History
Heinz has supplied the food tables of Britain for over 100 years and is now a leading brand with over 400 products available in the UK.
In 1886, Henry Heinz (1844-1919) sailed from the USA to England where the Fortnum & Mason buyer accepted his products for sale in the store without hesitation.
By 1898 Heinz had fifty staff in the UK distributing his imported goods. In 1905 he acquired the Batty & Co factory in Peckham, makers of the renowned Nabob Pickle. Heinz transferred production to its first purpose-built factory in England, at Harlesden, in 1925. At this time the factory manufactured and bottled a range of pickles, sauces, salad cream and mayonnaise, olives, capers, mincemeat, browning, curry powder, celery salt and peppers, mustard, lemon curd, calves feet jelly and dried horseradish. The only British-made products packed in tins were dried herbs with prise-off lids.
Canned foods such as baked beans, spaghetti, soups and bottled tomato ketchup were initially imported from the USA and it was not until 1928 that the first baked bean can rolled off the Harlesden production line. Soup and spaghetti production began in 1930 and by 1936 Harlesden was manufacturing 100 million cans a year. In 1927 Heinz's "Joy of Living" campaign could be seen on street hoardings and beside railway lines all over the country.
During WWII the self-heating can, suitable only for a selection of soups, cocoa milk and malt milk, was developed in partnership with ICI who designed the heating element. Heinz also played a part in the dehydration of vegetables with added vitamins for supply to the forces. In July 1941 the Ministry of Food put a temporary ban on the sale of canned beans, spaghetti and macaroni in an attempt to increase consumption of fresh vegetables. Rationing also restricted the supply of sugar, oils and fats but by 1954 all government controls had lifted.
In 1948 baby food production started at a converted factory at Standish in Lancashire and in 1959 a purpose state-of-the-art factory was opened at nearby Kitt Green, Wigan with high-speed production lines. This relieved the Harlesden factory enough for it to undergo a complete re-furbishment and for quality administration and research facilities to be set up at Hayes Park. During the 1950s Heinz diversified its product ranges to meet the new consumer boom and demand for convenience foods. On 24 September 1955, during the first week of the transmission of independent television, the first Heinz TV commercial was screened in the UK.
In the 1960s there were big promotions such as the classic 57 Mini-Minors soup competition (1961) followed two years later with prizes of 57 minis and 57 holidays. Heinz's best known advertising slogan "Beanz Meanz Heinz", was first used in 1967. Another winning slogan was "Souperday". Ravioli was launched in 1965 followed by spaghetti hoops. In 1970 37 new varieties were added to the list of products such as chicken fingers, canned beef burgers and canned rice pudding. Big soups were introduced in 1976 and SouperMug instant soup in 1981.
From 1995 a quarterly colour customer magazine At Home, delivered by direct mail to a targeted audience, was launched with news, competitions and offers. In 2003 microsites for the 'tinytums club' (for mums) and 'big tums club' (for pregnant mothers) were set up, also with a magazine. In the same year Heinz ran a competition to win a new home, the first promotion of its kind by a food manufacturing company. Today the Heinz food range is vast and includes Heinz Farley's Babyfood, Weight Watchers from Heinz and the Linda McCartney vegetarian label.
HP Foods was acquired by Heinz in 2006.
See:
www.heinz.co.uk
Archive content
Date range: 1890s- present
Scope/Formats
Most Heinz products manufactured in Britain are represented in this archive. As well as advertising and marketing material, the Heinz UK archive contains an extensive historical photograph collection, a jar and can label library, material relating to its UK factories, their operations, product development and packaging. There is a comprehensive library of TV commercials.