July 5, 2023: Ketchup Storage Wars! Fridge or Pantry? A heated debate ignites on Twitter. Keep reading to know more!
The food and beverage company's UK-based branch tweeted, "FYI," followed by "Ketchup goes into the refrigerator!"
FYI- For Your Information
Using only five words, Kraft Heinz's tweet about how to keep ketchup sparked a bit of debate.
The heavily highlighted statement was tweeted out by Kraft Heinz on Tuesday, reaching over 4 million people. Ketchup is one of the company's well-known sauces.
A bit about Kraft Heinz before we go back to the main story:
Kraft Heinz- Kraft Heinz is a multinational food and beverage company formed by the merger of Kraft Foods Group, Inc. and H.J. Heinz Holding Corporation in 2015.
At the end of the 2021 fiscal year1, Kraft Heinz operated 79 manufacturing and processing facilities, approximately 5,550 ingredient and packaging suppliers, approximately 210 external manufacturers, and approximately 36,000 employees around the world.
It is one of the largest food and beverage companies in the world.The company produces a wide range of food products including condiments, sauces, dressings, cheese, meats, snacks, and beverages.
In picture: the Kraft Heinz products you would relate to.
The Company is Co-headquartered in Chicago and Pittsburgh.
Kraft-Heinz was the third-largest food and beverage company in North America and the fifth-largest in the world in 2021 as per Forbes List.
The Kraft Heinz brands:
What is Fiscal year1?
Fiscal1 period or Fiscal1 Year is the accounting period of 12 months that Companies, Governments use for their Budgeting purposes and financial reporting.
In India the Fiscal Year starts from April 1st of a year and ends on 31st March of the next year.
But please note that the Fiscal year (FY) of a Company or Government might not be the same as Calendar year.
A Financial year is generally broken down into 4 sets of 3 months starting from the Calendar year of a country, which means, there will be 4 Quarters2 in a Fiscal year - Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4.
Which means, in case of India, for let's say Fiscal Year 2023- 2024:
Q1 would be the period between 1st April 2023 - 30th June 2023
Q2 would be the period between 1st July 2023 - 30th September 2023
Q3 would mean period between 1st October 2023- 31st December 2023
Q4 , the last quarter of the Fiscal year - 1st January 2024 - 31st March 2024
Unites States of America uses 1st October as the start date and 30th September of the next year of the Fiscal year
Can a Company operating from India follow a different Fiscal period for their accounting than what is followed by India? YES. That can happen if the Company is listed in another Country outside of India.
When you read FY ending 31st December 2022 for a Company or Country, that would mean the Fiscal period from 1st January 2022 and ending on 31st December 2022.
Next time if you read the term FY 22-23 for India, that would mean the Financial year from April 1st 2022 - March 31st 2023.
In case of US, since we are talking about Kraft-Heinz, a company based out of the U.S., the Fiscal year is from 1st October to 30th September.
Back to the main article:
Following that, the company asked Twitter users for feedback on whether they stored their ketchup in the refrigerator or the pantry.
How do you store yours? The poll demanded that it be "... in the refrigerator." The findings of the poll showed that 63.2% of the more than 13,000 votes cast indicated that "fridge" was the response that most people agreed upon. In contrast, 36.8% of respondents stated that they preferred their ketchup to be stored in a cabinet.
Ketchup bottles are kept at room temperature on restaurant tables, as some Twitter users who disliked cold ketchup noted. Some users claimed there was no need for a discussion and that the ketchup bottle belonged in the refrigerator as soon as it was opened.
The same question was sent to Heinz's American division in 2017 via the social media platform Twitter.
Heinz commented at the time, saying, "Because of its natural acidity, Heinz Ketchup is shelf-stable, but refrigerated after opening to maintain product quality."
Ending the article with a question we are still trying to figure out. The question was on twitter which opened up the controversy again.
And why is it on the tables in Restaurants all the time?