It’s still going strong after All these years

THERE is one product, above all others, which I can use as a reward, a bribe or a consequence. It also has medicinal value — a teaspoon is sufficient to disguise a much-needed, but much-despised medicine. It has to be hidden high up in the pantry and, once opened, secretly stored behind other items in the fridge.

Its allure was enhanced when, during his one and only visit to McDonald’s, my child looked in sheer wonder at a pump-action tap that dispensed as much of this red liquid as one wanted.

It’s tomato sauce. And in our house, like many other homes — considering its sizeable market share — it’s not just any tomato sauce, it’s All Gold tomato sauce.

According to the brand’s website, Scottish chemist John Semble brought the recipe to South Africa in 1908. It was originally made by “lowering muslin bags filled with herbs and spices into pots of ripe, freshly crushed tomatoes”.

Mass production began in Paarl and Langlaagte in 1959 and in the 77 years to 1985, 250 million bottles were sold. Since 2011, the brand has generated about R3.3-billion in revenue for Tiger Brands, according to Euromonitor.

All Gold tomato sauce is streets ahead of its nearest competitor. Euromonitor research in the ketchup category shows All Gold last year had a 61.2% market share, followed by Wellington’s with 10.5%, and private labels with 10.2%. All Joy had a 4.5% market share and Heinz had 1.7%.

So when I baulk at the sugar content, the second ingredient on the label, meaning there is a substantial amount in the bottle, I can take comfort in the fact that I am keeping a South African tradition alive.

Speaking of sugar, food manufacturers are no doubt concerned about the impending sugar tax on sugar-sweetened drinks, which for now does not affect them. But in the years ahead, the tax could be extended to all manufactured foods to which sugar is added — pretty much every processed food.

Tiger Brands has introduced a light version with less sugar, I reckon to get ahead of the game. But overall, products with less sugar have not yet gained traction. If the sugar tax is applied more widely, consumers may opt for these if prices of their favoured heavily sugared sauce rise.

But price hikes are not easy to get away with, even when you are still — despite losing ground since 2014 — so far ahead of your competitors.

In a market where consumers are looking to cut spending, and have the option of trading down to cheaper products or cutting out tomato sauce altogether, since it’s hardly an essential food item (although some may disagree), raising prices is risky.

Yet for those businesses making chilli sauce there is good news: they are becoming more popular, especially among middle- to upperincome consumers who can afford to be more adventurous. And if they prove unpalatable, it will not be a wasted expense worth fretting over.

Lower-income consumers, for whom every cent really does count, will stick to known brands, but that doesn’t mean they can stomach higher prices.

The cult status of tomato sauce in our house even extended to my child wanting it spread on a peanut butter

Overall, products with less sugar have not yet gained traction

sandwich. The father refused. But that is its appeal: it is not just for dipping chips in.

As Euromonitor says, ketchup and mayonnaise are the biggest categories when it comes to table sauces in retail value and volume — because of “their familiar taste profile as well as their multifunctionality”.

A friend did warn me once not to introduce tomato sauce into the house. I should have listened because a bottle of All Gold tomato sauce is finished so quickly it has never come close to its expiry date. We did discover a 10-year-old unopened bottle of All Gold tomato sauce in my mother’s pantry last year, so it is clearly not to everyone’s taste.

Enslin-Payne is deputy editor of Business Times