What are the 57 varieties of Heinz?
This was a classic case of a question that could be answered by heading directly to the source. We surmised that the information would be found on the company’s web site, and, lo and behold, we were right. We typed “www.heinz.com” into our browser’s location bar, were quickly rewarded with the Heinz web site, and clicked on the Consumer FAQs section, always our first stop when looking for an answer to this type of question. We scanned the entries and soon found a similar question: What is the significance of “57”?. Here’s the company line: Our corporate history tells us that in 1896, Henry John Heinz noticed an advertisement for “21 styles of shoes.” He decided that his own products were not styles, but varieties. Although there were many more than 57 foods in production at the time, because the numbers “5” and “7” held a special significance for him and his wife, he adopted the slogan “57 Va
