I saw the Red Duck Ketchup Kickstarter project and the first thing that came to my mind was my son’s ketchup habit.   He puts ketchup on almost everything and then he tops the ketchup with a pile of pepper and of every spice imaginable. He started grabbing the ketchup bottle at an early age. At first I thought I had driven him to the ketchup habit with the constant array of tasteless/burned/bland dishes that came out of my kitchen, but I soon realized that his ketchup abuse was nondiscriminatory. No dish has ever escaped his ketchup and spice concoction.

Well, these four MBA students from the University of Oregon were gathered around a basket of Cajun tater tots and they were eating them and dipping them in the traditional and tasteless ketchup, when they had their aha! moment.   They went beyond topping their ketchup with pepper and spices; they came up with the idea of making their own ketchup.   An organic and tasteful ketchup of their own was the perfect idea for a class project.  So, they put their heads together and after testing/tasting different recipes, came up with Red Duck Ketchup in three different flavors: classic, spicy and curry.  The four entrepreneurs (Kurt Barajas, Karen Bonner, Jessica Kutz and Shannon Oliver) and their Red Duck Ketchup won the graduate level Lundquist Center Venture Quest, which is an investment competition at the University of Oregon.  Bravo!

Red Duck Ketchup launched a Kickstarter account on May 1st to raise the $20,000 needed to take their business to the next level.  They have 14 days to go and have raised half of their goal.  I am going to get my hands on some Red Duck Ketchup through a pledge. I really like this project and on top of it all, it is RED. Good luck guys!

images courtesy of Red Duck Foods, LLC