Britannica Money (2024)

Henry John Heinz (born Oct. 11, 1844, Pittsburgh, Pa., U.S.—died May 14, 1919, Pittsburgh) was a U.S. manufacturer whose highly successful prepared-foods company, H.J. Heinz Company, Inc., became famous for its slogan “57 Varieties.”

Heinz became interested in selling foods when he was a child; by the age of 16, he had several employees working to cultivate the hotbeds he had built and to deliver his produce to Pittsburgh grocers. His first company, a partnership with two other men, formed in Sharpsburg, Pa., in 1869 to prepare and market horseradish, sauerkraut, vinegar, and pickles, failed during the business panic of 1875. A year later, however, with his brother and a cousin, Heinz reorganized the business in Pittsburgh. By 1905 it became the H.J. Heinz Company, Inc., and by 1919 it had more than 6,000 employees and 25 factories. The slogan “57 Varieties” was invented by Heinz in 1896, even though his firm was actually then producing more than 60 products, including its famed Heinz ketchup (first sold as "catsup" in 1876); he reportedly chose the number 57 because 5 and 7 were his and his wife’s lucky numbers, respectively.