Posted on 12/26/2002 11:59:34 AM PST by Cagey
CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) - When Campbell Soup Co. began selling its condensed soups in their red and white cans, it couldn't have been easier - just add water and heat.
But this convenience food has been surpassed by even more convenient foods, and now the company is trying to convince the public that its products, including stalwarts like alphabet soup, are really M'm! M'm! Better!
Campbell isn't relying on advertising alone. It's making changes to the soups themselves in an effort to stop consumers from defecting to other foods.
The alphabet soup, for example, now has more 40 percent letters and the vegetable chunks are crisper.
Doug Conant, who became Campbell's CEO nearly two years ago, said the company does not expect to revolutionize dinner tables.
"Our goal is to stabilize our condensed soup business," he said.
Sales of Campbell's condensed soups have been falling between 1 percent and 2 percent a year, canceling out some of the growth in other businesses for Campbell, which also sells Pepperidge Farms cookies and crackers, Pace picante sauce and Godiva chocolates, among other brands.
Whether the changes are enough to stabilize sales could determine the fate of the condensed soup market, some analysts say.
Andrew Lazer, an analyst for Lehman Brothers, said if the soup upgrades flop, the company will have even more soul-searching to do.
"Does this management team throw in the towel on condensed?" Lazar asked.
Campbell officials say condensed soup, with sales of around 1 billion cans a year in the United States, is here to stay no matter what. Three soups - tomato, chicken noodle and cream of mushroom - are among the 15 best-selling products in U.S. supermarkets, company officials said.
Campbell has tinkered with its soups before - adding more chicken to the chicken noodle, for example - but the company has never had an overhaul like this. The firm is about midway through its three-year plan to improve the soups.
So far, 10 vegetable soups including its minestrone, vegetable soup with alphabet-shaped noodles and Southwest-style chicken vegetable, have been revamped. Next year at this time, the company plans to have another batch of 13 soups, including chicken noodle, reconstituted using the same process.
In the past, Campbell's soups have been in plants roughly the way people at home would make soup from scratch: in one big pot.
The company is now using a new cooking technique, called "cold-blending," which allows different ingredients to be added at different points in the process and some ingredients to be cooked less. The result is a soup with a clearer broth and crisper ingredients.
Walter Gordon, 72, of Cinnaminson, tried some of the new vegetable beef for lunch recently and said he liked it because it was meatier than the old version.
"If they say that they're making similar changes in the others, I'd be inclined to try them," said Gordon, the retired provost of Rutgers University's Camden campus.
A group of financial analysts also tried the new soups a few months ago. Lehman Brothers' Lazar said he was impressed, but with a caveat: "It was still condensed soup."
The changes are expensive. The company won't say exactly how much the new equipment that makes them possible is costing, but it spent $300 million to upgrade the technology in all its plants during the fiscal year that ended July 31.
Analysts say store brands have improved their quality over the years and cut into Campbell's business, particularly in the condensed market. But the company thinks the changes will put Campbell in a better position.
"It's going to be very much harder for our competitors to follow," said R. David C. MacNair, Campbell's chief research officer.
Analyst Mitch Pinhero, who follows Campbell for Janney Montgomery Scott, said that beyond changing the soups, "there's not a whole lot more they can do unless they cut prices."
The company also needs to make its products easier to find. In a supermarket in Maple Shade recently, two shoppers stared at the soup section and complained about the difficulty at finding what they wanted from the sea of varieties all in red and white cans.
Campbell's knows about that problem and has tried to fix it. Business director Michael J. Ferry said about two-thirds of the nation's supermarket chains have agreed to at least some of the company's proposed new soup organization principles, which call for grouping soups by brand and flavor group.
If the changed taste and organization of the condensed soups doesn't draw customers, Campbell's has one more trick to attract buyers interested in convenience: putting on easy-open tops that will make can-openers unnecessary. It's already in place on the company's ready-to-serve varieties.
More 40% letters? 40% larger? 40% smaller? Or do they mean that there have 40% more letters?
If the last, then what letters are they using? Greek? Russian? Japanese? What is this, learning a foreign language while eating soup?
8')
Hint to Campbells - try to add flavor to your soups with something other than salt or MSG...
That's why I make homemade soup every month, sometimes several times a month. Canned don't cut it.
I wholeheartedly agree ...
...I think it's the large percentage of melted chickenfat and high concentration of salt in the soup.
A dollar a can or more? When I can buy the generic for 40 or 50 cents? Cream of Mushroom is Cream of Mushroom...Campbell's, add water to this...
Give me homemade soup anytime. It's not that time-consuming to prepare and portions of it can be frozen for later use. I have a nice big holiday ham bone waiting in the wings for Mama Leni's split pea soup. Campbell's canned split pea can't even compete!
Leni
I NEVER buy Campbell's, except for the Cream of Shrimp - it makes a good dip mixed with cream cheese. Of course, I've never seen a generic equivalent, which I'd try in a heartbeat.
I'm sorta surprised anyone still buys these things. It's easy now to get decent whole beans, grind them fresh, and thereby make a real cup of coffee.
When you open a pre-ground multipound can of "coffee", what you're really getting is an efficient sponge, which immediately starts to suck up water vapor and off flavors from its surroundings, begins to oxidize and deteriorates rapidly over a period of 1-2 days.
Try it fresh, you'll never go back. Seriously.
Of course, I'm nuts - I roast my own coffee beans before I grind them. Fresh is best. More info at www.sweetmarias.com.
My favorite is Lipton's Chicken Noodle. Love those tiny noodles.
A little Tabasco does a world of good...
My all time favorite soup.
Many of the Greek diners in New Jersey (I think 99% of the diners in NJ are Greek owned) have great homemade pea soup which is always served with these huge croutons that are incredibly good.
Mama, can I come over??
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