• Wall Street Journal (paid subscription required), Wednesday, June 28, 2006 2:30 PM

H.J. Heinz Co. is wooing McDonald's Corp.'s--the one major restaurant chain not serving its brand of ketchup in U.S. outlets--as part of a major push to refocus on its most profitable products. The company had added new brands like StarKist tuna and 9-Lives cat food for years, but its "pantry clutter also distracted it from ketchup," says The Wall Street Journal. Now Heinz is trimming its product list, in line with a move by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other supermarkets who are "giving better shelf space to top brands." The McDonald's courtship has included such tactics as having Heinz CEO William R. Johnson grill hamburgers in a McDonald's restaurant. So far, the fast-food giant--which gave up serving Heinz Ketchup 33 years ago in its U.S. outlets when the company failed to supply enough product during a tomato shortage--has kept to its private-label supplier of the condiment. But McDonald's did change to Heinz for 4,000 international outlets, and the ketchup company hasn't given up. "Good relationships take a lot of time and a lot of patience," Johnson says.

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