Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/438836
S cott Norton and Mark Ramadan never expected their condiment experiment to last beyond their final semester at Brown University. It was in early 2008 that the two classmates noticed a lack of variety in the ketchup aisle of local supermarkets, and decided to try their hand at creating their own alternative. Dedicated to making ketchup that was different and better than the status quo, Norton and Ramadan produced a prototype of the condiment that cut out the high-fructose corn syrup and tomato concentrate that was common in mass-market brands. "When we originally had the idea for Sir Kensington's, we knew there was something interesting on our plates," Norton explains. "We knew that ketchup was important, but it hadn't changed in 50 years. Not being trained chefs, and never having done this before, we said we have a hunch here, but we're not experts." The two called on friends for help, throwing ketchup-tasting parties to get an unbiased opinion on what worked and what didn't. Armed with six varieties of their homemade, all-natural ketchup, Norton and Ramadan gave scorecards and French fries to 30 friends for a blind tasting. "By the end of the semester, we had actually put some of our ketchup in jars and sold them on a super-small scale to 50 of our friends," Ramadan says. A college project making all-natural ketchup was the start of a successful partnership. BY EMILY CROWE PHOTOS: SIR KENSINGTON'S Scott Norton and Mark Ramadan, Sir Kensington's Crafting Better Condiments 70 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE specialtyfood.com producer profle