It takes guts to compete with the big guys of the ketchup world, but Scott Norton and Mark Ramadan feel there’s room on the condiment shelf for one more product. Sir Kensington Gourmet Scooping Ketchup was born as a senior economics project when both were students at Brown University. They started with mixing trial concoctions, taste testing them on friends and after a few unscientific focus groups, they came up with two all-natural ketchups: Classic and Spiced.

Their alter ego, Sir Kensington, did not study with them in Providence, but attended Oxford and Cambridge universities and is so sophisticated he resoles his shoes with old top hats.

Q & A with Sir Kensington’s Founders

Q. What makes Sir Kensington ketchup different?

Then, we have a few other layers of flavor that go in, like lime juice, red bell pepper. For the Spiced, we add coriander, jalapeno, chili powder and chipotle peppers.

Q. Does that create a different texture?

A. Many other ketchups, including some of the gourmet ones, try in some way to emulate Heinz, so they go for the same homogeneous texture. I think what we wanted to do from the very beginning was not follow that paradigm of what people expect ketchup to be. Instead, we weren’t afraid to have the texture be a little bit chunkier.

We also wanted to put it in a glass jar, not the same plastic squeeze bottle that everyone already associates with ketchup. I think both of those things have contributed to people looking at our ketchup on a shelf and thinking this is something a little bit different and I wonder what it’s like.

Q. Do you suggest people pair it with the same things you would a regular ketchup, that we know nostalgically, or do you think go in a new direction?

A. We certainly don’t limit or guide our fans to what the ketchup normally goes on. That being said, it does go great on burgers and fries and tater tots and things like that. Anywhere you use ketchup, you can use this too. You can also use it for the base of a barbecue or cocktail sauce or even in a Bloody Mary.

Q. It’s sort of brave to take on ketchup, especially when people tend to be brand loyal. What made you decide to go into this market?

A. We knew that ketchup was so central to everyone’s upbringing and their culinary lives, ours included, and we thought that there could be some possibility for innovation. Ketchup is one of those things that appears in the nicest restaurants and the most casual restaurants and it’s the exact same thing.

You go to the store and you see all these mustards: spicy, Dijon, brown and yellow. But you don’t see any variations on ketchup, so we thought there must be some sort of a gap in the market. We thought it was perfect for disruption.

Q. Why did you want to invent the fictional character, Sir Kensington?

A. We wanted to be a background to the brand, because we weren’t the brand. We wanted to create a front man that was more interesting and more entertaining and would allow us to make up farcical and absurdist stories and also give it a certain elegance.

Q. What’s your next condiment? Any new flavors on the horizon

A. We’re thinking of doing a blonde ketchup, which would actually be a mayonnaise. Same ingredients, but calling it a blonde ketchup. We have started to develop it in the lab a little bit, by adding rosemary, champagne vinegar and a little Dijon mustard.

Recommendations

FIND...

Q. Any great condiments that you’re a fan of?

A. Justin’s Nut Butters - their Maple Almond Butter is out of this world. They’re out of Colorado, kind of pricy, but their aesthetic is really simple. It’s about the founder and how much he cares about cultivating the best nuts.

[See details.]

EAT...

Q. What restaurants do you think have great fries?

San Francisco

A. Frjtz in San Francisco. It’s a Belgian frites place and they have excellent fries.

[See details.]

New York

A. The Shake Shack - because they’re crinkly fries, you get better surface area. And it’s all about surface area with fries.

The Breslin has good fries.

Fat Radish has delicious fries, done in duck fat, and they have Sir Kensington on the table.

[See details.]

Chicago

A. The Publican - we really like this place. It’s really all about beer and pork.

[See details.]

Q. Ketchup on eggs... yea or nay?

A. Yea!

Q. Where do you like to go for eggs?

A. Cafe Mogador in New York. They have a really good brunch. The Moroccan Benedict is really good, as is the Halumi Eggs (poached, with roasted tomato, halumi cheese).

[See details.]

Tokyo

Q. You both have traveled the world, any stand-out places from your trips?

A. Gogyo in Tokyo. One of the best culinary experiences. We’re obsessed with their excellent burnt miso ramen.

Bird Land, also in Tokyo. It’s in the basement of a mini-mall. When it’s open for dinner, everything in the mall is closed. There are no outer markings to get there. There is one big bar and one big table, a communal table. It’s all different parts of the chicken on skewers and it’s amazing.

[See details.]

Beijing

A. Da Dong in Beijing - the best Peking duck ever.

[See details.]

DRINK...

Q. Any drink spots?

A. The Violet Hour in Chicago. They take a huge space and they make it feel personal by putting in really big velvet curtains and using very high back chairs to create these artificially intimate environments that don’t feel artificial at all. They make it feel very cozy, no matter where you are.

[See details.]

RECOMMENDATIONS

Details of Sir Kensington’s founders’ recommendations for their favorite products and restaurants in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Japan, and China.

RECIPES

- Sir Kensington’s Blue Balls

- Sir Kensington’s Easy Cheesy Meatloaf

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