Entrance to Campbell's headquarters in Camden (prior to renovation and expansion)
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Public | |
Traded as | : CPB S&P 500 Component |
Industry | Food processing |
Founded | 1869 |
Headquarters | Camden, New Jersey, US |
Key people
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Paul R. Charron (Chairman) Denise Morrison (President and CEO) |
Products | Campbell's Erasco Bolthouse Farms Pepperidge Farm Arnott's Pace StockPot V8 Liebig Royco |
Revenue | US$7.719 billion (FY 2011) |
US$1.279 billion (FY 2011) | |
US$802 million (FY 2011) | |
Total assets | US$6.862 billion (July 31, 2011) |
Total equity | US$1.096 billion (July 31, 2011) |
Number of employees
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17,500 (2011) |
Website | www |
The Campbell Soup Company, also known as Campbell's, is an American producer of canned soups and related products. Campbell's products are sold in 120 countries around the world. It is headquartered in Camden, New Jersey. Campbell's divides itself into three divisions: the simple meals division, which consists largely of soups both condensed and ready-to-serve, the baked snacks division, which consists of Pepperidge Farm, and the health beverage division, which includes V8 juices.
The company was started in 1869 by Joseph A. Campbell, a fruit merchant from Bridgeton, New Jersey, and Abraham Anderson, an icebox manufacturer from South Jersey. They produced canned tomatoes, vegetables, jellies, soups, condiments, and minced meats.
In 1876, Anderson left the partnership and the company became the "Joseph A. Campbell Preserve Company".
Campbell reorganized into "Joseph Campbell & Co." in 1896. In 1897, John T. Dorrance, a nephew of the general manager Arthur Dorrance, began working for the company at a wage of $7.50 a week. Dorrance, a chemist with degrees from MIT and Göttingen University, Germany, developed a commercially viable method for condensing soup by halving the quantity of its heaviest ingredient: water. He went on to become president of the company from 1914 to 1930, eventually buying out the Campbell family.
In 1898, Herberton Williams, a Campbell's executive, convinced the company to adopt a carnelian red and bright white color scheme, because he was taken by the crisp carnelian red color of the Cornell University football team's uniforms. To this day, the layout of the can, with its red and white design and the metallic bronze medal seal from the 1900 Paris Exhibition, has changed very little, with the exception of the French phrase on the top of the bronze seal that said "Exposition-Universelle-Internationale" which was changed to the English name of the exhibition as "Paris International Exposition".