I Interview Dan Oliver, CEO of W Ketchup™
Published August 29, 2004
I'm a serious ketchup-phile. I simply love the stuff. I slather it on hamburgers, hot dogs, fries, steak (yes, steak!), meatloaf, and many other dishes and sides.
But ketchup had lost some of its luster, ever since John Kerry, husband of Teresa HEINZ Kerry, became the Democrat's nominee for President. Knowing that I was funding an unspeakable harridan with every drop of delicious red goodness left me feeling ambivalent about the whole thing.
Should I kick the ketchup habit? Should I resort to using mustard on my hot dogs, A1 on my steaks, and mayo on my fries?
Luckily, as I was still wrestling with this dilemma, I discovered that the arrogant Heinz elite finally had some worthwhile competition on their hands. (Hunts, for the record, is utterly vile, and therefore does not count as a true competitor for ketchup supremacy.)
W Ketchup™ is the aforementioned competition. And their CEO, Dan Oliver, was kind enough to answer a few of my questions
Twelve Questions For Dan Oliver:
1 - Who's idea was it to create a "conservative" brand of ketchup to compete with Teresa Heinz Kerry's market leading Heinz brand?
In early April, my sister, Susie, and another friend, Stacey Hughes, were visiting my friend Bill Zachary at his house in upstate New York, located in Washington County. We were having a barbecue, and as we were squirting Heinz on our lunch, we realized that a small portion was going to Teresa Heinz Kerry and the causes she supports. Well, being good free-market Republicans, we thought America deserved a choice.
2 - When did you first begin to offer your product for sale?
We launched our product with a full page ad in the June 28th edition of National Review, the Reagan edition as it sadly turned out, which hit newsstands around the June 16th, or at least that's when the traffic volume to our Website first became noticeable.
3 - What kind of volume of product have you moved thus far?
When we started this, we discovered the minimum order was 48,000 bottles. That's a lot of ketchup. We thought there was no possible way we could sell that many, and so we expected to lose most, if not all, of our money, and then donate the excess ketchup to a worthy cause. We were really doing this have some fun and shake things up a bit. As it turns out, in two months we've sold over 100,000 bottles, nearly all over the Internet.
RJ Elliott is a graduate student at the University Of Central Florida. His passions in life are sports, politics, nature, and women who have piercings they never told their daddy about. He dislikes daytime television, left-wing dictators, and people who talk like Garrison Keillor. He is ambivalent about the names "Trig" and "Piper."
- I Interview Dan Oliver, CEO of W Ketchup™
- Published: August 29, 2004
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- Section: Politics
- Filed Under: Tastes: Food and Drink, Interviews
- Writer: RJ Elliott
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Comments on this articleComments
That's odd, Jim. I didn't imagine you to be a steak eater. I had you pegged as either a vegan or a cannibal.
When in Canada, I rather enjoy the ketchup. It is spiced differently than American ketchup, even when comparing Heinz to Heinz. It is sweeter, and has some other spices I can't quite put a finger on. RJ, you really need to have your dear pal Jim send a bottle to you.
Meanwhile, here in Indiana, we enjoy Red Gold. It is manufactured just two counties north of me and is abundantly available throughout the midwest. It is not as vinegar-heavy as Heinz, just like Mr. Oliver describes his 'W' ketchup.
Mike,
I suggest you try some "W" Ketchup. It's pretty damn good, and some of the proceeds go to a good cause.
And everything is made here in the good ol' USA, including the bottles!
Wow. How interesting.
Two geniuses discuss a red sugar substance.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzz
someday, a million years from now, someone will dig up a computer and find this particular blog on it. this will be proof how insane the world became in 2004.
ketchup has become a political issue.
i am glad bill del monte or the chef boy r. dee's are not running for anything.
jack
mmmmm, long pork. Though you really need to use a ginger-molasses-cayenne-vinegar marinade, and then slow cook it in a steel smoker. None of that red industrial glop.
What's next, politically oriented individually wrapped cheez slices?
I'm actually surprised that Republicrat yahoos aren't keeping to the party line, preaching abstinence instead of promoting promiscuous use of condiments.
Del Monte and United Fruit used the US Marines as part of political food policy over the past century many times in Honduras, Cuba, Nicaragua,, and so on.
Before Banana Republic was a retail chain, it was a key part of US foreign policy, brutal, murderous dictatorships, enforced by US troops.
i use Uncle Dave's Ketchup from vermont.
all natural. kosher. no icky sweeteners.
no politics.
i am going to stop eating pineapples because of that red cross whore...liz dole and her limped penis hubby bob.
Hey, Tadpole:
GFY
gee...GFY?
Good For You?
Girls Feed Yaks?
Greenbeans Float Y'Know?
no, wait...Go Fuck Yourself?
very impressive & eloquent.
and stuff.
I don't see why it has to be political. W ketchup would stand to take a bigger chunk of the market (provided it really is a tasy alternative) if it wasn't directly tied to Republicans. To my knowledge, it makes more business sense to sell to the biggest market possible, which would be anyone looking for an alternative taste not a different political flavor. Heinz may be owned by the wife of the democratic candidate, but it didn't set out to be political. It just wants to be a condiment, so should W.
I think it's fun that it is political, in the thin tradition of Billy Beer and Gold Water. I'd love to see Heinz unveil a 58th Variety in honor of John Kerry, though I can't imagine what would be fitting.
Genius responds while trying to live up to the standards of his hero, Herr Cheney:
"Go Fuck Yourself."
Good job, grasshopper.
i guess telling somebody to go fuck themselves isn't a 'personal attack'.
mebbe it's a term of endearment or something.
Mark, it is, but I fall behind. Anyone who thinks I'm missing something or not getting to something quickly enough should email me through the link on the side. Those emails won't get in with the comment copies.
Although, with Shark, it may have been a term of endearment. I often miss his context.
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I slather it on hamburgers, hot dogs, fries, steak (yes, steak!)
If proof is needed that RJ is a barbarian, here it is (unless that "steak" was previously known as "Trigger").
I can't wait for your review of Victory Gin.