Stefan Barden tells Liz Hamson how Heinz plans to enhance the nation’s health
Henry J Heinz’s role in establishing the first food standards legislation in the US in the form of the Pure Food Laws back in 1904 has gone down in company folklore. At the time, Heinz was big in horseradish and one reason for getting involved was that while it sold the condiment in clear glass jars to show exactly what was in it, there were a lot of unscrupulous producers who had a nasty habit of mixing their sauce with inferior ingredients such as sawdust and disguising the fact by packing it in brown glass jars.
So it is fitting that on the centenary of the laws, Heinz has decided to go back to its roots by embarking on an ambitious new nutritional policy. UK MD, Stefan Barden, who took on responsibility for Heinz’s UK and Ireland business last September, explains why it has decided to refresh its strategy and develop new products and categories via venture capitalist-style operations.
With his entrepreneurial tactics, Barden is very much the face of the new Heinz that emerged following last year’s boardroom shake-up. “It was an opportunity to rethink the business and go back to the principle the company was founded on 135 years ago: enhancing the health of the nation,” he says. “We’re talking about a new management building on that heritage by thinking about new ways of working with consumers and the trade.”
It made sense to crystallise its nutritional policy: Heinz had already been pushing a healthier agenda since 1997, reducing the salt in its baked beans 20% and embarking on salt reduction programmes with other products. The healthy food agenda was “in our DNA”, says Barden. “This was about bringing our policy up to date.”
The upshot of the rethink is a highly ambitious three-pronged strategy: to change the palate of the nation, improve nutrition and choice, and support its retail customers.
Barden says: “We’ll be restaging our beans and soups by re-emphasising the wholesomeness and nutritional values. We’ll
restate our commitment to good food only.”
It won’t be empty rhetoric, promises Barden. Following the launch of its new Salad Shaker range last month, Heinz plans to step up its launch of new chilled and healthy products.
July sees the launch of Heinz Reduced Sugar and Salt baked beans which are 50% lower salt than its standard baked beans, which themselves are set to see a further 15% reduction in salt. And in September it will begin restaging its soup brands.
‘There will be a big focus on nutrition and health. All our products will meet FSA guidelines.” Heinz is “committed to being a player” in the chilled category, he adds, and is talking to a number of suppliers about working with them on NPD.
New additions to its Weight Watchers range in the form of low carbohydrate frozen ready meals will also hit the shelves mid-September.
The new policy is not just about new ranges or cutting salt and sugar. Heinz is talking to retailers about producing specially customised ranges and pack sizes of products like its new chilled lines. “This is a major change in thinking. We think it would give retailers a brand within chilled to strengthen their own offering,” explains Barden. “I’m talking about high street stores, smaller stores. It’s not necessarily something Tesco, Sainsbury or Waitrose would see a need for.”
Consumers can also expect more innovations along the lines of its Salad Shaker soup cups following the launch of a number of what he calls “bets” - the venture capitalist-style operations set up to identify and develop new categories and products. Largely self-financing, they are opportunities for the company’s more entrepreneurial spirits to flex their muscles and generate new profit centres, believes Barden.
“They’re strategic and tactical bids to take us into new areas. If you think of how Weight Watchers was born, Tony O’Reilly very much operated along venture capitalist lines.”
He adds: “We’ll be continuing in our core market but also looking at new areas with the bets.” It is likely to mean fewer but bigger mainstream product launches, says Barden
As to how the new products will be labelled, that remains a moot point.
Heinz pulled its 5-a-day scheme in March when it became clear that it would conflict with the impending guidelines from the Department of Health. Barden says: “We personally believe that the government is going to have a problem. Consumers don’t understand the labelling.”
Of the proposed traffic lights system, he adds. “It is too over-simplified. It’s not providing information that’s meaningful. People need to know how many grammes to eat a day.” The solution lies less in labelling than in “education, choice and information”.
In the interim, Heinz plans to follow a version of the ingredients labelling system used in the US but Barden stresses the importance of UK suppliers and retailers eventually adopting a standardised system. “There’s no point in us coming up with one system, Unilever another and Tesco a third. We have to work with the industry.”
As the company repositions itself to appeal to health-conscious consumers, the industry will have to get used to working with a new-look Heinz.
On the face of it the new nutritional policy marks a new direction for the company. Actually, says Barden, it takes it back to where it started - only this time, thanks to new products like Salad Shakers, it’s more a case of greens mean Heinz.
