Customise your ketchup

The Heinz Remix will let you mix your own sauce.

Want intense mango and a touch of jalapeño in your steak sauce? A new machine from Kraft Heinz will let us mix custom-flavoured ketchups and other condiments.

Why it matters: Concocting a food or drink at a machine like this is fun — and gives lots of data to the manufacturer, which can then go create products that conform to popular flavour combos.

Driving the news: The Heinz Remix made its debut at the National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago this month, billing itself as “the first customizable and IoT-enabled digital sauce dispenser.”

• First, you pick your base sauce: Heinz ketchup, ranch, 57 Sauce or BBQ sauce.
• Then you add an “enhancer,” like jalapeño, smoky chipotle, buffalo, or mango and specify an “intensity level” (low, medium, or high).
• Or go wild and add lots of flavours.

Where it stands: Kraft Heinz plans to pilot the Remix at various restaurants in late 2023 or early 2024 but won’t say which ones.

• The company views the machine as a “real-time insight generator” that’ll help it glean the combos people crave.