Query to Heinz

Heinz have released their “Squeeze and Serve” soups. They are a squeezy sachet of concentrated soup that you squeeze into a cup, then add water to. They look delicious!

But I had a query with their Mediterranean Vegetable soup, so I filled in the online query form on their website.

Hi people of Heinz.

Is there an email address I can email a query to? Your online form is perfect for short queries, but my query is longer than your query box will allow.

Thanks,

Craig.

I got a reply about an hour later!

From: Heinz Consumer Care UK and ROI
To: Craig
Subject: Communication from H. J. Heinz 00151****A.

Dear Mr Anderson

Thank you for your Email contact.

Please get in touch with us on our free phone number 08000152075 from UK landlines and quote reference number 00151****A so we can help you further.
We look forward to hearing from you.

Regards

Peter

So I sent this later that day…

From: Craig A
To: Heinz Consumer Care UK and ROI
Subject: Re: Communication from H. J. Heinz 00151****A.

Hi there.

Thanks for getting back to me with advice to phone you.

I’m sorry, I know you are not big scary people, but I much prefer to email. Is this the right email address to use?

Thanks so much for your understanding.

Craig.

I got a reply within 30 minutes!

From: Heinz Consumer Care UK and ROI
To: Craig
Subject: Communication from H. J. Heinz 00151****B.

Dear Mr Anderson

Thank you for contacting us with regard to your enquiry.

You can email our department at : consumercare@*********

We hope the above information is helpful.

Regards

Peter

I obviously had the right email address, and I knew people were there because I was getting replies within the hour. They were showing far better customer service than any other company I have ever emailed, (except the wonderful Nethosted whose query reply time, when I used to use them years ago, was usually no more than 12 minutes!)

I decided to email my query…

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From: Craig A
To: Heinz Consumer Care UK and ROI
Subject: Re: Communication from H. J. Heinz 00151****B.

Hello Heinz

I read with interest that you had released “Squeeze and Stir” soups. They appear to be a condensed soup in a large sachet. From what I can gather, you squeeze the contents into a cup, then you pour in boiling water, then stir. With the addition of the boiling water, it transforms into a real soup. I guess it is pretty much a liquid version of cup-a-soup, but far less powdery. Don’t get me wrong, I love cup-a-soup. In fact I went through a stage about a year ago when I are nothing but cup-a-soup. I even emailed Batchelors about it, but I can’t for the life of me remember what for. Oh well.

I have a question about one of your new soups from your new range, in particular the Mediterranean Vegetable.

The list of ingredients says it contains, amongst other things, Tomato (63%), Courgette (3%), Onions (3%) and Red Pepper (2%). I’ll refer to these 4 ingredients as the “fresh” ingredients. These 4 “fresh” ingredients alone account for 71% of the total ingredients. The remaining 29% are a mix of water, sugar, olive oil and seasoning.

So I wondered why you called it “Vegetable Soup”?

The only vegetable in the recipe, making up 3% of the total ingredients, is onion. 68% of the “fresh” ingredients, (Tomatoes, courgettes and peppers,) are fruits. Obviously water and sugar are not a vegetables, olive oil and cornflower are not vegetables, and the seasonings are also not vegetables.

In that 97% of the ingredients are NOT vegetables, but the majority of them (68%) fruits, surely a more appropriate name would be Fruit Soup.

Your website states “Heinz policy of continuous product improvement may result in a change to the label” and so I thought I’d let you know quite quickly in case you needed to recall everything and reprint the packaging. The last thing you need is some know-it-all getting in touch and pointing this sort of thing out, before you’ve had chance to rectify the issue!!!1!

If you could let me know whether you are recalling all the Mediterranean Vegetable soups, I’ll gather up the ones I have bought and post them back to you for reprinting.

Thanks,

Craig.

From: Heinz Consumer Care UK and ROI
To: Craig
Subject: Communication from H. J. Heinz 00151****C.

Hi Craig

Thank you for your query we looking into this for you.

Regards

Peter

From: Heinz Consumer Care UK and ROI
To: Craig
Subject: Communication from H. J. Heinz 00151****D.

Hi Mr Anderson

Thank you for getting in touch.

It would be generally understood by a consumer that soup made with these ingredients would be described as a vegetable soup even though botanically it might be fruit.

We thank you for your comments and have shared this with our soups team.

Regards

Jennie

From: Craig A
To: Heinz Consumer Care UK and ROI
Subject: Re: Communication from H. J. Heinz 00151****D.

Hi again.

I do like your use of the word “botanically.” You are, of course, correct; the assumption with the general public is that a soup containing these ingredients may well be seen as a Vegetable Soup. But ALL companies make a variation of “Vegetable Soup.” If you follow my suggestion, you COULD be the first to make “Fruit Soup.”

With such a bold step you could become known as the soup mavericks, continuing to lead the market but in an exciting and new way! You’re already the market leaders, but adopting this new outlook and product name could further extend your lead!

I’ve even thought up a tagline that you could use for advertising purposes, if you were to adopt the idea:

“Heinz Fruit Soup – The same as Vegetable soup, but botanically correct.”

(Having read that back a few times, it actually isn’t that catchy is it? Sorry.)

I think you are the first company I have emailed who have a Soups Team. Are there many in the Soups Team? Would you mind passing on my thanks to them all for being involved in the discussion. I know they’re all probably busy making or designing soup, but it might make their day a little more cheery if you could pass on my thanks to them.

Finally, are the Soups Team working on anything top secret at the moment? They couldn’t give me a sneaky peek at any upcoming projects, could they? I promise I won’t tell anyone!

Thanks in advance,

Craig.

From: Heinz Consumer Care UK and ROI
To: Craig
Subject: Communication from H. J. Heinz 00151****E.

Dear Mr Anderson

Thank you for getting in touch with us about our HJ Heinz Products.

We have shared your thoughts with our Research, Packaging and Design team.

We always appreciate feedback so thank you again for letting us know your views.

Derek Smythe

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I could tell they were bored of me, and so I decided to stop emailing before I became too annoying. I hope that was ok, Kerry…

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