Heinz
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50 free Heinz trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Heinz is one of those brands almost everyone has in the cupboard and almost no one knows much about. Behind the familiar bottle is a story more than 150 years old. It starts with a young man selling bottled condiments from his family's house near Pittsburgh, runs through one of the most famous numbers in advertising, and ends in a global group that owns far more than ketchup. This quiz covers the founder, Henry J. Heinz, and how the 57 Varieties slogan came about. It covers the ketchup itself: its early spelling, its bottles, its label and why it pours so slowly. And it covers the beans, sauces and frozen foods sold under the Heinz umbrella in America and Britain, along with the stadium, hall, chapel and museum that carry the family name and a few stranger moments, from a wartime change of production to a counterfeiting scheme with a messy ending. The 50 questions run from easy wins to deep cuts, so the quiz works for a ketchup-loving household, a pub quiz round on food brands, or anyone who has ever tapped the bottle and wondered what the number means. Every answer comes with a short explanation.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Heinz's 57 Varieties slogan was inspired by a New York advert boasting 21 styles of which product?
Shoes
Shoes were the unlikely spark: Henry Heinz spotted the sign from an elevated train and borrowed the idea, even though his company already sold more than 60 products.
Q 02Which fast-food chain dropped Heinz in 2013 after a former Burger King chief took charge of Heinz?
McDonald's
McDonald's ended a 40-year relationship months after Heinz's new owners installed Bernardo Hees, who had been running its arch-rival, as chief executive.
Q 03Henry J. Heinz's father came from Kallstadt, a German village also home to which US president's ancestors?
Donald Trump
Donald Trump's grandfather Frederick left the same village, and the two families are related: the Heinz founder's grandmother was born a Trump.
Q 04Which NFL team's touchdowns were once marked by giant Heinz ketchup bottles tipping on the scoreboard?
Steelers
The Steelers played at Heinz Field from 2001, and Heinz agreed to pay $57 million for the name, a figure chosen to echo its famous slogan.
Q 05Which British singer-songwriter teamed up with Heinz in 2019 for a limited-edition ketchup renamed in his honour?
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran's bottle, nicknamed Edchup, went on sale on June 5, the date marked as National Ketchup Day.
Q 06Which frozen potato snack did Ore-Ida, a brand Heinz bought in 1965, invent to use up scraps from making fries?
Tater Tots
Tater Tots began in 1953 as a way to use potato slivers that would otherwise be thrown away: Ore-Ida's founders chopped them, added flour and seasoning, and pushed the mash through holes.
Q 07A Heinz 57, in a playful nod to the 57 Varieties slogan, is a nickname for which pet of mixed ancestry?
A dog
A mixed-breed dog of uncertain ancestry gets the nickname, sometimes shortened to Heinz hound, because it seems to contain dozens of varieties at once.
Q 08Heinz Tomato Ketchup first went on sale in 1876 under which alternative spelling of its name?
Catsup
Catsup was the word on Heinz's first bottles in 1876. The company later switched to the ketchup spelling, which is now the dominant term in North America and the UK.
Q 09Henry J. Heinz started out in 1869 by bottling which sharp-tasting product, years before he sold ketchup?
Horseradish
Horseradish came first, and in 1896 it was also the first product promoted under the 57 Varieties slogan.
Q 10Which American food giant merged with Heinz in 2015 in a deal arranged by Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital?
Kraft
Kraft joined Heinz in July 2015, creating what was then described as the world's fifth-largest food and beverage company.
Q 11HP Sauce, the British brown sauce Heinz bought in 2005, takes its initials from which London landmark?
Houses of Parliament
Houses of Parliament gave the sauce its name after its inventor, Frederick Garton, heard a rumour that a restaurant there was serving it. He later sold the name and recipe for £150.
Q 12Teresa Heinz, widow of a Heinz family heir, married which future US Secretary of State in 1995?
John Kerry
John Kerry first met her at an Earth Day rally in 1990. After they married in Nantucket she went on using the name Teresa Heinz.
Q 13Long before Heinz bottled the tomato kind, traditional British ketchup was made mainly from which ingredient?
Mushrooms
Q 21Heinz gave away its first pickle pins to lure visitors to an out-of-the-way upstairs booth at which event?
