the power of the Hellman\u2019s brand, so they aligned their in-house brand to look just like it. This created a unique double-brand platform that has endured ever since. Some of you may have experienced, when you traveled from one coast to another, you might have heard the jingle, \u201cBring out the Hellman\u2019s and bring out the best\u201d when you left New York, and then the nearly EXACT same jingle, \u201cBring out the Best Foods and bring out the best\u201d when you arrived in LA. These two brands, now both owned by Unilever, are the #1 ($400MM in sales) and the #4 ($175MM) condiment brands in the United States. Together with Kraft Mayo (#6 at $159MM) and Kraft Miracle Whip (#5 at $163MM), they are evidence of America\u2019s overwhelming love of mayonnaise.<\/p>\n Which brings us back to Duke\u2019s. It\u2019s a tiny brand, just $40MM in sales, a mere 3% of the mayo market. It was invented in 1917 by Eugenia Duke of Greenville NC, who used it on sandwiches she sold to soldiers at the nearby Fort Sevier. When it was packaged in jars, Duke\u2019s Mayonnaise was a huge hit, and the brand was bought by C.F. Sauer company of Richmond in 1929. But the manufacturing has remained in Greenville to this day, and Eugenia Duke\u2019s recipe is unchanged. It uses more egg yolks than other brands, and is the only mayo made without sugar, giving it a richness and a distinctive acidic tang all its own. No self-respecting southerner would make deviled eggs, potato salad or any sandwich at-all using anything else.<\/p>\n Until recently, Duke\u2019s was available in only 5 southern states. But it has recently expanded to 14. If you live in one of these, you can find it \u2013 often with better shelf placement than any other brand \u2013 at your local Piggly-Wiggly.<\/p>\n And if you live anywhere else, good news, you can also buy it on Amazon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At a humble sandwich counter at a fishing pier in coastal Carolina, the following conversation takes place: \u201cCan I help you?\u201d \u201cYes, two BLT\u2019s please.\u201d \u201cBread?\u201d \u201cBoth on wheat toast\u201d \u201cAwright. You want any Duke\u2019s on those?\u201d Pause\u2026 OK, here\u2019s what you need to know about the condiment business in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1541,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[129,367,559,560,1253],"class_list":["post-847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-9","tag-best-foods","tag-dukes-mayonnaise","tag-heinz-ketchup","tag-hellmans-mayonnaise","tag-tostitos-salsa"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/dukes.jpg?fit=628%2C371&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=847"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1542,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847\/revisions\/1542"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}