The Life of a Heinz Pickle

Heinz had each farmer that worked for the company sign a contract like this that guaranteed that they would deliver their produce to the nearest processing plant on the day that they picked it.

Farmers line up to deliver their cucumbers at the Heinz processing plant.

John Heinz, H.J. Heinz’s mechanically-oriented brother, developed a way to regulate the sorting of cucumbers by size. He patented his invention, this “pickle assorter.” With it, Heinz and his salesman guaranteed that they had the most uniform pickles in size and count on the market.

Employees used this pickle dipping net to retrieve cucumbers from the pickling vats for sampling or testing.

Heinz's patented wooden tank cars kept pickles in their brine and prevented bruising on the way to the factory for further processing and packaging.

Since the factory workers had to handle the produce, they received weekly manicures provided by the company.

Each bottle of Heinz pickles had to be packed in a particular way. The women were paid by how many bottles they packed per day.

These beautiful and precisely-packed display jars were used to sell Heinz products at exhibitions, fairs, and store displays.

Heinz frequently used "the girl in the white hat" in advertising to stress his high standards of cleanliness and quality.

Heinz products being loaded from the factory onto train cars for shipment around the globe.

Salesman used items such as this pickle sizer and profit scale to help the grocer generate the most profit from the Heinz products he purchased. The sizer illustrated the variety of Heinz pickles that could be purchased by the grocer. Because Heinz regulated the size of the pickles in barrels and jars they could tell grocers exactly how many pickles were in each and calculate accurately the profit. Heinz’s competitors packed in bulk and the grocer never knew what they had to sell until opening the container.

Once the salesman established relationships with grocers, they returned often to take orders, introduce new products, provide samples, and help with advertising. They created store and window displays, provided signs and trade cards, ensured the Heinz products were well placed and cared for, and held week-long product demonstrations. Heinz pioneered the strategy of offering food samples to win new consumers.

You could not get the product on the table if the consumer didn't know about it so Heinz made sure his "57 Varities" were well advertised, from street car signs like this to a 43 foot-long electric sign in New York City.