Chicago World's Fair
Chicago World's Fair crowds took home about a million of the pins in 1893, and Heinz has produced more than 100 million of them since.
Q 22From 1898 Heinz ran a seaside pier offering free food samples and a museum in which New Jersey resort?
Atlantic City
Atlantic City's Iron Pier became Heinz Pier in 1898, and visitors were handed free souvenir pins there for nearly half a century.
Q 23The outline of the Heinz label copies which architectural shape, a symbol of the company's home state?
A keystone
Mushrooms were the base of early British ketchup, and other old recipes called for oysters, mussels or walnuts rather than tomatoes.
Q 14An alleged 2012 scheme to fake Simply Heinz ketchup came to light when the abandoned bottles did what?
They exploded
They exploded, apparently because the repackaged ketchup had begun to ferment after the site was left unattended.
Q 15Heinz's Dip & Squeeze ketchup packet, announced in 2010, was designed to be easier to use in which setting?
Inside a car
Inside a car was the test: a Heinz vice president bought a used minivan to try the packets at drive-up windows, while developers watched diners through one-way mirrors.
Q 16Heinz made ketchup for over a century in Leamington, a town nicknamed the Tomato Capital of which country?
Canada
Canada's Leamington, in Ontario, had a Heinz plant from 1908 until 2014. Heinz was the town's largest employer when it left, and a new owner, Highbury Canco, took over tomato processing at the site.
Q 17Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce, now a Heinz brand, was first made in 1837 by two men of which profession?
Chemists
Chemists John Wheeley Lea and William Henry Perrins sold it from Broad Street in Worcester, and the sauce was being imported to the United States as early as 1839.
Q 18Heinz owned which diet company from 1978 to 1999, launching Smart Ones frozen meals under its banner?
Weight Watchers
Weight Watchers cost Heinz $72 million in 1978. When it sold the business in 1999, it kept a licence to use the name on food products.
Q 19Which canned tuna brand, known for its cartoon mascot Charlie, belonged to Heinz from 1963 until 2002?
StarKist
StarKist came to Heinz in 1963, two years after Charlie the Tuna first appeared, and was later sold to Del Monte together with the pet food division.
Q 20What shape is the classic Heinz ketchup glass bottle, patented in 1890 and considered an icon of package design?
Octagonal
Octagonal glass bottles first carried Heinz ketchup in 1889, and the restaurant version holds about 14 ounces.
A keystone is the wedge that locks an arch together, and Pennsylvania, where Heinz began, is known as the Keystone State.
Q 24Which vegetable was pictured on Heinz Tomato Ketchup labels from 1890 until a tomato replaced it in 2009?
A gherkin
A gherkin stayed on the label for more than a century, a reminder that pickles were among the company's earliest products.
Q 25Henry J. Heinz said the 5 in 57 Varieties was his own lucky number, while the 7 was whose?
His wife's
His wife's lucky number completed the pair, although Heinz also claimed he picked 7 for its psychological influence on people of all ages.
Q 26After Heinz shut its Leamington ketchup plant in 2014, which mustard brand started using the town's tomatoes?
French's
French's launched a ketchup made with Leamington produce, and a grassroots campaign for it helped cut Heinz's market share in the country from 84 to 76 percent.
Q 27Heinz was bought in 2013 by Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital, an investment firm with roots in which country?
Brazil
Brazil's 3G Capital and Berkshire Hathaway paid $23 billion, which Heinz called the largest deal in food industry history at the time.
Q 28Which Heinz condiment, first prepared by hand in 1914, was the company's first brand created just for Britain?
Salad Cream
Salad Cream was nearly dropped in the 1990s, but a public outcry led Heinz to relaunch it with a £10 million advertising campaign.
Q 29Which variety of bean goes raw into every can of Heinz Baked Beans before being pressure-cooked in tomato sauce?
Haricot
Haricot beans cook within the sealed can, which is what thickens the sauce and gives the product its long shelf life.
Q 30During World War II, the Heinz food plant in Pittsburgh was converted for a time to build which aircraft?
Gliders
Gliders for the War Department came out of a factory better known for soup, while company president Jack Heinz made five wartime trips to England to help ease its food shortages.