Campbell adds salt to spur soup sales

[blueclown]

Source: Reuters

Campbell Soup Co's incoming CEO Denise Morrison is bringing back the salt as she tries to entice people to buy more soup.

The move to add salt and flavor in more than two dozen soups after a health-inspired low-sodium push failed to lift sales is one of several steps that Morrison -- who has run the company since March -- announced on Tuesday at an annual investor meeting at the company's headquarters in Camden, New Jersey.

Campbell is overhauling soup products, coming out with bread shaped like Goldfish crackers, and will be, in Morrison's words, "a beehive of activity" in fiscal 2012 as it tries to spur growth after several winters of weak soup sales that have weighed on the company's share price.

"For me it's about stabilizing it first and then planning growth beyond that," Morrison said in an interview about the U.S. soup business.

Shares of the world's largest soup maker closed up 1.3 percent on Tuesday as Wall Street looked past a weaker-than-expected 2012 earnings forecast, due to investments in marketing and innovation, to the longer-term benefits.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/12/us-campbellsoup-idUSTRE76B2V320110712

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There should be a crackdown by the FDA over this. If you want to advertise products for kids, there should be certain standards that should be met.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Mmmm, Mmmmm, sodium!

[democratinnashville]

15. LOL!!! n/t

[Frank Cannon]

45. If these soups had any more sodium in them...

they would explode on contact with water.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

2. OH HELL!!

I hate canned soup and frozen dinners b/c they have too much salt in them. Way too much.
I get chunky soup and then put sour cream in it to dilute it.

Most people in America have dead tastebuds, I have decided.

"Healthy Choice" is a joke if you read the sodium content. :puke: :wtf:

[shraby]

3. As far as I'm concerned, Campbells soup sales are down

because the soup isn't as good as it used to be. It tastes funky anymore. As a kid I was a big time chicken noodle soup fan..could eat it for 3 meals a day..loved it. Not anymore..they've done something to the regular chicken noodle that ruined the flavor.

[emilyg]

21. Correct. I found

a store brand that has good taste and lots of chicken. It also has less salt.

[awoke_in_2003]

31. I used to love...

Campbells tomato soup- I cannot stomach it now (of course, I have never been a salt guy, but I like to add extra pepper)

on edit: I used to like the chicken noodle soup, too- but it is so salty now that I cannot stand it.

[freshwest]

37. It's tastes like it's been kept in the refrigerator for a month and boiled to death. Dead X 3.

Salt won't help that.

[joshcryer]

38. Because they took out the salt?

[ChairmanAgnostic]

56. No, because they use cheaper ingredients.

They've been economizing for years, and their products taste like shit.

While salt does add an immediate sense of "ahh" it does not make a bad taste suddenly good. It only makes a bad taste salty.
Campbells has sucked for some time.

[wordpix]

4. it's crummy food and so easy to make your own delicious soup

[femmocrat]

5. IMO, the sodium isn't the problem, it's the price.

It is way over-priced, IMO.

Found this on the Google:

Now Even Canned Soup Too Expensive for American Consumers

" . . . Campbell said its soup sales declined as it ended discounts and consumers seemed to be stocking up less.

Yes, soup. Canned soup. The official "meal" of hard times, the Great Depression, namesake of the soup line, has priced itself right out of the average family's pantry. And lest one think this is occurring because of some sort of sudden economic shock, it's not."


More at link: http://www.minyanville.com/dailyfeed/2011/05/23/price-of-soup-now-squeezing/

[ElboRuum]

8. The modern corporation...

...bases its current business model on the dead-end idea of unsustainable exponential growth. The expectation of investors (these days anyway) is to see constant appreciation of their investment, and failure to deliver results in stock pullouts. To do this (at least in the short term to give the illusion of this working) you can do one of two things, move more and more product, or move the same amount of product at ever increasing prices.

Expectations of investment return in this country has reached a critical mass where the inflation of price cannot be supported against essentially dwindling earnings.

