Updated to include revised company guidance, comments from interview with Campbell's executive and closing stock price.
With more health-conscious U.S. consumers frowning upon big packaged food companies and their processed ingredients that dominate supermarkets, Campbell's Soup (CPB) has a new plan to win their trust.
Over the next 12 months, the iconic maker of Campbell's chicken noodle soup will debut a host of new soups free of artificial colors and flavors (a designation known as "clean"), smoothies under its new 1915 by Bolthouse Farms brand and a pea-based milk that dons the Bolthouse Farms name. As part of these initiatives, Campbell will introduce a new soup label called "Well Yes" that will be "clean" right from the get-go when it launches in January 2017.
Unveiled at Campbell's annual investor day Wednesday, the host of new better-for-you offerings are an attempt by the company to generate some $2 billion in sales by 2020 from what it calls packaged fresh products. Also, the company promised to bring transparency to consumers on the source of its carrots, poultry and meat.
"The truth is non-negotiable," Campbell Soup's President and CEO Denise Morrison told investors and analysts in attendance regarding the need to share more information to consumers on ingredients. Campbell previously committed to removing artificial colors and flavors from nearly all of its North American products by the end of fiscal 2018.
Campbell's new soup brand 'Well Yes'
Indeed, the product news comes at a pivotal moment for Campbell's, which continues to see pressure from consumers shopping for fresh foods such as veggies and prepared salads, snacking more frequently and spending less per supermarket visit.
