H. J. Heinz Company
Henry John Heinz began packing foodstuffs on a small scale at
Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1869. There, he founded Heinz Noble & Company with a friend, L. Clarence Noble, and started marketing bottled
horseradish, soon followed by
sauerkraut,
vinegar, and
pickles. The company went bankrupt in 1875. The following year, Heinz founded another company, F & J Heinz, with his brother John Heinz and a cousin, Frederick Heinz. The company grew and, in 1888, Heinz bought out his other two partners and reorganized it as the
H. J. Heinz Company, the name carried to the present day. The company was incorporated in 1905, with Heinz serving as its first president and retaining that position for the rest of his life. Heinz said he chose "5" because it was his
lucky number, while "7" was his wife's lucky number. At the time of Heinz's death in Pittsburgh at the age of 74, the H. J. Heinz Company had more than 20
food processing plants and owned seed farms and container factories. ==Later life==