Sir Kensington's is an American food company with headquarters in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. It was founded by Mark Ramadan, Scott Norton, Brandon Child, and Win Bennett. The company produces Non-GMO Project Verified condiments including

ketchup Ketchup or catsup is a table condiment with a sweet and sour flavor. "Ketchup" now typically refers to tomato ketchup, although early recipes for different varieties contained mushrooms, oysters, mussels, egg whites, grapes, or walnuts, amon ...

mustard Mustard may refer to: Food and plants * Mustard (condiment), a paste or sauce made from mustard seeds used as a condiment * Mustard plant, one of several plants, having seeds that are used for the condiment ** Mustard seed, small, round seeds of ...

mayonnaise Mayonnaise (), colloquially referred to as "mayo" (), is a thick, creamy sauce with a rich and tangy taste that is commonly used on sandwiches, hamburgers, Salad#Bound salads, bound salads, and French fries. It also forms the base for various o ...

ranch dressing Ranch dressing is a savory, creamy American salad dressing usually made from buttermilk, salt, garlic, onion, black pepper, and herbs (commonly chives, parsley and dill), mixed into a sauce based on mayonnaise or another oil emulsion. Sour cre ...

, and "Fabanaise", a vegan mayo whose name is a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of the substitute ingredient '' aquafaba'' and ''mayonnaise'' which it mimics. On April 20, 2017,

Unilever Unilever PLC () is a British multinational consumer packaged goods company headquartered in London, England. It was founded on 2 September 1929 following the merger of Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie with British soap maker Lever B ...

announced its acquisition of Sir Kensington's. The company remains independently led and managed as a wholly owned subsidiary.

Background

Sir Kensington's Ketchup was first created in 2008 by Scott Norton, Mark Ramadan, Brandon Child, and Win Bennett. After two years of development, the product was commercially launched, featuring less sugar and salt than standard ketchup, and no

high-fructose corn syrup High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), also known as glucose–fructose, isoglucose, and glucose–fructose syrup, is a sweetener made from corn starch. As in the production of conventional corn syrup, the starch is broken down into glucose by enzy ...

. The brand is named after a fictitious British merchant, who they created as a

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, sports team, university society, society, military unit, or brand, brand name. Mascots are als ...

to represent the company's "quirky sensibility". In an interview with Bond Street, Ramadan said, "Sir Kensington was the character we created that reflected the never-ending search for something better. By making him British, it was sort of tongue-in-cheek, in that Americans look to the British for fancy things like high tea and scones." In May 2010, Ramadan and Norton became the company's first full-time employees. That year, they sold 10,000 jars in stores including Dean & DeLuca and

Williams Sonoma Williams Sonoma is an American retailer of cookware, appliances, and home furnishings. It is owned by Williams-Sonoma, Inc. and was founded by Chuck Williams (author), Charles E. (Chuck) Williams in 1956. History In 1947, Chuck Williams settle ...

. Since then, the company has expanded to offer Non-GMO Project verified and USDA-certified organic products including mayonnaise, mustard, and vegan mayonnaise. The company financed its early growth by raising $8.5 million from a Belgian private equity firm named Verlinvest and other individual investors.

Products

In 2010, Sir Kensington's launched its first product: ketchup. The ketchup is packaged in glass and plastic bottles of various sizes. It offers "classic" and "spicy" ketchup varieties. The company introduced mayonnaise in May 2013, producing in classic,

avocado oil Avocado oil is an edible oil extracted from the pulp of avocados, the fruit of ''Persea americana''. It is used as an edible oil both raw and for cooking, where it is noted for its high smoke point. It is also used for lubrication and in cosmetic ...

, organic,

Sriracha Sriracha ( or ; , ) is a type of hot sauce or chili sauce made from a paste of chili peppers, distilled vinegar, pickled garlic, sugar, and salt. It was first produced in 1932 by a native of Si Racha, a town and district of Thailand, though ...

chipotle A chipotle ( , ), or chilpotle, is a smoke-dried ripe jalapeño chili pepper used for seasoning. It is a chili used primarily in Mexican and Mexican-inspired cuisines, such as Tex-Mex and Southwestern United States dishes. It comes in differen ...

, special sauce, and dijonnaise varieties. It also offers mustard in spicy brown,

dijon Dijon (, ; ; in Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Digion'') is a city in and the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Côte-d'Or Departments of France, department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in eas ...

yellow Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In t ...

, and honey mustard varieties, as well as ranch dressing in classic, avocado oil, buffalo, and pizza flavors. In 2016, the company launched "Fabanaise", a vegan mayonnaise, made with a natural egg replacement, called aquafaba. Aquafaba is the brine water that naturally occurs when cooking

chickpeas The chickpea or chick pea (''Cicer arietinum'') is an annual legume of the family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae, cultivated for its edible seeds. Its different types are variously known as gram," Bengal gram, garbanzo, garbanzo bean, or Egypt ...

Awards and recognition

Sir Kensington's Fabanaise received the 2017 FABI award at the National Restaurant Association show in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. as well as the 2017 NEXTY award at Expo West for product innovation. The brand was awarded the Sofi award at the Fancy Food Show in 2015 for Special Sauce, and was a 2016 finalist for Chipotle Fabanaise. Sir Kensington's Spicy Brown Mustard and Yellow Mustard have won Gold medal and Silver medals respectively at the Worldwide Mustard Competition organized by the National Mustard Museum.

Fries of New York

In November 2014, Sir Kensington's created a pop-up French fry museum, entitled Fries of New York. The exhibition featured 100 French fries from New York City restaurants preserved in resin alongside materials on the history of French fries and accompanying condiments.

Acquisition

On April 20, 2017,

announced its acquisition of Sir Kensington's for an undisclosed sum.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sir Kensington's Companies based in New York City Manufacturing companies based in New York City American companies established in 2010 Food manufacturers of the United States Brand name condiments Unilever brands