After being hit with a torrent of client complaints regarding their decision to discontinue carrying French’s Ketchup in Zehrs, No Frills and the Real Canadian Superstore, Loblaws Ltd. has reversed their decision and will continue stocking their shelves with French’s Ketchup.
In the Windsor Essex County region, social media exploded with negativity to the initial news with threats of boycotting these grocery chains. The news that Loblaws would no longer carry French’s Ketchup hit this region particularly hard since it is Essex County grown tomatoes processed at Leamington’s Highbury Canco plant that is providing the paste for this product.
Highbury Canco is the company that reopened the Heinz Plant that had closed its doors in June 2014, putting a workforce of nearly 740 workers out of work. Highbury Canco has a current workforce of over 400 and has hopes of continued growth.
Biz X contacted Catherine Thomas, Director of External Communications with Loblaw Limited about the reversal of this decision. Here is the official release from the company:
“We’ve heard our Loblaws customers. We will re-stock French’s ketchup and hope that the enthusiasm we are seeing in the media and on social media translates into sales of the product. We will work with French’s to make sure we are in-stock as soon as possible.
For context on our initial decision, our job as a retailer is to stock the products customers want most. Despite the recent media and social media attention, French’s regular ketchup did not sell well in our stores for more than a year.
In that time, we consistently met with French’s to review performance. We notified them of our final decision more than a month ago. At the same time, we had continued to stock French’s new innovation, flavoured ketchup also made from Leamington tomatoes, and dozens of other French’s product, in many of our stores nationwide.
Loblaw has a Canadian-first sourcing policy and is committed to supporting Canadian farmers and Canadian businesses. We are the largest purchaser of locally grown produce in the country.”- Kevin Groh, Vice President, Corporate Affairs & Communication, Loblaw Ltd.