[Mojorabbit]

28. I agree

I still love their tomato soup and occasionally use cream of shroom and chicken but the prices are ridiculous.

[joshcryer]

39. Yep, there's Campbell soup sitting right next to Great Value which is 20 cents or more less.

As a person on a budget which are you going to chose?

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

52. San to say, but some people will always go with name-brand... know matter if the price is a little

or a lot cheaper. I always hear if it is cheaper because it is made cheaper. But I wonder who does make GV soups? I doubt they have their own kitchen.

BTW: I don't mind CV, but they don't put House brands on sale.... sometimes Cambell soup is cheaper.

[Xithras]

53. Absolutely.

You can buy a full TV dinner for the price of a single can of Campbells Chicken Noodle Soup nowadays. If you're poor and hungry, would you choose soup, or grilled chicken breast over rice with a serving of veggies on the side?

[Odin2005]

6. Fuck, I'm trying to reduce my salt intake to control the edema in my legs.

[awoke_in_2003]

32. Hey Odin...

the only way you are going to get a handle on the sodium is to make your own stuff fresh. If it comes out of a can, is has way too much salt in it. I make my own tomato soup now- I loved Campbells TS, but it just got too damn salty for my taste.

[Odin2005]

49. Thanks for the advice!

[Metta]

7. Their soups already had a half day's worth or more per serving.

Their tomato juice was even worse.

[htuttle]

9. They're probably getting undercut by store brands and generics

If you're going to buy something as crappy-tasting as Cambpell's Soup, you might as well save another dime and buy the generic brand. If you want good soup, you don't buy Campbell's anymore.

[robinlynne]

25. And people making their own soup.

[joshcryer]

40. Agreed, the taste is negligible, I couldn't past a blind test anyhow.

[Chipper Chat]

10. About 10 years ago they had a great soup called "Tomato Garden."

Of course it had the sodium but was loaded with veggies and a little pasta & was delicious. Then they stopped making it. Never knew why.

[Ter]

19. Is this it:

http://www.campbellsoup.com/select-nutrition-popup.aspx?brand=select&prd_product_id=2390

[Chipper Chat]

22. Yes. Can label is different tho.

mucho sodium

[Ter]

57. So they still make it?

Perhaps to a more limited market.

[Drale]

11. Canned soup is terrible

If your looking for soup you can either make it from scratch or look around your area for a "hole in the wall" restaurant, they generally have really good soup at least thats the way it is here in Chicago.

[Retrograde]

30. It's my emergency supply

In case of earthquakes, canned soup is likely to survive falling off the shelf, and in a pinch can be eaten right out of the can, important if electricity and gas lines are out. Come to think of it, though, my stash doesn't have any Campbell's in it - too much sodium.

[DBoon]

12. Why not add heroin instead?

Campbell's would have customers for life

[Drale]

13. Don't give them any freaking ideas. /nt

[DBoon]

17. hey, all they care about is more sales

doesn't matter if their customers die as a result

[arikara]

14. I don't trust any prepared products anymore

They are full of strange chemicals as stated on the label; and that's only what they disclose. They are also full of genetically engineered produce, undisclosed MSG and who knows what else. I'd sooner buy some veggies and make my own soup.

[awoke_in_2003]

33. like sodium benzoate...

whatever the hell that is.

[bhikkhu]

16. Good lord - I already can't eat the brine they put in their soup...

If you look at a can of Campbell's, usually you get about three servings in a decent bowl of soup, and about 900 mg of sodium per serving, then see what a few crackers adds...that's way too much salt for anyone.

Sell more soup, make more people sick - screw those guys. It easy, healthy, and cheaper to get some bouillon and fresh ingredients and make your own soup.

[LetTimmySmoke]

18. Wrong direction for me.

I don't like Campbell Soup because it has too much salt, not because it doesn't have enough.