Henry J Heinz’s role in establishing the first food standards legislation in the US in the form of the Pure Food Laws back in 1904 has gone down in company folklore. At the time, Heinz was big in horseradish and one reason for getting involved was that while it sold the condiment in clear glass jars to show exactly what was in it, there were a lot of unscrupulous producers who had a nasty habit of mixing their sauce with inferior ingredients such as sawdust and disguising the fact by packing it in brown glass jars.
So it is fitting that on the centenary of the laws, Heinz has decided to go back to its roots by embarking on an ambitious new nutritional policy. UK MD, Stefan Barden, who took on responsibility for Heinz’s UK and Ireland business last September, explains why it has decided to refresh its strategy and develop new products and categories via venture capitalist-style operations.
With his entrepreneurial tactics, Barden is very much the face of the new Heinz that emerged following last year’s boardroom shake-up. “It was an opportunity to rethink the business and go back to the principle the company was founded on 135 years ago: enhancing the health of the nation,” he says. “We’re talking about a new management building on that heritage by thinking about new ways of working with consumers and the trade.”
It made sense to crystallise its nutritional policy: Heinz had already been pushing a healthier agenda since 1997, reducing the salt in its baked beans 20% and embarking on salt reduction programmes with other products. The healthy food agenda was “in our DNA”, says Barden. “This was about bringing our policy up to date.”
The upshot of the rethink is a highly ambitious three-pronged strategy: to change the palate of the nation, improve nutrition and choice, and support its retail customers.
Barden says: “We’ll be restaging our beans and soups by re-emphasising the wholesomeness and nutritional values. We’ll
restate our commitment to good food only.”
It won’t be empty rhetoric, promises Barden. Following the launch of its new Salad Shaker range last month, Heinz plans to step up its launch of new chilled and healthy products.
July sees the launch of Heinz Reduced Sugar and Salt baked beans which are 50% lower salt than its standard baked beans, which themselves are set to see a further 15% reduction in salt. And in September it will begin restaging its soup brands.
‘There will be a big focus on nutrition and health. All our products will meet FSA guidelines.” Heinz is “committed to being a player” in the chilled category, he adds, and is talking to a number of suppliers about working with them on NPD.
New additions to its Weight Watchers range in the form of low carbohydrate frozen ready meals will also hit the shelves mid-September.
The new policy is not just about new ranges or cutting salt and sugar. Heinz is talking to retailers about producing specially customised ranges and pack sizes of products like its new chilled lines. “This is a major change in thinking. We think it would give retailers a brand within chilled to strengthen their own offering,” explains Barden. “I’m talking about high street stores, smaller stores. It’s not necessarily something Tesco, Sainsbury or Waitrose would see a need for.”
Consumers can also expect more innovations along the lines of its Salad Shaker soup cups following the launch of a number of what he calls “bets” - the venture capitalist-style operations set up to identify and develop new categories and products. Largely self-financing, they are opportunities for the company’s more entrepreneurial spirits to flex their muscles and generate new profit centres, believes Barden.
“They’re strategic and tactical bids to take us into new areas. If you think of how Weight Watchers was born, Tony O’Reilly very much operated along venture capitalist lines.”
He adds: “We’ll be continuing in our core market but also looking at new areas with the bets.” It is likely to mean fewer but bigger mainstream product launches, says Barden
As to how the new products will be labelled, that remains a moot point.
Heinz pulled its 5-a-day scheme in March when it became clear that it would conflict with the impending guidelines from the Department of Health. Barden says: “We personally believe that the government is going to have a problem. Consumers don’t understand the labelling.”
Of the proposed traffic lights system, he adds. “It is too over-simplified. It’s not providing information that’s meaningful. People need to know how many grammes to eat a day.” The solution lies less in labelling than in “education, choice and information”.
In the interim, Heinz plans to follow a version of the ingredients labelling system used in the US but Barden stresses the importance of UK suppliers and retailers eventually adopting a standardised system. “There’s no point in us coming up with one system, Unilever another and Tesco a third. We have to work with the industry.”
As the company repositions itself to appeal to health-conscious consumers, the industry will have to get used to working with a new-look Heinz.
On the face of it the new nutritional policy marks a new direction for the company. Actually, says Barden, it takes it back to where it started - only this time, thanks to new products like Salad Shakers, it’s more a case of greens mean Heinz.
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