It’s been seen before: ketchup and mayonnaise being mixed together to put on hamburgers or to dip the french fries in. Heinz has created “Mayochup,” the new condiment that is just the same as what some people have been doing for years, but now it’s sold as one in a bottle.
The new condiment is advertised as a mixture of ketchup, mayonnaise and a special blend of spices, according to an Insider article.
For the people who have been doing this for years manually, Heinz has made it easily accessible and ready to use.
However, sophomore bio-med major Faith Haley has never tried it and was kind of disgusted by the ad when she first saw it.
“When I first saw the ad for it, I thought it looked nasty,” Haley said. “It looked like salmon.”
“Mayochup” first debuted in the Middle East in April and will soon hit shelves in the U.S. Heinz took to Twitter to announce the condiment arrived and created a poll to choose what city in the U.S. would be able to try it first, according to an article in People magazine.
Even though people have been doing this on their own for years, the article reports it’s a “condiment mashup that Americans have been begging for.”
This condiment can be used on a handful of things. Sophomores Jasmine Roberts and Jacqueline Corbett, both social work majors, have not tried mixing ketchup and mayonnaise together themselves, but they would probably try it if it was available.
“I would put it on a burger but not on fries,” Roberts said.
Corbett agreed with Roberts, but would also use it for the food it has been named after by people who have been doing it for years, “Fry sauce.”
“I would put it on burgers, hot dogs and french fries,” Corbett said.
When asked about why Heinz created this new condiment, Corbett shared that Heinz was probably aware that people have been doing this. Therefore, the company was most likely hoping this would bring in more revenue.
“I think now that you’ve sparked my attention. I might try it,” Haley said. “I would try it with french fries because I feel like that’s the only thing it would taste good on.”
On the Heinz website, there is a spot for “Mayochup” that includes the ingredients along with locations where the condiment is available for purchase, including places near Plattsburgh State like Walmart, Hannaford and Market 32.
Below the image of Mayochup is a section labeled, “Nah, I’ll make my own” with seperate images of Heinz ketchup and mayonnaise. Some people may prefer to make their own because they like different amounts of each.
Not only has this concoction been around for years in the U.S., but places all over the world have their own version of it, according to the previously mentioned Insider article.
So what was Heinz’s goal of making this product when customers could just buy a Heinz mayonnaise and ketchup to do it themselves?
An article on Vox.com gave readers some statistics of condiments in American households.
In 2014, 97 percent of houses had ketchup, and Heinz was the leading brand in ketchup sales. However, ketchup was not the most popular condiment, mayonnaise was. Hellman’s was the leader in sales for mayonnaise.
A theory stated in the article was that Heinz was doing this for the virality and attention the brand would get.
This could back the reason Heinz has a section on their website for consumers to make the mixture themselves, to bring awareness to their own mayonnaise. This tactic used could potentially lead to higher sales of their mayonnaise and ketchup, eventually increasing their lead in sales for both of the condiments.
Email Annie Campbell at cp@cardinalpointsonline.com
