Heinz Glass Ketchup Bottle

            If you’ve ever been out to eat at a restaurant then you’ve probably came across the Heinz glass ketchup bottle. Now, after reading that first sentence and realizing that you have, then I’m sure you know exactly what I’m going to rant about. The only reason anyone is ever going to bring up this absurd product design is to completely rip it apart.

             The Heinz glass ketchup bottle is a problem to all restaurant eaters. The ketchup is basically glued to the inside of the bottle. The only way to get it out is by vigorously shaking it or slamming the bottom of the bottle enough times to make the people around you think you’re crazy. Of course there is the third option of using a knife to invite these luscious ketchup globs out of their home but who wants to deal with that. I don’t want to have to do any unnecessary work before I engulf my food. After all, it is why I go to a restaurant, right?

            The funny thing about this is there is no light at the end of the tunnel. When I don’t feel like using the Heinz glass ketchup bottle I may ask for some ketchup packets. All problems solved….you would think. For a person like me, I like ketchup a lot. When my waiter/waitress comes back with three ketchup packets I obviously have to ask them for more. It seems as if there is a pinch of ketchup in each one of these packets and I would consider you almighty if you can scrape out more than 50% of what’s inside. Those things are basically useless. At least eight of those are sufficient for a person like me. Actually, eight sounds like a lot, maybe seven.
            As I was looking for a picture of the Heinz glass ketchup bottle to add to this post, I came across an interesting video. An MIT PhD candidate named Dave Smith along with a team of mechanical engineers and nanotechnologists at the Varanasi Research Group have been in the lab addressing this common dining problem. What they came up with was a super slippery coating called “LiquiGlide” that is made of nontoxic materials. It can be applied to all sorts of food packaging, though ketchup bottles may be its first target. Here is a video to show the potential for this design.