Bottoms Up

Nobody enjoys scraping out the bottom of the jelly jar, nor having to shake the bottle to avoid ‘mustard-water’, nor risking a flood of BBQ sauce because it’s been stored upside down in your refrigerator door.   Nonetheless, these are annoying challenges which many of us face frequently.

How can condiment bottles and refrigerators be better designed to work in sync with the way consumers are using them? I’ve seen some flat topped ketchup bottles and some no-mess tops, which are pretty serious strides in the right direction.

Dear other condiment manufacturers, please hop on board.

Subway has a solid system figured out.

Bottles are stored nozzle side down, the storage space is specifically designed to keep them stable in that position, and the sauce labels face up, towards the sandwich builder.

Very nice work Subway!

Of course, this isn’t an ideal solution for home use, but again, there are good ideas out there and I would love to see them spread around!