MILWAUKEE — Two Wisconsin high school friends have turned a classroom taste test into a fast-growing organic ketchup brand, now featured across dozens of Meijer stores.
Ketchup Please, founded by Evan Lampsa and Jack Burns, was born out of Lampsa’s experience with open-heart surgery and his determination to create healthier food options. “Traditional ketchup is 20 percent added sugar — usually high fructose corn syrup,” Burns said. “Think of a Snickers bar or a bag of Skittles in your ketchup. What’s going on there?”
After testing 88 recipes with classmates, the pair landed on a “tomato-forward” formula that resonated with farmers market shoppers and Meijer’s buyers alike. In 2024, Ketchup Please debuted in seven Wisconsin Meijer stores and quickly expanded to 67 by spring 2025.
“We couldn’t cut corners,” Burns said. “We’d line up bottles, have them try a Heinz alongside ours, and get real feedback — ‘too thick,’ ‘too chunky.’ High schoolers can be picky, so it was a good litmus test.”
“We don’t drown out the tomato with too many spices,” he said. “At farmers markets and in-store demos, people tell us, ‘Wait, this tastes like tomatoes.’ We’re bringing the tomato back to ketchup.”
While Jack was studying at Northeastern University in Boston, his mom came across a flyer for a Meijer pitch event in Milwaukee. He quickly bought a last-minute flight home and presented Ketchup Please to the Meijer team.
The lineup — Original, Smooth Heat, and the new Barbeque Please sauce — is spotlighted in Meijer’s Local Favorites program, which showcases regional brands on end-cap displays. Burns now leads sales and marketing while Lampsa oversees production and recipe development.
