A 25-year-old man named Henry John Heinz founded the Heinz Company, best known for its ketchup and other condiments. Ketchup wasn't Heinz" first product however: Horseradish was. After horseradish came pickles, sauerkraut, and vinegar, which were shipped elsewhere from Heinz" Pittsburgh headquarters. When Henry was 30, he and his business partner, L.C. Noble, felt that they needed more room in order to maintain operations so they bought a large chunk of land along the Allegheny River. All of this land was lost however, when the company went bankrupt because of the Banking Crisis of 1875. Both men found it difficult to feed their families. .
Heinz wasn't one to be defeated and right after the collapse of the bank he started his business up again, this time without the help of Noble. Instead, his brother, John Heinz, and his cousin Fred were happy to lend a hand. It was in this same year when Ketchup was first introduced, along with a myriad of other new products including the world's first sweet pickles. For nearly 11 years Heinz watched his business flourish, and, with Heinz established as a solid company in the states, sought to take operations overseas. So, in 1886, he and his family sailed to England and presented his "57 Varieties" to a leading English food purveyor, Fortnum and Mason. Immediately they made his products ready for distribution as soon as they tasted them. They especially liked the Ketchup. In 1896, the first overseas headquarters opened in London, followed by two other English factories in 1905 and 1919, and others following. A lot of Britain's thought that Heinz was a British Company for the longest time for the reason that Heinz became the Queen's personal purveyor.
In 1919, with many factories in both countries, Henry Heinz died at the age of 75 after a battle with pneumonia. His son, Howard Heinz, took over the company preceding his death. After that, three more presidents, Howard Heinz II, R.
