By Bryana Cielo
Staff Reporter
Have you ever tried combining mayonnaise and ketchup? If you answered yes, did you like it? If you answered no, would you be open to trying it?
On April 11, the verified Heinz Ketchup Twitter account created a poll asking followers if they would be interested in buying a combination of mayonnaise and ketchup: temporarily named “mayochup”.
“I probably would put it on burger,” said sophomore Jessica Wenz. “It also kind of looks like it could be a good moisturizer.”
Heinz shared via Twitter that if over 500,000 people voted “yes”, they will put the product into production.
“It’s probably the worst idea Heinz has ever had,” said sophomore Danny O’Brien.
After 24 hours, the poll was complete with 930,691 votes: 55% of users voted “Pass the Heinz Mayochup” and 45% voted “Nah, I’ll make my own”.
“I really like ketchup with my fries, but I don’t like mayo at all. Why can’t we keep condiments simple? There should be no one for that horror,” said sophomore Delaney Kimball.
Five days later, the official Heinz posted an update via Twitter confirming that mayochup would for sure be hitting the shelves. However, they are now asking what Americans think the new product should be called. They were flooded with responses.
“I think it’s a great idea. Now I don’t have to spend money on both ketchup and mayonnaise. I can get both for the price of one!” said sophomore Lauren Somers.
According to Twitter, many fans from Utah are insisting that it already has a name: “fry sauce”.
“I think it should be called ketchonaisse. It’s catchy. And it doesn’t sound unappetizing like ‘mayochup’,” said junior Jessica Poole.
Many on Twitter had different ideas. Other suggestions include Tomayo (Tomato + Mayo), Pittsburgh sauce, campfire sauce, roumalade, fancy sauce, or just sauce.
“When you look at the product, it kind of seems like it tastes bad even though it’s good,” said junior Clay Sweitzer. “I’ve heard of Fancy sauce before. That’s what McDonald’s calls it.”
Heinz was founded in 1869 by Henry John Heinz, and its headquarters are located in Pittsburgh, Penn.
“It looks disgusting. People seem to like it but I won’t be trying it anytime soon,” said sophomore Sam Zietara. “It makes me want to throw up.”
Heinz released their signature ketchup in 1876. Today, they make various different condiments, sauces, dressings, soups, dips, syrups, and tomato products. They are most widely known for their condiments, while also leading the steak sauce industry.
“I’d vote for calling it anything but ‘mayochup’. I’ve always eaten it growing up in Chicago. It’s a great combination. We used to call it fry sauce in my family,” said sophomore Emily Hermann.
This isn’t the first time Heinz is coming out with something out of the ordinary. In 2000, Heinz decided to release different “E-Z Squirt” colored ketchups. They were available in purple, pink, orange, teal, and blue varieties. While this may seem odd, Heinz managed to sell 25 million bottles before it stopped production in 2006.
“Having grown up combining mayo and ketchup, it was easy to decide how much of each we wanted to put in it,” said Sam Goldstein, marketing professor at Sacred Heart University. “I have a feeling that people who have been making it for years will want to stick with making it themselves.”
