Straight outta Leamington

French's ketchup dispenser, A&W, Vancouver

The ketchup business has taken some weird turns in recent years. In 2013, after about 40 years as a loyal customer, McDonald's stopped buying Heinz's ketchup after Heinz hired the former CEO of Burger King. The same year Heinz announced that it was closing its ketchup plant in Leamington, Ontario.

A year later French's started selling ketchup in Canadian grocery stores, using tomatoes from Leamington. Now you can find French's ketchup at fast food restaurants such as A&W.

By most estimates, Heinz has over 80% of the ketchup market in grocery stores in Canada, but in the Canadian food service sector French's is making a dent. Will this result in a reduction in the amount of Heinz ketchup sold in the stores? Time will tell.