EDIT: They should have a saltiness scale.
1 = not salty
2 = somewhat salty
3 = salty
4 = very salty

Have the number color-coded in a box on the drawn on the can wrapper, big and bright enough to see easily.

[TorchTheWitch]

35. I can do without a can of soup flavored salt

Sales went down because all you can fucking taste is the damn salt. And now they want to add MORE???

Idiots. Fucking idiots.

[TlalocW]

20. I only eat soup when I'm sick

And then I only look for the "healthy" soup that is low-salt and then half the time, I just use the watery part when I'm cooking the soup and will drain it and just eat the pasta, veggies, and meat.

TlalocW

[Tempest]

23. Are they really still calling that slop soup?

When I was a kid, Campbells really meant quality. Now it's just food substitutes and artificial flavorings.

[corpseratemedia]

24. I notice a trend also with other packaged food being made more salty

its gross..i can just go down to the beach and eat the freakin sand i want that much salt..at some point it gets downright gaggy.

[MilesColtrane]

26. Has Campbell Soup Inc. diversified into Big Pharma?

Maybe they figured they can create hypertensive patients and profit off of the meds they need too?

[Akoto]

27. I feel like the only guy here who really likes salty soup. n/t

[appleannie1]

43. Make you own with real ingrediants and use ACCENT instead of salt.

[No Elephants]

48. Much easier to add salt to canned soup than to remove salt from canned soup.

Plus, you can use sea salt. Tastier.

[Urban Prairie]

29. Campbell's "chunky" soups are a total ripoff nowadays, IMO.

Half of the can is just brothy brine.

I also liked their chicken noodle, but they now have so much less of noodles, celery, and chicken in them, and the taste is blander.

[awoke_in_2003]

34. and I used to love...

Chunky New England Clam Chowder- cannot stomach it anymore.

[Odin2005]

50. Ditto here, I used to inhale that when I was a kid.

[cstanleytech]

36. I remember when their soup was actually condensed soup rather than the watery mess it is now.

In fact its nearly so watery these days that you dont need to add much if any water.

[JoeyT]

41. As long as it's clearly labeled, it isn't really a problem.

If you don't like that much salt, don't buy their crappy soup. It tastes awful anyway.
The only way the FDA is going to crack down is if they add the salt and don't list it on the label.

[appleannie1]

42. Their soup is not worth what they charge, salt or no salt. They cheapened their recipes years back

[cstanleytech]

58. Exactly

I remember when all their soups were really condensed but they have turned it into a watery broth.

[Abq_Sarah]

44. I'm not real crazy about the added sugar

Sugar and salt both extend shelf life but for some of us, it's not worth it.

[eilen]

46. Ugh, their soup does not taste good anymore

I too was raised eating the chicken noodle and tomato soups. I make my own soup every Sunday now, --leftover soup. It is very good and I don't cheap out using tons of noodles. I use low sodium broth if I have no carcass to boil.

I also don't buy "spaghetti sauce" anymore. A can of crushed tomatoes with some herbs works much better without the added salt and sugar.

[No Elephants]

47. Tastes bad, overpriced and enough salt to skyrocket your blood pressure.

What's not to like?

[WatsonT]

51. As long as they leave the tomato soup alone

that's the only kind I ever buy from them. For some reason it tastes amazing to me. The others, meh, making soup at home isn't that hard and I can do better.

[Dappleganger]

54. If I'm gonna pay that much for soup, may as well spend a little extra and get

and get the Healthy Choice low-sodium or the Kirkland brands. They're more filling so it's easier to split between two people.

[CaliforniaHiker]

55. Typical problem with commercially produced food

The ingredient quality is awful and flavorless so sodium is necessary to add some "flavor." I tried their "low sodium" soup, and it was tasteless.

The American palate has come to associate "sweet" and "salty" as "flavorful." Anybody who eats a steady diet of canned and frozen foods likely doesn't even remember what real food is supposed to taste like.