Young entrepreneurs hope you'll pass the 'Ketchup Please'

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- For some, high school's a place for joining clubs, competing in academic bowls, and standing out in sports, but for one Kettle Moraine HS student, those four years were all about the kitchen and cooking up what has become a growing start-up company.

That's Jack Burns, a salesman pitching his product.

"Appreciate it. You can pick one up right here," Burns said.

Burns is handing out samples and customers are responding well.

"I really believe that if he would sell that in Chicago, they'd be putting that on their hot dogs, that's how good it is," said Gene Trofimoff, shopper from Fredonia.

"Just tasted great, you know not too chemical. It tasted just very, very clean and very good," said Al Haas, shopper.

"So typical ketchup has four grams of sugar per serving. Our ketchup only has less than one gram and we also only have one gram of carb vs 5 grams of carb per serving in traditional Heinz ketchup," said Burns.

Having a healthier ketchup stems from what Jack's buddy went through years earlier. In seventh grade, Evan Lampsa had open heart surgery to repair a congenital defect.

"And while that experience alone didn't necessarily inspire him to create a ketchup, it did inspire him to create healthier foods for heart patients. Shortly after his surgery his dad had asked to pass the ketchup, please and Evan thought it'd be pretty funny to name a brand Ketchup Please because in the spirit of Midwest nice, you'd have to say well pass the Ketchup Please, please," said Burns.

The idea may have actually started years earlier. That's Evan and his grandma making homemade ketchup together. And so, after Evan's surgery he wondered, could he create a ketchup that even heart patients on a sugar restriction could enjoy?

"Evan and I met our junior year of high school, actually in AP US Government. Being a year younger I really wasn't in tune to what a startup would entail.

It was 18 months of recipe development and really coincided with covid as well. Ketchup Please took 88 recipes. It's the final one. We have two flavors original and smooth heat," said Burns.

In 2019 even before the two had graduated from Kettle Moraine HS, Albrecht Market in Delafield began selling their product. Years later, Ketchup Please is first to appear when you search ketchup on their website. Six years later, they have two contract packaging facilities, one in Hudson, Wisconsin, and one in Nebraska. Call it a combination of good taste plus motivated marketing.

"Hi, I'm Jeff from Fox Bros Piggly Wiggly in Port Washington," said Jeff Kozlowski, Store Director, Fox Bros Piggy Wiggly.

Last spring, Jeff Kozlowski was notified a young man was waiting to see him.

"It's very rare that you have someone blindly show up at the store, but he was determined, he came in, met with me, introduced himself. I was shocked that a young man could come in and deliver a pitch especially when he's still in college and impress me enough to put another ketchup on my shelf," said Kozlowski.

"He tried it, initially was skeptical," said Burns.

"There's ketchups that have lower salt, lower what, you know, but this is a unique taste, and it's locally made -50 and distributed, so it's a great community product," said Kozlowski.

And that local connection is what's driving sales up.

"Can hardly keep it on the shelves. Every time we get a shipment in, we sell through," said Kozlowski.

"Now we're in about 400 retailers throughout the Midwest including all eleven Fox Bros Piggly Wiggly stores," said Burns.

Their growth, they say, also stems from area farmers markets. Milestones being reached in their early 20s. Jack is now a senior at Northeastern University in Boston and Evan graduated just last year from the University of Miami in Florida. Competing alongside big brand names. Now it was our turn to give Midwest Nice a try and say, "Pass the Ketchup Please, please!"

Just a little nibble, and we're giving smooth heat a thumbs up.

"Seeing people try it for the first time and being just incredibly floored that this is something high school students started. I'm 21 years old and we're taking it to the next level going hard here in our backyard in Wisconsin and excited to hopefully bring our ketchup to more stores throughout 2025 and beyond," said Burns.