A staple of the kitchen condiment cupboard could be about to get a 21st century makeover.
According to a report in The Grocer trade magazine, manufacturer Heinz is considering changing the name of one of its oldest products, ‘Salad Cream’. A spokesman for Heinz said it could be renamed ‘Sandwich Cream’, as that name would better reflect the product’s “usage occasions”.
Heinz says that only 14% of people who buy Salad Cream actually drizzle it on salads, while most prefer to use it as an ingredient in sandwiches, for example, with tuna or ham. It would therefore make more sense to call it Sandwich Cream. The report in The Grocer adds that the name change could increase the historic product’s appeal to “younger shoppers”.
Joel Hughes, UK sauces brand build lead at Kraft Heinz, said: “As a market leading business, Kraft Heinz continues to audit its portfolio in order to meet the needs of consumers. There are consumers now who haven’t grown up with the brand in the household and just don't know about the iconic zingy flavour or what to eat it with.”
An official consultation on the proposed name change is now under way, with a decision expected in September. If it goes ahead, it will be the first name change for the product since it was launched in 1914, more than a century ago.
Its heyday was in the 1940s when Salad Cream was used to ‘zing up’ all kinds of bland wartime rations, and it has remained a family favourite. In the 1999, as many Britons began using mayonnaise, news leaked that Heinz was considering discontinuing Salad Cream, but a public outcry led to a change of mind. Instead it ‘relaunched’ the product in new-look packs, including squeezy bottles. While UK sales of Heinz Salad Cream have dipped in recent years, people still spent £28.8 million on the product in 2017, despite most supermarkets offering their ‘own brand’ versions.
Perhaps one reason why so few people apparently use Salad Cream on salads is the wealth of alternatives now available, including ready-made salad dressings in a wide variety of flavours. Many are also marketed as healthier and lower-fat than Salad Cream, although most makers, including Heinz, also offer ‘less fat’ versions of the product. The healthy eating push of recent years has claimed it is pointless opting for a healthy salad then lathering it with a calorie-laden sauce such as original Salad Cream.
If you strip away the product’s long heritage, renaming it Sandwich Cream would seem to make sense in better reflecting how most people now use it. It could also lead to more consistent year-round sales, as people eat sandwiches at any time of the year while salads are far more popular in the warmer summer months.
However, stripping away that heritage might be easier said than done, as traditional “Salad Cream” seems to have an army of ardent UK fans. Initial reaction to the proposed name change on social media has been overwhelming negative. People have been taking to Twitter, Facebook and the like in droves to express their astonishment at the news and, in most cases, their opposition to it.
Many question why it’s necessary to change the name, as people will still use the product in a variety of ways regardless of what it’s called. Some go as far as claiming it feels like a personal attack on a much-loved friend which has been part of their lives for as long as they can remember. Of course, those likely to care least about the loss of heritage are the ‘younger shoppers’ Heinz hopes to attract and who do not have a lifetime’s attachment to ‘Salad Cream’. Yet they are also the ones most likely to opt for newer, trendier alternatives.
It could prove a marketing minefield for Heinz… or it could just be a clever way to put Salad Cream back in people’s minds in time for summer and boost sales of the iconic product?