All dynasties come to an end, and much like the ones before it, ketchup has reportedly been knocked off its throne as the condiment of choice among the masses.
According to Hidden Valley Ranch's parent company Clorox Co.—let that part sink in for a second—70 percent of ranch is now being consumed outside of its familiar confines in the salad bowl. Jacquie Klein, director of the brand studio that manages the marketing for Hidden Valley, claims that ranch has also supplanted bleu cheese as the preferred dipping sauce for wings.
"Ranch is a rising iconic flavor in food and culture today," Klein told Ad Age. "It’s found on more than half of restaurant menus and in 75 percent of homes in the U.S. It’s really embedded in our culture."
"Ranch is a mega-flavor in food that’s found across the store, where ketchup is really bound by its bottle in the condiments aisle," Klein brags. Analytics group IRI appears to support Hidden Valley's argument showing that ranch accounts for roughly $1 billion in retail in the United States while ketchup lags behind with $833 million.
Hidden Valley's findings have empowered fans of the condiment to come out of the shadows, and publicly admit that they indeed favor the flavor of ranch over ketchup in its various forms.
