The pandemic may have brought about a tight market for ketchup in packets from the shift in restaurant demand over to packets from bottles, but there is no shortage of ketchup. That’s the word from Indiana’s own Red Gold, and Director of Marketing and 3rd generation family owner Colt Reichart.
“We anticipated that and we put in new lines and we innovated on two other kinds of products that aren’t on those lines, dunk cups for instance. So, we’re there and we’re willing to meet that demand and I think most of our customers are seeing that and making the switch. When you do business with Red Gold we’re going to keep you supplied.”
Headquartered in Madison County, Red Gold produces everything that has tomatoes in it, and demand for those products rose with the pandemic. Reichart is proud of the company’s history of starting by supplying tomatoes during WWII. The foundation of rising to the occasion during troublesome times is now part of Red Gold culture, and they came through during this last year, continuing operations 24/7 throughout the year and even adding employees.
“Our employees are dedicated. They’re passionate. They’re real-world problem solvers and as a food company we have strong GMP’s (Good Manufacturing Practice) and we are positioned to handle events such as this. We added additional safety and health precautions to ensure business wouldn’t be interrupted while keeping our workforce safe. We added things like automated temperature scanners, required facemask obviously even before the mandates. We installed clear partitions around the break rooms and around the offices, even sorting tables where people were sorting tomatoes.”
The tomato crop in Indiana and surrounding states that supply Red Gold was excellent in 2020 after what Reichart calls a perfect growing season. They’ll count on another one this year to satisfy the growing demand.
Red Gold is the second largest manufacturer of tomato products in the United States.