- Heinz is channeling its inner Coca-Cola with a new custom sauce dispenser, the Heinz Remix.
- Current prototypes of the device combine four sauces with "enhancers" at varying intensity levels.
- The machine is currently planned to be tested in unannounced restaurants later this year or early 2024.
Sauce lovers, rejoice: Kraft Heinz will soon start testing new custom condiment dispensers in restaurants.
The company on Wednesday announced the Heinz Remix, a machine that will offer more than 200 different combinations that include a base sauce and several "enhancers" that can be mixed in at different "intensity levels." Current base sauces in the base's prototypes include classics like Heinz ketchup, ranch dressing, barbecue sauce, and "57 Sauce," while enhancers include flavors like jalapeño, smoky chipotle, buffalo, and mango — each available at a low, medium, or high level of intensity.
The combinations would allow a customer who wants a spicier or sweeter barbecue sauce, for example, to get it in real-time in a restaurant setting.
"As a company, we're transforming through innovation by making bigger, more intentional bets to fuel our growth and create new experiences for consumers," Alan Kleinerman, Kraft Heinz vice president of disruption, said in a statement. "Heinz Remix is a great example of this consumer-first approach to innovation."
Kleinerman also noted the company plans to use data from the machines to identify particularly popular combinations that could inspire future products like Heinz's combination Mayochup and Buffaranch sauces.
"We are very, very clear that away-from-home and foodservice gives us an opportunity to test, to learn, to understand and to build trends much earlier than we have done historically," said Peter Hall, head of Kraft Heinz's North American food service division, according to CNBC.
Kraft Heinz said in a press release the machine will debut at the National Restaurant Association annual show in Chicago this weekend, with pilot programs in restaurants coming in late 2023 or early 2024.
The machine is reminiscent of the Coca-Cola Freestyle machine introduced in 2009, dispensing dozens of soda pop products that can be combined and customized to create unique beverages.
"I think it's easy enough to draw the parallels, but this was an opportunity born through the original insights that came through and our desire to really change and build on the experience that consumers have today," Kleinerman told CNBC, in reference to comparisons between the Remix and Freestyle machines.
However, Kleinerman told CNBC the ability of Coca-Cola to develop new flavors like Sprite Cherry based on popular Freestyle combinations did show Kraft Heinz it was possible to generate consumer feedback from the products.