"Heinz supposedly spent years developing the container–years! Their rigorous R&D even included user-testing in cars. Statistics are unclear on how many of the 100+ car deaths every day are caused by eating, but the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says about 80% are due to driving distracted–and that includes fry- and nugget-dunking. While it’s clearly not Heinz’s responsibility to police people who might enjoy their savory accoutrement while, say, whipping around a convoy on the New Jersey Turnpike, it does come across as a potentially controversial distraction."[1]
"’The packet has long been the bane of our consumers,’ said Dave Ciesinski, vice president of Heinz Ketchup. ‘The biggest complaint is there is no way to dip and eat it on-the-go.’
Designers found that what worked at a table didn’t work where many people use ketchup packets: in the car.
So two years ago, Heinz bought a used people carrier for the design team members so they could give their ideas a real road test.
The team studied what each passenger needed. The driver wanted something that could sit on the armrest. Passengers wanted the choice of squeezing or dunking. Mothers everywhere wanted a packet that held enough ketchup for the meal and didn’t squirt onto clothes so easily."
[1] https://www.fastcompany.com/blog/william-bostwick/architecture-design/having-trouble-dipping-those-mcnuggets-while-driving-not-a?partner=homepage_newsletter
[2}: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1248814/Heinz-new-ketchup-packet-How-Dip–Squeeze-answer-opening-fiddly-ketchup-sachets.html#ixzz0f3cEI2NL
oldId.20100209113308843
Biking in Baltimore