Ketchup Vision

In the Wealth Creators, a book I wrote in 1991, I discuss how Heinz went from a small company to a big multinational one through effective leadership and a clear vision. Recently I came across a fascinating article by Malcolm Gladwell about one man’s quest to create an upscale ketchup that could compete with Heinz. He hasn’t been that successful, and it turns out the flavors in Heinz have something to do with it:

What Heinz had done was come up with a condiment that pushed all five of these primal buttons.  The taste of Heinz’s ketchup began at the tip of the tongue, where our receptors for sweet and salty first appear, moved along the sides, where sour notes seem the strongest, then hit the back of the tongue, for umami and bitter, in one long crescendo.  How many things in the supermarket run the sensory spectrum like this?

I wonder if this was as intentional as the vision that changed Heinz from an unromantic pickle and ketchup company into a multi-dimensional, international corporation.