1,250 Varieties

"Somewhat better than satisfactory," is the way that Ralph Burt Gookin, president of H. J. Heinz Co., describes the fiscal year that has just ended. Gookin, whom Chairman Henry J. Heinz II picked in 1966 to be the first non-Heinz ever to run the giant Pittsburgh packing company, has every right to be proud.

Sales for the fiscal year were up 6.3%, to $734,365,000. The total brought Gookin closer to his heart's desire of a billion-dollar 1972 sales year for Heinz. More significantly, earnings were up 17%, to $25,274,000; of that total, 43% came from the domestic side of Heinz's operation. Wall Street liked the flavor; Heinz stock that was selling in the 20s two years ago was up last week to almost 60.

Beans Abroad. H. J. Heinz, 99 years old, is a very curious American company. Long before many a U.S. corporation now active abroad was even organized, Heinz had important foreign sales. That early phase of the company's operation began the day in 1885 when Founder Henry Heinz walked into London's Fortnum & Mason, sold Britain's most prestigious grocer a line of Heinz horseradish, pickles, and ketchup. From that beginning, Heinz eventually established a thriving British company, ended up selling its 57 varieties in 150 nations. The company sold so well, in fact, that it pushed British per-capita annual consumption of baked beans to 11.5 Ibs. --twice the U.S. input. Foreign sales increased steadily, until earnings from abroad represented as much as 85% of the company's total. While Heinz prospered abroad, it no longer seemed to pay much attention to a U.S. food market that was more stable, more varied and more lucrative. Gookin changed all that.

An Iowa farmboy who paid his way through Northwestern University by boxing at club fights, Gookin went on to Harvard Business School, and signed up with Heinz in 1945 after varied jobs in other companies. Hired as an accountant, he worked his way up to comptroller and financial vice president, made his mark after Chairman Heinz, aware that the company had become too stolid domestically, made him a troubleshooter to improve Heinz's U.S. business. Gookin did it partly by revising Heinz's somewhat outdated sales techniques, partly by proposing the acquisition of such companies as Star Kist Tuna and Ore-Ida, a processor of frozen foods that takes its name from the fact that its first processing plants were in Idaho.

After he was appointed president and chief executive in 1966, Gookin hired about a dozen top marketing men from outside. The majority came from Procter & Gamble, which produces so many marketing executives for other companies that it is considered a kind of on-line business school for many U.S. corporations.

Spell It Ketchup. Gookin, now 54, also supervised the introduction of new products, like the Great American line of premium soups, with which Heinz hopes to cut into Campbell's overpowering hold on the American soup market. He also took a fresh look at some of Heinz's original 57 varieties--which have now grown to no less than 1,250 products. Heinz ketchup, in which the company is so predominant that it was able to persuade the U.S. Agriculture Department to abandon the "catsup" spelling in reports, has sold even better since Gookin ordered a supersize 26-oz. jar, widened necks to eliminate the aggravating bang-bang aspect of ketchup pouring.

To increase its portion of the domestic market, Heinz under Gookin has undertaken some other marketing techniques. It is a big competitor for what food men call the institutional market, including schools, hospitals and hotels. "Do you know," marvels Gookin, "they serve 50,000 meals a day at Ohio State alone."

Heinz has also gone in more competitively for the private label market in baby food and soups. But one thing it refuses to consider processing under someone else's label is ketchup.

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