Never Sell What's in the Bottle
How French's dominates the hot dog experience and owns occasions with their perfect squiggle lines of yellow mustard.
McCormick paid $4.2 billion for French’s mustard in 2017.
Not because they needed another condiment. Because they understood the spice rack strategy.
Here’s how the kitchen real estate game really works:
Spice companies keep buying condiment brands for one reason: Own multiple shelves, own the kitchen. McCormick & Company now touches your spice rack, your condiment shelf, and your baking cabinet. That’s not diversification. That’s domination.
But French’s played a different game to get there.
While Grey Poupon was teaching America to say “Pardon me,” French’s stayed in the squeeze bottle. They chose volume over margin. Democracy over luxury.
The genius? They never sold mustard. They sold the hot dog experience.
1904, St. Louis World’s Fair. French’s doesn’t set up a mustard stand. They put their mustard ON hot dogs. They weren’t selling a condiment. They were completing an experience.
That strategy still works 120 years later.
Think about it: You don’t buy French’s because it’s the most premium mustard. You buy it because hot dogs feel naked without that yellow squiggle. They own the moment, not the product.
The math reveals the strategy:
- Own the everyday moment (hot dog at the game)
- Skip the premium positioning (let Grey Poupon have it)
- Build volume through ubiquity
French’s went from Colman’s to Reckitt to McCormick, increasing value each time. Why? Because spice companies understand something most don’t:
Your kitchen has limited real estate. The brands that own multiple shelves own your loyalty. When McCormick owns your spices AND your condiments, switching costs compound.
Here’s what kills me:
Everyone’s chasing premium positioning. Artisanal this. Small-batch that. There’s definitely a time and place for it. Meanwhile, French’s is selling 100 million bottles by being proudly ordinary.
Sometimes the best strategy isn’t to be special.
It’s to be essential.
Which makes you pretty special, right?
What everyday moment could your brand own?